The tunnel grew colder--Miller and I were close to the surface now. Soon we'd climb up into the howling wind, to find our way through whatever nightmares were waiting there. My long journey was nearly at the end. But would I have the courage...the will to see it through?

Life was never easy in the tunnels, but it was our home. There was comfort in its routines, in seeing the same people day after day. But since the mutant attacks had escalated, fear ruled this station. I had just turned twenty...and could never have imagined what would follow on the morning that my stepfather's friend, Hunter, arrived at the barricade...

Hunter did not return. It wouldn't be easy to find an excuse to leave the station and travel to Polis, but I had given my word. I learned that the Caravan was heading to Riga the next day, and needed guards. I signed on for the ride.

It was the first time I had left the safety of my home station. It troubled me that I haven't told my stepfather the truth; I would not be heading straight back from Riga. But Hunter was depending on me.

Riga Station was only the first stop on my journey, but the caravan went no further. So, before parting ways, we drank to celebrate our survival. The vodka didn't drown my fear of traveling on to Polis alone. But I was about to find myself with an unexpected and notorious partner.

As I entered the abandoned tunnel with Bourbon, I wondered if I'd been wrong to trust him. But the station gates were still sealed, and there was no telling when I would have another chance to leave Riga.

Our bloody skirmish with the bandits was over. I had expected mutants and monsters...but how many more of my 'fellow humans' would try to kill me before I reached Polis?

Market station was just a little further, but Bourbon warned me that our path went through the 'lost catacombs'...

I'd never seen a Market like this--you could buy almost anything. But, Bourbon owed money to the Hanza sentries, and was anxious to leave.

When we emerged into the ruins of Moscow, I felt both fear and sorrow. But, after a life underground, I also saw strange beauty in the dark skies and frozen landscape. "So, that's the dead city," grunted Bourbon. "Welcome home, Artyom."