April 1997

Mountains near Kyshik

It's been nearly four months since the death of Yuri's parents. The brothers still haven't fully recovered from it. Igor sometimes has nightmares about it. Dimitri tries not to think about by focusing on what his father taught them, an iron will and a sharpe mind. One mustn't be distracted from his duties. Yuri was affected the most. On the outside he looked as if he didn't care, but on the inside... well that was whole different story. Still, he looked after his brothers for almost four months. He was just keeping up with the schedule his father made, along with some changes. He made a timetable of who hunts and when. They don't have money so they have to make do. Still, things aren't going bad for them. Igor is close to turning 12 and that's when he's gonna go on his final test. Even though their father is gone, they agreed that they will honour him and his wish.

Still, Yuri was worried. That man, Zoran, he gave up too easily. Father said they we needed to be careful around him, not trust him. On the surface he looked like a good man, but you can never know how people are on the inside. They're not like animals, simple, easy to read and understand. No, each one is different. Humanity isn't an ant colony, you can't judge hundreds based on one. Yuri didn't know anything about him, other than that he had to be careful.

Igor is practising making small traps. Currently he's building a small rabbit trap. When a rabbit walks into it he will trigger the trap which will catch his leg and leave him hanging. But he can't get the rope right.

Igor:"Damn it. Why can't I do it? It's so simple and I just-"

Yuri crouches next to him:"Hey, what's up?"

Igor sighs in frustration:"I can't get the rope right. I either make it too tight so the stick can't support it or I make to loose so the rabbit falls of. I'm not gonna pass the test am I?"

Yuri pats his shoulder:"Don't beat yourself up about it. Setting traps is tiring and it takes time and precision. It's not like chasing a wounded animal or fighting. It's something you have to keep practicing until you get it right."

Igor sighs and looks down. Still not sure about this. He feels useless and weak.

Yuri puts his hand on the back of Igor's head:"Look, even I didn't do good when I was starting out. I kept braking everything and having to start all over again. As far as I can tell, you're doing great."

Igor looks up to him:"Really? You mean it?"

Yuri smiles:"I do. You know how some people say *You're a natural* or *You were born for this*? That's all bullshit. No one is born with a gift that allows them to do something better than others. It's all just practice. Hours upon hours, days upon days of practice. Eventually, after enough practice, it will get into your head and you'll be able to do it without even thinking about it. Trust me."

Igor smiled back. If what his big brother's saying is true, then he can do this. He just has to keep practicing until he gets the hang of it:"Thanks Yuri."

Yuri:"No problem. Now lemme show you. You gotta twist here and then-"

He helps him with the trap and shows him how to do it properly. Dimitri on the other hand is practicing hand to hand combat. He's hitting the punching bag trying to get used to some moves. Yuri walks up to him:"What are you doing?"

Dimitri:"I'm practicing."

Yuri:"I can see that but you're doing it wrong."

Dimitri was confused:"What? I could of sworn I was landing my punches correctly."

Yuri:"Your punches aren't the problem." He points to Dimitri's legs," THOSE are the problem."

Dimitri was even more confused:"What do you mean?"

Yuri:"Come on let me show you."

They stand in front of each other. The gap between them is roughly three meters. Dimitri gets into a typical boxing fighting stance. Yuri doesn't get into a stance, he just stands normally.

Yuri makes a gesture with his hand:"Come at me!"

Dimitri rushes forward and tries to hit him with his left jabs but Yuri dodges them no problem. Dimitri then tries using his right hook but that doesn't work either. Dimitri gets mad and starts throwing random punches. None of them hit. Instead he end up lunging forward and trips over Yuri's foot and falls into the snow.

Yuri:"Well? Get up."

Dimitri:"I don't get it. Why can't I hit you!?"

Yuri:"Like I said", he points to Dimitri's legs," THOSE are the problem."

Dimitri looks at his legs:"My-My legs?"

Yuri:"Yes. While your punches have power behind them and a good technique, you're only utilising half of your body. Your legs are very important. You prefer to fight like a boxer, but half of a boxer's strength is in his legs."

Dimitri keeps looking at his legs:"But he doesn't use them."

Yuri:"Yes, he does." He then gets into a boxing position and starts circling around Dimitri. Dimitri almost couldn't keep up."You see? I'm not using my arms at all. Your arms and your core are what generate strength and they power your attacks. But without proper foot work, all of that is useless."

