The new world
- Thread starter AJ Rimmer
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AJ Rimmer
Tank
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Chapter 8: LA Confidential
“Simmons. It’s Calhoun. Where are you?” Simmons sounded annoyed; his voice was almost drowned out by honking horns and car engines.
“I’m in the car! I’m stuck halfway between my place and Walter! I don’t know why the military bothered to put up roadblocks, there’s a huge traffic accident ahead, nobody here has gone over ten mph for two hours! Every ninth feet there’s an army checkpoint asking for my driver license! It’s crazy!”
“Alright! Listen, I… I just received some bad info, I can’t tell from where, but I think Dr Rosenberg is gone.”
“What?”
“They found him, I think they may have killed him, I haven’t been able to find him all day.”
“Who?”
“FBI, NSA, CIA, Cigarette smoking man, Cheney I dunno, someone. I’m heading for Walter now, I should be there by tomorrow.”
“Okay… There’s a motel about eight miles up ahead, I can probably be there about nine o’ clock tonight.”
“That’s in two hours…”
“Yes. There is a ‘serious’ traffic jam.”
“Ok. Just try and not arouse attention.”
“Arouse attention? There are six hundred thousand cars moving towards Canada on this highway alone, I’m the only stupid son of a bitch going south! How the hell am I supposed to not arouse any attention?”
“I don’t know, look like you’re lost.”
“I am lost, I don’t have a ****ing clue where to go and now you’re telling me Rosenberg is dead! How?! Do they know who we are?”
“I don’t know, just come to Boston okay? I have to go now.”
“Alright. For god’s sake Calhoun, watch your back.”
“You too. Bye.”
The next day, Barney approached the fifth army checkpoint outside Los Angeles, so far his luck had held, he hadn’t been searched yet. The army guys had grown more and more mysterious, the soldiers in standard combat gear with only sidearms were now gone, instead were marines in heavy bullet proof protection gear, machine guns and gasmasks were now dominating the streets, reminding him of those men in Black Mesa.
“License and registration please.” The man sounded distant, the voice distorter in his gasmask made him sound robotic. Barney handed him the fake license.
“Robin Justeen?”
“Yes sir! That’s me!”
“Business in LA?”
“I have friends and family here, I want to get them out of here.” The soldier nodded and handed him back the papers.
“Alright, obey all military instructions and don’t interfere with army business. Understood?”
“Eh, yes sir!” Barney smiled and made his best cooperative-boy scout impression and even ended the conversation with a poorly executed salute. He stepped on the gas and hurried underneath the open roadblock.
The city of Los Angeles was not recognizable any more. Everywhere were roadblocks, there were more soldiers than civilians on the streets, all of them wearing gasmasks and MP5s, M4s or shotguns. A soldier was standing in the middle of the street, he ordered Calhoun to turn to the right towards a huge parking lot that used to be a big park. At least a thousand cars were parked there, when Barney looked around he saw that there were no cars on the streets, everyone was walking. He got out of the car and grabbed his gun in his jacket pocket. He locked the car and made sure the weapons in the backseat were covered up and headed down the street towards 25th street.
He got up his cell phone and thought it best to call Simmons and check on him. He only got one signal through before a harsh voice from the other side of the street called out.
“Hey you! Freeze!” It was followed by another robotic voice;
“Don’t move, hands above your head!” Barney froze on the spot. He raised his arms and cursed long lines in his head while the two soldiers hurried to him, weapons ready. They had him in their sights and Calhoun didn’t doubt for a second that they would blow him to pieces if he got them angry.
“No cell phones allowed!”
It took Barney the better part of ten seconds to understand the meaning of what the man just said. He almost laughed out loud and then answered.
“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t know, I’ll turn it off.”
“Give it to me.” Barney hesitated, if they couldn’t reach each other, things would become even more complicated than now.
“But I need it, to reach my friends and my family.”
“Give me the cell phone now or you will be arrested!” Barney quickly gave up and handed the soldier his phone.
“But how do I know I’ll get it ba-“ the soldier threw it on the street and stomped his boot on it until it cracked apart.
“Thankyou for your cooperation sir, now move along.”
Barney nodded and move away but was still helped on the way by a heavy push by a gun in his back. He hurried away from there before they gave him any more encouragement or they took him in for questioning. He kept going the same way he was headed before, the city was under total military control, he doubted that Dr Kleiner, or anyone for that matter, would be able to keep hidden for long here.
He was hurrying down 19th street when he saw a military truck screech to a halt a bit further up the street. About twelve soldiers jumped down and hurried in the apartment building and two men stood guard outside. Inside there was screaming and soon gun fire. Calhoun kept to the corner while watching what happened, a small crowd was already gathering, though keeping their distance. Except one elderly man who was standing just a few feet from the two soldiers. He was encouraged to leave several times before on of the soldiers grabbed him by the arm and tried to pull him away from there. The man freed himself and shouted out.
