Picture by @f3nix Source:https://steemit.com/finishthestory/@bananafish/finish-the-story-contest-week-50

Here is my entry for Finish The Story Contest - Week #58!

You can find the contest at:

https://steemit.com/contest/@bananafish/finish-the-story-contest-week-58

Original Story

When The Tundra Calls

###by @f3nix

"СКБ Прогресс". Space Missile Center Progress.

The writing stood out on the roof of the latrine, indelible against the cobalt blue metal, sparkling under the dirty white sky of a first spring attempt.

Gennadiy waited impatiently, hopping from leg to leg in the mud and throwing stones at the door of the makeshift bathroom.

Not far away, Drogol pointed to a litter of kittens wagging his tail, the snorting nose pressed between the mesh of the net surrounding one of the last houses before the forest. From his sharp eyes and outstretched ears, a curiosity shone halfway between the festive and the ferocious.

"Stop it with these stones, Genna, or there's no deal."

The Siberian husky slipped off his nose from the net, the time to direct a dry bark in the direction of the voice filtered by the rotten wooden boards.

"Even Drogol is annoyed with your complaining, Anton. The sun sets quickly." Gennadiy said, throwing another stone with a theatrical gesture as if he were casting a dark curse. The dirty pebble ended up right in the crack above the door.

"You're a bastard, Genna. Forget me leaving this pisshole”.

Perhaps, it was better to leave him in peace, free to concentrate. It was not only the hours of daylight but also their fathers, who in a few hours would be home with the day's loot and would certainly have wanted to find them ready to help with the recovered material. The boy stared at the makeshift latrine with the mark of the nearby Pleseck's cosmodrome: a missile and a satellite with its orbit in evidence stood out against the blue background and the white silhouette of a planet.

That symbol often appeared in the most unthinkable places of Dolgoščelę, an insignificant village in the Russian region of Mezen, a stone throw away from the Arctic circle. It seemed as if over the years millions of spores from the nearby cosmodrome had taken root and proliferated among the simple urban elements of that group of houses between tundra and sea.

From the time of the cold war, when the launch program intensified, for the population of the region to recover the pieces of the rockets embedded in the snow became an essential second job. One that, eventually, could replace the traditional activities of hunting and fishing and grant those poor families better odds against the sublime yet sharp immensity of nature. Sifting through the snow of the tundra in winter was easier than in summer when even the streets flooded and boats built with rocket shells came back to use after the seasonal dormancy.

Recovered metals such as gold and titanium could be sold to Arcangelo's black market. The activity ended up involving all family members, each with a task in an efficient recycling chain.

The door of the latrine opened wide. Anton, the son of the country's pastor and Gennadiy's inseparable friend, now stood out against the shining metal like a war hero.

"Anton, if they discover us because of your endless shitting, I swear this time your bike is mine."

"Stop worrying and think, instead, of their faces in front of our loot," replied Anton with a seraphic expression.

"East, beyond the lake. Where the caribous' footprints stop," said Gennadiy absorbed, his mind already gliding on the untouched expanse of snow of that spot deep in the forest.

"Aha. Today we go hunting for the wrong pieces," Anton urged hinting a smile.

Both friends nodded solemnly before answering to the tundra's call.

---

Here is my ending

They both followed the path of the caribou. Suddenly one of them stopped suddenly.

"What is it, Anton?"

"Legend has it that this part of the forest is forbidden. Everyone who enters never returns," said Anton tensely.

"Poppycock," replied Genna nervously, as she looked at the branches of the trees around her that resembled cadaverous hands ready to take away the one who fell asleep over its roots.

She swallowed hard and saw Drogo licking his balls.

"At least one of us isn't worried," she thought to herself.

"I'm sure animals sense the supernatural," she muttered.

"Did you say something Genna?"

"Nothing," she lied.

The wind howled loudly and Genna stuck more to Anton's body.

They managed to get out to a clearing and saw towards the sky. At that moment a red dot was falling rapidly.

"Are you seeing what I'm seeing, Genna?" asked Anton.

Genna kept looking around, extending all senses to perceive sounds or any movement that meant danger.

Anton pulled Genna's cap and made her look up.

The red dot had become a large ball of fire approaching where they were.

"They are aliens," Genna shouted.

"Like on the comic books," she took out of her jacket a thin comic with a flying saucer and a little green man on the cover.

Anton raised his chin and armed with courage said

"No alien will invade my beloved motherland as long as I'm alive."

Genna's eyes lit up at Anton's expression.

Minutes later it crashed nearby, making a loud noise as it broke the trees and crashed into some stones.

Anton and Genna stealthily approached the impact zone.

Anton took two stones from the ground and Genna pulled a dry branch from a tree.

Anton threw one of the rocks that hit a spacecraft window. The second rock managed to crack the window.

Anton, without saying a word, beckoned Genna to surround the spacecraft.

The hatch was opened giving off some gases that became visible when making contact with the low temperature.

Genna from behind saw that the strange orange creature emerged from it, crawling and with difficulty stood on its two lower extremities, or so she thought she had seen.

"It's taking human form," she thought internally

Anton from his position could see a flag with the colors of his beloved Russia.

The strange creature grabbed his round head with both hands and ripped it off.

Genna was paralyzed at the sight of what happened. She closed her eyes tightly.

Fortunately, Anton did not close his eyes and saw that it was a man, who looked somewhat familiar.

The man waved with his hands

"Don't throw any more rocks!"

he had pronounced that phrase in perfect Russian.

Anton knew that the space agency sent animals into space, but he never thought they would send a man.

The cosmonaut took off one of his gloves and extended his bare hand to shake Anton's hand.

"I must tell you something very important," was the last thing he said before Genna hit him hard on the head.

"What have you done?"

"I saved your life! Extraterrestrials take the human form and then they'll put a probe up our asses!"

Genna showed the cartoon again to Anton

"What kind of sick shit do you read?"

Genna poked the unconscious man's face on the ground with the branch.

"It's very convincing!"

Genna took a heavy rock in her hands and set out to crush the Martian's head.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Let's make sure he's dead. It's better to be safe than sorry."

"You're right." said Anton

The sound of military helicopters surprised them. Soon they were surrounded and temporarily blinded by lights.

Uniformed men came down from the helicopters and pointed their guns at Anton and Genna.

"On your knees!" they shouted.

"Didn't I tell you Anton! They gonna probe our motherfucking asses!"

Anton and Genna let go of what they had in their hands and raised their frightened hands with tears in their eyes.

"Don't kill us! Don't kill us!", shouted Anton

"Don't you there touch my ass", shouted Genna

---

An anguished shepherd with another man explained to the authorities of the Soviet Government police station about the innocence of a couple of kids who were only looking for parts and debris around Dolgoščelę, a small village in the Mezen region.

While both, Anton and Genna, spend their days locked up in a cell for having attacked the great cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the pride of the Soviet Union and the first man to travel to outer space.

---

I forgot Drogol but no worries he's fine