Throwing herself in the opposite direction, she didn't care about the noise she inevitably made, but simply moved forward. Bumping into walls and corners, risking tripping and falling on concrete slabs, she ran with all her might until she found herself in a familiar room with a broken window. Climbing up, she tore her palms and elbows into the blood. She pierced her knee with a piece of glass.

An enraged Tishchenko ran in after her, when she, staining the masonry with blood, crawled out through the side of the basement pit. Moving one of the stones, she grabbed it with her wounded palms and threw it down into the...