The Metro Tales: Culmination Part 10

With guards and Vas distracted by the dying legend, my arm acted on its own, the ice from my mind enveloping my heart and steeling it from harm. With my good hand, I pulled the Ashot from its holster and held it steady facing Vas, eyes slowly turning to me.
Outside Khan's home and fighting the mutants of Moscow, I had ignored my bloodlust that seemed to overtake me when the moment stuck, but here it was different. I did not want to see him die, I wanted to see him suffer, to watch this man experience pain unlike this world. Then and only then did I wish him dead.

I close my eyes and took a breath, it was barely a moment but it lasted forever. My choice was made.


...but I just couldn't do it. My choice was made and I couldn't kill this man, no matter how much he wronged me, wronged us. I could not let that emotion overtake logic.
But that didn't mean I couldn't make him hurt.
With a quick pivot of my arm, I let the muscles relax, the weapon falling to Vas' legs and I pulled the trigger, completely destroyed his left leg. Before anyone else could react to my actions, I reloaded the weapon, all the while walking past the desk and thus quickly fired again onto the opposite leg, this time the man's blood curdling screams attracting the attention of the other guards, their weapons up and pointing at me. I reloaded for a third time and pointed the weapon down at the man, whilst turning to stare directly into the eyes of the guard to my right.
"Go ahead." I said slowly, my tone cold. "Do it."
"FATHER!"
Sofia pushed up from the floor where Artyom continued to lay bleeding and leapt to her father's side, putting hard pressure onto both legs. Ashot in hand, I walked over to Artyom and knelt at his side, pushing hard on the bullet wound. "I'm sorry Artyom."
"We should have never come..." Anna said bitterly, biting her lower lip. "I warned you! Why didn't you listen to me?!"
Artyom reached for his wife's face and shushed her softly. "It's fine. Don't worry." His eyes turned to me. "He will listen now or die disagreeing."
The Dark One's voice rang inside my mind. *Hurry! We may still have a chance to save Artyom!*
Standing up as Artyom spat blood with a rasping cough, I walked over to Sofia and Vas, the guards still as stone, awestruck with my defiance inside their home. The look of fury on Sofia's face...it still frightens me to this day, but I hid my fear for the time being and kept my Ashot in hand.
"You will listen to me now, Vas Buturovich, to all I wish to say."
The man did not speak but merely nodded, pushing upwards from the floor with both hands to see me, Sofia signaling the nearby guard with her bloodied hand to assist in his wounds.
"You will hand over control of Sadovaya to your daughter from here on out."
"She is not ready-"
"She IS." I raised the Ashot. "But before your retirement, you will announce your peace with the Dark Ones and their civility with mankind, that you and them are allies and that they will help you in this Metro."
"I..." He coughed, his powerful voice was reduced to a whimper. "I-I cannot allow...such a thing-"
"You WILL do these things." I cocked the Ashot and aimed for his head. "Don't make me pull the trigger. You so willingly killed Yura, why should I hesitate with you?" Sofia instructed the guard to take the medications and equipment from the bag.
"If I-I agree to this, will you let me live?" He asked slowly.
"I will. They may not."
I thought to myself. *Can you come now?*
*He is yellow. They all are. It is now or never.*
*Please*
With a faint noise, three Dark Ones appeared in the now crowded room, one being the Child Dark One who rushed to Artyom's side, tears streaking from his eyes. The guards roared in horror, pulling their weapons upwards but a single shot from the Ashot calmed them quickly.
"Now, you will listen to them. All of you will listen." I didn't like being forceful, but it was better than killing them all.
The first stepped forward. "We never wished harm against you. Peace. Knowledge. These are our only goals."
The female I had spoken to earlier moved slowly towards the desk, looking down on the humans before her. "But you branded us enemies. We defended, never attacked. You fired, never listened."
"If there is any hope in your hearts to return to your homes of yesteryear, trust us and we can help you rebuild."
Vas huffed angrily on the floor, his eyes flaring with hatred as he stared at the beast but quickly calmed at Sofia's words. "Father...please, it has been true the entire time. They do not lie-"
"ARTYOM!"
The sound of bloody coughing quickly followed and we turned to witness the light finally leave the legend who had fought so hard during his life. His head falling to his chest, the Child Dark One wailed in distress as Artyom of Exhibition, Leader of the Ranger Order died in a dimly lit office far from home.
The tall Dark One turned back from the cries of the Child and Anna, both huddled over his deceased body. I stayed strong while my heart wept. The tone of the Dark One was unlike anything I have ever heard and one I haven't heard since...the only description I can make of it is dark and murderous. "Sofia, child. Do you trust us?"
She reluctantly replied, her father's eyes glued to her face. "I do."
"Then you know what must be done. What we...what I must do."
Sofia stayed silent for a moment but stood and walked slowly away from her father, his head tiled to the side, his face twisted in confusion and horror. "I do." Tears streaked her face. "I'm sorry, Father."
With a huge push of energy, Vas began to float in the air, his bloody legs pushing over the desk as his head slowly reached the hand of the Dark One, the guard who lay at his side quickly scrambling to the wall. "For the crime of killing our adoptive child Artyom, I have no choice on this matter. The Dark Ones will not harm the people of St Petersburg, with only a single cost for peace. For this and the murders of my kind and yours, you must die."
Vas' tough demeanor vanished completely as the rest of the guards fell to the floor in fright, Sofia and I looking onward. "P-Please! Don't kill me!"
"If only it was that easy. Be at peace, Vas Buturovich."
With a sudden force, the giant man's head burst like a popped ball, splashing the remains in a spray of gory dark red liquid and red tanned bones, a truly nightmarish moment. Watching this mere feet before my eyes, I did fear the Dark Ones if only for a moment, they truly have the strength to kill us all so easily, yet only wished for peace. At that time I truly thanked God that they were with us. Even now I still do.
"Sofia...I'm sorry." My shoulders slumped immediately.
"... I understand." She said after a moment, eyes still fixed on her father, decapitated and still in the air. "I cannot express how angry I was...how angry I am, but there was no other way. My father had to die, didn't he? For the rest of us alive to survive."
"You do not need to forgive me Sofia, I am truly sorry it went this way." Vas' body fell to the ground with a sickening thump, the rest of the guards who remained quiet stared up at the female Dark One as she slowly approached them, a hand outreached to the closest one. "Do you understand now? We only wished to learn from you."
"Y...yes. I understand."
"You are green. Good."
"G-green?"
"In time, you'll learn."
"Go, and spread this tale." The tallest Dark One remarked. "Let this truce be known."
The guards abandoned their weapons and rushed from the door, some yelling at the top of their voices of the events that happened in that span of time. When the outside began to rumble with noise, only then did we break that short moment of silence.
"Now what?" Anna said coldly. Artyom remained in her arms and the Child crouched next to her, his body heaving as he cried ever on. "We bury him." I said as warmly as I could. "With honour."

