Utopia
Right new chapter, I've tried to go a bit more horror in this chapter hopefully it's worked but if it hasn't please do tell me anyway I'll let you get right to it, so as always I don't own Metro but I do own Spartak.
We spent what felt like hours trudging further into the tunnels towards Mendelevskaya, my heart was darkened by what I had seen in Chekhovskaya but I wanted to find out more about this cult and what they had been doing around Polis.
I turned my head from side to side in the tunnel watching for any signs of life but there was only the usual tunnel rats and cockroaches which littered the floor. My gaze eventually caught up with Khan and Levii who were about ten steps ahead of me in the tunnel, Khan was running his hand along a pipe which led along the far right side of the tunnel.
"What are you doing that for?" I asked as I raised my weapon and pointed it ahead of us down the tunnel.
"Shush child, there are things down here only few can comprehend," Khan replied mystically as he continued to run his hand along the aged and weathered metal, breathing deeply as he did.
I could hear something faint as I walked closer to him, following in his exact footsteps I could hear a distant chime, "Khan, what is that?" I asked as I was almost hypnotised by the sound.
"It is them," Khan said quietly as he lifted his hand off the pipe just as he reached a pressure release valve, "Come, listen," He told Levii and me as we stood near to him listening to the sound echoing from the pipe.
The night has come
And she has brought darkness with her.
Mummy went out
Closed the shutters,
Sleep, sleep,
Fall asleep!
Is what I could faintly hear echoing through the pipe as I kept listening I could hear giggling like there were small children on the other end.
"What is that?" Levii asked in utter shock as if he had been touched by the dead.
"It is a lullaby," Khan replied simply as he looked at me.
"The night has come," I said calmly as the rhyme repeated itself.
"What?" Levii said turning to me my helmet torch illuminating his face.
"Is an old mother's song," I told him, "It's meant to frighten children to sleep."
"That's twisted," Levii said as he lowered his head towards the pipe so he could listen to the sounds.
"That is their recruitment tactic," Khan said as he placed a timed incendiary bomb inside the pressure release, "we can't risk them surviving this ordeal my friends, if they get to Polis again they will exact revenge just for us being here, you understand yes?"
"We understand," Levii said as I scanned the tunnel which out stretched in front of us.
"Eyes on," Khan ordered as he raised his weapon and pointed it down the tunnel towards the station. I followed Khan with my AN held high whilst Levii did the same with his gun, we moved quickly down the dank tunnel which had an array of green glowing mushrooms and a few broken boards which had fallen from the supported walls. "Spartak, keep it close, these creatures will attack anyone who is alone."
"Gotcha," I replied as I crept closer to Khan listening to every little sound but all I could hear was the sound of the little shrimps crawling all over the floor which was submerged in a few inches green water. "They're ugly little bastards aren't they?"
"That is evolution child," Khan told me as he tried to avoid stepping on one of the creatures.
"Nature is a cruel bitch," Levii whispered as if the cult were right behind him.
"Why are you whispering?" Khan asked him as we arrived at a large blast door which had a series of abandoned old toys next to it.
"They might be watching us," He replied worried.
"Might?" Khan shot back ominously.
"Great," I said to Khan as I grabbed the emergency backup on the door and nodded to Khan and Levii who were setting up with their guns pointed inwards. "Ready?" I asked them to which Khan nodded so I started to twist the door release but as I did a cloud of gas seeped around the door.
"Yebat' masks on!" khan shouted but I had already taken a breath of the gas but it didn't seem to have any effect, I could still breathe and my mask was now keeping out the rest of the gas.
"Is that their dream gas?" I asked as I drew a breath through my filter with a wheeze.
"Da," Khan wheezed as her scanned the room with his flashlight, "It's a service shaft," Khan observed as I continued to scan the room with him and Levii.
Suddenly I heard a vent shut above us, "Fuck up there!" I shouted as clicked my rifle off safe and onto the burst mode but I didn't fire.
