Metro 2033 by Dmitry Glukhovsky. Short summary

5 seconds

After the exchange of nuclear strikes, all cities are destroyed, and the last survivors live in Moscow Metro stations. Hunter arrives at Artem’s station and asks him to deliver a message to Melnik.

1 minute

After the exchange of nuclear strikes, all cities were destroyed. The last survivors settled in the stations and passages of the Moscow subway. Civil defense services managed to shield the subway from the effects of radiation.

Artem lives at the station «VDNH», which suffers from invasions of mutants coming from the «Botanical Garden». A man named Hunter comes to the station. He wants to solve the problem.

Artem tells him that when he was 14 years old, he and his buddies opened the seal that separated the «Botanical Gardens» from the escalators that led to the surface. Hunter sets off for the station. If he is not back within two days, Artem must go to Polis, find Melnik there, and give him a message.

A day later, Artem and his friend Zhenka, as part of the group, leave for «Riga» station, where the question of its merger with «VDNKh» station was to be solved. During the trip, some of the participants lose consciousness, while others fall into a stupor.