//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1: Last Light 
// Story: Metro: Retribution 
// by RF and AG 
//------------------------------//


Death; a foe that men have feared since the beginning. What comes after death is a mystery to all. After all I have done for the Metro and to the Dark Ones, perhaps the afterlife will be kind to me.I tell this to myself, because I am afraid. Afraid of the consequences of my actions. Afraid of those who I had righted, afraid of those who I wronged, and afraid of what awaits me.





Last Light





Perspective: Artyom




My head, ебать, felt like a train had hit me. Oh wait, it did. Never had my body hurt like that before … I could feel my body again? My eyes felt like they were laden with lead, holding them down from even the slightest of movements. Each attempt to raise them felt like I was trying to lift a train car but I couldn’t quit at something so simple. Finally, using all of my willpower I felt my eyelids lift up. From the one eye I could see some shapes in what seemed like a lifting blackness. I slowly let my eyelid droop back down, a small smirk rose to my face as I realized that I wasn’t dead after all. 

That thought shocked me to my core and caused me to overcome my pain as I violently pushed myself off the ground. I wasn’t dead! I hit the detonator though and saw the flames engulf D6! Nothing could have made it out alive, why was I the only exception?

The excruciating pain forced me to stumble onto my feet, shaky legs barely held up my battered body. My entire body felt like I had been thrown off a skyscraper by a ужасный demon. My eyes widened when I felt the pain which brought me back to the reality of the situation. But the pain was the least of my problems. I had no clue where I was.

I looked around me, searching for some sort of familiarity in my surroundings. No concrete. No rusty metal grates, no ghastly white lights or man-made rails. Instead, there was the darkened husks of dead trees. Cold, yet yielding soil underneath sprinkled with blotches of grass. My eyes bugged out as I realized where I was. 

Outside.

As the dawning conclusion crashed into my mind like a freight train, the high pitched clicks of my Geiger counter filtered through my ears. My breaths became ragged and sharp as I fumbled around my body by instinct, always leaving my mask on my right-hand side. 

It wasn't there.

Whatever breath I had was quickly running out. My lungs heaved, trying to draw in clean air, trying to draw in some sort of oxygen. My chest began to cramp up as my lungs kept working overtime to find clean air. When I wasn't gasping like a fish out of water, I was coughing violently almost to the point of spitting up blood as my eyes darted from side to side, hoping to catch a glimpse of my mask. I turned each and every way. Desperately hoping to find the gas mask. I was almost choking at that point, my hacking fits were intensifying, tears were streaming down my cheeks, the lack of breathable air slowly becoming too much for me to handle. Without that mask I would die. 

I turned once more. Eyes searching desperately to find … there it was! Hidden behind the root of a weathered tree. My feet left the ground as I lunged for it. I felt the mask in my grip as my body hit the solid earth. 

It seemed luck was on my side for I found a filter still attached to it. Without hesitating I strapped the mask on my face and inhaled deeply. My breathing evened out as the relief of having that mask on washed through me. It was so good that I had apparently forgotten my pain.

I reached into my right breast pocket and withdrew my medicine pack. I flipped it open to find I was down to four syringes of morphine. Without hesitating I withdrew one of those syringes and shoved it into my leg. Finally, the pain subsided and I could actually take stock of my situation, and assess the damages I had sustained.

I slowly sat myself down against what looked like a tree. Once my back was against the tree, a realization struck me. I was outside and that meant mutants, I scurried back to my feet and flipped on my flash-light. The local surroundings reminded me of where I fought that bear mutant. The ground was different though; the rough, unyielding concrete was replaced with soft, malleable 

I reached instinctively for one of my weapons. Neither the Kalash nor the Saiga were there. Чёрт возьми, this wasn't good. That became my priority; finding my weapons before I could go anywhere. Luckily, my pistol was still held tightly in my thigh holster. I quickly flicked my flashlight off, since I might as well check my night vision. My hand reached up to flick down my night vision goggles. With them in front of my eyes, I flicked the little switch to power them on.

On the positive side they worked, the downside was that the lenses were nearly completely cracked. I gave a loud sigh of annoyance at my luck. I pushed the night vision goggles back up and flicked the small switch next to the flash-light on my head. A small beam of light shot out, causing me to smile as something finally went my way. 

