Metro 2033 - Sanda's Story

7.Luck

We went through tunnels and small long openings that started to make my mind go crazy. Finally we fell down to a bit more open area and I took a breather. I am glad Khan survived as did his comrades. Artyom looked around the room and closed down a leaking gas coming from a pipe and then montioned the vent. I growled from having to go through the discomfort. He just chuckled at my reactions and let me go through first as I was a bit smaller and a bit faster. We went out of it and sighed as we were at last at the Armory. "Took us a while" he said. "Let's just hope we won't get killed. I have a very bad feeling about this place. Just in case keep your guard up." I just nodded. We went ahead a few steps and then a light blinded us. But soon was off as they noticed we are humans. They let us through but the thing is I had a bad feeling. Yep, the Reds were at the station. They were  inspecting people. As we were going through the station we halted and heard a conversation. As I heard what it was about I saw Artyom being red as a tomato trying not to laugh. I, myself was struggling with that. As it ended we both went in and got stopped. There were two men which were the Reds and a man held captive. One of them got me and had a gun raised at Artyom while the other was about to tie the other; when suddenly he beat the guy unconscious and Artyom did the same. Then the three of us run out of the place and followed the guy. We almost stumbled into people but Artyom
had a grip of my arm and helping me run faster with my hand tied. We did turns, crawled to avoid the bullets being shot at us but we were once again stopped and the guy shouted to run to the left then shot dead. I was shocked and remained unmoved until Artyom pulled me by my arm and took off running up the stairs. We took a right turn and then we were cornered by two guys closing in on us. Then the barricades that were on the floor broke and we fell along with it. We thought we were doomed but then a man pulled us both and closed us in a small room.
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It was Khan's friend - Andrew the blacksmith. He gave us new clothes. He as well promised us to get a ride on a railcar with recruits without being announced. This opportunity proved to be perfect for us. We knew we had to take this way. We told him all he needed. So we went on. We were lucky they didn't take our guns. Andrew led us to a point where there was a hole in the floor. He was talking to some guys and then told is to get in. They moved the cart above us and told us to get into the luggage hold. We went in. That is when I was feeling a bit uncomfortable with Artyom. He was a bit too close but I didn't mind it. Normally I would have had made the poor lad to be tied at the end of the cart. But it was different with him. We settled into comfortable positions and the guys just pushed the cart. They wished us good luck and the cart was lifted. Me and Artyom made sure to not move a bit to not give away our position. We landed and the young soldiers went on the cart. We just sat in silence but at some point I just poked Artyom's arm and he turned his head my way. I just mouthed ITS GOING TO BE OK. He stared at me and threw a smile. A smile I never saw since the day I met him. After that we just waited to head for Lubianka. We hoped we will get there in time.
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We were getting closer to Lubianka. The soldiers above us where singing in Russian which for some odd reason, I understood what it was about. As I was wondering the luggage cracked once, which alerted both me and Artyom, twice and we had a feeling, we would fall down and then it broke which made us end up rolling behind it. I grunted and checked if Artyom was hurt. He was still on the floor. I quickly went and turned off the closest light and took him to the wall. I putted my night vision goggles to check him for any injuries. He didn't realise I took him to the wall until he stood up. With all my strength I dragged him down on the floor. I looked at him with a harsh look which he propably couldn't see. I said "If you want to continue, I need to make sure you are not injured" he just looked at me and said back"Well shouldnt you get checked as well? " he eas just wasting time." I am fine and I am able to get up quicker than you. I know you might had hurt your leg. Let me check it and get it over with and keep on going. I dont want you laying on the ground dead because of blood loss. And dont want to leave any clues for them to start looking for us. " I got out a long ripped piece of clothing and checked his leg. He indeed was hurt. He was bleeding not too much but still made sure he doesn't bleed out later on. I quickly putted a bit of alcohol I had and then wrapped his leg with the cloth. Once I finished I stood up and this time I lent him my hand. If we were partners, we needed to look out for each other. He took it and stood up. He did have a small difficulty in walking but he was fine. We kept on going and decided to pass by unnoticed by the Reds. On our way we only killed one guy who was in our way of getting forward. We went to the very bottom of the opening passing by many metal pipes and some bodies. We got to a small passage and went in. After a few moments we found a ladder which took us to higher grounds. We gave each other a look that we had no choice. We went up to the very top and there were the Reds. Me and Artyom readied our guns but he stopped me halfway. He said"Just make sure that noone behind us is gonna follow us" so I did as he said. He took care of the guys and the trolley that came out our way. We ended up in another opening were there were held captives other men. Without looking at each other we went into action. I took care of the guys near the fire by killing them with my knife silently and the guy in the darkness. Just as I was finished, Artyom took care of the last one. I jogged to the men. They thanked us for saving them which made my heart a bit lighter from killing other people. We went up the ladder and continued our own way. We passed by other corridors which led us to a metal door. As we opened it the Red soldiers were already in ready and took us in. They knocked both of us out.
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Artyom's POV

