Shift Change

[AJ Rimmer]

Subject: Halson, John
Male, age 25

Position: Security Officer, high security detail, Black Mesa Security Force

Assignment: Area 11

Clearance: Level 4

Training: United States Marine corps

Rank: Corporal

Disaster response priority: Preservation of Facility Equipment and Materials
Secondary priority: Protect staff
Low priority: Personal safety




John stood before the mirror in the changing room and inspected himself. He was a handsome man, in his mid-twenties, fit and with a clean crew-cut. His blue Kevlar sat tight on his body and at his chest sat his id badge.
It filled him with pride to wear that badge. He wasn’t an academic man and he knew it. But he could think on his feet. Although he got through college with good grades it was due to studying hard, not pure wits. But if he could help do something to serve mankind, even if it only meant protecting a group of walking labcoats from the occasional fanatic environmentalist, it was worth it. He checked his watch, 8:22 AM, He’d better get a move on. His shift started in eight minutes.

He walked out the room and passed a man still in civilian clothing, he looked tired and was dragging a brown duffel bag in his tracks.
“Morning John.” The man looked at him under his long hair that covered most if his face above his nose.
“Hi Pete. Nice day ain’t it?”
“It won’t be a nice day as long as I have to get up at 7 in the morning!” Pete looked at John and a small hint of shock came over his face.
“****! Am I late?”
“Not yet. Don’t worry, I’ll cover for you.”
“Thanks a lot man, I really have to shower, hey, catch me later I’ll buy you a beer!”
“You’d better!” John walked out the corridor. He opened two high-security doors with his security code and emerged into a small lobby. On the spotless white floor was the BMSF logo and in big letters on the wall it read: Black Mesa Security Force, High security Area 11.
He walked up to the reception desk and said hi to Officer Martin behind the piles of paper.

“Yeah hi John, how’s it going? You’re going on duty now eh?”
“Yup.”
“Okay, I’m adding you now.”
“Add Pete to, he’s coming any second now.”
“Okay.” The man behind the desk seemed distraught by all his work and quickly added both to the log.
John marched out the doors and through a clean white corridor as he did every morning. Somewhere behind him he heard the familiar computer generated voice dispense messages through the PA system.
“Attention Agent Baldwin, Dr Fiey and Dr Johnson. Please report to topside Command and Communication Center Sector 11. Security Officer John Halson, please report to topside checkpoint Delta asap.”
He kept on going his usual speed, they always called him about five minutes before his shift was on. The men who had the shift before him always were in a hurry to get off.

Suddenly, a human voice appeared from the PA system, the man spoke quickly and to close to the microphone.
“Attention, medical emergency, incoming wounded, any medical team report to topside Command and Communication Center Sector 11 immediately. Repeat, Command and Communication Center Sector 11 immediately!”
He felt a sting somewhere. He knew something must have happened, probably some activist group had attacked one of the cars on the way to BMRF. It happened quite too often. The Black Mesa Research Facility was officially called a military installation, though the US Army had but a very small presence there. Most environmentalists assumed incorrectly that the government was conducting experiments on animals and humans. It had occurred a few times that movements like PETA had bombed the outer sections of the facility.

He reached the main gate after a few minutes, it was empty except a short man in a lab coat carrying his briefcase on his way to the main facility. This was one of the entrances to the facility. A big area of concrete surrounding the gate leading from the dirt road from Santa Fe.
He walked up the gate house marked Checkpoint Delta and opened the door. Inside were three guards, one sitting with his chin in his hands leaning against the window board facing the way in. He greeted all of them and sat down behind his desk. The small sign marked “gate supervisor” glistened in the morning sun. Officer Farnsherth walked past his door. John didn’t look up from his screen when he spoke.

“You’re late.”
“I know. I stopped near the helicopter pad to see what was with the accident.”
“And?”
“One scientist dead, one injured and one guard injured. A group of men pretended they had a puncture and stabbed the driver when he rolled down the window.” John still didn’t look up but nodded quietly.
He checked his E-mails and yesterdays log, nothing out of the ordinary there. He had gate duty one week every month. It was a nice brake from his patrolling of the facility day in and day out. He was a proud man and was very proud of what he did. But that didn’t mean he never got fed up with it. He liked both his jobs and ejoyed switching between them.
He checked the time on his computer, 8:47 AM. He stood up and went to get some coffee. Something told him it was gonna be a long shift.



Subject: Tiel, Pete
Male, age 24

Position: Security Officer, high security detail, Black Mesa Security Force

Assignment: Area 11

Clearance: Level 3

Training: Black Mesa Security force training course

Disaster response priority: Preservation of Facility Equipment and Materials
Secondary priority: Protect staff
Low priority: Personal safety



Pete walked out from the shower room. He felt wonderfully renewed. After standing and just breathing for a while he walked up to his locker and got dressed. He combed his hair back and pulled on his Kevlar. He put on his wristwatch and checked it. 8:38 AM. Perfect. He was only eight minutes late. If John had kept his word -and he almost definitely had- it would be at least another ten minutes before the desk officer missed him.
He straightened his gear, put on his helmet and id badge. He did like his job. He constantly complained about it but he loved it. First of all, it meant money in the bank. Second, it was cool to work here. He had seen a great deal strange things. He wasn’t the brainy type and he didn’t exactly go long ways to disguise it. But he found it wonderful to work in this place, everyday something happened here that only a very select few people outside (and sometimes inside) the facility could possibly know about. Pete Tiel was simply put, an ordinary American. He liked money in the bank. He liked wrestling, football and baseball. He liked Science Fiction and, as every true American, he loved feeling that he knew better than everybody else.

He looked in the mirror, smiled at his own reflection and waltzed out to the lobby.
“Sir.” Pete smiled at the short officer behind the mountain of forms and papers on top of the desk. The watch behind him showed 8:43.
“Huh? Oh Tiel it’s you. Uh let me see here…” He started going through some papers until he found a schedule and ran his finger along the list of names.
“Transit system going north, track E, that’s your beat. There’s a vent somewhere where hood looms get in to the facility so we have extra routes there now.”
“Yes sir. On my way.” He started moving to the door but the officer spoke again.
“Wait, first I want you to take a shift down in the armoury. You begin patrol at 10:00. Understood?”
“Yes sir.” Pete walked down one of the corridors marked “Armoury” and “Red line Transit hub”.