“What are you doing?”
“Sir, please stand back.”
“Why aren’t you stopping this? Those are our own people in there! And out here!”
“Sir if you don’t stand back now we will have to arrest you!”
“What is wrong with you? Those are our people, our people! Just like you and me!”
“Sir. Stand back and move along!”
“How have you been so brainwashed? You’re killing your own people! You’re no better than those aliens! You monsters!” The man brought up his briefcase with a swift motion but the soldier ducked and his partner jabbed the man in the stomach. They kicked him to the ground and two other soldiers then dragged him away into a truck that drove away.
Several army trucks had now appeared and the army was doing random sweeps into the surrounding buildings. Almost half an hour after the elderly man had been taken away the first party came out of the door. The two first soldiers were carrying a black body bag, and the next two was as well. Calhoun counted seven body bags before something caught his attention. The tenth or so soldier was carrying a small cage, like a cat transport cage. He could see the short, sharp red claws sticking out and knew what was in there without looking.
Soon after the caged headcrab followed a long, white coffin that was rolled out on a gurney. Barney had to see what was in that coffin. The other people had drawn closer as well so he thought he could the chance. He walked a bit closer until he saw the blood splattered Plexiglas more clearly. Barney could only see very little of what was in the coffin but it was enough. Inside was a man in a bloody suit and a large headcrab on his head. He wasn’t moving, but the condensation on the glass indicated he was breathing, and that it was very cold in the coffin.
Barney’s paranoid brain, fuelled on what very little he had seen of stasis technology while working in Black Mesa drew its own conclusions. He saw them load the coffin into a truck and closing the door. As they did, the man in the sharp suit was revealed from behind the truck. He checked his tie very effectually as the operation was seemingly finished. He met Barney stare. Barney moved towards him but truck passed between them and when it had passed the man was gone.
“Simmons. It’s Calhoun. Where are you?” Simmons sounded annoyed; his voice was almost drowned out by honking horns and car engines.
“I’m in the car! I’m stuck halfway between my place and Walter! I don’t know why the military bothered to put up roadblocks, there’s a huge traffic accident ahead, nobody here has gone over ten mph for two hours! Every ninth feet there’s an army checkpoint asking for my driver license! It’s crazy!”
“Alright! Listen, I… I just received some bad info, I can’t tell from where, but I think Dr Rosenberg is gone.”
“What?”
“They found him, I think they may have killed him, I haven’t been able to find him all day.”
“Who?”
“FBI, NSA, CIA, Cigarette smoking man, Cheney I dunno, someone. I’m heading for Walter now, I should be there by tomorrow.”
“Okay… There’s a motel about eight miles up ahead, I can probably be there about nine o’ clock tonight.”
“That’s in two hours…”
“Yes. There is a ‘serious’ traffic jam.”
“Ok. Just try and not arouse attention.”
“Arouse attention? There are six hundred thousand cars moving towards Canada on this highway alone, I’m the only stupid son of a bitch going south! How the hell am I supposed to not arouse any attention?”
“I don’t know, look like you’re lost.”
“I am lost, I don’t have a ****ing clue where to go and now you’re telling me Rosenberg is dead! How?! Do they know who we are?”
“I don’t know, just come to Boston okay? I have to go now.”
“Alright. For god’s sake Calhoun, watch your back.”
“You too. Bye.”
The next day, Barney approached the fifth army checkpoint outside Los Angeles, so far his luck had held, he hadn’t been searched yet. The army guys had grown more and more mysterious, the soldiers in standard combat gear with only sidearms were now gone, instead were marines in heavy bullet proof protection gear, machine guns and gasmasks were now dominating the streets, reminding him of those men in Black Mesa.
“License and registration please.” The man sounded distant, the voice distorter in his gasmask made him sound robotic. Barney handed him the fake license.
“Robin Justeen?”
“Yes sir! That’s me!”
“Business in LA?”
“I have friends and family here, I want to get them out of here.” The soldier nodded and handed him back the papers.
“Alright, obey all military instructions and don’t interfere with army business. Understood?”
“Eh, yes sir!” Barney smiled and made his best cooperative-boy scout impression and even ended the conversation with a poorly executed salute. He stepped on the gas and hurried underneath the open roadblock.
The city of Los Angeles was not recognizable any more. Everywhere were roadblocks, there were more soldiers than civilians on the streets, all of them wearing gasmasks and MP5s, M4s or shotguns. A soldier was standing in the middle of the street, he ordered Calhoun to turn to the right towards a huge parking lot that used to be a big park. At least a thousand cars were parked there, when Barney looked around he saw that there were no cars on the streets, everyone was walking. He got out of the car and grabbed his gun in his jacket pocket. He locked the car and made sure the weapons in the backseat were covered up and headed down the street towards 25th street.
