Chapter 10: Dark Path

Honestly, wondering this place is becoming a torture. There hasn’t been a single day where I didn’t get involved in a fight of some sort. Now that I think of it, this place isn’t that different from Europe. The lack of snow and heavy weapons are the only things that separate them. It’s hard to imagine these people have been living here, like this, for two centuries. If what Snowdrop told me is anything to go by, it used to be worse.

By nightfall, the four of us had reached the suburbs of the city. The houses and shops now gave way to bigger structures, most of them at least three floors high. The quantity of rubble, skeletons and old vehicles also increased dramatically. Join all that with the darkness of the night, and we get a very unsettling picture.

Right now, we’re inside the third floor of the least damaged building we found. The interior, as expected, was in ruins. I’m looking outside a window, enjoying the cool breeze and watching for any movement. So far, the night has been quiet, with nothing but the sounds of my comrades coming from the other rooms, deeper in the building.

“Hey Alex, how’s the watch going?” I heard Barin say, snapping me out of my task. I looked over my shoulder, spotting him entering the room. “You bored, yet?” I also spotted an MRE in his hands, which reminded me of my own hunger. I should probably eat something.

“Eh, not much, actually,” I replied. I shifted a little, turning around to face him. “I enjoy having some quiet time alone,” Honestly, after what happened earlier, it’s hard to stand alone with my own thought. Ever since I set a foot in this room, about an hour ago, I’ve been constantly questioning myself about what I did. “How are you holding up?”

“Oh, I’m doing fine; it’s nice to be back in action”.

“What about the ponies?”

“They took two other rooms, near the stairs”

As Barin began to eat his meal, I decided to do the same. I left my assault rifle near the window and grabbed my own package. We didn’t spoke while eating, but it was nice to have some company. I can’t help but to wonder how things will go once we reach our objective. Hopefully, it won’t turn out into a massacre.

“Funny,” I heard Barin saying. “This kind of reminds me of that time we were in Dubai”.

I raised my eyebrow at that. “Really? What part of it?” I asked.

“Don’t you remember?” He replied, between bites. “When we met that Egyptian guy?” Just like that, I remembered what he was talking. I broke a small grin; that was quite a good memory.

“Ah, I remember now,” I said. That was quite a night. To summarize the whole thing, the three of us had gotten really drunk and ended up sleeping inside an old and abandoned house. “Well, I did told you we should’ve stayed at the hotel”.

He chuckled at that. “Oh, admit it, you enjoyed it,” He countered. “Besides, what’s the point of travelling around if we don’t do anything worth remembering?”

“Yea, sure…” I replied. At that moment, for some reason, I thought about the weird bottle I had acquired at the research facility. I moved to my bag and began to search inside, finding the apparently carrot flavored drink.

“Wow, what’s that you got there?” My friend asked.

“Just a bottle I got in an old research facility,” I said, lifting the bottle a little and staring at the strange liquid. “I’m thinking about trying it”.

“You sure?”

“Well, this doesn’t have a lot of radiation in it, and we know their diet is pretty close to ours, so why not?”

“Well, better than nothing, I guess…” With that, I tried to open it. It was slightly harder than I expected, probably because of it being closed for so long, but eventually I managed to take the bottle cap out. I sniffed the liquid a little; as expected, it smelled like carrots. With some courage, I brought the drink to my lips and took a sip. Holy shit, this is actually pretty good. “So? What do you think?”

“Huh, this is actually very tasty” I replied, taking another sip. While I’m not a big fan of this type of flavor, this thing is pretty good.

“Really? Well, let me try a little then…”

-x-

After about an hour of talking, we decided to sleep. I took the first watch, staying near the window and appreciating the view, while my friend slept on the opposite side of the room. I quickly became bored, trying to keep my mind away from the massacre. Had we done the right thing? It was supposed to be a quiet mission, just head there, see if we had any chance at diplomacy and then fall back. Instead, we ended up murdering what was probably a bunch of refugees. I know we did it for self-defense, but still… I should’ve predicted that, I should’ve avoided getting too close to the clinic.

Crack!

What the hell? I heard something, in the distance. Who would be wondering outside, at this time? I kept looking out, trying to find the source of the noise. Soon, there was a series of cracks, similar to the one before. I’m pretty sure I spotted something, a few blocks ahead, but buildings opposite to me blocked my view. There’s definitely something going on.