I was breathing a little ragged though and I was on edge. Here I was, in unknown territory without a way to see everything let alone defend myself. I subconsciously tensed my legs a little, ensuring that I would be able to leap out of the way if something jumped at me.

I continued to check the rest of my gear, to see if anything else was missing. In truth, after I made sure my watch was still on my wrist and my battery charger was still hooked to me I stopped checking. That left only two things to find.

My assault rifle and my shotgun. The means to which I would be able to survive. My Kalash 2012 assault rifle was an all around weapon. The looks reminded me of a plastic rectangle with a few holes and a little cylinder out one side. The lightweight aspect of the gun allowed me better movement, while it’s more square body made it seem more... comfortable to handle. A useful weapon against humans, but not so much against mutants. That was what my Saiga was for. A medium barrelled semi-automatic shotgun with a drum magazine and pistol grip, my mutant killer.

I scratched the top of my helmet as my eyes wandered all around small clearing, hoping to catch a glimpse of my weapons. My feet carried me to one side and then to the other, yet still there was no sign. In a defeated gesture I threw my head back, staring up at the canopy of the trees. As my head snapped back to its normal position, my eyes caught something.

A discolouration in one of the branches. Odd at best and probably nothing. I turned my head towards the spot, letting my flashlight illuminate the spot. A larger smile grew under my mask. There, tangled on a branch was both of my guns. How the hell they got there, I would never know, but that mattered little. 

The branch, luckily, was low hanging. After positioning myself under it, I jumped up and wrapped my hands around the branch, with all of my weight on it the branch snapped, sending me plummeting back onto the cold dirt. A sore ass was an easy price to pay for having my weapons back. 

Picking myself up once again, I slung my Saiga over my shoulder while holding my Kalash in my left hand. I had enough of that one clearing and decided that I had to get moving, lest I run out of air again.

My feet cautiously led me out of the enclosed clearing I was in, my Kalash 2012 drawn. I kept that one out because of the sheer speed I could feed lead into a beast. Sure, my Saiga was the better mutant killer, but those howls before sounded quite numerous and my Kalash had more ammo. 

Being on the surface forced me to suppress my fears of being jumped. I was continuously moving my rifle around from one direction to another, making sure that I wasn’t going to be attacked from behind. Those Watchmen came from all sides so I had to keep ready. My watch gave off a quick beep, reminding me that I was indeed on a time limit. I had to find a way back to the Metro before I ran out of air. If I used all of my filters, I had less than fifty minutes now. 

My pace quickened as I decided not to test my time limit and get off the surface as quick as possible. Fear began to form in the back of my mind when the environment in which I found myself, as it didn’t look anything like that of Moscow. There were no buildings in sight and I could barely see seven meters in front of me before my light faded into the surrounding darkness, as the further the light travelled from my flashlight. The trees looked like the mangled husks from Moscow, but some had foliage. I blinked in surprise, as whenever I did travel to the surface, the trees were always bare and lifeless skeletons, dead sentinels and memorials of the errors committed by our previous generation, by our old governments. Every step made it more and more possible that I wouldn't be able to get it there in time, if it even existed any more. 

There was another howl, but this sounded closer. Дерьмо, those Watchmen must have heard me. These damn tree branches weren't helping my case. I needed to get out of the hellish forest before those Watchers tore me up. I sped up my pace once more into a run; I needed to put distance between me and those mutants. My legs were straining with each step, muscles pushing myself hard. I was used to running at full speed with gear on but this armoured suit wasn’t helping me in the slightest. If I kept up that pace for too long, I would have had my legs collapse under me.

I thought I was in the clear when I heard another howl, farther away than before. My feet slowly came to a halt, kicking up more dirt in the process. I quickly faced myself in the direction I had just come from. Rifle drawn, I waited for something to leap at me.

Seconds ticked by in sheer agony as I stared into the woods in front of  me. It was quiet, too quiet; so quiet that I could hear my heart beating. Shadows fled the light shining from my flash-light, hiding behind the ghastly trees. Everything was almost deathly still, it was as if time had come to a stop. The only thing that moved was my flash-light. Another howl surfaced deep within the forest. It was impossible to tell how deep in the forest the mutants were, or how far away they were from me, as the sound seemed to come from one direction, and the next one would be from an entirely different direction. they were for all the sounds just seemed to reverberate back towards me. 

