2

To Be Hunted

Eastern Russia, April 2092
“-Another cave-in has left 6 dead in the Vorkuta coal mine, which makes 27 incidents involving mines and oil rigs this year alone. After much deliberation, geologists and glaciologists have hypothesized that the structural failures are a result of the melting permafrost across the lower regions of the Arctic Circle. Furthermore, nearly 100 fatalities have been recorded in these regions, following the structural collapses. The World Health Organization has traced these deaths to a yet unidentified pollutant originating from the newly-exposed earth of these sites. Symptoms include dizziness, headaches, blurred vision, nausea, and, in fewer cases, blood loss in the form of severe nosebleeds. Many mines have already begun shutting down, and families relocating south of the Arctic Circle. All residents of Russia are advised to limit travel until we have more information on what this pollutant is and how the resulting illness is transmitted.”

Katya comes in and shuts the television off. She addresses the teens, seated on the couch, “It’s a curse, is what it is.”
“Oh c’mon, Mom, enough of your superstitions.” Dimitri interrupts her before she can begin her usual ramblings. “Lev’s dad is one of the oil rig engineers and says that it’s likely just gases from the cave-ins. Right, Lev?” She nudges her friend in the side, sitting next to her.
Lev is tall and muscular, with a buzzed head and deep brows. He’s intimidating until he opens his mouth, revealing a gap-toothed smile, “Yeah, I wouldn’t worry too much about it, my dad seems to think it won’t be a big deal for long. Sounds scarier than it is and seems confined to those mines. Also doesn’t help that the medical facilities up there are pretty bare-bones.”
She grumbles something under her breath, “I’d prefer if you two stayed in town to train until the next performance, but I know that won’t happen. The gods are angry with us for overstepping our boundaries. Best to stay as far away from that cursed land as we can and remember our offerings and prayers.” She looks at Lev, a flicker of suspicion in her face, not hidden by the wrinkles on either side of her eyes, “Regardless of what your father thinks, not everything can be solved by science and the human ego. You should consider yourself lucky that I let you stay here anyway.”
Lev laughs, “You want me to say thank you? We’ll just be extra careful tomorrow when we head to Verkhne. We’ll be staying at my parent’s second home and they’ve rented out the dance studio nearby so that it won’t have any visitors outside of our troupe. We’ll be effectively cut off from the outside world.”
Dimitri lunges across Lev to swipe the TV remote off the armrest of the couch where her mother left it and turns the TV back on, flipping through channels until she lands on a cartoon. “Can we enjoy our day off in peace now, Mom? Or are you going to send us to church next?”
Katya rolls her eyes and sulks out of the room.