He got up his cell phone and thought it best to call Simmons and check on him. He only got one signal through before a harsh voice from the other side of the street called out.
“Hey you! Freeze!” It was followed by another robotic voice;
“Don’t move, hands above your head!” Barney froze on the spot. He raised his arms and cursed long lines in his head while the two soldiers hurried to him, weapons ready. They had him in their sights and Calhoun didn’t doubt for a second that they would blow him to pieces if he got them angry.
“No cell phones allowed!”
It took Barney the better part of ten seconds to understand the meaning of what the man just said. He almost laughed out loud and then answered.
“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t know, I’ll turn it off.”
“Give it to me.” Barney hesitated, if they couldn’t reach each other, things would become even more complicated than now.
“But I need it, to reach my friends and my family.”
“Give me the cell phone now or you will be arrested!” Barney quickly gave up and handed the soldier his phone.
“But how do I know I’ll get it ba-“ the soldier threw it on the street and stomped his boot on it until it cracked apart.
“Thankyou for your cooperation sir, now move along.”
Barney nodded and move away but was still helped on the way by a heavy push by a gun in his back. He hurried away from there before they gave him any more encouragement or they took him in for questioning. He kept going the same way he was headed before, the city was under total military control, he doubted that Dr Kleiner, or anyone for that matter, would be able to keep hidden for long here.
He was hurrying down 19th street when he saw a military truck screech to a halt a bit further up the street. About twelve soldiers jumped down and hurried in the apartment building and two men stood guard outside. Inside there was screaming and soon gun fire. Calhoun kept to the corner while watching what happened, a small crowd was already gathering, though keeping their distance. Except one elderly man who was standing just a few feet from the two soldiers. He was encouraged to leave several times before on of the soldiers grabbed him by the arm and tried to pull him away from there. The man freed himself and shouted out.
“What are you doing?”
“Sir, please stand back.”
“Why aren’t you stopping this? Those are our own people in there! And out here!”
“Sir if you don’t stand back now we will have to arrest you!”
“What is wrong with you? Those are our people, our people! Just like you and me!”
“Sir. Stand back and move along!”
“How have you been so brainwashed? You’re killing your own people! You’re no better than those aliens! You monsters!” The man brought up his briefcase with a swift motion but the soldier ducked and his partner jabbed the man in the stomach. They kicked him to the ground and two other soldiers then dragged him away into a truck that drove away.
Several army trucks had now appeared and the army was doing random sweeps into the surrounding buildings. Almost half an hour after the elderly man had been taken away the first party came out of the door. The two first soldiers were carrying a black body bag, and the next two was as well. Calhoun counted seven body bags before something caught his attention. The tenth or so soldier was carrying a small cage, like a cat transport cage. He could see the short, sharp red claws sticking out and knew what was in there without looking.
Soon after the caged headcrab followed a long, white coffin that was rolled out on a gurney. Barney had to see what was in that coffin. The other people had drawn closer as well so he thought he could the chance. He walked a bit closer until he saw the blood splattered Plexiglas more clearly. Barney could only see very little of what was in the coffin but it was enough. Inside was a man in a bloody suit and a large headcrab on his head. He wasn’t moving, but the condensation on the glass indicated he was breathing, and that it was very cold in the coffin.
Barney’s paranoid brain, fuelled on what very little he had seen of stasis technology while working in Black Mesa drew its own conclusions. He saw them load the coffin into a truck and closing the door. As they did, the man in the sharp suit was revealed from behind the truck. He checked his tie very effectually as the operation was seemingly finished. He met Barney stare. Barney moved towards him but truck passed between them and when it had passed the man was gone.
AJ Rimmer
Tank
- Joined
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Chapter 7: The chase
The street was empty. Gunfire and scream far off seemed the most plausible reason. This suited Barney just fine, he didn’t want anyone seeing him now. He opened the door and made his way up the stairs to floor five. He made his way through the corridors to apartment 455. He knocked and looked around anxiously down the corridor, it was empty. He knocked again and heard someone approach from inside. The door slowly opened and the receding hairline with big glasses looked at him from the small gap between the door and the wall.
“Calhoun! Come in come in! Quickly before they come!” Barney followed the small man into the unbelievably untidy apartment for a scientist.
“Who’s coming?”
“The FBI. I think.” Walter kept looking through desks and drawers like a madman.
“The FBI?! They know where you are?”
“I believe so, yes.”
“How?”
“I was planning on keeping a low profile while these troops were here so I went back here to get some things when I got this cassette.” Walter held a VHS tape and handed it to Barney who popped it in the VCR.
