Chapter Twenty Four: The Calm Before the Storm
There was a forceful pounding on the metal door to Aleks' room and Artyom's heart jumped – thinking it was the guards come to drag him to a holding cell for being in the women's barracks – he swallowed a mouthful of thick saliva and felt his chest sink as all the air left his lungs and the color drained from his face.
Aleks too was frozen and pale for a moment, though she had most definitely locked the door after letting Artyom in last night.
"Dmitriyev! We're going down to the showers before the morning briefing." Artyom recognized the voice of Anna, Melnik's daughter and top sniper of the Order. He held his breath.
"I-I'll meet you there in five minutes!" Aleks called back, looking around the room agitatedly as if trying to find a secret compartment to stuff Artyom into.
"You remember how to get there, right?" Anna growled back, sounding closer to the door than she did before. She definitely inherited her gruff tone of voice from her father.
"Yes, Captain!" Aleks resounded clearly, probably hoping that addressing Anna by rank would help convince her to leave, although her face only showed annoyance.
A muffled 'hrmph' was heard and then a few pairs of footsteps lightly shuffling away, and finally Artyom could breathe and move again.
"Do you see what I mean?" Aleks rolled her eyes, referring to her previous disdain for Anna treating her like a child. "I was pretty sure I am older than her anyway, wasn't she born in the Metro?"
Artyom shrugged, having no inkling to Melnik's personal life. Though the question begged his curiosity, as there had never been mention of Melnik's wife or Anna's mother, whichever it turned out to be. The Colonel simply had never talked about those things. Even having met Anna a few times before, at first Artyom didn't understand their relationship until Ulman had mentioned it on watch one day.
"Okay, I'll have to go then." Aleks clambered out of the cot and pushed past Artyom uncomfortably closely, rummaged through a small pile of clothes on the desk and picked out a black uniform. "I'll go out and make sure it's clear for you. Not that anybody really cares except for us."
"Give me a code word?" Artyom asked, looking around the room to make sure he hadn't left anything. He felt rather silly for being so concerned. Did anyone really care? Or was it only she and him that cared what people might think if they saw them together? Artyom simply didn't know how to feel. He shoved his hands in his pockets and felt the machine gun casing that Hunter had given him, noting its presence to ask Ulman about later.
"Sure, I'll uh—" Aleks unlocked the door and peered around its edge, left and right. "I'll go out to the end of the hall and if it's clear I'll say 'I wonder what time it is' have you got that?"
"I got it." Artyom gave a smile and a nod but she didn't look back in his direction.
Aleks threw her chosen clean uniform over her shoulder and picked up her rucksack from next to the door before walking out of the room confidently. Artyom sat still momentarily, listening for any kind of commotion or conversation, though it seemed that the barracks had been abandoned for the day by women leaving for duty and by the group heading for the showers. He looked around the room, which was laid out similar to his own, a cot, a chair, a desk with a lamp, a crate for storage and a small shelf above the desk. What was missing was a personal touch; most rangers had posters or drawings on the walls, books on their shelves, some had weapon parts and tools, others had musical instruments or a typewriter. He wondered how Aleks might decorate if she were to stay, would she hang up all those clippings and postcards from Hunter's belongings?
"I wonder what time it is!" Aleks' voice echoed rather loudly.
Artyom recognized his cue and hurried to his feet, almost scrambling out of the room in case someone turned up that Aleks had not seen. Flicking the lamp next to the bed off, he left the room and closed the door behind him, rushing to get to the end of the hall and out to the stairwell. He expected Aleks to have disappeared down to the shower facilities but she was standing next to the stairs waiting for him.
"We'll meet up again later?" She said uncertainly, searching his face for confirmation.
"Sure, don't rush yourself, I need to find Ulman and get your grey uniform from the laundry and then I can meet you in the mess hall, okay?" Artyom patted her arm with one hand, trying to pass his reassurance through his touch.
"Yeah that sounds good. Ugh, wish me luck with Anna." She groaned.
"Hey, Melnik said we'd be going out together, so don't worry about spending too much time with her." Artyom had just realized that he hadn't shared that piece of good news with her yet. Her face was alight with the revelation. "I'll go find out what's up and I'll see you for breakfast."
Aleks nodded her head excitedly, then turned and went down the spiraling stairs towards the lower level.
Artyom headed up the staircase to the main level, as Ulman was likely in the mess hall or, god forbid, looking for him in his room. He quickened his pace, hoping to reach the men's barracks before anyone noticed that he hadn't been in his own bunk overnight.
