Dobryninskaya, mostly referred to as Dobryn, was a large beautiful station on the entire line. One of the main stations of the entire ring line with tens of hundreds moving through here each month to get to their needed stations. Its marble red and white walls of spectacular architecture was admired as they continued to fade and crack as time passed.
The main entrance was completely barred off from any common resident heading to the surface. Only STALKERS and other individuals were permitted much like half of the Metro.
The trio dismounted the railcar and moved towards the tracks. They didn't need to stop for anything, they supplied everything back in the station before. No point in purchasing more.
"What station after this?" Michail asked the Ranger.
"We move to Venice. There's an entrance to the surface there we can take. From there we can-"
Before he said anything else, Sacha cut him off, "Wait wait wait. Did you bloody say we're going to the surface?!"
"Relax, it's just a short walk to a Ranger outpost. Not like we're going to damn Volgograd!"
"No no no, I don't think you understand. I've not been to the surface in twenty years! Because I don't want to defecate when I'm being mauled by a watchman! Besides, for all we know it could be nothing but a desert now since those other nuclear warheads went off!"
"You'll be safe. Even if it was a desert up there I'm sure we'd all notice. Now where was I? Oh yes, we'll take a raft that can take us to the outpost. You'll know it when you see it, it's a huge church near a shopping centre."
"Why can't we just go through Polyanka?!"
"Polyanka is cursed, nobody goes there for good reason," said Michail, "Any other safer way could be infested with purists. Sacha, you've been my partner of a decade. I'm sure you'll be fine setting foot on the surface. Besides, you're forty-five, you'll be too old to do anything. We've fought in wars, seen many horrors, the surface is just all of that except with a larger space. Now grow a pair will you?"
His partner sighed, "You're right. Fine, we'll take the surface. BUT I'M NEVER GOING UP THERE AGAIN AFTER THIS."
"Whatever makes you move, mate," Tariq finished, "Come on. I don't want us staying in the open like this much longer."
As they arrived to the tracks, the railcars were declined for any use up this line since the raider incident a few months back as a guard explained. So moving by foot seemed like the most viable option. The steel gate opened up, forcing a few loiterers to move out the way. There they moved on into the dark tunnel, with only flashlights, some sparks of broken wiring and the dim LED lamps to guide the way. There was a reason why nobody went up this line, too long and too dark. And the raider incident made it a lot worse. That didn't stop the group though, jumping onto the tracks and into the piss-worthy catacomb.
Hours had passed since they entered the tunnel, and nothing of importance had happened besides Sacha going for a toilet break. The air was thick with salt and dust of a dead generation, even through a gas mask you couldn't escape the putrid scent of mankind's failure. Despite the threat level in the area being low so far, something about this tunnel always kept you on alert. Like at the last minute something will just pounce onto you, draining your life before it even flashed before your eyes.
During the time though, there was just a bit of chatter between them. Politics, family, friends, you name it, anything that quelled the boredom that infected the experience of walking through a long dark tunnel.
But it was all about to end once a shriek was heard not too far up the line. Sounded like a woman's, maybe a child's? Whomever it was, they needed help. They ran towards the source of the screams. Not hesitating to stop. Their guns were cocked and their triggers were a millimetre away from being pulled.
"Take cover," Tariq whispered as he darted behind a couple of steel barrels. The other two followed his example shortly after.
Michal peeked over at the situation. Their current location seemed to be at the bondage of the four tunnel lines, straight ahead would've lead you to Polyanka, on the right led to Venice with the left leading to Oktabr'skaya. But in the centre of the binding was a small gang of raiders standing over a mess of corpses, men, women, children, didn't matter who the hell they were none were left alive. Except for one.
A young blonde woman in overalls knelt crying over a small body, recently executed. Must've been a relative or someone else close. The woman herself seemed to have been in her late teens or early twenties, hard to tell from their location.
The Ranger gestured not to engage, and to wait for a better time.
