Chapter 28: Captured
Aleksandrya had initially taken the lead in navigating cautiously after the armored truck but before even a hundred meters had passed she had slowed her pace and drawn even with Artyom. He glanced over at her every few steps but she kept her eyes on the ground and didn't try to speak to him. Maybe she was fearful about coming face to face with Ivanovich but Artyom tried to remind himself that as intriguing as the possible conversation was, Aleks had agreed not to intervene with the Nazis and that Melnik's orders were to remain unseen.
'It's a recon mission, Artyom thought in order to comfort himself, 'just to gather information and see what they are doing and then we'll go right back.'
He looked over at Aleks again, her fingers were clenched tight on her weapon and a few errant strands of her hair were floating about in the breeze, highlighted by the half-crimson sky. He couldn't see her eyes or expression through her gas mask at this angle but he could sense her apprehension. Another hundred meters ahead, the truck was now sitting idle in the middle of a large clearing where another road intersected Tverskaya Street; its engine groaned and sputtered, sounding as if several parts had been hastily replaced since its original assembly. It seemed that whoever was inside it had vacated and gone into one of the surrounding buildings but it was hard to tell from this distance and he hadn't been fully paying attention to it.
They slowed their steps as they neared the open square and Artyom looked around in search of movement and assessed their surroundings. Almost all of the buildings on both sides of the avenue were interconnected, leaving no alleyways in which to take shelter or circumnavigate the truck. All of the storefronts and apartment foyers looked desolate, stripped of anything that wasn't part of the actual structures. There were no doors anywhere, no glass in the windows, no furniture, no shelves, and no people either. Why would the Fourth Reich bother using ground vehicles if they were not occupying any of the buildings? Or were he and Aleks already nearing the Tverskaya and Pushkin station entrances? Artyom didn't fully understand how the distance in the tunnels correlated to walking over land between stations but they hadn't come too far from Mayakovskaya on foot so the entrance to the Reich stations must be much further than he was imagining. In that case there must be some kind of outpost up at the crossroads but what was its purpose? Was it fully manned and stocked with supplies for surface treks and invasions? How many men at a time might be standing guard on the surface so far from their home station? It seemed to require more resources than it would be worth to hold such a random position, and as Aleks had said earlier there couldn't be anyone living up here full time.
Catching the briefest glimpse of a beam of light beginning its scan across the walkway, Artyom was just quick enough to catch Aleks' arm and used her own momentum to swing her aside into an enclosed doorway. In his haste he had sort of tackled her, pinning her flat against the wall with his upper body as if to shield her from detection. Only a quiet confused murmur escaped her as she twitched her limbs in protest but she seemed to quickly understand that Artyom's actions had a purpose and that he was watching for something just past the edge of the wall.
Two men in the familiar smart black uniforms with overcoats and respirators with long hoses were patrolling unhurriedly along the avenue which crossed Tverskaya Street ahead of them. Artyom strained his ears to listen for any potential conversation but the men gave nothing away. The light from their lamps began to wane as they passed by and only then did he withdraw and allow Aleks her freedom. She stretched out her neck and looked behind her shoulder towards the square and, seeming cautiously satisfied with Artyom's sharpness, she looked over at him as if to apologize for being distracted. At any other time Artyom assumed that she would have noticed the enemy patrol first but since their argument just outside Mayakovskaya she had grown solemn.
"Maybe we should climb up in this building before we find ourselves surrounded." She said quietly as she jerked her head up to indicate the plan.
Artyom looked around to assess her idea and look for alternative options before he replied with only a nod of his head, turning his attention into the shadowy building in search of the stairs.
The ground floor of this building was expansive and laid out in a strange manner. In the middle of the building was a wide staircase which curved around an empty basin under a huge metal-grated dome which left the place open to the elements as the glass panes had probably shattered and been blown away ages ago. Whatever fancy purpose this building was designed for no longer worked for the purposes of the city's current inhabitants; the dome let in far too much of what was left of the light of the sunset and if they were to use that staircase they could be seen from above because there were still several more stories to the adjacent buildings above them and the Nazis could be posted anywhere nearby. Aleks slowly made her way towards the rear wall where a long marble counter was still mostly intact; the letters on the wall read, "регистрация" and so Artyom deduced that this place must have once been a beautifully grand hotel.
