: After the nuclear war, people live in the subway. Mutants attack one of the stations. Her resident finds a weapon against them, after which she finds out that they were the last chance for humanity to survive.

Chapters 1 - 3

2033 year. More than twenty years have passed since World War III. The surface of the earth, contaminated by radiation, was inhabited by mutants. In Moscow, only those who managed to run to the metro survived before the nuclear bombing, which became a bomb shelter with hermetic doors, air and water filters. Only stalkers came to the surface - metro heroes armed to the teeth, dressed in chemical protection suits and gas masks.

People settled at the stations, each of which acquired its own laws, government and army. Stations fought and united in alliances. The large-scale war between the Hansa - the Commonwealth of the Ring Line Stations - and the communist Red Line also took place on the subway.

Man has always been able to kill better than any other living being.

VDNH, one of the few independent stations, was considered prosperous. Its inhabitants grew mushrooms and pigs, once obtained from the pavilions of VDNH. Products were exchanged for weapons and medicines. Twenty-four-year-old Artyom lived here with his stepfather, Uncle Sasha Sukhim.

Artyom was born before the war. The station, where he lived with his mother, "fell under the invasion of rats." Only five men escaped, having managed to overtake the flow of rodents. One of them, Sukhoi, the woman managed to give her young son.

Recently, mutants, humanoid creatures with black skin, began to attack VDNH. Artyom believed that it was his fault in the invasion of black. A few years ago, he and two friends climbed to the surface to see the sky. The Hermod door stuck, and the exit from VDNH to the Botanical Garden remained open to all evil spirits. Blacks were naked and unarmed, but they acted telepathically on people, raising fear on them.

Once at VDNH came stalker Hunter, a longtime friend of Sukhoi. Sukhoi thought that people would never return to the surface, the metro is the last refuge of mankind, and black is a new kind of intelligent creatures that will replace people. Hunter, on the other hand, believed that life must be fought, and the threat must be destroyed. He voluntarily assumed the role of guardian and protector of the metro.

Artyom told the stalker about open hermetic doors, and he went to the surface to scout where the blacks came from. He believed that there was their hive. Hunter gave Artyom a case made out of a sleeve with a note and took an oath from him: if he didn’t return in two days, go to Polis and tell about a black man by the name of Miller. The case will serve as an identification mark.

Sukhoi, who is responsible for contacts with other stations, never took Artem with him. He loved him as a son and wanted his stepson to marry, have children and live peacefully at VDNH all his life. Artyom dreamed of traveling on the subway, about which he knew nothing but the terrible rumors and legends that the shuttle traders brought to the far station.

Hunter did not return, and Artyom went to the legendary Polis - the cultural center of the metro, which settled under the Library. He began his journey with a caravan going to the neighboring Riga station, with which VDNH wanted to unite.

Chapters 4 - 7

The section between VDNH and Riga was considered safe, but the caravan was still guarded - no one knew what originated in unexplored passages under the subway tunnels.

The power of darkness is the most common form of government on the territory of the Moscow Metro.

Having passed Alekseevskaya, the caravan entered the transition to Riga, and then Artem heard a whistling whisper. The others did not hear anything - this noise directly affected their consciousness, driving them crazy.Artyom, on whom the noise coming from the burst pipe did not act, managed to get everyone out of the danger zone unharmed.

On Riga, Artyom was approached by a man who called himself Bourbon. He found out that the guy had saved the caravan, and asked to be led along the same dangerous tunnel leading to Sukharevskaya. This coincided with the route that Artyom had outlined for himself, and the guy agreed.

Stopping with a fellow traveler at the last outpost, Artyom peered into the dark tunnel, heard his voice different from the voices of other tunnels, and felt that he was “on the verge of understanding” a great secret. Artyom got scared and shook off his obsession. It seemed to him that he had missed something vital.

The Prospekt Mira trading station was reached without incident. The station turned into a large market was lit not by red emergency lights like VDNKh, but by ordinary bulbs - the proximity of the rich Hansa affected. They paid for the goods with cartridges for a Kalashnikov assault rifle.

One cartridge - one death. Someone's life taken away.

On the next stage, something took hold of the minds of travelers, and when Bourbon died, Artyom again heard the familiar noise-whisper. He dragged his dead companion to Sukharevskaya when an elderly man met him near the station and persuaded him to leave the corpse in the tunnel.

