Metro universe 2033. Deja vu. Chapter 2.

14 May Metro universe 2033. Deja vu. Chapter 2.

Here is the second chapter, as I promised. If, someone still reads this, sorry for the delay-laziness and games, this is a vigorous mixture.

Prologue
-Another 300 meters! – https://davincisgold.co.uk/ shouted gray – faster, very little left!
In the distance, the spotlight earned. Victor’s eyes were pierced by acute pain. Having covered himself with his hand, he continued to run.
-Faster, they almost caught up with you! Someone shouted from the outpost
Trying not to slip on a mucus that carelessly covered the tunnel sleepers, Victor forth his feet, trying not to fall with all his might. A little more, 50 meters to the cutting eye of the spotlight, which at that time seemed the last hope of salvation.
-The collapse of the tunnel! -came from somewhere, from behind.
… 20 meters ..
… 10 meters ..
-Beware! – the scream of gray was heard. Push in the back. A blow to the head. Darkness.
Chapter 1. Light at the end of the tunnel.
-Well, how is he there? – a muffled bass voice was heard.
Victor lay in a heavily lit room. Everything floated in his eyes, and even bright light did not press on them. There were several people in the room. Near the place where he was lying (and obviously he was lying on a bunk) talked 2 people. One of them, was a man of strong physique, dressed in an unloading vest, a pot of dark green color. Kalashnikov’s machine hung on the back. The exact features of the face of this man, it was not possible to discern.
-He fell through the unconscious for several hours, and it is not known how much more is. The only thing I can say is that he was very lucky-he has a strong traumatic brain injury. Believe me, after this they don’t often survive, one to ten, I would even say. We are not even sure if he can walk after that. The spinal cord is not hurt, but anything can be – you seemed to have pulled it out from the other world.
-From under the wreckage of reinforcement-said a bass voice-some other injuries?
-Yes. Strong bruise of the right hand, almost a fracture, but everything worked out here. The only thing I can say – he will wake up soon.
-Uh …-Victor said, coming to his senses.
-He wakes up! – the interlocutor said in a joyful voice, and immediately stopped short – he needs peace. You can’t bother him at least 2 hours.
-But … the fate of the station, and maybe the entire metro depends on the information that may have! – I raised the first tone – these creatures simply tear our people to pieces.
-At least 2 hours. – the second answered persistently.
-OK. All to the exit.
All people retired from the room. At this moment, Victor’s consciousness separated from him, and as if having gone about his business, left him in complete darkness. Again.
-Hey! Hey! Victor, wake up! – the voice was heard again.
The light hit the eyes again. Not as bright as before. It was an ordinary pocket flashlight working on the "finger" batteries. You will not see such a day in the subway every day. Small, but still, very strong.
-Victor! Victor! Wake up! – Wake up, well, well! – the man already asked demandingly.
-Victor, damn it! – the owner of a bassist voice intervened, and wilted a deceased strong slap in the face.
-Agrh! – Victor breathed, feeling a blow.
-Well, finally! – the first said solemnly – Victor, we know that now you are not in the state to bother you, but we have a lot of questions about the "jumpers"
-Jumpers? Victor? My name is Victor? Where am I? He chopped up. – Who are you?
-Victor, not the time to joke – the strongman intervened.
-I … I don’t remember anything.
-Is it true? In the sense of nothing?
-I remember how I ran along the tunnel … Strong light, screams of people, slippery floor. I remember a strong blow. And before that, I don’t remember anything.
-I was afraid of this – the first person answered. When his eyes got used to the light, it became easier to see it: a tall man, about forty, dressed in a white dressing gown, at least the bathrobe was white. Now he is strewn with dried blood spots, and some strange substance, light brown, with a yellow tint, about the origin of which, Victor decided not to recognize. Apparently, the profession of this person was associated with medicine. Doctor. Therefore, the place where Victor was now lying, there was a ward, a medical compartment of the station. – Our patient has amnesia.
-Amnesia? A familiar word. Do not tell me? – answered the second.
-Well, in connection with a traumatic brain injury caused by a minute ..
-In short, less water.
-He has memory loss. Perhaps partial. In this case, the failures in memory will soon recover, under the pressure of the remaining memories that have not lost after the injury.
-And if complete?
-Well, in this case, his memory, now like a clean sheet. Recovery is possible, but weeks, months can take it – the doctor hesitated – years.