Yuri stops:"Your legs are stiff. You don't move them at all. Lemme show you." He gets back into position," Bend down slightly, shoulders locked, arms up, keep on your toes. Movement in boxing is the opposite of normal. When you wanna go to the left, you move your right leg, and when you wanna move to the right, you move your left leg. Instead of running into the direction you wanna go to, you push yourself towards that direction."

Dimitri followed his advice. He started practicing and got the hang of it quickly. But, he kept looking at his legs and Yuri rushed to him, preparing to punch but stops his arm millimetres from his face:"Watch your opponent. You can't focus on yourself and your enemy at the same time. You need to watch your enemy and be aware of yourself at the same time. In other words, you need to practice until this becomes second nature. At that point you won't even need to think about yourself, you will already be doing everything."

Dimitri was amazed by this. All this time he's been doing it wrong. Now he knows what to do and how to do it. He looks up Yuri and smiles:"Thank you Yuri."

Yuri smiles and puts his hand on Dimitri's shoulder:"Don't mention it brother."

Yuri was happy. His brother were picking up where they left of. Later that night they went inside the cabin, lit the fireplace and had dinner. They prayed before they ate, like their mother used to. This is what Yuri meant when he was taking to Maksim and Zoran. A peaceful life. They went to sleep.

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(The next day)

Noon

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Yuri was preparing his gear. He grabbed his survival knife and bow. When he stepped outside he turned towards his brothers:"Alright, you know the drill."

Igor yawned and scratched his eye:"YES, you don't need to remind us every time."

Yuri chuckled:"I know but it's for your own good."

Dimitri sighed:"Close and lock the door, keep quiet, don't answer to anyone and wait until you come back."

Yuri:"Yes. And should anyone break in here...", he looks at them with a serious face,"you know what to do."

The two collectively nodded and hugged Yuri.

Igor:"Be careful big bro."

Yuri pats his head:"I always am." He waved at them and left.

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(2 hours later)

Yuri is following deer tracks:"Fresh. Deep. So it's older. Space between each print is small. It wasn't in a hurry and it wasn't chased, so it's close. There aren't any other tracks so it's alone." He continued to follow the tracks.

After a while he saw the deer. He lowered himself and moved very slowly not to disturb it. As he got close to a tree he looked at the deer with predator like eyes. After years of hunting his instincts and tactics were as good as can be. He slowly walked to the side and drew his bow.

Everything was quiet as the deer chewed it's food. Snow was piling up on a nearby tree. A branch was completely covered in it. It bent over and the snow fell from the branch. The deer raised it's and before the snow fell on the ground, Yuri fires the arrow, piercing the deer's heart, dropping it on the ground. Yuri smiled and walked towards the deer. He kneeled down:"I hope Igor and Dimitri will be like this."

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(Meanwhile, an hour before Yuri found the deer)

Back at the cabin

Igor and Dimitri were cleaning around the cabin and preparing the knives for when Yuri brings back something.

Igor:"How much you wanna bet he's gonna bring back a hog?"

Dimitri:"No I think it'll be a deer. He says he's confident. I hope it's a deer."

Igor:"Why?"

Dimitri:"Well deer meat is sweet. ESPECIALLY if you cook it correctly. Shame we ran out that sauce mom uses."

Igor:"Well maybe we can make some. I mean, it's just tomatoes right?"

Dimitri:"Yeah, that would be nice. We could-"

They were interrupted by a knock on the door. A man was moaning in pain. By the sound of it there were two:"Please! Help!", cried out the man.

Dimitri peeked through a small hole. He couldn't see their faces clearly but he saw a man with an orange jacket belong a man with a brown jacket.

Orange jacket:"Please! If you're there please help. My friend hurt his leg badly and he can barely walk."

The brown jacket man kept moaning and grunting in pain. The orange jacket man kept knocking on the door.

Brown jacket:"There's no one there, just kick the damn door down."

As he was about to do that Dimitri yells out:"Wait!"

The two men were surprised:"Who are you?"

Dimitri:"You first!"

Orange jacket:"My name is Alek, my friend's name is Goran."

Dimitri:"Why are you here?"

Alek:"My friend hurt his leg badly. He needs help. Please."

Igor softly says:"Maybe we should let them in."

Dimitri:"What? We don't even know them."

Igor:"It doesn't matter, they need help."

Dimitri's hesitating. Yuri told him not to open the door. But they were going to kick the door in anyway. He didn't know what to do, so Igor opened the door and let the men in.

Alek:"Thank you. Where can he sit?"

Igor:"Over here."He clears the couch.

Goran laid on the couch as Alek wrapped his leg in bandages and alcohol.

