Out on the fiftieth meter outpost, the light was dim, no noise. The flamethrower sat on a bipod, barely enough fuel left for another tunnel dousing if the surface creatures attacked. The new guy, Sasha, kept twitching and looking off into the darkness at every little creak and whine that came from the decaying tunnel. There weren't enough explosives to collapse it, otherwise it would have been done months ago. The hundredth meter post wasn't there anymore, and whoever was left in command on the station didn't want to stretch forces thin. When the flamers and machine guns were out, it would be an opportune time to evacuate. But then... where? Moving an entire station was far too difficult, even if there weren't as many people to worry about in this case. There was another sudden sound, this time of a predatory creature grunting and scarpering after seeing the fire and the humans sat around it. Sasha couldn't control himself and stood up, spun around with his metro-made 'bastard' sub-machine gun aimed shakily into the pitch black. He just stood there, shivering for seconds.

"Sasha. Want to trade places?" Raisa sighed, to which the slightly younger male nodded quickly at. He couldn't have his back to that tunnel any longer, no fucking way. Raisa however had sat through this so many times she'd lost count. They weren't as much in danger as the newbie thought. He would get used to it, or the tunnel fear would win. Moving her mug of mushroom tea over to where Sasha had previously sat, Raisa settled down with her back to that same black void.

"I'll watch your back. Sokov. Okay? I won't let anything creep up..." Sasha gulped as he sat again, keeping the live weapon on his lap. At least he knew trigger discipline.

Raisa rolled her eyes and grinned slightly at him, "That's what I was doing for you. Relax, but pay attention. It grows on you," she replied with a more quiet and calm tone. The two older men chuckled as the kids swapped seats. One of them was quite aged, and went by the name of Boris, he was apparently a military officer before Metro Command fell apart. He'd been a mentor as Raisa aspired to become a guard. The other was middle-aged, Stepan, a renowned trader once - now charged with 'defending what's left of this craphole'. Not that he had a problem with protecting his loved ones.

The three more experienced tunnel fighters tried to lighten the mood a little with some small talk of the station's happenings. News of the rest of the metro was very rare now. For the next five or so minutes until the end of the shift, all was quiet in the darkness. When the time came, and the four got ready to head back into the station to be replaced, there was an uneasy feeling in the air. Strolling back and shaking hands with the four replacements as they passed felt... odd. They all looked a bit paranoid too. Did something happen back in the station...?

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"For fucks sake! Commander! Look at this! Tell me what this is!"

"I-It's a dead lurker-"

"A lurker that managed to slaughter a small child before your people shot it! A lurker in our station! This is a safe haven!"

Boris, Sasha and Raisa approached the confrontation happening in the middle of the station platform. The guard captain was being screamed at by the station chief, and at their feet was a dead mutant with four spindly limbs, two big black eyes and pale, shrivelled skin. The mutants had been getting bolder, but... how? There were always armed personnel on the station and in its tunnels. Perhaps the creature made an entrance of its own. And that meant it could be followed by others. Who knows how many breaches they could create, how many they already had?

The Captain waved the four off, letting them do as they willed for the moment. Sasha was glad to be back on the station, and visibly calmed. Boris patrolled, though with a snack and a drink. Stepan went straight for the communal fire, where many of the station's weary inhabitants sat together, sharing, trading.

Raisa simply strolled over to her tent, took her jacket off, grabbed a book and laid down on the dirty mattress she had for a bed. Reading pre-war books really flared her imagination as to what everything was like, once. Everything she read referred to a better world, one with far easier lifestyles and luxuries that had long disappeared from the metro by now.

How could humans be so careless with all they had built on the surface...?