He got down one floor and reached the armoury. He knocked on the window and smiled at the half-sleeping guard inside. A small buzz was heard and Pete stepped through the door round the back that the guard just unlocked. He walked into the small room, it looked like all the rooms, spotless white walls, a few lockers next to a set of shotguns racks. Under the board at the window were a small number of 9mm pistols, all with labels with names above them. Most of them were missing now. Before the shift started there would be 19 guns stored here and always 8 shotguns ready. The other guard walked out and asked for his gun at the window. Pete found the right name quickly and gave it to him before he got busy with trying to fix the busted fan standing on the small window board. He eventually gave up and checked his watch. 8:47. He sighed deeply. It was gonna be a long shift.

 

[AJ Rimmer]

John looked out the dirty window with the steaming cup of coffee in his hand. He leaned closer to the pane to se the chopper that he clearly heard moving in over the building, and was shocked when it soared by only feet above the gatehouse. It cut a corner between the fence and over the empty desert, passed the massive bio dome complex which was only a few hundred yards from Checkpoint Delta, but two strips of concrete wall away.
The helicopter stopped somewhere up ahead, it had travelled quite a bit into the complex. It was a bit hard to follow but John could clearly se it go down behind the wall. Just moments later it got up again and came back the way it came from, passed just feet over the gatehouse just like before.
He found it a bit odd but it quickly disappeared among the hundreds of strange things that happened here. He checked his watch. 8:55. The morning supplies should be coming in about half an hour. He headed back to the booth area. He sat down in an empty chair and watched the scenery before him. A desert road stopped by two big electrified gates closing the wall around the entire parking lot, behind him were a large set of houses, security, infirmary, a few dormitories and behind them the main radio tower. Black Mesa’s main link to the outside world. Cell phones were strictly forbidden inside the compound so the radio tower was vital for contact with the rest of the US.
He yawned and lay back in the chair. He watched the surveillance monitors from outside the main gates. The clock said 8:59. He took a sip from the coffee and closed his eyes.



Pete was reading the magazine left on the table by the last guard. It was a gun magazine and he was deeply involved when a guard Pete knew well came up to him and tapped the window. Pete lay down the magazine and said hi to him.
“Hiya Dave. How’s it goin?”
“Just fine. I’m scheduled at the shooting range.”
“Oh ok. Pete checked the list and then handed him a 9mm with his name on it.”
“Range…” He peeked out the window to the shooting range besides him, it was empty.
“… all ranges are free.”
Dave smiled and went down to the range. Pete returned to his magazine. The time, had anyone checked, was 8:59.



John took another sip from his coffee at 9:02 and dropped his jaw as all monitors died. The lights in the room went next, then the warning lights on the electrical fence outside died. He looked at his colleague next to him who simply said:
“The power went.”
“Oh really? Thanks.” John looked out the window and noticed there were no lights on anywhere that he could see. Suddenly, he became aware of a rumbling, loud noises, and smoke started to rise from the main facility. He was about to send out patrols around the fence when the light soon flickered and power was returned. Immediately red light started flashing on both the guards’ consoles. John picked up a headset just in time to hear a voice reporting in.
“Attention, I’m in sector 11, area C, about 20 yards from checkpoint delta. I’ve got something here, just by the fence, it’s dead. I think it came from the biodome, repeat, possible breach of the biodome complex.”
John acknowledged the call and got on the phone to central security.
“Sir, this is topside checkpoint delta, did we just lose power?” The officer answering was very stressed.

“Yes got dammit of course we did, for **** sake.”
“What caused it?”
“I don’t know! I’m getting reports from all over the facility, something about anomalous materials lab. I’ll get back to”
Just as sudden as the last time, the power went again, but this time there were clear explosions heard from the distance, a scream echoed through the desert not far from the gatehouse. The power came back once again but the fences warning lights didn’t. The emergency power was on and the fences were one of the power sources that were cut. John rushed back into the house and collected the last shotgun from the munitions cabinet. He heard the man in the booth area try and reach central security again, he didn’t seem to have much luck.
“Okay, spread out. We may be under attack. Report in if you encounter anything!” He loaded his gun and followed Evans to the origin of the first report.



Pete was still reading when the lights went out. He didn’t bother to call in after the power came back. But when the power went again he looked up from the magazine and listened. He heard distant noises. He heard an explosion. All of a sudden there was a huge green explosion, a huge fireball shot the window pane to bits, Pete was knocked to the floor, his body covered in glass as a dead body fell out of nowhere. There was an explosion, and suddenly the ventilation shaft came tumbling down from the roof, a huge support beam hit the floor with a sound so loud Pete screamed as he covered his head and lay down on the floor.

He could hear a screaming somewhere that wasn’t his, a pipe in the wall ruptured and suddenly he was aware of water raining down on him in a steady stream. Pieces of the ceiling rained down on his back and he feared the room would cave in. He thought is last moment had come when another explosion, this one emanating from the floor shook the room and caused on of the walls behind to fall into chunks, something close to him was turned over and landed on his back.

When he opened his eyes again, it had gone mysteriously quiet. He slowly turned around to see what was lying on top of him. It was the shotgun rack. He shoved it to one side and looked up. The wall and door in which he had entered had been blasted to pieces. His face was bleeding from bits of glass and nothing in the booth was whole. Outside the corridor was completely destroyed. The support beam covered the main part of it and there were live power cables hanging from the roof, the floor was covered in water from the ruptured pipe. He backed up and opened the door to the shooting range. The whole range had been demolished. On the floor lay Dave, with a big section of the ventilation shaft on him. He rushed up and saw his face, it had a deep cut right across the left cheek. Pete lifted off the big vent and held up Daves head.

“Hey, you okay? Come on, wake up.” Dave murmured something and opened his eyes.
“Awwww ****! My head… Jesus Christ, what the hell happened?” Dave stood up with some help from Pete. He cheek was bleeding badly and he had a hard time standing straight.
“I don’t know. But we better get up to the lobby, can you walk?” Dave moaned as something in his body hurt a little more than everything else.
“Probably not too good.” Pete sighed heavily and heaved Dave up so that he could support him on his shoulder.
“That’s okay. Let’s go.” They slowly stumbled out the shooting range and past the armoury when Pete stopped.

“What is it?” Dave asked when Pete helped him to lean against the wall.
“I don’t know what happened here but I’m not going out there un-armed.” He climbed out over the destroyed wall with a 9mm in his holster and a shotgun on his back.
“Alright, let’s get going again!” He pulled up Dave off the floor and they kept going. They ducked under the beam and finally reached the elevator 20 yards further down the corridor. Pete pressed the elevator button and nothing happened.
“****!” Pete helped Dave down again and forced open the elevator doors. The elevator was there but all the power was off. His eyes locked onto the escape hatch and his mind on the ladder behind it. He turned to Dave and saw that he had his eyes closed.