A few more seconds past which to my relief brought nothing. No Watchmen leaping at me. Nothing trying to rip my throat out. Nothing. Anxiety slowly drained from my body. I was in the clear. A smirk grew under my mask as I turned myself around again. Maybe I would get out of this forest without harm; that would be a first. I started back down the path but with less urgency this time. No sounds at all this time. Just me and my footsteps. That was until my left foot took a step on a ledge and crumbled right through.

“Фак!”

My feet slid out from under me, forcing myself feet-first down the slope. Each contact with the rocky face caused me to wince in pain. That was all I could do. Of course my fall wouldn't have been complete without spikes at the end. I braced for the coming ground. It was the least I could do. My feet connected with something. Something brittle, as it snapped instantly. The first jab in my legs forced my eyes open. I was moving too fast to see them but I could feel what they were, thorns. As if my entire body didn't hurt enough, those чертовы thorns began to jab my suit. No part of my body was free from the bastards. Each stab felt like a dull knife attempting to pierce my skin, even with the suit it was agonizingly painful. I was lucky that my suit didn't break. These were made to last. 

My path through the thorns ended abruptly. My feet connected first with the ground, bending to absorb the impact, keeping me from breaking my legs. It helped but I still found myself lying on my back, my legs having forced me to lay flat on the ground. I groaned in sheer agony as I stared into the sky. Or at least as far as my light would reach. If I didn't break a rib from that impact, I sure as hell bruised it. All of my muscles cried out in agony. Nothing felt broken or sprained, just bruised completely. I needed to relieve the pain, the bruising would heal in time. My left arm moved to the little medicine pouch on the front of my armour. Grunting through the pain I quickly pulled out a syringe and jabbed myself with it. Relief washed over me as I laid there for a little bit longer.

As the pain melted away my body began to cooperate again. I flipped myself over and got my hands under me to push myself to a standing position. My body wobbled briefly before steadying out. After I dusted myself off I noticed I was standing in the middle of a small clearing with two paths leading down each direction of the gorge. It was odd enough to see one path through the brush but two was uncanny. They weren't small either. No, these paths were easily three times my size. What could have made such large paths? Watchmen? No, too small. Demons? They wouldn't be this far down. Nosalis? Same category as Watchmen. Couldn't be a Librarian. There were no buildings behind me. I scratched my covered chin in thought. Maybe it was whatever roared behind me. I froze. That thought struck me again as another roar echoed from behind me. ебать.  

Out of sheer instinct I tucked and rolled forward. I had faced enough mutants to know I had to move quick. At the end of my small roll, I sprung to my feet, rifle unslung the moment I stood up, and just as I finished spinning to face whatever was behind me.

What I saw shocked me. The beast looked like a lion from before the war, but extremely mutated. It had some sort of messed up tail with a stinger on the end, almost like a Spiderbug, the tip must have been long enough to impale me and then some.Then there were a pair of massive bat wings attached to it’s back, those were obvious enough in their purpose. The size of the beast alone was terrifying enough; it was definitely larger than a bus, almost nearing train car size. 

The beast let out a feral roar. The massive jaws were easily bigger that half my body, teeth glistened with saliva as it hungered for me. It slowly stalked towards me, snarling. 

Fear used to be foreign to me, nor did it strike often. But this beast induced crippling fear in me, as my legs were frozen in place. A sense of deja vu encompassed me.

The colossal monster halted that thought for me. It coiled back onto its hind legs as though mimicking a spring. In one smooth motion the beast lunged. Intent on killing me with one move.  

“Aww shit!” I shouted as I rolled to my right to just barely avoid the massive beast landing where I once was. The thunderous clap of the monster landing shook me from any footing I had. Being only a few feet away didn't help as I promptly landed on my ass from the aftershock. Another body part to add to my injury list. 

The beast quickly spun itself to attack me again. Not only was it massive, but it had speed. It was as if I was dodging a moving car from only a few feet away. Another deafening roar came from its muzzle followed by another, albeit small, leap at me.

