When the station was secured from the threat of the Fiends, anger filled the hearts of the soldiers as their prisoners rambled on about needing drugs. With the assistance of Polis medical teams, they learned that these people were filled with drugs or chems as Stella puts it. Still, their mere presence earned a few beatings from the Hanza, Nazi, Red personnel on the platform. In Bourbon's eyes, they deserved it. These people had the galls to attack an important station that fought tooth and nail to keep the mutants from a direct route into the Metro.

A Nazi brought out his baton and brought a beating on a man with a cow's skull for a hat; however, his officer walked over to keep him back from killing the man. It was very difficult to keep everyone from attacking the prisoners, but not easy to forget the carnage these people… enjoyed.

The stalker departed from watching over the group of prisoners as he made his way back to the entrance of the station where the command post was set up by the Polis Rangers. Bourbon stopped himself while the colonel was busy speaking with the officers from the major three states. "Hanza will be protecting the civilian and prisoners in-case these people try to break through the barricades, understand?" The officers nodded their head, acknowledging the Ranger's orders. "The Nazis will secure the perimeter of the station and report any sighting of a push to our people. Meanwhile the Reds will be kept in reserve to putting out the fires depending on the direction of the attack. Stay vigilant, people. This is not over yet. Dismissed."

When the officers departed from the colonel's presence, Bourbon stepped forward and met with the Ranger himself. "Colonel Miller, you called for me?"

"Yes, did you get any information from the locals?" Miller asked. "I know they're not comfortable around these soldiers, but those people seem to treat you well. I won't ask, but say what you can about what occurred during the attack."

"Turns out one of the guards went too far from his post and noticed a strange anomaly that was pulsing in the tunnel. However, he thought it was good idea to try and walk through it."

The Ranger shook his. "That is stupid."

"That's what I said, but let's get back to the topic. The guy said that when he entered the pulsing anomaly he found himself in some kind of desert under the sun."

"Okay, I've heard many anomalies, but this guy must have been smoking mushrooms while he was at it."

"I thought the same, but my experience says otherwise."

"Experience?" The colonel asked. "What kind of experience are we talking about here?"

"Back before I became a stalker around these parts, I'm one of those old veteran stalkers from Ukraine." Bourbon answered. "You know what I'm talking about."

The man's eyes widened like china plates at the mere mention of such a place. "Wait a minute, you're a stalker from the Zone?"

Bourbon nodded his head. "Yes, but that was a long time ago." Then he reached into his knapsack and pulled out a small bag. The contents jingled until he opened it and revealed it to the colonel. "If what the locals say is true, I'll have to toss some bolts and see if its dangerous. Then I may enter it."

"Since you're not one of my men, go ahead. If it does lead us to the place where these assholes are coming from."

"Fiends." Bourbon corrected.

"You know them?"

"No, not at all. However, Stella does. Apparently, she has dealt with them before. She claims they are druggies who enjoy violence."

"They sound like mad dogs that need to be put down. Well, I'm not stopping you from fucking around with an anomaly so you better get going on that problem."

Taking his bag of bolts with him, Bourbon made his way towards the very entrance the Fiends came from. The eyes of the sentries took a quick glance at him before a Red Line officer came to confront him. "Hey, are you crazy. You're walking into a high danger zone."

"I know." Bourbon answered. "However, I have Colonel Miller's permission to proceed past this checkpoint."

"The Spartan Colonel? Very well, you may go and good luck out there, stalker."

Walking past the checkpoint and away from the torches and flashlights of the station's defenses, he saw the bodies of the defenders still present at their stations. The carnage they had to endure was perhaps the worst the station had in a very long time.

When he was surrounded by darkness, Bourbon pulled out his headlight and charged the battery to the maximum. Blood and bullet holes littered the entire tunnel as he walked past the fallen Fiends. Some laid their backs on the wall while their hands covered their wounds while others simply died with a needle deep in their skin. In the old days, they would have been sent to rehab, but twenty years made it impossible for people not to think about escaping this hell-hole.

Then his eyes noticed a pulsing in the air. It almost reminded him of the anomalies in the Zone, the kind that would bring some poor unsuspecting stalker into its grip and force them to explode. Here, it might be different. If his time with Artyom was anything to go by, it is a phenomenon. If the place that screwed with his mind was anything to go by, there was no rational explanation.

His hand reached into his bag of bolts and readied himself for the result. For all he knew, the anomaly might cause some violent reaction that could kill him. As he tossed the bolt, the stalker contemplated at the anomaly like he was one of those scientist back in Ukraine.

When the bolt contacted the anomaly, a small white light consumed it. In all of his times as a stalker, this was new for him.

He threw another bolt to observe the strange phenomenon once more.

Then Bourbon tossed the next bolt.

