The Exit

Chapter 1. At the entrance to the matrix, Semyon.

Darkness. I woke up getting used to it. I took out my phone. There is no network, not even a stick. I turned on the flashlight on my phone, illuminating the carriage, and saw skulls around me; no one was left alive. Having collected my things scattered nearby, I looked around, and in front of me lay a strange black backpack. I checked its contents; inside were: a packed lunch, a flashlight with a couple of batteries, a lighter, a penknife, a screwdriver, pliers, a roll of electrical tape, and a hexagon. Yes, this backpack was lying right in the middle of the carriage. Throwing the find over myself, I moved along the tunnel, hoping to get out and look around, and in general, because there was nowhere else to go - the previous carriages were blocked by something.

The first thing I noticed on my way was an underground stream. I realized that he was there at all, only from the sounds of drops from the ceiling, but then I was able to see it by highlighting it with my phone. It was very lucky that the current crossed the tunnel and did not go along it. The stream ran lower than the sleepers, rails, and in general practically underground, and in principle did not bother me personally in any way, but even then, it was clear that some crap was happening around me, an explanation for which my brain involuntarily demanded and did not find. I decided to take a breather and take a few deep breaths to get my growing panic attack under control. There was no guarantee that I was still in the Moscow metro.

Beyond the stream, I was able to see a staircase on the right side of the tunnel, which led to a door illuminated by a dim orange emergency light. The sign said it was a service area. Inside I found some kind of vest, a piece of paper on the table that said: "and equipment with a supply of drinking water, and as a result I probably spent more than one hour fiddling with equipment, rearranging things, cutting unnecessary things into rags, and wrapping them in improvised bandages." You never know. I had a snack and moved on. As I was leaving, I noticed a couple of diagrams and a map on the wall, which I immediately began to look at, but soon gave up and simply tore it off the wall, putting it in my pocket. As I left the room, I kept a flashlight ready, and I saw a silhouette in front of me inside the tunnel.

At first, I hoped that a person was moving in my direction and was about to meet him halfway, but the gait was strange, and I paused, suspecting something was wrong. Devilry. From the terrible guttural hissing that I have heard, my instincts have made it clear that there is a clear threat in front of me. I had to think about the situation, keeping a cool head. Apparently, everything could have been much worse. Remembering the TV series and films, I needed to figure out what could be used to screw up this creature's head.

Looking through the things in my backpack, I remembered: I'll still need the packed lunch; I risk breaking the flashlight, but if I don't find anything better, I'll have to use it; it's heavy enough to protect myself. At that moment, I looked back inside the room and saw on the floor exactly what I needed in this situation right on the floor: a shovel! Leaving my backpack behind, it would be inconvenient to fight with it on. I took the rusty emergency shovel in one hand, turned around, and saw that the zombie had already smelled me and was crawling up the stairs. It's time to fight for life!

Taking a running start, I raised my hand, trying to get straight into the monster's neck, but only scratched him. Jumping back, he began to watch him, grasping the shovel with both hands. Swaying and then shouting something inarticulate, the creature swung to hit me. At that moment, I decided to counterattack, aiming at the zombie's throat with both hands and pushing off from the ground. The last thing I remember was the feeling of a shovel hitting the concrete and a dull thud.

The attack turned out to be successful. I found myself short of breath, sitting over the already motionless body of a zombie; nearby, in an unknown way, a severed head was lying nearby, from which a dark green helmet had fallen away. It looks like it was once a soldier: when I got up, I saw the uniform, and whether I wanted it or not, in order to survive, I would have to look for something useful from the defeated enemy...

I got a seven-gauge German Adler and two clips of cartridges for it; an old walkie-talkie, which was now useless, and I even wanted to throw it away; a sapper bayonet; a compass; and a flask. If a soldier turned into a zombie nearby, his backpack had to be somewhere. Having made sure that there was nothing useful in the immediate vicinity, I decided to move along the tunnel. Apparently, there was a station on the other side, since there was a utility room here, but there was no way to get to it, which meant I would have to go to the next station, and if I was very lucky, I could see the sky above my head again.