I reacted in the only way I knew how, to scramble myself away. My boots barely found enough traction in the soil. One hand gripped my Kalash while the other dug for traction. Thankfully I found enough to get myself clear of the landing zone. I continued to scramble myself farther away.

Another roar sounded from the beast’s direction. It was mad; a seemingly easy meal putting up such a fight. This time it turned to face me slower, more menacingly, with its teeth still barred at me.

Fuck standing. I dropped to one knee and let loose a burst of fire into the face of the creature. The muzzle of the gun gave off a resounding flash and report. Followed by another. And another. The rifle kicked into my shoulder repeatedly. I hardly felt the pressure as I poured a ten round burst into the beast.  

Ten rounds did nothing to it. The beast hardly flinched at the rounds, instead it just kept moving towards me. How it reminded me of that bear. That thing had hardly felt the assault rifle rounds. That thought struck me though. My Saiga! The bear couldn't shrug off my shotgun rounds as much. I quickly swung my rifle over my back before attempting to draw my Saiga. I nearly had it pulled out when the beast lunged again. 

It was as if time slowed down. My eyes swelled with fear at the monstrosity aiming for me. My body seemed to react on its own, doing the only thing I could. Jumping away. In a last ditch attempt I leapt to the side. Wasn't fast enough though. The сука clipped my legs with its paws. 

My body was sent tumbling towards the thorns on the side of the gorge. The sheer impact jarred my filter loose. It was then that I remembered something. Something important. I was on a time limit. The lack of good light prevented me from finding the filter. I needed to get a filter in quick. With the threat of the beast, I couldn't hesitate.

Picking myself up, I kept myself moving. All the while swapping filters. I had done this enough in the Metro. Changing filters on the run while being chased by mutants, I mean. The moment the filter was in though, I reached for my Saiga again. The weapon was still hanging on my arm by sheer luck. With the weapon now in my shaking hands, I spun to face my foe. 

Only to find that it was no longer there. The beast was gone. Without a sound. Without a single trace left behind. Where did it go? It wasn't like it could just up and fly away. 

Дерьмо.

If it was any faster, I would never have seen it coming. From straight above me it dropped down. The beats of it’s wings buffeting the sides of the gorge. The beast’s jaws opened wide, the sharp, jagged, meat-rending teeth bared at me, making the beast’s intention rather clear. Only one of us would walk away victorious. Only one of us would keep his life that day.

I forced myself to once again leap out of harms way. Albeit slower than before, but still fast enough to dodge the beast’s attempted attack. My body tucked into a roll at the end of the leap. It would be easier to quickly get back on my feet, as mobility would reduce the likelihood of me getting eat, something that I wanted to avoid, if at all possible.  

I must have rolled late, because the beast slammed itself straight into the ground. This beast was massive and it was evidenced by how big the resounding shock-wave was. The heavy landing dazed it, however. As the beast wobbled, unsteady on its feet, due to such a punishing landing, I noticed that this momentary reprieve was my opportunity retaliate. I needed to take this opportunity, since I didn’t know if I would get another. The beast swayed slightly. My moment to act was now.

I peered down the sights of my Saiga, focusing fully on the head of the beast. My legs carried me forward, approaching closer to maximize my damage. My hand tightened on the grip. My finger slowly pressed down on the trigger. The recoil of the first shot rippled through my shoulder as the buckshot tore out from the muzzle. My shoulder absorbed the kick as my finger pressed down again, and again, and again. Each shot tore into the beast, pushing it farther back, and closer and closer to the side of the gorge. 
        
Twenty shots and the beast was limp against the wall. Its head had dropped to the ground, resting slightly under a foreleg while the rest of its body was just as limp. Another mutant killed at my hands. I walked up to it as I switched out my now empty drum magazine for another. I warily prodded the side of the beast with the Saiga. No movement. This brought a smile to my face as I turned to walk away. 
        
        I was stopped though, as something was wrapped around my leg. A tail … a scorpion tail. My face paled at this. Without a chance to move, the tail gripped tighter. A sudden pull forced me into the air above the beast. It rose from its spot, blood seeping into its fur from open buckshot wounds. The right side of its face was torn to shreds, looking much closer to shredded beef than a lion. I had no time to contemplate on how it was alive, for I was looming over its mouth, completely upside down, with not a shred of hope to escape.
        