The corny image showed a bloody, beaten and frightened thin man with broken glasses. Barney knew him as Dr Rosenberg. He spoke quickly with someone but there was no sound, he received a kick to the stomach in the middle of a sentence and then there was a flash and a 9mm bullet ripped through his skull, blood splattering on the camera.
Barney stared at the static on the screen with a foul dead taste in his mouth, like rust. He spent a minute thinking about Dr Rosenberg, the first time they met. He was starting to get down with guilt when he heard shouting and heavy boots from what sounded like some floors below. He snapped out of it.
“When did this get here?” Barney asked Walter.
“I’m afraid I don’t know, I just got home.”
“But today or yesterday?”
“I don’t know I haven’t been home all this month.”
“What?” Barney pulled out his gun and hugged the wall behind the door, he slowly peaked out into the corridor, it was empty but someone was coming up the stairs, lots of boots were running and opening doors. He closed the door and almost shot himself in the foot when Dr Kleiner exclaimed “Eureka!” and held up a small USB-memory stick.
“What’s on it?” Walter put it in his jacket pocket and then answered the frantic Barney.
“Oh nothing, I just need the space.” Barney stared at him for several seconds.
“What?” The boots came closer and a door somewhere outside in the corridor was flung open.
“Quick, is there another way out of here?” Barney looked panicking around the small one room apartment.
“Yes, there’s a fire escape in the next apartment.” Barney closed his eyes and clenched his fists and slowly asked, dreading the answer;
“The apartment to the left, or to the right?”
“To the left.” Barney turned around.
“Really?”
“Yes.” Barney grabbed Walter by his too short black jacket and pulled him close to the door and peaked out. It was empty.
He pulled Kleiner with him out and crouched all the way to the next door, he stood up and quickly opened the door. He rushed in and closed the door and locked it behind Walter. He spun around and was almost as surprised as the two men in black suits in the small apartment. One of them had headphones on connected to an audio recording device, spy equipment, one of them reached for his gun. With two strides Barney reached the man and body tackled him, he pushed him to the floor where they wrestled until Barney managed to get out his gun and press it to the face of the NSA agent who was now lying on top of him.
“Drop it.” The other man was holding his own gun at the face of Kleiner, Barney could see the terror in the scientist’s eyes. He pushed the gun further into the agents mouth.
“Let him go or I’ll blow his face off.”
“Are you really going to kill a member of the National Security Agency?”
“Last year I murdered 67 members of the United States ****ing Marine Corps and compared to them you don’t hold a candle.” The man with Barney’s gun in his mouth made a gurgling sound and Barney quickly pulled out his gun, turned hid head around and laid his gun across his shoulder, having the other agent in his sight.
Barney’s hostage was now lying next to him with his throat nestled between Barney’s right arm.
“Let him go or I’ll shoot Mr Barber.” Barney didn’t quite process this for a while. They had called Walter Barber. They did not know who he was. They did know who they were. They did not know the military was looking for them. Which meant the military did not know they were here.
Barney grabbed the NSA agent’s gun from the floor and put it over his other neck, letting him go but keeping both of them in his sight, he lied on the floor and for about a minute all was quiet. Then there was a loud knock on the door. Barney raised his right hand and shot three times at the door. The man holding Walter shouted;
“What the **** are you doing?” Barney didn’t move a muscle, but he slowly spoke:
“Listen. Lets do this without any killing. Let Barber go, and both of you can live. You can kill him, but then I’ll kill you. Right? So just let him go, and we’ll leave.” The agents looked at each other and the man slowly let go of Walter who rushed to Barney side, who stood up and threw one of his guns to its owner.
“Here’s your gun.” The man held it and raised it to Barney’s head. Now they had the upper hand.
“Why did you do that Calhoun?!” Walter was hysteric.
“Walter. When I say now, duck down.”
“What? Why?” Barney heard the distinct sound of guns being loaded in the nearby apartment and shouted “NOW!” and pulled Walter down to the floor with him. The two federal agents just stared at them for a second and then the bullets started raining through the thin wall from Walter’s apartment. Barney pushed Walter to the floor and held both their heads down. Debris, wood, glass and plastic fell down on them, the sound from at least fifteen machineguns, pistols and shotguns was deafening to say the least. Barney saw in the corner of his eyes how the both agents were already on the floor, he screamed loud as the sound built up to a climax and a lamp fell down from the roof, pieces of the wall were falling down on them and then it stopped. Barney slowly crawled over to the audio bug receiver and grabbed the headphones. The machine was damaged but the surveillance bugs were still transmitting, he heard someone say grenade and duct tape.
Walter was still hugging the floor with his eyes closed. Barney grabbed him and pulled him to his feet.
“Doc, are you ok?”
“Yes.”