I stood up from my spot and moved towards Barin. I proceeded to shake him a little, trying to wake him. I wasn’t very gentle, but a situation like this doesn’t leave room for such things. Almost immediately, his eyes snapped open. “What the hell, man!” He said, obviously annoyed. He rubbed his eyes a little, looking around in confusion. “Why did you woke me up?”

“There’s something going on,” I replied, my voice completely devoid of emotion. As soon as he understood that, his expression became serious. “I don’t know what exactly, but I think I heard some shots, not far from here”.

Barin nodded in understanding. “Alright, what do we do, then?” He asked. “Moving out at this time will probably be difficult”.

“I know that,” I answered. “I want you to stay here while I go outside and see what this is about”. This isn’t an ideal plan, but it’s the best I have at the moment.

“You sure about that?” He questioned. I nodded, moving back to my spot and picking my rifle and helmet. “Okay then, be careful and keep your radio on”.

With all decided, I left, quickly making my way out. For a moment, I thought about waking Snowdrop and Bronze, but I pushed that idea away. No point in disturbing them unless I have a confirmed threat. Within seconds, I found myself out in the street. From here, I could easily hear the cracks of gunshots. Well, I suppose the best thing I can do is try to find somewhere high. There aren’t many options, most buildings are about the same high, and many are not in a safe state for me to go inside.

I decided to keep following the street, hopefully finding somewhere to climb up. The night was cloudy and somewhat cold, with a cool breeze sweeping through the city. I feel tense, with a little bit of adrenaline making it’s way through me. My mind keeps conjuring images from my recent actions. The massacre, the young pony… the foal. I can’t allow those mistake to happen again.

Eventually, I spotted a big building, probably an office of some sort. The place was about four floors high, with the main structure pretty much intact. I went inside, with my rifle raised and keeping an eye out for tripwires and other types of traps that could be laying around. There wasn’t much in the way, as I rose to the upper floors, passing through the dusty and decayed furniture with occasional bones or skeletons around.

Reaching the last floor, I decided it was high enough to see what was going on. I moved near one of the broken windows, scanning the horizon in an attempt to spot something. I saw movement, about a block away in what appeared to be an old park. Amongst the dead trees, I noticed the distinct silhouettes of ponies running, with an occasional flash of firearms being used. I activated the night vision of my scope and looked through it. The scope wasn’t very powerful, but I managed to gather more details.

I counted about three of them, running from a larger group of… five. One thing that caught my attention was that the larger group seemed to be better equipped. They were all wearing desert camo uniforms, and similar gear. In addition, they all had military grade weapons like assault rifles and sub-machineguns. There was even one carrying what appeared to be a grenade launcher. These guys are still a long way from us, but they were clearly in an upper spot of the local food-chain.

The whole fight was pretty far from us. However, the path this chase was heading brought them closer to us, not much, but enough to be worrisome. “Hey, Barin, do you copy, over?” I called on the radio.

“Yep, I hear you loud and clear, what’s going on, over?” He replied.

“I found the source of those noises,” I said. “There’s some sort of firefight going on, not far from here, over”.

“Really? Fucking great, how do we proceed, over?”

I thought for a while. “They probably won’t head into our location, but I don’t want to take any chances,” I replied. “I want you to wake the ponies and wait for me; we’re moving out, over”.

“Roger that, Alex, I’ll wait for you on the ground floor, over”.

“Acknowledged, over and out”. With that taken care of, I went back, quickly making my way down, back outside. After arriving at the streets, once again, I sprinted towards my goal. I made sure not to cause much noise, hoping that there weren’t any hostiles nearby. However, it appears I’m not that lucky, for I spotted two ponies patrolling the area, directly in front of me.

I hid myself behind an overturned vehicle. The sound of their hooves grew louder, and I began to pick up their voices. I couldn’t really understand much, since they were pretty far away, but they sounded calm. As they took a direction away from me, I glanced outside my cover. Once again, the same uniform and equipment as the other group. Whoever these guys are, it’s clear they’re part of a unique (and probably well organized) faction. I’m pretty damn sure we should stay the fuck away from them.

