After Leaving the House Forever
Artyom made a dash for the lever; he needed to get the blast door open so he and the Rangers could escape from the onslaught of Nosalises and get to D6. Artyom lifted the lever upwards, the door slowly creeped from the ground.
Though gunfire and gnashing of jagged, broken teeth had overwhelmed the dungeon, everything seemed to have been going as planned, but something began to creep from the painfully slow blast door.
An albino Nosalis.
Artyom had remembered the look on its face when it had emerged from the dark, its beady, dark eyes shrinking to the light of his headlamp. Without hesitation, it pounced onto Artyom and attempted to rip his torso to shreds, but out of the battle, the outspoken Boris rushed to help him.
"Get off you freak!" Boris unleashed the magazine of his VSV into the body of the Nosalis.
In anger, the Nosalis broke free from Artyom and attacked Boris. The albino swiped for his leg and began to drag Boris into the unknown.
But Boris wouldn't let himself die like that.
"Take this!" Boris began to light the homemade grenade's fuse. Boris laughed and laughed, and then he died.
The door was open now; Artyom had regained his sense of balance and stood up.
He and the other Rangers rushed to Boris. He was dead, the blast of the grenade had burned and scarred his face into an unrecognizable mess.
"Boris, my friend, why!" Stepan gazed upon his former companion, devastated.
"Boris, I swear on your memory, they won't rest while I'm alive!"
"Stepan, Stepan, that's enough, you can't help him." Miller tried to console Stepan over the death of Boris. Boris and Stepan had known each other before the nukes had fallen, their friendship had seen many years, even in the Metro.
Stepan slid Boris' mask over his charred face in honor of him. He then rose and began to trek with the Rangers again.
It was strange, Artyom thought, that just moments ago the whole crew of Rangers was so confident in the dungeon. Everything that had stood in their way had fallen, and Ulman was cracking jokes to Miller's annoyance. They had all seemed so mighty, but now one of them had fallen.
Artyom felt a strong sense of guilt now. Because of him, so many had died helping him on his journey. Bourbon, Pavel, Boris, and even the travelling merchant on that railcar to Riga… And all he did was find some way to justify their deaths.
But they all died heroes, especially Boris. Boris and the others knew full well what they were doing, and they did it because they wanted to help Artyom, and everyone else.
In his, and other's sacrifices, Boris had saved Artyom and decided to leave their house, life, forever.