Final chapter. Enjoy.

Chapter 7

For the first time in forever, I had a pleasant dream. That I remember, at least.

I dreamt I was eating blueberry pie. It was homemade. I don't know who made it, but it was the best I've ever had. It was a full pie right in front of me, all for me to eat. It had cooled down but was still perfectly warm on the inside, and the top was liberally drizzled with a thin, white frosting of some kind.

Blueberry was my favorite pie when I was younger. I haven't had any since I was a teenager.

The dream was so vivid I could remember the taste clearly. I could smell it right under my nose. I was smiling, and I didn't have a care in the world. Everything was well.

But it came to an abrupt end when I was awakened by two unfamiliar voices shouting at us from inside the cabin. And they had guns.

I awoke in the top bunk above the Russians, now sitting up, startled. On the other side of the room, IQ and Bandit, sharing the top of the other bunk-bed, had surprised expressions. They had their hands up.

There were two unknown women in the cabin, covered in snow. They both wore white and gray camouflage gear, similar to the Russians, but with a little more white overall. They were properly accessorized for the brutal winter weather.

The woman aiming her pistol at my teammates had her back to me, and a scarf around her neck and face. She had a larger gun of some kind strapped around her back. I'm glad she wasn't using that one.

The other woman was facing me and the Russians, with some kind of SMG pointed at the Spetsnaz below me. She kept glancing up at me to make sure I wouldn't try anything.

I couldn't understand what they were saying to us. But I recognized they had been shouting at us in Polish. It was confirmed by the white-and-red flag that was sewn onto the chest of their coats. I noticed the odd, almost fish-hook looking symbol patched onto their arms; they were part of GROM. They're Polish special ops.

"We don't understand you. English, please," I calmly informed them. My hands were up now.

The woman below me had goggles on, and under her knitted cap I could see a little bit of her dark hair that almost reached her shoulders. She still had her SMG firmly aimed at the two beneath me. She didn't hesitate to respond to me, this time in English.

"Keep your hands up!" she gestured to me, "Who are you guys and why are you here?" She sounded fairly young, but definitely had an assertive tone.

My heart was pounding. It wasn't just the adrenaline of waking up to a stranger pointing a gun at me. It was the fact that we were found. They had come from somewhere. They can rescue us. I know they are not here to kill us.

I almost wanted to laugh in relief, and blurt out our entire story to her.

But, keeping my cool, I replied, "I'm Elias, part ofGSG9. The two over there are my teammates Monika and Dominic. We are from Germany and we crashed here trying to fly back to our country. This was the only shelter we could find, and we couldn't leave…"

"Okay. Who are you, then?" Her focus went back to Glaz and Kapkan.

"I am Maxim. This is Timur, my teammate. We are from Russia,"

"Spetsnaz?" She interrupted.

"Yes," Kapkan replied.

"How did you get here?"

"…we also crashed not far from here, flying to Russia."

"Are you kidding?" The woman asked, sounding astonished. Her posture relaxed and she lowered her gun. She slipped her goggles up to lie over her hat. Her green eyes were bright with surprise.

"I am not kidding," I hear Kapkan say in his usual gruff tone.

"Am I hearing that right?" The other GROM woman started. Her voice sounded a little deeper, more professional, but with the same soft Polish accent as the other girl.

"Russians and Germans have been living together in our cabin?" She continued, an amused tone to her speech, "That's rough."

It's no secret that Germany and Russia are at war with each other. I almost forgot how strange it was for us to have been cooped up in here with the two Russians…

"How did you guys stay here without killing one another?" The younger girl asked, sounding amused but even more curious.

I sighed and smiled, "We nearly did. But it's a long story…"

Both girls were looking around at all the dried-up blood all over the floor. The large bear-trap that had troubled Glaz was safely tucked away in a corner, which they also took a glance at.

"It looks like someone was murdered here…" The younger woman stated, sounding a little suspicious.