After five more minutes of walking, I arrived back at our current shelter. I easily spotted my friend Barin and the two ponies, all of them ready to go. I didn’t bothered with courtesy. “We have to move, is everyone ready?” I said, using a cold and pragmatic tone to emphasize the seriousness of the situation. Snowdrop seemed a little bit concerned with that, while Bronze and my friend were not even slightly affected. “There isn’t much time left,” I kept insisting, moving towards my bag, which Barin had placed near him, on an old chair.

“What’s going on?” Snow asked. I picked up my bag and my recently acquired sniper rifle. I unconsciously did a mental checklist of all my stuff. I have seven magazines for my assault rifle, three for the sniper rifle, three for my sidearm, and a few shotgun shells. I’m also carrying two frag grenades and one EMP. Beyond that, I have the non-combat stuff like electronics, extra batteries, tools, an extra set of clothes and some food and water. Obviously, this entire set was heavy, and reduced my movements in a few ways, but I suppose that’s the price to be prepared. Hopefully, once we reach the town, we can leave most of this stuff safe somewhere.

“There’s a large numbers of heavily armed ponies wondering this area,” I replied to her. “We need to get away from here and find another route”.

Her expression became one of worry. “But… this is the safest and quickest way there!” She said. Well, there’s nothing I can do, unless she wants us to get into another firefight.

“Well, not anymore,” I stated. “Now, unless you have further questions, I suggest we get going”.

To my surprise, Bronze Mirage had one. “These ponies, what do they look like?” He asked, using the same calm and… slightly creepy tone. His face showed some clear curiosity, but also something else. That look… it reminded me on Nicolay, as if he was making a battle plan or something. That was the look of a strategist.

It took me a moment to answer. This guy is definitely smarter than he looks. “They’re all wearing some sort of desert camo uniforms and they have military grade weaponry,” I told him. “I couldn’t get a good look on the other group”.

His brows furrowed. “Interesting, that kind of reminds me of confederacy troops,” He said.

Snowdrop raised an eyebrow at that. “But that’s not possible,” She told him. “There’s no way Blackwatch would allow them to come this south of the border”.

“Well, they are in the middle of a food crisis, maybe they struck a deal to get some supplies from the confederacy”. Snowdrop did told me about rising tensions between her home and that faction, especially after they lost some farms along the river to raiders and slavers.

However, as much as I would like to know more about local problems we might have to deal with, we still have to move. “Look people, we can talk about this later on,” I interrupted them. “Let’s get moving”. With that, I turned around and headed outside.

-x-

We spend a long time walking, going all the way around our original path. Luckily, we didn’t bump into anyone, and if the sound is anything to go by, we were pretty far away from the groups I had spotted. However, this would soon change.

The silence around us was quite unsettling. “So, how long until we reach the other way?” I asked Snow, who was walking a few steps ahead of me.

“Not long, we’re heading towards a train station,” She replied, not even bothering to face me. She’s obviously tired, and the rest of us are not much better. We spend less than two hours resting before moving out, and I used all that time to keep watch. The lack of proper rest was already affecting me, especially my mood. “We should be there in a few moments”.

The four of us continued to move, paying close attention to our surroundings. “Alex, I’m picking up two contacts in my heartbeat sensor!” I heard my friend Barin say. I immediately stopped and turned to face him. “Not far, they should be crossing the next street ahead of us in a few moments”. Great, just what I need, all this effort go unnoticed…

I looked around, searching for anything useful. This part of the city was almost completely devastated; all buildings were little more than a shell of their former selves. None of them was safe for us, and there was zero cover out here in the streets. “Alright… let’s get over to that house over there, hopefully they won’t notice us”.

Without a word, we all pressed ourselves against the building. Nobody spoke a word; I could already feel some anxiety building up. Eventually, we heard the ponies approaching, their hooves easily noticeable in this silence. To my horror, they began to approach our location. My mind raced with ideas, from negotiation to a quick takedown. “Fuck, they’re coming this way, what do we do?” I heard Bronze Mirage whispering.

I don’t have a clue, we can either attempt diplomacy or use the element of surprise. There’s no way we can know for sure if any of them would work, however, after what happened previously I must try to avoid another fight. “If they come this way, we’ll try to talk…” I didn’t sound very sure of that.

“What? How do we even know if that’ll work?” The stallion questioned.

“We don’t, but we must try,” I replied.

