«ZUGZWANG OF OBER LIEUTENANT BRUNO THEVS» Page #10

Koster, Mongol, Rust, Strela and Sidor are active in battle. Kostyan selflessly hits with a machine gun, covers his comrades.

The “Shuravi” and the rebels are struck by fire.

Scouts are dragging wounded and dead comrades out of the zone of continuous fire into the natural folds of the terrain, behind boulders.

66. EXT. THE MOUNTAIN REGION - DAY.

TITLE:
OUR TIME.

Bruno looks up. He closes his eyes. In his ears are the screams of fighters, the roar of grenade explosions, the crackle of machine gun fire.

67. EXT. THE MOUNTAIN REGION – NIGHT.

Scouts Rust, Sidor, Strela, Mongol, Koster, Kostyan (Bruno's father) stretch out in a long chain, wrap around the mountain from the adjacent saddle, set a distance, everyone sees the outlines of comrades ascending on both sides. They begin a silent hidden ascent.

ISMATULLA (V.O.)

Night fell. The “Shuravi” decided to make a daring raid.

Kostyan follows in the center, Rust to his right, Strela to his left, and Mongol is even to the left.

ISMATULLA (V.O.)

Then I just took up guard duty — I was a sentry. Suddenly in the darkness I heard a crumble of small stones.

Kostyan, rising from the side of the saddle, is discovered by the rebel sentry, Ismatulla, who is carrying guard duty.

ISMATULLA (V.O.)

After a moment a sturdy “shuravi” appears in front of me. As powerful as you are. I immediately fired an automatic burst at him, hitting him on the spot.

Amazed by the “Shuravi” who came close, the rebel sentry Ismatullah bellows: "Allahu Akbar" — and immediately focuses a burst from a machine gun on Kostyan.

68. EXT. THE MOUNTAIN REGION - NIGHT.

TITLE:
OUR TIME.

Bruno is shocked by Ismatullah's story.

Ismatullah takes a few steps forward and, turning, stamps his foot on the edge of the height.

ISMATULLA:

Here!

(pointing downwards)

It was here!

Bruno has a rapid throbbing in his temples.

69. EXT. THE MOUNTAIN REGION - NIGHT.

TITLE:
YEAR 1986.

Kostyan falls, rolls down the slope, rests against a boulder.

There is a hubbub of Dari at the top.

ISMATULLA (V.O.)

Our whole squad woke up and took up arms, starting to shoot at the lowland where the “Shuravi” were.

The rebels open small-arms fire at the scouts from several barrels.

Strela is close to Kostyan. He crawls up to him and drags behind a boulder. Kostyan is no longer breathing.

Strela, without stopping, continues his rapid ascent, but is cut off by a short burst.

Rust, who is nearby, sees this, crawls up to Strela, hurriedly pulls him out of the affected area. Strela groans loudly. Rust quickly cuts a blood-soaked section of the mountain suit with a sharp bayonet knife, exposing the wound.

Strela is suffocating, trying to take a deeper breath to be able to say something.

STRELA:

(barely)

Rust! I have a bad feeling about this. Do my request with the guys!

(pause, gaining strength)

After the demobilization, visit my mother in Leningrad!

RUST:

(strictly)

Stop, Strela! We will come to Leningrad for your wedding. Mongol will build his tailagan in the Gulf of Finland.

Strela turns pale after a moment, raises his chin high and, wheezing, sharply relaxing his body, stops breathing. Strela's blue eyes remain open.

Rust palpates the ray pulse of Strela, it is not there.

Rust takes Strela's machine gun and, filled with rage, thirst for retribution, opens non-stop fire from it, rushes to the top.

Mongol rises from the side of Rust. As soon as Mongol runs into the dome of the mountain, he comes face to face with the sentry who killed Kostyan. The rebel is momentarily ahead of Mongol, pulling the trigger of his AKM first. A short burst throws Mongol back to the slope.

Mongol falls backwards, upside down. 5 shamanic tholes are moving up his neck from his chest. Mongol goes into agony, dies.

A group of scouts continues to advance.

ISMATULLA (V.O.)

“Shuravi” were advancing from different sides, and we were no longer able to stop them. They ran to the top; I was able to defeat someone else. But while we were shooting at those who were rising from the saddle, we suddenly saw several “Shuravi” behind us, who came to our rear from where we were not expecting them.

Sidor, Koster and other scouts run out to the top from the back, no one is waiting for them there; they furiously, with loud obscenities, throw hand grenades at the rebels, finish them off with small arms fire.

The rebels at the top of the mountain are brutally destroyed, only some retire in the dark.

ISMATULLA (V.O.)

The “Shuravi” started throwing grenades at us and hitting us with machine gun fire. The explosion of one of the grenades cut off my arm. It was hanging by tendons.

The rebel sentry, Ismatullah, retreats from the place of fire contact, his arm dangling on a tendon.

ISMATULLA (V.O.)

But, despite being seriously wounded with outside help with a handful of Mujahideen, I was lucky enough to escape.

(pause)

In the morning, helicopters arrived and then planes - they began bombing all the heights, and our Mujahideen left the area.

70. EXT. THE MOUNTAIN REGION - DAY.

Mi-8MT helicopters hover over the top of the mountain.

The survivors — Sidor, Rust, Koster, and other scouts load the bodies of their fallen comrades in raincoat tents on board of helicopters: Kostyan, Strela, Mongol, and the wounded. They climb themselves.

The MI-8MT helicopter lifts off the ground and gains altitude.

71. INT. HELICOPTER — DAY.

In the helicopter, Sidor, Rust, and Koster look with bitterness at the dead lying on the raincoat tents - Strela, Kostyan, and Mongol.

72. EXT. THE MOUNTAIN REGION - DAY.

TITLE:
OUR TIME.

Ismatullah finishes the narrative, looks down.

Bruno stands silently, taking deep breaths of the mountain air.

Bruno silently begins to collect the earth from the place where his father died in a cellophane bag, puts it in a backpack.

73. EXT. THE MOUNTAIN REGION - DAY.

Ismatullah, Bruno and Yahya follow a narrow mountain path.

Ismatullah moves on foot, holding the donkey's bridle and leading Bruno and Yahya, who follow on donkeys.

The noise of falling stones - one, another, turned into a rockfall.

Ismatullah's donkey twitches, pulling Ismatullah towards the abyss.

Bruno and Yahya abruptly dismount and lean their backs against the slope.

The rockfall intensifies, the one-armed Ismatullah cannot hold his twitching donkey, they both shift to a steep cliff, the donkey pulls Ismatullah with him and falls into the abyss.

Ismatullah, who released the bridle from his hands, falls over the edge himself, remains hanging over the cliff, clinging with a death grip to the trunk of a chasmophyte sticking out of a rock crack. The crunch of a tree being uprooted from a rock is heard.

Bruno rushes to help Ismatullah, clings to the back of his head with both hands, pulls him up, tries to prevent falling into the abyss. Ismatullah drags Bruno into the abyss with his weight.

Yahya, who arrived in time, clung to Bruno's belt, holding him from falling. All three are close to death.

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