"That is from mine," Glaz responded to her. She took notice of his butchered-up ankle he lifted the covers up for her to see.

"I see."

I am grateful, so grateful, that we've ended up in Poland. They are one of the few neutral countries in the middle of the war. There's no reason for them to kill or imprison any of us in this situation.

Both women now had their guns put away. The woman with the scarf had pulled it down, revealing rouge-painted lips, and had her own goggles around her neck. She had a beauty mark on her face. She was looking at me as she spoke.

"I'm sure you know it now, but you're in Poland. We're with GROM. My name is Zofia. This is my little sister, Elzbieta,"

"Ela. It's Ela." The younger girl corrected her with an annoyed look. Zofia gave a small shrug.

IQ asked, "This cabin belongs to you two?"

The two women turned to IQ. Ela replied, "Yes, technically… But we haven't actually been here for a few years now,"

Good thing they had stored sealed food here. It was all expired, but edible at least.

"We only came here today because we're looking for someone who's gone missing. The cabin is a little further out than the search perimeter, but we figured we'd come check it out just in case. You guys are lucky," Zofia gave a smirk.

We sat there for a moment, observing each other, while Ela reported their findings to someone on the other end of her radio headset. I was feeling extremely restless, ready to leave right this second. My patience was long gone.

"Alright guys," Ela smiled, "Get ready and we'll take you to town. We can probably get you some food and a bath."

God… how I missed taking showers… I have taken them for granted until this happened to us.

My teammates and I were on our side of the cabin very quickly, getting ready to head out. We didn't have to prepare much. We just had to put our boots on. I triple-checked my chest pocket to make sure Marius' engagement ring was still in there. It was there, safe and sound. Once we were in town, I would talk to them about recovering his body and finding a way to return him to Germany for a proper burial, and for the sake of closure for his fiancée.

I watched across the room. Ela knelt down in front of Glaz while Kapkan sat beside him.

"I not can walk," the sniper said to her, sounding and looking completely exhausted. He was so weak by now, I doubted he could even sit up for very long.

"This is really bad," Ela examines his mutilated, infected ankle. It hasn't been re-wrapped yet, and it smells rotted. I look at the stained bandages I hung up on the kitchen wall, thankful they won't have to be used ever again.

"I will carry him," Kapkan says to them.

"It's a long walk back, my friend," Zofia replies, standing behind Ela and looking down at Glaz's wounds.

"We will make it. I am not worried."

"We'll bandage it real quick before we head out. Once we get to town, we'll have a doctor see you," Ela said to Glaz before pulling her back-pack down to her side. She rummaged through it, pulling out a small first-aid kit and getting to work on Glaz immediately.

"What about your missing person?" Bandit asked, sitting next to me on the loveseat.

Ela answered him over her shoulder, "There's still a search team looking. Right now, we've been given the orders to make you all our first priority until we get you home safely."

"Thank god!" Bandit gave a laugh, sitting back against the seat. I smiled and ran my fingers through my dirty hair. IQ had such a happy look on her face as well. We're all so excited to leave this place for good. The joyful energy is in the air.

Once Ela had finished bandaging Glaz, she stepped back to let Kapkan crouch in front of him, with his back to him, so Glaz could ride piggy-back.

It hadn't meant anything to me at first, how protective Kapkan was about his friend and teammate. But now, it makes me smile. I have a lot of respect for him.

With a few pained noises, Glaz was secured to Kapkan's back. His arms were around his neck, and his legs were secured by Kapkan's arms. They were also ready to go, being back in their winter coats and accessories.

"Hmm…" Zofia was standing in the kitchen, "I see you guys found our father's old stash of wine… and ruined the floor. In fact, you guys really ruined our cabin."

Bandit just cleared his throat.

"Let's go. We need to get you guys out of here, especially Timur with his ankle," Ela commanded with concern in her voice.

With that, we finally left the cabin, for good. Some of us left with the happiest of tears leaking from our eyes.