They knocked her out. Those bastards....Somehow I was still standing, but I had to make sure Klaudia will be safe. I don't want her to have any regrets later because of men's pleasure. I hugged her as hard as I could so that they would not take her from me. She didn't deserve it. She didn't deserve being here at all. They already tried to take her away but they let us of. By some miracle I wasn't unconscious like Klaudia was. They kept us for some time until they took us into the middle of the room. They wanted to kill us. They didn't separate us though. As I lost most hope, at the very back of the room came two people. They were ours. I didn't dare to move at all until they took care of both of them. They asked me a few questions but all I did was show them Hunter's tablet. Immediately we took off. I was forced carry her bridal style to get her to the trolley. The guy on the lower seat took her along for better cover. I went to the higher as to not raise any suspicions. Our plan was quite simple but dangerous as well. On our way we went against the Reds but in the end managed to get away in one piece. We ended up in a dead end of a tunnel. We had to take a railcar from there to get to Polis. Again I took the unconscious girl and putted her in a comfortable position. Me and the other guy sat down. Then we took of again. The tunnel seemed to be quite creepy, I should admit. Klaudia started to stir in her sleep. It seemed she was waking up but behind us were running mutants. Me and Pavel immediately took out our guns and shot some of them. It got quiet as we entered a station. Pavel said something about it being called as Depot. As we went through Klaudia was fully awake but wore a very confused look which made me to chuckle. She looked up at me and charged at me with her knife. I was so shocked I never realised she actually aimed for the body behind me. The mutant fell of the railcar and more of them came at us. Out of nowhere the cart increased in speed, taking us further into a tunnel. For Pavel's luck two of the monsters, took hold of him and before me or Klaudia could do anything he was already within the many lunging bodies. The last thing we heard from him was how we was ready to take them on. Me and Klaudia just looked at each other worriedly and kept on going. We dogded a few pipes above and other boards. Then the cart stopped abruptly and it flew over, throwing us at the ground as well. The cart was falling on Klaudia and in the last second I took her from underneath it. We both sighed with relief. I could see she already had enough. True I myself needed a break. We leaned on each other's backs. We took a few breaths and then I felt as she leaned on me even more. I chuckled loudly enough for her to hear. I said "Comfy enough?" she moved a little bit more leaning even more on me. "Now even better." she laughed for the first time since I met her. "We are a bit easy going in a place like this." she said and took some of her weight of me. She then turned around and straight told me " You have really nice colour of eyes.". Well I was so startled I blushed. But I didnt turn around. I just thanked her and seems she noticed what she said because she was avoiding my gaze. We gathered any remaining ammo and went through the big pipe on the floor. We still had a way till we got to where we wanted. Let's hope we won't have a death sentence.
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Added Artyom's POV . Wanted to see how it turned out . Thanks alot for those who read my story appreciate it .
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