No Man's Land

[Maxey]

I originally posted this on HL2 Falout, but since there is a Fan Fiction section here too, I wanted to show you my story as well. I hope you like!

Chapter 1 - Bullets and Tears

Chicago. It was once the capital of the organised crime. The land of the illegal booze. The land of the good jazz.

It is now the land of nobody.

Since the Great Invasion of the Combine, USA is no more than a no man's land, only a bunch of rebels still survive here and there and the Combine control is scarce but strong. Anyone can think that they could have citadels there and control points, but they prefer to keep all the remaining humans in one place, Europe. They have 20 citadels spreaded in Europe, located in the most important capitals, like London, Lisbon, Paris, Berlin, Budapest and so on.

All the American continent is just Wastelands, except the Amazon Forest where they have several refineries to process the oxygen that the combine need to survive. They can't breathe our polluted air, because they could die, so they need pure oxygen to survive.

USA was totally decimated. Four massive attacks of the combine in just two weeks were enough to get it down. Nothing was left behind. USA is now just a bunch of rubble and Chicago is no exception.

Juseph Hughes is one of the few survivors of the catastrophe. He was a medic in the Chicago Hospital and was lucky enough to be in the Hospital underground levels during the first attack.

Almost one year has passed since then and the combine control is rather weak around Chicago by now, so the survivors are rather free of danger around there.

Joseph is one of the heads of the rebel resistance in Chicago, and as a Gulf War veteran, he is experencied in this type of urban combat.

Right now, the resistance is planning an ambitious attack to the south combine base, that could give them access to the other side of the city, where is rumored that another resistance group could be located.

If the attack have success, then this could be the much needed head start to kick the combine out of there...

Curiously, the resistance base is located in the underground levels of the Chicago Hospital, so Joseph know the site as well as the back of his hand. There is a direct passageway to the sewers from there, which makes the base an important strategic checkpoint for the rebels and provide a good cover from the combine as they still don't know where the heck is the rebel base located.

Joseph is walking down the poor lit corridors, followed by the resistance leader, Seargent Mike from the Infantry. They are heading in the direction of the strategic room, where everyone has to go everyday to keep updated. The plan is going along well. The last attack to the combine weapon depot went very well, with no casualities to the rebels. They captured 3 boxes full of assault rifles, ammunition, grenades of all types, 10 RPG's and 200 rockets. More than enough for them.

They finally enter the room, everyone was there. The last attack gave them a big morale boost, even the most pessimistic soldiers are convinced that this attack will have a big success. Most of these men are experienced with weapons, as they were cops, security guards, criminals, soldiers and so on...

Seargent Mike compliments everyone in the room and starts talking about the plan.

- The plan is almost completed. We gathered detailed maps of the zone and marked the places where the comb' soldiers where last seen. There are 3 secure paths to the "spot zone" already. The assault and sniper weapons we captured last week surely come handy for this, as most of the attacks zones are open wide. We still need vehicles though, those 3 trucks in the garage are not enough. We really need fast vehicles, like jeeps.

- Sir, sorry to interrupt you, but I know where to find 2 jeeps.

- Really? Where?

- In a residential zone 7 miles from here.

- 7 miles only? And why you didn't tell me that before?

- I only saw them today in the morning.

- So let's pick them god damnit!

- We could, but I saw some combine patrol around there.

- Metro Enforcers?

- No, low ranked soldiers. It should be easy to get rid of them.

- Are you sure there were only low ranked combines?

- I didn't see anyone else.

- So let's go right now! You, Mark and Danna go pick the jeep. Joseph you go with them.

- Sure, sir.

- Go, now!

The four soldiers are heading for the garage as fast as they can. Those jeeps Scott saw this morning will really help the Resistance a lot, the lack of fast vehicles was limiting their plans to small areas of action, but if they capture, at least, one jeep, then they can enlarge the tactical range of their plans a bit more.

