The Thing Part 1: Unfrozen

[Tollbooth Willie]

I've been sifting around alot of Fan Fics and stuff after watching a great horror film called "The Thing" and I wondered what it would be like if it was unfrozen, and was introduced to the universe of Half- Life. This is probably gonna end up being a series, each consisting of at least 12 chapters, that I will end up posting somewhere else, but I will keep it here if I get enough positive feedback.

Epilogue

Location: Antarctica, April 1st, 1982
Time:8:02 P.M.
A violent blast shook the desolate wastelands of the Antarctic tundra. A bright fireball erupted from the ground. An ear splitting shriek echoed through the cold, night air. In an instant, a man is seen sprinting like a bat out of Hell, narrowly escaping the explosion erupting from a hole in a large shack. he looks back, gazes upon the destruction he has just caused, and turns to walk toward what looks like the other half of a destroyed rec room. He looks with a blank expression, and notices a bottle of an alcoholic drink lying on the blood stained floor, which is becoming increasingly covered in snow. He grabs it and walks onward toward a corner and rests against it, and takes a drink from the bottle. And from the corner of his eye, he sees a tall, dark figure carrying a weapon walking towards him, through the heavy, unforgiving blizzard.

"Is... It dead?" The black man said in a serious, but tired voice.
"Hell if I know, I didn't stick around to find out..." said the weary, bearded man.
"I said is the God damn Thing DEAD MacReady?!!".
He looked down at MacReady, who took another swallow of alcohol, shook his head, and sat against a wall 3 feet away from him. He looked down at his weapon, a flamethrower.
MacReady, with emotionally drained eyes looked at him." Yeah Childs, I blew the ugly ****er up..... Where the Hell have you been?"
"What do you mean? I thought I saw something running off in the other direction, I wanted to be sure it wasn't one of those damn Things. Do you not trust me?" Childs said suspiciously.
"I don't see why I should. You've been gone at least 20 minutes, thats more than enough time for you to have been assimilated... But then again, I don't see why i shouldn't, if you were, you probably would have torched me by now, and I would have welcomely taken you over by now." MacReady, took another gulp of the alcohol, looked at it, and handed the half empty bottle to his exhausted friend."

"Thanks...... Wait what if- MacReady interrupted him, "Before you say it, don't worry. Remember what the doc said? It can't pass cells on to objects." He looked at the bottle, then at MacReady, and smiled what little his frozen face could. "Damn.. It's freezing. And I STILL just can't believe any of this voodoo bullshit."
"Ain't Mother Nature a bitch? Well at least these fires are good for something." MacReady said. He smirked, as did Childs. They looked at each other for a moment and switched their gaze upon the embers of the burning fire above them.
"So, what do we do now?" Childs asked his friend.
MacReady looked up, at the sky, then back at Childs.

"There's nothing we can do for now. Why don't we just wait here awhile ... see what happens ..." He replied.

 

[TheGMan.]

The Thing owns, good idea mixing it with the HL story-plot.

 

[DEATH eVADER]

Yeah, The Thing is one of the best Sci-Fi horrors I've seen, other than Aliens. I also suggest you watch Event Horizon.

Is your name lubbe on the BMS forums? The reason I ask is because you have the same Avatar

 

[Tollbooth Willie]

I thought the previous entry was getting too long, so I'm posting the other half here.

........ 26 Years later
Location: Wastelands ( Area formerly known as Antarctica)
Time: 6:30 A.M.

A loud hum breaks the silence of the frozen Wasteland, an area that supports no form of life. It grows louder. A large vehicle speeds through the thick snow, showing no signs of slowing down. It is a transport, an APC carrying people. People with weapons, some previously unknown to man, some that were dreamed. They wear a heavy layer of coating, perhaps, to escape the cold. Another sound. The sound of a radio.
"....zzzzttt* This is Echo 2, we've picked up the signal, your getting closer, do you copy Celsius Squad?" A voice chattered over the radio.
"Roger Echo2, this is Richard J. here, we'vepicked up the signal as well, proceeding, at 500 Ft. and closing, over" Another voice. A man by the name of Richard. Celsius Squad's leader. The APC sped faster and fastertowards it's destination. In the distance, it finally became visible. Outpost 31, Station 4.
Then, the vehicle came to a stop. They had reached it. Richard took a step out of the vehicle, the area under his feet turning from cold, hard metal, to soft, freezing snow, along with 5 other men behind him.

