Free Dmitry Glukhovsky - Metro 2034 English fan translation (v1.0) (docx) by Dmitry Glukhovsky Page B

their way immediately.
    Not because of the bandits or the corpse eaters at the Nachimovski prospect these caravans were protected so well.
    Their bone hard training, absolute fearlessness, their ability to close themselves to a iron fist in seconds and to destroy every possible threat in a hail of bullets, all that could have made the convoys of the Sevastopolskaya the undisputed
rulers of the tunnels up to the Serpuchovskaya – if there wasn’t the Nagornaya .
    The horrors of the Nachimovski prospect were behind them, but nor Homer or Achmed felt the slightest relief. The seemingly inconspicuous, yes even ugly Nagornaya had become the end station of many that hadn’t treated her with caution. Those poor schmucks that ended up at the neighboring Nagatinskaya coincidentally tried to stay as far away from the greedy mouth of the tunnels of the Nagornaya .
    As if that would save them. As if what crawled out of the tunnel, searching for prey, was to sluggish to crawl a little bit further and still chose a victim of its taste …
    As soon as you entered the Nagornaya you could rely on nothing but your luck, because this station didn’t play by the rules. Sometimes it let you pass silently and the travelers looked horrified at the bloody marks on the walls and pillars where someone had tried to climb up in their hopelessness.
    And just a few moments after that the station could give a group a welcome, that loosing half of the men was considered as a victory.
    The station was always hungry. It didn’t favor anybody. It didn’t let anybody explore it. For the inhabitants of the neighboring stations the Nagornaya embodied pure
arbitrariness of fate. She was the most difficult challenge for all that embarked on their way from Sevastopolskaya to the ring line and the other way around.
    “So many missing people … It couldn’t just have been the Nagornaya alone.” Said Achmed with superstition, like many residents of the Sevastopolskaya he spoke of the Nagornaya like if it was a creature and not station.
    Homer knew what Achmed meant. He had thought about it a lot of times if it couldn’t have been the Nagornaya that was responsible for the missing recon team. He nodded his head and added: ”If so I hope it suffocated on them …”
    “What did you just say?” Hissed Achmed angry. His hand twitched in Homers direction, as if he wanted to strike the old man, but he didn’t.
    “She is not going to suffocate on you to be sure!”
    Homer took the insult silently. He didn’t believe that the Nagornaya was able to hear them or that she was now angry at them. At least not at this distance …
    Superstition! Nothing but superstition! It was impossible to count all the idols of the underground – you always stepped one of them on the foot. Homer didn’t think about them anymore. Achmed on the other hand thought differently.
    Achmed took a rosary made out of empty makarov cartridges out of his jackets pocket and started to slide the lead idols through his dirty fingers. At the same time his lips moved silently in his own language, he probably asked Nagornaya for forgiveness for Homers sins.
    Hunter had felt something with his supernatural senses. He gave them a signal with his hands, slowed down and got to his knees.
    “There is fog.” Mumbled Hunter and breathed in the cold air through his nose. “What is there?”
    Homer and Achmed looked at each other. Both knew what that meant: It was open season. Now they needed a lot of luck get to the northern border of the Nagornaya alive.
    “How am I supposed to explain that to you?”Answered Achmed unwillingly.
    “It is the breath …”“Whose breath?” Asked Hunter unimpressed and put his bag on the ground so that he could choose the right weapon for this job.
    Achmed whispered:”The breath of the Nagornaya ”
    “We’ll see” Said Homer contemptuously and made a grimace. It seemed like Hunters distorted face came back to
life; in reality it was motionless as always –