“Good, let’s go!” Barney grabbed Walter and shoved him to the door to the fire escape, he gave the door a good tackle and it swung open, he pushed Kleiner through and rushed down the stairs. They were three stories above the alley when the grenade that was duct taped to the wall went off and blew a hole the size of a table in the massacred wall, the gas pipes in the walls and flooring lit up and the apartment exploded in a huge fire cloud. Barney and Walter both stared as a burning chair flew out of a window and soared through the air and finally crashed into the adjacent apartment building.
“Oh my god! Oh my god! They’re trying to kill us!” Walter screamed in panic and Barney tried to make him keep quiet.
“Doc, quiet! They’ll hear us!”
“I’m a scientist! I’m not supposed to be shot at! Oh my god we’re gonna die, we’re gonna die!”
“Doc!” Barney grabbed him and shook him. He snapped out of it.
“What?” Barney pushed him over the edge and he went sailing down three stories. Barney looked down and then swung himself over the ledge and landed in a container on the street below next to Dr Kleiner.
The street was empty. Gunfire and scream far off seemed the most plausible reason. This suited Barney just fine, he didn’t want anyone seeing him now. He opened the door and made his way up the stairs to floor five. He made his way through the corridors to apartment 455. He knocked and looked around anxiously down the corridor, it was empty. He knocked again and heard someone approach from inside. The door slowly opened and the receding hairline with big glasses looked at him from the small gap between the door and the wall.
“Calhoun! Come in come in! Quickly before they come!” Barney followed the small man into the unbelievably untidy apartment for a scientist.
“Who’s coming?”
“The FBI. I think.” Walter kept looking through desks and drawers like a madman.
“The FBI?! They know where you are?”
“I believe so, yes.”
“How?”
“I was planning on keeping a low profile while these troops were here so I went back here to get some things when I got this cassette.” Walter held a VHS tape and handed it to Barney who popped it in the VCR.
The corny image showed a bloody, beaten and frightened thin man with broken glasses. Barney knew him as Dr Rosenberg. He spoke quickly with someone but there was no sound, he received a kick to the stomach in the middle of a sentence and then there was a flash and a 9mm bullet ripped through his skull, blood splattering on the camera.
Barney stared at the static on the screen with a foul dead taste in his mouth, like rust. He spent a minute thinking about Dr Rosenberg, the first time they met. He was starting to get down with guilt when he heard shouting and heavy boots from what sounded like some floors below. He snapped out of it.
“When did this get here?” Barney asked Walter.
“I’m afraid I don’t know, I just got home.”
“But today or yesterday?”
“I don’t know I haven’t been home all this month.”
“What?” Barney pulled out his gun and hugged the wall behind the door, he slowly peaked out into the corridor, it was empty but someone was coming up the stairs, lots of boots were running and opening doors. He closed the door and almost shot himself in the foot when Dr Kleiner exclaimed “Eureka!” and held up a small USB-memory stick.
“What’s on it?” Walter put it in his jacket pocket and then answered the frantic Barney.
“Oh nothing, I just need the space.” Barney stared at him for several seconds.
“What?” The boots came closer and a door somewhere outside in the corridor was flung open.
“Quick, is there another way out of here?” Barney looked panicking around the small one room apartment.
“Yes, there’s a fire escape in the next apartment.” Barney closed his eyes and clenched his fists and slowly asked, dreading the answer;
“The apartment to the left, or to the right?”
“To the left.” Barney turned around.
“Really?”
“Yes.” Barney grabbed Walter by his too short black jacket and pulled him close to the door and peaked out. It was empty.
He pulled Kleiner with him out and crouched all the way to the next door, he stood up and quickly opened the door. He rushed in and closed the door and locked it behind Walter. He spun around and was almost as surprised as the two men in black suits in the small apartment. One of them had headphones on connected to an audio recording device, spy equipment, one of them reached for his gun. With two strides Barney reached the man and body tackled him, he pushed him to the floor where they wrestled until Barney managed to get out his gun and press it to the face of the NSA agent who was now lying on top of him.
“Drop it.” The other man was holding his own gun at the face of Kleiner, Barney could see the terror in the scientist’s eyes. He pushed the gun further into the agents mouth.
“Let him go or I’ll blow his face off.”
“Are you really going to kill a member of the National Security Agency?”
“Last year I murdered 67 members of the United States ****ing Marine Corps and compared to them you don’t hold a candle.” The man with Barney’s gun in his mouth made a gurgling sound and Barney quickly pulled out his gun, turned hid head around and laid his gun across his shoulder, having the other agent in his sight.
Barney’s hostage was now lying next to him with his throat nestled between Barney’s right arm.
“Let him go or I’ll shoot Mr Barber.” Barney didn’t quite process this for a while. They had called Walter Barber. They did not know who he was. They did know who they were. They did not know the military was looking for them. Which meant the military did not know they were here.