The man introduced himself as a sorcerer, the last incarnation of Genghis Khan. Khan believed that the noise is created by restless souls who remain in the bowels of the subway and become part of the whole. Khan knew about the appearance of Artyom - he was visited by the ghost of Hunter and asked to help the guy. The sorcerer was sure that Artyom fulfills a special mission.

In a bag of Bourbon, Artyom found a metro map with mysterious notes. According to Khan, it was a legendary travel guide that could warn of danger. Artyom gave it to Khan - he still could not use it.

Khan said that it was impossible to go to Polis along the route planned by Artyom. Acting on the psyche of the inhabitants of Sukharevskaya, he put together a caravan to bring the guy to Kitai Gorod. On the way, people came out of obedience and opposed when Khan saw a danger sign on the Guide and decided to go through another tunnel. Artyom and a man named Ace followed the sorcerer, the rest died.

Invisible death pursued them to Kitai Gorod. This double station was controlled by two bandit groups - Slavic brothers and Muslim Caucasians. Here you could buy everything from drugs to prostitutes.

Chapters 8 - 9

Artyom could not rest - the station was attacked, a shootout began, and the guy had to dive into the transition to the Kuznetsk Bridge. On the way, Artyom helped an old man who had a heart attack. He could not leave the elderly Mikhail Porfirevich and his companion Vanechka - a teenager with Down syndrome, and went with them.

On the Kuznetsky Most, in a long train, the best metro techniques lived. Companions stayed overnight in a guest tent. Mikhail Porfiryevich told Artyom that the Communists did not control the entire Red Line. The collapse cut off from her several stations under the University. According to legend, part of the professors and students survived and founded the Emerald City.

Apparently, this conversation was overheard, because at night the Reds came for Mikhail Porfiryevich - Kuznetsky Most bordered on the Red Line. Artyom was already ready to run - he was warned in a dream by Hunter's voice.

At Pushkinskaya, which belonged to the Fourth Reich, Artyom was let through the cordon, and they were about to shoot Mikhail Porfiryevich: the fascist officer did not like Vanechka. Artyom did not have time to save Vanya, but he tried to save Mikhail Porfirevich and killed an officer, for which he ended up in a Nazi prison.

Artyom was beaten for a long time, then sentenced to be hanged as a spy and saboteur.

The death itself is not terrible. Her expectation is terrible.

He learned that Mikhail Porfirevich was also killed, but did not regret his action.

At the time of execution, a motorized trolley of the First International Red Combat Brigade named after Che Guevara flew into the station and recaptured the half-stricken Artem. The guy really wanted to stay with these cheerful and courageous people, but he could not give up what he considered his mission.

Chapters 10 - 11

The Communists landed the battered Artem on Paveletskaya. This station was in a special position. There were no German doors here, and terrible, slimy creatures crawled from the surface every night. Residents of Paveletskaya defended the entire metro from the mutants, so the Hansa supplied them with weapons.

Artyom could not get to Hansa - his passport remained with the Nazis. Mark, whom they met on Paveletskaya, offered to play on the rat race. At stake, he will put Artyom. If they win, they will get visas to Hansa; if they lose, they will become slaves.

The untrained rat Mark lost, and his friends had to clean the toilets at the Ring Station for a whole year. Artyom was struck by a calm and well-fed life in the Hansa. He understood why strangers were so reluctant to let people in here.

The number of places in paradise is limited, and only admission to hell is always free.

On the evening of the fifth day Artyom, who had stunned from monotonous work and smelled of shit, threw a car and left the station. No one stopped him, as if the guy had become invisible.

At the Serpukhovskaya station, even beggars shied away from Artyom. He was left alone, without things, documents, cartridges. Here he was picked up by a member of the sect who believed that Armageddon had taken place, soon people would come to the surface, and heavenly life would come.

Artyom was washed, dressed, fed and tried to convert to his faith, but the guy escaped. Passing Serpukhovskaya, Artyom found himself at the Polyanka station littered with trash, where two elderly people sat near a single fire, smoked a hookah and talked. All night Artyom listened to their conversations and found out about Metro-2 “for the elite”, which connects with the metro “for the herd” only one passage.

