1 Although the cold light from the twinkling stars was still bright and dazzling, the eastern sky was gradually getting brighter, and the woods were slowly beginning to emerge from the darkness.Suddenly, a strong morning wind passed over the treetops, and the forest immediately came alive with a clamor.The century-old pine made a low rustling sound, one after another, and then the branches trembled, and the dry frost fell from these branches with a soft rustling sound. The sudden wind suddenly calmed down again.The woods were frozen numb again, stiff and motionless.Soon, various sounds resounded in the pre-dawn forest: the mournful howling of wolves in the nearby glade, the restrained quarreling of foxes, and the unsure pecking of newly awakened woodpeckers.The forest was silent, so the wood pecking sounded pleasant, as if the pecking was not a wooden trunk, but a wooden hollow violin.

The needles on the tops of the pine trees were thick and solid, and the wind made a strong noise on these needles.The sky gradually became brighter, so the last batch of stars disappeared silently, and the sky became a whole, no longer sparse; the forest finally shook off the remaining darkness on it, and stood majestically , covered in emerald green.The top of the pine tree is curly, and at first it gradually turns purple together with the spruce spruce, and then it begins to shine brightly, from which it can be imagined that the sun has risen in the east now, and the day will be clear and cloudless. It was freezing cold.

It was broad daylight, and the wolves had retired to the forest to digest their night's prey; and the fox, hastily leaving the glade, left straggly tracks on the snow, strange as lace.The old forest began to stir up, these sounds are very rhythmic and continuous; this sound sounds panic, melancholy, rolling like a microwave for a long time, very monotonous, only the chirping of birds, the beeping of woodpeckers The noise of the forest is enriched by the pecking of wood, the cheerful chirping of yellow tits as they fly from branch to branch, and the very dull quacking of osmanthus birds.

In an alder bush a magpie was wiping its black beak off a branch.Suddenly, it turned its head, tilted its body, and became alert, then squatted down again, as if it was about to fly away.There was a creaking sound from the branches, which was frightening, and I didn't know what it was.The thing was tall and strong, and it wanted to go through the forest before it knew its way.There was a series of snapping snaps of broken branches in the bushes, and the tops of the small pines were covered with frozen snow and gradually fell.The magpie spread its arrow-like feathers, screamed, and flew away.

From the needles covered with a layer of morning frost protruded a long brown face with a pair of horns with many branched ethers on its head.It looked at the clearing in the forest with horror in its eyes.The elk's nose twitched convulsively, exhaling very anxiously hot breath. This old elk stands like a statue in a clearing in the forest.It has only matted clumps of hair on its back, which vibrate nervously.Its ears are very sensitive and can pick up all kinds of sounds, even the sound of small beetles eating dead trees.But in this forest, his ears are so sensitive, he can hear nothing but the chirping of birds, the pecking of woodpeckers, and the monotonous harmony in the tops of the pine trees.

Its sense of hearing is weakened, but its sense of smell warns of danger.The snow melted and gave off a fresh fragrance, but this fragrance was mingled with many unpleasant smells, pungent and unpleasant, which were unknown to this dense forest.The black eyes of this beast were sad, and it found a group of black figures on the dazzling fish-like frozen snow, so it tensed up, stiffened and moved, ready to leap into the forest.However, these figures did not move at all. You squeezed me, I squeezed you and lay on the snow, and some people overlapped each other.Although there were many of them, none of them moved, and no one broke the deathly silence.Strange things stood high in the nearby snowdrifts, and they gave off a horribly strong, pungent smell.

The elk was standing on the edge of the forest, dumbfounded, not sure what had happened to the group—they were silent, motionless, and seemed utterly threatening. A noise in the air caught the beast's attention.It was trembling all over, the skin on its back trembled, and its hind legs curled up even tighter. But the sound was not so alarming; it seemed to be the humming bass of some May chafers as they whirled among the birch foliage which was beginning to green.This deep voice is accompanied by some rattling sounds from time to time, short and unique, it seems to be the cry of long-legged crakes in the swamp when it is getting dark, intermittent.

It turned out that they were beetles, dancing and dancing under the freezing blue sky, their wings were shining.The long-legged crake stands on a high place and crows constantly.One beetle swooped down with its wings still unfolded, while the others danced and danced under the blue sky.The elk relaxed its tense muscles and licked the frozen snow in the glade, squinting at the sky.Suddenly, another beetle flew away from the dancing insects, and flew straight to the clearing, with a thick, floppy tail trailing behind it.The beetle grew so huge at once that the elk had just jumped into the bush when a gigantic thing--bigger than any sudden storm in the autumn sky--swift down on the top of the pine tree, Then it fell to the ground with a "bang", shaking and roaring the entire forest.The echo quickly spread far away from the treetops, surpassing the elk that was desperately drilling into the dense forest.

