The Only Easy Day….

I hope you have been enjoying this story thus far, I know I haven't updated it in a while but it's now got a shiny new chapter I hope you enjoy it. I will try and do some more on this soon but I can't give a time of update, I hope you enjoy the chapter and as always I don't own Metro but I do own my characters.

Ten months… Ten months, that's how long Ranger training is and that's without taking into consideration the time required to spend as a cadet after that. The training was brutal more people die in training than they've lost in the field is what my instructor kept shouting at me as every day the training became that bit more difficult and that bit more brutal.

Week 1

My head was shaved my body was weak from exhaustion of running from the Reds, I was angry at the world, my sister the one person I had left in the world had been taken from me, Khan had lied to me, Millar had betrayed me and the Rangers just felt like my enemy.

Week 4

Initial selection had finished the process pushed most to their very limits two men were killed, one by my own hand, he was weak however on the verge of quitting he volunteered for this I didn't I feel nothing for his death. We practiced hand to hand combat using the saperka trenching tool, he went for a massive blow to take my head off probably because he wanted to taste blood but I blocked the strike with the back of the shovel and then struck him in the neck with the blade of the shovel severing his head entirely, the sergeants didn't care they dragged his body away once it had stopped bleeding and convulsing, forcing everyone to watch a man die. I didn't clean my saperka after that happened I liked that it had tasted blood. After the hand to hand had finished we met our partners mine didn't look like much at that point, tall, broad but not very muscular, just kinda ropey looking.

Week 10

My arms, legs and neck were all pretty much dead, the only thing that is willing me forwards is the thought of reuniting with Svetlana. The sergeant was tough on us all, I was one of the youngest men participating in the training process. The man who was paired with me named Levii, he wasn't fazed by the brutality of the regime that we were being exposed to he wasn't very talkative but he was an excellent man to be paired with. I did not know his age or how he came to Polis all I knew was that he could handle himself.

Week 21

I didn't feel pain by then my mind was becoming focused on my goal, I no longer had fear or resentment of the sergeants, their presence had become natural. The routine had become muscle memory, get up at five, forced five K weighted march full kit, breakfast of porridge with water, weapons training, more forced marching, lunch a shroom soup and rice if we were lucky, back to the range, PT exercises, a forced run in full kit wearing masks, dinner more shroom soup with pork, then run until we collapsed, lights out at ten, simple huh? Well it was but I had no clue what was to await us in the following month.

Week 24

Partnered exercises began, Levii and I had a paired assault course to complete, the obstacles designed so one man alone could not complete the course. Levii and I set the fastest time but were flogged by our superiors for not using enough communication, so we were force to do paired exercises so were the remainder of the recruits as punishment for our mistakes. Eventually we started to talk, I found out that he was not born in the metro but was on a train in Moscow when the bombs hit. He was five years older than me, not a lot but enough for him to have experiences he didn't want to share.

Week 29

Levii and I had started to talk outside of daily activities on our marches we willed each other on not wanting the other to fail and risk being paired with a lesser man. We were always near the front the pain of running five K every morning didn't faze us when we ran together the entire run just felt like a night at the bar for ordinary civilians. I had learned that Levii was from a former Hanza station which collapsed causing the station to become very radioactive his mother and he escaped she suffered radiation poisoning and died where as he lived, he believed the stations collapse wasn't an accident.

Week 30

That week was my 17th birthday, I only told Levii who gave me a small present in the shape of five military grade round rounds, these were rarer than most objects within the metro and were used as a type of currency. We had paper money but if we lost it, it was gone, but when you fire off the military grade rounds, it stops inflation. Good way of keeping the economy stable.

Week 32

Had the first free day since training started at the end of that week, Levii and I however started it with our full kit march, the surviving men thought we were mad but it was our only way to get out and talk. We explained our reasons for joining, he was disgusted in my force entry, but his story was one that I feared was becoming far too prevalent in the metro, the reds wanted to "trade with his station" but when they said no they blew the supports killing the majority of the station. His home Belorusskaya, had been needlessly destroyed every day I spent with Levii my hatred for the reds grew at an alarming rate. Every second he thought about question his own resolve the passion he had for protecting the people of Moscow from the Reds burned even brighter than before.

Week 35

My time in training was nearing completion, the training had stepped up, the weapons firing became more intense, the instructors became stricter and I became a much better killing machine. They were preparing us for something big something I couldn't quite think was going to end badlt for some recruits.

