The station is is much larger than any of the metro stations inside the dome. It has many platforms. Portions of the tall roof that is supported by large stone pillars and rusty steel beams have caved in and what's still standing has holes. Rays of light poke through holes in the walls and the roof. All of that is visually stunning but what really catches Annie's eyes are the plants everywhere. Parts of the platforms are densely covered in the thin, green blades of some plant giving them a fuzzy look. Vines cling to the walls and pillars, crawl along gaps and edges, and hang from the rusty beams and the fringes of the caved in roof sections. Moss grows on the rusted benches and trash cans.
Jack turns off the generator and decelerates the train. Clanging from
under the floor followed by the squeaking of the brakes. The train runs
over a bunch of bushes and tall flowers that have taken root on the
tracks before coming to a halt next to a staircase in the center of the
platform.
Exit to the right, he says in unison with the
automated voice while turning the switch for the doors and gesturing
towards the passenger area.
After you.
Annie walks over to the closest door and pushes the button. Pressurized
air hisses and the right half opens very slowly. They step out onto the
platform. Annie breathes the warm air. It smells of the run-over plants.
Insects are buzzing about, and the wind rustles through the leaves. She
crouches down and touches the carpet of green fuzziness.
Grass. It grows pretty much everywhere, usually much
taller than this though.
She looks up at him.
I knew there would be more plants out here... I
didn't expect that many of them.
Welcome to the outside world. Wanna take a quick
look around?
She gets up.
Sure.
They walk down a flight of stairs taking them to a tunnel under the platforms. The floor is covered in water so they follow a ledge on the side. Jack leads Annie up the stairs to the last platform. From there, they step outside through a side entrance.
Annie is hit by the light and warmth of the setting sun. She closes her
eyes and faces it for a moment.
This is nice. She turns to Jack.
And this light is just always up there?
Jack chuckles. Well... No. Only during the
day.
Annie looks around. They are standing on a balcony-like platform
overlooking a city in a valley.
Wooow, she utters in astonishment.
Ivydale - or at least what remains of it.
She walks over to the rusted railing and goes to lean against it.
Don't lean on that.
Why not?
She steps back.
Watch.
He pushes against it. Loud cracking follows, and the ringing of metal.
A roughly two meter wide section of the railing breaks loose and falls.
Annie takes a bigger step back. The railing crashes into the ground
below with a loud ringing bang.
How did you know?
I made the same mistake over there.
He points to another missing section in the railing that Annie
hadn't noticed before.
Be careful around old buildings.
Cautiously stepping back to the edge, Annie looks down. Bushes cover the
hillside below the tall embankment wall that holds the station,
overgrowing everything. The walls of small ruins and half fallen-in
fences stick out here and there, and the bushes are interrupted by what
remains of roads and staircases. Small rivers cut through the landscape.
Annie looks up. The ruins further down the valley are larger the closer
they are to the center of the urban area below.
It's much bigger than <dome city>.
Many things are bigger than <dome city>.
This is the smaller of two sister cities.
He points towards another urban center in the distance.
That over there is Sentinel Shores, the place
I used to call home.
At some point before this, Jack needs to tell her something along the lines of "No pity. I chose this life."
After pointing out some other notable landmarks, Jack decides it is time to get going. He starts to lead the way, walking to the end of the end of the station that they entered it from, before abruptly turning to Annie. You know what we forgot?
They return to the side entrance, walk down the stairs, follow the ledge, back up the stairs, and end up at the train. Annie puts the documents back into her bag. Jack grabs the keys from the control panel just for good measure and uses one of them to close the door from the outside.
I don't like this. It feels too contrived. Would have been better if Jack had just closed the door when they left the train and left it at that. That also allows for a later scene where someone realizes that the documents are still in the train.
Jack leads the way again, this time walking to the end of the platform where the tunnels open up into the station. There, they use another underpass taking them to the end of the balcony-like walkway. It connects to a wide staircase down from the end of the embankment where the mountain extends over the tunnels and the back wall of the station. It leads to a collapsed bridge next to a large waterfall. Annie marvels at the sheer amount of water flowing by, something that she has never seen before.
Jack goes ahead, climbing down the wall where the bridge used to begin
by grabbing onto the edges of the large sandstone blocks. Annie struggles
to follow. After what feels like an eternity, she manages to get half-way
down the wall.
You can jump from there.
They make their way across the fast-flowing river by stepping on large
stones in the water, and continue through the bushes towards Outpost 53.