第一章：世界末日（2）
阿尔乔姆和彼得·安德列维奇现在正在距离那个所谓的“安全边界”五十米——四百五十米标识处巡逻，是最远的一所岗哨。那些车灯每天检查一次，而今天的检查在几小时前已经完成了。自从军队离开后，那些被赶走的变异野兽，就在酝酿着下一次的袭击，可能是因为那诱人的摇曳火光，也可能是他们那难以控制的嗜血本性，瞄准着地下手无寸铁的幸存者们......
They were now on patrol at the four hundred and fifth metre, fifty metres from the boundary post. The boundary was checked once a day and today’s inspection had been completed several hours ago. Now their post was the outermost and, since the last check, the beasts that the last patrol might have scared off would have certainly begun to crawl closer once again. They were drawn to the flame, to people...
阿尔乔姆回到了自己的座位，问道：“所以在波列扎耶夫车站究竟发生了什么？”尽管他已经从站台中的贩子那儿听说了这令人胆寒的故事，他依然想再多了解一些相关的小道消息，他的样子像极了那些小孩，迫不及待地追问无头变异怪和暗魇是如何绑架人类孩子的故事。
Artyom settled back down into his seat and asked, ‘So what actually happened at Polezhaevskaya?’
Although he already knew this blood-curdling story (from the traders at the station), he had an urge to hear it again, like a child who feels an irrepressible urge to hear scary stories about headless mutants and dark ones who kidnap young children.
“波列扎耶夫？什么？你没听说过？这是个很诡异的事件，不仅仅是诡异，还有恐怖。一切都得从他们消失的哨兵开始说起。一个个走出隧道口执勤后再也没有回来。哼，说来也是，他们的哨兵和我们不一样，全都是些新兵蛋子，也正因为这样，那儿的营地越来越小，人口也随之不断减少。反正不管怎样，那儿的哨兵开始不断消失。出去一队，失联一队。起初他们怀疑是被什么东西劫持了，就在这崎岖复杂的隧道里也算情有可原...”阿尔乔姆听着这些话感到脊背一凉。“然而不管是他们的搜寻队，还是站内的人，用探照灯照遍了所有可能的地方，也没有看见任何东西。半小时，一小时，两小时，花再多时间也只是徒劳。他们想知道那些失踪的哨兵究竟去了哪里，毕竟那些哨兵一般不会走出一公里的范围，他们按规定无论如何不能走得太远，而且他们也不是傻子......咱长话短说，那儿的人迫不及待地想要找出那些失踪人员，于是请求增援部队一遍又一遍地搜寻，喊着失踪人员的名字，只可惜一切枉然。最后搜救队放弃了，哨兵的失踪已成定局。连人影都未曾看见，甚至没有听见一丁点儿声音，仿佛从来没有存在过一样。总之，最后一点线索都没有。”
‘At Polezhaevskaya? What, you didn’t hear about it? It was a strange story. Strange and frightening. First their scouts began disappearing. Went off into the tunnels and didn’t come back. Granted, their scouts are completed green, nothing like ours, but then again, their station’s smaller, a lot less people live there...well, used to live there. So anyway, their scouts start disappearing. One detachment leaves - and vanishes. At first they thought something was holding them up - up there the tunnel twists and turns just like it does here... ’ Artyom felt ill at ease when he heard these words. ‘And neither the patrols, nor those at the station could see anything, no matter how much light they threw at it. No one appeared - for half one hour, then for an hour, then two. They wondered where the scouts could have gone - they were only going one kilometre in. They weren’t allowed to go any further and anyway, they aren’t total idiots... Long story short, they couldn’t wait to find out. They sent reinforcements who searched and searched, and shouted and shouted - but it was all in vain. The patrol was gone. The scouts had vanished. And it wasn’t just that no one had seen what had sound... not a sound. There was no trace of them whatsoever.'
阿尔乔姆已经开始后悔让彼得·安德列维奇复述波列扎耶夫车站的故事了。彼得相比其他人更加见多识广，所以对那件事的细节描述得更加到位；不管怎样，他对那件事情所了解的细节是车站里的商贩做梦也想不到的。阿尔乔姆浑身都起鸡皮疙瘩，尽管他就坐在火堆旁，也依然感觉到明显得不适。此时从隧道中传来的任何细微的响声，即使放在平时是多么地司空见惯，现在也开始刺激着阿尔乔姆的神经。
Artyom was already beginning to regret that he had asked Pyotr Andreevich to recount the story of Polezhaevskaya. Pytro Andreevich was either beter informed, or was embellishing the story somewhat; but in any case, he was telling details of the sort that the traders couldn't have dreamed, despite being sent a chill over Artyom's skin, and he became uncomfortable even sitting next to the fire. Any rustlings from the tunnel, even the most innocent, were now exciting his imagination.
