Russian Roulette by Anthony Horowitz Read Free Book Online

eyes watered and we had to look away. I put up my hand to protect my face and felt the back of my fingers burn. In seconds, Estrov, the village where I had spent my entire life, was turned into hell. My father was already dead and I had no doubt at all that my mother had now joined him. And my grandmother. And Leo’s mother and his brothers. It was impossible to see his house through the curtain of fire, but by now it would be nothing more than ash.
    The helicopters were continuing, heading toward us. Now that they were closer, I recognized them at once. They were Mil Mi-24s, sometimes known as Crocodiles, developed for the Russian military for both missile support and troop movements. Each one could carry eight men at speeds of over 350 kilometers per hour. As well as the main and the tail rotors, the Mil had two wings stretching out of the main fuselage, each one equipped with a missile launcher that dangled beneath it. I had never seen anything that looked more deadly, more like a giant bird with claws outstretched, swooping out of the sky to snatch me up. They were getting closer and closer. I could actually see the nearest pilot, very low down in the glass bubble that was the cockpit window. Where had he come from? Had he once been a boy like me, dreaming of flying? How could he sit there and be responsible for so much killing? And yet he was without mercy. There could be no doubt at all that he was aiming the next salvo at me. I swear I saw him gazing straight at me as he fired. I saw the spurt of flame as the missiles were fired.
    Fortunately, they fell short. A wall of flame erupted about thirty meters behind me. Even so, the heat was so intense that Leo screamed. I could smell the air burning. A cloud of chemicals and smoke poured over us. It was only later that I realized it must have briefly shielded us from the pilot. Otherwise he would have fired again.
    Leo and I plunged into the forest. The light was cut out behind us. Instantly we were surrounded by green, with leaves and branches all around us and soft moss beneath our feet. We had reached the top of the hill. The forest sloped down on the other side, and this proved our salvation. We lost our footing and tumbled down, rolling over roots and mud. It was already raining harder. Water was dripping down and maybe that helped us too. We were invisible. We were away from the flames. As I fell, I caught a glimpse through the trees of the red and black horror that I had left behind. I heard the roar of helicopter blades. Branches were whipping and shaking all around me. But then I was at the very bottom of the hollow. Leo was next to me, staring helplessly, completely terrified. But we were protected by the forest and by the earth. The helicopters could not reach us.
    Well, perhaps the pilots could have tried again. Maybe they had exhausted their missile supply. Maybe they didn’t think it was worth wasting more of their ammunition on two small boys. But even as I lay there, I knew that this wasn’t over yet. They had seen us and they would radio ahead. Others would come to finish the work. It wasn’t enough that the village had been destroyed. Everybody who had lived there would have to be killed. There could be nobody left to tell what had happened.
    “Yasha,” Leo gasped. He was crying. His face was a mess of mud and tears.
    “We have to go,” I said.
    We struggled to our feet and plunged into the safety of the forest. Behind us, the sky was red, the helicopters hovering as Estrov continued to burn.

3

    W HEN I WAS A small boy, I had feared the forest with its ghosts and its demons. It had given me nightmares. My own parents had come from the city and didn’t believe such things, but Leo’s mother used to tell me stories about it, the same stories that her mother had doubtless told her. Every child in the village knew them and stayed away. But now I wanted it to draw me in, to swallow me up and never let me go. The deeper I went, the safer I felt,