In the 90s, my buddy and I earned a living by stealing non-ferrous metals from abandoned military bases around Moscow and fencing it. We had no other way to feed our families.
Don’t think bad about us - we really only fleeced the abandoned ones. We did not touch the sealed bases even if the loot would be better from those. Our shtick back then was collecting information about the kind of secret military bases that did not even have a street leading up to them, only a narrow underground tunnel. Some of them had helicopter landing spots, which were camouflaged from satellites. Yes, those kind of bases really existed. And they probably exist even now. We would drive our beat-up van as close as possible, hide it, take our tools, backpacks and walk the rest of the way. There we would tear apart and cut out what we could, mostly of course copper, tin, brass and other alloys. Occasionally we found silver. Well, a few times we found some gold and palladium. A rare and dangerous luck, that almost bit us in the ass in the end- times back then were wild, a lot of bandits around..but that is another story.
Anyway. Some mushroom pickers have told us about that particular place. It had the characteristic signs: an antenna tower, a nifty barbed wire with step voltage, all that stuff. We had already received information about those secret military bases earlier from mushroom pickers, fishermen, other folk- and we always rewarded them. Foresters, hunters..they would give us information and we would always give them a small cut from our sales. It was not much but we never forgot anyone. And they also never forgot about us and would give us leads to new places. Those people who would not take the risk of climbing over the barbed wire- or those who already got burned trying to break into such a base and understood that it’s not that simple.
Anyway, we arrived, drove the van deeper into the forest, camouflaged it with tree branches. We also cleared up the track, for just in case. We reached the base fairly quickly, the forest was dense but not a thicket. The distance was about half a kilometer. Okay so far. The weather was good, the Indian summer that year was better than the real one. The barbed wire was turned off of course, but we still checked with special tongs before approaching and cutting an entrance for ourselves. We were quiet- you never know.. And it was very smart from us, as we soon found out. Of course the most part of such bases is underground. But we tried not to go underground- usually, the tunnel and the service premises are down there and all of this was either sealed or blown up before the base was abandoned. They could also have planted mines down there, to scare the overly curious people off. We didn’t want to find out.
We passed the hangars, the barracks- all was untouched. Even the aluminium dishes in the canteen were there! Aluminium was of course cheaper than copper, but those forks and spoons in commodity quantity alone would make our raid worthwhile. But we were mostly interested in control points and equipment facilities, transformer booths and garages. That is why we did not stuff our backpacks but continued on.
Later, as Vlad and me were trying to get things straight, we were amazed how none of us noticed anything. We were experienced and careful guys- but it was as if someone enchanted us. On one hand of course, everything looked as it should be: the power is cut off, the doors are ajar, some windows are broken, the paths are starting to get overgrown..On the other hand the dishes look like new, ladles swaying slightly on the hooks.. Of course, there were drafts there. But if there were drafts- why were we smelling food? It smelled like jerky. Vlad was smelling it too. But we just joked about it instead of hauling ass out of there as fast as possible. And again, the floors were clean, the tables and benches were clean, standing in their correct places..Even an idiot should understand that if the base was abandoned at least a few weeks ago, everything should be full of dust and smears. And if it was abandoned just recently- why are the paths overgrown, so many windows broken? It didn’t add up..
And also -there was no agitation. None at all. No posters, no murals, no Lenin busts, not even flagpoles at the place. Of course those secret bases were camouflaged from surveillance from space: nobody mowed the lawns, there were always big trees on the territory, usually pines. All the buildings were made to look like a summer camp or a forestry. Even the antennas were camouflaged as a lightning rod and had some kind of weather vane. But there were always some of the “Glory to CPSU” or “USSR is our homeland”. Either as a mosaic or with different coloured bricks as a picture or at least painted on the wall. But here there was nothing of the sort. Should it have made us suspicious? It should have. But somehow we didn’t pay attention back then.