"What was that?" Levii shouted as he looked up at the vent too.
"I dunno but something," I paused as I tried to peak up into the shaft, "Definitely something," I said quietly pulling the thing open, "Well it's gone now," I said as I shined my torch up the vent but all I could see was a trail of blood left behind, and it was dripping on me.
"Blood?" Levii said as he rolled some of the liquid on his fingers.
"So if they know we're here then we should move quickly," Khan said as he moved up on the door which must have lead out into the main tunnels. I shut the vent and moved up behind Khan with Levii behind me. "Ready?" Khan asked as he placed his hand on the door handle.
"Ready," Levii replied as he placed his hand on my shoulder waiting for the breach.
"Tri, dva, odin, idti idti idti!" Khan ordered as he threw the door open and we burst into the new tunnel.
"Clear left," I said as I strobed my flashlight down the tunnel but I could see something moving in between the strobes, "Fuck that not clear!" I shouted as I started to engage with the AN, the thing kept getting closer but then it hit me, I knew what it was, "Not again!" I shouted as I felt it taking hold.
The girl in the torn dress walked towards me, her face was coated in blood, her hand was outstretched to me her nails had been ripped off their beds and her eyes black as the ace of spades. I raised my AN and shouted, "Stop get back!" But they just kept coming, I tried to turn and run but as I did she was just that side too, I felt her brush her hand along my arm which made every hair on my body prick up. "Just leave me alone," I panted as she closed in on my face, with her palm up against my cheek, I tried to swallow but I couldn't. She gripped my throat after a few seconds I could see the edges of my vision staring to blur and close in but as it almost completely blacked out I felt something constrict my face.
I shook my head trying to remove the constriction but I couldn't it was still there, I started to hyperventilate but when I opened my eyes I just say a pair of crystal blue eyes looked into mine, like they were piercing my soul, "Spartak, are you back with us?" Their muffled voice echoed through my head. "Spartak!" I just nodded as the girl was gone for now. I was sat in a puddle on the floor of the tunnel which we had breached earlier, I tried to stand but I was too off balance I just fell into the water again splashing as my frame hit the liquid surface.
"Calm down, child," A calming voice penetrated my ears not muffled in the slightest; it slowed my breathing and felt as though it was restricting my heart rate. I took a deep breath and finally looked around, the two flashlights that stood over me refracted off the lenses of my gas mask, it took my eyes a few seconds to adjust to them before I could make out that it was Khan and Levii they were both stood tall with their guns held low as they waited for me to get in gear again.
"What the fuck happened?" I said as I climbed up actually retaining my balance this time, I saw that Levii had hold of my AN.
"You freaked the fuck out started shooting phantoms," He looked at me nervously.
"Can I have that back?" I asked him pointing at my gun.
"Wait a second," Khan said as he placed his hand over the AN's handguard.
"Why we don't have long to get what we need from this place before that incendiary goes off," I told Khan as I reached for the gun but was met with a swift punch in the face by his free hand. "Are you really back with us?"
"What?" I said confused as to why I wasn't being allowed my weapon back.
"Well," Khan demanded as he struck me again.
"What the fuck are you on about?"
"You almost shot us!" Khan shouted as he smashed me to the ground.
"That wasn't me, I was shooting at her?"
"Her who?" He shouted at me.
"The girl who attacked me, in Polis."
"Did you breathe the gas?" Khan asked me.
"No I don't think so."
"Then you must be becoming one of those things we saw in Chekhovskaya," he told me as he pointed the AN at me.
"No I am still me still sane!" I protested as I tried to stand but was just swatted by the flash hider on my AN, "What the fuck was that for?" I shouted at Khan as I grabbed the gas tube of the AN and pulled it towards myself. I grabbed the pistol grip from Khan and butted him with the base plate of the gun.
"Well that proves you're still with us," Khan said as he brushed the blood from the edge of his lip.