They agreed to split up reluctantly in order to check both ends of the building for alternate stairways. Hotels especially liked to hide them away from the guests because they were usually designed to be functional and not fancy, of course there were elevators but none had a hope of carrying them up to the top floors as they once did for people. Artyom soon found the correct passage and began to walk back to alert Aleks when he heard voices on the other side of the wall and he froze in place to listen.
"What are we looking for, anyway? This is only my second shift up here and there's nothing left in any of these buildings." The voice was one of the men from the tavern, reverberating through the respirator's tube.
"We're looking for the entrance to that bunker, you idiot. Führer has become obsessed with the idea of moving in there; haven't you heard the latest speech about how there's all kinds of food and medicine inside?" Another unfamiliar man spoke his answer gruffly through his own hose. So that was their game, or at least part of the purpose of the Reich's presence at Mayakovskaya – they were looking for D6. Artyom started to feel guilty about leaving the door to the monorail station unlocked and he began to formulate his exit strategy, but he already had the feeling that reporting this overheard conversation to Aleks wouldn't be enough for her to want to return to the bunker so quickly. Melnik would also want more details about what the Nazis might have found already, and to know how many soldiers were on patrol here; the mission wasn't over quite yet.
"I don't think that's true, or even if it is the Order has probably doled out to Polis and Hansa and their own guys already. By the time we even find an entrance everything will be gone." The voices grew quieter as the men were probably continuing their patrol route beyond Artyom's position, not stopping to have their conversation.
"That's beside the point! Conquering the bunker represents power, prestige. Imagine the kind of impression that kind of victory will leave on Comrade Moskvin!" The second man let out an amused grunt. "And don't forget the control over the missile silos, the Order already wasted one of them on those mutants last month."
"Ahh, now I see what you mean." The first man's voice had faded significantly and there was no further comment or reply; perhaps they had rounded a corner and gone on to their destination?
Artyom remained frozen stiff in the pitch black hallway for another moment, waiting for assurance that the men had gone. He listened for footsteps and heard one pair softly advancing towards him but somehow he knew it was Aleks and so he lowered his weapon before she approached. That knot of anxiety was still tied up in his stomach and the responsibility of protecting her was almost becoming too much to think about. The men surrounding them weren't just hostile, they were a violent faction actively searching for his companion, a woman he admittedly only met a week ago, but his emotions were already tied to her despite his attempts to rationalize his reactions.
"Nothing on that side but dead end rooms, what about you?" She spoke softly, looking at him with a hopeful eyebrow raised.
"The stairs are back this way," he gestured down the hall behind him and tried to focus his thoughts on the mission again. "Let's be quick, I heard a few soldiers talking nearby."
They promptly reached the top floor of the building and found themselves staring down an impossibly long corridor, each floor's central hallway seemed to stretch halfway back to Mayakovskaya and had evenly-spaced openings which were the doorways of the individual guest rooms, although most of the doors were broken or missing. Artyom wondered if the Nazi's had gone through all these rooms to strip the hotel of furniture or if it had all just burned away when the city was attacked. Maybe things in Reich really weren't as bad as everyone thought, aside from the politics that is.
The large room on the corner of the hotel building gave them the perfect overlook down to the square below, the truck still sat there idling with not a single soul nearby. Artyom kept his focus on the right side of the square where they had come from, and Aleks was at the window on the left and watching down the side-street. In his brief glance towards her, Artyom noticed that the building across from them had a large antenna on the roof, likely a radio post which the Nazis used to communicate with each other from different points on the surface. He wondered if there was a way to use his own shortwave radio to intercept their transmissions, taking the device from a pouch on his vest he began to fiddle with the dials.
Aleks had been completely silent since they had ascended the stairs, possibly because of his report that he had heard a squad nearby, or she was simply absorbed in her own thoughts as he was most of the time. He thought he could sense her inner tension about their mission but maybe it was still all just his own worries tangling up in his chest. She wasn't fidgety or careless, in fact she seemed to be hyper focused on the building across the street until Artyom's radio began to spout static and he jumped to turn the volume down. They both looked outside with alarm to ensure nobody besides them had heard the noise but only the wind reached their ears in return. Where were all the soldiers? What were they doing up here? Artyom carefully moved the dial, holding the radio up to the side of his helmet as he slowly adjusted the frequency.
"You said you heard two guys?" Aleks asked without looking over at him. "Any of the same from the tavern?"
"One of them was, I think, but not the other." Aleks glanced over at him expectantly and he was quick to dispel her hope, or was it fear? "It wasn't Ivanovich either. He might not have said much to me but I remember what he sounds like."
