Chapter 12

Location: Deep Tunnels, Beyond Arbatskaya

Date: March 13, 2032

Time: 11:45

Entry 12

I can't keep going. But I don't have a choice.

The tunnels seem endless now, stretching out before me like some dark, twisted labyrinth. I don't know where I am anymore. I don't know how far I've come, how many hours or days I've been walking. My legs are barely holding me up, my muscles burning with every step. But I can't stop.

I thought the thing was gone. I thought I'd escaped it. But it's still here. I can feel it, lurking in the shadows, watching me, waiting for me to collapse. I've tried to outrun it, tried to keep moving, but it's always there, just out of sight, just out of reach. I can hear it sometimes—the whispers, the faint echo of footsteps behind me. It's playing with me.

I can't keep running.

My flashlight flickers, the weak beam of light barely cutting through the darkness ahead. The battery's almost dead. Soon, I'll be left in total darkness. My heart pounds in my chest, my breaths shallow and ragged. The air feels thinner here, colder. It's like the deeper I go, the more the Metro itself is trying to suffocate me, crush me beneath its weight.

I reach a small alcove off to the side of the tunnel and collapse against the wall, my body trembling with exhaustion. The cold stone presses against my back, sending a shiver through me, but I don't have the strength to move anymore. My hands shake as I pull the revolver from its holster and check the cylinder.

Three bullets left.

It feels heavy in my hands, the weight of it sinking into me, pulling me down. I don't even know why I'm still carrying it. It didn't help me before. It won't help me now. But I can't let go of it. It's the only thing I have left. The only thing that reminds me I'm still alive. That I still have some control over my fate.

I don't feel alive anymore.

My body is cold, numb. The exhaustion is pulling at me, dragging me down, and for a moment, I wonder if it would be easier to just let it. To give in. To stop fighting.

You were always marked.

The voice echoes in my head, softer now, like a distant memory. The thing is still out there, still watching me. I don't know why it hasn't killed me yet. Maybe it's waiting for me to break completely. Maybe it wants me to suffer.

I'm close.

I close my eyes, leaning my head back against the wall, and let out a slow, shaky breath. The tunnel is quiet now, the only sound the faint drip of water from somewhere in the distance. The darkness presses in on me, heavy and suffocating, like a blanket I can't shake off.

For the first time since this all started, I'm not afraid anymore. I'm too tired to be afraid. Too tired to care. I thought I could keep going. I thought I could survive. But I can't. Not anymore. I'm too far gone. The Metro has won. The dark has won.

I open my eyes again, staring down at the revolver in my hands. The metal is cold against my skin, but it feels familiar. Comforting. My fingers brush over the barrel, and I wonder how long I've been carrying this thing. Since the bombs fell. Since the world ended. It's the last piece of my old life. The last connection to the person I used to be.

That person is gone.

The air feels colder now. I can see my breath in the faint beam of the flashlight as it flickers again, threatening to go out. I don't have much time left. Soon, I'll be left in total darkness. And then…

Then what?

I thought I was running from the thing that marked me. But maybe I wasn't running from it at all. Maybe I've been running toward it this whole time. Toward the end.

You were always marked.

The voice is faint now, barely a whisper, but it's still there. It's always been there. I can feel it, pulling at me, calling to me, like a siren's song. I don't want to listen to it anymore. I don't want to keep fighting. I just want it to stop.

My hands tremble as I lower the revolver, resting it on the ground beside me. I close my eyes again, letting the exhaustion wash over me, pulling me down into the dark. The whispers are fading now, replaced by a heavy silence that fills the tunnel, fills my mind.

I can't keep going.

The Metro is a graveyard. A tomb for the living. And I've been walking through it for too long. I thought I could escape it. But there's no escape. Not from this. Not from the darkness. It's always been here, waiting for me.

I feel the cold settling into my bones, deeper than before. My body is giving up, shutting down. And for the first time, I'm okay with that. I'm ready.

You were always marked.

The last whisper fades, and I let out a long, slow breath. The flashlight flickers once, twice, and then goes out, plunging the tunnel into total darkness. I don't move. I don't need to. There's nothing left to run from. Nothing left to fight.

I close my eyes and wait for the end.