***

Morning was approaching and the sun was deep red in the sky. We stood at the edge of St Petersburg, on the train tracks we entered the town in what seemed almost weeks ago, but barely any time had passed since the four of us stood here alongside the Dark Ones. We left Sofia behind and with the Dark Ones appearing by the hundreds around the entire Metro, the people cried in terror but with short time, some came to trust them, and before long they trusted them fully. As we walked down the alleys, I watched a child with radiation burns be healed in an instant from the touch of a Dark One, their mother groveling at its feet, crying thanks repeatedly. A radiated puddle of water came clean as a Dark One past it by, people clambering for mouthfuls of the precious liquid, while some broke open the wells and pumps, handing out food taken from the startled guards and given to the ever hungry mouths. We slowly came to the front door of Stanislav Dubov, but unseen beforehand, died of a heart attack as a Dark One approached him. Even in death his hands still trying to wheel backwards until he hit a wall and finally slumped over.
From there we traveled back to Ligovsky; Rodion approached the Dark Ones with fear, the same expression as his father, quickly changing to sadness as Sofia placed Yura's body at his feet and continuing to travel onward out back into the destroyed city where more Dark Ones left us to roam the city and Sofia too staying behind at the gates.
"We'll be in contact. I'll make sure of it."
"I'm sorry Sofia." I muttered, Anna and the Child walking on, Artyom hanging loosely from his arms.
"So am I. I never should have brought you here."
"I doubt Artyom wouldn't stop until he came here himself."
"...did you intend to kill my father?"
I looked into her eyes for a moment but looked away the instant I answered. "For a time, yes. But I couldn't do it...but I knew if I didn't fire, he would have."
"Yes, he would have...maybe it was for the best."
We stood in silence for some time, avoiding eye contact and shuffling our feet. Before long, the last Dark One past by and Anna called my name in a gruff, low tone. We didn't have any more words for each other; I held out my hand, she brushed it aside and embraced me. We still haven't talked about that day since...if barely at all.