"I don't think that proves anything?" Levii said as he helped me to my feet.
"Fuck you," I said to him as I checked myself over making sure I didn't break any of my gear.
"Let's move, we only have half an hour until the bomb goes off," Khan said as he looked up at an air duct, "Spartak, take a look through there," Khan told me pulling a small revolver and passed it to me.
"Why would I need this?" I asked him as I had my Makarov in its holster attached to the side of my body armour.
"If you fire that pistol in the confined space you won't be hearing anything else for the rest of your life, you fire that 410 and you'll maybe just bleed from your ears," Khan laughed as He shoved me into the vent.
"Ah fuck," I sighed as I pulled myself into the vent keeping the revolver head of me. When I pulled into the vent I realised there was next to no room to turn around, so I had to keep moving forwards. There were the trails that had been left behind in the previous room all over this vent like a wounded animal had come through it, I could hear scratching as I moved through the enclosed space it was reasonably tall at about two and a half feet but it was only about two feet wide which considering my shoulders were at least one and a half feet wide there wasn't much room for the most part.
I shuffled forwards keeping the flashlight, mounted to my helmet, pointed into the darkness which was occasionally broken by a clump of glowing shrooms but they were destroyed by my passing coating me in a delightful glowing blue. I could hear more scratching further down the vent so I clasped the revolver tighter keeping the bore aimed at the turn in the vent system, I got closer and closer when eventually I saw a claw grasp the corner followed by a set of red glowing beady eyes, they had very little hair, their mouth was draped in blood but their teeth were black as the ace of spades. I placed my finger inside the trigger guard of the revolver, the creature rounded the corner and closed in on me.
"Vernites'!" I shouted at the creature trying to get it to stop coming closer, but it wouldn't get back, I don't think it even spoke Russian.
"Net!" It replied cocking its head to one side and attempting to reach out towards me.
"Vernites'!" I demanded again, but it kept coming so I gently pulled the trigger on the revolver letting loose a single 410 slug into the creatures chest knocking it back to the floor, where I put another round into its head causing a red glowing liquid to spew from the exit wound. "What the fuck are you?" I said to myself as I shuffled over the things body, it was still expelling its last breath, the sounds echoed through the tunnel it made me uneasy but eventually I could hear the sounds of something even worse.
It sounded like someone chanting, but as I crept closer I could make out more sounds, they had a high pitched voice like a child but they couldn't be, I thought as I continued forward. Their voice just kept getting louder until I could actually make out words, they were talking about some sort of Rapture but I had no clue what they were going on about.
I approached a side grating in the vent system, peered through the grating seeing an old computer or camera control room, there was a layer of spider web across the grate but I could make out the door at either end. I was about to move past the vent when I heard the door on the far side of the room open I looked back seeing three men enter the room they all were clad in black uniforms with a red armband with a strange three pronged symbol on it.
They looked around the room turning over the chairs and desks but after about two minutes they picked onto them, one by one the soldiers were swamped by the creatures, they were biting chunks out of the soldiers with their uniforms being torn apart and their guns being left untouched.
I decided to move on hoping that the creatures didn't notice me, I eventually reached a new grate but there were no cob webs in front of it. I decided this would be a good point to climb out of the vent but as my feet touched the floor I heard the door blast open behind me. I just shot round holding the revolver tightly.
My vision did not adjust to the light emanating from the door so I could not see a target, "Spartak?" A voice said from the light.
I put my free hand up to the light and I could just about make out the tan bomber jacket of my close friend, "Khan?" I asked into the light to which I the light was switched off.
"We heard gunfire, what happened in the vent?" Levii asked me as the two men started to look around the room which had an array of old mining equipment from before the war.
"I found one of the cult and they weren't friendly," I told him as I moved up on the door at the other end of the room, "I also heard them congregating in one of these tunnels somewhere."
