A Silent Prayer For Pripyat

Pripyat, an abandoned city in northern Ukraine, named so for it's proximity to the Pripyat river, was once a bustling city, with a population 49,360 citizens, and was a member of the Soviet Union, who stood at the forefront of nuclear technology back in the 1950s, is now a literal wasteland. Abandoned attractions lay strewn about the once lively city, and hospitals, schools and factories still stand, albeit crumbling and desolate, shadows of their former selves. Many know of the incident referred to as the Chernobyl Incident, a gigantic nuclear meltdown in the Russian city of Chernobyl, which caused a fallout that killed 31 and caused the land surrounding Chernobyl, miles and miles of it, to become uninhabitable due to the radioactivity corrupting the land. One such affected area was, in fact, Pripyat. Though many state that it was an accident, and official reports attest to this fact, I know it is a cover up for something far more sinister than merely an "accident". My uncle was a man that was involved in these chain of incidents, which he claimed was an experiment by the Russian government, known as "Ангел смерти", pronounced "Aung-hel smaer-ti" or Angel of Death, in English. I will now detail his recount, word for word.

The Experiment

My uncle, a man named Ekhov, was a researcher in charge of the experiment known as "Angel of Death" and was given the most technologically advanced equipment that was available at the time, as well as an infinitely spanning budget and access to enriched uranium, in order to conduct a series of tests that he could only describe as "отвратительный" or, revolting. He was tasked to experiment on war criminals and convicted criminals, such as rapists and murderers,by injecting them with liquified radioactive material, a blend of molten uranium and blood plasma, and recording the results, in order to find the most efficient method of torture.

Initially, he thought that there must have been some mistake in communication,some error in the official report that he had been given, this was absolute madness he thought, completely baseless experiments. Torture could have been performed in so many ways, why resort to this depraved method? He mused, completely unaware that the true objective of this experiment was much, much more horrific.

He began the tests and had each individual injected with varying amounts of nuclear liquid, in order to test a wide range of values. The first convict/patient tested was injected with a minuscule amount, 5ccs only, but his reaction was something straight out of a horror movie. His neck tensed, and his veins were visibly darkening. His skin had darkened and bore a dark red hue, and he began to struggle, but to no avail, the straps he was bound by held true. He began to sweat profusely, his eyes rolled back into his head until only the whites could be seen, and he began to convulse. He vomitted, a mixture of rations that he had consumed and small traces of green liquid splattered on the floor, and a wave of nausea spread amongst Ekhov and his colleagues.The man then passed out, and his symptoms disappeared as quickly as they had manifested. When tested for radioactive contamination, the man came up negative, whereas the green liquid produced sky high readings, far beyond what that small amount could have given out. These experiments continued, and the intensity of the reactions increased beyond belief, with one man even managing to free one hand of his bonds, leather straps meant to restrain bears. this man then proceeded to tear at his throat until he sputtered, bled out, and flatlined. Ekhov was beginning to sense something very, very wrong. The dead body was transported to the morgue and kept there for research purposes, as the experiments continued, the death count became higher and higher as more and more solvent was injected, until the last convict was approached. He looked at Ekhov pleadingly, and he mouthed the word "пожалуйста", please. My uncle apologised, as his colleague injected the man, and the result that came afterward was a nightmare. The man's skin began to darken, and his muscles rippled, his blood vessels becoming so prominent that they looked like they could rupture at any moment. The man screamed and ripped his right hand free of the restraint, and reached for the arm of the colleague, ripping it clean off, bone, socket and all. The colleague screamed and fell back, crawling away frantically with his other arm, he then fainted, and a pool of sanguine liquid formed around him. The captured man had his other hand free in no time, and shook violently, grabbing at his chest, wheezing. He grinned as he placed a hand on his left chest and plunged it in his grin intensified as he reached around and clenched his fist, then he fell silent, body bent over, legs still bound. Several nights after this traumatic incident, Ekhov lay on his bed, as he heard an ear piercing scream emanating from the hallway connected to the living quarters, he rushed out, and what greeted him was etched into his mind forever. The men who had died in the experiment stood at the end of the hallway, the entrance of the morgue, a double bolted steel door, lay flat on it's side. The dead convicts looked almost sad, and some grunted illegibly. The man who had crushed his heart several days prior still had that hole in his chest. The patient who had tore his own throat off had a visibly gaping hole where his larynx once was. He was taken aback, fear rooted him to the ground. "демон" he muttered, demons. The man with the hole in his heart looked straight into Ekhov's eyes and mouthed "убить нас", kill us, then silence. Then darkness.

He awoke with a start, the whirring of a helicopter's blades filled the air. His personal assistant was beside him, looking concerned. Then an explosion went off in the distance, first only a single one, then two, then ten, then a hundred, and a thousand. The Chernobyl plant in the distance burst into flames, as the country wide alarm blared. He could see Pripyat in the distance, swathes of people evacuating, even before the alarms and explosions had went off. This was no accident. He looked at his assistant as he nodded knowingly. They, the government had did this, to cover up those experiments, didn't they, of course they did, they always did. Orders are orders he thought, as they flew off into the distance his eyes focused on the lab, which was crumbling into the ground. He apologised, and muttered a word of prayer, for himself, and for the 31 subjects beneath that crumbling complex.

Now

Tourists visiting Pripyat and Chernobyl hear voices in the hallways of abandoned hospitals and laboratory complexes, soft moans from beneath the rubble. Curtains rustle, though there is no wind, and occasionally bones can be found strewn about, decay having wiped the flesh clean off. Some have reported seeing groups of people ahead of them, dressed in scrubs, and one claimed to have seen a man with a hole clean through his chest. They were meant to become super soldiers, and the raw strength they displayed was a testament to this, though the angels of death were now doomed to wander the hallways, forever seeking their humanity, and their own end. The next time you happen to visit the once bustling cities, remember to say A Silent Prayer For Pripyat.