The next day, Dimitri and Lev pack all of their dance and training gear as well as a month’s worth of clothing into Lev’s dark red SUV. Dimitri hugs her parents goodbye before climbing into the passenger seat. Mikhail is standing back, flipping her off from behind their parents’ backs. She returns the middle finger, much to the disappointment of her father, who steps forward and leans over the car’s passenger door.
“You’re sure all of your schoolwork is done and you won’t have any issues missing the last few weeks of school?” Alexei fills the view from the window as he bends down to address his daughter.
“Yes, Papa, I’ve been excused and won’t be behind at all when we start up again next term.” It’s clear they’ve been over this several times.
“Okay, then just be safe and be smart. Love you.”
“Love you too, I’ll see you at the show in a month?”
“We wouldn’t miss it for the world.” Her father pushes away from the SUV and steps away so that Lev can safely back out of the driveway.
One of the newest models, the vehicle hardly makes a noise as Lev presses the ignition button. It hums as they pull out of the driveway and Dimitri punches directions into the built-in GPS and then starts the soundtrack for their road trip. They spend the entire day driving northwest, only stopping a few times to use the restroom, recharge the vehicle, and grab snacks.
They make it to the city as the sun is beginning to set. Verkhne has become the largest city in the country, situated almost precisely in the center of Russia and the current base of operations for the world’s leading researchers of medicine and climate change. The melting ice has revealed much more than oil and ore.
Verkhne also happens to be the location of Dimitri and Lev’s next ballet performance. Their audience is to feature several international scouts, with the pressure of possibly being recruited for the most elite ballet troupe in the world. To say the least, the dancers have their work cut out for them in making sure they perform their best in the coming rendition of The Firebird.
As a result of the city’s size as well as evening traffic, Lev doesn’t manage to park the SUV at the house until the sun has completely gone down. A thick layer of smog hovers over the city and reflects the city lights back down, illuminating the region with a gray luster.
Lev shuts off the car and its headlights go out as well, revealing a dim light coming from behind the curtains of the front window. “Tasha must have made dinner for us.” He answers the question before Dimitri can ask. “I knew my parents would have her come by to make our meals but I didn’t think she would be in until morning. Anyway, I’m beat, wanna leave our shit in the car until tomorrow?”
“Gladly.” Dimitri yawns despite the fact that she was able to nap for most of the drive. “I could go for a shower, though, so I’ll grab my day pack. Want me to grab yours from the back as well?”
“Yeah, thanks.” He fumbles in his pocket for a house key and then slides out of the driver’s seat and towards the front door. Dimitri isn’t far behind with a couple of small backpacks.
Inside, they ditch their shoes in the foyer and move through to the kitchen, where there’s a note on the counter explaining how to reheat their food if it’s gone cold. They find it in the oven, which is off, but luckily their dinner is still warm; Tasha must have just recently left. Lev puts together two plates of quinoa, vegetables, and a mystery meat while Dimitri throws their bags in their respective bedrooms. She’s stayed in this house enough times to know which guest room she prefers.
“It’s too quiet in here, you guys still have that turn-table?” Dimitri has shuffled into the living room and hollers at Lev in the kitchen next door.
“Yep,” Lev yells back, “It’s been moved to the dining room, though. I’m bringing the food now.”
They meet in the dining room, offset from both the kitchen and living room, with entrances to both. Dimitri has found the cabinet of vinyls and scans over them until she lands on one that catches her eye. “Your parents really only listen to classical, huh? At least they have some good ones, albeit we’ve performed alongside most of these.”
“They wouldn’t have stuck their son in a leotard as a toddler if it weren’t the only thing they were passionate about.”
Dimitri laughs as she places the disc on the turn-table and steadily moves the needle into place. “Remember this show?” The silence is filled with the crackle of the record player and then swings into a soft orchestral introduction. “One of our first together, Ivan nearly dropped me towards the end of the show. Damn good thing we were in the back.”
“Oh yeah! I also remember him being a major dick and then throwing a fit when I got the part he wanted.”
They both laugh and find their seats across from each other at the dining table. The two of them chatter occasionally between bites, but the day of travel has left them tired and without much else to say. Dimitri tosses their dishes into the sink as they finish and mumbles about taking a shower before they figure out their upcoming rehearsal schedules.
“Don’t worry about it tonight, Tasha will probably have us up for breakfast plenty early and we can go over it then, I’m off to bed.” Lev doesn’t wait for confirmation before sneaking off to his own room for the night.