-Years?! We are these nits, we can restrain the maximum for two or three weeks. If we hand over the station, you will have to retreat to Chernihivskaya. And you all know very well – the stations are further than the “hydropark” worse – the “Dnieper” was captured by mutants, and the “arsenal” abandoned. If you wait for help, it is not a fact that reinforcement will pass without loss. We need to keep the "forest", no matter what it costs!
-Calm down, commander. During partial amnesia, a person can forget and recall what he could not remember for years and vice versa. If he really does not remember his name – does not mean that everything is lost.
-OK. I’ll talk to him.
The strongman went to the bed.
-I am the deputy head of the station, the commander of the defenders of the Lesnaya station, Yuri Alexandrovich. – the strongman introduced himself, holding out the hand of a barely moving patient – I will clarify the situation: your name is Victor. Now you are in the nurse of the Lesnaya station, in the Kiev Metro.
-Well, I already understood that.
-Do not interrupt – Yuri Aleksandrovich frowned his eyebrows – now at the station the situation is completely bad – recently, strange mutants have flooded from the eastern tunnel. There are several of them … "species", or something. Some more, others smaller, others generally resemble "jelly". But the most important thing is that it is not just brainless zombies – they adapt.
-I mean, adapt? – Victor asked perplexedly.
-In the sense and sense. They are smart, bastards. We put machine guns – they send forward armored creatures, which such machine guns do not take. At all. We are trying to fill up the tunnels-they rake the rubble, and the holes are clung to some mucus. They are not always attacked ahead – a couple of times these bastards climbed through ventilation grilles, and therefore we mined them.
-And what am I, then, I can help?
-When they climbed-the doctor intervened-we began to send small reconnaissance groups to the tunnel to find the place where they climb, or weaknesses, at least some.
-You were part of the third reconnaissance group – continued for him by Yuri Alesandrovich – and the first to return alive. Partly.
-And you need this, our information, yes? – Victor began to enter into the essence of the matter – and what if there is nothing? There are no weak places?
-There is always a weak place! – shouted Yuri Alesandrovich, and after a second he said in a whisper – and if not ..
A minute of silence came. Suddenly, Victor said full determination:
-How can I remember everything? I will do everything that is required of me. – Having said this, he tried to rely on his hand, but having done it, moaned and fell on the pillow. Having given out a diagnosis, the doctor apparently never exaggerated about the injury of his hand.
-Calier, calmer – said the doctor – earlier, I mean before the war, there were drugs that help in such cases, but now, we cannot even dream about like.
-So …- the deputy chief tried to guess.
-… so far it does not mean anything. These drugs only accelerated memory restoration, but the same effect can be achieved without drugs, but in a longer time.
-So what else is it required of me?! – Victor could not stand it
So far – just remember everything that you saw. In medicine, at least in today’s way, there are no ways to speed up memory restoration. I mean, there are no reliable ways
-And unreliable?
-Well … I knew before the man of man, he said that in such cases it was worth showing the "patient", familiar to him in the past, with familiar people or bring to familiar places. Then, brain cells will begin to function with increased activity, and the patient will begin to remember something, not the fact that immediately.
-And you believe?
-Not too much, but we have no other way out.
-I understood you – said the deputy chief and a bullet retired from the chamber.
Now it was the opportunity to inspect the ward itself. One powerful mercury lamp hung right under the ceiling, but even it seemed dull, due to a large amount of dirt that had accumulated on it. Near the bed on which Victor was lying, there were 3 more on the right side – and 1 on the left. All were empty. Everything except the last. A man lay on it. It was not possible to determine his age – he lay his back to Victor, on his side. Nevertheless, it was difficult not to notice the fact that he was cowardly – in addition to the slurred murmur, which a man poured out of time from time to time, it looked a little creepy. As if something was very scared of him. Very much.
Victor’s thoughts were interrupted by Yuri Alexandrovich, entering the ward. He had a large bag in his hand, at the same time, full of something unknown to Victor. Maybe. Approaching Viktor’s bunk, Yuri Alexandrovich unclenched his fingers, and the bag flopped down on the tile floor, which, probably, before, being white, now looked like a doctors’ dressing gown. The doctor himself entered Yuri.
-Your things, Yuri said, pointing with his hand to his bag,-you can find, you can find something that will help you remember, at least something.
Silently, pulling the bag onto the bed, Victor unceremoniously opened it and began to study the contents. In less than a minute, like all the contents of the bag, it was shaken on the bunk. Among the things was the standard equipment of the "gentleman’s set", but for the presence of an object that could breathe into Victor’s memory, fresh memories, unfortunately, were not discovered.