Soon, I saw two shapes entering the street. I prayed for them to stay away. All of us tensed up, keeping a tight grip in our weapons. Time seemed to slow down as the two figures moved. They were both mares, wearing the same outfit as the others (making them confederacy soldiers, if what Bronze said is true). Upon closer inspection, their equipment looked new, but very primitive, obviously made by hand (or hoof, I suppose), or at least without much in terms of heavy machinery. However, it’s still very impressive, in comparison to what I’ve seen so far.

My analysis was interrupted when they turned to us. Fuck… in an instant, we snapped our weapons in their direction. They were both taken by surprise, stumbling back as they became aware of us. “Don’t take another step!” I said, using a strong tone in an attempt to scare them into submission.

However, that didn’t work. Once the two mares looked at us, they quickly snapped their own weapons. I almost shot them right there; I could feel my heart going faster. Despite the darkness of the night, I could see the fear on their faces. “We’re not looking for a fight,” I added, hoping to ease the tension. “Back off!”

“What the buck are you?” One of them shouted, her voice carrying some fear and cracking a little. However, her attitude seemed to lift their spirits a little, braking the initial surprise. “Identify yourselves!”

“None of your dammed business!” I replied. “If you keep this up, we will defend ourselves!”

The other one took a step forward. “You’ll drop your weapons right now!” she said. “We’re Confederacy rangers, we’re the authority here!” I looked at my companions for help. None of them seemed to have any idea of what to do. Snowdrop, in particular, was clearly worried.

“No fucking way!” I replied. For the love of god, don’t screw this up. Each second felt like an eternity, as we remained there pointing our guns at each other.

One of the mares went for the trigger…

BANG!

-x-

We ran away, before anyone else could arrive. I killed both of them. Nobody had spoken since then, but I could feel the tension in the air. “T-The station should be right ahead,” I heard Snowdrop saying. True to her words, we soon arrived at the place. Decayed machines stood all around us, consumed by two centuries of rust. The buildings had collapsed under their own weigh.

I halted, looking around in confusion. “Well, what do we do now?” I asked Snow.

She pointed a hoof to one of the tracks. “We follow those tracks, they’ll lead us to the city,” I looked towards Bronze and my friend. They both looked fine. Alright, time to leave this place for good. “Keep your eyes open, there might be raiders on the way”. Giving her a small nod, I moved forward, soon followed by the rest of the group. My eyes felt heavy, how long have we been moving? Despite everything I have seen, I’m pretty sure there were only a few moments were I was forced to do this type of effort.

After a few minutes, I saw the tracks making a sudden turn to the left. Without questioning, we approached the spot and turned, but as we did that, there was a crack in a distance ahead of us. Pain exploded in my right leg. “Sniper!” I cursed under my breath; I was hit right above my knee. As I fell to the ground, my comrades returned fire.

“Fuck, I’m hit!” I shouted, grabbing my leg with one hand and attempting to move away from the tracks. There’s no cover in here, we’re easy targets. I saw Snowdrop firing her revolver, trying to suppress our opponent. “Snowdrop, stop firing and get to cover!” I ordered her. Thankfully, she complied.

Barin came to my aid, grabbing my arm and torso in an attempt to lift me up. “Come on Alex, we have to get out of here!” He said. My body protested against these sudden movements, but as the adrenaline began to flow, the pain faded away. Finally on my feet, we both moved to a ruin nearby, out of sight from the sniper.

“By Celestia, a bucking sniper?!” Shouted Bronze Mirage. I could see some anger in his face. I can’t blame him, this whole situation is fucked up. “Did we get cursed or something?”

“It certainly looks like it,” Snowdrop said. She approached me, lifting a healing potion from her saddlebags, which I quickly snatched from her magical grasp. Drinking the strange substance, I instantly felt my wounds closing up. “How in Tartarus are we supposed to keep going?”

I set the empty bottle aside. “Isn’t there any other way?” I asked her. She shook her head. Fucking great… this night is going from bad to worse. “Well, we can’t go back and we can’t stay either…” How the fuck can we figure this out? The streets are crawling with patrols and the buildings are not safe. I really wish we had some air support.

I looked around, in a hopeless attempt to think of something. I spotted what appeared to be the entrance to a metro system. Going through the underground… that doesn’t sound too bad, and we are out of choices. Maybe we can do this, just as the people of Moscow did with Napoleon. “What about that way?” I said, pointing towards the metro. “Does this city have any tunnels leading to Ministry Square?”

