Metro 2033 - Chapter 3

Chapter 2

Chapter 3 - Riga

[We move to the bar. Boris stands up from his chair with a shot of vodka.]

Boris: All right, boys! Let’s drink to our friend, Artyom, who goes right through monsters and anomalies alike! To Artyom!

Eugene: To you!

[All three of them drink.]

Boris: Hell, if not for you, Artyom, we’d have been shredded like cabbage! You deserve a medal! Or at least some extra ammo--here, take them! To your health!

Eugene: Artyom, to you!!

[They have another glass of vodka.]

Eugene: Artyom are you really immune to that shit?

Boris: See if that 'shroom vodka knocks him down. Ha-ha!

Eugene: Okay, we’ve got to check that! To our Luck! And to Artyom!

Boris: To you, Artyom!

[They drink again.]

Boris: Ha! The vodka kicks everyone’s ass, huh?

[Artyom gets up from his chair to stretch his legs a little.]

[Note 1]
What was that? Strange shadows and voices... Whispers, weeps - they were silent, and yet they still resound inside my head... There are lots of tunnels in the Metro associated with terrifying legends, but I've never heard anything quite like this, and I hope I'll never anything like this from now on. We got incredibly lucky in escaping that place with our lives.

[Artyom goes to the market to replenish his supplies and buy new weapons.]

[Note 2]
Rizhskaya… Back home at the Exhibition we always considered this station's dwellers somehow… unlucky. They always used to be in trouble - be it their pigs catching some mysterious bug, their tunnel ceilings leaking, or their merchants getting too immersed in the celebration of a good deal at the Market and drinking all the money away. The people of Riga are nice and hospitable, but they sure are clumsy. We used to them and poke fun at them a bit, for we were on top of things. We, at the Exhibition, knew life… And now I actually envy them. They live in peace, they haven't even hear of the Dark Ones, and even those who did never believed what they heard. But if I fail, the Dark Ones will wipe this station out in an instant. And these happy clumsy people with their peaceful clumsy life will be gone. There will be blood and emptiness. I've got to hurry.

[Artyom is approached by a boy dressed in whatever clothes he could find.]

Boy: Are you Artyom? Hey, there’s a man at the black street waiting for you. I'll guide you there for one bullet.

[Although Artyom knows the way, he decides to pay the boy anyway.]

Boy: Thanks! Let’s go.

[The boy leads Artyom through the narrow corridors.]

Boy: That’s him sitting over there. Well, I’ll be going. Bye!

Man: Come here. You’re Artyom, right? Sit down.

[Artyom sits down across from the man at the table.]

Man: Everybody calls me "Bourbon". Listen… I need to get to Dry Station, for some "business", but this rat-hole is on lockdown. I, however, know a back way--a so-called "cursed" passage--the locals are afraid to use. But I hear that the shit in the tunnels doesn't work on you. So, you help me qel to Dry, and I’ll give you my AK when we get there. Deal? Good! Here’s an advance payment, in case you need to gear up first. Are you ready?

[Artyom nods affirmatively.]

Bourbon: Sitting in this craphole is useless.

[Note 3]
There's a saying in the Metro: "Nothing worse than a chance fellow traveler, but nobody else to rely on either". This Bourbon guy surely is strange. Why would he need me? He obviously knows these tunnels like the back of his hand. Somebody told him that "that shit" does not affect me, and he bought it? I don't believe it myself and he does? Well, no use thinking about it. I'll be quite happy if he just gets me past the Market without trying to quietly snuff me in a dark tunnel.

[Artyom follows Bourbon. As they walk, Bourbon sings the song "Soldatushki bravy rebyatushki" (lit. “Soldiers, brave boys”) with a terrible accent. Bourbon does not seem to know the song, even though it is a folk song and its lyrics are known by many people in Russia. Walking along the corridors, he and Artyom enter a room with a large wooden box. Bourbon pushes the box aside, revealing a secret passage. He and Artyom go into the half-filled tunnel and pull out weapons.]