        In a last attempt to save myself, I drew my knife. The tail loosened. Once again time seemed to slow. Here I was, about to be eaten alive by a mutant beast. My right hand raised the knife to it in defiance. It must have been luck, for as I fell head first, the knife plunged into the left eye of the beast. 
        
        It flung its muzzle to the side, knocking me nearly a couple of meters to the side. I turned to my left and spotted my Saiga, just within arms reach. A howl broke loose from the monster, in a terrifying mix of rage and agony. The knife was still lodged within its eye as it clawed at it, ripping out pieces of torn flesh and buckshot in an effort to remove it. The efforts were all in vain though.
        
        I quickly grabbed my Saiga with my right hand and scooped it into my arms. I pulled the hammer of the gun back. The sights once again fixed on the beast’s head. The first shot leapt out of the gun with a vengeance, quickly followed by a second, and a third. Each shot tore into the good side of its face. 
        
        By the time I finished firing ten shots, the beast was still. Its maw was open as it laid sprawled on its side. Dead. No breath, no heartbeat, just one less beast that wanted me dead, my enmity ceased, having been the victor, and also the only one to keep his life, at least from this fight anyway. My opponent was finally dead, the knife still sticking out of its eye. I walked up to the mutant’s face. A thought crossed my mind briefly. My foot collided with the jaw of the beast. There was no reaction to my kick at all. Finally, it was dead. 
        
        My hand reached forward and grasped my knife. I must have gotten the sucker deep in there, for the knife was tough to move. I used the dead creature’s head as leverage and ripped the knife from its spot. A small amount of blood squirted out, splashing on my armour. I didn't care though, it wouldn't stain and I had bigger things to worry about. My depleting supply of clean air was the biggest concern, for me, anyway. 
        
        I turned to leave the beast there. No need to bury the body of something that no one would miss. My feet raised and lowered as I jogged out of the clearing. One of the paths had to lead out of the gorge, if it didn't I would die there. Not by beasts; not as long as I had my Saiga ready, assuming that I never ran out of ammo. Ha, such a thought was something I couldn’t help but chuckling quickly at, even in the grim situation i was in. 
        