They arrive to the garage and quickly fill one of the trucks. There is a certain protocol when it takes to drive a truck to a combat zone. There can't be more than 2 persons in the front. It's been proven that the guy in the middle seat will be the first to die when someone shoots to the front of the truck. And that already costed them 3 leaders... So, when more than 2 persons are going to use the truck, the rest goes to the back. But this time, they installed Machine-Guns in the back, so the persons in the back will be very usefull now. God bless that weapon capture!

- Dana, you drive the truck and Scott will be with you to show you the place. Mark mans the gun and I'll provide him covering fire and support. Understood?

- Yes, sir.

- Ok, let's go. Oh, by the way Scott, do you know a safe path to the place?

- I only know one way, everything else is blocked, sir.

- Allright then, let's go Dana!

Dana drove the truck through the dark sewers until they reached the street. During the attacks, a bomb fell in a street, opening a big hole in the road, which made an excelent exit ramp to them. Also there is some big rubble mount just right in front of it, so they have a good cover from the Combine.

- Ok, Scott. Which way?

- Dana, to the right. 7 miles straight away.

- Isn't that street just too uncovered?

- It's the only way...

- ******* Scott! I'm sure there are plenty of ways to get there! Only way my *******...

- Shut up Dana! Just go to where Scott is saying! - says Joseph.

- Sir, but this could cost our lives! I prefer no jeeps and we alive, than 2 jeeps and we dead.

- Do you just think to yourself, don't you? How about the others then?

- Who?

- See?

- What?

- You didn't even remembered the rest of the resistance. They need the jeeps remember? You prefer to stay alive, don't capture the jeeps and have to fight with this slow trucks, or die and know the others will have a better chance to win this war, because they have fast jeeps? Also, there is a chance that you could survive this, don't you think?

- Yes sir, you are right.

- Good, now just drive the truck, we do the fireworks.

Dana accelerated the truck and it made a loud roar that echoed all over the place.

- God damnit Dana! This could even awake the dead! Drive silently! - said Scott.

- OK OK! Sorry, this truck is so old, I can't manage to drive it silently.

- Drive slowly Dana, we don't want to alert the combine, do we? - asked Joseph.

- Surely not!

- You bet!

- Ok, let's go, I don't want to take all the day on this crap.

Dana carefully drove the truck by the lage avenue, to not grab the attention of the combine.

This large avenue was one of the most important commercial points of the city, where anyone could find anything to buy. People from all points of the world could freely set up a tent and sell their products to everyone, as long as their products were not illegal. But as every rule has an exception, it could be possible to buy some good weed or hallucinogens by a good price, undercovered in some products like chocolats or small statues.

Now it's just a phantom street, with combine soldiers lurking here and there.

- Dana, go right again, it's a shortcut.

- But you said 7 miles straight away.

- I didn't remembered this shortcut ok? Do you have to argue about everything?

- Sorry, Mr. Don't-Ask-Me-Nothing-Or-I-Get-Mad! It was just a simple question... Geez...

- Calm down please. You two always have to act like little kids everytime?

- Sorry sir.

- Scott, are you sure the site was only guarded by low-ranked soldiers? This whole thing smells like ambush to me... I mean, 2 jeeps and low-ranked soldiers guarding them. How convenient! Don't you think?

- This always looked like an ambush to me all the time, but from the moment we were invaded by those things, everything looks like an ambush to me, so...

- Yep, you said it all boss!

- We're almost there, get ready.

Sorry if it's too long, but I'm copy/pasting various sections of text into few posts.

 

[Maxey]

They arived in a destroyed park, with a direct access to the site where Scott saw the jeeps. Joseph scanned the area with the binoculars and saw two soldiers in a tower's roof, right in front of them.

- Mark, 2 soldiers on that roof, can you see them?

- Yes.

- Snipe them.

- Yes sir.

Mark switched the OICW fire mode to sniper mode and placed behind a tree. At this distance it should not be necessary to go prone. Mark made a deep breath and aimed in the direction of the combines.

"Hell, I don't even need to scope"

He aimed to the chest of the left soldier.

Another deep breath.