Alek:"Thank you so much."

Igor:"Don't mention it. My name's Igor and this is my brother Dimitri."

Alek:"Like I said, my name is Alek and this is Goran."

Igor:"So what happened?"

Alek:"Well it's stupid. We were hiking and he tripped over and fell on some rocks. He hurt his leg pretty badly. We saw your cabin and we hurried over. We didn't really think anyone was in here. But we're glad that we were wrong."

Igor:"Yeah we're glad to help. Right Dimitri?"

Dimitri shrugged:"Yeah, sure."

Dimitri didn't quit trust this. On one hand they this does look legit. Goran's leg is badly hurt. There's probably a crack on the tibia. Still, this feels...weird. Maybe it's because Yuri told them not to trust anyone or let anyone in for that matter. But it's not just that. Dimitri might not have senses as sharp as Yuri's, but he can tell when something's off. He wanted to investigate.

He went to the kitchen:"Hey do you want some water?"

Alek:"Yes, thank you."

Dimitri grabs one of the water bottles:"So you're saying he injured himself while you were hiking.", he grabs a glass.

Alek:"Yeah. We were going up the mountain and he tripped."

Dimitri pours water into the glass:"That's... strange."

Alek:"What do you mean?"

Dimitri:"Well, there are no hiking paths that lead here.", he grabs another glass.

Alek:"Well we got lost. There's one lower at the base of the mountain."

Dimitri stops pouring:"See that's what I thought too. But there isn't one."

Alek gets a bit nervous.

Dimitri:"I'm fact. There aren't ANY hiking paths on this mountain and these areas because of the large number of animals."

Alek:"I think you're mistaking. There is clearly a road that leads here."

Dimitri:"Yes but it's covered in snow. And there are no signs anywhere. It's not even on the map. So I wonder. How did you get here?"

Alek gets really nervous. So does Igor. He doesn't understand what's happening. He sees Alek nervous. Even Goran's looking around.

Dimitri still had his back turned and he slowly tried to pick up a knife. Alek pretends to be helping Goran, but instead grabs a small caliber revolver from Goran's back pocket. Igor doesn't notice, he's facing Alek's back. Dimitri grabs the knife and tries to turn around to throw it at Alek. But it's to late. Alek was faster. He quickly shoots Dimitri in the stomach twice. Igor screams and runs to Alek to tackle him, but he wasn't fast enough. Alek shoots Igor in the chest and Igor falls on the ground.

Goran sits up:"WHAT THE FUCK!? WHAT DID YOU DO?!"

Alek:"Shut up! I did what I had to."

Goran:"What you had to?! They were kids!"

Alek:"They were about to figure us out."

Goran:"THEY WERE KIDS!"

Alek points his pistol into Goran's forehead:"Scream one more time and I'll kill you."

Goran stops talking.

Alek:"Good. Now let's get out of here."

They leave the cabin.

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(Present time)

Yuri is carrying a deer on his back. He has a smile on his face and is humming the Russian anthem, the only thing close to a song his father taught him. He thinks to himself:"I wonder what they're gonna think about this. I bet they're gonna want me to cook it like mom. Too bad we're of that sauce."

As he gets close to the cabin he sees the door wide opened. He yells out:"DIMITRI! IGOR!"

They don't answer. He then notices tracks leading down the road. His smile quickly fades. Something happened. Something bad. He dropped the deer and ran to the cabin. He stormed in and what he witnesses brought him to his knees. His little brother Igor. His lifeless body was laid there, with his eyes wide opened and a hole in his chest. Yuri grabbed his hand and started shivering:"N-No. No no." He looks to the right and sees Dimitri laying with his back against the wall, bleeding to death. Yuri crawled to him and put his hands on Dimitri's stomach to stop the bleeding.

Yuri kept saying:"C'mon, c'mon. Stop!"

Dimitri looks up to him:"Y-Yuri?"

Yuri's eyes widened:"Don't talk. Save your strength!"

Dimitri utters out:"O-Ora...Orange...jacket."

Yuri:"What? Is that the man who did this?!" Please, hold on!"

Dimitri:"You were right."

Yuri:"This isn't the time to-"

Dimitri:"Footwork."

Yuri:"W-What?"

Dimitri:"My footwork...was off." His life faded from his eyes as he took his last breath. His eyes closed and his life faded away.

Yuri couldn't handle this. Some man just came to their home and killed his brothers. Who? Why? Zoran? It didn't matter right now. Yuri wanted one thing and one thing only. Revenge.