Only a strange souvenir resembling a large keychain made of wood attracted his attention. On one side of the souvenir, there was a drawing, in the form of a large letter “m”, which someone painted red. On the back, someone, apparently with a knife, cut out three names: "Victor, Mikhail, Sergey"
Yuri Sergeevich, noticing that Victor was looking at the souvenir with particular interest, said:
-These are the names of your partners, in the reconnaissance group
But Victor, as if he did not notice these words, continuing to look at the names. … Victor, Mikhail, Sergey, Victor, Mikhail, Sergey …- continued to endlessly repeat his consciousness.
Suddenly, Victor’s consciousness began to leave him again, leaving for an unknown distance. The last thing he managed to hear until he plunged into the darkness again was muffled:
-Victor, you feel bad? Victor? Victor! Victor! – Yuri Alexandrovich, in vain appealed to his mind.
At this moment, Victor’s head was permeating terrible pain, as if on the test of reflexes from the doctor, instead of knees, they knock on the head with a hammer. And at the same time he was in some strange, completely dark room. Due to the lack of light, Victor could not even make out his hands … or he has no hands? A minute has passed, knocking a hammer on the head. Two. Three. Victor was ready to do anything, so that among this pitch darkness, one, even a tiny ray of light appeared, capable of pulling him from pain and darkness.
-Victor, you feel bad? AU-U? -was heard from somewhere nearby. – What have you fell asleep? Wake up, damn it, the halt is over!
-And what, where? -Victor answered mechanically-the pain passed and someone seemed to raise his eyelids-everything around clear. Victor was in a strange room resembling a closed booth, without windows. I was shining with my own red color emergency light bulb. There were 2 exits in the room … or entrance. One of them was a huge hole, opposite the place where Victor lay. The second – the old door on, covered with shackled red paint, to the left of Victor. There were three in the room – Victor himself, a fair -haired man of about 25 years old opposite him, and another opposite the hole – looked at it through the sight of the Kalashnikov assault rifle – apparently stood guard.
-Again you are in your repertoire – the fair -haired one responded quieter – get up, you need to dump from here.
-Where is our tunnel? – Victor answered mechanically and began to slowly get up. Only then, when he got up, it dawned on him – his whole body was numb. All that he has said and did, he did not do. As if a rag doll, controlled by a puppeteer, he dutifully performed everything that was required of him. There is only one question: who is a puppeteer?
A fair -haired man took out a map
-I definitely can’t say, but it seems to be here-said a fair-haired one, poking a finger at a map. -But these bastards could still dig up the tunnels somewhere, here you can’t say right away. In any case, we have no time to think. The halt is over.
The second man removing the machine gun, turned to a fair -haired one:
-Gray, you think we can pass?
-We have no choice. The jumpers are digging tunnels – I feel, a little more, and they are working. If they break the tunnel frame, we are trapped – to disassemble the rubble, they will be able to, but we are only to breathe, we’ll stop breathing.
-Okay – the second muttered displeasedly – we are advanced, so we are moving forward.
Victor, being in this situation, only an observer, realized that he is in his body – these are memories. He seems to be sitting in front of a film projector, like those who were at the stations in a large metro, and watches a film – a film about himself. The same puppeteer, was his consciousness, which controlled him at the moment when he still had memory. Another question appears: when the memories took place? Whether the first time it will be possible to get all the necessary information, or the path to the goal will be so long and winding so that this will really take more than one week, as the doctor said?
-Misha, you are closing, Victor – in the middle – the fair -haired one, who, as Victor understood, was called Sergey "Gray" – I’m the first.
Everyone did so. When things were collected, gray quietly, as much as possible, opened the door, as if afraid that someone would hear him. Behind the door was a tunnel, clearly dug, about three meters wide and 2 in height. The walls of the tunnel were covered with a thick layer of mucus, dark green color, and apparently, to touch it, no one of the group, carefully walking around the mucus periodically falling on the path of the mucus and beware of it hanging from the ceiling-either they would not disdain, or really, it is not worth touching.
A few minutes later, the release of their tunnel appeared, and he was a little not where Victor expected – in the wall. Jumpers, or like them there, dug a tunnel right in the wall, at an altitude of a meter, from the level of sleepers.
Suddenly, Gray waved his hand – ordered to stop.
After a couple of seconds, Victor realized what was the matter – on the second rail, picking up in the mucus, which was there, something short, short. Even if “it” rose at full height, Victor, this creature would be a maximum to the navel. The creature was picking, with his back to the tunnel, so it did not notice the group. His legs were thin and had 3 fingers. Hands also looked strange: to the elbow – like a person, only thinner, and everything below was like blades, turned so that the creature was bent downward, and not upstairs, like a person. Just below the eyes, there was something like a mouth. Probably an ordinary mouth.