These two structures are inseparable, they are like the circulatory system and the lymphatic vessels of one organism.

Inhabitants of Metro-2 - Invisible Observers, creatures of the highest order. They follow people, guide them and wait for them to pay back "their monstrous sin." When this happens, the Invisible Observers will help the remnants of humanity.

Artyom believed that his journey was a chaotic set of accidents that prevented him from reaching Polis, but his interlocutors thought that human life has a plot, you just need to make the right decision and get on the right path. After that, each subsequent choice will be less and less random.

Artyom looked at his ordeals differently and found that they fit into a certain logical line. He felt that he had no right to wait a minute, got up and entered the dark tunnel, the last on the road to Polis.

Chapters 12 - 14

Artyom did not have a lantern, and soon he thought that someone was following him. The invisible and disembodied pursuer came up, whispered to Artyom in the ear: “Wait. You can’t go there now, ”and left. On the approach to Borovitskaya, Artyom heard shots and stopped waiting - that's what he was warned about in the dark.

Polis's guards released Artyom, learning that he had come to the stalker Melnik. Staler was supposed to appear only tomorrow. Artyom had to spend the night on the beautiful Borovitskaya, illuminated by daylight incredible for the metro and lined with bookshelves.

Artyom stopped at Danila. He said that the population of Polis is divided into castes, as in ancient India. Danila himself is a brahmin, the keeper of knowledge. There were also ksatriya warriors, vaisya merchants, and sudra servants. Each caste had its own totem - a tattoo on the temple. The Council of Brahmins and Kshatriyas ruled Polis.

Danila told Artyom about the Great Library, where only Polis stalkers go because of the creatures called librarians, about the Kremlin, which draws people who have looked at him. The Brahmins believed that an ancient Book was kept in the Library, in which the whole history of mankind was recorded.

In the morning, Miller appeared in Polis. Artyom handed him a case with a note from Hunter and talked about blacks. Miller already knew about the mutants - they went on the offensive, and people begin to flee from VDNH. He took Artyom to a meeting of the Council. The guy told the brahmins and kshatriyas the story of his wanderings on the subway, mentioning Polyanka. Here the council doubted - according to their information, Polyanka was uninhabited due to the release of hallucinogenic gas.

After the meeting, Artyom was announced that the Policy could not help VDNH.

If his station is destined to become the only barrier in the way of blacks, and his friends and relatives die, defending it, then he would prefer to die with them ...

Artyom was already heading to the tunnel when the brahmin caught up with him. He called Polyanka the station of Fate, where selected people meet with Providence. If Artyom is the chosen one, then he has special abilities. Brahmin invited Artyom to go up to the Library and find the Book, in return promising to help VDNH.

Brahmin equipped a detachment, which, in addition to Artyom and Danila, included stalkers Melnik and Ninth. Having come to the surface, Artyom glanced at the Kremlin and almost got caught - the satellites barely managed to stop him.

The Brahmins believed that the Book would call Artyom, but he did not feel any call in the Library, but he saw librarians - gray human-like and half-intelligent creatures. They attacked the squad. One creature mortally wounded Daniel, and Artyom had to save him from torment. Before his death, the brahmin managed to give the guy a package - a reward for the Book, which Artyom never found.

Artyom was not allowed to return to the policy. Miller advised him to go on the surface to Smolenskaya. The stalker himself will take the wounded Ninth to the Polis and will wait for Artyom at the Smolenskaya hermetic doors. The guy had to be in time before sunrise, otherwise a bright light would blind him.

An incomprehensible, deceiving world lay on the surface, everything was different here, and life flowed here according to other, new rules.

On the road to Artyom, a flock of toothy critters began to hunt. He reached Smolenskaya just before dawn, barely escaping from predators. At the station, Miller was already waiting for him. He told the Brahmins that Artyom was dead. Together they opened the package.

Chapters 15 - 18

The package contained a map on which the surviving missile part was marked. The path to it lay via Metro-2, the entrance to which was at Mayakovskaya station. Now it remained to find the black hive and destroy it.

At night, Artyom had a nightmare: an empty VDNH and someone waiting for him in a dark passage. In the morning, he and Melnik went to Kievskaya, where the stalker left Artyom and, together with specialist rocketer Tretyak, left to look for the entrance to Metro-2.