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The Polish police were kind enough to give our teams each a room at a local hotel. After getting looked over by nurses, we were driven to our hotels where we showered and ate. Thankfully, none of us were in seriously bad shape, besides being slightly starved and having a cold. Except for Glaz.

We all sat in the waiting room of the hospital while Glaz was in surgery. He had been taken to the ER as soon as we got into the small city, where he had eventually passed out. It's been a few hours now, and we're all hoping he'll be out of surgery soon. Kapkan, of course, was greatly troubled and very anxious as he waited.

But soon enough, the lead surgeon came up to us and told us the surgery went well, and that Timur is recovering just fine. They were even able to save his foot! He had become sick from his infection, but it was treated in time that it would not be a serious issue. The surgeon told us he had needed a lot of blood, but he will feel much better after a lot of rest.

The news was mostly good, but there were some things that couldn't be fixed. Glaz has major nerve damage in and all around his ankle, and from now on will always feel a medium to severe level of pain for many years, or possibly the rest of his life. Because of these things, even with regular physical therapy, he will never walk without limping.

Kapkan was pleased to hear the news in general. I'm sure he was thinking of the worst kinds of news that he could get about his comrade, and the worst didn't happen. The surgeon told him to come back and visit him now, if he'd like. My team and I decided not to go in to visit with Glaz, even though we had become concerned about him, too. It just didn't feel like our place to do so. Kapkan left for the recovery room hastily.

Shortly after Kapkan left for the recovery room, Ela found us in the waiting room. She was in her GROM uniform still, with her goggles around her neck.

"Are you guys doing okay?" She asks, hands at her sides, head tilted slightly.

"We are fine. Thank you, for everything." I answer from my heart with a warm smile.

She smiled and put a hand on her hip, "Good. I talked to your superiors this morning, and we've been able to get you guys train tickets back home,"

She handed the tickets over to us. I couldn't even believe we were this close to going back to Germany.

I grabbed them and handed one each to Bandit and IQ. We thanked her in unison.

"Did you become friends with them? The Russians, I mean," she asked, her arms crossing over her chest.

My team and I exchanged looks with each other. Did we?

"I think we did…" IQ finally answered, still sounding unsure. I remembered Glaz asking her if she'd keep in touch with him if we ever escaped the cabin.

"They definitely changed our lives," Bandit added, his arms crossed.

"That's a pretty amazing story. I hope for the best, for all of you," Ela smiled. She turned her head to Zofia who had come up to stand at her side. She had sunglasses on.

Zofia looked at Ela with a smirk before looking down at us, "We found him. We brought him back to town,"

I was puzzled. Why was she telling us about the missing person? I mean, I'm glad he was found, but that's not our business.

"That's good you found him. Was he harmed?"

The two GROM women stared at me, their smiles lost. It took them a moment to realize I wasn't on the same page.

Zofia's expression then looked at me with sadness, but she held a small smile. She stepped up to me and put a hand on my shoulder, "We found Jager…"

My heart nearly stopped. I'm an idiot. It was Jager she was telling us they found and brought to town!

She continued, "We're working on getting him home. There are still things that need to be worked out, but it's absolutely not an issue. He's going back to Germany where he can be properly buried."

She gave my shoulder a squeeze.

Losing all professionalism for the moment, I stood up and hugged her, tight. She didn't hesitate to firmly return the hug. This has been such a crazy disaster, where everything from day 1 was going as wrong as it possibly could. But now we're getting good news after good news. I could barely handle my emotions.

Joining in the hug, IQ wrapped her arms around Zofia and I. IQ was crying and quietly thanking Zofia and Ela.

Bandit had stood up from his seat but kept his distance.

"I'm not into group hugs… but I want to thank you both again, for everything." His words were more heart-felt than I have ever heard from him.

We broke up the hug and two women took our contact information to keep us informed about Jager, and generally to keep in touch. I reminded IQ that she agreed to swap her contact info with the Russian sniper.