-This is mine – whispered gray and took out a strange unit from a backpack. The base was like a thin board, 5-6 centimeters width, with a slot in the middle. There was something like a large metal needle in the slot. At one end of the board there was another board, fat in the middle and narrow at the ends, but flexible. A dense elastic rope was tied to each end of this board, the end of which was on a switch, with a slot, which in turn was above the trigger, on the other end of the board. A small butt was attached to the end of the board.
Having aimed, Gray pressed the trigger – in the blink of an eye, like a silent bullet, dissecting the air and making only a quiet whistle needle, pierced the creature’s body almost through, after which it flopped into the sleepers, letting go of the last breath.
-Looks like we weren’t noticed.
-I hope that – Misha answered.
-We go down. Caution, do not come into mucus.
The first to jump gray. Looking around, he lowered the machine.
-Purely. We are there – he showed his finger, in the tunnel.
Misha jumped the second.
When Victor’s turn came, the law of meanness came into effect. Moving one leg, he stumbled against the other and flew down, straight to the rail.
Squelch.
Directly in mucus. The mucus softened the blow, but Victor immediately realized that this was not a reason for joy.
Misha jerked and crossed his fingers
-If only it would be carried, if only it would be carried, he repeated, while Gray helped Victor get up.
-If only it was …- Misha’s prayer interrupted a heartbreaking scream. Everyone looked around – in the opposite side of the tunnel there was exactly the same creature that Gray killed a minute ago. No, there are two of them! Three … five! One after another, the creatures began to run out of the tunnel, like rats saving from the flood, only now it was necessary to escape, the group had to.
-We run! – shouted as hard as he could gray. The rest of the second time was not required to ask. Everyone rushed into the tunnel. But the creatures were faster. For each meter passed, the monsters ran three. In the distance, the ruins remaining after the partial collapse of the tunnel appeared.
-For blocks! – Gray commanded – for a long time we will not be able to run like that!
Literally jumping over the block, Sergey took out the machine gun and turned around 180% began to shoot at the nearby creature. By that time, the rest also hid in the shelter.
BAM. BAM. BAM. – Three bullets flew into the near monster, but he seemed to be feeling anything, continued to run forward. BAM. BAM. – Two more got into the carcass. On the fifth pool, the monster gave up the spirit. Victor joined the gray, shooting at the fled. Misha, putting the machine gun on his knees, began to rummage feverishly in the bag. When the second monster leaned under the weight of lead, Misha found what he was looking for and shouting: “I am speaking dynamite”, he brought a dull light “Zippa” to the wick, a plastic bomb. But the law of meanness, which has not yet left the group, presented him with a fatal gift – like kite on a defenseless field hamster, 2 creatures attacked Misha and crushing him to the ground, began to devour. Victor could have a gag reflex, but did not have time – the dynamite wick burned out faster.
BOOM.
The monsters sitting on Misha scattered across the tunnel, like chopped. Victor was closest to him, and he was thrown back by an explosive wave. His sensations were, as if in the head, lightning fell. Having flew one and a half meters, his stunned was thrown back to the opposite end of the rail.
Barely recollected, he only managed to notice how the unfinished creature approached him. For a second, before the monster was ready to pierce Victor, muffled shots were heard.
Shot. Shot. Shot. And one more. It was gray. As if in a state of affect, he shot at a clearly dead body with particular cruelty.
Boom. Boom. Boom. Klaz-Class. The cartridges ended. Then, going up to him, he kicked him with his foot, as if the body was full of lead could cause even more damage and rushed to Victor.
Grabbing his shoulder, he jerked Victor to his feet and shouted
-We run! – It was evident that he shouted with all his might, but it seemed to be no more than a whisper to the stunned Victor. The monsters ended, but there were still on the way. Throwing a machine gun, Victor rushed to run. Gray fled behind him on the heels. The ears have almost cleared up. The head was spinning, but now all that had to be done was to run and run fast.
Running on the sleepers was very difficult, trying not to slip on mucus, and not to rebuke through the sleepers Victor and Gray fled forward.
-Another 300 meters! – shouted gray – faster, very little left!
In the distance, the spotlight earned ..
..
Victor’s consciousness again threw him into the ward.
He was lying on the floor. Victor was trembling. Yuri Aleksandrovich and doctor crowded over him. The doctor was an empty syringe.