After backtracking to Sofia's car, it was decided to bury Artyom right there, alongside the traintracks at the foot of a tree. I wondered aloud if Artyom wanted to be returned to Exhibition, but Anna argued the point. "He should be here...forever a reminder about the sacrifice it took to achieve this peace they'll enjoy..."
"I'm sure he'd agree." A Dark One boomed, the Child still carrying his lifeless body. He had not said a word since his passing on that day, tears still streaming down his face. He never did fully move on from that...with his birth mother and father gone, Artyom was the last of his family, although he still considers Anna and their children a part of it.
Several Dark Ones dug a hole deep enough with a syncronised swoop of their hands and the Child placed Artyom in, a dirtied and blood stained sheet covering his body. We stood crowded around his remains for a time before the Child lifted a handful of dirt in his hand and dropped it in, walking away almost immediately. Anna followed suit and slowly fell to her knees, tears falling down her face and fogging the lenses of her gas mask. All the Dark Ones did the same, all in silence, the whistle of the wind and the sound of our gas masks falling on many deaf ears, leaving only myself, Anna and the tallest Dark One left at the foot of the grave, Artyom's body almost completely covered in dirt by the end.
*We should have turned back.* His voice rang in my head. I think we both wanted to respect the silence in honour of Artyom.
*He would never have done it, not until his end. It was always his way.*
*True, he was not one to leave things undone.*
As the Dark One pushed the heavy pile of frozen earth and finally covered the grave, I removed the Ashot Khan had given me and held it in my hands...at the time it felt almost like a lifetime ago. Looking back I think I was truly an entirely different person; I had been eager to meet my destiny, to travel and see the world that no one had ever done before...but I didn't realise the cost would be so severe. With one hand bandaged and the other free, I could barely feel the stinging of the cut from hours ago apart from the sting of the cold wind.
But in the excitement of discovering life in St Petersburg, only after my return home did I realise the death of Artyom had marked my change into manhood, forever scaring the day that officially changed me in eyes of all mankind and those to come; As we placed Artyom to rest, it was the beginning of my twentieth birthday and there I stood, at the edge of St Petersburg  to which we thought dead with a man killed in my hesitation lying beneath my feet. 'If only' is always the killer of the innocent and innocence itself.
"He will never be forgotten, amongst us or you."
I looked up to see the female Dark One returning as she placed an aged piece of concrete down in front of the tree and engraved it with her fingertip, the concrete falling carelessly from the stone as she wrote. Anna, almost forgotten, looked up as the Dark One stood again and placed her hand on Anna's shoulder. I read the engraving softly to myself, almost whispering it to the Ashot;

'ARTYOM
THE HERO OF MOSCOW, BRIDGE TO THE DARK ONES
AND HECATOMB OF THE PEOPLE OF ST PETERSBURG
HUSBAND, FATHER, LEADER
HE WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN'

Anna choked a thanks, stood and walked away, as near all the Dark Ones had already done. With a few brisk steps, she joined the Child who with tears finally dry, stared at the tombstone. "Come, young one. Let's go home."
I placed the Ashot at the top of the grave, loaded with a single shell and handle stained with the blood from my wound, where it remains today.

***

From there, I changed my life as much as I could. I returned to Moscow with Anna and the Child, few Dark Ones remained at St Petersburg while the rest returned with us. It was a solid two days before we mustered the energy to return home, with many delays due to engine issues. We returned to D6 with cheers and applause and the news of St Petersburg's contact with Moscow but when they learned of Artyom's demise, the entire station shut down for the rest of the day. Anna reluctantly became the next head of the Order and she promoted me to Ranger with short time. I was just glad I was no longer to be a Radiation Rat; I accepted the offer, although admittedly at first I refused to go back outside the Metro, deciding to take some time off to return home. Anna paid me five times the usual rate of a Ranger, remarking about my bravery at Sadovaya. "Take as much time as you want." She had said to me, leaving me with a small bag overflowing with bullets and a stunned Rec officer. It seemed at first Anna had returned to her cold demeanour, even more so than usual, but being only a few weeks after his death, Anna's hair was streaked with more silver hairs than before and her face was definitely more still and plain, unemotional.
With eagerness in heart, I returned home to my father and mother and told them the story that you have read throughout these pages. And when the time came, I gave my parent's half of what Anna gave me. My mother cried. Father, while displeased at my promotion in the Order, smiled grimly and embraced me. "Be safe, son." he said before I left. I still manage to visit now and again.

Much more happened since those days but the majority is too extraneous to be told in these pages; ten years have gone since those events and the Metro, while still our primary home, is less violent these days as the surface is almost completely recovered, thanks to the Dark Ones. They adapted slowly to the underground and managed the radiated water issues that began to flood the Metro, continuing to clean the surface and soon enough, fighting over scraps of land became a thing of the past. Most remain in the Metro, as many mutants still roam the surface, but it seems they are a part of our world for the coming future. The Dark Ones rebuilt their home that Artyom destroyed all those years ago, with most traveling the city to visit us, the Child Dark One visits even me quite often. When Artyom's son Yuri began to show signs of the same headaches I and his father once had, it was my task to take him under my wing.
Let these final words be recorded as such; life begets life - it is always moving on in one form or another and by working corporately with all life, just like Artyom wished for, it had made the life changing difference, where children now grow without fear of Dark Ones, of mutants, of starving. With more time perhaps things will return to the years of generations past but for now my course is set and I shall be the recorder.

My name is Ivan Denisov and I am a Ranger of the Moscow Order. My legacy, and that of Moscow, is far from over.