The echo died away in the green conifers.Glittering frost fell from the treetops, struck by falling planes.The deathly silence lasted for a long, long time, and the forest was enveloped by this kind of silence.But in the stillness one could clearly hear the groaning and moaning of a man, and the crunching of a bear's paws on the frozen snow.The great boom and crack caused the bear to flee from the forest to the clearing. It was an old bear, big and shaggy, with dirty brown splinters on its shriveled waist and icicles hanging from its bony haunches.This area has been on fire since autumn, and the war has even penetrated into this dense forest where logging is prohibited.The forest used to be visited only by the rangers and hunters when they dropped by, and only occasionally.Still in the fall, nearby fighting gunfire startled the bear from its den, which in turn disrupted its hibernation.Therefore, it is now hungry and fierce, wandering restlessly in the forest.

At the edge of the forest, the bear stopped, standing exactly where the elk had just stood.It calls out the footprints left by elk, and the footprints seem to exude a delicious smell.It breathed heavily, and its thin flanks twitched accordingly.It also listened carefully.The elk was gone, but there was a sound nearby, which might have been made by a creature with very weak vitality.The thick, thick fur on the beast's neck stood up, and its face elongated.From the edge of the forest came the plaintive voice again, so weak it was barely audible. Xiong walked gently and cautiously towards the figure stuck in the snow.But the figure remained motionless.The frozen snow is dry and thick, crunching and sinking under the bear's paws...

2 Pilot Alexei Milesyev was caught in a double "clamp".This very bad situation is common in aerial combat.When all the ammunition was gone, he was practically unarmed when four German planes surrounded him.They wouldn't let him run away, or change course, but lead him to their own airfield... It all turned out to be like this.In order to cooperate with "Ine" to raid the enemy's airport, Captain Milesyev commanded a group of fighter planes to fly out.The brave surprise attack was carried out with great success.Attack planes, these "aircraft tanks" (as the infantrymen called them), almost skimmed over the treetops, and flew silently straight to the airfield, where many large "Junker" transports were parked, a line of arranged in rows.The gray forest is jagged, and attack planes suddenly flew out from behind the forest, quickly flying over the heavy bodies of these "big vehicles", and at the same time machine guns and machine guns rained down on these "big vehicles" Strafe and drop bombs with long tails.Milesyev commanded four aircraft to ensure the success of the air strike over the target.From the air, he could clearly see how some black-spotted figures ran around in panic at the airport, how the transport plane started to scurry around on the snowy ground of the runway regardless of others, how the attack plane hit again and again, and finally managed to escape. How the composure of the "Junker" pilot drove the plane to the starting line under the fire, and then lifted the plane into the air. ① "big car", here refers to the large "Junker" aircraft, to show its big and stupid. Alexei made a big mistake at the time. He should have been serious about defending the airspace of the attack site, but he was confused by a small prey - this is according to the pilot - a clumsy and heavy plane The "cart", moving slowly, just left the ground.Milesyev immediately swooped down, rushed towards it, and contentedly fired several long bursts of bullets into its fuselage. The body of the "big cart" is square and colorful, and it is made of wrinkled hard aluminum alloy.He was so confident that he didn't even look at the situation where the enemy plane fell to the ground.At this moment, another "Junker" plane struggled to escape into the air at the other end of the airport, and Alexei immediately went after it.He attacked for a while, but couldn't bring it down.His line of fire galloped past the top of the fuselage that was slowly flying high into the sky.He