The Return to Moscow pt. 1
Moscow, 1961
Only six months had passed since the mad serial killer wolf by the name of Shabbethai Zwei had been sentenced to Siberia, a terrible God-forsaken place reserved for some of the worst prisoners in the Soviet system. And for the Muscovite killer who looked in the mirror and saw in his twisted and evil psyche, ha-Moshiach, the one who would lead the Jews of the Soviet Union to victory over their godless government, a wolf who had employed many others to murder and maim, before he would turn on them and they would be killed, he would be leaving forever. His former disciples, both Gentiles who held the current government in contempt and Jews who were eagerly awaiting the Promised One could be free to continue their daily lives and pray that the nightmares that this black wolf had brought upon them. But Shabbethai knew there was always a way out, even when justice seemed served and that he was going to freeze for the wretch he was in Stanovoy, an eastern land closer to Tokyo than to Moscow and convenient to absolutely nothing.
"We must make sure that Zwei is as far from Moscow as possible and let him stay in the lawless country o the east where there is no heat, no joy, and no hope," the guards would say as they led the orange-suited wolf (his usual garments were the all-black uniform of a rebbe which made him as black as midnight). "Your murders and the trail of innocent blood you left behind will forever be nothing more than history, thank God," the fox who was assigned to him would say, as he struck him across the face with his closed fist. When they reached the train station that would over the course of two long and miserable weeks take them to their final (and it would be very much final) destination, the black wolf could see through the lenses of his coke-bottle thick spectacles many other prisoners and yet they cowered at his evil and menacing presence.
Some were condemned prisoners and felons, others were victims of government witch hunts and loyalty tests, ministers who practiced their religion in the atheist state, and still others were political opponents dragged from their homes and evicted to the gigantic frozen wasteland that lay far to the east. And a vast number of them were Jews, who throughout Muscovite history had been the convenient targets for anything that was wrong in society. But every single one of them feared for their lives when they beheld the one whom they would spend the next two weeks and more with- that failed Messiah, that evil and insane mystic who had been implicated in the murders of at least a dozen. The government would have executed many of these prisoners but in what can only be described as cruelty, the Soviets decided to board many of them on these one-way train rides to a land so far removed from light, hope, and civilization. They would say their final prayers (many knew they would never ever see Moscow again) and leave to the cold and desolate land reserved for Mother Russia's enemies. And now Shabbethai would finally get what he deserved for what he had done.
Shabbethai thought of himself as the new messiah who would lead the Jewish minority of the USSR to political freedom, the violence in gaining such freedoms ultimately losing him the respect of both the rabbinate and society in general. In what was perhaps the greatest irony, this so-called "saint" whose paws were quick to shed blood had completely forgotten about the Divine in his hatred and insanity. So after a short time of praying for safety on what was to be his final voyage, the guards thought nothing of sending him away into the cramped and filthy cars, which would be the prisoners' home for the next two weeks until they reached their destination. His fare had already been paid by the many vile things the wolf had already done in his life.
The train left along the tracks of the Transsiberiskiy to deposit its passengers to a place where, the government hoped they would never ever return. This gave Shabbethai plenty of time to brood for his anger and rage and frustration to ferment. No creature had ever been so irate, no alleged holy man more of a hypocrite than this wolf who took the lives of many innocents who based on real or perceived threats were blocking his ascension. Innocent or guilty of mistreating the Jews or not, Zwei's victims were killed in the most gruesome manner imaginable and left no doubt that the murderer was completely insane. Yet a brilliant wolf, who was very much the antithesis of Zwei by the name of Alex Nohl had defeated him, finding out who would be murdered next and setting up an ambush which caught this disgraced rebbe off guard and sealed his fate. And the entire two weeks of that miserable trip, Zwei swore vengeance upon Nohl and his entire group of friends, now made heroes for their work in capturing this criminal.
When they reached the station, the prisoners disembarked wearing the embarrassing orange suits which marked them as outcasts to society and were given a ration of rubles to buy food. There was no actual gulag in this city, it was a lawless town where only the strong survived the winter and nature itself "executed" many of the condemned. The government thought it would be better if this abandoned town would be handed over to the criminals, turned into a natural prison and the guilty ones would destroy each other, with the nearest civilized city dozens of miles away and unreachable even in the summer. The aforementioned rubles became more valuable than life itself for the prisoners, including Zwei- they were given only rubles commensurate with the "average" consumption rate for animals of their species and that would not be sufficient. Thievery was common as was murder as was eventually cannibalism, a degradation to how these animals worked before the species learned civility. This was truly and honestly a forlorn and forsaken city, under constant assault from the Arctic wind.
"Hand over your rubles, we need food to buy, you black wolf" one of the other prisoners would say, a formidable fox with razor-sharp claws and brandishing a sword as Zwei was pinned between him and a wall in one of the city's alleys. There was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide and Zwei knew his time on the earth was coming to an end as the fox approached, evil and hatred in his eyes. Was this how Zwei's victims felt before they died?
BANG! The fox fell dead, the victim of a gunshot wound before he could attack the miscreant wolf. Who was the gunman who had just saved Zwei's life? There he saw holding a musket a lioness wearing the parka which had become a constant in the bitterly cold winter that never ceased.
"There is no need to fear. I would not kill you- that would not be the right way for a Muscovite to treat another of the same city. I know who you are, Shabbethai Zwei." The wolf had never seen this lioness before and did not know who she was. "Adapting to this new land, I see. Most new prisoners don't make it more than three months but your survival impress-"
"How do you know who I am?" the wolf asked a stern unease in his own voice.
"Pravda ships here so we get a general idea of what's going on- with a great deal of propaganda. They don't want to publish stories about murder but sometimes they have to. To be in the presence of such a man is truly magnificent. Come along!" At first, Zwei tried to resist but then the lioness' paw reached for the musket and her teeth bared- so really there was no way he would break free from this lioness. "I keep track of everyone here. I am the queen of the Accursed City and you will be my servant or I will eat you. My name is Svetlana Borshenko."
The two walk to the "home" if you would call it that of Svetlana Borshenko and over some vodka stashed in the building which lacks any heating, discuss the aspects of their lives and their horrifying crimes which led them to this city.
"Why are you here in this terrible place?"
"I killed my husband and ate him. I know it doesn't sound equal to your heinous acts but what can I say... I love the taste of flesh- I'm a lioness. And so they condemned me here."
"It goes against the laws of the government, this cannibalism even if we are originally animals."
"Coming from someone who murdered at least a dozen people!" the lioness would say, slamming her paw on the table so hard she nearly broke the flimsy furniture. Everything this house was broken or about to be broken. "Shabbethai, I really want to change and go return home and I know you do as well. And I have been looking for a husband."
"I don't want to be your next meal!" the black wolf said shaking from the intense cold. But then his new girlfriend wrapped her feline arms around the wolf, the claws retracted to show that she could be trusted. "We can leave this place, head back to Moscow, and enjoy our freedoms and revenge." And that was the word which awakened something in the insane wolf's mind. To defeat and kill Alef Nohl, to exact retribution on the former disciples who abandoned him, to once again plunge Moscow into a fear they had not felt since the Second World War.
"We will leave, Svetlana. Fr the sake of revenge against the ones who wronged me, who were not faithful, we will return to Moscow." The black wolf said these things in a manner which was as cold and as harsh s the Arctic winds outside. He was a conniving individual and he knew of a way out of this mess. Indeed, the Muscovites thought themselves safe but he would return.