Adrian ptechino - MC

After being exiled from his station, Adrian is sent out to the surface with little more than a VSS, 3 magazines, a mask, and a makeshift suit.

Adrian heard the grating metal door shut behind him, he was out. A rush of anxiety and freedom flowed through him and choked him, forcing him to drag air through the dusty filter harder than he had anticipated, the filter gave off a rough scraping noise. A brutal reminder that the mask was old and fragile, of course, they would give him the shoddy one... "Screw them" he mumbled to himself, regaining his calm and straightening himself out. 'A new start!' he thought, 'I'm finally out of that claustrophobic hellhole, I can do what I want!' aloud BEEP caught him off guard, his watch alerted him of his time limit on the surface, 20 minutes, after that, the mask was useless. Inquisitively, he approached the map on the wall, a small, dried-out piece of paper with a diagram of the metro and beside it, a map of the surface. They had been made before the war to be given to worried tourists so they wouldn't be lost for hours and find themselves stumbling down Tsvetnoi Boulevard at 3 in the morning...

A blood-curdling howl echoed throughout the intermission room that Adrian was stood in, bouncing off the walls and reverberating in his ears. He froze, a statue of a young man way in over his head. The most movement he could muster was to flick the safety catch off the VSS rifle he bore, making a satisfying click, giving him a feeling of safety. Counting his breaths, he slowly turned, hoping he could draw another sip of murky air before he was pounced on by the howling terror. A black, leathery beast was perched 20 meters away from where he was planted. Slimy, viscous liquid dripped from his mouth. Before the monstrosity could make a move the room was lit up with blinding flashes of orange and white, sprays of crimson blood and pale dust was thrown across the room, one final scream was let out before the monster came crashing down on the marble floor.

As the pool of blood rolled gradually across the floor and the spray on the wall started to run l casually, A loud croak blurted through the speakers on the wall, "Consider that our parting gift." Said the callous voice before the sound of a cracking and then nothing... The silence was deafening. Adrian was leaned against a wall, shaking, struggling to breath and alone. The puddle touched the toe of his boot, warm and soothing. It comforted him slightly, his violent shaking was slowly becoming a mild shiver. He got up, looked at the one-way glass beside the door and gave a final nod of gratitude. The blazing machine gun barrel retracted into small, inlet before a small door shut over it and bolted. They were probably packing up for the night, the station went into lockdown during night hours, Adrian knew exactly where the gun was going to be placed because he had done it hundreds of times, he knew where they would sit because he had sat in the same spot thousands of times. He shook his head, trying to forget the memories of the station, he had to move on, that life is over now, he must start a new one. An adventure. 'Yes, that's what I will think of it as! A story! My story!' he thought. His eyes lit up and a new demeanor swept across his face. He turned on the flashlight and strode up the old escalator with a new found confidence.

The sight he was greeted with when he reached the top of the mechanical stairs was one of horror and disbelief. Although he couldn't see much, what he could was devastating. Carcasses of cars strewn across the roads, skeletons of buildings claimed once again by the wilderness. When Adrian was told about the surface, he didn't believe what people said it was, he always wanted to believe that it was lush and pleasant but somewhere deep down, he knew it was a wasteland like everyone said it was, that it was a broken place that man no longer had claimant of. He could feel the tears spike his eye. BEEP, 15 minutes, He had to move, fast. the closest place was Sukharev. Just down the road. He walked out of the small exit and checked to see if the coast clear, 'No demons in sight. Time to go'. He started out with a walk but broke into a jog after noticing a small tear in his tarpaulin suit, must have been a ricochet from the machine gun burst, no time to repair. With the amount of noise the rifle hitting against his waist harness was making he was lucky he didn't wake the whole block.

The route took Adrian through a perilous trek, through buildings, roads and even an old plane crash, "Kolliжion Airlines". It must have been flying over just as the bombs dropped, A horrible death. Although Adrian felt a strange attraction to the plane, a BEEP alerted him of how much time was left to finish up his journey on the surface, 5 minutes. His jog turned to a run and then a sprint, he sloshed through puddles and jumped over long-dead animals, picked dry by the vultures and gargoyles. If he didn't make, he'd have to join them, join the pile of bodies mounting from a devastated world, a ruined life. A final beep sounded. Adrian hesitated for a second. He could still make it, As long as he didn't tell anyone, he would be let in. He ran down the stairs, stumbling on the bottom step and cracking his mask. he pulled himself up. 'I can explain' he told himself in a panic. He frantically banged on the door with the butt of his rifle, three short hits, three long hits, three short hits. The only Morse code he thought would grab the attention of the sleepy guard on the other side. SOS.