Anyway- we crossed the outer area and made our way to the transformer booths. Transformer booths mean reserve generators and copper. They were never taken from abandoned military bases, only those like us could gut them. Nothing was touched, never used. That meant a hundredweight of copper, at least. Back then we would have gotten fifty bucks for us both for just the copper alone. Back then fifty bucks was the yearly wage of a state employee. Draw your own conclusions, as they say.
Suddenly, Vlad says he forgot his torchlight. I take out my own- and it barely shines, the battery is dead. Apparently they sold me an expired battery as a new one, it happened often back in the day. And its very hard to work inside a transformer booth without a torch, even if it is a sunny day and you take out all the doors and blinds.
We didn’t want to go back but we had to. Most likely, this decision has saved our life. Vlad wanted to go alone first but we had a rule- don’t split during jobs. Just a rule, a child of bitter experience. We did not feel any danger, I swear. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, grasshoppers were jumping around in the grass…
We returned to the canteen. Went up to the second floor, where Vlad forgot his torchlight. It was still lying where he left in, on the table close to the storage room. Vlad took it, checked it- it worked fine, everything was okay- hid it in his pocket and walked up to the window. I asked him later- why did he suddenly decide to walk to the window? He never was able to give a proper answer. It’s not like the window was near us or that we would be able to see anything interesting from it. There was no glass in the window at all, barely any splinters . Anyway, Vlad put the torchlight in his pocket, walked out to the window and looked out. Even opened his mouth, like as if wanted to spit outside the window or say something. And then he froze with his mouth open.. So I of course also came close and looked outside the window.
Underneath the window was a rubbish heap. Trash containers were standing around, they were glittering which meant they were made from titanium, secret military bases sometimes had those. I was glad, its hard to cut up titanium but it was worth it, titanium was worth more than aluminium. And there were hundreds of kilograms of that here. I was just going to clap Vlad’s shoulder and say something joyful when I noticed something else. First thing- there were bones in those containers, a lot of them. They were filled to the brim. Fresh bones- with dark-red scraps of meat still stuck to them, flies buzzing around..That alone would make you anxious, in an abandoned military base. As I kept watching I saw ribs, a rib cage, a skull..a HUMAN skull. It was one hundred percent a human skull. And the bones were also human. All of them fresh. I didn’t even have time to get scared of it because I got scared of something else. Something that still haunts me and Vlad in our nightmares.
There was a man standing there without eyes and without arms. He was emaciated, his torso was naked- or maybe he was naked all around, his legs were obstructed by containers. His arms were bit off up to his shoulders, the stumps covered in scars and scabs, his eye sockets were black from dried blood. And on his shoulders sat..I dont even know who it was. And I truly don’t want to know. At first I thought it was an ape. A little chimpanzee , for some reason dressed up in a military tunic and riding breeches. But it was not an ape, it was someone else. Someone who was more resembling a human. But instead of legs he also had arms, very short and strong. And the creature did not have fur. It was sitting on the shoulders of the naked man, clinging to his neck with it’s leg-arms. It was clinging firmly, very firmly. It sat there and rummaged through what was piled in the containers. It took the bones out, sucked them dry and gnawed them clean and then tossed them onto the ground. It was eating the scraps, so to say. No, it was not a human. Not a child, not an ugly midget and most certainly not an ape. It was rummaging through the container, periodically squeezing the eyeless mans neck even harder so he would lean towards the container with he scraps even further and he obediently leaned forward. The creature kept grunting, taking out the bones out of the container, gnawing at them, throwing them to the ground..
Vlad and me kept staring at it, as if we were hypnotized. I saw how the creature took out a handkerchief from the tunic’s pocket and wiped its forehead. Then it folded it and put it back in. The tunic had sergeant shoulder straps- which might seem funny. But neither back then, nor later did me and Vlad find it funny. We were out of our mind with fear.
