Little Girl in the Market
The market was as busy as ever, constant bartering and haggling of the merchants and station dwellers, the roar of noise was a major change from the dead streets of Moscow. On the surface it was somewhat peaceful as long as you didn't disturb the wildlife, you so much as step on a twig near a nosalis and you're in shit, best pray that you have enough ammo or there is a demon around or they will be having you as a nice meal. Usually I wouldn't have come to the market, too many thieves and other lowlife scum hiding in the crowded, but I can't go any further on the surface with a dead filter, better to come here then die of radiation poisoning over in Regia or VDNKh. I was also running low on ammo for my kalashnikov, 7.62 can go quick when you are in a firefight. My Kalash was outfitted with a suppressor and reflex sight and had the rear stock removed to make it more compact, it was lightweight and very nice for work in the tunnel, on top of that I always have a makarov pistol on me, that is a eight round 9mm pistol, it was also suppressed but I didn't add anything beyond that. I made my way to the bullet exchange station, depending on who was in the booth you could get a fantastic deal on bullets, I had some nice 22. Rounds I found on the surface that would hopefully catch a good price, a lot of the weapons made in the metro used 22. Though most of the rounds were made in house as well, the guns could still use some older rounds.
I walked up to the booth and tapped on the frame, the guy in the booth was half asleep. When I tapped on the wood he snapped up startled
"How can you sleep with all this noise" I asked him as I took my bag off my back and started to open it
"I was working night shift, and the fucker who was suppose to take over isn't here yet, but anyways, what do you have for me" he looked at my bag as he worked the kink out of his neck. I took the two boxes of 50 22. Rounds and put them on the table and his eyes went wide
"They full?" he asked as he looked over the boxes
"Ya" I replied opening the box and pulling out the frame inside the box holding the bullets
"That's one hell of a fide stalker, if they're real."
"They're real, I guarantee it"
He took the bullets one by one, examined them and put them down then marked something on a piece of paper he had behind the counter. After about ten minutes he finally looked at me again.
"Where did you find these Stalker, I don't think I have ever seen rounds in such good condition?"
"I pulled them from one of the old moscow police stations, it was really out of the way, most people don't even consider going out that way because of all the nosalis, I got lucky, the entire armory there was untouched, hell I had to blow open the door. Lots of guns inside, lot's of ammo, too much for me to haul on my own so I grabbed these and some other stuff." I told him
"Well next time you hit that place bring some more back here, now what can I get you?" he asked opening up the locker beside him and storing the bullets
" I need three filters, best you got, and two Kalash mags for this." I said putting my Kalash on the table.
"Can do, also here, take this gas mask, never been used, really good quality GP5." He said as he put the black rubber mask on the table along with some filters and two magazines for my AK. I quickly gathered up the items and put them in my bag
"Thanks" I said then I trailed off to go find the weapons dealer, there were a lot in the market but only one I knew, Dmitri Kuznetsov, probably one of the best weapons experts in the metro, he could also fix almost any gun you brought him within reason.
Dmitri's booth was all the way on the other side of the station from where I was so it was going to be one hell of a walk through the crowds, it was always busy here, people coming and going constantly, the few people who did live in the station were mostly the ones in the booths or on the floor with wares for sale and trade, the even fewer who weren't merchants were thieves or other such criminals. I wasn't looking forward to walking through the crowded, getting my pocket picked was the last thing I needed right now, but at the same time I need to see Demitri, so off I started into the market. The sounds around me just faded into a blur of noise, I heard something about vodka, another about roasted rat, everyone trying to buy and sell. I was pushing my way through the crowded person by person then I heard some music that caught my ear, it was the sound of a saxophone, despite my current objective I was drawn to the sound. I found myself at the edge of the platform with a few others watching and listening to this old man, it was something I hadn't heard in a long time, music was rare in the metro, and proper jazz was something you could only dream off. Lord knows how long I stood there with the rest, completely entranced by the rhythm, my mind being carried off by the sound. Then I felt someone nudge me and I was taken from the moment, I turned and saw a little kid walking away from me. Of course the first thing I do is feel through my pockets, for a moment I thought he hadn't taken anything then I noticed that my Makarov was gone.
Before I could even look I was rushing through the crowd trying to keep my eye on this kid who stole my Makarov, I remember hearing some people yelling at me as I pushed by them but right now I couldn't care less, my Makarov was in the hands of this little kid and the last thing I was going to let him do was see "My" makarov for a few bullets. The kid was fast, he was darting through the crowd like a little ninja, I almost lost him when he ducked behind a pillar at the center of the station, but the kid must have thought he lost me and stopped right there. The moment I came around that pillar I grabbed him by the collar of his shirt before he could take another step
"Gotcha, you little rat." I said lifting him off the ground, he tried to fight my grasp by wigaling and hitting my arm but he didn't get very far
"LET GO OF ME" He yelled as he continued to struggle
"I would be happy to, just give me my Makarov back and you can go steal someone else's gun."