Just as predicted, Dimitri awakens the next morning to the sound of clattering dishes from the kitchen, echoing up through the hallway and through her closed door. The first rays of light are only barely seeping through the window curtains and, rolling over in bed, she checks the clock: not even 6am yet. She grumbles but slowly rises from the bed regardless.
It takes her some time in the bathroom to detangle the mess of dark hair that she was too tired to deal with after showering the night before. Once her hair is somewhat neat and pulled back into a loose braid, she’s able to wash the sleep out of her eyes. She hasn’t grown as tall as her parents, but she’s grown in strength, both physical and mental; all a result of extensive training from a young age. She’s confident as she locks eyes with herself in the mirror, preparing herself for the next month of even more extensive training, in hopes of a recruitment or sponsorship.
A knock on the bathroom door pulls her attention away from herself as the tired voice of her friend comes through, “I assume you’re up? Breakfast is ready.”
“Yeah yeah, I’m coming.” She finishes drying off her hands and face and heads out to the kitchen.
Lev is seated in the same place as last night and his family’s private chef is laying out scrambled eggs and toast. Tasha’s face is slender and pulled back by her hair, in a tight bun at the crown of her head. She’s about the same height as Dimitri, leaving her maybe a head or so above Lev in his seat, but he towers over most people on a good day. She smiles warmly as she greets Dimitri, leaning over to place hot tea next to both of their plates.
Tasha makes small talk as she moves to work on dishes and the teens eat their breakfast. “How was dinner last night? Still warm when you got here?”
Dimitri and Lev both mumble through full mouths.
“Good good,” It’s hard to tell if Tasha even understood them, “Well, what’d you think of the meat I prepared last night? It’s a new type of lab-made poultry, supposed to be the next best option for athletes in terms of lean protein. I thought the texture was a little off while cooking it, so if you didn’t like it, I can look for something else.”
“It was fine.” Lev pauses between bites of toast to answer more clearly this time, but Dimitri continues to just nod with her mouth full.
“Good good.” Her favorite phrase. “Well, I’ll leave you two to your meals then and head off to the store for lunch and dinner items. I’ll be back by the time you’re both done with morning practice.” She does one last wipe of the kitchen counter before retrieving several grocery bags and heading out the door. They can hear her vehicle hum to life and then fade away outside as Dimitri and Lev continue to wolf down their meals.
Once their plates are empty, the two of them lean back in their seats and take their time in drinking the bitter tea left in front of them. Dimitri is the first to speak up, “How far is the studio? Two miles?”
“Yeah, about. I figured we’d run to and from morning practice, but we can drive to the orchestra hall in the afternoons for rehearsal.”
She takes a sip before responding, “Sounds fine to me. You’re the one that hates running.”
“Girl, I hate all of our training most of the time, not like running four miles will make it much worse.”
“Well I hope your headphones are charged, because I’m not going to slow down to keep you company.”
Lev rolls his eyes in response and stands, “I put your luggage in the living room if you wanna unpack. Coach Yelchin called me earlier, told me to tell you that we don’t need to be there until 7:30. Now that I’m stuck being in charge of you since you were late to every practice last month.”
“Aye aye, Coach Yelchin.” Dimitri confirms to the absent person, “That’s perfect because I ate way too much to start running right away.”
It doesn’t take long for Dimitri to unpack and spend the rest of her free time in the morning stretching on the floor of her temporary bedroom. She’s playing music from a speaker connected to her phone and singing along in English when Lev enters, the door having been left open for him.
He matches Dimitri’s singing for the chorus and then gives her a hand in standing, “You ready to go?”
“Yep, just let me get my running shoes.”
They’re out the door in a matter of minutes, small backpacks strapped on, containing everything they need for morning practice. Dimitri lets the song finish before switching the audio output to her earbuds for the run.
The two of them stick together for the first half mile, and then Dimitri gradually pulls ahead. The streets are eerily quiet for such a large city, but it’s not necessarily unusual. Dimitri notes that the handful of people that are out walking have respirators on. Also not necessarily unusual for a high smog day, but today isn’t that bad; breaks in the pollution clouds that hover over the city reveal patches of blue sky. The people of this city must be more paranoid about the strange poisonings plaguing the north than those in her home region- her mother’s paranoia being an exception.
Dimitri arrives at the dance studio just a couple of minutes before Lev and has completely caught her breath by the time he arrives. Once he’s recovered as well, they enter the studio together, ten minutes early. There are about a dozen other dancers that have also arrived early and they all greet and begin moving to their designated changing rooms. The girls all change, the remainder trickling in until practice begins. They’re all in lightweight tights and leotards, but no tutus and they leave their pointe shoes off for warm ups.