Concentration, stability and focus.

"It's a clean shot."

Place his finger in the trigger.

Finger start to shake.

Gunshot.

Pain.

Darkness...

- MAN DOWN! MAN DOWN! MARK IS DOWN! IT'S AN AMBUSH! TAKE COVER!!

Everyone start running for cover behind rocks, walls or trees.
As expected, the whole thing was an amush made by the combine. The thing was just too convenient.

- Where are them?! Can you see them?

Dana scans the area around her, but she doesn't see anything.

- I can't see them! God damnit!

- Scott, Dana! Get over here!

Scott starts running in Joseph's direction, but a burst of fire from the left side makes him run back.

- Holy crap, we're sourrounded!

- Sir! Can you see them!

- I can't, but I think they are behind those bushes over there!

Scott grabs a grenade and launch it to the bushes. It makes two combines run out off the bushes.

- Dana, get 'em!

Dana shots a burst of fire against them and hits one of them in the leg, making him fall in the ground, but the other has more lucky and take cover in a destroyed public W.C.

Scott launches another nade to the right flank, but this time the nades were timed, making them explode exactly in the moment they land. It makes two combines fly over the place.

- WOOHOO! I'm good! AHHHHHHHHHHHWWW ******* MY ARM!! I'M HIT! I'M HIT!

Scott was hit in the left arm, by sniper fire.

- Get your heads down!

- Holy *******! They trapped us very well...

- Mark is dead and Scott was shot in the arm...

- In my good arm, God damnit!

- Shut up, at least you can still run. Can you?

- Yes.

- Sir, what do you suggest?! They are coming for us!

Joseph took a deep breath. The situation was really *******ed up for them. It was 3 guys against almost 12 combines surrounding them. And Scott was wounded in his good arm. Joseph was hidden behind a wall, Dana and Scott behind a rock. If they tried to leave from there, they would be instantly killed by enemy fire.

- Use your grenades! Let's make them disperse! Any of you have a smoke grenade?

- We have 2!

- Perfect! Throw them to the flanks, maybe this will block their vision and give us a chance to get out of here!

Dana throwed a smoke nade to the left flank, then picked up a smoke from Scott and throwed it to the right flank. Clouds of smoke quickly filled the area, blocking the combine's vision temporarily.

- OK, let's run out of here!!!

Dana and Scott ran out of their rock and met up with Joseph.

- What do we do know, sir?!

- Let's run a bit more. Can you see that little house over there?

- Yes.

- We have to go there, that house has a direct access to the sewers.

- And if they are there too?

- Yeah, Dana's right. It's another "convenient" exit.

- I know, but it's our best chance to escape.

- What about the jeeps?

- Later... But we need to pick those jeeps. They are absolutely vital for us. We should come back here with more soldiers. Scott, can you run fast?

- Yes, I can. It was the arm that was hit, not the leg.

- Allright, you two go first, I'll provide convering fire for you.

- Roger.

- Get ready.

Joseph was almost sure the house was infested with combines, but that way was the lesser of two devils.

Guest section by FoxtrotArmy

Joseph Hughes led as the point man, seeing as how Scott's good firing arm had been shot in the previous engagement. Dana help up the rear as they advanced under the billowing smoke towards the suspiscious house.
"Get ready for a warm reception. I don't want any surprises here, people," Joseph whispered to his compatriots as the neared the entrance. The Combine forces to the left and right flanks were blinded by the smoke, and didn't waste ammunition trying to hit the three humans as they got ready to proceed into the home.

