Oстальные - Ostal'nyye [open]

[Ziu]

 

Time: Near-Midnight
Date: Winter of 1941/1942
Weather: Heavily-falling snow
Place: A small, conquered town's graveyard

A second hole had been dug over an old veteran's grave. Amongst the layers of freshly-fallen snow, buried once more by a blanket bleakly white, the Shepherd lay in near-sleep. The cold seeped into his body and aggravated every wound, made every sprain sting, made every bone throb in a silent, maddening symphony. In his own attempts to find shelter and rest, he still could not escape into full sensory deprivation, his own body groaning and shifting with the abuse brought onto it. Turning over in his makeshift shelter, Ziu whined as cold snow rained down, disturbing the pall of warmth that somehow came to be in the covered hole.

Slowly raising his powder-covered head, the dog looked around, attempting to rise to its feet. Looking down at his bed, the dog dug out the snow again, doing as best as he could with his bad leg. His back left hip was infected, and if he tried to dig with both front feet, he could not keep balance on it. Every movement made the dog issue a whine, vaguely heard over the whipping winds that were stirring.