On Kievskaya disappeared children. Once it connected with the flourishing Victory Park station. The former owners of Kiev blew up the passage and cut off the station from the subway. Now people believed that there was the City of the Dead, and because of the blockage, a chorus of voices was sometimes heard.

Soon the boy Oleg disappeared from the station. Looking for him, Artyom found a hatch in the ceiling before the rubble. Through him, Artyom and Anton, the father of the boy, got to Victory Park, where they were captured by savages.

People at this station did not die out, but degraded. Then a man came to them who came up with a religion for the savages and became their priest.

It is not easy to believe in a god whom he himself created ...

The savages called themselves the children of the Great Worm and believed that this worm dug tunnels and spawned all living creatures.

The priest wanted to create a new civilization, not spoiled by machines that were forbidden in the tribe, and stole children to pour new blood into the tribe. The savages ate the adult “people of machines”.

Artem and Anton almost ate. They were saved by Melnik with a team of stalkers, who made his way to Victory Park through Metro-2, and the detachment began to break through with battle. From a grenade explosion, the tunnel they needed collapsed. There was only one way left - via Metro-2.

It was possible to get to Mayakovskaya only through the central station located under the Kremlin.There, the detachment almost ate an amorphous monster, filling with its semi-liquid body most of the station. It developed from biological weapons dropped on the Kremlin, and dragged on people, influencing them mentally.

Having lost half of the detachment, including Oleg, the stalkers drove away the mutant, having blown up the satchel with fuel for the flamethrower, and left the station. The Tretiak was killed by savages, but it turned out that Andrew was also a rocket launcher. He could not return home without a son and agreed to help Miller.

How many people will live will always imagine themselves to be the power of light, and consider enemies to be darkness. And so they will think on both sides of the front.

Miller led the detachment to the missile unit. He assigned stalker Ulman to Artyom and ordered him to get as close to the black hive as possible and help direct the missiles at the target.

Chapters 19 - 20

Artyom and Ulman on a trolley drove to Prospekt Mira. On the way, the guy found out that Black almost destroyed VDNH, and then he again had a nightmare: an empty station, a dark passage. But this time black was waiting for Artyom in the darkness.

At Prospekt Mira, Artyom learned that the Hansa had decided to blow up the passage and cut off the station captured by the mutants from the metro. The exit to the surface was planned in eight hours. This time Artyom spent at his home station, said goodbye to Sukhoi.

The guy remembered his long journey through the subway. He met different people, but did not understand why humanity clings to its miserable existence in the darkness of tunnels, because everyone had their own answer and their own faith.

Faith was just a stick that supported a person, preventing him from stumbling, and helping him to his feet if he stumbled and fell.

Artyom was supported by the belief that it was he who was called to save the subway.

Artyom climbed to the surface with VDNH. He was immediately attacked by a creature similar to a pterodactyl, mutating from a simple dove. The guy hid in a kiosk, until a team of stalkers led by Ulman rolled him behind on an all-terrain vehicle.

They climbed to the Ostankino TV tower, from where it was easier to locate the target. Above, in the middle of the Botanical Garden, Artyom saw a hive of blacks - a huge pulsating formation in which mutants scurried like ants. Soon Melnik got in touch and missiles flew to the target.

At this moment, Artyom lost consciousness, saw a tunnel from his nightmare, and the black man waiting there called him chosen. Blacks were a rational race, capable of living on the surface, and formed the likeness of an ant colony. They knew that people were also intelligent, and went to them to help. Together they could survive and re-populate the land. But in some ways their minds differed from human ones - they could not make contact with people in any way.

Then black began to look for someone who is able to hear them mentally, and found Artyom. They drove him on the subway, protected, warned, saved, trying to reach him through dreams. On Riga this almost happened, but Artyom got scared and opened his mind to black just now.

Kilometers of tunnels and weeks of wandering again led him to a secret door, opening which, he will gain an understanding of all the secrets of the universe.

Recovering, Artyom saw how the pieces of black below froze in joyful expectation. At that moment, the first rockets crashed into the hive, and the warming, hopeful presence of blacks disappeared from Artyom’s mind - it became dark and empty, like a tunnel that would never be illuminated. He stood silently and went home. In the underground.