“Wake up! Dave, wake up! You have to stay awake! Do you hear me? Dave! Wake up!” He slapped him on his good cheek. Dave opened his eyes and swayed with his head back and forth. He then put his hand underneath his Kevlar and lifted it off his chest. Pete looked underneath it. There was a big wet area, his uniform was clearly covered in blood and more was gushing out from the nasty wound in his stomach.
“How did you get that?” Pete looked frightened at him
“I don’t know… I… **** it hurts…” Dave started to drift out of consciousness again but Pete shook him heavily.
“Listen to me! You have to stay awake ok? I’m going for help but I’ll come back for you! Stay awake!”

He slapped Dave again then heaved himself up through the hatch and grabbed the ladder and started climbing up the elevator shaft. Behind him he could hear Dave moaning.

 

[PunisherUSA]

"low priority: personal safety" - kinda cheesy

"He liked Science Fiction and, as every true American" lmao!

More good stuff yay! Dos this run paralell to your previous story?

 

[AJ Rimmer]

"low priority: personal safety" - kinda cheesy

"He liked Science Fiction and, as every true American" lmao!

More good stuff yay! Dos this run paralell to your previous story?

1: That's in Blue Shift.
2: No, it doesn't, comepletely different story.

 

[jonesey2k]

keep it up man :cheese:

 

[AJ Rimmer]

John stood with his Franchi-Spas 12 close to his body, leaning over the strange corpse of a dog-like creature which had been grilled when the electrified fence had been turned on again. It looked like a small dog, only with ridges going vertically over its back and where its face would be there was just a strange assortment of eyes in random patterns. The creature seemed utterly pathetic and both John and Evan felt a bit sorry for the little guy.

“So what the hell is it?” Evans looked down and poked the body with his shotgun while he spoke.
“I don’t have a clue. But I guess it must have escaped from the biodome complex.” Evans looked up at John and stared at him.
“You mean this fella climbed two 20 feet electrified concrete walls and ran a clear 200 yards in less than a minute while avoiding all security systems in the biodome and the over 30 security cameras in the parking area?”
“Well you explain where the **** it came from then!” John looked around. The yard area outside the gatehouse was a big parking lot, this part of the facility however had not been covered in asphalt but the parking lot was merely a big field of sand with white lines. There was nothing out of the ordinary apart from the dead creature before his feet. In the distance he could se some spread out fires. The biodome complex had a small reception building that had collapsed into itself but it was pretty far from the actual domes. His eyes kept going along the whole compound and suddenly he stopped at the corner of one of the buildings.

A line of security guard dormitories were placed vertically from the gatehouse and at one of the houses there was a small line in the sand. A small, barely visible, thin red line in the sand shot out from behind the corner, just at the cement foundation of the barrack. He got Evans attention to it and they ran over there. The line that so clearly spoke its language upon closer inspection was blood. It lead in a steady stream to the lifeless body of a security guard. He had big wounds, almost like gun wounds all over his stomach and chest. His 9mm lay in the sand next to him and there was blood running down from his ears onto the back of his head.
John was about to speak into his radio when a message came through.
“All units this is patrol 3, we’ve found a dead animal behind a set of garbage cans, don’t know how it got here though. I don’t know what it is but it sure doesn’t look natural.” John responded quickly.
“Does it sort of resemble a small, fat dog?” There was a brief pause.
“Uhm… yeah, I guess now that you mention it.”
“All units, this is patrol leader. We have a containment breach, unauthorized lifeforms in the compound, they are to be considered dangerous.”



Pete hit the door once more and it finally fell to the ground. It was the third door he had to knock down and it got harder and harder. His shoulder ached as he rushed through the ruins of the corridor leading to the main lobby. He suddenly heard the PA system go online. The voice occasionally broke off into static disturbance.
“Warning, high energy detonation detected in materials lab, sector C. All security personnel in sector C report to anomalous materials lab, immediately.” Pete crawled under a fallen beam and kept listening to the messages.

“Biohazard warning in sector B and C. Reactor coolant leak in sector E. Biodome complex reports unauthorized biological forms detected in coolant maintenance area, main access area, main dormitories, main observation tank, observation tanks 1, 2, 3 and four. All security and biohazard containment teams report to biodome complex immediately. Warning, anomalous energy field detected in administration center, topside communication center and topside checkpoint Charlie, Delta, Fox and Gamma.”
Pete got out the other side and stumbled through the doors to the lobby. The lights were flickering and he only caught glimpses of familiar faces. He walked up to a man he knew called Hitchford.
“Pete… jeez, are you ok?” Pete looked at him strangely and for the first time he noticed he had a big piece of class stuck in his chin. He pulled it out and held his hand at the bleeding.

“I’m fine, I need help, Dave’s down there…” Hitchford stopped him.
“I know, the security camera at the elevator is on. The roof caved in about two minutes ago. He’s dead.” Hitchford walked away to help some unknown man. Pete just stood there. Dave was dead. It didn’t really seem real. This was too weird. What the **** was going on?! He thought to himself that at least now, things couldn’t get any worse.
The PA system came crackling back on again but the voice was human, after a moment Pete recognized it as officer Martin.
“Attention all security and science personnel in area 11. Report to topside checkpoints immediately.”
He then walked out from behind the desk and joined the rest of the guards in the room. Pete counted about 20. He conversed with some officers and then spoke to the whole group.

“Okay, here’s the plan. We’ll try and get to sector F, the supervisor there says they have a clear way up to checkpoint Fox. We only have to get there. It’s about 3 kilometres and after that, we should be in the clear. I just got news that they’re sending for help from the military. But until that help arrives, we’d better look out. According to reports, we have unauthorized biological forms in all sectors, no-one seems to know what they are or where they come from but they can defend themselves and are very aggressive. If you see anything that looks even remotely like ET, shoot it.” Martin pulled back the pump handle on his shotgun very dramatically (at least to him) and said:
“Let’s go!”



John heaved himself up to the ledge of the window and peered into the barrack. It was empty. He and Evans were checking the barracks nearby, looking for more creatures or wounded personnel. The barrack was empty. He jumped down on the sand again. Evans stood next to him, squeezing his shotgun.
Evans was a good man, one of the best. He had military experience and couldn’t have hid it if had tried. He was one of the best in his platoon and could probably have gone far in the army but he had married a girl in Santa Fe and didn’t want a job too dangerous after they had kids. John had known him when they served together and had helped him get a job at Black Mesa. He trusted him with his life.