turned quickly and attacked again, but again in vain; once more he overtook the prey, firing hard at its cigar-shaped bulk with all the weapons on board, until it was over the forest. It hits down.This forest is vast and boundless, like an undulating blue sea. At this time, a thick smoke rose from the blue sea.After shooting down the "Junker" plane, Alexei proudly turned twice over the forest, preparing to fly back to the German airfield. However, it was impossible for him to fly there, and he saw the other three fighters of his group engaging nine Michels.These planes may have been dispatched by the German airport command center to counter the surprise attack of fighter planes.The Germans outnumbered them twice.The pilots bravely launched an attack on the enemy, trying to lure the enemy away from the attack aircraft.As they fight, they lead the enemy further and further out, just as the hen feigns injury to keep the hunters from catching her chicks. ① "Michiel" brand aircraft is a well-known fighter aircraft of the German army in World War II. Alexey was so ashamed that he should be charmed by the allure of a small prey that even his cheeks under his flying cap turned red.He picked an opponent, gritted his teeth, and threw himself into the fight hastily.He saw a Michel leave the fleet.Obviously, it is also looking for prey.Alexei accelerated the flight of the "jack" ① vigorously, and rushed towards the enemy from the flank.He launched an attack on German aircraft in strict accordance with combat procedures.When he pulled the trigger, he could clearly see the gray fuselage of the enemy plane through the reticulated reticle of the sight, but it passed by safely.Impossible to miss!It's very close, and it's very, very clear.At this moment, Alexei suddenly remembered "ammunition"!Immediately he felt a cold sweat run down his spine.He tried to squeeze the trigger, but he didn't hear the quavering click that pilots experience wholeheartedly when they fire an aircraft's guns.Out of ammo!He used up all his ammunition in pursuit of those "big cars". ① A small fighter. But the enemy may not know this situation yet!Alexei made up his mind: to go into the battle of bullets and bullets unarmed, so that at least it can reduce the disparity in the ratio of the strength of the enemy and the enemy in terms of numbers.But he was wrong: the pilot who flew the fighter plane he failed to attack was very experienced and observant.The German saw that Alexei's plane was out of action and gave instructions to his companions.Then four "Michel-Schmidt" planes withdrew from the battle, surrounded and pinched Alexei from both sides, from top to bottom, and opened a path for him in the blue sky with their firepower. The clear route forced him into a double "clamp" state. That was a few days ago, and Alexei had heard about it: the famous German "Lichtergofen" flying division flew here from the west - the old Russa district, and it was equipped with fascist The best flying expert in the empire, and he was personally commanded by Goering.Alexei realized that he had fallen into the clutches of these wolves in the air.It was obvious that their intention was to lure him to their own airfield and force him to land in order to take a live prisoner.This kind of thing happened often at that time, and Alexei had seen it with his own eyes.A fighter group, under the command of his friend Andrei Teggarenko, a recipient of the title of "Hero of the Soviet Union", once brought a German reconnaissance plane back to its own airport and landed. In an instant, the scene of the German prisoner appeared in Alexei's memory: the face was stretched out, the paleness was blue, and the gait was unsteady. "Being a prisoner? Never! It's simply impossible!" He had made up his mind. However, they won't let him get rid of it.As soon as he showed the slightest tendency to deviate from his assigned course, they repeatedly fired machine guns to correct his course.At this time, the face of the captured long sailor flashed before his eyes again: the face was distorted, the jaw trembled, revealing some kind of unseemly instinctive fear. Gritting his teeth, Milesyev stepped up the gas