-You … how are you? – Seeing, probably, Victor’s slightly improved behavior, the doctor asked. “These are painkillers,” he said, pointing to the syringe.
-Normally … I saw … I saw.
I did not have to explain twice. Yuri Aleksandrovich, he raised Victor and watched him exactly between his eyes, slowly asked.
-What did you remember? What have you seen?
Victor’s trembling calmed down a little. Looking at the deputy station directly in the eye, moving away from a shock state, he only managed to squeeze out of himself:
-Where … where is gray?
A minute of silence came. People looked at each other. Victor, I wanted to repeat the question, but the doctor was ahead of him.
-Your friend … Gray. He…
-Dead – Yuri Alexandrovich finished for him.
-What? How? – as if not experiencing any emotions, Victor asked.
-He was nailed with a collapsed ceiling … We were sentenced to see how a second before the collapse, he pushed you forward and fell on his sleepers. You were hit by a dumped piece of reinforcement – it was completely covered – Yuri Alexandrovich answered as calmly as possible, but no matter how hard he tried, he could not restrain a touch of sympathy and regret in his voice.
Victor fell into prostration. Lose a friend … Perhaps the best, because of his own mistake and being saved by him. 2 people died, by the stupidity of Victor, and they helped him survive. The people who he knew were killed, cherished them, … probably. Without experiencing any feelings, either because of the lack of memory, or because of an anesthetic, he just thought:
-That’s the news. What will happen next?

Chapter 2. On the crests of the memories
-Victor, understand, we really feel sorry for your friend … friends. I promise you – we will bury them with dignity, but now we really need your help! – Yuri Alexandrovich, tried, as if to appeal Victor, but under the influence of anesthetic, he did not perceive anything at all.
-Good – he answered in an empty voice. – I will do everything in my power.
-What happened in your memory?
-A? So, nothing important. Somewhere 30 minutes before the collapse. Nothing important.
-What, I will take your word for your word-Yuri Alexandrovich answered.
-What’s next? – Victor asked all the same indifferently.
-Further, in the same way, according to the same scheme, until you can remember everything you saw. And heard. – the doctor intervened in the conversation – there is only one problem: we cannot sit here and watch you forever … hmm … invented. – Having said this, he climbed into the chest pocket. “Here” he said to Victor a small book.
-What is this?
-Notepad – and then climbed into the pocket of his trousers and took out a pen from there – and the handle. Since we cannot constantly see you, after each of our memories, you will record its content. Write down everything you remember.
Victor was silent.
Well, silence is a sign of consent. – the doctor added finally and, together with the silent Yuri Alexandrovich, left the chamber.
Victor, as if just passed a tense moment, exhaled. Thoughts about the loss of friends, which he did not even remember, did not leave him. After spending a few minutes in thought, Victor did not immediately notice that he was very tired.
“-I am not so weakened?"He thought and collapsed onto the rumpled pillow. Immediately after the fall, gravity seemed to intensify several times, and Victor could say with confidence that he could fail in the depths of sleep in a matter of seconds. Turning his head to the notebook, which the doctor laid on the nightstand next to the bed on which Victor was lying, and back, he said optimistically from his last strength – “Let there be a dream”.

Victor opened his eyes. But then he almost immediately realized that he had woken up not real, but this is only a dream. But not easy. Everything was like that time. At first, Victor did not even believe that he remembers something again-neither the darkness nor pain. He just woke up from sleep, but in another body. Or in your body, but in another time? The second option seemed to him more likely. Only one thing could be said – he himself could not do anything. In this play, he had the role of the viewer, and everything that could be done here was just playing his role and watch what will happen next.
At this moment, barely finishing his previous thought, Victor realized that he had dug much – much deeper. The moment he is now experiencing in his memory was not in a week, and not two before he found himself in the House of Med-Oseck. What he saw now separated him from the real world, not for one year. He was in the child’s body. The child was in a small tarpaulin tent, reclining on the mattress. At the other end of the tent, there was exactly the same mattress, but there was no one on it. In the middle of the tent there was a turned off a gas bulb. And in the tent itself it was dark enough. After a couple of minutes, someone’s hand climbed into the tent, and after that the silhouette of a man appeared at all. Also a child.
-Hey! Why without knocking? – Victor wiped his eyes again.
-Come on to you – voice answered. – What, have you forgotten what day today is?
-Exactly! – Victor shouted joyfully, although his real essence, watching all this, was poorly imagined what was at question.