It was wearing a parade military tunic, you see? A military tunic with sergeant shoulder straps. Under the tunic it wore a blouse. It wore riding breeches and from the breeches its palms were sticking out, huge, long and strong. Those palms, clinging to the blind mans neck were not much smaller than the rest of the creatures legs. The creature was very fat. A big round head, a stiff nape, fat rolls moving underneath the military tunic. And a toothy mouth, reaching its ears. We did not see its face- if it had a face at all. We were looking at it from above, slightly to the side. I remember the nape, a tiny pink ear and the corner of the creatures mouth almost reaching that ear. When it opened its mouth, we saw big yellow teeth like from a horse or a donkey. There were just 20 meters between us. Vlad and I compared later what we have seen. We were not tripping, we saw the same thing.
Something squeaked or croaked nearby. The creature pricked up, dropped the bone and began either listening in or sniffing in. Vlad wanted to step back from the window but I sat down and pulled at his jacket. He understood, crouched down and very quietly, on all fours, we crawled away from the window. We stood up and approached the exit just as quietly, trying not to touch anything and not even breathe. And once we were out we immediately ran for our cut-in entrance in the wire. We ran like we were insane, without understanding where to, like headless chickens. We ran up to our van, Vlad started it and kept speeding until we reached the freeway. Only then we felt normal again, once we saw other humans, cars and all that. On that evening we got shitfaced with vodka and tried to discuss what we saw.
Of course it was stupid to run away as we did- loud, careless, we could have stumbled and strain or break our legs. Even more so as we were running through the forest in the same breakneck speed. We even had weapons with us- well, 10 caliber flare guns. You could buy those freely back then. Of course it was not a real gun, but if you would shoot a human from a few meters with it, the human would die and he would die painfully and horribly. But that creature was not human, even as it was wearing the military tunic. And neither me nor Vlad remembered our flare guns as we stared at it. We did good, of course: I very much doubt the flare guns would be of help in any case. I don’t think a machine gun would help either. I think if we wouldn’t have noticed the creature on time and ran away- it would have turned us into armless blind men, like the one it was riding around on.
What happened afterwards? Well, almost nothing. Well, depends on how you look at it. When Vlad and me met the two who gave us the information about the military base later, they were very surprised. Surprised and scared. But we had a tale spun ready for that case. Like, we didn’t even get there- we wanted to but first the van broke down, then Vlad strained his leg, then something else happened.. and us, like all the other marauders are superstitious people so we decided those were bad omens if obstructions constantly keep popping up like that. So thanks for the information but sorry, this is not for us. Go there yourselves or try getting someone else. We are passing. And they believed- or pretended to believe. Didn’t even ask for money for the information. And we pretended that we believed that they believed us. That is how we split.
What else were we supposed to do? There was no Internet in our country back then so we couldn’t write warnings on social media or websites. File a report with the police? That is just ridiculous. How exactly would you want to punish those shady mushroom pickers? And for what exactly and again, how? We could of course have spun some lies but that would be an undertaking with an unknown finale. So we did not do anything of the kind either.
A few years later I asked a knowing old woman about it. She immediately asked if we took anything from that military base. We didn’t, nothing at all, we simply did not have time for it as I told her. She shook her head and said that if we would have taken anything they would have tracked us down and dragged us away. Who would have tracked us down and dragged away she didn’t explain. But I think I know.
Those were literal demons. And that military base was Hell’s access to our world. A branch of Hell or the reception. Maybe there really was an abandoned secret military base there and the demons just took over. Or maybe they were camouflaging like this from the beginning. And when Vlad and me came along, the major demons were away for a bit and there was just one little demon left, the lowest of the low who was eating their scraps. And that is the reason we got away. And the mushroom pickers? I don’t know. Maybe they sold their souls or received some interest from everyone they sent there. I don’t know.
You think its stupid? What else could it have been? I will never forget that creature, sitting on the armless blind man. Vlad said, we at least could have shot the blind man- as horrendous as it is to die from a flare burning inside you his life is worse. I don’t know, I don’t know..you can’t change what has been done. Honestly, what else could it have been? Toothy, thick, the size of a two-year old child, with huge palms instead of feet, in a sergeant tunic, riding a blind naked man whose arms have been eaten off? Gnawing on human bones that were stuffed into containers like those of cows or sheep? Seriously, WHAT ? WHAT COULD IT HAVE BEEN?!