Upon reaching the barracks hall, Artyom was relieved to find that it was also vacated, and he had not passed Ulman or many other people on his way here. He slipped into his room quietly, just in case, pausing for a moment to collect himself before slumping into the chair at his desk as if his body weighed a hundred pounds more than usual. He reached for his notebook and pen, his journaling always helped cement his experiences in place, and there was certainly a lot of new information to remember from the previous day and night.
He had heard the full story of Hunter and Aleks' introduction at Kitai-Gorod, and then the emotional departure where Hunter had kissed her goodbye before coming to Exhibition – and sounding as if he knew that his quest would not turn out well for him. Mostly, it was the middle part that Artyom wondered about now, how often did Hunter go to see her? Did he take her along on his missions in order to show her how to operate in combat? No, he couldn't have been so arrogant as to bring her into a dangerous situation or involve her with any of the Order's covert undertakings. Maybe he just showed up at Novokuznetskaya and Avtozavodskaya whenever he had time, and would just teach her about weapons and combatives there? As usual, getting an answer to one question simply spawned twenty more in its place.
Giving a hopeless sigh, he threw his head back and looked up at the ceiling, the paint or whatever substance sealed the concrete structure was cracked and peeling. In each chasm he could see an image from his memories and daydreams, and each one led to the one next to it, branching off into a hundred different possibilities and overlapping realities, merging and diverging until everything looked the same.
"Hey Artyom, are you awake in there?" Ulman's voice called from near the open door.
Artyom's mind came back to reality in a snap, and he turned his head to answer affirmatively, quickly closing the cover of his notebook so Ulman couldn't pry.
"I didn't see you in the mess hall, so, I was worried. Usually you're in there before me, and that's really saying something!" Ulman huffed out a soft chuckle as his casually-clad frame filled the doorway.
"You got the day off, eh?" Artyom gave a nod to his partner's attire. "Special occasion?"
"Nah, just hit my limit on patrols. I feel fine but you know the med bay guys, 'take a mental health day' or so they say." Ulman's eyes rolled.
"Hey, can I ask you something?" Artyom scooted his chair back as a way of inviting Ulman to come into the room.
"You just did!" Ulman teased, but then took a step inside and looked more serious. "What's up?"
"I asked Melnik about the cartridges, like you said. He still had the same one, from Hunter." Artyom began digging in his pants pocket for the trinket. "I just thought, well wondered, if you had any idea what the note inside might mean?"
"Hmm, let's see it then." Ulman said thoughtfully, stepping in closer and taking a knee.
Artyom finally produced the capsule on the string, dropping it gently into Ulman's outstretched hand. The Ranger took it carefully before his eyes, examining the exterior before unscrewing the cap. Unfolding the small piece of paper, Ulman studied the note carefully for a long minute before speaking.
"I mean, it's pretty straightforward. He spells out his mission right here - that we know. And then he mentions you, and yeah we sure did need you – you helped the Order find D6. So that must have to do with why the Colonel accepted you so readily." Ulman bobbed his head back and forth as he was working through the possibilities aloud.
"And the 'you know what to do' part?" Artyom pressed, peering at the note in Ulman's hands as if it might have some hidden codeword on the back of it that would help decipher the meaning.
"I dunno, could be about tying up a loose end somewhere, his last will and testament carried out? But he didn't have any family to notify or anything. We were his family." Ulman made a sneer, looking as if he might sneeze or something.
"Could it be referring to Aleks?" Artyom wondered aloud, eliciting a wry smile from Ulman.
"Huh, now you may be on to something there – since she's here as well, isn't she?" Ulman suppressed a giggle. "I told you she was part of the family, even if she never came over here before."
"But what, though? Melnik didn't even seem to know what station she was from, it's not like Hunter could have expected anyone to bring news to her if he never told anyone where she was. And she had to set a trap just to find out any news at all about Hunter; they got me from Novokuznetskaya because of my uniform." Artyom continued thinking out loud, not caring if Ulman was hearing it all or not, maybe some magic word would come spilling out that would crack the code. "Even if he really wanted her to come to Polis, why would he write this to Melnik at that point?"
"Maybe it was some kind of pact they had. Maybe there's a secret file that Hunter kept hidden about how to contact her. It might not even be about Aleks at all. I think you're reading too much into it." Ulman clapped Artyom on the arm, helping to bring him out of his thoughts. "There's no way to really know unless Hunter was actually here – or if you want to go asking Melnik about it."
Artyom shook his head in the negative, pursing his lips in frustration.
"Come on, kid, have you eaten at all? Let's go back down there together. I'll help you keep your head on straight for a bit." Ulman smiled, but his voice was calm and comforting so Artyom didn't even mind being called a kid.
"I have to stop by the laundry room first." Artyom said as he slowly rose from his chair. He motioned to turn out the light and realized he had never turned it on in the first place.