John looked at Evans and nodded towards the next set of barracks. They had barely a feet when there was a loud high-pitched screaming. Both of them threw up their shotguns and checked their surroundings.
“What was that?”
“I don’t know, I’ve never heard anything like that before.”
“Could be a wolf.” Evans still sounded confident but John was nervous.
“Wolves don’t make that sound.” The scream returned, louder and much, much closer this time.
“Where the hell is it coming from!” John spun around, half expecting to see Evans being eaten by some monster, but he was mistaken. The scream came again, even closer, he turn around and flinched as something caught his attention in the corner of his eye. He stared down at the moving small pile of sand right at his feet, he was so surprised that he even forgot to alert Evans.

The four sharp claws bored deep into the flesh if his neck and cheeks, he fell the slimy parasitic organs slipping against his face, the panic started to surge through him when the fell a set of hands joining his, trying to get under the little creature. Eventually it slowly came off him, long slimy tubes being dragged out of his mouth, they had been forced down his mouth and nose so quickly and without any mercy that he was sure he was going to vomit, but something had held it back. He fell to the ground and threw up against the warm red sand. He heard a shotgun fire and quickly turned around. The little headcrab lay in a growing pool of its own blood. Evans reached him a hand and helped him to his feet. He felt sick, the world was spinning. Evans put his arm on his shoulder and they slowly made their way to the gatehouse.

 

[Sprafa]

damn, you're good.

You just work on Fanfic ?

 

[AJ Rimmer]

damn, you're good.

You just work on Fanfic ?

Actually i'm hoping to be a writer.

 

[PunisherUSA]

No kidding. Come up with an orignal story, and I'm pretty sure you could get it published. This stuff is damn good.

You have any non-HL writing out and about?

 

[Brian Damage]

You could definately make the grade...

 

[AJ Rimmer]

I do, but most of my non-hl stuff is in Swedish, I could try and translate it though. I mostly have beginnings, very few completed stories.

 

[PunisherUSA]

I actually sorta figured your primary language wasn't English. Little misspells like 'brake' instead of 'break', small stuff.

What's the Swedish stuff on anyway? If you don't like them don't bother. Usually stuff you don't enjoy writing doesn't turn out well.

Or .. You could post more of this story!! I'm on the edge of my seat!

 

[AJ Rimmer]

Different stuff, sci-fi's, detective stories etc.
Well, okeli dokeli



The group of twenty or so men was walking across the narrow passages on each side of the submerged transit system. The transit hub monitoring central had shown red lights on all lines. The auxiliary generators didn’t spare power to anything but containment for the labs and reactor cores. Emergency lighting gave the whole facility and eerie gloomy feeling. Pete felt like he was going down the hallway of a haunted house.
Down on the rail was a steady stream of not very clean water flowing over the dead tracks. Five minutes ago it wasn’t even noticeable against the ground but it had quickly risen to about half a foot’s depth.
Pete stood looking over the edge of the railing. He tapped Hitchford’s back and asked:

“What’s that coming from?” Hitchford leaned out next to Pete.
“It’s probably sewage water.” Pete stared at him with angry eyes.
“Hitch, you’d have to have been born without a nose to not know that that is sewage water, I asked where it was coming from.” Hitchford looked embarrassed and quickly tried to restore himself again.
“The biodome complex is right above us, it’s probably from their sewage plant.”
“yeah…” Pete looked up, he suddenly saw something he didn’t pick up from before. The concrete roof was leaking. Drops of water was falling down into the small river quickly forming underneath. There were cracks in the concrete as well. They sure as hell hadn’t been there before this all happened.
He was thinking about it when Hitch pulled his sleeve and they joined the rest of the group.

The two groups both stopped at the same place on both sides of the track. The water level was rising very rapidly now. Small waterfalls were emanating from the roof, Pete figured it was about time they left.
They had stopped at an expandable bridge that would lead the other team over to their side, there was a maintenance door on Pete’s side but the controls to the bridge weren’t working, the other team was working on it.
The leader of Pete’s group pulled up his hand and signalled the rest of the men to be ready, 11 shotgun barrels raised nervously into the air, there was a sound, someone running in water.
From the bend up front emerged a man in a lab coat, up to his ankles in water, he was running as fast as he could. There was a loud sound coming from behind him, when the man saw the guards standing high above him he froze.

“Thankyou god, you have to stop it, it’s coming this way, it is ARGHH!!!” The scientist was hit by something in the back. Suddenly a huge monster came running up to him, at least ten feet, with arms the size of motorcycles. It made grunts and stopped. It looked stupidly on the men standing on the ledges with 19 shotgun barrels aimed at it.
The scientist was lying down, his body completely submerged under the water. The “Grunt” looked down and picked up the body, he screamed loudly and grunted. The scientist was waving his arms and legs, desperately screaming;

“No! Oh god no! I don’t want to die! Help! Help! Help me! Heee-“ The grunt threw him into the cement wall and stamped his feet. All the guards opened fire. Pete watched small bug-like things launch from the creature’s hive hands and hit some men on the other side, they fell over the railing and didn’t move.
He saw Martin stand on the other side, he held his 9mm and took careful aim, he put the bullet right in the monster’s face, between the eyes. It screamed louder and started waving its hands, shooting aimlessly at the roof.
The shots caused cracks to grow larger, small holes appeared in the roof and more water came flowing down. There was a loud rumbling and an explosion. Then an enormous shake and somewhere far behind them he could hear there was a cave in. Then a rushing noise. Pete just stood there and stared in awe, as 600 litres of coolant water came rushing down the corridor. He didn’t move until it was almost upon them when someone grabbed him and pulled him through the maintenance door. The door shut in front of him the moment he landed on the cold floor. Someone screamed at him and then he heard nothing but water attacking the steel door.
He looked up and saw Hitchford climbing up a ladder through a narrow pipe. He waved at Pete to follow him.

 

[Brian Damage]

Stories like this would be good in some sort of Half Life Short Story Anthology. We could call it "Perspectives", or something. Hey, maybe VALVe would make these available as PDFs over Steam?

 

[PunisherUSA]

I doubt Valve would refuse free stories. Just copyright it and maybe start a petition to show that people really think this is good stuff(I think you have several signatures already . Then they might accept it and put it on steam. But not a bad idea.

 

[AJ Rimmer]

Are you guys serious?
Do you really think this stuff is that good?

 

[Brian Damage]

Well, I'll put it this way: It's not the worst writing I've ever read. I'm a little critical of any of the writing on these forums, it being fanfiction, fanfiction often being the lowest forms of writing, and me being "The man with three bookshelves"...

But, for fanfiction, some of this stuff (Including yours, Mr. Rimmer), is superlative.

