The Road to Novgorod

Hey all, hope everyone has been well. I wrote the first two parts to a Metro fan-fiction a while back, and was wondering if anyone would be interested in reading it. The writing is by far among my best, and as I've been a bit down on myself recently I wanted to garner a reaction to the first part of it. The story revolves around three characters assigned with traversing the surface in a mobile oxygen platform (converted T-90) in order to recover a cure/solution to a mysterious disease that plagues the Metro.

If this gets any attention, I'll start posting the story immediately. Let me know, thanks!

 

Hey Bamul, hope everything is good on your end. Here is a little bit of the story - had I visited the forums sooner, I'd have probably been able to enter it into the contest. Oh well, I just want to see what people think. Thanks!

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The hunter exhaled before beginning the tale: "This was years ago – it happened at night. The five of us had been on a three day excursion to the southernmost region of Moscow. We had been tracking an impressively sized pack of Watchmen. It was our initial thought that they were returning to some sort of queen – you know, operating on a ‘hive-mind’ type of mentality. What happened was, on the third day we realized that we were not the only ones stalking the beasts. Despite how ravaged the surface is, a thriving ecosystem still flourishes – and where there is prey, you had better bet that there are predators lurking nearby. In this case, we assumed that we were the predators, but even with our tailored weapons, equipment, and tactics – we still found ourselves on the bottom." Kirill stopped for a moment, looking to Lebedev, who was leaned forward – intent on hearing the rest of the story.

"We found out the hard way. The pack of Watchmen led us towards Bitsa Park, but we were not the only ones being led there. The predator showed itself at the end of the third day. The five of us had set up camp on the outskirts of the reserve, in an area that gave us a vantage point over the pack – which had stopped for what we assumed, was water and rest."

"The sun was setting and three of my fellow hunters were resting, as Strom and I watched from the hilltop. We were planning our attack, which we were going to carry out in the middle of the night. That was when the monster presented itself to all parties. Soaring in from the North and descending rapidly on the pack was a goliath brute like nothing we had ever seen. A wingspan at least ten meters across – a long black snout with holed nostrils and jagged fangs. I have encountered few people in the Metro who have crossed the same beast, most of which called it a 'Quetzalcoatl.'" The hunter took a deep breath as Lebedev interjected.

"Bigger than a Demon?" The scientist probed with excited wonder.

"Two, maybe three times the size. It probably feeds on them, or scavenges their quarry at least." The hunter explained in rational thought. When the scientist asked what happened next, the hunter took no time before jumping back in:

"It swooped just over our heads – Strom wanted to fire, but I calmed him before he could make any rash decisions. The three others woke up to watch the spectacle before us – this massive beast, top of the food chain, pulling Watchmen into the sky, ripping them apart with teeth and claws. It was not feeding yet, just carrying out a brutal attack. Most of the pack fled, the alphas staying back to defend their clan. All of a sudden, the massive beast took the fight right to them, landing in the marsh to complete the attack. We figured it was going to loom overhead – use the gore from the Watchmen as incentive for larger prey to make an appearance."

Kirill took a breath and looked to his audience. Lebedev still watched intently as Sergei continued to operate the machine – when he cocked his head to the area where the two men sat, eager to listen to the rest of the tale, the hunter came to the assumption that the story was serving its purpose. The treads tackled ice and rock.

"We had used the very same technique in the past. It was evident that the great beast was going to nestle into the tallest branches of the tallest tree and await its intended prey. This was our chance to move. Strom gave cover as the four of us moved into the marsh of death. I have been around decay in the past, but the odor was repulsive. We set up bear traps across the ground, covering them in blood and limbs to attract bigger mutants. Sure enough, around two in the morning a lone Demon came into the area. We watched as it landed on the ground to feed before getting caught in one of the snares. Just as we had predicted, the monster awoke to the lesser beasts cries and swooped down to claim his kill. The ground shook when it landed, its black and white leathery hide shrouding it under the moonlight – giving it a ghastly presence."

"He thought he was on top, until his wing got snared by our big trap. It was staked into the ground in multiple places, so he wasn’t going anywhere." Kirill grinned for but a moment, prideful in his strategy. He let out once more: "He was ours."

Lebedev’s maw was agape, his white forest of hair protecting his chin. The tale ended abruptly, but the scientist needed answers: "What fate beheld the beast? There is no way you could have slaughtered such a majestic creature."

Kirill’s twisted expression said it all – but he moved to define it anyway: "Majestic? If you had seen what it was doing to the Watchmen, your demeanor would be different. It was killed; we were hunters for profit anyway. I needed to get paid, needed to get my family out of Oktyabrskaya." The hunter collected himself then: "The most majestic of beasts are the monsters with the darkest of tendencies."

The last sentence that left Kirill’s cracked lips resounded within Lebedev for hours afterwards. He was beginning to see the hunter in a different light – as a monster more deadly than anything on the surface; a monster with roots in human compassion, struggling to maintain hold to a burning rope.