As 7:30 rolls around, all of the girls have found themselves at the barre and Coach Yelchin arrives just on time, “Good morning, ladies. Are we missing anyone?” Her lips move as she scans the room, counting, “Doesn’t look like it. Great! Finish your warm ups and get the yapping out of the way, we’ll focus up in 15 minutes.”
Dimitri watches as her coach strolls around the room, tapping heels with her own foot as a reminder for the others to keep their posture strong. She has long blonde hair in a low ponytail and is wearing gray sweats with a white tank. She’s in her upper 30s, but Dimitri has never been able to learn her actual age, even after training under Yelchin for nearly a decade. Dimitri turns her attention to the girls next to her at the barre, making small talk.
“-My parents almost didn’t let me come either, they’re afraid of whatever virus is going around. I’m basically under house arrest in the hotel.” The girl directly next to Dimitri, taller than her with mousy brown hair, complains.
Dimitri cuts in, “Oh my god, Laney, same! Except my mom is so superstitious she thinks it’s a damn curse. Whatever, we already share this space, no reason you can’t come over to Lev’s place and hang out when you get sick of the hotel.”
“Oh I get it, my dad was going on about the Book of Revelations and the four horsemen the other day. I’ll take you up on that offer though, Di. Boredom is more likely to kill me than whatever the fuck is in the air at this point. You sure Lev wouldn’t mind? I know his parents won’t even be around to care.”
“Naw, you know he’s always down for a movie night. Diane, you too?”
The other girl, on the other side of the first and with hair nearly as dark as Dimitri’s, answers, “Maybe not tonight, my boyfriend’s family lives in this city so we’re staying with them and didn’t get much of a chance to settle in last night.”
“Then why don’t we just plan for this weekend? We still have Sundays off, let’s plan for Saturday night!” Dimitri turns to Laney, “Is your older brother, Anton, with you? You should bring him along, Lev has made a couple of comments about him.”
Laney raises her eyebrows, “Has he, now? Anton did come along to the city at the request of our parents, he’s got his own room in the hotel with Pari and me. I can’t say it would take much convincing for Anton to come if Lev is there, anyway.” She smirks and they all giggle as they cement their plans for the weekend.
Coach Yelchin has made her way around the room to the three girls and catches Diane off guard, mid laugh, by poking her heel, “Learn to focus through distractions or we’ll remove distractions altogether.”
Diane rolls her eyes and fixes her posture, “Yes, Coach.”
“That goes for you two as well.” She gives Dimitri and Laney a scrutinizing look and then loudly claps twice. “Warm-ups are over, ladies! Let’s get your pointe shoes on, get some water, and focus up!”
With the obedience of soldiers, the room goes silent and the dancers follow the commands of their coach.
The first week goes by uneventfully. Every morning, Dimitri and Lev run to the dance studio, train in their respective groups, and then run back to Lev’s place for lunch. In the afternoons, they drive to the orchestra hall to rehearse the show together with the whole troupe.
Tasha always has their meals prepared for them and goes through her rounds of awkward small talk with the teenagers before giving up and scurrying out the door. On Friday night, Tasha asks the teens if they would be alright with her leaving them with enough groceries and leftovers to last the weekend so that she can take some time off for herself.
“That’s perfect, actually!” Dimitri answers her with a friendly tone, “You deserve the time off and we actually wanted to have a handful of other dancers over tomorrow night. We won’t tell Lev’s parents you’re off so you don’t have to worry about using vacation time.” She winks at Tasha, who smiles in return, understanding completely.
Lev chuckles but doesn’t add anything to the conversation.
“Oh! Good good! I’ll make sure you have breakfast and I’ll put something easy together for you to throw in the oven for everyone tomorrow night. I appreciate it a lot, kids!” Tasha gets her things together and leaves the house for the night, light on her feet with relief.
Once they’re alone, Lev turns to Dimitri, “Who are we having over tomorrow? Did you forget to inform someone?” He looks exasperated with Dimitri’s outgoing habits, but his tone of voice reveals that he’s not at all angry.
“Oh just a few of the girls. Laney, Diane, I think Pari is coming as well since she and Laney are staying in a hotel together…” Dimitri pauses, acting like she’s thinking really hard before quickly adding, “Laney’s brother, Anton.”
Lev is following along casually until the final addition, at which point his eyes go wide, “Anton?! Oh my god, no, you didn’t…”
Dimitri grins.
“Girl, I love you, but I might kill you for this.”
“Oh don’t even worry, he wouldn’t have agreed to come if you weren’t going to be here. Relax, you told me yourself that you think the two of you would get along really well if you had the chance to hang out. Here’s your chance.”
He scoffs in defeat, but Dimitri can recognize the glint of excitement in the eyes of her best friend.
“Just be glad I gave you the heads up, Diane and Laney wanted it to be a surprise.” Dimitri stands from the dining table and clears their plates. “Anyway, I’m going to shower and go to bed. Half-day tomorrow, right? No rehearsal in the evening?”
“Yep, thank goodness, I’m beat. Night, Di.”
“Nighty niiiight, Lev!”