 

[AJ Rimmer]

Well, I'll put it this way: It's not the worst writing I've ever read. I'm a little critical of any of the writing on these forums, it being fanfiction, fanficiton being often one of the lowest forms of writing, and me being "The man with three bookshelves"...

But, for fanfiction, some of this stuff (Including yours, Mr. Rimmer), is superlative.

I think that's the atitude of everyone (including me) because the thought everybody has is: "He couldn't be bothered to make up a story of his own"



Which, is sort of true. But then again, I love Half-life and it certainly left a LOT of windows open for fanfic so its not very strange.

 

[PunisherUSA]

Have you ever read The Da Vinci Code? Your writing style sorta reminds me of his. You make and answer questions just enough to want a reader finish it in one sitting. The only thing you could expand on in writing is material, possibly multiple plotlines, 2-3 unique perrspectives on the same story/plot, and less linear scenes.

You also have just the right amount of detail. You explain the environment and characters well, but not so much as to bore readers.

I would recommend seriously conidering Damage's idea of having valve publish it on steam. Like I said, just get it out there and prove a fanbase.

Another idea I sorta had is actually recording these as short films IN hl. It's quite possible, but not easily detailed as the story is.

 

[AJ Rimmer]

It would be kinda cool. And when HL2 get's out the source engine might make it easier.

 

[Brian Damage]

I think I'll go through these stories tomorrow and review, once more, the really good ones. This sounds promising. Fanfics on Steam could help aleviate (SP?) the wait for those of a literary persuasion... I wonder what VALVe would think...

 

[AJ Rimmer]

This could really be cool. I'm sure everyone would get as excited about it as we have.

 

[AJ Rimmer]

John threw up one more time and then looked back up at the officer standing before him.
“How’s the north personnel entrance?”
“The train doesn’t have any power, but it doesn’t matter, the tunnel caved in about ten minutes ago.”
“Alright, so the only way into the facility would be through the biodome complex. Right?”
“Yes sir. We only need to open the security gates and we’re in. Once inside it’s gonna get tricky though, there isn’t anyone here with the proper access codes.”
“The biodome took a heavy beating to, it may be hard to set up a base of operations there. Maybe we should just wait here for the military to arrive.” Evans was sitting next to John, looking out the window.
“Shh. Do you hear that?” Everybody in the room stopped talking, the sound of a helicopter approaching put them all into a state of slow-motion shock.
They all ran out and stood outside, their eyes gazing at the sky.

“There! Over there! It’s coming from the north!”
“Is it the military?”
“Yes but… there’s only one chopper.” Evans kept looking for it and asked the guard just as he saw it.
“What chopper is it?” The guard waited quiet a while before he answered.
“I think it’s a cobra.”
The helicopter swept over them, it circled around the far edges of the facility a few times and then swept in beyond the bidome. The group of men heard gunshots and missiles being fired, followed by a roar that made Evans think of movies like King Kong.

The chopper came back, followed by what looked like lasers in many different colours.
It soared in the air right in front of them for a moment, then turned around and before anyone could even guess what would happen, a line of smoke hit the radio tower.
The blast shook the ground and John watched with dread as the radio tower swayed and then slowly at first, and then faster and faster mad its way towards the ground. It hit the ground and a huge dust cloud stormed the parking lot. When the sand settled, the helicopter was gone.

 

[PunisherUSA]

bum bum bahhhh!! gasp!

 

[AJ Rimmer]

“So what the **** do we do now?!” Pete was sitting on an overturned bucket in a storage closet, him, Hitchford and a guard called Jonathan were the only ones who survived the river rafting.
“First of all, we should check out that leg of yours.” Jonathan pointed towards Pete’s right thigh and Pete looked down in confusion.
It hadn’t hurt when the grunt hit him but now he felt the stinging sensation. He pulled up his trouser leg and gasped when he saw the yellow infection quickly spreading around the swollen red tissue surrounding the wound.
Hitchford kept searching shelf after shelf and finally came back with a role of bandage. He quickly wrapped it around Pete’s leg.

“Can you walk?”
“I could climb couldn’t I?”
“Alright. I think there’s a sewage system running from here to Fox. We have to get below the flooring.”
Hitchford helped Pete up from his seat and stood him up.
“Let’s go.”
They made their way through the cafeteria and then through several small offices, most of them were for the administrational personal. They found a maintenance closet and climbed down a ladder to underneath the floor. It was a narrow passage with very high roof. Outside the walls they could hear water flowing. They went out through a door and found themselves standing on a very narrow edge of a river of water.
They jumped in, the water only reached to the knees but smelt terrible. Pete did the best he could to keep the water off his wound but it was impossible.
“Awww… how long to sector Fox?”
“Maybe a kilometre.”
“Perfect.”

They waded through the messy water upstream so it didn’t go very fast. After about fifteen minutes the reached a section where the roof had caved in.
“What the hell is going on? What caused this? Why is the whole freakin’ facility breaking apart?”
“I don’t know! Why the hell are you asking me?! Ask the ****ing scientists! It’s them who are messing about with all kinds of different shit! Not me!”
“Calm down both of you.” Hitchford put a finger to his lips and Pete and Jonathan stopped arguing.
“Do you hear that?”
It was all quiet except the rushing of the water.
“Hear what?” Pete asked quietly and then he heard it. A long, slow scream in agony.

“What is it?” Jonathan was shaking, his voice was getting anxious.
“I don’t know but it’s close.”
Pete flashed his flashlight down the dark corridor but it was empty. This was freaking him out.
“Where is it? Find it!”
“There’s nothing there!”
“Then where is it coming from?” Pete didn’t answer. Suddenly he felt something stroking his leg.
“What was that?”
“What?” Pete didn’t have time to answer. He was pulled down under water and dropped his shotgun and flashlight in the drop. A two-legged monster stood up above him, its savaged body swayed and raised its arms. The headcrab had it in its force. It brought down its sharp claws on Pete’s already massacred leg before a shot right where the victims head was put it down. It screamed in agony before it finally fell silent and stopped moving.
The two men helped Pete up. His leg was bleeding a lot more now. He screamed in pain.

“Arggh! Aww **** it hurts! What the hell was that?!
“I don’t know, but it wore a Kevlar and a Black Mesa Security uniform!”
“ARGHH! It ****ing stabbed me! God it hurts!”
“I know it hurts. We gotta get him som help.” Hitchford whispered to Jonathan and they both carried Pete on their shoulders down the stream to the nearest maintenance door a few yards down.

 

[Edcrab]

English isn't your first language? Good grief! That's incredible.