A second later, Victor already got off the mattress, and became much more energetic, as if someone had replaced him with batteries. The next moment, the child had already left the tent, and seeing the owner of the silhouette was much easier: a fair-haired boy, about fifteen years old, slightly taller than Victor, dressed in an old unbuttoned leather jacket, and a dark green T-shirt under it. Victor immediately recognized him – it was gray. Does it really mean that they were friends longer than he represented at first. It was very unusual to see him so … alive.
-Well, let’s go? – the second responded. – We have been waiting for this for almost a month!
Victor, in the audience role, less and less understanding what is happening and in the role of himself from the past, agreed with gray.
Having agreed, Victor finally had the opportunity to inspect the station. Apparently, they were on the same "forest". Lighting at the station was dimly enough, although all the places where people were located were illuminated. Both platforms connected a wooden bridge, quite high, so that a drezin could pass under it. However, to admire the station for a long time, Victor was not given. His past "I" ran after gray, which he himself had already begun to switch to running. A minute later, both were already next to the door with the inscription "Head of the station". There was a tall man in front of the door, clearly guarding the entrance.
-Young people, you are to whom? – He turned to the guys. – The station chief is not now.
-As not? As not? – outraged, began to ask gray
-In its place is a deputy.
-Yuri Alekandrovich?
-Yes.
Victor immediately found out who we are talking about. This is the same person who was next to him in the ward. I wonder if he will see him a few years younger.
-Well, then we are to the deputy head of the station. – repeated gray
-Then okay.
Victor, a little surprised that the guard missed them with such ease, as if no threats and did not smell. Both entered the office. At the table, the same Yuri Alexandrovich, whom he had seen before, but at first Victor did not recognize him. There were no bristles on the face, there are no wrinkles, there were no scars, there was not even that atmosphere of tension, in his eyes.
-Yes, young people, I’m listening to you.
Victor intervened
-We are here about our request.
-Requests … I remember. Do not remind me?
-We, this … asked you to let us go into a patrol.
-In the patrol? Yes, I remember. But you know that it is dangerous.
-Of course we know, because precisely because of this we ask.
-Eh, the younger generation. I do not allow.
-Well, why? – Gray asked her voice by raising. – We fulfilled all your instructions, throughout the month. You promised us.
-I know what I promised, but that is not the point. It doesn’t depend on me. This is the law. And as if reading a speech, learned by heart for a long time, began to say:
“-Sting the child, 18 years old, he ceases to be a child, and becomes a full-fledged citizen of the station …”
-Yes, we know – Victor answered, but Yuri Alexandrovich continued to say monotonously:
“… and can choose the future profession …” he revived a little more. -… including regular trips to the patrol.
Suddenly, another person entered the room. Graying man, about 45 years old and intervened in the conversation.
-Yura – without any officials turned to him – well, what did you make up “you can’t, but you can’t” – apparently he overheard their conversation – let’s let go of the kids. I’ll go with them. I don’t care after two hours to replace. I will take them to the fiftieth meter, sit with them, then take it back and on duty.
-Well, you … Anatoly, damn it, persuaded. – the deputy chief turned to the one who entered, as a long -time friend. – But only up to the fiftieth meter. And no further.
-Honest Pioneer, hehe.
-Go, Pioneer, damn – smiling, said Yuri Alexandrovich.
Everyone retired from the room.
-Thank you very much, Anatoly Ivanovich.
-Come on, what is it there. So when we go, now, or wait?
-Now! – Children shouted in both mouths.
-Well, great. Then I will collect things now and go. Meet me near the bridge.
The man left, and the boys immediately ran to the bridge.
-Listen – said Gray – you have the best uncle throughout the station!
Uncle?! Gray said an uncle? This man was Uncle Victor? So, now, whose place was on the neighboring mattress in the Victor tent. Apparently, he has to learn more than expected first. Both persons approached the bridge. Now, in anticipation of his past, “I”, Victor has the opportunity to see everything normally. On one side, more precisely, with the one where his tent stood, there were several improvised stalls. There was no general market, so small stalls were dispersed throughout the station. On the same side, there was an office of the station chief, into which Victor and Gray entered. On the other side, there was practically no interesting, except for one door attracting Victor’s gaze. It was a small gray door, near the entrance to the tunnel. On it, unevenly written by the white paint “Greenhouse. NO ENTRANCE FOR UNAUTHORIZED PEOPLE". Victor, who did not remember anything, knew quite a bit about the purpose of the room that was behind this door, but it seems that his past “I” knew not much more of himself. By this point, when Victor admired the local interior, the same old man, Uncle Victor, approached them.