A look of worry came to Snow and Bronze. “That… that might not be a good idea…” For the first time, Bronze was actually reluctant to act. “These tunnels are not safe”.

“Yes, I agree with Bronze,” Added Snowdrop. “Don’t you remember what I told you about the underground?”

“Well, what choice do we have? Would you rather face that sniper and the Confederacy patrols?” I argued. Honestly, I don’t like the idea of fighting mutated abominations and facing pockets of poisoned gas either, but there isn’t much we can do.“You know we can’t stay here”.

Snowdrop shifted uncomfortably. “I… I suppose we could, but we need to be really careful” Her voice took a serious tone. “If we go there, you need to keep your guard up all times and listen to everything we say,” She bared an angry frown, emphasizing the seriousness of her words.

“Don’t worry about it,” I replied. “Lead the way”.

-x-

Every place we have seen has always been in a state of decay. However, this subway is even worse. The place was filled with skeletons, covering almost the entire floor. I guess they must’ve been the original inhabitants of the city. They probably came here seeking shelter when the bombs fell. It’s a sad, and somewhat terrifying scene.

All of us scanned the underground station with our flashlights. “Alright people, stick together and check your corners,” I said. “So, any of you have a clue of where we should go?”

Snowdrop took a step forward. “We have to go deeper,” She said, looking around. “There’s a line that goes north, that’s the path we’re looking for”.

Snow led us downstairs, towards the tracks. The station is deadly quiet. Sometimes we would hear the sound of water drops or radroaches. However, these distractions did little to ease the claustrophobic feeling this place gave.

We soon reached the train tracks. Once again, Snow guided us further into the tunnels. Despite a few differences, this place is very similar to subway systems back home. Occasionally, we would bump into an old train, but beyond that, there wasn’t anything exciting to see. Not that I’m complaining, though. After the patrols and the sniper, I’m glad to have a quiet walk.

A while later, we were confronted by another obstacle. The main tunnel had collapsed, blocking our way. However, I spotted two doors on the right side, with a weak red light flashing above them.

“Well, I guess that way is blocked,” I commented. “Maybe those doors can lead to an alternative route?” We just can’t get a straight path, can we?

“Perhaps, I’m not really familiar with these tunnels,” Snow replied. “But it’s not like we have much of a choice, anyway”.

The first door appeared to be automatic. Snow walked closer and inspected a sign above it. “Alright, this one leads to the maintenance tunnels; we can keep going from there”. She pressed a green button on its side, receiving no answer. Frowning at the lack of response, she gave the metal door a few kicks, again, with zero reaction. “Great, I think the door is out of power”.

“What? But the lights are still working,” I said, pointing to the red light.

“Maybe they’re connected to separate source,” She suggested.

“Can’t we try to force it open, somehow?”

My friend Barin stepped closer. “Well, we don’t have any explosives and even if we did, I wouldn’t risk this section of the tunnel also collapsing,” He said, looking at the pile of rubble blocking our way.

Bronze Mirage interrupted our discussion. “Guys, we have a problem…” He said. All of us turned to face him. He stood near the rubble, his flashlight revealing a body. This time, it wasn’t another skeleton, but a recently killed pony. The corpse had a variety of deep wounds, something you would normally expect from a bear or a lion. The bloody thing was also missing one of its legs. The brutality of those wounds send a chill down my spine.

“What could possibly have done that?” I asked. I guess this must be what Snowdrop had warned us about, oh well…

“Probably Nosalises,” Bronze answered. Upon seeing my confused expression he added, “Big mutated moles who inhabit these tunnels”. Great, another type of mutant, what’s next, zombies? “This is exactly what I wanted to avoid, these critters make nasty opponents”.

“Well, then I guess we better keep going,” I said. “Any idea how we can get that door open?”

Snowdrop approached me. “I think the other door leads to a generator room; we could go there and see if we can reconnect the power to the main door”. Well, it’s not like we have much of a choice. However, I’m not really sure how we should proceed. Should we all go, or should we split up, a few staying here and the rest going? While It’s usually a bad idea to slip up, we could end up surrounded and cut off from this area, if we happen to be caught up in a fight.

I turned to face Barin. “Alright, I want you and Snowdrop to stay here and keep this area secure, while Bronze and I go check the other way”.