"That would probably be in the next few tunnels there's a large central chamber, on what was once platform two," Khan told me as he opened the door and we proceeded into what must have been an old maintenance or emergency tunnel but as we walked down it scanning for any sign of the red glowing eyes I could hear them again, the chanting was getting louder again.
"brat'ya, sestry , nashe vremya pride," The high pitched voice echoed into our tunnel.
"Why do they speak so simple?" Levii whispered to Khan as we continued to a door at the end of the tunnel.
"If you knew you wouldn't want to be here," Khan told him as the tunnel was suddenly plunged into pitch darkness.
"What the fuck?" Levii whispered loudly.
"I don't know," I replied as I looked back up the tunnel, I could only make out a faint glow but it was definitely coming closer. I peered along the iron sights on my AN but I couldn't make out the form of the thing heading towards me but as I concentrated it flew towards me covering at least twenty metres in mere milliseconds. It was the little girl, her clothes still as tattered as when I had first seen her expect she was more blood coated than she had been previously. Before I could say anything however the lights came back on followed by a slamming door.
"Who enters our home?" The voice from the door demanded.
"We do," Khan told them as he held up his cross that he carried with him continuously.
I turned just in time to see a boy no older than twelve but he spat at Khan with glowing blood, "Why have you come here?" He asked as I saw the walls come to life with the eyes and trails being left by the creature's blood.
"Why are you here?" Levii butted in before Khan could answer.
"Why?" The creature turned to face the eyes on the walls, "Why are we here brothers?" He shouted.
"Rapture is upon us!" The chorus of voices replied.
"You join us? Yes?" The creature nodded rubbing his hands together maniacally.
"Not exactly we got lost," Khan told him.
"Now you found!" The creature shouted in a screech, raising his arms to the chorus of cheers from the walls. We were pushed out into the tunnels by the tiny hands.
"Fuck! Khan are they all kids?" I asked as we were pushed out into a single beam of light, to which Khan nodded.
"Silence!" The boy cried as he stood on a pedestal above the rest of the other children, "The Great Worm has sent us a messenger, he decrees that we must sacrifice these weary travellers to join him in the great tunnels of beyond!" The boy shouted over the hushed silence of the tunnel.
"Why execute us?" I asked the boy as he readied an old rusted axe, which had been corroded by the blood of so many others before me.
"You have been guided by the Great Worm, he whispered to you of Rapture and has sent you to take us with you unto the great beyond!" He replied as he held the axe high in the air for all to see.
"Rapture!" The crowd began to chant in unison. I could feel the boy brushing the back of my neck with the axe waiting to chop my head off but after a minute it never came. So I plucked up the courage to turn and face them.
His jaw was hanging loosely which made his speech sound slightly slurred obviously fighting in this world paid a heavy toll on those in power, "What is the great beyond?" I asked him looking around to see if I could spot anything to give us a chance to escape.
"It lies deep within the heart of the metro, where no man or beast has trodden before, except him, he guides us, he lives through us and we must go to him." He told me as he raised the axe to take a swing at my neck.
"That is all I need to know," Khan said quietly and I heard a rapid succession of gunshots and the axe hit the floor with a clang, the children stopped chanting and mostly scarpered away into the dark corners of the station only a few brave ones stayed behind to be cut down by Khan's machine gun fire. "Don't just stand there, RUN!" Khan ordered as he ran down the tracks away from the remaining children, Levii and I followed suit hoping to not be attack.
We kept running for about two minutes until we could not hear anything coming behind us, when suddenly a huge blast of heat followed by a fire ball ripped over our heads forcing us to the floor. I could feel hot pieces of masonry bouncing off my clothes as the smoke settled in the air around us.
I climbed to my feet and looked over to Khan, "What exactly did that achieve!" I shouted at him to which I got the simple response.
"In time, child."
I hope you enjoyed this chapter I really do appreciate the feedback and do take it on board so please review and tell me what you think I do try and update as much as possible but with the monumental amount of work I have on at the moment it is a bit difficult but I shall try so until the next time….PEACE!