Metro: Retribution

by RF and AG

Chapter 2: Visions

        My eyes opened to the freezing cold of the Moscow night. The snow on the ground crunched under the tires of the armoured truck as it moved through the ruined and empty streets. The night always frightened those who could not defend themselves or those who were caught out in the wrong place. With the plating of the truck between me and the outside, I had no fear; no Spartans feared the night.

        “Artyom! We’re almost at Sparta Base, how you doing over there?” Miller kept checking on me during the ride. For some reason he didn’t think I could do what the Rangers did. I rarely replied to him, not out of contempt but just because he would continue talking anyways. Under the mask, no one could see you smirk so shaking my head at his comment probably gave him the wrong idea.
       
        Whoever was in the turret didn’t speak much so I doubt it was Ulman; I liked Ulman though for his comments. He seemed to brighten up the feel of any situation. He kinda reminded me of Khan for that same reason, but damn did Khan speak like a man of the old world. Kahn spoke of mysticism and theology of a world that no longer exists. His ability to show up at will seemed to defy all that I have ever known, but maybe that was just how he was.

        The truck approached the building. For a building on the surface, it was in pretty good condition. It was a three story building, with the topmost story being a rather large bell tower. The building itself wasn’t that big compared to the ruins of other buildings. If my memory served me right, it was a church from before the war. Miller spoke up again as we came within a block of the building, “Here we are. It’s the first and so far the only human outpost up here. Sparta’s outdoor base!”

        I was in shock. How had they found a place that was secure enough to be a base for longer than a night? Yet here it was, a base fit for anyone at this point. Pristine glass windows covered by boards kept out the poisoned air and the building itself looked untouched; one of the few left in all the city, maybe the world. The outer layer of the building had some scorch marks and the paint covering it was nearly gone, yet somehow that was the only imperfections on it.

        Apparently, my thoughts had wandered for too long, as when I came back to reality we had already pulled into the depot. MIller said something about wandering around, which I paid little heed to. I slowly removed myself from the truck, removed my helmet and proceeded to take in the surroundings.

        The Rangers really made it a great place to live. The lighting was spectacular, illuminating the entirety of the garage. Not a single spot had more than a shadow of darkness. What amazed me was that it actually felt somewhat warm in the building. Maybe it was the lights giving off heat or there was possibly a generator somewhere around that I couldn’t see. My feet carried me towards the left side of the garage, while my eyes kept darting around the ceiling and the nooks of this place. I refocused my vision to what was in front of me and found something else that warmed me up.
        
        Stowed in the corner of the garage, on a little ledge was the armoury and damn did that armoury have everything. All the types of weapons you could find in the Metro were here, either on the tables or behind the cage.

        “Artyom, I’m Vladimir. Pick whatever you like!” His voice startled me, forcing me to snap my head to the left. The man was what Westerners used to call a stereotypical Russian; stocky and slightly large, clothed in a parka and wearing an Ushanka. Some Westerners from the Metro still use that stereotype. His eyes were rather soft for a Ranger, which for standing that close from me was relieving.
        
        I shifted my focus from Vladimir to the actual weapons. I had no need for them at this point; a modded revolver, a semi automatic shotgun, and finally a silenced and scoped Kalash 2012. Such was the ‘heavy’ burden of being a contracted Stalker, searching the ruins of Moscow and clearing tunnels. I got paid well and put more than enough money into beefing up my personal armament.
        
         I looked through the bins of ammo he had out. There must have been enough rounds in those bins to supply a whole army! I shook my head as I gathered what ammo I needed to replace the spent rounds. I set down my used clips, which Vladimir quickly pushed into a box, and took some new ones. I gave a small nod to Vladimir and hopped off the little ledge that his ammo station was on.
        
        I looked to my right and noticed that there were stairs a little farther down. I casually made my way to them only to find Ulman, off to the side, chopping wood. That man continued to amaze me, doing odd things; well odd when compared to anyone but Khan.
        
        Ulman noticed me making my way towards the stairs, “Oh! Hi there Artyom.”
        
        I had learned a while ago that unless I was asked a question, then I should stay silent. Saying the wrong thing tended to get more men killed than those killed by mutants ... at least that was how the saying went. So I kept quiet, knowing that Ulman would continue talking anyway.
        
        “Heh, I’m a- I’m exercising as you can see,” Ulman said with a small chuckle all the while chopping another piece of wood. That was the last thing he said to me before going back to his work. The guy was focused when he wanted to be, I’ll give him that. I decided that it was time to go up the stairs, find Miller, and continue with the mission.
        
        As I came to the top of the stairs my eyes set on Miller across the second floor. He was leaning over an old desk covered in papers. My first movement was towards him but a shadow caught my attention. I slowly turned to the right and my eyes widened at what I saw. Khan was standing in front of some old world tapestries. Where had that man come from? He seemed to always be where I was, no matter what was happening. His back was turned to me, so I hoped for once to approach him and surprise that strange man. That idea fell short though.
        
        He turned as soon as I approached him, “Hello there Artyom. I told you we’d meet again.” He looked around a bit before continuing. “It’s a nice base that the Rangers have. I heard you received no help from Polis, what’s your next move?”
        
