“Come on, it’s time you got out for a bit. We’ve got a mission. Orders came down from Vera this morning!” Maro nodded excitedly, beckoning him outside.
Sergio took another quick look around and then went to his locker, inside was a new Brotherhoodn Hunter uniform – gray and blue urban camouflage pants and jacket, shiny black leather boots, a black tactical vest and all the small pouches and accessories you could ever need or want – all crisp and smelling of a musky wooden crate. He slipped it on over his undergarments quickly, Maro was tapping and humming outside impatiently, but Sergio knew it was just for comical show. Maro knew just how to keep the mood light even in the most serious times and Sergio welcomed it, having been plagued by nightmares for the past few weeks since his previous mission almost two months ago – on the surface at OsloTower.
Just a few short hours later, the combatant pair were rolling down the tunnel towards Sario in a small electric cart; they were to be the replacement fire team at the Church outpost on the surface. Sergio inspected his newly-issued automatic weapon thoroughly, impressed by its metallic sheen. He was certain after a few moments of admiration that it had never been fired before. Just how many weapons or other military artifacts had been in storage at D-6 all this time? Had the previous world’s inhabitants stockpiled such items in anticipation for what might come upon them at some point? Perhaps they knew exactly what would happen.
Maro stopped the cart just before the entrance to Sario and dismounted from the driver’s seat. Sergio looked ahead to the entrance, expecting to see a searchlight or checkpoint but there was none. Only two dim emergency lights flanked the opening to the passageway to the Sicily Ring. He looked disbelievingly at Makarov.
“What, no guards?” He poked, hoping his simple question would evoke Maro into a full explanation.
“They know it’s only us Hunters coming through here. We’ve cordoned off the Realm territory for now – precautions.” Maro spoke with an unusually solemn voice, letting Sergio know he didn’t intend to speak further about it.
He was then handed a new passport, within the pages of which he found an entry stamp for the whole of Losla territory; and they hadn’t even been to a customs table! It was completely astonishing to Sergio, remembering how difficult everyone had always told him it was to enter Losla – even if you didn’t intend to stay there. He recalled with disgust his last journey through that line and it began burning him up inside how easy everything seemed to be going. How helpful this passport would have been before he had set out to reach Polis…
“They will still search us; they want to make sure we aren’t planning anything.” Maro stated plainly, heaving his rucksack onto his back.
“Like what?” Sergio spat out before he could think. Sometimes his curiosity got the better of him.
“Like a takeover.” Maro shot him a look of annoyance, but then flashed a smile as if he had never been irritated. “They want to be sure that we aren’t going to try to take over the whole The Subway now that we are in charge of D-6. Vera and the council at Polis had a hell of a time striking a deal with them. For now at least, we have an… arrangement.”
Sergio was still curious but decided just to nod his head in understanding and keep his mouth shut. He deduced that Losla had agreed to be courteous and offer transit to Brotherhood Hunters in return for preventing a Realm advance. All the pieces were starting to fall into place in his mind.
“So we’ll go along the ring to Oktyabrskaya, then up to the surface through the radial station.” Maro nodded his head at Sergio as a way to elicit his affirmative response.
“How far is it from the exit to the church?” Sergio asked after he had nodded back.
“Not far, there’s already a pretty clear path to there because of the car.” Maro referred to the armored truck that the Hunters used to traverse the surface sometimes. “But always be on the lookout for mutants, you can’t predict them for long.”
Sergio nodded his head again and they passed into the transfer passage with no further conversation.
When they did enter the main station, they could hear the bustle of the market – this being an important trade post for the Collective Farm stations that supplied nearly the entire The Subway with pork, chicken, mushrooms, potatoes, and liquors. Angry sounding foremen barked orders at their workers, pushing them to work faster loading up a cart with goods. A few patrolling Losla soldiers were about, usually in pairs, probably making their rounds to see that everything was running smoothly. Sergio almost thought it was strange that they didn’t carry rifles, but only a sidearm in a holster at their belts.
He admired the beautiful lighting that he had so fondly admired upon his first visit, there were real lamps shining down on them from decorative brackets sticking out from the relief carvings on each pylon arch. The marble tiled floor was immaculate, though dulled from heavy traffic. A banner hung on the back wall displaying the brown circle logo of the Hanseatic League stations.
Making a swift step in front of him, Maro crossed the main platform towards a small table at which sat another officer in a gray uniform.
“Artur Mario!” Maro stepped up to the man with his arm extended to pat the aforementioned man on the shoulder.
“Makarov, my friend! What brings you to visit me today?” Artur rose from his seat promptly and extended the opposite arm towards Maro and returned the gesture. Maro explained to the man quickly where they were headed and about his companion, and Sergio understood that as his cue to step forward.
“Ah, so this is your strong young man who saved the Subway. It is my honor, Sergio. I am Artur Mario; I’m an inspections officer here in Losla.” The man smiled warmly, seemingly quite proud of his job.
“Nice to meet you.” Sergio shyly spoke and bowed his head slightly; he hadn’t fully considered that he’d saved anybody, or that it would seem so alien to him that a complete Hunter would know anything about his actions.
“So then, we’ll just go through the formalities and get you on your way.” Artur smiled at them both, reassuring Sergio that this wouldn’t be as terrifying as a typical inspection. He thought that Maro must have known this person for a while and that perhaps Artur Mario wouldn’t take notice even if they had tried to bring a massive arsenal through his station. They were probably friends before their discovery of D6, and perhaps even before the over world disaster, although he reminded himself that Maro was not much older than him – perhaps he was about thirty?
Enduring a quick pat-down and an examination of their rucksacks, they were soon sitting on the transport trolley that ran between all the Ring stations regularly. Sergio counted the three filters he was given for the surface trek, and screwed one into his mask before putting everything back into his small pack. He began to mentally prepare himself to go to the surface again, doing everything in his power to not relive any moments from the tower. Instead he chose to think about how clear the air had been at the top. He considered that it was only radiation in the ground and the water that hung like a fog over the city, just one thick layer at the bottom that had congealed like pork fat left in the pan after it’s been cooked. Once you got higher, the air was thin and crisp. Had all of the air been so clear in the old days of their city? He thought that maybe, if there was a way to rid the soil of that disease, to dispel the fog, then perhaps it was possible to live on the surface of the Earth once more.