"Get ready...Go!" Joseph kicked down the door, OICW sweeping right, with Scott's Baretta in his bad hand sweeping left. Dana pulled back to the door, still keeping it trained on the smoke-covered field behind them.
"Clear!" Joseph yelled, drawing back towards the group, and as one, they started to move towards the exit in the next room.
"There they are!" A guttural voice declared, and gunfire erupted from around the surrounding areas. All three fighters dropped, missing the deadly hail of bullets and lead. Joseph's weapon barked fire and took out two Combine soldiers. The others though kept up a steady rate of fire. Luckily, the humans were too low on the floor for a clean shot, allowing them some extra time to plan a strategy.
"Looks like we're f*cked now, sir!" Scott announced, Baretta spitting fire a island countertop in the kitchen area. A Combine soldier got up, and took three 9mm bullets to the face, splattering blood on the kitchen utensils behind him. Dana got up on a knee, a bullet nicking her hair, cutting some strands loose.
"Damn it, Dana! Get down!" Joseph yelled, but Dana continued to lay down heavy fire.
"We have to keep moving! Let's go!" She got up completely, followed by Joseph. The two OICW's sprayed fire in opposite directions, allowing the wounded Scott to get to his knees and advance towards the doorway. A Combine enforcer appeared, blocking the path. Scott got up and charged, knocking head-first into the alien's chest. The Combine soldier grunted and went down, and started to wrestle with the wounded human. Dana trained her sights on the brawl, but couldn't get a clear shot. The Combine grabbed Scott's shot arm, and the human yelled out in incredible pain. He rolled over onto his back, and the Combine got up and aimed his M 47 at the downed man. Dana took her chance and let loose a quick burst, dropping the creature before it could kill her friend. Joseph hurried over to Scott, followed by Dana. Suddenly the magazine dropped from Dana's rifle.
"Loading!" She announced as she started to pack in a new clip.
"Let's get the hell out of here before we're completely over run!" Scott said next, pushing out the door, and dropping down into the sewer entrance. Dana went next, with Joseph exhausting the last of his rounds. He dropped the empty mag, slammed in a fresh one, fired off a few shots and descended into the darkness that offered sanctuary...

 

[Maxey]

Me again

Joseph had almost lost the count of the sewers on he have been by now. Countless miles of sewer systems fills the underground level of Chicago. It's just like another city under the other. Some have hundreds of years, others had been constructed for less than 7 years. They are all different in aspect, but only one thing is common to all of them. The smell.

- Jesus H. Christ! This sewer smells particulary bad! - complained Scott - How can the rats live here?

- For God's sake Scott! - said Dana, infuriated - Your best friend died, you were shot in the arm, we almost lost our necks and you complain about the smell?

- Yeah! I'm more used to lost my friends, being hit and almost lose my neck than to this smell!

- It's the tragic truth Dana... - sighed Joseph - When you live in a middle of a tragedy like this, little things like that can become more important.

- Yep... Just like you said boss! - said Scott.

- Less talk now, we have to get to our sewers.

The three soldiers walked through the fetid sewers for almost 10 minutes, when a strange sound made Dana stop.

- Did you guys heard that? - whispered Dana.

- What? - asked Scott.

- I didn't heard anything. - said Joseph.

- Are you going crazy or wh...

"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWLLLLLLLLL!!!!!"

A big roar filled completely the almost selpucral silent sewers.

- WHAT THE ******* WAS THAT??!!! - screamed Scott.

- I told you! - sighed Dana.

- I don't know what the hell was that, but I'm almost sure it's not some cutie cat who want to play with us... - said Joseph - Scott, do you still have your pistol?

- Yes sir - replied him - But I only have 2 mags left and I have to shoot with my weak arm, which makes me fail a lot!

- Damn... How's your arm?

- It've been better really, its bleeding a bit, but I can handle this.

- No. I suggest you to bandage your arm right now. - imposed Joseph - Your bleed could leave an obvious trail to our location.

- Good point, sir. - replied him - I'll bandage right now.

- Dana, how are you? - asked the boss.

- Fine, sir. Almost out of ammunition, only one grenade and a big *******... thing somewhere here!! - she said - Thanks for your interest...

- Yep... You're really going cra...

"GRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWLLLLLLLLLL"

That roar again, but this time followed by heavy footsteps coming from the dark front side.

- Now I think I'm going to cream my pants... - said Scott.

- Get ready for anything! - ordered Joseph - Prepare your weapons!

