Written By Brad Harness
That first night in Ukraine was a peaceful one, but at sunrise, Borys awoke to a wailing of air raid sirens. The hotel staff were in the hallway banging on his door.
“Come! Now!!” a fellow was calling in his limited English.
Borys ran for the door and opened it to find a younger man, eyes wide, pleading with him. “Russian missiles come! Go to hotel bomb shelter!” barked the man before he ran to the next door to repeat his message. Borys Nadiya dressed quickly and gathered up his things. He was hungry, hadn’t used the toilet, and couldn’t leave all his army kit behind him. It was expensive and would be hard to come by in Ukraine. He zipped up the kit bag and slung it over his shoulder, and dragged his suitcase on wheels to the door. The hotel worker in the hallway gave him a strange look as he passed by, and Borys made his way to the elevator. Just then there was a loud shriek! It seemed like a train engine had slammed into the hotel tower. The noise, the dust, the loss of electricity - followed by utter darkness.
He heard a low moaning from down the hall, the room next to his. It must have been quite close to the impact point of the missile.
He knew he had to get to safety, but he also knew he could not leave that person there, as smoke from a fire started billowing down the hallway.
“Help!” cried the trapped man.
In an instant Borys had kicked open the door to the man’s room, and he called out. “Where are you?”
“Help!”
It came from a dark shape pinned between the remains of the bed and the wreckage of the furniture in the room.
Borys pulled things back as he cleared a path to the poor fellow. He grabbed his hand and tried to pull him towards the door, but he lost his grip, blood from the man making it slippery. He tried again, this time reaching further down the man’s arm and grabbing him by the elbow. He yanked hard, making the man cry out in pain, but at least he had pulled him towards the doorway.
By now the fire engine had arrived and the sirens and clanging bells created a hellish cacophony.
Realizing the man, 20 years older than himself, was unable to walk, Borys stooped down and - grabbing him by an arm and a leg - swung him up over his shoulders. Fireman’s Carry, just like in army training. They left, together, to find safety.
NEXT WEEK: PART 4
