In his movements, there was nothing superfluous, no fuss, he acted as a mechanism. It forced to respect his strength and endurance, respect him, and at the same time, at some instinctive level, it frightened her, as if there was something alien to human nature in him. She suddenly remembered how easily he had survived a ninety percent fatal wound in his stomach, how he then got up from the floor and went down the stairs, mounted his horse… now the same thing. Maybe her father was right in something? And Karina started shaking. Now his hair no longer seemed beautiful to her, on the contrary, this green shade gave them some ominous color. And he was on his mind, strong, hardy. Did he really need her help? Well, maybe just to get out of the chamber. And then? Why did he follow her if he had a plan in his head? The plan of escape in the exact opposite direction. Why didn’t he immediately run to the hatch? Why were all these chases and killings needed? Why did he carry her everywhere with him? “I won’t manage without you.” And Karina suddenly clearly understood, he would manage, he would open the hatch, and this room… What were they doing in this underground hall? How did he find it? Wasn’t he waiting for salvation, for some friend from the other world? No, of course, she didn’t believe in the devil and all this nonsense… or she did. In such a gloomy atmosphere, it was not difficult to believe in anything. Why did he bring her here and sat down? What was he waiting for? Karina grabbed the bag, her hands went in a sway. Apparently, having heard her swarming, Nikto turned his head to her. He was still blind, and strangely enough it reassured her a little.

“I want to give myself an injection,” she explained, “with a restorative, or… my nerves have gone to hell.”

He pointed a finger at himself.

“Well, I'll give it to you too, just write what,” Karina handed him the notebook again, and this time, he wrote what she wanted from him. At last! Not “What day is it today?” or “I want to die.”

Karina was relieved to read the name of his usual “restorative”, which meant that Nobody was recovering.

She pulled out a clean syringe and an ampoule with a rather weak (according to Nikto, Arel, Lis and others) stimulant, Karina with difficulty, and it was terrible (it was good that Nikto couldn’t see this disgrace), at third attempt got into her vein, her hands were trembling. Then, hiding, as she decided, “her syringe,” she pulled out, as she thought, “infected” syringe of Nikto. She made a solution for him. He immediately reached out, as if seeing, was he guided by sounds or by smell?

“Do you want to try yourself?”

Nikto nodded, and Karina gave him a syringe. Well, his hands were free, though a heavy handcuff with a chopped chain remained on his right wrist, well, let him try it. If he so wants. He didn’t roll up his sleeve, as she expected, and didn’t do something else, any preparing. He just put a needle to his neck, somewhere under the collar and… ten seconds hadn’t passed when he held out an empty syringe to her.

“You… you… well, cool you are!”

And Nikto, she was ready to argue, tried to smile at her, a little out of the corner of his lips.

Karina felt the trip from the stimulants. They needed to move on, a picture of what to do cleared up in my head. They had to look for a way out. What was he waiting for?

“We have to look for a way out,” said Karina. She got up and went, ran somewhere, faster, or didn’t run. There were some kind of corridors, or she still had visions, and a bright light: “I found a way out! Output!” The light was melting before her eyes, like a mirage in the desert, again a wall, and Karina again wandered through the narrow and dark corridors: “Where is the exit?! Output! Output!” Some strange walls, Karina looked under her feet, near the floor there was something like a thin white strip. Gods! This was not paint, it was a thin slit and bright light was beaming from it, these walls, they were like a curtain around her! She just had to lift it, and everything was so simple, there was freedom! How could she not have guessed before?! Karina already saw the bright green grass of a hilly field, and the blue-blue sky, and the forest near the horizon, and most importantly this fresh wind stupefying with its purity!”