"There's at least one guy left in the truck, the music changed." Aleks pointed down at the vehicle. "I don't understand, they said they were meeting him."
Artyom didn't reply, he was too focused on listening to the little bits of noise sputtering out of the radio speaker, though none of it made any sense so far. One channel was a repeating broadcast, seemingly from Hansa about an off-limits area near Barrikadnaya; likely due to the same conflict with the Nazis that Melnik had informed them about earlier. Another channel seemed to be a short and cryptic conversation between two men who were approaching the Kremlin; Artyom remembered that Melnik was preparing to lead a team to clear the monument of that strange biomass that they had discovered there on their trek to Ostankino tower. The chatter must be a squad of Rangers getting into position to attack. Artyom ticked the dial to the next frequency on which a light and pleasant instrumental music was playing, it faintly echoed up from below them as well, seeming to be the same channel playing in the truck.
"Wait, what was that?" Aleks spoke up suddenly, but when Artyom looked up he realized she had been talking to him. "Go back."
Artyom switched the frequency back to the previous channel and listened again, not understanding why Aleks was confused about it, she must have heard Hunter's radio at least a few times and had certainly been briefed about how the Order uses communications when on missions. Nothing the men had said on that channel was out of the ordinary.
"Alyosha do you read? We've reached location Alpha-six-two, waiting for your confirmation. Over." The radio crackled quietly. Artyom recognized the name, a trustworthy Ranger who had transferred from the Polis guard to the Order just before he had arrived to give Hunter's message to Melnik.
"That's it Artyom, the building with the antenna, it's got to be a listening post. They're looking for secret passages near Mayakovskaya and they also monitor any communications they can hear, just waiting for someone in the Order to give away access to D6!" Aleks gripped the edge of the window anxiously.
"If that's true, then we have to tell Melnik right away. If they're already down in Mayakovskaya and stationed right above it, then they could find Metro-2 at any time!" Artyom said rapidly, already turning off the radio and preparing to leave. "We have to get back before he leaves for the Kremlin, or before these guys find the monorail."
"We can't rush back just yet without confirming it, and they said they were meeting up with Ivanovich." Aleks protested with hand raised towards the window.
"Ivanovich isn't part of the mission." Artyom grumbled. "How are we supposed to confirm any further without going in the building over there? There could be twenty armed guys just waiting for us, and no way to tell from up here."
"What do we have to lose by waiting another five minutes to see who comes out?" She turned to him with an almost sarcastic look on her face.
Before Artyom could answer, a loud cracking sound started up from just under their feet, but he wasn't quick enough to warn Aleks what it meant. The floor suddenly gave way and Artyom took in a panicked breath as he grasped desperately out with both arms to the window frame beside him. Aleks didn't even call out as she descended, unsuccessful in her own attempt to grab something solid, and she was gone in an instant. The collapse was over in less than ten seconds and Artyom was struggling to hold on, it was difficult to tell where he might land if he let go as his helmet restricted his vision. He kicked his foot out in a few directions until he found a ledge to push himself onto. Panting for breath and trying not to panic, he crawled slowly on all fours to the edge of the crater in the floor. To some relief he saw Aleks dusting off her arms and pushing the broken floor boards away from her. She had only ended up three more floors down and didn't seem to be hurt. He wanted to call down to her to confirm but as he was lifting his visor he heard an alarm bell ringing.
"Fucking damnit," he whispered to himself, the Nazis were about to come investigate the sound of the collapsing building. They had to get out of here fast.
Artyom looked around fervently, his weapon had fallen away from him and he couldn't find it through his cursory inspection of the area. Next he gauged his best options of getting down to check on Aleks, he would have to lower himself floor by floor because the gaping fissure cut him off from using the stairs. He might have been able to jump the gap but didn't know if the floor would hold out or if it would make the building collapse even further. His heart raced as he fought with himself, trying to make up his mind.
"Come on, I heard it over here!" An angry voice echoed through the window.
Aleks coughed and called out for him weakly and Artyom couldn't think anymore, he began to lower his legs over the edge of the crater, turning onto his stomach and pushing himself backwards. He fell two floors before rolling sideways onto a concrete landing, quickly regaining himself so he could get down to Aleks and make their escape. Looking down at her, she sat amongst a pile of concrete and wooden rubble, dusted with grey smoky powder which she was trying to clear from her respirator with her sleeves. She coughed and groaned, fidgeting again as if trying to free herself from the pile. Just behind her one of the walls had come to rest at an angle and Artyom decided to jump down onto it. Crouching down to crawl towards Aleks he could finally see why she was struggling and why she hadn't moved, one of her legs was caught under a thick slab of concrete and she was trying to pull it out unsuccessfully.