He looked around. It wasn't too different from the Wastelands he was used to seeing. Replacing the hot, desert like landscape infested with creatures thought to only exist in movies and nightmares, was a frozen, desolate tundra, with no signs of life. His radio buzzed. "Richard. This is Sgt. Quenton speaking, over." "Good to hear from you again Sarge!" He said sarcastically. "Cut the shit Richard, this is important. You have your orders, search the base, recover aything you can salvage. And find out what could've sent that signal around, over". "Yes sir." He cut from the radio and looked at the drivers of the APC and asked, "How long you guys willing to stay out here before you desert us?"
One replied." Well, were already freezing our ass's off, so if I were you, I wouldn't be taking my sweet time." He joked.
"Try it, and frost bite will be the least of your worries." He remarked.
"Ok team let's go". The 6 young soldiers headed off into the direction of the base, searching a medium sized building, looking as if it had been blown apart. They searched the area, and made a horrifying dscovery. "What the hell is that?!" The team's young technician, Garret exclaimed.
Hayden, the team's weapons specialist, went on,"Looks like a body, frozen solid as a.... "Can it Hayden", replied Richard. He grabbed his radio. "Sir, this is Richard. We've found a body. Name tag says Childs." There was a pause, and Quenton replied, "Roger that, continue on Celsius. Over and out".

The medic, Stolls, breathlessly running back from God knows where, tried to say something, "The.... building.... it's caved in... No entry.... But I.. I.... I found something else. I think you may wanna have a look." He led the men around the backway, and behind a group of other small buildings grouped around the base, came to a stop at the foot of a pit. They walked down into the pit, old lights lining down the path. They searched the area. "Sir, there's a tunnel over here", Said Stolls. Richard looked around and replied, "Ok stick together, we don't want to be separated if theres a cave in". They traveled through the short tunnel, leading them into a chamber filled with what looks like old excavation tools. And in the center, they saw it. A UFO. "Holy shit, I don't believe it!", Morse, the science specialist (couldn't think of anything else!), managed to say, despite the horrified look on his face.

"Sir, please tell me thats not what I think it is..", Garret asked."
"I wish I didn't have to.....", Richard replied. He gazed at it in disbelief. He belived in aliens, now that his planet has become overrun by them, but he never thought he would see a UFO. None of them did. They cleared the room of whatever supplies they found, and headed through the exit. A few feet in front of him, Stolls saw a destroyed shack. "Hey you might wanna go check that out." The Celsius leader, still amazed trudged torward the shack, his men by his side. He looked around in the small building, and he saw something that caught his interest. It was an old tape recorder. "Hehe, i wonder if this old thing works", he said smiling at how much it reminded him of some good times he and some friends had with one of these and his neighbor.

He hit the play button, and his smiled soon turned into mixed expressions. A voice then spoke.

"I’m gonna hide this tape when I’m finished. If none of us make it, at least there’ll be some kind of record. The storms been hitting us pretty hard now for—about 48 hours. One other thing, I think it rips through your clothes when it takes you over. Windows found some shredded long johns. They could be anybody’s. We’re all very tired." The tape started to say some garbled things, inaudible for the shape of the tape, and still, the tape continued. "There’s nothing else I can do, but just wait--R.J. MacReady, helicopter pilot, U.S. Outpost 31." The tape finished.
They all stood there. At that moment, they begin to ask theselves and each other. WHAT?! What rips through your clothes?!

End of Epilogue........ Welcome to The Thing Part 1: Unfrozen...(Quotes and scenes inspired by John Carpenter's classic film and the short novel "Who Goes There?")

 

[Tollbooth Willie]

Thanks guys, It may not seem much now, nothing but dialogue, but trust me, once the story truly gets started, you can expect it to be as graphic as the movie was. I even have the idea of it reaching "civilization" possibly....:naughty:

 

[Tollbooth Willie]

Ok now that the story has finally taken shape within my mind, I give you the true 1st entry into the story.