        


~~~~~

        

        
        My watch read five minutes for this new filter and I had two other left. I had fifteen minutes until I would die a painful death by radiation. My legs were straining to keep me up at this point. Constantly running for twenty-seven minutes was something few could do with this much gear. It wasn't like I was carrying a ridiculous amount of items on me, but each piece was definitely adding to the feeling of being overburdened at that point. At least I hadn't been attacked since that creature in the gorge.
        
        I leaped over a small downed tree. The forest floor was littered with them. My legs were tiring. I was about to stop for a quick break when a howl broke out from the forest behind me. It was close too. There was no time to stop now, I needed to keep moving.

        Something slammed into me from behind. My body flew down the path a little ways. Being airborne was becoming old, fast. I landed on the ground with a hard thud. I kept rolling till the trunk of tree forced me to stop. Once again the pain flared up. It wasn't as bad as before. No need for a syringe, not that I had the time, the Watchmen were going to close fast.
        
        I scrambled to my feet. This time around, my boots got firm footing right away, I readied my Saiga. Drawing it up to my shoulder and aiming at the beasts. Their menacing eyes glowed a radiant green, it gave them away in the shadows. By them I meant the four I could see. Out of the deeper darkness they moved till I could actually shine some light on them. I had dealt with Watchmen before. These though, these weren't Watchmen.
        
        The body shape was similar, but that was the only thing that made them look like Watchmen. The slimmer bodies had no flesh to them, instead there was wood. How? It wasn't just the wood though, a green liquid dripped from their fangs; the liquid was the same hue as the wooden wolf’s eyes, and also glowed like the eyes glowed. 
        
        I slowly backed away from the prowling beasts. Each step they took emitted a snarl from their wooden mouths. All too soon I felt myself backed against a tree. Бля, I jumped slightly at the wood behind me. 
        
        Each one of the beasts kept moving agonizingly slow towards me. It was if they were gauging me, judging me, trying to find a weakness. I would not give them one to work with. I raised my weapon to fire on the right one. Wrong move. The beast on the far left attacked instead.
        
        I attempted to spin and meet it. My body was almost there when the beast was upon me. My finger reactively squeezed the trigger of the Saiga, letting loose an ear splitting roar from the muzzle. The round or maybe the muzzle fire must have clipped it. The beast leapt from me, kicking with its back legs. One of those kicks slammed directly into my shotgun. I was temporarily defenceless.
        
        The others saw the opportunity to attack. With a combined roar they charged at me, teeth seeking to sink into flesh. Each foot fall, of their wooden bodies, forced the dreaded thought of death upon me. I had faced bigger things than these, I had faced more things bigger than these, there was no way I would let those сукам take my life.
        
        My right hand instinctively reached to draw my revolver, my left moving to my knife. It took a split second to raise my weapon. In another split second, the hammer on my revolver was pulled back and my finger was already squeezing down on the trigger. The three beasts were nearly on top of me. A loud crack roared out from my revolver, followed by another. It was good enough to remove one threat.
        
        The other two though, were already on top of me. A set of jaws went to tear at my throat. My left arm reacted and lodged itself under the powerful jaws, the other beast sought to strike then. The same tactic proved fruitless for it. My right arm had lodged itself under its jaw as well. Now it was a struggle of sheer power, which was something that I couldn't win. I needed to think of a way to remove them from on top of me. An idea struck me. I would probably only get one chance at executing the idea which came to mind
        
        My legs quickly tucked up, almost in a fetal position. How fortunate they were positioned under the bellies of the beasts. I quickly pushed my legs up to meet their torsos. The brunt of my boot met wood hard. A solid thunk resonated from the impact. I was just strong enough, or had surprised it enough, to push the right beast off me fully. This allowed access to my revolver again. The other beast had been shaken off me a little, but not enough to free my arm though. Soon enough though, it wouldn’t matter as I swiftly moved the barrel of the revolver to its head. No catchy one liners were said as I squeezed the trigger. 
        
        Wood chips and more of that green slime flew from its head. A hole nearly the size of a bottle cap was blown straight through its skull. The corpse slumped up against me, and just as I had shoved it away from me, another weight pressed into me. The other mutant had attacked me while I was busy. And it was pissed. The thing’s mouth locked onto my right bicep, fangs pressing down into my suit as it lashed back and forth. I was lucky, that my armour was thick enough to keep the fangs from making contact with my skin; the marks would be ever present though. The thrashing of its head was what was hurting, my arm felt like it would be torn straight from the socket. I had to react quickly despite the exhaustion slowly creeping up on me or I would lose my arm.
        
        My left hand plunged the knife into the glowing green eye, forcing the jaws to release my arm. The monster let loose a shriek of pain. The ear splitting howl sounded like a little girl screaming. I pushed myself up, noticing that the beast had staggered back far enough before falling to the ground. Whimpers escaped its broken muzzle, reminiscent to that of a wounded hound. I knew I had to end its misery. Even though it was my enemy, to let it suffer any further than what it already had would have been cruel, and contrary to my very being; as a man, as a human, and as survivor of a post-nuclear radiated planet. I walked slowly to where it laid on the ground, my thumb holding the hammer of the revolver back as I slowly pushed the barrel up to its forehead. 
        
