Anon-Lion from the east

Лeв Bocтoкa

The Lion of The East

First came the planes, then fell the bombs, then rattled the city. But Lev first felt the rattling, then looked out and saw the falling bombs, then noticed the dimming roar of planes on their way to being long gone.

Lev tended not to notice events until they reached the end of the chain. It was a side effect of his strong spirit, and a rusty liver. Lev was not too old, but after having been pelted from all sides by metal and mud, at an age when he should not have had that happen to him, Lev needed the strongest spirits he could get his hands on.

One would surely notice the sirens before anything, but the city couldn't afford one. Either the power was out, or they would keep getting knocked down by sympathisers to the Enemy.
It was by chance that one such sympathiser came to knock on Lev’s door. He knocked on a few others as well, because he forgot Lev’s room number. This spy was not known to anyone but Lev, and the poor man only knew because, during one of his more sober nights (and with the ongoing shortage his nights kept getting progressively more sober), he had caught the man, known to the city as Dmitry, in the middle of one of his malicious acts.

The man known as Dmitry stood at the door as Lev opened it. Lev thought he was there to kill him. The man said, “zdrastvuytye, Lev. I was wondering if you had seen anything suspicious a few days back. I was unsure if I really had, and until now I was nervous to tell anyone.” And so Lev knew now. Dmitry had spotted him, probably from the light of the cigar, or maybe it was his eyes. He wanted to know if Lev had really noticed him. To kill him immediately would have drawn so much more attention. But now, after some silence, both had the suspicion someone might end up dead in this room today. Lev owned a nagant revolver, given to him by a good neighbor who had fled to the east. He also had his spirit, and his spirits. The nagant, however, was tucked in a drawer by his bed, so Lev did the next best thing: He invited Dmitry inside.