“You sure about that?” He questioned. Snow also seemed a little bit unsure about that idea.

“Yes, it’s better this way,” I took off my bag and sniper rifle, placing them on the ground. “We’ll leave anything unnecessary here and try to get this done quickly,” I said, looking at Bronze to get the message across, he nodded and did the same. “Leave your heartbeat sensor on, I’ll call you if anything happens”.

“Alright Alex, be careful in there,” He replied. I nodded as me and Bronze approached the door.

We went in, steeping into a narrow corridor with almost no light. The air was thick and with an awful smell. There were several bones and skeletons spread along the way. Paying no mind to the dark atmosphere, the two of us kept heading further inside. We spend about five minutes moving, this place is strangely quiet.

Eventually we came out in a larger room. The place had an equal atmosphere; however, there was also a distinguishable sound of machinery. That must be the generator; hopefully we can end this without any problems. I looked around, spotting a stairway heading down, towards the source of the noise. “That must be the way to the generators,” I heard Bronze saying. “Come on, lets get this over with”.

Downstairs, we discovered a couple of things. First, this was indeed where the generators were located, two, there were even more bodies in here. The floor was covered in blood; we both stood there for a moment, staring at the scene. Braking off the initial shock, I said, “Shit, we better do this quickly”. We walked towards the only still working generator. “You have any idea what might be wrong?”

Bronze spend a few seconds analyzing the machine. “Well, it looks like this thing provides power to this whole section, so I guess there must be a severed wire or something that goes to the door”. He went closer and began to take a closer inspection in it. “I’ll try to find out what’s wrong”.

I stood there and kept watch, as the pony worked. Part of me held a small glint of hope that we wouldn’t have to fight. However, that idea was shattered when I heard an ungodly howl. My eyes snapped to the air ducts above us. “What the hell was that?” I asked, turning around and looking at Bronze. He bared a serious expression, lifting his pistol out of his saddlebag.

“What do you think it was?” He replied. “Nosalises…”

Fucking great… “Alright, you stay there and keep working; I’ll try to buy us some time”.

As he turned back to the generator, I began to hear something. It was the thunder of bodies moving through the ducts. I raised my rifle, switching to full auto. My heart pounding in my chest as the sounds got lauder.

Something broke from the ceiling. The thing was big, larger than a pony and almost as high as I was. Its body was mostly just pale skin, with a few sections having a dark fur. The thing stood in a way similar to apes and monkeys. Its face was ugly, bearing a big set of jaws and its arms ended in strong claws. It wasn’t as big as me, but the freak appeared to have very strong muscles.

I instantly snapped my rifles and fired three rounds at its center of mass. The thing let out a howl of pain, staggering a bit, before charging in my direction. Surprised by that, I fired three more rounds, one of them hitting its head, killing the damn freak. “Hurry up over there!” I shouted over my shoulder as more of them approached.

Another two came down. I turned and fired a long burst. The first fell quickly, but the second was able to get close to me, giving a quick swap with its claws, aiming for head. I ducked and attempted the back off. However, the thing kicked me in my chest with its legs, pushing the air out of my lungs and sending me to the ground. Before I could get back up, the creature jumped at me.

I blocked him with my rifle. The thing tried to bite me, its jaws snapping shut in my weapon. Before I could react, one of its claws went for my arm, digging deep into my flesh. I cried in pain, the adrenaline being the only thing preventing me from dropping my weapon. If I drop my rifle, I’m dead. Trying desperately to get away, I kicked the creature between its legs, hoping it possessed some kind of genitals. Luckily for me, I was right, and the thing lost some strength, I used that to push the thing away.

Noticing my struggle, Bronze Mirage fired a few shots at the Nosalis. His action distracted the thing long enough for me to point my rifle and shoot. The thing went down like a stone. “Are you okay, over there?” Bronze asked. I looked at my lower right arm, the cuts were pretty deep, but they hadn’t reached the bone or muscles, it did hurt a lot, though. I should probably be careful with an infection.

“I think so… we should probably hurry, though,” I answered. I could hear the sound of more Nosalises, further away.

“Give me another minute, I think I got this,” The pony replied. I used the small moment of peace to treat my wounds. I took out a few bandages from my medical kit and warped around my arm. It wasn’t much, but it would hold for now. True to his word, a minute later he backed off from the machine. “Alright, I think I got it now”.

