Chapter 2: Leaving Moscow Pt. 1

Moscow, Russia

Everything settled down after the train bursted up in flames, the spartans were able to breathe and relax a little without constantly being shot at. Fortunately, no one had gotten critically injured. Alyosha was probably the only one who suffered from an injury but was expected to recover from it just fine.

Damir had volunteered to fix up his shoulder wound to the best of his ability despite not having much medical knowledge, if none at all. They had to deal with it and just learn as they go, even thinking up new and different ways of closing up wounds.

"Better?" Damir asked, setting some gauze over his gunshot wound. He had already taken the bullet out which was a bit of an eternal struggle, sooner or later it managed to budge.

"Yeah, much better. Thank you," Alyosha replied. "One can never have too many scars, the more you have, the more irresistible you become to the ladies, am I right or what?" He chuckled at his own comment.

Damir joined his laughter. "Certainly. You got to be careful though, even one wound could be fatal." If it had been his head, Alyosha would surely not be able to show off any of his 'charming' scars then, would he?

The spartan helmets did help protect them from critical wounds though, at least from human enemies with guns. Mutants, however, are a different story.

"I know, I know. But hey, getting shot is much preferable than being a mutant's chew toy," he joked, remembering the state Artyom was in not too long ago.

Artyom stopped playing with his geiger counter before scowling. He then stomped once, "I heard that," he called out from above.

If he weren't getting treated downstairs, Alyosha was sure Artyom would be giving him his best glare. Ah yes, he was quite good at that. He and Damir just chuckled silently as Damir began finishing up with his wound, sticking on a sterile gauze.

"I don't think you'll need stitches, the wound is pretty small. Just keep changing your gauze every once in a while." He taped the gauze down, pressing it on his shoulder once before taking a step back. "That should just about do it. My handyworks not bad, huh?" Damir chuckled.

Alyosha got up from the seat he was sitting on. "Not bad at all, bratukha. Good work."

Now that Alyosha's wound was tended to, the two could finally have their turn to relax. They decided to stay downstairs a bit longer and talk some more, especially about the recent events that took place earlier and they weren't the only ones talking about it either.

"So how was it anyway? You know, sneaking by those soldiers and all. Must've been tough not to get spotted in with such limited space and all."

"You're never going to let that go, are you?" Artyom questioned, raising a brow at his younger friend.

The younger male chuckled. "Just curious. Man, the colonel never let's me take the cooler missions," Duke complained. He was still bitter over it the colonel denying his request. Was wanting a little bit of action so bad?

"I'm sure he'll appoint you to some tougher missions in the near future," Artyom said in an effort to cheer him up.

"He just doesn't want a slip-up," Tokarev said a few feet away, leaned up against the wall. "You'll get your time to shine, just be patient. It was an important assignment."

"I know, I know," The brown haired male responded.

Artyom went back to messing with the geiger counter in his free time, something that's just become an uncontrollable habit for him. Sometimes he would read or even write down parts of his journeys in his journal to keep track of things but at the moment, he didn't feel in the mood to read nor to write.

Damir and Alyosha decided to join the rest of the crew above. Alyosha took a spot against the cool, metal wall and leaned against it.

"I feel much better now," the tattooed man said with great relief.

"You're lucky, you got one more scar to show off," Duke praised, still lingering around the desk Artyom was seated at. He was still trying to pry about his friend's most recent mission, desperately wanting to hear how he did it in complete stealth. The train cars had to be filled with many soldiers and being the youngest, he was one of the more curious ones, more reckless as well. And to be truthful, if Duke were the one to carry that mission out, he would've probably lit everyone up in bullets or had been caught immediately due to his daredevil-nature.

Artyom didn't pay no mind to him, continuing with minding his own business. He was way too focused on the geiger counter and nothing else, maybe he was too obsessed with finding a signal…

While some of the members carried on with their conversations, Anna came back in the train for some fresh air as she took off her gas mask. Taking notice of Alyosha, she leaned against the wall near him before playfully giving him a dead arm. "That's for your dumb joke about Artyom earlier. I heard it too."

"Ouch!" Alyosha called out. "That's my arm where my wound is." He began to rub is arm to soothe the pain running through it.

"You can take a gunshot wound but not a little punch in the arm?" The raven haired girl joked, snickering to herself.

Artyom saw her from the moment she came back in the train, and he and Anna exchanged satisfied looks when she had gotten her revenge. He even joined in with laughing, along with some of the others.

"It was only a joke," he whined.

"He just never learns!" Duke laughed, finding it hilarious. "Like always, Anna knows how to put us in our place, doesn't she?"

For some reason, Artyom felt proud because of that. Not only was his wife an excellent sniper but she also had many other talents. She even had a more fierce side of her which he always loved to see but he also relished in her kinder and more gentler side too. She was one in a million, someone that could never be replaced in Artyom's life. The little moments like these were fuel to him, keeping him going.

"Just think before you say something," Anna grinned. "I'm always listening."

"I think Alyosha here has learned his lesson for the day," Sam chimed in. He'd been rather quiet all this time up until now.

"Yeah, for now at least." Alyosha said with a smirk. The teasing of other members would never get old and there'd surely be many more jokes being told in the near future and not just for Artyom, but for the other members as well.

"Guys, quiet down a bit," the colonel ordered as he carried on with his conversation with Yermak.

The colonel was keeping himself busy, chattering away with their engineer, discussing what to do next. Background noise seemed to just go straight through him for the most part, at least until everyone suddenly began laughing which threw him off. Needing to focus, he managed to get them to settle down for now. After getting rid of those troublesome soldiers who'd been chasing after them, they had no clue where they were headed or what the next step would be in their journey.

Where in the hell were they going to go?

END.

Author's Note:

Another chapter but this one's a bit shorter. Thanks to I-Nex-I for reviewing and giving your opinion. Just because you said that, here's this little chapter just as a little break from all the original story content. It's short but hope it's okay~

I'm more-so planning to do a lot of my own inputs when they reach their next destination which is the Volga area and beyond which I'll include lots of stuff in between that does not happen in the original story. I was saving this for tomorrow but just wanted to post it now since I may not be able to a bit due to being a bit busy with school.

Anyways, hope you like it and again thank you guys a lot for reading. It means a lot to me.