Read Russian Roulette for Free Online Page A

and he worked with your father. You’ll find him at the Moscow University. His name is Misha Dementyev. I’ll try to telephone him, but I expect they’ll have cut the lines. It doesn’t matter. When you tell him who you are, he’ll look after you.”
    Misha Dementyev. I clung on to the two words, my only lifeline.
    My mother was still embracing me. I was looking at the curve of her neck, smelling her scent for the last time. “Why can’t you come with me?” I sobbed.
    “It would do no good. I’m infected. I want to stay with your father. But it’s not so bad, knowing you’ve gotten away.” She moved me away from her, still holding me, looking straight into my eyes. “Now, you have to be brave. You have to leave. Don’t look back. Don’t let anyone stop you.”
    “Mother . . .”
    “I love you, my dear son. Now go!”
    If I’d spoken to her again, I wouldn’t have been able to leave her. I knew that. We both did. I broke away. I ran.
    • • •
    The forest was on the other side of the house, to the north and spreading to the east of Estrov. It stretched on for about sixty-five kilometers, mainly pine trees but also linden, birch, and spruce. It was a dark, tangled place and none of us ever went into it, partly because we were afraid of getting lost but also because there were rumored to be wolves around, particularly in the winter. But somewhere inside me I knew my mother was right. If there were police or soldiers in the area, they would concentrate on the main road. I would be safer out of sight. The highway that she’d mentioned cut through the forest and they were laying a new water pipe alongside it.
    To begin with, I followed the track that wound through the gardens, trying to keep out of sight, although there was nobody around. In the distance, I saw a boy I knew cycling past with a bundle under his arm, but he was alone. I passed the village shop. It was closed. I continued through the allotments where the villagers grew their own food and stole everyone else’s. I was already hot, wearing a double set of clothes, and the air was suddenly warm and thick. The clouds were gray and swollen, rolling in from every side. It was definitely going to rain.
    I had already decided that I was not going to do what my mother had told me. Did she really think I could run off and leave her on her own with my father lying dead beside the car? No matter what had happened at the factory, and whatever she had said, I couldn’t just abandon her. I would wait a few hours in the forest and see what happened. And then, once it was dark, I would return. She had talked about a weapon—anthrax. She had said the whole village was contaminated. But I refused to believe her. I was even angry with her for telling me these things. In truth, I do not think I was actually in my right mind.
    And then I saw someone ahead of me, crouching down with their bottom in the air, pulling vegetables out of the ground. Even from this angle, I recognized him at once. It was Leo. He had been working on his family’s vegetable patch, probably as a punishment for doing something wrong. He had two younger brothers, and whenever any of them fought, their father would take a belt to them and they would end up either mending fences or gardening. He was covered in mud with a bunch of very wrinkled carrots dangling from his hand, but seeing me approach, he broke into a grin.
    “Hey, Yasha!” he called out. He did a double take, noticing my Pioneer clothes. “What are you doing?”
    “Leo . . .” I was so glad to see him, but I didn’t know what to say. How could I explain what had just happened?
    “Did you hear the siren?” he said. “And there was shooting. I think something’s happened over at the factory.”
    “Where are your parents?” I asked.
    “Dad’s working. Mom’s at home.”
    “Leo, you have to come with me.” The words came rushing out. I hadn’t planned to ask him along, but suddenly it was the most important