I especially like the short, sharp descriptions; keeps the story flowing and to the point. Your clever use of conversation is thickening out both the characters and the story; I'd say you're at a proffessional standard meself.

Plus, and I honestly mean no offence to those on other websites, you manage to tell a HL tale without sounding corny or amateurish. Massive kudos to you mate!

 

[AJ Rimmer]

Jeez. Thankyou. Really thanks.
Hearing stuff like that really makes me proud.

 

[Brian Damage]

This is quite good... Reminds me of a (Good) Action/Horror/Sci-Fi movie...

 

[AJ Rimmer]

It was 10:56 and the hot New Mexico sun was contributing to the foul smell in the gatehouse. John wasn’t solely responsible for it though, three other security guards had been attacked by the small creatures and were throwing up all over the ground by now.
John was standing outside in the shadowy side of a barrack with a view of the biodome, trying not to move. Heat and movement seemed to upset his stomach even more. He also noticed he had troubles keeping his balance. He felt woozy just standing up. Also he felt a massive headache was about to make an entrance.
Evans walked up to him. John noticed he had a sticky yellow substance on his uniform.

“What happened?” John pointed at the gooey liquid on his Kevlar.
“Some kind of grey, weird-looking alien with a big red eye. Shot some green rays at Petersen.” John looked doubtfully at him.
“Green rays? You’re sounding like a sci-fi flick.”
“Yeah well I don’t like the script, Petersen got hit pretty badly.”
“Is it serious?”
“I’ve never seen burns like that before. His arm has gone completely black, it feels like coal! I think it may be coal.”
“Shit. We need a doctor. I doubt we can care for these kinds of injuries.”
“How are you doing?” John looked very pale, it was far too obvious to anyone that he was in bad shape.
“I’ve been throwing up for about an hour, how do you think I’m doing?” Evans nodded and gave up on the subject.
Someone shouted across the parking lot. Neither John or Evans could hear what it was, but it sounded urgent.

John stood straight up and listened. The shout returned. It still wasn’t recognizable. But then someone closer to the gatehouse relayed the message and they both heard it clearly this time.
“Dust cloud at the horizon! Vehicles approaching!”
John and Evans both rushed across the hot sand, it was high-noon now and the heat was without mercy.
They ran up to the main gate and stared at the sight in front of them.
A huge cloud of sand stretched out maybe a hundred yards. It was steadily growing closer and closer.
Someone handed John a pair of binoculars. He looked at the magnified picture of the oncoming storm. He could just barely recognize some trucks.

“It looks like the military alright. Looks like army trucks.”
“Good, maybe they can explain why the hell they blew up our communications tower.”
They all watched the convoy grew larger and larger. When it was just a few hundred yards away John called the radio for the gatehouse to open the gate.
“Sorry sir, the gate went down along with the electrical fence.”
Evans bashed the lock on the gate with the butt of his shotgun until it gave.
Minutes later truck after truck rolled in through the gates. John waited until the last one stopped and walked out from under the shade of the gatehouse. There were maybe two hundred men in the trucks. It didn’t take him long to find an officer. He walked up to him.

“Sir. I’m Officer Halson, Black Mesa Security. Can I speak to the one in charge please.” The skinny lieutenant pointed over his shoulder.
“The captain is over there. He’s waiting for you.” John walked through the crowd of soldiers until he spotted a man with the captain insignia.
“Sir! I’m Officer Halson, Black Mesa security.” The captain was a big man, well-trained, the kinda guy you’d expect in a Rambo movie.
“Ahhh, you’re in charge here? Good, I’m Captain Cleer, Fox Company, 25th Recon regiment. What’s the situation here?”
“The whole facility is crawling with hostile creatures, don’t know where they came from or what they are but they’re dangerous. The entire compound is on emergency power, we don’t have phone lines, no transit and no electric fences. We had a radio but one of your flying boys took it out.”
“Yes I know, the pilot had too itchy trigger fingers, you can bet your ass he got to taste hell when he got back. Now. Any suggestions?”

“Well, we need to secure this area, I’ve been trying to set up a gathering point outside the main facility but I don’t have the manpower to spare. These things are everywhere. We need to get into the facility and start pulling people out. I also need medical assistance for my men.” The captain examined the pale looking security guard.
“You don’t look too hot yourself. You need help?”
“I’m all right but my men need help now!” The captain once again examined him from head to toe.
“Do you have military background?” John smiled.
“Yes sir. Corporal John Halson, United States Marine Corps.” He snapped a salute and smiled wider. The captain smiled back and then got on the radio.
“Alright, all units listen up! Alpha, Beta units; I want you to start sweeping the checkpoint area, stay sharp! Charlie, Delta units; keep the gatehouse secure and wait for the main force to arrive. Echo and Fox; assemble at the main gate for a special detail. And get a medical team to the gatehouse immediately! All units are to co-operate with local security forces.”

 

[AJ Rimmer]

The three men walked as fast as they could with their wounded comrade in the middle.
They had been trying to find help for an hour. The entire area was empty.
They had just kicked in a door and was entering a new office area.
“Where the hell is everyday?” Jonathan was out of breath but still answered.
“I think they… probably got to the… surface by now…”
“Let’s rest for a while.” They put Pete down against a wall and sat down next to him catching their breath.
“It doesn’t make sense. How did they get to the surface so soon?”
“I don’t know.” Hitchford wiped the sweat off his forehead and put his head back.
“I think I know why there’s nobody here.” Jonathan and Hitchford both turned to Pete.
“Yeah?”

“Yeah. I think they tried setting up a meeting point here. And they got interrupted by something.”
“Why do you think that?”
“There’s a cardboard sign that says “meeting point” and an arrow with blood splatters underneath on the wall of that corridor over there.”
Jonathan and Hitchford stood up and stared down the dark corridor. There were several blood patterns under the cardboard sign. They helped Pete to his feet and they walked through the corridor, all with guns ready.
They entered a cafeteria, all the tables were covered in blood and bodies. The chairs had been pushed to the sides. There was a scientist with dried blood on his labcoat laying on the floor nest to the door. His head was covered in extremely severe burns and his arm had been torn off. A dead security guard was lying face down with a big pool of blood under him. His arm stretched out towards a 9mm gun on the floor.

Another scientist had had his head split open by something unknown. There were bullet holes and blood everywhere. A dead corpse of a small bull-like animal lay in a mixture of alien blood and entrails. It was facing another dead guard. He had presumably managed to take it out before he died. His face had severe burns, it looked like an acid had gotten on his face. It was not a pretty sight.
From what the three men could determine, it had been many waves of attacks rather than one concentrated attack.
“Jeezus Christ. It’s like a slaughter house in here.” Pete stared at the horrible scene before them. There were a few zombie bodies laying only feet in front of him and he shrugged when he saw them.