"Alright, to the laundry room then, come on." Ulman placed a hand around Artyom's shoulder, and began steering him out of the room and down the hall.
After retrieving the clean Roten Spaten grey fatigues, Ulman steered Artyom into the mess hall. Here there was a moderate level of activity, a mellow din of Rangers and support staff having a meal and plenty of conversations. Artyom quickly scanned his eyes around the room but did not come across Aleks or even Anna. Internally disappointed and slightly worried, he fully gave in to Ulman's control and allowed his partner to guide him all the way to the buffet line.
"You better eat plenty enough to get your strength up; your name is on the docket for tonight's patrols." Ulman scolded, giving a lazy swish of his hand as he turned and left Artyom to the task. "I'll be sitting with Viktor and Herman, come join us."
Artyom nodded his head and turned to look at the day's selection; fish stew, pork belly, and fried potatoes. He helped himself to a portion of each and poured a cup of tea to wash it down with. Walking over to where Ulman was sitting with the other aforementioned men in the front corner, he could hear snippets of conversations around them about a variety of topics. Two Rangers were talking about their turn at the Church outpost the previous day, and it sounded as if everything was quiet there now and Artyom was relieved. Although he wondered where Aleks was or if she'd already come and gone, he wasn't worried about her like he had been before. Knowing that she was somewhere safe inside D6 was enough to soothe his nerves; he would save his anxiety for their mission later on, and wondered what it might entail.
"Did I miss much from the briefing this morning?" Artyom asked before taking a slurp of his soup.
"Nah, not much. Everything is geared to recon and defense, like usual lately. Some teams will still be moving stuff from Polis and switching rooms around here, but nothing interesting going on." Ulman shrugged with a bored expression, stealing a potato piece from Artyom's tray without interference.
"It's a bit unnerving if you ask me," spoke Herman, who was a technical officer, "It's too quiet and comfortable… like we're just waiting around for something bad to happen. The calm before the storm."
"Come on man, don't set us up for bad luck like that!" Ulman punched at Herman's arm, his brows sinking down in annoyance. "I'll take whatever break we can get, or do you prefer being on QRF watching out for Nazis and Reds in the tunnels all the time?"
"No, of course not, I just—" Herman looked embarrassed, but still tried to express his concern.
"Our days of peace and quiet are surely numbered," Viktor began, cutting off his friend. Artyom had seen him around the base but wasn't sure exactly what his job was. "Everyone knows that the Order is occupying D6, and if Melnik doesn't make an agreement with the Council soon to share some of what we've found… who knows how many stations will be angry enough to attack us over it."
"It's not like this damned bunker is bursting full of food and supplies like everybody thinks!" Herman interjected again, pointing his fork around the table for effect. "We were lucky to even find some weapons and other junk, and who knows about the laboratory, some scientists from the joint task force with Polis are still sorting through what's in there, but it's definitely not medicine and vitamins – I'll tell you that."
Artyom listened to the conversation in earnest, having never fully questioned what D6 had been built for or what all the warehouses kept stored, some of the sector doors hadn't even been opened yet. Even Melnik didn't seem to fully understand D6's full purpose, though it did hold the command center from which they were able to launch the missiles into the Dark Ones nest. D6 had several train lines and platforms, but none of them seemed to connect directly to the regular Metro tunnels. It seemed as though government workers or military officials could come and go from here to other strategic bases, and there were offices and living quarters and support rooms – so people had likely been stationed here full time. However the memory that the base had been completely empty when they found it, and with no bodies or bones to speak of, made Artyom wonder why nobody had been here at the very last moments. Was there not one person left to command the machinery or monitor the computer surveillance systems? Or had everyone from this particular bunker taken the monorail away from the center of Moscow and out to the outskirts of the country? Maybe there were even larger facilities meant for long-term survival elsewhere, or maybe at the very ends of the Metro-2 lines there was no radiation or destruction and the inhabitants simply carried out normal lives in the countryside.
"Well, it's a way better base of operations than Polis was, there it was overcrowded and we were constantly arguing with the Council just to keep our neutrality, they depended on us for every little silly errand, it was getting annoying." Viktor grumbled. Artyom hadn't considered what life was like at Polis, as he only spent a matter of days there before Melnik had organized the mission to the library and then to D6 through Park Pobedy.
"I've got to agree with you there, Vitya." Ulman nodded his head. "It's nice to have independence and our own space. I don't really care what's here or not, we're here now, and we'll defend this bunker to the last man."
"Here, here!" Viktor grinned and raised a toast towards Ulman with his tea mug. "Твоё здоровье!"
Although he had wanted to enter the conversation with his own thoughts about D6, Artyom concentrated on finishing his food. He excused himself to take his cleaned plate into the kitchen to wash up, telling Ulman not to wait up for him.