Barney grabbed the NSA agent’s gun from the floor and put it over his other neck, letting him go but keeping both of them in his sight, he lied on the floor and for about a minute all was quiet. Then there was a loud knock on the door. Barney raised his right hand and shot three times at the door. The man holding Walter shouted;
“What the **** are you doing?” Barney didn’t move a muscle, but he slowly spoke:
“Listen. Lets do this without any killing. Let Barber go, and both of you can live. You can kill him, but then I’ll kill you. Right? So just let him go, and we’ll leave.” The agents looked at each other and the man slowly let go of Walter who rushed to Barney side, who stood up and threw one of his guns to its owner.
“Here’s your gun.” The man held it and raised it to Barney’s head. Now they had the upper hand.
“Why did you do that Calhoun?!” Walter was hysteric.
“Walter. When I say now, duck down.”
“What? Why?” Barney heard the distinct sound of guns being loaded in the nearby apartment and shouted “NOW!” and pulled Walter down to the floor with him. The two federal agents just stared at them for a second and then the bullets started raining through the thin wall from Walter’s apartment. Barney pushed Walter to the floor and held both their heads down. Debris, wood, glass and plastic fell down on them, the sound from at least fifteen machineguns, pistols and shotguns was deafening to say the least. Barney saw in the corner of his eyes how the both agents were already on the floor, he screamed loud as the sound built up to a climax and a lamp fell down from the roof, pieces of the wall were falling down on them and then it stopped. Barney slowly crawled over to the audio bug receiver and grabbed the headphones. The machine was damaged but the surveillance bugs were still transmitting, he heard someone say grenade and duct tape.
Walter was still hugging the floor with his eyes closed. Barney grabbed him and pulled him to his feet.
“Doc, are you ok?”
“Yes.”
“Good, let’s go!” Barney grabbed Walter and shoved him to the door to the fire escape, he gave the door a good tackle and it swung open, he pushed Kleiner through and rushed down the stairs. They were three stories above the alley when the grenade that was duct taped to the wall went off and blew a hole the size of a table in the massacred wall, the gas pipes in the walls and flooring lit up and the apartment exploded in a huge fire cloud. Barney and Walter both stared as a burning chair flew out of a window and soared through the air and finally crashed into the adjacent apartment building.
“Oh my god! Oh my god! They’re trying to kill us!” Walter screamed in panic and Barney tried to make him keep quiet.
“Doc, quiet! They’ll hear us!”
“I’m a scientist! I’m not supposed to be shot at! Oh my god we’re gonna die, we’re gonna die!”
“Doc!” Barney grabbed him and shook him. He snapped out of it.
“What?” Barney pushed him over the edge and he went sailing down three stories. Barney looked down and then swung himself over the ledge and landed in a container on the street below next to Dr Kleiner.
Speedingorange
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More!!!!!!!
Speedingorange
Newbie
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im hocked,,,,, big time ... please please pleas with suger ontop???
AJ Rimmer
Tank
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- Jun 12, 2004
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Okay, so Half-life 2 screwed this fan fic up real bad, but I won't give up. I'll try and fix the worst plot holes, but for the sake of my being without a head ache, you'll simply learn to accept that instead of Walter, Dr Kleiner's name is now Isaac, so please just pretend like it says Isaac instead of Walter in all thosce chapters before this one, alright?
Chapter 10: Back in business
“Oh god… I think I’ve broken something…”
“Dr Kleiner?” Barney pulled an empty pizza box off his face. “Are you okay?”
“What? Oh, yes. I think so. Where’s my… oh yes, no I’m good.”
“Good.” Barney lifted the cardboard box covering his back and peeked out to the empty balcony above.
“Are they gone?”
“Looks like it, probably on their way down here. Let’s go.” Barney helped Dr Kleiner up from the container.
“We have to leave the city doctor.”
“Yes, let’s go to my lab.” Dr Kleiner found his glasses and put them on.
“Your lab?” Barney dug around for his gun and put it in his jacket again.
“Yes, I’ve been continuing the experiments that went wrong in the Black Mesa incident. I’ll show you the way.” Dr Kleiner started running down the alley with Barney behind him.
It took them almost an hour to reach the SUV. The city was now swarming with soldiers, they seemed to gather the citizens into small quickly put together camps. There weren’t many in them but the people there seemed to come from all colours and classes.
The streets were almost completely empty from civilians. They had quickly learned to stay inside, and not because of the heavy rain that hade begun to fall. Barney heard gunshots in the far distant, explosions and fighter jets. They made their way across the parking lot and Barney inserted the key.
“You there, step away from the car.” Barney let go of the key. The soldier behind him grabbed his left arm and reached for his right when Barney swung around and let the butt of the his pistol sweep up and smash the poor soldier’s cheek broken.