Hoping to confirm that, I called Barin on my radio. “Barin, it’s Alex, do you copy, over?” I waited a few moments, only hearing static.

“Oh, I hear you loud and clear, what’s going on, over?”

“I think we managed to get the door working, can you check it?”

“Alright, I will,” After that, there were a few moments of silence. “Yep, it’s working now, over”.

I let out a sigh of relief. “Good, is everything okay over there, over?”

“We were attacked by a few hostiles, but we’re holding, over”.

“Okay, I’ll be back soon, be ready to move out, over and out”.

Bronze and I ran back to the main tunnel. The sounds of more mutants was gradually increasing. Eventually, we spotted the exit and began to hear gunshots coming from the other side. I kicked the door open, spotting Snow and Barin in the middle of a fight. My friend was taking down a Nosalis with his carbine, while Snowdrop blasted another with her shotgun.

As their respective targets went down, they noticed us. “Hey, you made it!” My friend said. “Are you two alright?”

“Yes, just a few scratches here and there,” I replied. “You two ready to move?” They both nodded. “Okay then, get over to the door”.

As they complied, Bronze and I rushed to our gear. We quickly grabbed everything and went to the now open way. Right as we entered a new narrow corridor, Snowdrop’s horn lit up and the door behind us snapped shut. I took a moment to catch my breath.

“Alex, there’re more hostiles coming our way,” Barin said, looking at his heartbeat sensor.

“Great… Snowdrop, you have any ideas of where we should go?” I asked. This journey is getting worse by the minute; we really need to find a way out.

After a moment, the mare replied. “We need to get back to the main tunnels; they’re our best way out”.

“Well, lead the way”.

All of us moved at a faster pace. Thankfully, we didn’t bump into any hostiles on the way. Within minutes, we arrived back at our original path. However, just as we stepped inside, the sound of Nosalises became much louder. Time to run…

“Fuck, we’re out of time…” I said. “Pick up the pace, people!”

We dashed forward. All around us, mutants began to jump from the ceiling and other holes in the walls. The four of us proceeded to fire blindly while moving, in an attempt to keep the enemy suppressed. I tried to keep my mind focused, but it was clear we were beginning to panic.

After what felt like an eternity, I saw a huge set of metal doors, a gate of some sort, slightly open. Clearly, that must be the next station. We moved like mad animals, hoping to save ourselves. However, as I was a few steps away, I saw one of the mutants jumping at Snowdrop. The impact caused her to lose balance and fall.

Without thinking, I pointed my rifle at the creature, switching to my under-barrel shotgun. I pulled the trigger twice. The rounds hit the target square in the chest, killing him instantly. I moved forward and helped Snow back at her hooves. “Come on, Hurry up!” I shouted. The two of us went to the gate. We both had to squeeze ourselves to get through. As we succeeded, I stumbled to the other side and fell to my knees. There was a loud bang of the metal gate shutting close, and then silence.

I looked around. Everyone is exhausted; we’ve been running for a long time. In addition, all of us have received multiple small wounds across our bodies. “Okay… I think this is the place,” Snow said. “If we go up we should be able to see Ministry Square”.

I nodded, getting back to my feet and gesturing my comrades to follow me. Everyone complied without a word. We moved around the station, which was no different from the previous one. It didn’t took long before we found the exit. I let out a sigh of relief as I spotted the light of the moon, receiving the cool breeze coming from outside as a blessing. After waiting a second for my eyes to adjust, I once again saw the ruined city around me.

We were at a riverbank. At the other side, north of us, I saw a huge wall of propaganda signs and scrap metal. The thing looked like an ancient castle. However, what truly got my attention were a few dim spots of light coming from the buildings inside. This must be Ministry Square, we’re finally here.

Footnote: Level Up!

New Perk: Hunter - In combat, you do 75% more critical damage against animals and mutated animals.

Author's Note

Okay, here's the next chapter, hope you all enjoy. Wow, this was really hard to write, I didn't have much planned for this chapter. Please point out any mistakes or confusing parts. Just so you all know, I decided to draw a map of the island where the story happens, I hope this can help all of you to have a better understanding of the story.

Also, I took the Nosalises from the Metro 2033 series, you can find more about them here.