"Bitch... She's waiting for something... Can't see it from here, probably dinner," the masked stalker sighed through the muffle of his filtration mask, as he twitched his fingers ever so slightly on his SVD's scope, focusing on the Demon in his crosshairs. It was perched on the edge of an apartment buildings roof, its growl could be heard from street level, just faintly audible on the wind. One bullet is all it could take, but the hell that would ensue if he missed or merely wounded the mutant wasn't worth it. Conserving his ammunition was also a survival priority. Trying to remain unnoticed by man or beast was for the best on the surface, in the dead city that was once Moscow. Up here, life always hung by a thread. If the living horrors didn't get the unlucky stalker, it might be something that bullets couldn't deal with. Anomalies, 'the dead', crazy but real enough... Too many dangers to count in this place. He still had two hours of light, maybe one hour of air if everything stayed calm.

"Fast and quiet, Sokov - we're close now. Let's go," the stalker spoke clearly as the mask allowed, taking one hand away from his rifle to tap the girl in her late teens on the shoulder. As she reacted, he turned into the alleyway they had stopped at the entrance to and raised his rifle to continue on.

Raisa made a barely heard 'mhm' and looked over her shoulder to see the Major moving. She scanned over her sector one more time, making sure it was all clear down the ruined street before stepping back until she was in the alleyway he was leading her into. At least the aforementioned 'bitch' would have a hard time hunting them in such a tight space. But if the case was ground-based critters, there was not a chance they would survive. They hunted in packs, they could quite easily trap the two humans and rip them to shreds. Quiet, aware, mobile - the three words the Major had told Raisa Sokov were repeatedly mouthed by the young woman as she followed him. They watched everywhere, twitched their eyes at every sound emitted from the decaying city ruins and its new inhabitants.

The destination was the next station inward, on the line from their home station, Kuzminki. The mutant attacks finally got out of hand, and the two must have been some of the only ones to escape. Going by surface was safer, considering the monsters might have hounded them all the way through the tunnels without relent. Not to mention, bandits inhabited those tunnels. Bullets in the front, teeth and claws in the back - or chancing the freezing, toxic Moscow of today. It had to be this way.

"Major, you've done this before?" Raisa asked as they reached the opposite end of the alleyway, both peering around their corners after nodding for a 'go' signal. "Traveled this area, I mean?"

"This route, yes. Proved troublesome, lost a companion to something big with claws. Knowing the shortcuts is essential to staying alive," the Major replied as he passed Raisa's corner to continue moving down the relatively intact street. His companion would check behind them in the alley before catching up again. "There is an entrance to the service tunnels behind the bandits' station in one of these buildings, Sokov. Getting old here. You might have to pull me through the high window when we get there."

"Can do, Major," Raisa agreed, her attention suddenly taken away from her mentor. A pack of three watchmen darted across the street ahead, crossing from one building to another. Of course, this wasn't a playground to them - mutants had to treat the surface like a minefield too. The Demon from earlier would love to dig its talons into the unluckiest of the three watchmen and carry it back to her nest. Raisa noted this, checked their three and six o'clock, checked the sky, and went to catch up with the Major once again.

[I]'We must be close now...'[/I]