        Another life ended with a loud crack of the gun. Another time I had to pull the knife from the eye of a beast. Once the knife was in my hand and out of the mutant, I looked around, warily scanning my environment for the fourth timber wolf. The fourth one had fled it seemed. It might bring back more though, which meant that I had to leave the scene fast. I turned back down my original path, quickly getting up to a full run, no need to linger in this area.
        
        I continued running even as I changed my filter once again, ten minutes left of filters. This was barely enough time back in Moscow to cross the surface. Most of the people venturing up there had at least thirty minutes worth of filters. With only ten minutes on hand, I started to fear the possible outcome. My mind fought back my fears, as they would only hamper in my quest to survive.
        
         I was once told as a child, that the mind is capable of powerful feats. Over the years I had come to realize that this was not just a comforting statement. The Dark Ones showed me the full extent of the mind. It would seem that being connected to them helped me after all. All those times in the Metro, where others had gone mad from the horrors and flashbacks, I had made it out alive and sane. 
        
        Perhaps being positive while running through that damnable forest helped me after all, for there it was, an exit. There was no light shining aside from my flashlight, but it had illuminated an empty area where the foliage stopped. I sprinted towards my exit, hoping that it wasn't just another clearing. My hopes soared when I saw the distinct lack of trees around the sides of the exit. Finally, I had reached the end of this miserable forest. I slowed to stop as I broke the borders of the forest, my eyes widened at my sight. It was still night out, but that shouldn't have stopped me from seeing the distinctive shapes of Moscow; no, what stopped me was that there were no distinctive shapes of Moscow, there was no Moscow at all. The sight of a lush green and seemingly endless field under a clear night sky tipped me off to that. 
        
        I was instantly drawn to the sky, the stars shone and twinkled in the sky as if they were flash-lights illuminating the ceaseless darkness of the Metro. I hadn't seen stars since I was but a young boy and my mother was still alive. It was a sight to behold, if only I had Anna, or even Khan to share this with. I was so focused on the stars that when I noticed the full moon, my jaw dropped in my mask. The sheer amount of illumination that it gave off took my breath away. It was as if I could seen each little indent and crater on its surface. Its beauty was only helped by the stars around it, adding to the glow of the already beautiful sight. All those years in the Metro, all that time of only seeing a concrete ceiling. Even the surface could barely give me this. I had almost seen the moon once, during my little wrestling match with that bear, but this ... this celestial sight rendered me speechless.   
        
        It wasn't ‘til the beep of my watch before i was shaken from my contemplation. I quickly switched my filter, which brought me to the realization that I had only one filter left. Five minutes of life if I could not get underground. That single thought caused me to break into a full sprint across the open field. At that point I cared little for my surroundings or even if there was a monster around, those would not matter if I could not get fresh air. 
        
        My feet pounded against the ground heavily, not caring about making a sound. As I ran, I came over the top of a little ridge and into a small valley it seemed. I grinned wildly under my mask as the sight of buildings renewed my chance of survival. I started up into a sprint once again, knowing full well that I had only two minutes left of air. There was no time to attempt to get into one of the buildings within the town, so I changed my course towards a building that was only half the distance. This … cottage, if it could be called that, was in a shape that I had never seen before and damn it was tiny. Who lives here? Now that I think about it, those buildings in the town looked strange as well. Where is this place?
        
        There was no time to ponder, I needed shelter in something underground. Luckily, my approach was from the rear of the house because I spotted a heavy metal door leading to cellar. 
        
        “Спасибо, lady luck,” I mumbled under my breath as I proceeded to fling the doors open. I hastily turned around and closed the doors as quick as I could, causing a rather loud thud. Shining my flashlight into the corners of the cellar brought me to a realization, this was a food stash! Whoever placed this down here would be feeding me for awhile because once my filter ran out I would be stuck here till help arrived, if it ever did. I continued to shine the light into other corners in order to find a way to lock the door. A crowbar, that would be my way of locking the door and keeping this place closed. I effortlessly inserted the piece of metal through the handles of the door. 
        
        Once the door was barred, I proceeded to take in my surroundings. A windowless cellar left little to the imagination as my flash-light lit up nearly everything in the room. A rather small cellar, maybe about four meters in width and seven in length. The walls on each side had shelves stocked full of various food … no meat though; odd. How did they gather all these fruits and vegetables? Wait, was that a fish? How did they get a fish that looked so normal? I shook my head in disbelief before removing my gas mask. I tentatively sucked in a breath and hoped for the best, nothing burned so I physically relaxed. Safe, I was safe here. 
        
        I slowly sat my gear down and removed my helmet placing it alongside my weapons. Being stuck here wasn’t so bad I guess, there was a lot of food in this room and I was safe from the radioactive outside. My mind slowly eased out of its high alert status and allowed me to relax. I sat myself down against the only open space in between the shelves, the cold wall giving me a weird sense of comfort. A smile graced my lips as I closed my eyes and entered a much needed sleep.