pedal and sent the plane flying sharply upwards, preparing to slip out from under the German plane that was above it pushing him to the ground.He rushed out of the escort crew!However, the German pulled the trigger just in time, and his engine failed, and then began to shake uncontrollably, and the whole plane gradually began to shake like a fatal fever. The plane was hit by them!Alexei swerved quickly into an indistinct cloud, confusing the pursuing aircraft.But what to do next?The pilot felt the shudder of the damaged plane all over his body, as if the shudder was not the last struggle of a damaged engine, but a fever that made his own body shiver. Where was the motor damaged?How long can a plane stay in the sky?Will the fuel tank explode?All these questions Alexey did not think about, but experienced them intensely.He felt as if he were sitting on a pile of dynamite, and the tongue of flame was already moving rapidly towards the explosive along the fuse.So, he put the plane on the return route, flew to the front line of the Soviet army, and flew to his own people, so that in case of misfortune, at least his own people could bury it with his own hands. The end came right away: the motor fell silent and lost its voice.The plane seemed to be galloping down from a dangerous peak, stabbing down hard.The forest below the plane is vast and boundless, with light green waves surging like the sea... When the nearby trees were connected into a long strip and flew under the wing, the pilot had a bottom line: "After all, there is no Captured!" At this moment, the forest rushed towards him like a beast, and he subconsciously turned off the engine.There was a warm snapping sound, and everything disappeared in an instant. He and the plane seemed to have fallen into the turbid black water. When the plane fell, it hit the top of a pine tree, which weakened the impact of the plane.The color machine broke several trees, and it was also smashed to pieces.But an instant before that, Alexei bounced out of the cabin, was thrown into the air, and then landed on the top of a century-old spruce tree, and slid down the branch quickly, falling under the tree, where There is a windblown snowdrift.he was saved... Alexey could not remember how long he had been lying there immobile and unconscious.Some vague figures, outlines of buildings, and strange cars flashed fast and dangled before his eyes; and because they moved like a whirlwind, he felt a dull ache all over his body, which was so painful that it made people feel dizzy.Then out of the chaos came some hot, indistinct monstrosity, blowing stinking steam at him.He tried to avoid it, but his body was completely sunk in the snow and he couldn't move.Tormented by involuntary fear, he jerked—and suddenly felt a chill in his lungs, icy snow on his cheeks, and a terrible pain in his feet. "Alive!"—the thought flashed through his mind.He moved again, trying to stand up, when he heard the frozen snow beside him being stepped on by someone and making a crackling sound and a hoarse breathing sound. "Germans!" He immediately guessed: "A prisoner, in the end, I still want to be a prisoner!... What should I do?" He tried his best to restrain himself, and did not open his eyes and did not jump up to defend himself. He thought of his mechanic Yura - a generalist.Yura tried to sew the belt on the holster of his broken pistol yesterday, but it was not done; he had to put the pistol in the trouser pocket of his overalls when he flew out.Now to take it, you have to turn your body sideways. Of course, it is impossible to do it without the enemy noticing.Alexei lay prone, he felt the pistol hard on his thigh.But, as he lay still, the enemy would have passed him off as dead if possible. The German lingered for a while, sighed strangely, went up to Milesyev again and bent down, making the frozen snow creak.Alexei smelled the foul breath again.At this time, he understood: there is only one German, and escape is possible in this situation-spy on the enemy, jump up and grab his throat tightly, and prevent him from firing, then he can fight against the enemy. Fighting with German soldiers in one place... But this must be done carefully and foolproof. Alexei did not change his position, slowly opened one eye a little, and he saw through drooping eyelashes.In front of him was not a German, but a brown thing.He opened his eyes wider, and immediately squinted them tightly: in front of him was a big bear, thin and disheveled, sitting on the ground. 