Fire rages beneath Moscow; flushes thousands onto streets

[Ascendancy]

Thousands of people were flushed onto the streets of inner Moscow after chasms of fire and smoke broke through the city’s underground. The Custody of Engineering reports a gas leak lead to a subterranean explosion. As there are six to twelve layers underground, the upper levels frequently inhabited by the city’s homeless, gypsies, alcoholics, druggies, prostitutes, political refugees, ex-convicts, MP’s swept onto the streets until the situation could be contained. Despite the Fire Marshalls’ investigation, witnesses report conflicting stories of arson, self-defense, and terror. Sightings of strangely dressed groups in camoflauge and masks roaming the underground are not uncommon. Individuals in monk’s robes, lanterns and alters have been rumored, but unconfirmed. However, solid evidence exists of a Moscow Underworld, an atmosphere ignored by the CCD other than to close off old bomb shelters, seal-up thousand-man bunkers, and empty strategic command posts. The deserted passageways, dry water courses, torture chambers, stashes of skull-embedded stones, and suggestions of mass-graves have been little explored by those above. Sometimes dismembered bodies wash out, rising up from sewers and drains to the surface. What goes on beneath the streets is a mystery. But whatever is down there, these rats are afraid to return to it.