"I don't know anything about a Makarov now let me go" he said starting to squirm again. I patted him down with my free hand and found it under his jacket
"You know you shouldn't lie to scary men like me boy, that's how you get killed" I said letting him go and sliding my makarov back into my holster
"Your not that scary." he said "My dad is way scarier"
"Can I speak to your father, I'm sure he would like to know that you tried to steal my makarov" I said looking down at the boy
"If you want me to take you to him that will be three bullets" The child said with a coy smile, I stared at him for a moment then turned and started to walk away
"Tell your father I say hi" I said as I walked back into the crowed
After that little event I was back heading towards Dmitri's shop, I kept my hand on my pistol now, of all the things on me that wasn't getting stolen again. I made my way past the jazz musician again, I was tempted to stop, maybe give the gu a few bullets, but I didn't, I had wasted too much time already. At this point I was passed the half of the station that had electric lighting and was over to the side that had fires, despite all its commerce the Market couldn't afford electricity for the whole platform, not with Haza selling it at the price they were. Demitri's shop was at a little corner at the edge of the platform, he never had many customers due to how expensive his work was, but the price was well worth it, he was trustworthy and reliable. The crowed started to thin out and I saw his stall, and to my surprise he had a customer, from her it looked like a little girl in combat dress, long tied back fiery red hair, fair soft looking skin, no more than five feet tall, she looked like she was talking to Demitri about a dragunov he had on the table, that thing had been there for as long as I had known Demitri, no one had ever bought it from him because it was a lot of bullets or something of equal value which was determined by him. The fact that a little girl was trying to buy it was almost comedic to me, I mean that thing had to be at least as long as she was tall.
I got closer, Dmitri noticed and smiled
"YURI!" He called with a big smile, he was a big man, broad shoulders, plenty of grey in his hair, mix in with the black stains with in from his fire "HOW ARE THOSE SILENCERS I GAVE YOU WORKING" he continued as I got closer, the little girl looked over to me too now, the first thing I noticed was her green eyes, like emeralds, but they didn't shine with youth like you would expect, finally I go close and looked back to Demitri.
"They're working fine, better than fine actually" I said as I walked to the front of the stall, then I gestured to the little girl "You aren't really going to sell this kid your Draganov are you, she's probably as likely to shoot…" before I could even finish speaking I was on the ground and that little bitch was on top of me, she gave me the good news in the form of three right jabs to the face then got up and looked down on me
" Call me a kid again and I'll shoot" she said her voice shrill "Now Dmitri, about that Draganov, we have a deal?"
I layed there for about a minute wondering what the hell just happened while Dimitri sat there laughing his ass off. Once he finally stopped I heard the girl again
"Demitri, do we have a deal"
"Of course of course, I could use the new stalk as it is, I'm running low on Kalashnikovs" I heard Demitri reply, I sat up and looked over to see, this "little girl" put three shiny new Kalashnikovs on the table, my eyes went wide, they were military grade, fresh out of some armory somewhere from the looks of it, I didn't think they had even been fired. I got up as the girl started to walk away, Draganov slung over her pach and almost touching the ground
"Who the hell was that bitch?" I asked looking back at Dimitri
"Oh her, that was Sasha, you know, that female stalker I told you about last time you were here" he said with a big grin
"I thought she would be a little taller" I said a adjusted my shoulders and cracked my neck
" Don't let her height fool you, she is former military, before the bombs, well trained too, best shot in Moscow so she says, and hey who am I to argue" he laughed. I looked back at the female figure walking away, despite everything she was really easy on the eyes, if she didn't look so young I might have noticed sooner
"Hey, where do you think she's going" I asked Dimitri still watching her walk
"She is staying at the Metro's finest, it's a little bar run by Mikhail Ivanov at the end of the platform in a little office that use to be for security, you can't miss it, he has a real big sign out front, now I know what you're thinking and forget it, she is not worth your time, especially after that."
"Hey I can be quite charming when I need to be" I said with a chuckle "But I still need to finish up here" I said putting my Kalash on the table "I need you to diagnose her for me, she keeps jamming every third shot and I don't know why."
He took the gun and looked it over
"You been keeping her oiled?" he asked as he continued to examine the gun
"Haven't oiled her for almost three weeks now, not since the last time I was in polis and able to get some." I said with a shrug
"Right well that's problem A, but I will need to take her apart and have a look, you mind if I keep her for a few hours, this one is free for charge for giving me a good show." he said with a grin
"It's fine, I have something to keep me busy for a bit till your done" I said "and while you're at it, take a look at Little dimi for me" I put my makarov on the table
"That's going to be thirty 7.62" he said
"Oh you know just how to get bullets out of me" he said putting a Kalash magazine on the table "Don't spend it all in one place" I said walking off to go find the metro's finest.