Saturday morning practice is painless. The boys and girls all train together, primarily stretching and doing light, technical work. Ideally, everyone will spend all of Sunday resting and recovering before another week of hard work. In addition, many of the other ballerinas attend Sunday services.
Coach Yelchin and the guys’ coach, Coach Pietr, are much more easy-going this morning as well. “Great work this week, everyone!” Coach Pietr never has to strain to sound genuine, unlike Yelchin. “Take it easy the rest of the weekend and we’ll see you at the usual time on Monday morning!”
Coach Yelchin barks next, “One week down, three to go before the big show. Keep your shit together, everyone, you’re excused.”
Next to Dimitri, Lev mocks Yelchin under his breath, “You hear that, Di? Keep your shit together.”
Dimitri and several other nearby dancers snicker as the troops disperse and begin to shuffle around more casually. The girls take a seat near the wall to put on their sweats and change shoes.
“So what’s the plan for tonight?” Diane is taking her dark hair out of its tight ponytail as she asks, slipping the hairband around her wrist and combing through her hair.
Dimitri answers, “You’re all welcome to come by whenever you’re ready, I assume you’ll all go back to your places to get your things together?”
Laney’s roommate, Pari, is with them this time as they make plans. She stands and loosens the hijab around her round, tan face. She keeps the cloth tight during training so that it doesn’t slip. “I’d definitely like to go back to the hotel to shower and change. Can we come over after my noon prayer? We can stop for snacks on the way there.”
“That sounds great!” Dimitri stands and shoulders her pack, “I’ll see you all then! Diane, that all works for you?”
Diane is the last to stand up, “I might be a little later, but I’ll be there in time for dinner for sure and I’ll bring a few movies!”
With plans made, everyone splits up. Many of the other dancers have already left the studio or loiter around making their own plans in separate groups. Dimitri and Lev wave at most of them and give friendly farewells for the weekend and then run back home. They stick together this time and jog slowly enough for Dimitri to share music on her speaker, an upbeat album from earlier in the century.
“I could play the doctor, I can cure your disease… If you were a sinner, I could make you believe…” Dimitri is off-key as she sings along between breaths.
As they arrive back at Lev’s house and unlock the door, Dimitri’s phone rings. “It’s my mother, I better take this.” She ditches her shoes and marches straight down the hallway to her room. “Privyet, hello, Mama…” She closes the door behind her and changes the phone to speaker.
“Dimitri! How was your first week? Everyone healthy? Everyone strong? Are you staying in?”
“Da, Mama, everyone is well and aside from rehearsals, we don’t leave the house. Tasha has been preparing our meals as well.”
“I swear I can hear you roll your eyes, Dimitri, you better be telling the truth.”
“I am! You just don’t need to stress so much, you know we take this seriously.”
“Ya znayu, I know, I just worry about my daughter. Tell me about your week, then, we all miss you back home.”
Dimitri shakes her head and snorts out a chuckle, relaxing a bit, “Don’t lie, Mama, Mikhail loves having me away. The week went well, though. We train twice a day. By the time we get home in the evening, we’re frankly too tired to even consider doing anything aside from eat dinner and go to sleep. You’ll also be glad to know that nobody in this city has been out and everyone stays masked up, even in the streets.”
“Eto khorosho, That’s good to hear, makes me feel better… Lev’s parents around at all?”
Dimitri audibly sighs, “Nyet, Mama, they are not! And what you said to him last weekend was not nice, you should apologize when you see him again.”
“I’m sorry, you’re right, it wasn’t right for me to blame him like that.”
“Not to me, save the apology for Lev.”
There’s silence on the line for a moment. “What are your weekend plans? You guys have enough movies or board games?”
“Mhmm, we have movies for days so that we don’t leave the house.”
“Perfect. Well, I’ll let you go now, thanks for letting me check in with you. Papa says hello, he just went down for a nap, though.”
“Alright, love you guys, I’ll talk to you again later.” Dimitri lets her mother hang up first and then texts her brother.