3 In a snowdrift that gleamed faintly with blue light in the sun.There was a motionless human figure, and beside him the bear sat as silently as only wild beasts can. Its dirty nostrils twitched slightly, and from the slightly open mouth one could see that the teeth were old and yellow, but still powerful; a thin stream of thick saliva flowed down, followed by The wind blows. The bear was driven out of the hibernation cave by the war. It was hungry and fierce, but the bear would not eat the dead.It sniffed the lying body, smelled the pungent gasoline smell, and walked lazily towards the clearing in the forest.There, too, lay many such bodies lying motionless, frozen in ice and snow.A moan and a rustle drew it back again. It sits right next to Alexei.Unbearable hunger and disgust for dead human flesh struggled in its heart, and hunger won.The beast took a breath, stood up and turned the person in the snowdrift over with the soles of its feet, and tore the "ghost skin" of the flying suit with its paws, without even moving the flying suit.Bear growled.At that moment Alexei had a hard time suppressing the desire to open his eyes, to hide, to scream, to push the filth off his chest.He wanted to resist violently with all his heart, but at the same time he forced himself to reach into his pocket slowly and imperceptibly, touched the wrinkled handle of the pistol, and carefully opened the safety with his thumb so as not to make a sound , and began to quietly withdraw his armed hands. ①A very strong material that can be used to make coats. The Beast yanked on the flight suit even harder. The solid material made a cracking sound, but it hadn't been torn yet.The bear roared wildly, bit his flying suit with his teeth, and bit his body through the clothes and cotton wool.Alexei endured the pain with strong will, and at the moment when the beast dragged him out of the snowdrift, he quickly raised the gun and pulled the trigger. The muffled gunfire evoked a booming echo. A magpie flew up and flew away quickly.Snow fell from the disturbed branches.Slowly the beast let down its prey.Alexei fell into the snow, his eyes still fixed on the enemy: he sat on his hind legs, confusion froze in his festered black eyes covered with fine hairs, a stream of dark blood flowed between his big teeth, dripping onto the snow.It let out a horrible hoarse cry, and stood up on its hind legs awkwardly.Alexei did not have time to fire another shot.It involuntarily fell into the snow.The pale blue frozen snow slowly covered a layer of red and melted.There was a slight heat coming out from the beast's head.The bear died. Alexei's tension relaxed, and he felt a sharp, burning pain in his feet again, and then he lost consciousness and fell on the snow... The sun was high when he awoke, shining through the conifers on the frozen snow, and even the snow in the shadows looked blue instead of blue. "Why, I seem to have seen a bear or something?" This was Alexei's first thought. The body of a disheveled, dirty brown beast lay on the light blue snow beside it.The forest is noisy, woodpeckers are pecking the bark loudly, and several flexible yellow-bellied tits are jumping in the bushes, chirping crisply. "Alive, alive, still alive!" - Alexei kept thinking.Furthermore, his whole being, his whole being, was permeated with a feeling of intoxication for life.This feeling is magical and intense, and it comes to a person after a fatal danger, and it still holds the person firmly. Following this powerful feeling, he jumped up with both feet, but immediately groaned and sat down on top of the dead bear.The sharp pain in his feet spread through his whole body.My mind was also humming and clamoring heavily, like a few rough and uneven millstones turning inside, rumbling, shaking my mind.The eyes are sore, it seems like someone is squeezing them with a