-Well, what, sentinel, we are advanced? He asked.
-Yes! Come on soon! -As if, about to explode with happiness, said Gray. Victor nodded silently.
Exit from the station was 20 meters from the bridge. Right in front of the tunnel, there was a security post. However, the guards, there were more for the checkmark – about the military position of the station, what is it now. Behind the post, a “path” was visible from dull wall bulbs, right above the sleepers. The bulb was every 5 meters, and even with very weak lighting, this place did not seem so terrible. Although the boys tried not to move away from Uncle Victor, who was probably called Anatoly. Tolya. He himself walked without weapons, but with a backpack, the contents of which Victor did not know. Sergei at that time, very often looked around. Probably, he first went beyond the station.
After 30 meters, from the post, at the end of the tunnel, a bright ray of bright red flame appeared. A fire was burning there. And near the fire, people sat.
-They almost came – Uncle Tolya said quietly.
When they approached the fire, one of the sitting nearby turned to them.
-Hey! Where are you dragging this to children? What are you, you don’t know the law?
-Yes, you calm down – Uncle Tolya, explained – Yuri Alexandrovich allowed. Well, you understand – the boys have been begging for a month now. I decided to go with them. I have, on duty in 2 hours, 150-meter. In the meantime, they will sit here. I will take them back then.
Boys, no longer with such energy, shook their heads a little.
-Eh, you …What does Yuri Alexandrovich think there … Good. Let them stay here. Only from fasting.
Sitting people were not very happy about the visit of children, but nevertheless agreed and continued to look at the distance of the tunnel. Boys, now completely reluctantly sat by the fire. Uncle Tolya sat nearby. After a minute, peering at the crackling of the fire of the fire, the atmosphere of tension slowly slept. To interrupt silence, one of the sentinels turned to the boys – a rather old man, looking older than Uncle Tolya, with gray hair and bristles on his face.
-Well, guys, so what brought you here?
-Well …-Victor, we wanted to see how it is … behind the station.
-Well, what about? – asked the second time patrol.
-I like it – gray answered, but in his appearance, it was difficult to say about his joyful mood.
-And you, who? He asked right there.
-I? Well, you know, I have several names at this station. But most of all, everyone calls me a storyteller.
-Fairy tale? – The boys repeated in both voices.
-Yes. It is the most. After all, I am collecting different stories. I have this hobby. Already a bunch of stories about the metro gathered. Various. Tell?
-Tell us – tell us! – The boys were bent.
-Now – now, let me remember – putting the palm to the chin, I began to remember the storyteller. – Well, let’s, first I’ll tell you about our station.
About our station? – Victor asked in surprise – Ha, but what do we not know about her?
-Well, and you can say what our station is hunting?
This, for Victor, was a question for backfill. But it seems, in the bowels of his brain, he had the correct answer. Thinking, he soon sharply answered:
-Grass! Yes, grass! – He said confidently.
All the people around him laughed together. Victor became uncomfortable, and he felt that he had now said more stupidity.
-Not grass, but spices – corrected it gray.
-That’s it. It is spices. And about exactly how it all began, I will tell you now. The boys fell silent, and preparing to listen to an interesting story, stared at the storyteller.
-So it was so. Когда полетели бомбы, а гермоворота метро закрылись навсегда, никто еже даже не догадывался, о том, что никто уже наверх не поднимется. Everyone thought it was only a couple of weeks. Everyone thought that the government would already swarm to save them, but all hopes were in vain. Among all this, there was a man, part -time an important person in our station – Nikolai Konstantinovich. You probably know him.
-We know – Sergei answered – this is such an old man who is still with glasses, yes?
-Yes. With glasses …So, he was, like ..
-Gardener – master – ironically spoke out by Uncle Tolya.
-… agronomist – the storyteller agreed. – He had something like a system: outside the city, he bought two hectares of land, and divided them into four fields. Each season. For example, in winter, he plants seeds on the winter field, under the greenhouse, and by the beginning of spring, harvests and plants other seeds in the spring field. And so every season. Just on the very day, he went to another gathering, and he had a whole bag of various. There were few seeds of edible vegetables. Potatoes, beets, and like onions. The rest was so "green garbage".