The three soldiers got in postion, ready to fire at first sight...

Everything in front of them was just total darkness and that... thing was coming for them.

- This waiting is killing me... - said Dana - What the hell could that be?

- Shhh... It's getting near... - informed Joseph - Get ready to fire at will.

The footsteps were more audible at each second.

- For God's sake! My arm is getting tired! - complained Scott.

Suddenly, a silhouette apperared in the darkness. It looked like a small and fat creature, like some sort of mutant pig. It was walking unskillfully and slowly toward them.

- Whatha fff... - said Scott.

- Is that tentacles in it's mouth what I'm seeing? - asked Dana.

- Let's shoot it now! - exclaimed Scott.

- No, wait. It could be harmless. - said Scott.

- But, sir, you said us to shoot at first sight! - said Dana.

- It doesn't look dangerous...

Suddenly the creature stopped to look at them. Made some low gutural sounds and backwarded for a bit.

The three soldiers were impaciently waiting for something to happen.

But Scott couldn't wait more and shot the creature twice. The creature made a big jump and a deafening scream.

- ******* you Scott!! - screamed Dana - You had to screw it up, didn't you!

Suddenly the creature shot at them a green ball of acid, which failed Scott left leg for a few inches. The acid hit the wall and started to melt down the pipes.

- Holy *******! - exclaimed Scott - Not my leg mother*******er!

- Shoot at it!!! - screamed Jospeh.

The three soldiers's weapons started to fart bullets at the creature, nailing it down. The creature splarted yellow blood all over the place.

- Cease fire! Cease fire! - ordered Joseph.

The three stopped the shooting, with their weapons expelling smoke from the barrel.

- Is it dead? - asked Dana...

Joseph started to walk slowly towards the strange creature, it's corrosive yellow blood splarted all over the place and is slowly "eating" the cement of the sewers.

- Be carefull boss! - advised Scott.

- I will... - replied him.

"What the hell is this thing?" - he thought.

The more he approached to it, the more grotesque it looked for him. The creature looked like a pig but very different from it at the same time. It had a big, musculated tail, small fat legs, big finger-nails, a threshed and greasy skin, big tentacles around it's big and circular mouth and big sharped teeth. It was surely not from this world.

Joseph had approached enough of the creature and poke the creature with point of the barrel of his weapon. He poked it five times but the creature did not react.

- He's dead. - he announced - Let's go.

- It better be dead! - said Scott.

The two friends walked away and met with Joseph.

- Ok, I think we are almost there, just a few more miles. - announced Joseph - Let's go before more things like that come to us.

- Are you saying there are more monsters like that here? - asked Dana.

- I don't know if there are more of these things here and to say the truth, I don't want to know! - he replied - Let's go, c'mon!

Dana and Joseph started walking but Scott kept in the same place, scanning every inch of the monster.

- Scott let's go! - ordered Dana.

- I'll go right now, wait a second. - he replied - I want to see well the sucker that wanted to blew my leg.

- Screw that! Let's go!

- Argh! OK! OK! I'll go now.

But before he walked away, he kicked the horrible monster with all his force.

- Take that sucker!!

The more they waked through the sewers, the darker and direful it became. Unfortunately they forgot the flashlights in the truck and now they had almost had to lean against the wall to continue advancing, because they couldn't see crap. To make the things even worse, strange sounds coming from all over the place, similar to the creature they killed half an hour ago, were becoming more and more frequent.

Suddenly something exploded above them, in the streets, and then they started to hear hundreds of shots from assault rifles, mixed with more explosions and human screams.

- What the hell is that?! - said Joseph, surprised.

- There were no big attacks scheduled for today... Surprise attack from the combine? - said Scott.

- I hope they didn't found our base... - sighed Joseph - Dana do you still have the radio?

- Yes. - she replied - But they are useless in this sewers...

Another big explosion made the ceiling crack and some chunks of cement fell on them.

- Damn... We have to continue walking or this whole crap will fall on us!! - said Scott.