finger on the eyelid.Everything around, sometimes appeared clearly and brightly, bathed in the cold yellow sunlight; sometimes disappeared, covered with a layer of sparkling gray. "Oops, I probably got hurt from the shock when I fell down, and there was something wrong with my feet." Alexei thought. He lifted himself up and surveyed in wonder a vast field that emerged from behind the edge of the forest and was interrupted on the horizon by a blue semicircle of forest in the distance. Probably in autumn, or to be more precise in early winter, there was a line of defense across the field along the edge of the forest, and a group of Red Army fought on this line, not for a long time, but tenaciously, the so-called Persevere desperately.The blizzard covered the scars on the ground with the congealed cotton snow, but it was still easy to see under the snow that there were trenches like burrows of voles, mounds of defeated firepower points, and many large and small bullet holes. , these catapults are closely connected to the edge of the forest.The trees that were damaged by the bombing and the roots that were blown up or pulled out can be seen everywhere.Across the devastated field, several tanks painted the color of pike scales froze here and there in the deep snow.All these tanks, especially the last one, were probably blown over by mines or grenades, so that its long barrel hung like a protruding tongue and dragged to the ground like the corpse of an indescribable monster .And all over the fields—on the parapets of the shallow trenches, beside the tanks, and on the edge of the forest—the remains of Red Army soldiers lay intermingled with those of German soldiers.There were so many corpses that in some places they overlapped each other.A few months ago, when it was still winter, these people suddenly met their death in battle, and they were frozen by the severe cold, and they just lay like this. All of this tells Alexei how tenacious and fierce the battle here is, and his comrades are fighting without regard for life and death, to stop the enemy and prevent the enemy from passing.On the edge of the forest not far away, there was a thick pine tree whose top had been cut off by shells. The severed tall trunk was skewed, and transparent yellow resin was flowing.Just beside this pine tree lay several Germans with their heads smashed and their faces mutilated.In the middle was a tall young man, without a coat, with a round face and a big head, in a civilian uniform with a ripped neckline, without a belt, and beside him was a rifle with a broken bayonet. The shattered butt was stained with blood.The corpse of this young Red Army lay on his back on an enemy. Further on is the road leading to the forest. On a small fir tree that is full of sand on the side of the road, a dark-skinned Uzbek is also lying on his back on the edge of the bomb crater, half of his body in the bomb crater.He has a handsome face, as if carved out of old ivory.Behind him peeped out from under the fir branches a neatly arranged stack of unused grenades.He still held a grenade in his dead hand, holding it back, as if he had decided to glance at the sky before throwing it, and so froze. A little further on, along the road in the forest, near the wreckage of several mottled tanks, on the slope of the large crater, in the small shelter, beside the old tree stump, there are corpses everywhere.They wore quilted jackets and trousers, dirty green military jackets, and angular boat-shaped hats pressed to the ears for warmth; their bent knees and backward chins protruded from the snowdrifts; they were bitten by foxes. The sallow face that had been eaten by magpies and crows melted from the frozen snow. A few crows circled slowly over the clearing in the forest. This scene reminded Alexei of the solemn and tragic picture of Igor's expedition, which appeared in elementary school history textbooks. Copies of paintings by great Russian artists. "Otherwise I'd be lying there too!" he thought to himself, and his whole being was filled again with a strong desire to live.He cheered up, but the rough and uneven millstone in his head was still turning slowly, and his feet were