“Let’s get out of here, this place is creeping me out.” Jonathan turned around and cried out. The scream was followed by shotgun fire.
Pete and Hitchford turned around. The corridor behind them was occupied by eight zombies making their way towards them.
They all opened fire at once, three zombies hit the ground. They reloaded and fired again. Two more landed in agonizing screams from the tormented cerebrals of their former personas.
One of the last two zombies took a swing at Hitchford but Jonathan brought the butt of his shotgun deep into the stomach of it and emptied a shell in it when it hit the ground.
Pete put a bullet in the headcrab of the last one and they all reloaded and then crouched down waiting for more of them.
When none came, they helped Pete up on their shoulders and got out of there as fast as possible.

 

[Subatomic]

Very nice stuff, I want more!

 

[Brian Damage]

^^ Agreed.

 

[YourMom]

Agreed. More please.

 

[AJ Rimmer]

Evans was walking between the barracks, leading the two marines through the maze of dormitories.
His shotgun felt like a lifeline, a way to get back to the reality in what otherwise felt like a bad “Alien”-clone.
“So you were in the corps huh?” One of the marines asked as they passed a wooden barrack.
“You bet. 12th Regiment, Delta Company.”
“This job must be a piece of cake after the corps.” Evans laughed.
“You can say that again. I was over qualified to say the least.” He was about to say something else but a red blood stain mixed with sand and the body of another of the small parasitic creatures. The other marine coughed and the one who’d spoken before mumbled quietly;
“Well, at least this job seems more interesting than the army. What the hell do the guys do in there?”

Evans poked the carcass with his shotgun barrel.
“I have no idea.” Evans led the marines further down the parking lot to the site where they had first encountered one of the big, grey aliens. A guard Evans knew was leaning against a wall, guarding the corpse with his shotgun at the ready.
“What the ‘hell’ is that?” The soldier followed the body’s outlines with his MP5. It was the same size as a human body, disfiguring wounds had torn its flesh. They sticky yellow blood mixed with the sand underneath. Its big red eye was dead, the accusing stare that didn’t seem to differ from the dead eyes of human corpses.

“This is the biggest thing we’ve seen so far, if you don’t include something that sounded like a goddamn 18 wheeler hitting a horde of horny bulls. Couldn’t get a view of it though but it sounded ‘big’.”
The marine whom Evans had spoken to, his name was Sergeant Talbert and the other one was Corporal Jones, got on his radio.
“Sir we got one of the bigger anomalies here, it’s about 5 feet in size, two eyes. Doesn’t look much tougher than us but apparently they are faster. That guy who got into a fight with this thing ended up real bad. If there are a lot of these inside the facility we’d better stay outside till the main force arrives.”

John sat inside the gatehouse on a wooden chair in a corner, walking around tending wounded. Three of his men had been severely injured, two soldiers had been attacked by a group of three of the little dog-like animals. They were suffering from internal bleedings and a constant ringing in their ears. Talking to them was impossible. The “dogs” had emitted a loud noise that almost ruptured their internal organs and damaged their ears badly.
The medic were comforting them but John didn’t give them a high chance of survival.

He stood up and walked over to his office that he had freely lent out to Captain Cleer. He was on the radio when John stepped in.
“Roger that Talbert, keep patrolling the area and watch out. I’ll be sending a report to Santego within the hour. I want the area completely secure by then. Understood? Out.” He looked up at John and nodded for him to come in.
“What can I do for you Halson?” John noticed the captain had moved around his papers. Technically those papers were highly confidential but he doubted that he wouldn’t get into trouble because of ‘that’.
“My men are eager to help. I still got nine men and they know the base in and out. We just need professional help getting into the base. We’re not exactly equipped for rescue missions.” Cleer looked at him for a while before he spoke.

I’m sending a scouting party down through the transit tunnel. My engineers blasted through about five minutes ago. I’ll need a guard to show the way.”
“Leroy is still in good shape and he used to work in the central transit hub. He’ll know the way. Where are you going?” Cleer spoke very business like, not with the warmth of one brother in arms to another like he had before. John assumed he had just fallen back to the role of commanding officer. Like every good leader should.
“We’re gonna try and re-establish power to the transit system. Our schematics show there’s an electrical board a few hundred feet down the tunnel that should prepare the emergency system for activation once the main force arrives here. Then their engineers can fix the whole system and that will make it easier for us to…” Cleer went silent for a moment and just stared at nothing in particular for several seconds before he finished. “…evacuate the facility.” John thought for a moment and asked:
“I don’t know of any emergency system?” Cleer gathered his papers and sounded a little annoyed.

“Well the US Army did build this thing in the first place. We got detailed plans over it. Please call for uhmm…”
“Leroy.”… John filled in.
“…Leroy, to meet my men outside the gatehouse. He’ll be escorted by two of my men. Thank you Halson.”
John nodded and left, feeling confused.

He definitely hadn’t heard anything about an emergency system for the transit lines. Shouldn’t that have been a vital part of the emergency procedures they had to drill on every month? And where were the backup generators that supported this emergency system?
Of course, it wasn’t impossible that he had simply missed it. The complex sure was big enough. He didn’t know a fourth of it. But something was bugging him about it. He played with the radio in his palm for a while, thinking before he called.
“Leroy. Meet me behind barrack fourteen in three minutes. Alone.”

 

[AJ Rimmer]

“****! Stop! Stop I can’t take it anymore!” Pete screamed as Jonathan and Hitchford put him down against the blood splattered wall and crouched next to him with shotguns ready.
“I’m sorry… I’m sorry. It… it hurts so much. It’s like having a steel rod driven right through my thigh. It hurts like hell.” Hitchford and Jonathan looked at each other. As if he could read their minds he grunted between his moans of pain;
“Just leave me here, there’s no way you can get out of here if you’re gonna be dragging me all the way. It took us three minutes to get up a couple of stairs and I’m useless in a fight. Just leave me here with my handgun and go! I’m not gonna make it anyway.”
The two security guards whom Pete had until this day only considered as people who he worked with had become his most intimate friends. They looked long at each other and at their wounded comrade and thought in silence. Finally Jonathan said: “**** you.” And pulled him up with Hitchford and then they were off again.

They kept walking slowly through the dark corridors. Everywhere they had gone the numbers of bodies had increased. There wasn’t a corridor they had passed that didn’t have bullet holes, blood or bodies. The lights were flickering or were dead. Several times they heard distant screams and sounds of fights but they couldn’t be pinpointed nor reached in time.