The three soldiers started running through the darkness, keeping physical contact between them to not get lost, and after 3 corners they saw a light in the end of the tunnel, illuminating an exit door.

- An exit! Finally! - announced Dana.

But suddenly the door opened, letting 5 combine metro enforcers pass through...

Luckily the combines didn't had enough time to adapt their eyes to the darkness and didn't notice the three humans, which gave them time to hide behind the corner.

- Damn... - whispered Dana - What do we do know sir?

- How are we in terms of ammunition? I only have 1 mag left. - asked Joseph.

- Miserable, boss... - declared Scott - I have only one mag left too and Dana has one grenade and...

- 2 mags... - said her - It means we're *******ed.

- It's a frag? - asked Joseph.

- What?

- The grenade.

- Yes.

- Throw it. - ordered him - Let's cause some confusion first.

Dana grabbed her grenade, pinned the pull and counted to 3 before throwing it. It exploded the right moment it touched the ground, but only killed one soldier, blowing his leg off. The other soldiers took cover immediately.

- Great. Now get ready for rush.

- What about me? - asked Scott - I can't rush with a pistol.

- Stay behind us all the time, do you understand?

- Yes boss.

- Ok, get ready. 1, 2, 3 GO, GO, GO!!

Dana, Joseph and Scott ran out of their hiding and aimed their weapons to the...

- Where the hell are they?! - said Joseph.

The combines disappeared! There was only a pool of blood on where the combine died and the marks of the nade explosion.

- What the hell?! How they managed to disappear in only 5 seconds? - asked Dana.

- I always knew they were not normal, but never imagined they were magicians now. - said Scott - Something fishy here, I say.

- Well... I think the only thing we have to do now is to get the hell out of here. - suggested Joseph.

- Good suggestion boss.

Joseph walked to the exit door, followed by his two buddies. He tried to open the door, but it was locked.

- How great... - sighed Joseph

- Sh*t, f*ck!!!! What we really needed! - cried Scott in anger.

- Oh no... - suspired Dana.

Suddenly a bullet scrapped her ear and hit the metallic door. She cried in pain and kneeled (sp?) down. Coming out of nowhere, 6 combine soldiers appeared behind them.

- TAKE COVER! - screamed Scott, while the two resistance men proned down.

A wave of bullets hit the cement above them, pulling out little chunks of it

- Dana, prone down god damnit!!! - ordered Joseph.

She was still crying in pain, but obeyed his order and hit the ground.

Joseph drew out his assault rifle and shot to the head of a combine soldier, knocking him down.

- SHOOT AT THEM GOD DAMNIT! - screamed him.

Scott was having a hard time, trying to kill them with a simple pistol but still managed to kill 2 soldiers.

- Reloading! - announced him.

Dana shot a burst of fire to the three soldiers, but only hit one in the arm, then she had to got up to reload his weapon.

- I have to reloahhhh...

Dana knocked down in the ground after a bullet perforateed her skull...

 

[Maxey]

Time seemed to stop to Scott when Dana hit the ground. Even though he've seen hundreds of friends dying in front of him, this was something more personal. Dana was he's best friend for years, even before the invasion. And even though they were always arguing with each other, they were unseparable. They always fought together, it was impossible to see them separated.

And now she died, in a blink of an eye.

- Scott! Forget her for a moment and fight!

Joseph's voice made him return to reality.

To the f*cking reality.

- She died, boss! She died!

- I know! Now fight for god's sakes!

A wave of anger grown up in Scott, burning his mind. He throwed off his pistol, picked up the machine gun from his dead friend, reloaded it, got up and started to ran in the direction of the combines, screaming and shooting the hell out of them, just like John Rambo would do.

"THIS GUY LOST HIS MIND!!!" - thought Joseph while seeing his buddy rushing against the combines.

Scott felt his blood burning like hell and revenge blinding his mind. He needed a urge to kill the assassins of his friend and didn't care if they kill him too. When he was near enough them, he jumped against the soldier who killed Dana, knocked him down and smashed the assault rifle against his head, killing him in the act. Then he turned over and killed the other two combines in one burst of fire.