“Get in the car doc!” Kleiner rushed into the car and Barney turned the key in the ignition. Over the slowly growing mud field of cars and people a group of soldiers were running to them, Barney stepped on the gas and headed for the exit barrier. A lone soldier rushed forward and held out his hand, ordering Barney to stop. The man’s leg smashed into the wind shield glass as he had waited too long before he jumped, Kleiner screamed aloud as gunshots rang out behind them. Barney floored it and sliced through the barricades until he ploughed off the mud field and out away from LA.
Barney kept driving for almost an hour until Kleiner finally told him to stop. They got out of the car and Barney followed Kleiner out into a beautiful field of grass. The high grass was glistering with drops from the rain they had left behind them some twenty minutes outside of Los Angeles.
They waded through the field, Barney clutching his shotgun and Kleiner strolling on without a worry in the world. About halfway into the field, suddenly a small elevated area appeared out of nowhere, it barely reached above the grass. Kleiner walked up to the hill and reached into the grass and out of nowhere pulled up a door covered by a thick rug of grass. He held it wide open and invited Barney in.
“Go on, you first.” Barney looked surprisingly at the scientist but ducked into the dark staircase inside.
It was dark and drippy, a cold breeze swept over him as Kleiner shut the door behind them.
“Oh fi, I forgot to leave the lights on, she’ll be absolutely furious now.” He heard the doctor feel around behind him until he heard a click and the staircase was lit up. They kept going down until they reached a large steel door. Kleiner asked Barney to open it, saying it was unlocked, Barney obeyed and opened the large steel door.
He stepped into a large cement hall, lit up by several small lab lamps in the roof, the right side was stocked to the roof by crates and boxes of different sizes, the left side was mainly used up by a large bank of computer monitors, screens, consoles, real old school looking computers they were in fact rather beefed up ones, meant for top of the line research. The farthest away wall had a desk line up against it, with two computers under it and two monitors, it was littered with papers, post-its, schematics and print-outs.
“Well, welcome to the lab, why don’t you take a look around while I go get Hedy.” Kleiner rushed off into a small adjacent room. Barney wondered what or who Hedy was but parked himself on a small kitchen chair right infront of the computer bank. He read off some of the notes Kleiner had made.
“Massless field limiter – 20% insufficient output, input ratio too high. Targeting parameters within acceptable limits. Focal point not established, Xen targets out of range. Field loop unstable, try new axis.” He read off the last quietly to himself when Kleiner knocked something over at the far end of the room.
“You okay Doc?” Kleiner scratched his head and looked around in the corners.
“Ho does she get out of her cage? I could’ve sworn I… what? Oh, just fine but Lamarr has gone missing!”
“Lamarr?”
“Oh Lamarr is my…” A rattling in the far off corner behind some boxes interrupted Kleiner.
“Oh there she is, I’ll go get her.” He marched across the room and knelt down and peeked in between the boxes.
“There you are, now come on, come out of there. Come on now…” Kleiner reached in and something jumped out, up on a stack of boxes and down between a couple of large crates standing on the floor.
“No! Lamarr, stop fooling around! She always get like this when I forget to leave the lights on. Lamarr, La-“ The boxes rattled about and the large headcrab suddenly cleared the boxes and ran clear across the floor. Barney shouted and dived for his shotgun.
“NO! Don’t worry she can’t harm you!” Kleiner ran up to Barney and wrestled him for the shotgun.
“What are you doing? Let me go!”
“No, it’s Lamarr!” Kleiner turned around but she was gone.
“Oh, look what you did, now I’ll never find her!” Barney let the shotgun drop to the ground and stared at Kleiner.
“Doc… that was a headcrab.”
“Yes.” Barney stood silent for a while.
“A real headcrab.”
“Yes.”
“Doc, you called it Lamarr.”
“Yes, that’s her name, Hedy Lamarr.”
“Her?”
“Yes, her… Well… at least I think it’s her.” Kleiner smiled faintly and kept looking about the boxes for a few seconds but gave up. He looked up at Barney’s half-shocked, half-disgusted look.
“…what?”
Chapter 10: Back in business
“Oh god… I think I’ve broken something…”
“Dr Kleiner?” Barney pulled an empty pizza box off his face. “Are you okay?”
“What? Oh, yes. I think so. Where’s my… oh yes, no I’m good.”
“Good.” Barney lifted the cardboard box covering his back and peeked out to the empty balcony above.
“Are they gone?”
“Looks like it, probably on their way down here. Let’s go.” Barney helped Dr Kleiner up from the container.
“We have to leave the city doctor.”
“Yes, let’s go to my lab.” Dr Kleiner found his glasses and put them on.
“Your lab?” Barney dug around for his gun and put it in his jacket again.
“Yes, I’ve been continuing the experiments that went wrong in the Black Mesa incident. I’ll show you the way.” Dr Kleiner started running down the alley with Barney behind him.