She nodded to me and said to me with a grin, "I never forgot about that. Maxim and I exchanged our information, and he promised me he would give mine to Timur."

"That's great!" I responded, wondering if their friendship will flourish after this.

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After a while, Kapkan came back out to the waiting room and looked at us. He waved to us to follow him, merely saying, "Come,"

We obeyed, following him into the recovery room where Glaz was resting. I felt nervous as we entered the curtained-off room. The bed-ridden man was under warm, clean covers with an IV in his arm and a heart-rate monitor clipped onto his finger. His ankle was finally bandaged professionally and was resting atop a small pillow. He yawned.

"We're not disturbing you, are we?" I ask as he looks at us groggily.

He shakes his head softly, "Not at all. Glad you visit me,"

IQ walked up to the side of his bed and placed her hand over his exposed hand, giving a small squeeze, "I'm glad you're okay!"

He gave her a brief, but happy smile.

Kapkan was on the other side of the bed, "We will be leaving to Russia soon. I do not look forward to being on plane again," he growled.

"I wouldn't either. Glad we get to take the train," Bandit replied, waving his train ticket at the gruff Russian. Kapkan just grunted in response.

"I having your contact number, Monika," Glaz said to IQ, looking up to meet her cerulean-eyes with his sleepy frosty-blue eyes.

"Good. I promise to stay in touch, as long as you want to."

He nodded.

I decided I wanted to satiate a curiosity that had been plaguing me. Kapkan must have noticed I was contemplating something, because his eyes were on me now.

It took me a moment to get the courage to ask what I wanted to. But with Kapkan's eyes staring into my soul, waiting for me to say something, I finally started,

"You two have kissed each other… a few times. I realize it's none of my business, but," I stopped, thinking to myself how rude it was to ask.

"We already discussed this," Kapkan answered before I could get my question out.

"You have?" I ask, puzzled.

"Yes. I…" he trails off, looking down at Glaz. Their eyes meet.

He continues, with a gentleness, and even some nervousness, in his voice, "It is difficult for me to understand or accept, but I enjoy the feelings I have with you. For you. Timur."

Glaz slid his other hand out from under his blankets, and Kapkan grabbed hold of it, softly.

"Is okay, Maxim. You not having to understand all things that making you happy. Que sera, sera," Glaz's deep voice is still weak, but full of love.

"So you can speak Spanish just fine, but not English? Come on, Glaz," Bandit interrupts with his terrible sarcasm.

I give him a shove, "You are rude as ever, Dominic. When we get back I'm going to have to beat some manners into you. Besides, I think that phrase is Italian,"

Bandit recovers from my push and responds, "No, it's Spanish. And my manners are great,"

I shake my head and chuckle, "I am positive it's Italian,"

"It's originally Italian, but is generally spelled in the Spanish language, so you are both technically correct. Now stop," IQ says to us before she gives a laugh.

Maxim looks at IQ, "What does it mean?"

Glaz breathed out a weak laugh at Kapkan's response.

IQ answered, "It means 'whatever will be, will be'."

"Makes sense now," the taller Russian mutters.

"Alright, I think we should head out. Let's leave them alone," I say to my team.

"Wait, one more thing," Bandit begins. IQ and I both groan.

Bandit looks at Kapkan, looking serious, "Admit it to me now: Spetsnaz are gay. Just say it."

I don't understand Bandit. As always, I can't tell what his motivation is behind his words. Is he still trying to antagonize the Russian? Is he just trying to win an argument that never really existed? Dummkopf.

"Your questions are stupid. Don't ever talk to me again," Maxim answered, glaring back at my irritating teammate.

Bandit glared back, "Just admit I was right!"

I was tempted to cover his mouth and drag him out of the room.

"I am glad I will never have to see you again," Kapkan answered, "You irritate me."

"I'm just kidding around," Bandit admits with an annoyed sigh.