"Shouldn't have fought back," one of the raiders said, "Take a good look around you. We've slaughtered everybody here, even your little sh*t of a brother. Now unless you want to join them I'd advise you stay in your place. Understand?"
"You're a monster!" She cried.
"Live long enough and you'll eventually see there's a monster in all of us. Prying to get out of its cage, like a starved lion. Oh why am I saying this to a brat like you? Probably don't even know what the bloody hell I'm saying."
"There's a place in hell for bastards like you!" She shouted.
"Vladislav, take off your trousers. Make this whore shut up will you?"
"Gladly," another raider smirked.
The trio weren't going to watch this any longer, the mercenaries looked at Tariq waiting to give them the order to fire. Instead the Ranger just stepped out of hiding, "Eat lead you bastards!" He fired his automatic, mowing down at least five or six of them. Initiating a firefight.
Eventually, the mercenaries joined in. Michail fired his AK and Sacha used his revolver, it wasn't entirely a hard fight. Nobody got injured, barely even a touch. The final raider cowered off like a little bitch who just signed up without training.
Michail checked his ammo, they all went through two or three entire clips. They still kept a steady supply though, about enough to survive the surface.
Sacha approached the young woman, offering his hand, "Hey, you alright?"
"Thank you," she simply responded yet not taking his hand. She looked at what was said to be her brother, who laid face flat on the bloodied floor. "I'm going to need a minute," she sobbed.
"Of course of course," he moved back to the others. Who reluctantly scavenged the corpses.
"Found a few revolver round for you, Sacha," said Michail holding some bullets, "Shotgun shell too. Is the girl fine?"
"She's just grieving. Give her a minute."
"Christ, poor kid."
"Well, that's that. Come on, Venice won't reach itself you know," said Tariq.
"Tariq, we're not leaving a girl out here on her own," said Michail, "She just lost her brother, at least let something turn for her."
A few brief seconds gave the Ranger time to think, he finally gave his decision, "Yeah she can come with us. As long as she isn't a liability."
"Sacha, you go talk to her. I'm gonna go search these bodies for more ammo," he ordered, "Can't be too careful with our resources am I right?"
He went back towards the young woman, giving her some time before apologising, "I'm sorry for your loss. He deserved better."
"He did. I'm a horrible sister!" She cried, "Shouldn't have bloody taken this route! Should've gone with the blasted travel taxes!"
"Don't say that. You did what you thought was best for your family."
"And where did that take me?! I'm the last of them! I'll be long forgotten when God finally smiles on me and buries me six feet under!" She seemed to be well with her metaphors.
"Well, we're heading to Venice if you want to come. Do you?"
"That's probably the only thing I can do now, before I continue this meaningless existence."
Sacha knew family is always what mattered, it's what kept him going for so long. Two kids and a lovely wife. He'd understand what she was feeling if anything like this massacre happened to him.
"Hey now, just because your family's dead doesn't mean life's now meaningless. Who knows, you might meet a nice guy and start your own. Now come on, it's what Tariq said, Venice won't reach itself," he smiled.
She sighed, "Fine. Thank you again for the help. I'm Irina."
"Sacha. Bald guy over there's Michail, and the one in the balaclava is Tariq."
"Hey, we're moving out now, Sacha!" The Ranger called, "Is she on board?!"
"Yeah, she is!" He called back before they all switched tunnels straight towards Venice. Let's just hope she wasn't going to go against Tariq's wishes and become a liability.
"You sure you don't want to use a revolver?" Michail asked, "With someone like you standing against a single nosalis without a weapon... no you wouldn't survive at all. Unless you were an experienced wrestler."
"No thanks..." Irina softly said.
"So, Irina was it? What's your story? Why exactly were you on that trolley?" Tariq questioned.
"Me and- me and my brother... I- I'm sorry I can't talk about this right now," she stuttered, almost beginning to sob.
"Sorry for your loss again," Sacha apologised.