hotter and more painful than before.But Alexei was already sitting on the bear carcass—it had grown cold and silvered with snow—and began to think about what to do, where to go, and how to reach his vanguard. He lost his map when he fell, but even without a map Alexei could clearly remember today's route.The German field airfield that the fighter planes were going to raid was located about 60 kilometers west of the front line. His pilots used air combat to pin down the German fighter planes and successfully led them out of the airport about 20 kilometers east. "After flying east for a while, he fell about 35 kilometers from the front line, far behind the German advance division - it was in the huge so-called Black Forest area.He had to pass through this forest many times when accompanying bombers and fighters in surprise attacks on the nearby German rear.Seen from above, the forest looks like an endless blue sea.In good weather, the tops of the pine trees in the forest swirl like hats; in bad weather, it is shrouded in a gray mist, giving the impression of a dark and calm water, with waves coming from it. Roll over. He fell in the middle of this forbidden forest, which was both good and bad.The good thing is that you may not meet Germans in this virgin forest, because they generally like to walk on the road and inhabited places; the bad thing is that you have to walk a short but extremely difficult road along the dense forest. It is impossible for someone to help in this kind of place, even a piece of bread, a shelter, a mouthful of boiling water, not to mention feet... Can the feet stand up?Can I go... He rose gently from the bear's carcass, and as the sharp pain from his feet ran through him from bottom to top, he cried out suddenly and had to sit down again.He tried to take one of his boots off, but could not, and every violent effort made him groan with pain.Alexei gritted his teeth, squinted his eyes, and with all his strength pulled off his boots with both hands, but at the same time he lost consciousness.After waking up, he carefully opened the fleece foot wrap, and the whole foot was swollen, almost like a large bruise.It was so hot that every joint ached.Alexey put his feet on the snow, and the pain began to ease a little.With equal force, he pulled the second boot off as if pulling his own tooth. Your feet are useless!Apparently something pinched his foot when the plane hit the top of the pine tree and ejected him from the cockpit, crushing the small bone in the dome toe.Of course, in normal times he wouldn't have stood up on those broken, swollen feet, but now he was alone in the forest, behind the enemy's rear, and meeting people in such a place was no guarantee of relief. Difficult, but to die.So he decided to go, go east, through the forest, but not to find the easy way and the way in the populated place, no matter what the cost. He resolutely jumped up from the dead bear, groaned in pain, and took the first step with his teeth clenched.After standing for a while, he pulled the other foot out of the snow and took another step.There was a roar in his head, the forest and the clearing shook slightly, and moved to the side. Alexey felt that he was weak from tension and pain.He bit his lip and continued walking, desperately walking towards the road in the forest.The road went past the wrecked tank, past the Uzbek man with the grenade, into the depths of the forest, to the east.It was fine to walk on the soft snow, but once the hard bumps in the road were encountered, the pain was so unbearable that I had to stop and dare not take another step forward.He just stood there with his feet splayed, as if he were staggered by the wind.Suddenly everything in front of my eyes turned gray, the road, the pine trees, the dark blue needles, and a thin rectangle of light blue light on the needles... all disappeared.Standing next to one of the planes at the airfield—the one he was flying—his mechanic, or “technician,” as he called him, Yura, lanky, with gleaming teeth and the whites of his eyes—they were His unshaven, constantly smudged face always glows—pointing to him with an inviting gesture to the cockpit, hinting that