"Your joking is awful," Glaz said to him, "Your stupid joking is killing me more fast than all the blood I lose in the cabin,"

We all gave a laugh at Glaz's sarcastic put-down. Even Bandit grinned at him.

"Okay, assholes, we'll go then," he responds, light-heartedly.

Kapkan leaves Glaz's side and walks up to Bandit, extending his hand.

Bandit meets his eyes, both of them looking at each other as they give a firm handshake. They both smile afterwards.

We all shake hands before we leave, IQ giving Glaz a hug instead, and promising him again she will stay in touch. I'm glad she will, and I know she's true to her word.

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The train was headed straight to Germany.

Bandit and I shared a seat, sat across from IQ sitting alone, separated from us by only a couple of feet. She was leaning against the wall, fast asleep, as the trained gently rocked.

Bandit had his arms crossed, his head down, and his eyes closed. The hood on his gray hoodie was up over his head and pulled down to cover his eyes.

I was carefully looking over the ring in my fingers. Jager's ring. My heart was still so heavy from losing him, and I know it would always hurt. I know it wasn't his fault we crashed. The storm that brought our plane down was so sudden, and so brutal, he did the best he could in that situation.

I still feel an overwhelming guilt every time I remind myself he could still be alive if I had made the order to venture for help sooner. Everything leading up to his death felt like mistakes that weighed upon my shoulders, and mine alone. My throat tightened whenever I let my mind sink too deep into my regrets. The worst part is that his fiancée will be hearing about him soon, if she hasn't been notified already. And by now, she has given birth to their child…

God, I'm sorry, Marius. I wish you could have at least gotten to see your newborn baby.

"I've been thinking," Dominic's voice startled me from my pathetic thoughts. I looked over at him. He hadn't even budged, but continued, "Marius was really a nice guy. A genuinely nice guy. I always liked that about him. I've never been considered a nice person,"

"You are nice," I tell him, honestly. He has his flaws, but we all do.

Bandit takes in a deep breath, then sighs, "Nah, not like him. I used to think it was pointless, being so kind and considerate to people you don't even know or like, like he was. How he told me he wanted to show kindness to Glaz? I thought he was being an idiot, and that his softness was going to make him vulnerable,"

"But, after all of this, now that he's dead, I feel like I was dumb for ever thinking that. I still think it's dangerous to be so needlessly nice to people, but it worked for him. People liked him, and trusted him. And despite what I considered his weakness, he's one of the strongest guys I've ever known. Being distant and untrusting of others is how I stay strong. I admire him for being a good guy, but that's not me. I do what I need to, to protect myself,"

He slowly pulls his hood down and looks at me, uncrossing his arms. I'm looking into his eyes as he continues,

"I know you give yourself shit for his death,"

I looked back at the ring in my hand, frowning, but continued quietly listening.

"If you could have done something different, you would have. There was nothing you could have done for him. We learned that the closest town was far-as-fuck away from us, considering all the snow and the storms we had to deal with. We probably would have gone in the wrong direction, anyway, and we all would have died. That would have been stupid. You're not stupid. That's why you're in charge."

He's quiet for a moment. I feel him looking at me still, so I slowly look back to meet his eyes. I'm at a loss for words.

"Elias, I've been thinking a lot of how things could have gone better. So has IQ. And the Russians. But it happened how it happened, so now we have to accept it and move on,"

I nod to him, "You're right. It's hard. I will need time to heal, but I will be okay."

"Yeah, I know you will be. I'm not going to let you get overwhelmed by this," he put his hand on my shoulder to comfort me.

"It's going to be alright, Elias. You know what they say in Mexico?"

"What?"

"Que sera, sera,"

He has the nerve to smile at me like he's serious.

I exaggerate my sigh, "Dominic, you're going to be the reason I'm overwhelmed…"

I smile back at him.

And for the rest of the trip, my heart and my mind were at ease.

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Thank you so much for reading.

Let me know if you liked it.

Take care.