- It's over. - he said.

Joseph did not believed what his eyes saw. Scott managed to kill 3 metro enforcers in a matter of seconds. Alone.

Scott got up on his feet, grabbed ammunition from the dead soldiers and ran back to Joseph.

Suddenly the exit door was unlocked.

The two resisntance soldiers quickly positionated in front of the door, aiming their assault rifles in it's direction, ready to fire.

The door opened and a low-ranked Combine Soldier went in.

- Freeze! - screamed Joseph to the soldier - Freeze or we will kill you!

The combine tried to escape but a burst of fire cut him in half, splarting blood all over the place.

- The door is opened, let's go Scott!

Joseph ran to the door but Scott didn't followed him, and instead he gone to see Dana's dead corpse.

- She's dead Scott. There's nothing more you can do for her.

- What we do to the body? - he said, almost crying - We can't leave her corpse here.

- I know Scott, but we can't do nothing.

Scott shook his head in disagreement.

- But...

- Scott!!

He lowered his head in unconformity.

- You're right boss...

- Let's go before more combine troopers come to here.

Scott packed his stuff and said a few last words to Dana's corpse before leaving the sewer.

- Rest in piece my friend. I will never forget you. Never.

The two buddies walked thru some dark corridors for 15 minutes when they finally found the exit door. When Joseph was going to open the door, all the lights turned on and a metal grate fell from the roof, making a big loud noise when it hit the ground. Then a woman's head appeared from where the grate fell, looking at the other side of the corridor.

- What the f*ck?! - exclaimed Scott.

The woman got scared by his voice and almost fell from the roof, then she turned over her head to look at them, revealing her intense blue eyes.

- Wow! You scared the hell out of me! You two are from the resistance?

- Yeah! - replied Scott, still astonished by the surprise.

- Great! - she said and then disappears the same way she appeared.

Scott and Joseph looked each other still surprised by her unconvencional appearance.

- Did you saw her eyes boss?

- Yep. The most beatifull eyes I've ever seen...

Suddenly another head appeared from the roof, but this time it was a man.

- Hey buddies! Need a rope?

Joseph and Scott climbed up the rope to the upper level, where the blue eyed woman and her mate were waiting for them.

- Hi my name's Sophia. - complimmented her - And this big boy here is Bill.

- Pleasure. - replied Joseph - My name's Joseph and my friend here is Scott.

- What were you doing down there? - asked Bill.

- Oh.. Wow... - replied Scott - It's a long story!

- We were going to our base in north Chicago...

- Oh... - said Sophia, with a surprised look in her face - You were from the north base?

- I was?

Sophia and Bill looked each other with a worried face.

- What? Something happened to our base? - asked Joseph, starting to get worried.

- Yeah... Hmmm... You're not going to like this... - said Bill.

- Well... What happened was that...

- What?! WHAT?! - cried Scot and Joseph at the same time.

- Well.. Your base was destroyed by the combine half an hour ago. No one survived. I'm sorry guys...

After that revelation, the whole world seemed to fall over to the two man. Scott felt his blood froze and had to sit down, while Joseph just got completely paralyzed. Almost 1 minute of disturbing silence had passed, when Bill interrupted it.

- I'm really sorry for you guys... - said Bill, trying to console them.

- You two look tired, let's go to our base where you can take a fresh bath and rest. You really need that. - said Sophia, trying to break the ice.

Joseph then reacted and tried to say something, but only stuttered sounds came from his mouth.

- I... I... I don't believe this... - stuttered him and then started to cry like a child who lost his mother.

Scot got up on his feet and hugged his friend, trying to calm him.

- Let's go boss, you need to take a rest.

Joseph nodded shyly and stopped crying.

- Yes... - sighed him - I need to clear up my mind. Let's go.

Sophia and Bill nodded and walked away in the direction of a sevice ladder. Joseph and Scott followed them.

This was the last section and the end of the first chapter. Second chapter to come very soon!