（彼得·安德列维奇看着被吓得一惊一乍的阿尔乔姆，摇了摇头独自暗笑，继续补充着故事余下的内容。）
“这下，你了解了吧。他们因为没有听见任何枪响，所以推测一开始的那批哨兵是自行离开的——他们可能对营地中的某些方面心怀不满，早就想跑了。如果是这样的话，就让这帮该死的见鬼去吧。如果他们想要活得安逸，如果他们想和形形色色的流氓地痞打交道，那就让他们四处流浪去吧，直到满意为止。这种小事在别处也屡见不鲜，也算容易推测。可在一周后，仍有一队哨兵消失了。他们本不该跑出车站半公里外距离的，然而，这一切又再次发生了。附近依然没有任何痕迹，就好像他们人间蒸发了一般。于是车站里剩下的人开始担忧起来。此时他们内外交困，首当其冲的便是在仅仅一周内就损失了两个中队。他们必须要为此做些什么来应对这种局面。我认为，他们不是觉得自己应该做，而是不得不去做。他们根据以往建造碉堡的经验，在站点外三百米处设置了隔离网，拖拽着一袋袋沙袋充当战壕，在沙袋上架起了机关枪和探照灯，枕戈待战。同时他们还派遣了一名信使前往贝戈瓦亚车站，因为现在贝戈瓦亚、1950大道和波列扎耶夫这三处车站正处结盟的关系。起初，十月之地也是在联盟之中的，但不知道是什么缘故，发生了一些意外，导致那里的环境变得不再适合人类居住，幸存者全都逃走了。“
'So, there you have it. They hadn't heard any gunfire so they decided that the scouts had simply left them - maybe they were dissatisfied with something, and had decided to run. So, to hell with them. If it's an easy life they want, if they want to run around with all kinds of riff-raff, then let them run around to their heart's content. It was simpler to see it that way. Easier. But a week later, yet another scout team disappeared. And they weren't supposed to go any further than half a kilomere from the station. And again, the same old story. Not around, not a trace. Like they'd vanished into thin air. So then they started getting worried back at the station. Now they had a real mess on their hands - two squadrons had disappeared within a week. They'd have to do something about it. Meaning, they'd have to take measures. Well, they set up a cordon at the three-hundredth metre. They dragged sandbags to the cordon, set up machine guns and a spotlight - according to the rules of fortification. They sent a runner to Begovaya - they'd established a confederation with Begovaya and 1950 Street. Initially, October Field had also been included, but then something had happened, no one knows exactly what - some kind of accident. Conditions there had become unliveable, and everyone had fled.'
“总之，波列扎耶夫派了一个信使去贝戈瓦亚车站发出警告，告知他们自己有麻烦了，需要支援，否则可能会发生不可挽回的事情。第一个信使刚抵达贝戈瓦亚，那儿的人只是思考着该如何回应波方的支援请求；而当第二个信使精疲力尽地抵达后，就被告知波方所搭建的防守据点已经被攻陷，甚至一枪未响。整个据点遭受到了惨绝人寰的屠杀。而且死状诡异，似乎都是在睡梦之中受害，那才是其可怕的地方！然而奇怪的是，他们那时候都神经紧绷，不可能睡着，不单单因为恐惧，他们都还接到了上级命令，睡觉是明令禁止的。听到这些消息后，贝戈瓦亚的人才意识到如果他们不再做点什么的话，同样的事情也会发生在他们这个地区。贝戈瓦亚立刻组织了一批老兵作为军事力量，大约有一百来号人，配备着机关枪和榴弹炮。当然，这些肯定花费了一些时间，大约一天半吧，然而尽管如此，他们还是调遣了一队人前往支援波列扎耶夫。当支援部队进入波方车站，此时那里能留下来的恐怕只有孤魂野鬼了。甚至连一具尸体都没看见，只有随处可见的血迹。这下你懂了吧，他妈的根本没人能知道这一切是谁干的。我作为一个人，难以相信人类能做出这种事情。”
'Anyway, then they sent a runner to Begovaya, to warn them that, as they said, trouble was afoot, and to ask for help, should anything happen. The first runner had only just made it to Begovaya - and the people there were still considering their answer - when a second runner arrived at Begovaya, lathered in sweat, and said that their reinforced cordon had perished to a man, without firing a single shot. Every last one of them had been slaughtered. And it was as if they'd been butchered in their sleep - that's what was scary! But they wouldn't have fallen asleep, not after the scare they'd had, not to mention the orders and insturctions. At this point, the people at Begovaya understood that if they did nothing, the same story would begin in their neck of the woods as well. They equipped a strike force of veterans, about a hundred men, machine guns, and grenade launchers. Of course, that all took a bit of time, about a day and a half, but all the same, they dispatched the group to go and help. And when the group entered Polezhaevskaya, there wasn't a living soul to be seen. There weren't even bodies - just blood everywhere. There you go. And who knows who the hell did it. I, for one, don't believe that humans are capable of such thing.'