        Did Khan talk to the Rangers about this? How much did this guy know about me that I hadn't told him? I was bewildered at what he was saying. His knowledge of my events seemed to be endless. Hoping to have him reveal his hand, I decided to keep silent. He picked up on that quick though.
        
        "Keeping silent? You are turning into a Ranger. Take a close look at the road you follow, Artyom. And be aware of how it might end." Khan looked around at the church for a brief moment before continuing, "You reap what you sow, Artyom. Force answers force, war breeds war, and death only brings death. To break this vicious circle one must do more than just act without any thought or doubt."
        
        He reached a hand out and placed it on my shoulder before speaking again, “Well Artyom, I’ve been chatting here for far too long. It’s time to go.” With that, he gave me a nod and walked off, leaving down the stairs I had just climbed up. Such an odd man he was. How did that pertain to this situation though? Чёрт возьми, how did that even pertain to this world now? Violence is the only way we can survive. Without force, we as a species could not survive on this world. I shook my head and moved to Miller.
         
        As I walked closer to his table something else caught my eye again. I slowly moved to one of the boarded up windows. The window was in fine condition but the boards were more for security than anything. It was expected for them to be rather brittle but this boarding had missed an entire area. The pale shimmer of the moonlight flowed through the opening.
        
        It wasn’t the wood that caught my attention. No, it was the moon itself that drew my weary eyes up to the dark night sky. A full moon; only the third time I had seen one. Yet for some odd reason, it was especially captivating tonight. It was rare to even glimpse the moon at night, for the weather would hide the gleaming orb behind clouds. With this night being so calm, I could not help but glimpse the moon again.
        
        My eyes glossed over while looking at the moon, thoughts focusing on the moon and all that I had heard of it before the war. Luna, the moon was called, such a beautiful name. Few would think much of that name, but a man back in Exhibition told me of the moon's beauty when I was younger. He kept referring to the moon as ‘her’ and ‘she,’ a foreigner would have considered this odd, giving the moon a gender. To him and the rest of us, born in this destroyed country, it was only natural. The old man spoke of times where people would walk on her surface and be able to see earth as we see her, times where she would be surrounded and embellished by the twinkling stars that surrounded her. If it wasn’t for the terrors that came with the night, I would have chosen her over the sun.
        
        I came back into focus, my mind slowly getting back onto the right train of thought. There was something odd about the moon tonight though. There were darker and extremely visible craters or maybe a trick with the light that was covering half of it in an odd way. I swore I had never seen this before, my memory never failing me before. Those odd dark patches made a figure on the right side that seemed to crawl up the front of the moon. Eventually the figure turned towards the middle and produced what could possibly be a snout of something. It was tough to tell from the far away but what was for sure was that there was horn coming from the top of the figured head.
        
        I snorted slightly at this, the air must be making me hallucinate; a unicorn from fairytales was residing on the moon. If I mentioned this to anyone they would probably call me insane and lock me up … well, maybe not Khan. That man would have told me a tale of the old world that speculated something about this.
        
        I turned away from the window and gave a quiet chuckle to this thought. I slowly turned and proceeded to Miller. He finished flipping through the D6 documents before looking up at me.
        
        “Okay, okay, okay. There’s not much useful in here, just hints at the most. Although, it does show the way to D6. So … that’s our destination then.” He gave a slight pause, looking behind me before staring intently at me once again, “Are you ready?”
        
        I hesitated before answering. How does one prepare for something that they don’t know anything about? It was now or never though. If we waited too long we might not be the first ones there. No one knew if D6 was a leaked fact or if only Polis and the Rangers knew of it. One thing was for sure though, we would take it, no matter the cost. I gave him a confident smirk and sharply nodded my head.
        
        Miller returned my smirk and opened his mouth to talk, yet nothing came out. Everything seemed to completely freeze. My eyes raced side to side as I tried to figure out what happened. I spun around to see if anything was behind me, only to be met with a dark void. My heart was racing as I spun once more, trying to see Miller again. Another empty void filled the spot.
        
        It was then that I realized was happening, I was dreaming. Reliving memories of the past. Usually they had a certain topic to them, most of them focused on the Dark Ones, their attempts to contact me or reliving what I did to them. This was just a random snippet of my life though.  
        
        The Dark Ones had gifted me this somehow. Given me the power to realize if I was dreaming. I could do little more than just watch the scene, but it still felt almost like a gift. I remember when the Little One had entered my dreams once. It was … pleasant to say the least, but barely memorable.  
        
        My train of thought was broken as a new environment materialized in front of me. A river and the supports of a bridge came into view. A fresh memory it would seem. To what relevance this memory would have, escaped me but that didn’t stop me from taking in the entirety of it.

        A cacophony of screeches by the demons as well as the splashes of shrimp echoed from the area as I proceeded to slowly walk my way around the edge of the pillar. Those shrimp and that Demon had been annoying to say the least. A great way to waste ammunition, but it wasn’t like I could ask the Little One to help; he was too innocent and I was already corrupting him.

