A Step to Nowhere by Natasha A. Salnikova Page B

think they were robots if not for their eyes, full of fear.
    “Stop! Now!”
    Don’t look back. Two tall apartment buildings on my way and between them a gap, wide enough to let two people through. I ran between two buildings, squeezed between heavy walls on both sides, taking in muggy and dusty air. Behind my back, the sound of running feet. Orders to stop by the word of law. I tore off my glasses. No conspiracy needed. If they didn’t catch me I was going to get lost and cry for them to arrest me.
    An empty courtyard, overgrown with trees. I crossed it without any idea what I was doing or where I was going. I didn’t know where to run, where to hide. I saw a rock on the ground and grabbed it, almost falling nose down in the dust. I turned to the man chasing me and threw the rock without aim. I didn’t expect it to hit the chaser in the face, but it did. The man wailed, grabbed his cheek that turned bloody, shook his head, and screamed something unintelligible.
    I ran further and saw a wall of entrances with porches leading to them. I stopped, gazing around, suffocating.
    What am I doing? Where am I running? They will find me anyway. They will kill me. Where?
    There was another gap on the left. I spanned the distance with all my might, trying not to think of the air burning my throat, of my lungs refusing to breathe. Once, I glanced back and saw that the man had fallen behind, but kept following me. The side of his face was covered in blood. He ran and now he had … a gun in his hand? No way! What was he going to do? Shoot me right now? Great! How’s that for an adventure?
    I skimmed between the buildings and heard the sound of exploding glass before getting there. He was shooting, son of a bitch!
    Another courtyard. I stopped, searching for another way to escape, breathing hard. Another passageway, and I ran there. I didn’t understand where I was, where the road was, or what was happening. I couldn’t breathe, my throat was burning, my legs were shaking. Another courtyard, then one more. The man had gotten lost somewhere, but I kept running. I didn’t know how many yards I had crossed; I stopped noticing anything. In the next courtyard I stumbled and fell, scratching my left palm and kissing the ground.
    I coughed when dust got into my mouth and lungs.
    “Here!” I heard a woman’s voice. “Here! Hurry!”
    I started to stand up, looking around, and saw an older woman by one of the entrances. She waved to me.
    “Hurry! Before they see you!”
    What could I lose? The woman didn’t look dangerous and I rushed to her. In the next moment we were inside the building. The door slammed shut behind our backs.
    “Who are you?” I whispered.
    “I’ll tell you later,” she whispered back and reached her hand to me. I accepted her help and she pulled me after her. “I know who you are. That’s important.”

CHAPTER 13

    We entered a spacious, clean lobby then walked into a clean, bright elevator, and rode to the tenth floor. The woman didn’t say a word on our way, just held my hand tightly and watched the numbers changing on the screen at the top.
    “Thank you,” I whispered, but she didn’t reply.
    She let my hand go, unlocking a metal door, and immediately locked it again when we entered the apartment.
    We were in the dark, narrow corridor that smelled of burnt milk and the woman grabbed my hand again.
    “I received a call,” she said, pulling me into the light. We entered the small room, chock-full of books from top to bottom. I noticed a Nabokov volume. “They told me the irnaner is being chased. Sit down.”
    I didn’t ask what irnaner was, why it was chased, or why I should know about it, but I sat on one of four chairs, standing around the wooden table in the middle of the room. There was a window in front of me, but I saw only a silhouette of another building. The room I was in also had a bed, covered with an old, gray blanket. A plain, plastic chandelier was under the ceiling, the floor was