I tried to back away, but there was nowhere to go. The crush of people was growing now, and as they pressed closer, the babble of their greetings grew into an undulating wave of sound that I somehow understood even as I felt it tightening my throat and hammering down into the center of my brain.

They were welcoming me home.

I saw several of the people further back struggling to reach me, rubbing and scratching at their heads in frustration that they were so far back in the swelling biomass that was closing in on me. A needle of new horror pushed through as I saw their hair was coming away in tufts, floating away like dandelion fluff as they went back to pawing their heads with one hand as they reached for me with the other.

There was a man in front of me now, grabbing my lapels and grinning at me as he babbled that same flood of words that were neither English nor Russian. He was saying how good it was to have me back at last. I had trouble understanding some of it—but not because I couldn’t comprehend the words, whatever language it might be.

It was because he was trying to talk as his teeth were falling out.

****

I was awoken from a deep sleep by a concerned-looking stewardess. I had somehow slept the rest of the way to Kiev and was the last passenger left on the plane. As I pushed my way further up into consciousness, I realized I was also soaking wet. It was sweat for the most part, though I couldn’t say for sure I hadn’t peed on myself a little as well.

Feeling a flush of confusion, fear and embarrassment, I apologized to the stewardess and fumbled my way off the plane. I made the apology in Russian, but I was well past being troubled by such things now. Making my way through the airport, I found a taxi stand and got a ride to the hotel I had booked prior to my flight.

My train for Pripyat did not leave until six the next morning, but between jet lag and worry I got little rest during my stay in the hotel. By three a.m., I was already heading to the station in the cold rain that had settled over the city during the night. The train arrived a few minutes early, and so by the time the sun was rising, I was already on my way to Pripyat.

I woke with a start. My watch told me I had been asleep for just over two hours—a dreamless sleep that was a blessing after so many bad nights. I still had several more hours to go before I would be in Pripyat, so I started looking around with thoughts of exploring the train for a food cart or dining car.