The guard dog Ruslan heard something howl outside all night, swinging lanterns with a rattle. Calmed down only in the morning. The owner came and finally brought him to the service. But when the door opened, a bright white light suddenly surged into my eyes. Snow was howling at night. And there was something else that made Ruslan wary. An extraordinary, unheard of silence hung over the world. The camp gate is wide open. The tower was completely ruined - one spotlight lay down below, covered with snow, the other hung on the wire. A white sheepskin coat, an ear flaps, and a black ribbed trunk, always turned down, disappeared from it somewhere. And in the barracks, Ruslan felt this immediately, there was nobody. Losses and destruction stunned Ruslan. They ran away, the dog understood, and rage swept over him. Pulling the leash, he dragged the owner out of the gate - to catch up! The owner cried out angrily, then he let go of the leash and waved his hand. “Seek,” Ruslan understood him, but only he did not feel any trace and was taken aback. The owner looked at him, curving his lips unkindly, then slowly pulled the machine from his shoulder. And Ruslan understood: that's it! Just not clear, for what? But the owner knows best what to do. Ruslan dutifully waited. Something prevented the owner from firing, some rattling and clanking. Ruslan looked around and saw an approaching tractor. And then something completely unbelievable followed - a driver got out of the tractor, who looked a little like a camp person, and spoke to the owner without fear, energetically and cheerfully: “Hey, Vologda, is it a pity that the service is over? I wouldn’t touch the dog. Would leave to us. The dog is expensive. " “Drive through,” the owner said. “You talk a lot.” The owner did not stop the driver even when the tractor began to destroy the pillars of the camp fence. Instead, the owner waved his hand to Ruslan: “Go away. And so that I no longer see you. " Ruslan obeyed. He ran along the road to the village, at first in grave bewilderment, and then, suddenly guessing where and why he was sent, in full swing.

... On the morning of the next day, the railwaymen at the station observed a picture that would probably have struck them if they had not known its real meaning. A dozen or two dogs gathered on a platform near a dead end, walked on it or sat together barking at passing trains. The animals were beautiful, worthy to admire them from afar, nobody dared to climb the platform, the local people knew that getting off it would be much more difficult. Dogs were waiting for the prisoners, but they were not brought that day, or the next, or a week later, or two. And the number of them coming to the platform began to decrease. Ruslan also ran here every morning, but did not stay, but, after checking the guard, fled to the camp — here, he felt this, his master still remained. He ran to the camp alone. Other dogs gradually began to settle down in the village, forcing their nature, agreed to serve the new owners or stole chickens, chased cats. Ruslan suffered hunger, but did not take food from the wrong hands. His only food was field mice and snow. From constant hunger and abdominal pain, the memory waned, he began to turn into a wacky stray dog, but he did not leave the service - he appeared on the platform every day, and then fled to the camp.

One day he smelled of the owner here in the village. The smell brought him to the station buffet. The owner was sitting at the table with a shabby little man. “You held on, sergeant,” Shabby told him. “All your marks have long been blurred.” “I performed the task, the archive was erased. So you are all free now and think that you cannot be reached, but everything appears in the archive. Just a little, and immediately all of you - back. Our time is yet to come. ” The owner was delighted with Ruslan: "This is what our power stands on." He held out the bread. But Ruslan did not take it. The owner became angry, spread the mustard with bread and ordered: “Take it!” There were voices around: “Don’t torture the dog, escort!” “You need to wean him. And then all of you are compassionate, but no one has pity to kill, ”the owner snapped. Reluctantly opening his fangs, Ruslan took the bread and looked around where to put it. But the owner slammed his jaw with force. The poison burned from the inside, a flame flared up in the belly. But even worse was the betrayal of the owner. From now on, the owner became his enemy. And so the next day Ruslan responded to the call of Potter and went after him. Both were satisfied, Shabby, who believed that he had acquired a loyal friend and defender, and Ruslan, who nevertheless returned to his former service - the escort of the prisoner, albeit the former.

Ruslan did not take food from his new owners - he was supplemented by hunting in the forest. As before, Ruslan appeared at the station every day. But he no longer ran to the camp, only memories remained from the camp. Happy is about service. And unpleasant. Say about their dog riot. This is when, in terrible frosts, in which they usually did not work, the camp snitch ran to the head and said something like this, after which the Chief and all the authorities rushed to one of the barracks. “Go to work,” the Chief ordered. Barak did not obey. And then, by order of the Chief, the guards dragged a long gut from the fire pump to the hut, water gushed out of this gut, washing it off with the prisoners' bunk, breaking glass in the windows. People fell, covered with ice crust. Ruslan felt his rage boil at the sight of a thick lively moving intestine, from which water lashed. Ingus, the smartest dog of them, was ahead of him - he tightly clutched his sleeve tightly with his teeth and did not react to the shouts of the guards. Ingus was shot from the machine gun by the Chief. But all the other camp dogs were already tearing a hose with their teeth, and the authorities were powerless ...

Once, Ruslan decided to visit the camp, but what he saw there overwhelmed him: there were no traces left from the barracks - huge, half-glazed buildings stood there. And no barbed wire, no towers. And everything is so stained with cement, bonfires that the smells of the camp were gone ...

And finally, Ruslan waited for his service. A train approached the platform, and crowds of people with backpacks started to leave it, and these people, as in the old days, were being built in columns, and in front of them the bosses spoke, only Ruslan heard some unfamiliar words: construction, plant. Finally, the columns moved, and Ruslan began his service. Unusual was only the lack of convoys with machine guns and too merry behavior of those walking in the convoy. Well, nothing, Ruslan thought, at first everyone is noisy, then they will die down. And indeed, they began to subside. This is when camp dogs began to come running from lanes and streets to the convoy and line up along the edges, accompanying those walking. And the views of the locals from the windows became gloomy. Those going to the end did not understand what was happening, but were wary. And the inevitable happened - someone tried to get out of the convoy, and one of the dogs rushed at the intruder. There was a cry, the dump began. Following the order, Ruslan watched the formation and saw the unexpected: camp dogs started to jump out of the column and cowardly leave for the neighboring streets. Ruslan rushed into battle. The fight was unexpectedly difficult. People refused to obey the dogs. They beat Ruslan with bags, sticks, poles, broken from the fence. Ruslan was furious. He jumped, aiming at the throat of a young boy, but missed and immediately received a crushing blow. With a broken ridge, he fell silent on the ground. A man appeared, perhaps the only one from whom he would accept help. “Why did they break the ridge,” Shabby said. - That's it. It is necessary to finish. Sorry for the dog. " Ruslan still found the strength to jump and with his teeth to intercept the shovel brought to hit. People retreated, leaving Ruslan to die. Perhaps he could still survive if he knew why. He, honestly performing the service taught by his people, was severely punished by them. And Ruslan had no reason to live.