More precisely, at first we thought so. When the reserves in case of this, at our station were eaten, and everyone wanted to eat, Nikolai, then, just remembered about the seeds. People quickly organized the beds, and the seeds were planted. All. Still, a couple of months had to be left to sleep, and to eat anything, but when the first sprouts appeared, the situation … Let’s just say it normalized. Half the fruits were collected, and the rest was planted for a new portion. And with the fact that it was not edible – we had no animals, but there was no one to give. And therefore, Nikolai decided to "sell" everything to his friend. And he was still the merchant. He cut this greens, mixed, dried and when the first caravans began, from other stations to go, he began, to lie in full. Like, this is a potion that treats all diseases and a rejection of food. Of course, about the healing properties, the bullshit was still. But when especially curious, they tasted, it turned out that in this form, they had just a wonderful taste. It’s just that there seems to be impossible, but to add to food, they guessed right away.
So, all this bought up caravans, and then, as if along a chain reaction, “Glory” went on. Some visitors even said that with one pinch, this “mixture”, even from hard rat meat, a delicacy, which is not enough to make.
Now, our station lives all this – we are spices for them, they are all the rest for us. And no one complains. Although … recently, caravans began to walk less often, because of the Dnieper, damn it.
-Dnieper? – as if waking up from the trance, Victor asked.
Apparently history greatly interested him.
-Yes. Dnieper. There was such a river, but now the station.
-And you tell us!
-Well, this is a completely different story. Now, only I will remember all the details.
While the storyteller went through his thoughts, in search of the right story, Victor remembered the door with the inscription. Probably, it was behind her, the very greenhouse where spices are grown.
-Ah, remembered! – clicking his fingers, said the storyteller. – Well, listen.
They say that before the war, when it was still calm, there was a certain secret organization – scientists, military felts. Units knew about them. So, they say that the members of this organization were warned about the beginning of the war, a few hours before its onset. Everyone who was there grabbed their families, things, equipment-everything that could be dragged and disappeared somewhere under the Dnieper station. There, they say, there is a door near the platform, in appearance a regular one, but behind it is a descent, several tens of meters down. Here, in the subway you enter the escalator, underground, and there are also deeper.
So, there is an assumption that everyone who was in this organization and went there, settled down, and they are not sitting out. The experiments are set. The world is already the end, and they are all experimenting. And after this station, the mutants moved. Not every caravan will pass without loss, if it passes.
-And you believe? – asked Uncle Tolya.
-So, right away, not only in the faith. The caravan arrived at us just a couple of months ago, and I managed to chat with caravans. So, some said that they saw at the bald monkeys station.
-Someone?! – The boys, asked when he heard an unfamiliar word.
-Monkeys. There were such animals. Like, like the ancestors of man, according to Darwin. But, Darwin clearly did not take into account the radiation … or scientists. No, well, you yourself imagine:-You have never seen them in the subway, and there were no similar mutants, and then r-once appeared!
-And what, these, no one has seen scientists?
-Well … this is how to say. Sometimes people went there. This door was hacked, and went inside. There were even tricks from our station. There was only one nuance – no one returned. Maybe there is nobody there, maybe radiation at a critical level, or maybe … there is knowledge that not everyone should have. Knowledge is power, the power that is not subject to everyone. And again, everything around was enveloped in silence. Only now, Victor realized that at first, which seemed to be uncomfortable atmosphere, now, as if it were permeated with warmth and comfort. Even gloomy faces of sentinel became more calm.
Fairy tale, finally asked:
-I liked it?
-Yes, very much! – the children repeated in both voices, and Uncle Tolya nodded weakly.
-Talk further?
-Well, of course!
And only now, Victor felt that he was pulling. Pulls back to reality. Unlike the past memory, which he did not want to see, never once, now he did not want to go back. He didn’t want to wake up. He, more than ever, wanted to stay here. Stay for a long time. He did not want to return, back, to the harsh reality, where there is no calm for a second. He wanted to stay, next to the bonfire, with the "living" people with whom he cherished, listen to the stories of the storyteller and peer into smoothly burning coals. But his consciousness was against.

Returning from sweet sleep, Victor was again in familiar decorations. Already during this time, Med-Oseck managed to get bored, but he perfectly understood that it was better than there, on the front line. His "neighbor" in the ward, no longer rave, and whistling a little, saw a dream. Victor needed a few minutes to finally realize that he returned to reality. Having done this, he remembered the words of the doctor. Write down everything I saw. Clear. He took a notebook from the nightstand, and opened the first page. The notebook was clean. Like Victor’s memory. Taking out a black handle from the “pocket” of the notebook, he wanted to write how everything happened, but immediately recoiled.
"-Alnoe, there really is knowledge that not everyone should possess"