(1st Update)

Five days later, Major Vasily met those middle-aged men with withered yellow expressions and ragged clothes at the joint site as promised, the cold wind of the plateau had already scratched deep scratches on their faces, and their cloudy and gloomy eyes seemed to have long lost their desire for life, but when they saw Major Vasily's Soviet officer uniform, the original desperate eyes ignited the fire of longing for survival for the first time.

These were all prisoners of war in the camps who did not want to convert to Islam or join the jihadist armed forces, and they had to do the hardest labor in the camps, and they were completely dead after witnessing the direct shooting of their comrades who tried to escape. Become a silent slave, silently calculating how many days you have left to survive.

Almost every day, prisoners of war make a different choice between surviving and dying a despicable death.

Major Vasily, who greeted them, looked at the sack they were carrying behind them with some curiosity, and wanted to go over and touch it, but the other party took a few steps back at the same time, stared at him vigilantly, and asked in a somewhat rusty Russian, "Don't come here, what do you want to do?" ”

Vasily raised his hands, indicating that he had no malicious intent, and he asked innocently, "I am Major Vasily sent by the Soviet government to welcome you home, I have no ill intentions, I am just curious about what is in this backpack?" ”

"It's nothing, the bones of my comrades who died on the battlefield I put away." The voices of the prisoners of war were somewhat sad.

The eyes of the tall prisoner of war who walked in front suddenly brightened, and he shouted to stand upright, and everyone straightened their chests and looked at Major Vasily with resolute eyes. Then he raised his hands in unison and gave a neat military salute to Major Vasily.

"I am Lieutenant Kader of the Ninth Company, report to the sir, we did our best to hold the 3234 heights, all 103 people, 98 people were sacrificed, 5 people were captured, and no one evacuated."

Lieutenant Card's voice was hoarse and muddy, but it remained steadfast. With the whining of wind and sand, it looks particularly desolate in the dusk. These soldiers, who had long been forgotten on the battlefield, desperately longed for a response from their Fatherland and dreamed of one day returning to the bosom of the Soviets.

Major Vasily was so touched that he hugged Lieutenant Kader tightly, holding back his tears, and said in a heavy tone, "The war is over, children, I'll take you home." ”

Hearing the word "go home", Lieutenant Card, who finally couldn't hold on, knelt on the yellow earth, covered his face with his hands and cried loudly, the idea of living in the inhumane concentration camp for five or six years was to go home.

Islamin didn't look away, unwilling to look at the scene of life and death, perhaps the long-dead Bestrov in his heart remembered the summer when the bright flowers were in full bloom, and the Sasha girl in a white dress and playing the harmonica was waving to him.

At that time he was still very young, with dreams and loved people. Instead of waking up in his sleep, as he is now, he was accompanied only by the cold receiver of the Kalashnikov rifle, and the equally cold and silent moonlight. A war changed his fate, as well as countless young soldiers like him. Only occasionally I dream of my comrades-in-arms who sang together back then, and in the dream they were still very young and handsome like ice sculptures holding steel guns.

"Are you really not going with us? Islamin, after all, your mother, and the Motherland, they are still waiting for you to return. Major Vasily hesitated, but still wanted to ask for the other party's opinion.

Islamdin just shook his head, glanced at the horizon in the distance, picked up the rifle on the ground, and walked forward step by step, and only after five or six steps did he stop his progress, turn around and say, "No, if I go back, these lost soldiers will be even more difficult to find." At least in the north of Afghanistan, I was able to use General Sumad's connections to release some Soviet prisoners of war from the camps. With me, those soldiers can still go home. ”

Isram-ddin shouted a weed and said flatly, "From here to the border of Tajikistan is the northern territory of the Mujahideen, you follow me, and when you get to the border, you will use army helicopters to meet you, it is much safer than being shot down by those guerrilla javelin missiles here." After all, the appearance of the Hind helicopter has been imprinted in their hearts, and it has become a lingering nightmare. ”

"Okay." Major Vasily agreed to Islam Din's request, and in fact he also knew how difficult it would be to lead five Soviet prisoners of war through the north, and if he were not the head of the intelligence service of the Republic of Tajikistan in Afghanistan, who had a long-established network of contacts in the northern provinces of Afghanistan, it would be impossible to penetrate into the unknown heart of the war.

Over the next few days, a group of seven men began their trek through mountains and rivers, and Major Vasily took a different route from the uninhabited areas led by the previous informants, and Isram-uddin almost followed the posts set up by the mujahideen, and after he spoke to them in the Afghan language, the sentries at the checkpoint let them pass unconditionally.

In this way, the original tortuous distance became a straight line, and the distance traveled was shortened a lot. Major Vasily was even able to rest in towns and villages to replenish water. In the evenings, he used his spare time to provide psychological counseling and counseling to the prisoners of war, so that these people who had returned to the land of their homeland could adapt to the modern life of Moscow more quickly after they got rid of the nomadic way of life at sunset.

Unlike before he arrived, Major Vasily took only half the time to reach the junction between northern Afghanistan and the Tajik Republic. After seeing the watchtower at the border, Major Vasily finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Isram-Din stopped, opened the kettle and took a sip of water, then he pointed to the snow-white mountains in the distance, and said, "I will send you here, and after crossing those mountains you will reach the airbase on the southwestern border of Gorno-Badakhshan Oblast, which you are more familiar with than I am, Major Vasily." ”

"Yes." Major Vasily nodded, he raised his watch to look at the time, and said, "I have sent a message by radio, and a helicopter will come and pick us up later." ”

"Sending you here, my mission has been accomplished." Isramadin pressed his hat and said to Lieutenant Card, "Congratulations, you can finally return to the bosom of your homeland." ”

"Are you really not going with us? Islam Din. It's better to go back than to stay in this place where there is only loess and sand. Card asked again, and he had mixed feelings about the "Soviet traitor" who had cared for them the most in the prisoner of war camp.

"No, I still have a benefactor who is waiting for me." Islamdin said as he walked, his figure fading away, and at last he only raised his hand and waved his arm, and the stingy did not even turn his head, leaving them with a lonely back.

With tears streaming down his face, Islam Din whispered in a voice that only he could hear, take care.

Then the calm cliff suddenly picked up the wind, and the weeds on the ground were bent over by the strong wind.

Lieutenant Kad squinted his eyes and saw a Mi-24 Hind helicopter of his dreams soaring into the air on the rocky cliffs, the long-lost red star pattern on the fuselage that made his eyes hazy for a moment. Everyone raised their arms and cheered, and the captives, who seemed to have lost their passion six years ago, rejoiced in this moment.

The Hind helicopter with six rocket launchers came to a steady stop in the open space in front of them, and the pilot in the cab waved at the prisoners of war and said over a megaphone, "Soldiers, I have come to greet you, welcome back to the embrace of the motherland." ”

Lieutenant Card hugged the sack in his arms tightly, which contained not only the bones of the soldiers sleeping under the yellow earth, but also their souls that had long since died, Lieutenant Card inadvertently turned his head, and in the brilliant light of the sun, as if he saw the other ninety-eight comrades who had died in the ninth company, walking side by side, talking and laughing towards Lieutenant Card.

He even saw the company commander who had been blown in two by enemy mortars a long time ago, waving at him and chanting Lieutenant Card's name, even though he knew it was a hallucination, Lieutenant Card was still smiling and waving at them, tears rolling down his cheeks and muttering to himself.

"Comrades-in-arms, welcome home."