The car began to pick up speed very slowly, and in the meantime I was trying to figure out at what speed it is better to shift the gearbox and in what position should I put it? Regarding speed, it was definitely worth accelerating as long as possible, the faster it is, the better.

Looking at the selector, I realized that the choice is small: there was only the “D” position, and then the possibility of lowering by switching down again. A special piquancy of the situation was given by rain flooding the windshield, reducing visibility to a minimum.

Firmly clutching the steering wheel with wet hands, I peered at the road, occasionally glancing at the dashboard:

Now the speedometer shows 3 km / h

To the end of the mountain slope is approximately 1139 meters

The car continued to pick up speed confidently, and the rain poured more and more intensively outside the window. The arrow on the dim instrument panel slowly crept up.

I was more and more doubtful. What if the wheels stop and I get skidded? How long is the flight from this mountain? With every second it became more and more dangerous …

– I'm lucky!

I pressed the gear selector button and with force abruptly switched it to the “D” position, depressing the gas pedal all the way. The SUV, almost without jerking, started up and roared the engine.

Not believing my luck, I let off the gas, stopped the car, turned on the wipers and once again examined the instrument panel – everything worked fine. Confused only by an orange light bulb, indicating that gasoline is coming to an end. This car must have brutal appetites, you should be puzzled on this topic in the first place.

The radio tape recorder started playing, and the mood immediately improved. To an unfamiliar cheerful tune, I directed the car down the serpentine towards the city, on the way thinking about my past life, and what to do now

Almost two months have already passed since the beginning of the epidemic, and maybe more. I couldn't be more precise because I didn't remember exactly when it all started. Until today, I have been hiding in a construction town where workers were working on building a cell tower on the outskirts of the city of Leninsk-Kuznetsky.

For me, as for others, the end of the world (if you can call it that) came unexpectedly, but I was much more fortunate than many, because he found me in a relatively safe place. From the top of the mountain, on which the construction town settled, which has now become my refuge, it was clearly visible that something terrible was happening in the city. Fires and shots, and sometimes even explosions, have now become commonplace.

It all started with disturbing news reports that I watched in the morning, waking up in my hotel room. Every day there were more and more reports, and the events described in them looked more and more like fantastic plots from a horror movie. News releases so excited and occupied me that I had to be late for work, inspecting the next emergency inclusion of live broadcast. Very soon, the events taking place became so large-scale that all channels stopped broadcasting anything but them.

Two weeks passed before the horrors of the news spread to the streets of Leninsko-Kuznetsky. I have not yet encountered them, but only heard about the first infected from people with whom I spoke at work. And then one day, none of my employees came to the shift, calling and finding various excuses for this. In the city, single shots and the roar of automatic bursts were heard. The sirens did not stop day or night.