it's ready, let's take off... Alexei steps towards the plane He took a step, but the ground was burning, and his feet hurt, as if he was walking on a hot iron board.He slammed into the icy fuselage in a sudden rush across the fiery ground to the cockpit, which surprised him: it wasn't painted smooth, it felt like rough, veneered pine Skinny... There was no plane at all, he was on the road, groping with one hand on a tree trunk. "Is it a hallucination? I'm delirious from the concussion," thought Alexey. "It's unbearable to walk along the road. Turn off where no one has been? But it would take a lot of walking." Less road..." He sat down on the snow, and with that resolute snap took off his boots again, tearing the upper with his nails and teeth so that they wouldn't squeeze the bruised foot; Take a large down angora wool scarf, tear it in half, wrap your feet around your feet, and put on your boots. It is much more convenient to walk now.不过，走——这种说法是不对的：不是走，而是移动，小心翼翼地移动，好像是走在沼泽地上那样用脚后跟踩下去而把脚掌高高地抬起。因为疼痛和紧张的缘故，走了几步，头就开始眩晕起来，他只好闭上眼睛，背靠树干站着休息，或者坐在雪堆上休息，同时感觉到脉搏在剧烈地跳动着。 他就这样挪动了几个小时。可是他回首环顾时，在林中小径的尽头处依旧可以看见被阳光照耀着的道路拐弯的地方，在那边，像小黑点似的乌兹别克人的尸首还突出在雪中。这使得阿列克谢很伤心，的确使他伤心，而不是使他吃惊。他想走得再快些。他从雪堆上站起来，咬紧牙关往前走，并在前面指定一些小目标，把注意力集中在它们身上——从一棵松树到另一棵松树，从一个树墩到另一个树墩，从一个雪堆到另一个雪堆。在荒凉的林中之路的白雪上，他的身后蜿蜒着一串无精打采的、弯弯曲曲的、模模糊糊的脚印，像是一只受伤的野兽所留下来的。 4 他就这样移动着直到傍晚。在阿列克谢背后，慢慢往下落去的太阳把日落时的寒冷的火焰投射到了松树梢上，林中的灰色暮霭也开始变得浓厚起来。这时，在边上丛生着刺柏树的谷地里像是谁给阿列克谢展开了一幅画。他一看到这幅画立刻就感到好像有人用湿毛巾给他沿着背脊一直擦到脖子似的，连飞行帽底下的头发都竖了起来。 大概当时在林中空地上进行过战斗，谷地里的刺柏丛中大约驻扎着一个卫生连。有人把伤员运到这里，卫生员就迅速地把他们安置在针叶做的枕头上。他们现在也就这样一排排地躺在灌木丛的树荫下，有的半截被雪埋着，有的浑身落满了雪。一眼看上去就明白，他们不是因伤而死，而是有谁迅速地挥刀整个地切断了他们的喉咙。他们躺着的姿势都一样，头向后偏得很厉害，仿佛是努力要张望一下他们背后发生了什么事似的。这幅恐怖图画的内涵是一目了然的！在松树下，有一具被雪掩埋着的红军战士的尸体，在他的旁边坐着一位齐腰埋在雪里的护士。她是个柔弱的姑娘，戴着一顶用细带子在下巴上打了个结的风帽。她把那个战士的头放在自己的膝盖上。她的肩胛骨中间露出一把亮光闪闪的刀柄。旁边，有一个穿着党卫队黑色军服的德国人和一个头上扎着满是血迹的纱布的红军战士僵死在那儿，他们在最后的决死战斗中互相掐着对方的喉咙。阿列克谢立刻明白了：是这个穿着黑衣服的人用刀子结束了那些伤员的生命，刺死了护士，但立刻就被他还没来得及杀死的人抓住了。那个人把他将要熄灭的生命里的全部力量都倾注在手指上，紧紧地掐住了敌人的喉咙。 暴风雪就这样埋葬了他们——一位戴着风帽、用自己的身躯护卫伤员的柔弱的姑娘和这两个人，即刽子手与复仇者。他们在姑娘那穿着老式宽统靴的脚旁互相厮打着。 密列西耶夫惊讶地站了一会儿，尔后一瘸一拐地来到护士面前，拔出她身上的短剑。这是一把党卫队的佩刀，铸成古日耳曼宝剑的样式，红木柄上镶有镀银的党卫队的标志，生了锈的刀上还保留着题词“Alles fur Deutschland”①。阿列克谢从党卫队员身上解下皮制的刀鞘，在路上刀是必要的。后来他从雪底下扒出一件被冰冻得铁硬的防雨衣，用它小心地盖住那护士的尸首，又在上面放了一些小松树枝…… ①德文，意思为“一切为了德意志”。 在他做着所有这一切的时候，天色已经变黑，树木中间透出的亮光在西边熄灭了，浓密而寒冷的黑暗宠罩着谷地。这里很静很静，只有晚风在松树梢上飘动，森林的喧嚣有时就像使人平静下来的催眠曲，有时则使人感到急躁、惊恐。轻轻的簌簌作响的并且微微刺痛人脸的小雪花在谷地里飘着，不过眼睛已看不见。 阿列克谢生长在位于伏尔加草原的卡梅欣城，他是城里人。根本没有经历过森林里的事，因此，既不关心过夜的事，也没想到篝火。他突然被伸手不见五指的黑暗包围了，同时那被弄坏了的、非常累的双脚又感到难以忍受的疼痛。他没有力气再去找寻燃料，就钻到浓密的小松林里，坐在树底下，浑身缩成一团，把脸藏在用手环抱着的双膝中间，还用自己的呼吸取暖。他呆然不动，贪婪地享受着已经到来的寂静和安宁。 打开保险的手枪虽已准备好，但是在森林中度过的这第一个夜晚，阿列克谢未必会用到它。他睡得像石头似地很死，无论是均匀的松涛声，还是在路边呻吟的猫头鹰的叫声，或者是远处的狼曝——浓密的、不可渗透的、紧紧包围着他的黑暗中所充满的林中的那些声响，他一声也没听见。 灰色的晨曦微微地闪光，近处树木模糊的侧影刚从严寒的雾中出现，这时他好像被人推了一下似地醒来了。醒来后他想起了自己发生了什么事、在哪儿，并因为这样大胆地在森林中度过一夜而感到害怕。潮湿的寒气透过了“鬼皮”和飞行服的皮衣一直侵袭到骨头，他控制不住自己，浑身微微地颤抖着。最糟糕的是脚：现在一点也不能动，它们比以前疼得还要厉害。一想到必须要站起来他就很恐惧。然而，他还是像昨天脱掉靴子那样坚决地猛地一跳站了起来。时间很宝贵！ 阿克谢在遭受所有这些威胁的同时，又加上了饥饿。还是在昨天，他在用防雨衣遮盖那护士的尸首时就发觉到了她旁边有一只印着红十字的帆布袋，但已经有什么小野兽在里面折腾过，在那被咬破的小洞边的雪地上有些碎渣。昨天阿列克谢几乎没注意到这些。今天他捡起了这个布袋，那里面有些绷带包，一大听罐头食品，一束什么人的来信，一面小镜子，镜子的后面镶嵌有一位瘦老太太的照片。能看得出来，袋子里原来还有面包或面包干，但是鸟或野兽把它们全吃掉了。阿列克谢把罐头食品和绷带分别放在飞行衣的口袋里，同时自言自语地说：“谢谢你，亲爱的！”这姑娘腿上的防雨衣被风吹下来了。他重新把它盖好，接着便往东蹒跚而去，在树枝交织成的网后面，东方已经燃起橙黄色的火焰。 他现在有一听一公斤重的罐头食品，他决意一昼夜吃一次，在中午时吃。 5 为了减轻每走一步给他造成的痛苦，他开始考虑和计算自己的路程，借此转移自己的注意力。假如一昼夜行走十公里到十二公里，那么他三天，至多四天就能回到自己人那里。 这样，很好！他继续往下考虑：走十公里到十二公里意味着什么？一公里，这相当于两千步，那么十公里就是两万步，而这真是太多了。如果考虑到每五六百步之后必须停下来休息的话…… 昨天阿列克谢为了缩短路程，给自己定了一些可以看得见的目标——一棵松树呀，一个树桩呀，路上的一个洼坑呀，然后努力向它们赶去，把它们当作休息地。现在他把所有这一切翻译成数字语言，改成数步子。他决定在两个休息地点之间移动一千步，即半公里，看表休息，不超过五分钟。这样，从日出到日落，即使很困难，他也能移动十公里左右。 但是，第一个一千步对他来说走得多么艰难啊！他想通过计数来转移自己的注意力以减轻痛苦，但是走了五百步后，他就乱套了，胡乱地数起来，因为除了灼热之痛和痉挛之疼以外不能想其他任何东西了。不过总算走过去了一千步！他连坐下来的力气都没有了，便伏卧在雪上并开始贪婪地舔着冻雪；又把前额和太阳穴紧贴在冻雪上；而太阳穴里面的血怦怦地跳动着。由于接触到冰寒，他感受到了一种难以言喻的幸福。 后来他哆嗦了一下，看了看表：秒针正在走五分钟的最后一圈。他惊恐地向它瞥了一眼，好像它走完了一圈时就该有某件令人恐怖的事要发生似的。当它一走完一圈，他立刻就双脚站立起来，呻吟着再往前移动。 快到中午时，透过浓密针叶丛的太阳光像一条条细丝线在半明半暗的森林里闪烁着，林中弥漫着浓烈的树脂味和强烈的融雪味，这时他总共完成了四段这样的路程。他索性坐在路当中的雪上，再也没有一点力气到达那株大白桦树的树身前，虽然它就倒在差不多伸手就能够得着的地方。他垂下肩膀，久久地坐着，什么也不去想、什么也看不见、什么也听不到，甚至连饥饿也没感觉到。 他喘了一口气，扔了几团雪到嘴里面，身体慢慢动弹起来，从口袋里取出生了锈的罐头筒，用那把刀把它打开。他拿了一块凝冻的、没有滋味的油脂放在嘴里，想把它咽下去，但它渐渐融化了。他嘴里感觉到了它的滋味，便突然觉得如此之饿，以至于费了好大劲才逼着自己放下罐头。仅仅是为了吞下去一点东西，他又开始吃雪。 在重新上路之前，他用刺柏树做了两根手杖。他拄着手杖走着，随着时间的推移，走起来越发地困难了。