And another one…

If the Fiends came from this tunnel, could it be that it originated from this very anomaly? They certainly wouldn't have originated past this point given that the hermetic door would expose them to the toxic air and the radiation. This anomaly had to be it.

Stalkers held a reputation for taking risks to endure radiation-filled locations and danger that lived there. If the anomalies wouldn't kill them, the mutants will. Then if they failed, the natives will.

Bourbon stepped forward with his combat shotgun at the ready and slipped his bayonet onto the barrel. There was a slight chance it might bring him into a dangerous location, but his entire profession was a hazardous occupation. No point in pussy-footing around this issue.

After entering the anomaly, he was embraced by a white light that blinded him. His makeshift shotgun was pointed in the general direction in front of him as he brought a free hand from his weapon to cover his eyes from the light.

While the brightness began to fade, the stalker felt warm air breeze into his face. It was not the toxic air of the Dead City nor the smell of the tunnels, but fresh air. His nose recognized fresh clean air by his arrival. The brightness faded before he was met by a strange sight before him.

The middle-aged man couldn't believe what he was seeing. He was standing in the middle of the desert and was on the surface without a gas mask. Off in the distance, he could see a city in ruins, but there was a great tower looming over the others and its light were flashing its fresh life.

He took a step forward, but his boot appeared to have knocked something over. Looking down, there was a toy dinosaur laying on its side. However, there was a strange carving that seemed to be connected to various places. Yet, he found where his bolts had landed. "Where the hell am I?" He wondered to himself before looking over his shoulder.

Behind his back was the very same kind of anomaly that he stepped into in the Metro. As he walked through, he found himself in the tunnels of the Metro.

"The Rangers are not going to believe the shit I just found."

After bypassing the door, Artyom found himself in a maze of hallways. The clinic was sure to be filled with medical supplies. There was a path before him, go up the next set of stairs or go to the right filled with various rooms?

Morbid curiosity filled the stalker as his automatic rifle was kept on his side. If there was an attack, he would have to endure the horrors of close-quarters if the ghost people were here. On his right, there was a doorway which led him into another hall, but the red glow on the far end caught his attention. It was a speaker.

He raised his rifle and lined up the old weapon before pulling the trigger. As soon as the single shot flew from the barrel, the stalker saw the bullet did little to damage the speaker. It appeared to have been shielded. Perhaps there was a way to turn it off, like those radios.

Artyom turned around and was met with a horrific sight he had never seen before. When he stepped into the room, he found headless bodies laying on the cots, rotting away. As he looked around the room, dozens of mannequins stood up with those bomb collars around their necks. This was probably the place where Elijah slipped the bomb collars on the people.

The smell was too much for him as he left the room and continued to explore the clinic. Bypassing the hallway with the speaker, he found a room with various chairs and a desk aimed towards the door. This must have been reception for the patients and the visitors. On one of the chairs was a strange holodisk and a stimpack. It must have been important to be there.

In the corner of the room, he found a glowing handprint on the wall behind two chairs. That was an interesting matter to notice as he made his way past the furniture. A briefcase remained hidden away from the naked eye before he dragged it out and opened it. Inside were contents that surprised him. More stimpacks were there as he saw a various food and ammunition.

The stalker slipped his weapon over his shoulder before taking a look at the caliber of the bullets. Out from his holster, he brought out on bullet from his revolver to compare the bullet sizes. Both bullets were the same, but he noticed cases of bullets of a different caliber. Would he need it? If there was a possibility of finding a weapon that used these rounds, maybe it would be useful, but where would he find one? Despite the thoughts of carrying too much ammunition, he slipped his newly acquired ammo into his knapsack.

Perhaps he could find a weapon that used this ammo type?

When he returned to the hallway, he made the decision to explore the place. Although the building endured through so much wear and tear, maybe the systems put in place were still intact to shut the machines that retained their power after all of these years. Then he began to have a look around. Each room he bypassed, there were these strange pods that were placed in the center of each room. Whatever these machines were, it intrigued him for some time. Yet, the origin of their purpose made him wary of touching them.

After reaching the other end of the hallway, the path lead to the left into a dead end with three more rooms. However, the young Russian began to observe the speakers themselves. Unlike the other ones he had seen, these appeared to have little to no method of breaking them down unless he could break the wall. "Maybe I could turn this place into a hideout for the others if I can get rid of them?"

Artyom shifted his attention to the other rooms; however, one of them was blocked off by rubble while the second room had another pod inside. Then he heard a knocking in the third room, but the sound appeared to have been contained. As he walked into the third room, there was just a pod like the others. Yet, there was more knocking coming from the very pod he was looking at. Did a survivor get trapped inside?