He dried his tears, took his weapons and started tracking down the men that killed them:"Two men, same hight, the one on the left has an injured leg, the footprints are close so one helped the other. They went down the road but turned right. There's only one thing down there. A small clearing with a small abandoned hunting cabin. They wouldn't be going there unless someone else was there. The cabin is empty and falling apart. So I'm facing more than two men. Makes no difference."

He puts on a hood and runs into their direction.

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(30 minutes later)

Goran and Alek make their way towards the abandon cabin. Outside the cabin was a round thug with a cap on his head. He yelled out:"Well c'mon what took ya?"

Alek:"Eh some kids."

Bald man:"Kids?"

Alek:"Don't worry about. Is he in there?"

Bald man:"Yeah, he's waiting for you."

Alek:"Ok.", he puts Goran down on a box next to the door. He turns to the bald man:"Can you look after this dumbass?"

Bald man:"Sure."

Alek enters the cabin. Inside was a short, middle aged man with a grizzled beard. He was siting on a box.

Bearded man:"Sit down."

Alek sits on a box.

Bearded man:"Well? Where's the money?"

Alek pulls out a paper bag out of his jacket:"Here. It's all there."

Bearded man count the money:"What took you? You should of come back an hour ago."

Alek:"Well, we ran into a small problem."

Bearded man:"What kind of problem?"

(Outside the cabin)

Goran:"Damn it! I'm freezing my balls of here!"

Bald man laughs:"Well you shouldn't of fallen on a rock. By the way, what took you guys?"

Goran:"Alek said we needed to take a roundabout way in order to make sure the police doesn't catch us or find out about this place. We lost them, but then I tripped over a rock and this happened."

Bald man:"Well, that's clever. That Alek's got a good brain inside that dumb head of his. Wish I could say the same about you."

Goran grunts:"Likewise asshole. Anyway we-"

They were interrupted by some rustling in a bush.

Goran:"Go check it out."

Bald man:"No, you go."

Goran:"And how am supposed to do that! Just go."

The bald man goes to check or the bush:Probably just a rabbit or someth-"

He gets pulled by Yuri. Yuri then slits his throat but keeps holding him so he looks like he's standing.

Goran:"Hey. You ok? What was that?"

Yuri brings out his bow with a pre-placed arrow on it. He lets go of the bald man and fires an arrow into Goran's head.

Goran:"What the-!" The arrow hits him. Alek and the bearded man get up.

Alek:"What was that?"

Bearded man:"Go check it out."

Alek readies his pistol. He steps outside and sees Goran with an arrow in his head and the bald man laying on the ground dead. He thinks to himself:"What the hell happened?" He then gets shot in the leg with an arrow and falls down on the ground, dropping the gun. The bearded man sees this and he catches a glimpse of Yuri sprinting to the side of the cabin. He hears his climbing into the attic, pulls out his MAC 10 and empties the whole magazine into different directions.

Alek grunts in pain:"Did you get him?"

Bearded man lowers his gun and nods:"Yeah! I got him!"

But he was mistaken. Yuri drops through the ceiling on the bearded man, stabbing him in the throat, killing him. He leaves his knife there and stands up. He slowly walks over to Alek who tries to crawl away. Yuri looks at him with a cold, dead stare. He picks up the revolver.

Yuri asks in a cold voice before checking how many bullets he has left:"Was this the gun you used?"

Alek:"W-What?"

Yuri shoots him in the other leg. Alek screams in pain.

Yuri:"You were holding it so I'm assuming yes. I would ask you why but you're too focused on screaming."

Alek:"L-L-Look kid. Maybe we can work something out. There's a lot of money in that cabin. It's all yours. Take it and you'll NEVER see me again."

Yuri:"Yeah you're right. I won't."

Alek:"PLEASE! I'll give you anything you want!"

Yuri:"Can you give me the lives of my brothers?"

Alek just stuttered.

Yuri:"Didn't think so." He then walked closer until he was right in front of him."

Truth is, Alek didn't feel bad for what he did. Instead of continuing to beg for mercy, he just spat at Yuri.

Yuri aims the gun at his head.

Alek:"Go to hell!"

Yuri:"After you." He unloaded the remaining shots into Alek's head.

He took his weapons and their weapons. He then walked into the direction of the nearby town. He didn't mind anything around him, as if it didn't even exist. He just looked forward. All he could think of, were the innocent smiles of his brothers. As he walked, silent tears dripped from his dead, seemingly emotionless face.

End of chapter 4