"It-it's fine. It's just nice to know not everybody in these godforsaken tunnels aren't devil spawns like those bastards back there. Bloody pieces of..."
"You don't have to continue, you don't have to talk either if you don't want to."
"I mean I might as well since your my only company," she nervously chuckled just as a couple tears streamed down her face. They all felt bad for her, live a few years in a post apocalyptic world you're bound to lose almost everything and everyone you loved, live long enough to pass it it doesn't matter if your heart beats or if your brain still functioned, you're already dead without something to keep you going.
"If you don't mind me asking, what business do- or did have in Venice?"
"I... I'm a fisherman," she stated.
"You don't look the fishing type."
"It's what we took after our parents. I used to take Oleg... my brother on this job. We used to fish together... his laugh when a live fish bit my nose..." As much as she didn't want to talk about it, she did. It was almost as if she was lost. Broken.
Nobody else said anything as she continued to mumble dead memories, bloodied guilt streamed down her eyes each time she uttered a word.
More eternal hours passed, until they eventually came across a small railcar conveniently fit for four.
"You think it'll work?" Michail asked observing the whole thing.
Sacha fiddled with the controls, accidentally causing it to move an inch. "She's got to be at least a few years old, maybe many months, whatever it was time's beaten her but she'll be up and running in no time, that's unless the petrol tanks or a fault in the engineering incinerates everything within a ten metre radius."
"How the hell do you know all this?" Tariq asked.
"I was a constructions worker before the war remember? Had a degree in physics and engineering too, this is pretty simple for someone like me."
"You know you'd be a great worker at Polis, right?"
"That's what they all say. I'm still going to stick with the mercenary life for now," he chuckled, "Michail, let me see those controls."
"Be my guest," he replied taking a step back.
The old construction worker went onto the driver's seat, yanked off a panel and analysed the wiring as well as other parts, "Ak-tak-tak-tak-tak, wiring seems to be in working order, bit withered though but still functional. Ah these parts are useless anyway who cares. Damn, lighting doesn't seem to be that functional, if we ever come across spiders we'll have to use our personal lights. Well we have no use in reversing for now, we can only go forward with these things." He pushed down on the pedal, observing the speed, "Michail, how long do you reckon it would take to get to Venice by foot?"
"No clue, haven't been down this line at all since... well I haven't been down this line since '02. Christ has it really been that long?"
"Four more hours by foot," Irina muttered.
"Well, if we go at max speed with this - which I believe is around seven miles per hour with this state - we should be there by... umm... oh at least an hour from now. Four times faster," he finished.
"Glad I hired you two," Tariq praised, "Come on, Ven-"
"Yeah yeah yeah, Venice won't reach itself. We heard you the first time!" The ex-trooper exclaimed.
"It'll be flooded ahead," the young woman said softly, "There's an outpost ahead though... we can take a raft from there."
"Well, at least we'll get to Polis quicker," said Tariq.
"I still need a bit of time to make sure we don't get blown to pieces halfway to Venice. Someone'll have to scout ahead, can't help if we suddenly fall into a pit of radioactive goo."
"Right, Michail, scout ahead. And take Irina with you, she knows the tunnel better than any of us."
"You sure? I'm not sure with her current condition-"
"She can still help though. Trust me, I don't want this either but it's either walk blindly through a living horror story or walk through a living horror story with a guide to make sure you don't end up like Georgie from that old book, IT."
"She still needs to process her loss, though!"
"I will go," Irina finally stated, unusually changing her mood from a mourning girl to someone tired of this piss. "I've been through here plenty of times, I know almost every single inch of this place."
"Well then, her mind's made up. Guess she's coming with you, Michail."
The old soldier sighed, "Fine. But if she gets her arse handed to her I'm not getting the blame. Come on, Irina. And take this," he handed her an Ashot handgun, which she didn't decline this time. Christ, she must've gotten over her grieving quickly. Or maybe this was just the start of a vengeful being that would be destined to threaten the catacombs.