He walked up and began to pry the shutter open. His hands gripped onto the handle while his arms ached at the strength he exerted. The Russian cried out at the tough resistance it presented. Then he was given a hint of hope when the shutter slightly gave in for him. "Open." He said to himself, giving himself some courage to free whoever remained inside. The resistance that defied him had changed when the entire pod was exposed to the room.

The stalker stood back in relief before he looked inside to see a hairless woman with various scars on her body reluctantly walk out. Underneath the light, she winced at such contact while blinking her eyes. She had to be stuck in that pod for a very long time if that was the case. Then her eyes looked around the room, trying to bring her a sense of recognition for her.

"Are you alright?" He wondered.

At first, the stranger's mouth opens, but not a single word escapes. Her hand slowly reached to her throat before she blinked in surprise. Then it began to make its way to the lock as her thumb appeared to press down on it.

Rather than risk the possibility of letting Angelique and Cass get killed out of curiosity, the stalker caught her attention. "No, don't do that?"

Her hand paused before glancing at him. The woman took a step back as she clenched her fists.

"You're collar is connected to a few others." Artyom replied. "One of my friends has those bomb collars on her, I don't want you to accidentally kill them."

The stranger's eyes nodded her head before she made strange gestures with her hands.

Despite his willingness to help, he couldn't understand what she was trying to make out. "I apologize for being blunt, but I have no clue what you're trying to say."

She shook her head at him, but nodded to the door.

"You want to go that way?"

The woman nodded.

"Wait here, there's a speaker there that might make your head explode. I'm trying to find out a way to turn it off… somehow. Can you wait here for awhile?" Artyom requested out of her.

She nodded.

Then he reached for his knapsack and pulled out a 9mm sub-machine gun. "Here, I'm not using it right now and I think you might need some protection." After he handed her the weapon, he gave her all the ammo that weapon used.

When he walked out of the room, there was only one place left, the second floor. Jogging through the hallways and making his way up the stairs, Artyom arrived at another set of hallways, but there was something strange on the corner of his eye.

A phantom of a blue armored man patrolled the hallway with ease. After it reached the far end of the hallway, it turned around and stopped. The color changed yellow as it made hand-gestures at him. Why it would do such a thing, he would never know. Then it changed into crimson red before red beams flew after him after such inaction.

Artyom fired his automatic rifle, but the result did little to comfort him. The bullets flew through the blue figure as he became terrified at what he was facing. While the magazine turned dry, one of his bullets flew past the hologram, but struck a blue object attached to the wall. In a single moment, the hologram disappeared at its destruction before he lowered its weapon.

The person didn't fall to his gunfire, but that small blue device somehow… killed it. Maybe if he talked to Angelique about it, she could explain it.

The young man stormed into the rooms and began to scavenge what he could find. Aside from other items he cared little for, there was an occasional pile of Sierra Madre chips in the cabinets. However, the stalker discovered a room with one of those working computers. Before he considered cleaning the desks of anything of value, Artyom saw a set of keys with a note beside it.

When he got his hands on it, there was an old dusty note that was referring to a man named Steve for checking on the generators in the basement. Then he realized what it was referring to. The basement that brought him to this clinic. "I better check it out." He thought to himself before running down the sets of stairs again and going back into the basement.

By the time he reached the base of the stairs, the room was filled with ghost people as they flooded through the tunnel opening. Their eyes turned their full attention on him while he noticed two box-like machines past them whining loud with electricity.

Artyom reached for his grenade and his lighter before lighting the fuze then tossing the makeshift ordnance towards the inhabitants of the villa. He watched with surprise when the grenade landed atop before the room was filled with a violent explosion.

One of the ghost people stumbled towards him with a knife in hand. Despite having the opportunity to run him through, the stalker reached for his revolver and gunned him down. Although it fell to the damage he caused, he unsheathed his trench knife and began to descend upon the unconscious being.

The cloud had overtaken him. He was one of them, partially. Yet, by sheer will alone he refused to succumb to being a mindless animal living on baser instincts alone. A pack decided to descend upon the Medical Clinic, but he put them down like the dogs they were. Their bodies lay in the street, broken by his skill in combat. However, he couldn't stay for long.

It had been enough time since his previous departure with the young man, but he wouldn't let his last memory be destroyed by this transformation of his. As soon as he would walk out of those doors, more of them will come and he would need something to fight back. He placed two weapons on the ground along with some extra ammunition and air filters for him.

Silent warrior pulled out a postcard of Saint Petersburg and placed it atop of the weapon. The stalker would be asking questions, but that moment will never happen. He turned away from the main entrance to the clinic and made his way towards the unknown of the Cloud. His last gift left behind for another to carry while the fallen Ranger embraced his departure from this world.

Author's Note: I finally had a decent reference that wasn't the cheeki breeki. Man does it feel good to get past that.