"Are you hurt?" He managed to ask as he came up beside her, looking over her but not seeing any blood.
"My leg is stuck… and my mask is broken." Aleks reported in between short wincing breaths. "See if you can move it."
Artyom shifted over and wordlessly began pushing at the slab to no avail, looking over at Aleks in horror. The alarm bell still ringing drowned out any ideas he could come up with as he looked at her helplessly.
"They're coming," he managed to squeak out, as if she didn't already understand the fact.
"Artyom, you have to run… You have to go, quickly!" She clutched at her left side and took in a sharp breath, and didn't look him in the eyes.
"But what about—" Artyom whispered fearfully, only beginning to gesture in the direction of the outpost before she cut him off.
"There's no time for me anymore, listen. Fuck, there's no... Take this, please." Aleks slipped off her cracked gas mask and took in a raspy breath, seeming to not be bothered by the air itself but by her injuries. Maybe she just wanted her voice to be clearer while she handed him her weapon and pulled at her collar. She managed to find the string of her pendant and pull it from her neck, gripping it tightly to her chest and displaying a pained face before sticking her arm straight out to him. "Please, don't let them get these."
"Aleks you're not..." Artyom couldn't even think of the unspeakable possibility.
"Yes, they are going to find me. I can't get my leg out from here, and even if I could there's no way you could carry me back to Mayakovskaya in time. You have to go, don't let them get you too. You have to get back and tell Melnik—" Aleks was beginning to hyperventilate.
"B-but what about… the Nazis, they'll kill you!" Artyom tried not to raise his voice but he could barely hear himself over the ringing in his ears.
"They won't kill me... at least they won't leave me here to die. But I need you to tell the Colonel. Artyom please, listen to me." Tears began to clear away the dust in crooked lines down her face and she was trying not to look him in the eyes, gazing out towards the street and her dawning fate. "What I didn't say to Melnik back there… only Hunter knew the truth. I should have told you, I need you to know in case—"
"What? Don't talk like I'll never see you again, you're with the Order! W-we will come back and rescue you!" Artyom clutched at her shoulder reassuringly.
"Artyom, when you get back, you have to tell the Colonel… warn him… don't go to the Council about this. The Führer is my stepfather!" She grabbed onto his hand and pulled it away from her, as if she felt she didn't deserve the comfort, as if she didn't want to infect him with her dark secrecy.
Artyom had no words, no thoughts at all beyond the echo of her revelation playing over and over in his mind. Time only stood still for him as he stared back at her with fearful eyes.
"I'm sorry I never told you but I couldn't, diplomatic immunity. That's why Hunter… It's been my secret every single day since… That's why I ran from them. They won't kill me Artyom, but you have to go. Now. Please!" Her pleas flowed out between her sharp breaths and sobs, and he knew she couldn't be hiding anything else. At least she seemed certain that the Nazis wouldn't immediately execute her or leave her trapped here to die from her injuries – but maybe being left alive and captured by them was an even worse fate.
"I'll… tell him. We'll come back for you." Artyom breathed out the promise quietly as he squeezed her hand tight, taking the cartridge and the Vintorez as he fought every muscle in his body to move away from her. Everything he didn't want to happen was coming to pass right in front of his eyes; everything was completely out of control. He scrambled across the empty hall of the building to the courtyard above the dome, finding a little alcove to hide in just as a group of heavy footsteps approached from the opposite side and up the stairs. He pushed himself against the wall and could only hear faint echoes as the Nazi squad approached Aleks' position. Would they recognize her? Would Ivanovich give her away if he was even here at all?
"Well, well… What do we have here? The Order? Trying to spy on us again?!" Someone roared with a strange inflection.
"Look, Obersturmführer, doesn't she look like?" The voice of the squad leader from the tavern sounded off anxiously.
"Get Ivanovich over here, now!" A third voice called loudly.
"Shouldn't we call the Gestapo to figure it out?" The squad leader asked.
"Shut up!" barked the third voice again, apparently someone of higher rank than the squad leader, and Artyom heard the safety switch on his weapon click into another position. "Identify yourself, Ranger."
