Most of the oil lamps in Zao, a small metro station under the red line, were out. The market was completly empty. Gaurds walked through, several times through out the night.
The market, usually a bustling, crowded area, was dark and eerie at night. The stations government set a curfew, and any civilian caught out after curfew usually disappeared. The only people exempted were government officials, military officials, and gaurds. It became very rare for any one to stay out during curfew. Most people were perfectly fine with it.
Since no one in the station knew whether or not it was night, the government set a large soviet era clock in the market place. Curfew took place from 12am to 7am.
The time was around 2am when Nikolai was awoken. At first, he was confused as to what woke him. Then he heard it. A gun shot pierced the eerie silence. Nikolai jumped out of bed and grabbed his revolver from the old wooden night stand near by. He tip toed to his door and opened it slowly. Looking out into the dark corridor, he saw nothing but black. Then, out of the darkness, he heard a quiet call for help.
Nikolai turned and grabbed his oil lamp off his desk, and ran into the dark hallway. 30 feet from his door, lay the people's commissar, Lev Vadimovich. Nikolai bent down, inspecting the shot wound.
"Sir?" Nikolai whispered. He looked intently at the wounded man. His mouth moved slightly, but an inaudible whisper was all that came out. The commissar's body went limp. He was dead.
Nikolai was pulled from his thoughts as he heard footsteps. Nikolai looked up, and saw a lone gaurd come around the corner.
"You! What have you done!" The officer shouted as he pulled his revolver out of his holster and pointed it at Nikolai. However, Nikolai was faster. Before he even thought, Nikolai aimed and fired. The officer fell backwards and hit the floor with a thud.
Nikolai turned and ran to his room. Swinging the door open, he ran to his desk and pocketed all his military grade ammo. He then grabbed his pre world war 3 ak-47 his father passed down to him. Finally, he grabbed his holster and holstered his revolver. That's when it hit him.
"I'm a murdered," he groaned. "I'm never going to be able to come back. If I leave, they'll think I am the killed of the commissar. I'm already guilty of shooting an officer, and no one will bat an eye when they kill me on the off chance that I did kill the commissar!"
He quickly decided that there was no way he could stay in Zao. He had heard about people going out into the metro tunnels. Maybe he could escape the red line. Maybe he could live...