Yelena; First Blood

Jelena "First blood"

Chapter one

It's the summer of 2018. At least that's what they calculated, according to the calendars they made themselves. She woke up thirsty in the dead of night. She lit up the kerosene lamp and went to the jug of water to have a glass of water. While having a sip of water, she glanced at her father's, now already empty bed and she teared up. It has been three days since he died. She buried him behind the house, right next to her mother who died four years ago from the same illness that took him as well as the other four billion people, eighteen years ago in the year 1999, the disease was called ''Millennial Plague''. She went to the weapon cabinet and took out the "Papovka" (Yugoslav copy of the SKS semiautomatic rifle). It was her father's, and now it belonged to her. Mom had an old double-barrelled shotgun but the barrel was burst so she threw it away. Aside from the "papovka", in the weapon closet, there was also her father's "Tetejac" (Zastava M 57 a Yugoslav copy of Tokarev pistol) and her little bow, arrows, and ammunition. She remembered how her father taught her how to handle the rifle, how to properly aim, how to maintain it, clean it, etc. When she took everything out, she took a good look at the boxes, to check if everything's okay and if something was damaged or corroded. On the ammo box for the "papovka", it said: 40 rounds, 7.62 rounds with M67 common grain, and a brass casing in the clip. She gathered all the ammo and put it in her bag, laid the "papovka" against the wall, and right next to it she put her bow and the quiver with the arrows. She took all the dried meat she could carry, the gas mask with filters, the Geiger counter and the backup batteries, and the first-aid equipment. She filled her flask with fresh water and began to change her clothes. She put on a uniform. By some miracle, two years ago, they found one that fit her, then she put on a vest and a steel plate in the front and back pocket of the vest. The plate should hold up against a 308 Winchester round. She almost forgot. From the closet, she took out a small letter that her "parents" left and put it in the inside pocket of her uniform, remembering she swore not to read it while they were alive. Before putting on the helmet, she looked at herself in the mirror. She had short, blonde hair, brown eyes, a few freckles around the nose, and pointy ears.

Yelena was, in fact, an elf. Her real parents died when she was still a baby, and the two people who found her raised her as their own child. At least that's what they told her when she was eleven. She had a feeling they kept some details about that fateful day from her. They told Jelena, on her twelfth birthday, that they always wanted to have children, but it turned out that her stepmother could not get pregnant. The only thing she had as a memento from her real parents was some Elven which they found in a small basket made of knitted prune. It was kept in a small metal box, in the closet where they kept the ammo. The blade itself was adorned with numerous, colorful crystals and was inscribed with symbols that were completely unknown to her.

She put on the helmet, and once more checked if she took everything she needed, she put on the bag, hung up the "papovka", the bow, put the "tetejac" in the sheath. She had no particular plan on where she was going. She only knew that the Elves were in the north of Vojvodina. At least, that's what her "father" told her. She took the dagger with her in hopes that one of the Elves might know whom it belonged to and find out who her parents were... if they don't kill her before that. Despite being an Elf, to them, she will most probably be just another human soldier and they will rain down arrows upon her before they notice her ears. She took all the maps they had, checked the weapons one more time, and left the house.

She turned around to have one last look at the house she grew up in, and slowly went to the creek, knowing there was the highway leading to Vojvodina nearby. When she crossed the small bridge over the creek, she noticed the wreckage of a passenger plane: JAT, Boing 727, overgrown with moss, split in two during the crash. She also noticed claw marks on the fuselage and cockpit, and burn marks on the wings. Before she moved closer to the wreckage, she pulled out the Geiger counter from her bag and measured the radiation. Luckily, it wasn't above normal, so she came about one meter to the plane, to have a look at the inside. Horrified, she saw the skeletal remains of the passengers, still tied to the now rotten seats. Some of them had arrows protruding out of their heads or chests, while the cause of death could not be determined for the others. Right next to the wreckage was a bigger pond where the frogs were croaking, of which some had six legs, and one of them had two heads, most probably as a result of the radiation eighteen years ago, Jelena presumed.