"Go fuck yourself, Varnayev." Aleks yelled and then squeaked uncomfortably. Artyom froze, so after all this time she could recognize these men?
"Ohh so it is you!" The supposed officer cackled with delight and sarcasm. "I'm surprised the old man let a useless cunt like you into the Order, or did you steal that uniform from one of them you little—?"
"Don't touch me you bastard!" Aleks cried with a huff as if she had swung her fist at the man. Artyom's stomach tightened and it took every ounce of strength to not take aim at the Nazi commander with the Vintorez. Maybe it would be better to just shoot as many of them as he could right now and then try to get Aleks out of there.
"Get back!" A deep voice boomed as another group of footsteps approached. Was it finally Ivanovich? Artyom held his breath, wanting to peek around the corner again but fighting to stay still.
"Well, what do you think Petrikov?" Spoke the ruthless officer after a long pause.
Aleks coughed and drew in her next breath with a ragged moan as she was being judged. Was she in pain or was she just scared? She had tried so hard to not let her fear infect him, but Artyom could only imagine the panic she was feeling right now.
"Get her out of there and into the truck. I'm taking her in." It was definitely Ivanovich's deep and calm tone, he even sounded disappointed somehow.
"I'm going with you then," the officer growled, "In case you two try to pull another fucking stunt like the first time. Führer might have forgiven you, but I haven't forgotten your betrayal to the state, Oberscharführer."
"Understood, sir." Ivanovich growled back dully, and then crackling and grunting was heard as it was assumed the men were trying to free Aleks from the rubble.
Artyom took his opportunity in their loud activity to run down the curved staircase and back towards Mayakovskaya, but once he had gotten fifty meters away he slowed down again. Was that where he was supposed to go? Could he even get back into Mayakovskaya from the outside after letting the door close? Where else could he go from here? It would be too far to walk towards Polis or the Circle line over the surface. He only had one spare filter left in his bag, not to mention it would be completely dark soon. He began to fumble for the little scrap of paper that showed where the Metro 2 passages came out at, maybe he could get back to D6 from that police station they were supposed to have come out from? He wandered a bit along the open street as he studied the blueprint, turning around a few times and trying to judge the cardinal directions. Going back to Mayakovskaya was likely useless at this point, and if he alerted the residents to let him in they would find the dead sentry if they hadn't already.
Suddenly a wave of darkness overcame his vision and he lost his balance. He blinked several times but didn't recover the sense. The blackness was outside of his body, something was covering his visor and he was being led, more like dragged along the street. He struggled against his silent captor, reaching out his only free hand to push against this new enemy, one of its arms wrapped around his shoulders and squeezed like a vice. It was a thick slippery body, massive in stature with flesh as hard as metal. Armored? No, just someone who was impressively strong and covered in a tarpaulin suit. But just as he had assessed that the body was human and not one of the Nazis, he was released. His visor was uncovered but only as he was being pushed down a short vertical shaft. The same imposing black hooded figure from the rooftop was towering over him and receding as Artyom fell to a soft landing on top of a pile of moss at the bottom of a wide pipe. The Vintorez was thrown down after him and he caught it before it tumbled into the shallow water. The hooded figure drew in a hoarse breath and then growled deeply.
"Stay to the left."
And then what little bit of light from the sky was blotted out by the steel manhole cover.
Artyom scrambled to his feet and tried to climb up the ladder towards this mysterious person but the grate was sealed with a clang and he remembered Aleks' plea. He couldn't ignore such help from this unknown stranger either, and hopefully this inexplicable benefactor knew what they were talking about and where they were sending him. Artyom switched on his headlamp, illuminating the grimy drainage system in all its disparity. 'Stay to the left,' the hooded man had said, and Artyom looked in that direction and then the opposite one. Which left, his left? Where would this pipe lead? He cautiously limped along to his left and found that the passage soon broke off and dropped down into a vast cistern so he shuffled quickly in the other direction. He wanted to take off his helmet but not before he was out of this infested tangle of pipes. In the other direction the sewer curved around into a different configuration, offering a crossroads to choose from. 'This left?' he thought to himself, shining the light and pointing the Vintorez in all the other directions. As if on cue a shrill howl echoed from down the right side pipe and that was enough confirmation for Artyom. So this stranger had known exactly where this tunnel led to and from, and Artyom could only hope it would deposit him into neutral territory. He had to get back to Melnik and tell him everything that had happened. They had to formulate a plan to rescue Aleks from the Nazis as soon as possible.