Based upon the universe of the Metro: 2033 and Metro: 2034 series video games by 4A Games, and the upcoming Metro: 2035 book, and prior books written by Dmitry Glukhovsky, this short-story takes place only nine years after the Great War of 2013 that nearly ended all mankind. The story follows Asael Petrov, a seventeen-year-old teenager that was only six years of age when the lucky residents of Moscow escaped into the dark tunnels of the Metro.