I’m a Ukrainian soldier in the war. I’ve been fighting for many months up to this point and I have seen a plethora of horrible things during my time fighting. However, last night I witnessed something I would never forget, something that would stand out in my mind.
Me and my platoon were making camp on a hill to the south of Kharkiv. There was only 18 of us since we were recovering from a large battle with the enemy forces. We were pulling ourselves together after the ordeal though, and we planned to make our way back to the main convoy the next day.
We set up camp, we used the trees and falled logs nearby to make many 4 shelters each with 4 people in. Two people would circle the camp during the night though whilst the rest sleep and every two hours the people would switch so everyone got some sleep. I took the first shift and I walked around and around the campsite looking for anything suspicious.
I was with my friend, Tretchyakov, and we walked and talked in low voices as we circled the camp. About an hour in, Tretchyakov started coughing very loudly and abruptly. It sounded like his lungs were tearing themselves apart, he dropped his rifle and fell to the ground, coughing his lungs out. Blood started protruding from his mouth.
“What’s up? What’s wrong with you what’s happened?” I asked him frantically. His eyes were starting to dilate. I grabbed my flask of water and shoved it down his throat. I then felt a cold feeling down my back. I quickly turned around but didn’t see anything, I thought it was just the breeze.
I shouted to the shelters calling for help, but there was no answer. I then heard a voice, or voices, inside of my head. It sounded like someone was whispering in my ear. I then looked back at Tretchyakov and saw he was missing. I shouted out for him. I ran back to the shelters and looked inside one to see all of them were missing. I looked in another shelter, noone was there. Then another. Then another. Finally I came across the shelter with two people in it. Just then, one of the logs that was used to make the shelter collapsed, falling onto one of the soldiers, the wood broke off and stabbed the soldier in the throat as it came down.
Another one of the soldiers rolled to my ankles. He looked up at me and screamed. It was the most horrific and terrifying scream I’ve ever heard in my life. He then lifted up a finger to point behind me and I turned around to see nothing. I then turned back to look at the soldier to see him being dragged along the floor going into the woods. He seemed to be being dragged by what looked like a shadow.
I sprinted after him, I only took a few steps when I got a terrible stitch, I reached for my side and brought my hand back up to see it was covered in my blood. I looked at my hand, I was shaking violently. I then heard the soldiers scream. I needed to pull myself together, he’s the only one I have a chance of saving. I will save him I thought to myself. I ran after him I darted into the woods were he went and I saw him.
He was suspended ten feet in the air by his ankles. Blood dripped down his body and landed on the floor creating a large puddle of his blood. He stared at me. He croaked the word ‘help’. I then was knocked onto my back by seemingly nothing. I brung my head up to look at the solider. To the left of him, I saw a tall dark being walk over to him. It had huge antlers, deep purple eyes, human legs, and a wolves head.
I covered my mouth so it didn’t hear my sobbing. I had been prepared for many survival situations in my life and had survived the harshness of this war. But nothing could prepare me for this. The thing grabbed hold of the soldier with its hands. It’s hands had long claw like fingers with sharp needle looking nails. It pulled the soldier closer, and began to feast. It sunk its razor sharp teeth into the soldiers neck and ripped off a chunk of flesh. It then jabbed its hand into his side and tore a bunch of flesh and muscle. It ate it with one bite.
I started sobbing uncontrollably, it definetly heard me. It then grabbed the soldiers jaw, and pulled it clean off. It then threw the jaw at me with tremendous speed and accuracy. The thing seemed to be acting very ape like. The jaw hit me in the stomach and I fell down onto my back, completely winded out. I felt like I was going to pass out.
Something in my brain told me that I must get out. I must survive this, in this soldiers honour, I must survive. I turned onto my front and began to scramble to my feet. I ran as fast as I could through the bushes down the hill. I tripped over a branch and fell down hard. I used my hands to break the fall but I heard my left wrist crack. I tried to scramble back to my feet but I didn’t have the energy. My injuries were starting to catch up to me. I still had the adrenaline shot though, so I used all the strength and energy I had and got to my feet.
I ran as fast as I could. I was sprinting down the hill until I heard voices. I couldn’t make out what they were saying but I ran to the voices, they sounded human. I made it to the clearing where I saw a bunch of people stood around a firepit in the ground. I ran to he centre of there circle and collapsed a few feet away from the fire. I looked at one of the people, and noticed they were wearing Russian uniform. One of them grabbed me by the back collar and lifted me up. He saw my injuries and more than likely assumed it was a bear attack.
I started pleading with them, but they didn’t understand. I pointed at the top of the hill where that thing was, tears were falling down my face as I shouted at them. They took me away and two of them escorted me to their field marshal who was a few miles behind.
They threw me in prison but gave me a pad and pen to write the events of what happened. I can only hope that they will believe me. Part of me hopes that they don’t though, I don’t want them sending more men in an attempt to kill it. It is not possible, it will either kill them or make them dissapear, I am lucky I’m still alive to write about this. If you read this, pass on what I’ve said here to the rest of the world for I fear I might not be able to myself.