Week 36

Levii's and mine first time solo on the surface, we had been given a mission alongside a regular patrol to scout the surface for supplies and refugees. I had been given my Makarov back along with ammunition for it and a makeshift assault rifle, lovely nicknamed by the troops the bastard. The first hour of the trip on the surface was uneventful, a few close calls with demons and a few contacts with watchmen but nothing sustained. However about an hour into the exploration we spotted a patrol of men holding a group of refugees at gunpoint, the men were clad in makeshift armour obviously not Reds or Nazi's but they were definitely not friendly as one of them spotted our patrol, the black uniforms must have given them perfect silhouettes against the white snow. Luckily for our group they had a crap aim, their rounds tore up the snow around our feet but our squad simple opened up in response one of their men hit the floor instantly, the initial fire was suppressed and the men pushed back into the hole they must have been calling home. As we moved up to take them out but when we approached the hostages a sniper fired at us from a tower near to the hole, they must have rat runs through the whole complex. The Lieutenant who dragged me into training who still wore the same body armour and night vision goggles ordered the squad into an offensive posture and his counter now a sergeant pulled out an SVU rifle, taking aim at the tower. I was sent to draw the fire of the snipe but before I could even move a crack ripped from behind me as the sergeant fired a single shot at the tower, he then nodded confirming the kill on the sniper. We continued to deal with the hostages and then pulled back towards the metro entrance but as we did we came under sporadic contact from the bandits, Levii took a round in his lower leg, he slumped to the ground but I grabbed him by the back of his body armour and pulled him backward while everyone else covered. I pulled him behind some rubble and placed a tourniquet around his leg, I then wrapped his arm around my shoulder and we made a break for the Sparta surface base where we had departed for the surface from. As we came into radio range the lieutenant got the gunners at Sparta ready for heavy contact, as the building came into view I continued to hobble with Levii over my shoulders as the whole team came round the corner and continued pushing up to Sparta. As soon as the bandits started chasing us, the DShK on the roof opened up on them putting them down quickly and covering us into the base. The fire kept up for about two hours after but my medic training was coming in handy helping the base doctor patch up Levii's leg, luckily for him it was just a graze it could have been far worse.

Week 40

The final week of training was mainly preparative as the now Colonel Millar, addressed us as new Rangers no longer recruits we had all passed the course. A class of fifty at the start had been dwindled down to ten, we were the best of the best now all the kit available to Rangers. However Millar was not done with us yet.

Post training

Pretty much as soon as I got out of the basic stages of begin a cadet, Levii and I were approached by Colonel Millar. The news wasn't what we were expecting, he told us to report to Captain Denyamov. I had heard of Denyamov, he was not the man you wanted to be told to report to, he had held back the entire Nazi army when his home station was taken but his actions led to the rescue of seventy civilians from the grip of the Nazi's, he was a hero only he had been changed by the time is spent in the concentration camp.

When we reported to him he just stood there and slid two sets of folders across the table and sat down. As we stood there he began explaining what was going to happen to us, we were being selected for spetznas. I perked up hearing that, the Rangers spetznas who were the best on the planet, no one would bother to have a sustained fire with them, unless they wanted to die. Levii and I both looked at eachother when Denyamov had finished and smiled, we then turned to the Captain and nodded, he just told us to take the files and leave.

When Levii and I later reported to the Colonel, he looked stern as he passed us the spetznas patches all made before the war, we used the spetznas patches used by the forefathers it kept their lineage going. Millar then pointed back out the door towards and I watched as a brown leather coat clad man, in black combat trousers with a rad banana, came through the door. As he turned to face me I spotted that it was Khan. I couldn't control myself I flew towards him and pinned him up against the door, asking him why he had lied to me, that Svetlana and I's safety was guaranteed here but now she's gone and I was forced to become a Ranger.

Millar ripped me off the man and Khan just stood there looking at me, he then looked at Millar who pressed a button on the desk. A few seconds later a woman came into the room, her brown hair shined in the light and her clothes were cleanly pressed, as she turned I spotted the blue glint from her eyes, she was obviously accustom to seeing rangers in the office as she didn't even acknowledge Levii and I.

"Anything you need Sir?" She asked, her voice sounded familiar.

"Yes, look at these men, what do you see?" Millar told her as he walked around Levii and I.

She just glanced across us and looked at Millar, "Two Rangers?" She replied to Millar.

"No, take a look again look at their faces," Millar told her mysteriously.

She looked at Levii closely she obviously like what she saw, he quickly winked at her and her cheeks blushed slightly. She then looked at me, he eyes, I had seen them before, they shone back at me like blue marbles, she obviously recognised me aswell, she whispered something under her breath. "Do you recognise them?" Khan asked her softly.

"I think so," She nodded in response.

"Well one of these men is your brother Anna, the other is his partener," Millar told her.

She pointed at me, "This is Spartak!" She exclaimed as she looked at me in horror.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter, I really have enjoyed writing this story but it will take some time to get things out for it as I have a lot on all at once atm sorry. But back to positives, I would really appreciate your feedback and tell me what you think of the story so far and how it may be improved so please feel free to leave a review. Anyway until next time… PEACE!