In the beginning God said: let there be light and let it burn out the darkness. On the second day he created the sky, the wonderful canopy of the earth. The next day God sculpted fertile land and planted it with trees. On the fourth day, God separated day from night and gave the earth seasons. Then God filled the ocean with life and created birds to soar in the skies. On the sixth day God created beautiful living creatures. And the most beautiful of them were people created by him in his own image and likeness. He blessed them, instructing them to reign over all living things on earth, take care of all living things, raise all living things and rule over them. They say that on the seventh day God rested. But it’s not true. He didn’t rest. God is gone or maybe died. Before that, he brought down his anger on us. Judgment day has arrived and humanity is executed. Swept away from the face of the Earth like parasites. And we… we hid from God in the subway. We were protected from his angry eyes, and he became too lazy to pick us out of our holes. And then we were left alone. Alone, on the used, discarded Earth. And flew on it to nowhere.
© Metro: Last Light
His dull metallic groans https://nokyccasinos.org.uk/review/aztec-paradise/ echoed throughout the All-Russian Exhibition Center. Goosebumps ran through my body, from the realization that with one movement of my hand I was able to revive this huge rusty beast. I’m sure what I’m doing now is on the verge of madness. Who else could have come up with the idea to start the Ferris wheel, which stopped forever more than 20 years ago?. On the day humanity was executed.
It was on that day that I rode it for the first and last time. I’ll never forget this. I was walking around the city with my parents, and my eyes were literally glued to the wheel. “Moscow 850,” said my father. Without hesitation, we bought tickets. Exactly like now, I stood waiting for the booth. The seventy-meter mastodon made me, as a child, admire and at the same time shake with fear.
For a moment I forgot about everything that was really going on. It was like I was a little boy again with cotton candy in my hand. There was little time, soon mutants from all over the area would come running to this noise. I sat in the booth.
At that moment I was visited by a feeling of ecstasy from the work done. For about six months, yes, that’s about how long I was fixing it up, piece by piece, and tinkering with the wiring.
The dusty rusty booth hospitably let me in. I started to rise.
Memories started popping up in my head again. “Sasha, wave your hand to mom”. Then she abandoned this terrible idea and remained looking at us from below. Pressed close to my father, I eagerly looked around. I was rising higher and higher. “And over there is our house. See?». My gaze went to where he once stood. “I see, dad,” I said, just like then. A tear fell from my eye. Even though now I was pressing not my father’s hand to me, but a cold rifle, but I felt calm.
Being here at the very top makes you realize how much things have really changed. Nothing more can be returned. Because of the smog and snow and ash, even the horizon was not visible. I already felt the mutants approaching from all sides. After changing the filter and checking the shutter, I prepared to go out.
Just in case, I checked the switch. There is no light. Well, of course, there has been no one here except rats and mutants for ages. Walking past endlessly long stands and counters, among the unnecessary trash I discovered a pleasant little thing – a department with toys. “I’ll grab that doll and that car and make the kids at the station happy.”. Actually, I came here for a completely different purpose. I needed an electronics department. It’s inconvenient that there were no windows in the shopping center – the dim light of the lantern barely illuminated the way. Dusty, like a closet. After wiping the glass of the gas mask and taking a good look around, at the end of the corridor I found a staircase to the second floor. And next to it there is a sign with the inscription “Electrical goods”. I moved forward confidently.
Confident. Exactly until the moment my foot stepped into something soft and viscous. I shined a flashlight on the floor and froze in horror. There were corpses all around. About seven people, no less, about seven stalkers were lying on the floor and were food for rats. I stood motionless and peered warily into the darkness. The blood in my temples was pulsating at breakneck speed. Somewhere very close I heard a chomping sound.
"Run!" – First thought. "Run! Hide! I’m all alone!». No. They are faster, they will catch up with me. Slowly bending down and dimming the light of the lantern, I pressed myself against the counter. That’s when it dawned on me. This whole thing was the stupidest idea in the world. And this wheel surrendered to me? I still won’t be able to fix it. It was a dream from the very beginning. My greatest stupidity. But I knew I had to do it. I promised.
He unsheathed his rifle and looked around the corner – three, maybe four creatures had staged a bloody feast over the corpse of the stalker. “Bitches,” I whispered barely audibly. But there was nothing I could do to help the guys. Judging by their appearance, they have been lying here for a long time. And why did they even need to crawl into such a hole?? They were probably hiding from mutants, or decided to hide from radioactive rain. Poor guys. Carefully moving between the shelves, I moved towards the stairs, which seemed to have the only window on the entire floor. I jumped onto the windowsill and looked around. Everything seemed clean on the street, but you could still hear the greedy chomping of the beasts somewhere behind. I felt calm, because they wouldn’t come into the light.
Eh, it would be nice to be back before dark. I don’t think the station manager will fall for the story about how I turned onto the wrong metro line again. We need to hurry. Looks like there should be "Electrical Goods" somewhere here.
I went down to the subway at dusk. In the metro, which has become the only bastion of security. And those few who were there, above, experienced unprecedented calm when they descended from a hostile, devastated Earth to a place that became shelter for all of us. I stepped onto the escalator and it creaked rusty. This sound was exactly the same as that day. That day..
I stepped onto the escalator and it creaked rusty. A very strong crush began, people, like a swarm of bees, flocked in one stream to the metro hive. In a panic, everyone rushed to go where: some wanted to quickly go down, quickly hide in holes and hide in an underground abode. But there were also those who were eager to surface. "Release! Skip! Let me out, I won’t leave her there! Stop, don’t close the gate! I won’t stay here without her! My daughter! No, please!" – came from somewhere nearby. The screams of people, the sound of a siren, distant volleys of rockets, stomping, children’s crying – all this merged into a single harmony. I remember how I cried. From fear and horror, and also because I didn’t understand what was happening. Through tears I squeezed out: “Dad, where did mom go??». "Son. My son, Sasha, I love you very, very much. And Mom loves you,” I heard in response. “Dad, why are you crying?? Don’t cry!“Sasha, hold on to me tighter. Everything will be fine soon". Everything will be fine. He lied to me.
We were one of the last ones allowed in. Before we had time to go down to the station itself, the commander gave the order to close the gates. Mom is still there somewhere. Among the doomed. At that moment the swarm of bees began to buzz. The soldiers standing at the gate could barely hold back the crowd. Some parents, in despair, threw their children inside, begging the military to take them away… Finally, the last strip of sunlight, the last ray of hope disappeared through the gate opening. And everything changed. The hive is quiet. The panic almost stopped, everything froze. Those who survived could breathe easy. They are no longer in danger. But outside you could hear the swarm of bees starting to buzz even louder. The hive closed its doors to them forever. They’re finished. We all came to an end that day.
I was distracted from my memories by the cry of a watchman. “Answer me! Password?"- I finally got to the station.