Apart from zombies they had had very few encounters. They had however suddenly found them rounding a corner and standing just feet from one of the more man like creatures, they had found bodies but the real thing was much more frightening. Especially in the gloomy atmosphere brought on by flickering neon lights. It raised its arms and shot a green lightning bolt right across Hitchfords shoulder that set fire to his uniform. Jonathan had let go of Pete at the same time as Hitchford did to put out his fire, he unloaded two rounds from his gun into its giant red eye, it let out a scream and tried to run but collapsed on the floor, screaming and waving its arms. Jonathan put it out of its misery.

They walked into yet another corridor; this one contained a dead security guard. His body was filled with huge wounds, that rung a painful bell in Pete’s mind. They must have been caused by zombies. Further from him lay two dead scientists; one of them had gotten his face slit open by a similar attack. The guard had died on his post, doing his duty. They had probably been trying to reach the elevator at the end of the corridor.
The three men got into the elevator and checked it with eager. They pushed the close button and the doors slid into an impact. They had power!
The elevator only reached two floors up but that put them only 90 feet underneath the surface.
Jonathan reached out an arm and with trembling fingers he put the top button.
The elevator kicked to life and raised the three men into the heavens.

 

[AJ Rimmer]

Subject: Cleer, Butch
Male, age 25

Training: United States Marine Corps, West Point Military Academy

Rank: Captain

Commanding Officer: Colonel Dave T. Bull

Current Assignment: Hazardous Environment Combat Unit Reconnaissance detail, Santego Military Base, Arizona

Mission: Classified



Captain Cleer sighed deeply and looked out the dirty window pane. He felt very anxious. He knew he had to send in his report soon. And he was pretty sure what kind of response his report would generate.
It made him feel guilty in advance but he would have no choice. Maybe he could prevent it though, but it sounded doubtful.
He saw Halson walk towards the front of the gatehouse with another man whom Cleer assumed correctly was Leroy. Halson was a good man. It showed that he was a former marine.

The two soldiers, Corporal Huster and Private Bronson followed the thin guard and they headed for the east personnel entrance. Halson watched them disappear behind a dormitory and then ran off between a couple of barracks. Odd. He was supposed to stay in the gatehouse and tend to his men. Cleer assumed he still felt a sense of duty to his employers. He was probably just checking up on his men still roaming around the checkpoint.
The captain was interrupted in his trail of thoughts by a tall Sergeant whose name he couldn’t recall at the time.
“Sir. My men are still patrolling the area but the checkpoint is secure for the moment sir.”
“Very good sergeant.” Cleer returned to the window.
“Sir. There is one more thing. We found a civilian.” Cleer turned around again sharply.
“Where?”

“Near the wall in the west sector. One of the scientists sir. He escaped from the biodome complex.” The sergeant paused for a brief moment and then asked: “I need orders of how to treat him sir.”
Cleer bit his lower lip and thought for a second.
“We have to make sure Operation Lockdown is successful before we take any action. Bring him to the gatehouse for questioning. Don’t harm him.” The sergeant snapped a salute.
“Yes sir!” He then left, Cleer could see him running down the maze of barracks. Talbert! Sergeant Talbert was his name! Or maybe it was Tabler? Oh never mind.

 

[Sprafa]

Damn you for being so good!!!

Ever wanted to work on a mod?

 

[AJ Rimmer]

Damn you for being so good!!!

Ever wanted to work on a mod?

Yes but I can't do anything. Except making up a plot that is.

 

[AJ Rimmer]

John was standing between two barracks, hiding in the shadows. He saw the two marines cover Leroy as they made their way inside.
He waited a moment and then ran up to the collapsed pile of debris. There was a clearing of at the right corner. He carefully sneaked through and checked the outside in case anyone had seen him and then disappeared into the dark tunnel.
It was dark, all the lights were out, it was cold and damp and he heard voices down the deep dark hole. He was standing on the base of a long set of stairs running alongside the long transit rail going down the darkness far far below. He could see the outlines of three men in the light of their flashlights.

They made their way down the stairs, further and further down the tunnel. He heard the soldier speak to each other and to Leroy, sounded like casual small talk. He was getting sure he was just paranoid. He didn’t know what he thought they were doing, but something in his gut said that something was off. Maybe the military were trying to take over the whole operation from the Black Mesa Security. He took offence to that and he did not like that there was something they didn’t tell him. Just small things that bugged him, and that according to his own reasoning, gave him the right to spy on the US Army.
“So Leroy, you’ve been in the army?” John had gotten close enough to here them but he kept out of sight.
“No. I worked as a rent-a-cop for a while but I got sick of guarding movie stars and what not, so a friend of my set me up with this job.”
“It’s pretty sweet huh?”

“Hell yeah. Until today that is. But its real cool, who wouldn’t want to work in Area 51?” He laughed and the two soldiers did to. John stayed put until they got a bit further away. He kept walking. They had reached the bottom of the tunnel. John followed them for at least fifteen minutes before Leroy stopped outside a steel door.
“Well, if the schematics your captain showed me are correct this is it, but I’m tellin you, I worked for three months in the central transit hub and there’s no such thing as an emergency activation system.”
“Don’t worry. We’ll take care of this.” The soldier got on the radio and spoke clearly and loud enough for John to hear:
“Captain Cleer, this is team Gamma, we have reach target Bravo. Request confirmation to begin Operation Lockdown.” The crackling voice of Captain Cleer echoed through the silent dark tunnel.
“Roger team Gamma, begin Operation Lockdown.” There was a long pause and the voice returned: “Execute command Charlie Lima Echo Alpha November.”

Before John and presumably Leroy could decode the military lingo and understand what the name stood for. John froze on the spot as he saw the solider besides Leroy bring up his MP5 and give the young guard a crackling melee hit right on his face. He could see a thin line of blood splatter through the air and Leroy falling over the ledge with waving arms. The crunching sound of his body hitting the floor gave John a cold chill down the back of his spine. He heard the soldier say something unreadable and the sound of a piece of metal fall to the floor. The soldiers walked through the door and the ledge was empty. John crept up to the door. They had closed it so he couldn’t be seen. He checked the floor under the transit line. He could barely see a hand in the flickering light from behind him. On the floor lay a metal board. It had been nailed above the door to conceal the sign showing what the room was for. Even the deepest conspiracy theories were awoken by what he read over the steel door:
“Emergency silo containment”

 

[Subatomic]

FINISH IT! I need more!