        My eyes slowly scanned over the area I was in, something I needed to do more often. The ice on the river had been stable enough but I would be more than relieved to have my feet back on solid earth. The bridge above me was beyond repair, sections missing and rubble hanging limply off the wire frames that held it together. This bridge might have been a landmark once; but now, without a doubt, it was a symbol of a dying city.

        A large splash sounded off from the midst of the river. I gazed down just in time to catch a glimpse of a shrimp swimming off. For all I knew, there was a whole colony located within the hull of that wrecked ship. The sheer size of it obscured due to it being lodged into the river floor. Surprisingly enough, the sight was almost calming. I shook my head at that thought; this city could never be calming again.

        I began my trek along the dirt path leading around the pillar. I gazed into the ruined buildings along the river bank. All it was, was more concrete just standing among the decaying city. I was about to put my eyes back to the path when something blue appeared on a rooftop.

        Blue? There was nothing blue out here, let alone underground. My eyes tried to focus on the item, but it was too far away. I wasn’t carrying anything with a scope so that removed that option. My eyes, burning from concentrating so hard, finally gave way and blinked. When they returned focus on that spot, the blue thing had disappeared. I continued to watch the rooftop for any sign of it. Eventually I shook my head, gave my gas mask a quick wipe and continued on the little path off the ice.

        Following the small dirt path, surrounded by piles of concrete rubble, brought me to a ladder which went up the bridge. It was my only way forward and the Little One had guided me here, so my life was as much in his hands as his was in mine. I was reminded of the Little One’s presence when he suddenly spoke up from within my mind.
        
        “Your houses ... so high. You made ... the city? So huge! Why are your people down there now? Why so few?”
        
        I started my climb up the ladder as he asked his questions. I sighed at them, he didn’t have to go through what ‘my’ people had to go through; so he didn’t understand. We, as humans had done much which was considered impossible. Among those feats, were the construction of countless cities like this one. Skyscrapers filling the sky almost endlessly from below them. A modern marvel at one time, now turned wasteland. One could speculate that the rise and fall of mankind could be seen from just looking at the city.
        
        I had once been told by Khan that his people had evolved from us. That they were the next evolution of mankind. He also spoke of them being part of a hive mind once. It seemed so long ago since he told me that, but in reality it could have just been a week ago. If this Little One was part of that hive mind then how did he not know of what we did?
        
        I shook out these thoughts and focused on the ladder. Most of my ladder climbs on the surface ended in something attacking me or even attacking me halfway along. The helpful presence of the Little One eased my nerves about being attacked though, but one could not be too careful. It was when I neared the top of the ladder that the Little One took me off guard.
        
        “You humans killed ... all of your people. Strange. Foolish. Evil.” I slipped slightly on the rail. It was brief and unnoticeable to the Little One, but I was taken aback by this statement. He knew his answer to the previous question, yet it wasn’t that which blindsided me; it was his view on it. From my people’s views, we saw the reasoning as to why the bombs fell. We knew it wasn’t for the better of us all, we knew that we had doomed ourselves yet we still saw a reasoning. This Little One didn’t have that perspective. He knew nothing of the world beforehand. His perspective, one that could be assumed as being born out of innocence, was right though. We were foolish, we were evil, and we had not changed since then.
        
        A snippet of memory surfaced to the front of my mind. The moment when I stood on that tower and watched the Dark Ones die. I had showed them just how evil we were and the Little One bore witness to it. Maybe his perspective was not of innocence, but instead one of experience.
        
        As I climbed over the top of the ladder, I saw the Little One standing there. It was the briefest of moments but the look on his face conveyed meaning. I didn’t know if a Dark One showed emotion on their faces before seeing the Little One. Now though, it was obvious he had a melancholy look to him.
        
        For that brief moment, I actually saw more to him than just a means of achieving what I needed. Even with his thin, stocky figure and blackened skin covering all but his eyes, I could tell that he and I were no different.
        
        The outer appearances were nothing but scattered dust of bad memories to me now. He looked more and more like a lost child who was alone in foreign place; a feeling I knew all too well. Was all that Khan had told me of the Dark Ones true? Was Miller wrong about them?

        I could not dwell on those thoughts for long as the Little One soon scurried off into the small passages of the bridge. I followed my guide into the passage before an all encompassing sheet of black encased me.

        I soon found myself standing in the middle of the empty void again. Once again there was no surroundings and nothing for me to do but reflect on the memory.

        That statement and that moment with Khan ... why were those memories so important? Why was I being shown this? Out of every memory that I could witness, out of every experience that I had, why did those ones show? How was this of importance?

        I started to wonder which memory I would view next but, oddly enough, nothing came. I just stood in the black, neverending void before an odd wave of weariness came over me. My hands instinctively went to my head as I fell to my knees. One hand moved to plant itself on whatever I was standing on while the other continued to support my drooping head.

        I struggled with all my effort to keep my consciousness as my eyes lids drooped lower and lower, slowly sucuming to the endless feeling of drowziness. With a dull thud, I found myself laying down on my side, my eyes barely staying open. Slowly my eyelids sunk lower and lower until I was sure that they were shut. Without a single moment after, I lost consciousness.