It took them almost an hour to reach the SUV. The city was now swarming with soldiers, they seemed to gather the citizens into small quickly put together camps. There weren’t many in them but the people there seemed to come from all colours and classes.
The streets were almost completely empty from civilians. They had quickly learned to stay inside, and not because of the heavy rain that hade begun to fall. Barney heard gunshots in the far distant, explosions and fighter jets. They made their way across the parking lot and Barney inserted the key.
“You there, step away from the car.” Barney let go of the key. The soldier behind him grabbed his left arm and reached for his right when Barney swung around and let the butt of the his pistol sweep up and smash the poor soldier’s cheek broken.
“Get in the car doc!” Kleiner rushed into the car and Barney turned the key in the ignition. Over the slowly growing mud field of cars and people a group of soldiers were running to them, Barney stepped on the gas and headed for the exit barrier. A lone soldier rushed forward and held out his hand, ordering Barney to stop. The man’s leg smashed into the wind shield glass as he had waited too long before he jumped, Kleiner screamed aloud as gunshots rang out behind them. Barney floored it and sliced through the barricades until he ploughed off the mud field and out away from LA.
Barney kept driving for almost an hour until Kleiner finally told him to stop. They got out of the car and Barney followed Kleiner out into a beautiful field of grass. The high grass was glistering with drops from the rain they had left behind them some twenty minutes outside of Los Angeles.
They waded through the field, Barney clutching his shotgun and Kleiner strolling on without a worry in the world. About halfway into the field, suddenly a small elevated area appeared out of nowhere, it barely reached above the grass. Kleiner walked up to the hill and reached into the grass and out of nowhere pulled up a door covered by a thick rug of grass. He held it wide open and invited Barney in.
“Go on, you first.” Barney looked surprisingly at the scientist but ducked into the dark staircase inside.
It was dark and drippy, a cold breeze swept over him as Kleiner shut the door behind them.
“Oh fi, I forgot to leave the lights on, she’ll be absolutely furious now.” He heard the doctor feel around behind him until he heard a click and the staircase was lit up. They kept going down until they reached a large steel door. Kleiner asked Barney to open it, saying it was unlocked, Barney obeyed and opened the large steel door.
He stepped into a large cement hall, lit up by several small lab lamps in the roof, the right side was stocked to the roof by crates and boxes of different sizes, the left side was mainly used up by a large bank of computer monitors, screens, consoles, real old school looking computers they were in fact rather beefed up ones, meant for top of the line research. The farthest away wall had a desk line up against it, with two computers under it and two monitors, it was littered with papers, post-its, schematics and print-outs.
“Well, welcome to the lab, why don’t you take a look around while I go get Hedy.” Kleiner rushed off into a small adjacent room. Barney wondered what or who Hedy was but parked himself on a small kitchen chair right infront of the computer bank. He read off some of the notes Kleiner had made.
“Massless field limiter – 20% insufficient output, input ratio too high. Targeting parameters within acceptable limits. Focal point not established, Xen targets out of range. Field loop unstable, try new axis.” He read off the last quietly to himself when Kleiner knocked something over at the far end of the room.
“You okay Doc?” Kleiner scratched his head and looked around in the corners.
“Ho does she get out of her cage? I could’ve sworn I… what? Oh, just fine but Lamarr has gone missing!”
“Lamarr?”
“Oh Lamarr is my…” A rattling in the far off corner behind some boxes interrupted Kleiner.
“Oh there she is, I’ll go get her.” He marched across the room and knelt down and peeked in between the boxes.
“There you are, now come on, come out of there. Come on now…” Kleiner reached in and something jumped out, up on a stack of boxes and down between a couple of large crates standing on the floor.
“No! Lamarr, stop fooling around! She always get like this when I forget to leave the lights on. Lamarr, La-“ The boxes rattled about and the large headcrab suddenly cleared the boxes and ran clear across the floor. Barney shouted and dived for his shotgun.
“NO! Don’t worry she can’t harm you!” Kleiner ran up to Barney and wrestled him for the shotgun.
“What are you doing? Let me go!”
“No, it’s Lamarr!” Kleiner turned around but she was gone.
“Oh, look what you did, now I’ll never find her!” Barney let the shotgun drop to the ground and stared at Kleiner.
“Doc… that was a headcrab.”
“Yes.” Barney stood silent for a while.
“A real headcrab.”
“Yes.”
“Doc, you called it Lamarr.”
“Yes, that’s her name, Hedy Lamarr.”
“Her?”
“Yes, her… Well… at least I think it’s her.” Kleiner smiled faintly and kept looking about the boxes for a few seconds but gave up. He looked up at Barney’s half-shocked, half-disgusted look.
“…what?”
Speedingorange
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n e more??please