*Is mom’s blood pressure through the roof? Dear gods…

Several minutes pass before a response.

*dont get me started every time i try to leave the house she interrogates me and mumbles weird old prayers from our childhood stories

*AHAHA at least its not just me. Dont let her die, will you?

*no promises. you doing well?

*yep, we’re having fun, some of the girls are coming over tonight, dont tell mom

*and im going out drinking with the guys tonight, lips are tight. if she asks, im at the gym with Arjun

*perf, ttyl loser <3

Dimitri plugs her phone in and goes to leave the room when it pings with another notification. It’s from Pari, they’re on their way over. Dimitri sends a thumbs up and leaves the phone in the bedroom to rejoin Lev in the living room. He’s already tidied up the place and has sandwiches made for the two of them. She swipes hers from the plate and leans against the counter to eat instead of sitting down.
About 15 minutes pass when there’s a knock at the door. Dimitri skips to the door and opens it to reveal Pari, Laney, and Laney’s older brother Anton, with matching messy brown hair. Pari is carrying a pack of soda water in one arm and a rolled-up mat under the other; likely for her evening prayers. Laney’s arms are full of snacks and Anton holds a gaming console with a stack of games.
Dimitri lets out an excited squeal, “Anton! No way you brought the gaming console! That’s the one thing we were wishing we had! Come on in, guys. Tasha left a large pizza in the refrigerator for us to cook tonight, too.” Dimitri takes the stack of games off the top of the console in Anton’s arms before they can fall and leads the crew into the house. She dumps the games on the couch and then playfully punches Lev in the shoulder, muttering for just him to hear, “Relax, big guy, I’m sure he’s just as nervous as you are.”
The others file into the room and begin scattering their possessions like it’s their own home. Laney speaks up once they’re settled, “Diane texted, said she’d be here at 6 and that we better have food ready.”
Everyone settles into the couch and it doesn’t take long for Anton and Lev to have the video games running on the large television mounted on the wall. There’s only four controllers, so each person takes a turn sitting out as they play a brawling game. Their voices grow increasingly loud as each athlete’s competitive nature comes out and then even louder once Diane arrives and is cycled into the tournament bracket. They take a break once to eat dinner and then twice more when Pari sneaks off to a back room to pray. After her final prayer for the day, the group turns on a movie and drifts off, one by one.

The world tilts and spins around her as though she’s standing on a spinning top and barely holding on. Around her are a dozen more toy tops of different colors, but they all fall one by one, leaving her the last one standing. The last one spinning. One big lurch and she feels weightless as she falls over. She falls for a lifetime and then stops.

Dimitri awakes with a start. She’s sweaty and there’s a crook in her neck from falling asleep on the floor, her back against the couch. She rubs her eyes and scans the room. Pari and Laney are both unconscious, sprawled across either end of the couch. Diane, Lev, and Anton are all missing. Dimitri quietly pushes herself off the floor and tiptoes through the room and down the hall to her bed. She checks her phone, now fully charged, and has to squint at the bright light until her eyes adjust enough to see the text from Diane, she’s gone home to her boyfriend’s place. That leaves Lev and Anton. She leans out the door and peaks down the hallway to where Lev’s room is; the door is closed and she can put the pieces together. Dimitri smiles to herself in the darkness and yawns, floundering back into the room and into bed, where she promptly falls back asleep. The rest of the night brings no visions and comfortably carries her over to the morning light.