Chapter 1- "Frost Bites"

They all stood there and pondered to themselves, "What? Has the cold frozen this man's brain over and driven him insane?", yet they couldn't help but wonder......... There was no time to wonder what he was rambling on about. In the distance, they could hear the blast of an explosive, and then smoke rising up into the skies of Antarctica. "What the Hell was that?", Stolls asked, as would have anyone else. "I dunno Stolls, but something tell me it's not good....", Richard replied. A smirk, one that showed excitement and relief, broke out on Hayden's face. "Hehe well what the Hell are we waiting on? We should get down there, finally see some action!". "He's right. Whoever sent that signal must be down there, and they may need our help! Move out!". They headed off into the direction of the smoke.

From the inside of the APC, the two cold drivers talked on.
"All I'm saying is that theres no WAY this Freeman guy could get remotely CLOSE to reaching Nova Prospekt! An Antlions probably buried the poor guys rotting corpse already!", The young man, Sean said.
"Ah you kids these days don't know what your talkin' about! I mean e got through Ravenholm so he's gotta- Wait, is that Rich and his team? Has he lost it? Dammit, get back to your station, we gotta catch that crazy bastard before he gets himself frozen. And I'm not gonna be responsible for loading him in a body bag!", an older man, Carl, exclaimed as he looked through the screens inside the vehicle.
......Meanwhile, Richard and Celsius Squad had found themselves crossing a large mound of snow and ice. "Another base? What could they need two of these for? That burnt out shithole back there was big enough.", Morse complained. "Less complaining, and more walking. We have to find out what caused that explosion." Richard didn't have time for complaining. He learned that in basic training. It gets you nowhere in life. But it will get you closer to death. His close friend learned that during one of their previous missions. They closed in on the base. They could see smoke pouring from a gigantic hole in the roof of one of the buildings. They loaded their weapons. They braced themselves for what may be on the other side of the door. Richard kicked it in, and met nothing but a dark, bloodstained room, only size enough for 2 people. He saw what looked like a blown security code console next to the door. Luckily, someone saved him some time. But now there was another problem. The door, stained with blood, looked as if it had been slammed into repeatedly by a car, or a very large object. "Son of a......- Richard was interrupted by Hayden. "Gotcha cover chief, plenty of explosives to go around." He planted it, and everyone stepped back a good 10 feet. Within a few seconds, the door had been breached.

They took a step in, and what they saw only added to the horrible things they had seen today. They looked around the area, which was covered by blood and scorch marks. Then, Garret lost it. "Oh-h m- m- my God...", He managed to get out before lurching forward and vomiting. Sitting in a chair, dead, in front of an old computer was a man, frozen, his wrists and his throat slit open. There were bodies laying on the ground. They looked human... Barely.The corpses were all different, yet the same, each one sprouting unusual protrusions from different areas of the body. Each being severely burned. Stolls took a sample of blood from one of the corpses. "Morse what the Hell are you doing?", Stolls asked him. "I'm taking some with me, we need to find out what these are.", He replied. "What the Hell do you think they are? They're dead people Morse! PEOPLE!", Stolls snapped back at him. Richard then stepped in, "Calm the **** down! Now, if you ladies are done here, we have a job to do. Garret, you okay over there?". He replied with heavy signs of fear and disgust in his voice, "I'm... Fine sir... I just need to get out of here.........". "Don't worry, maybe the next room won't be as bad".

They saw an entry, where a door had been blown off. They could see some trace amounts of ice coming from the room. They stepped into the slightly larger room, a chamber. In the center was an ice block, shaped almost like a tub, only larger. The top was thawn out, with trace amounts of blood leaking down the sides of it. They found a man's corpse strew against the wall next to it. 'What went on here?", Hayden questioned. "I don't know, but I sure as Hell don't wanna stick around to- He was interrupted by an ear splitting shriek. For a moment he thought of a headcrab, or a Fast Zombie. But no, this was something different. Something bigger. "What the....... Hell was that?" asked Morse. "I don't know, but it's coming from the outside! Lock and load people!", He had to find out what did this, here and now. They rushed outside, but saw nothing. Then they heard it again. Only this time it was accompanied by sound of a man cursing which in turn was accompanied by the sound of a fire blazing heavily. They searched and they came upon a scene.

They had never seen anything like it. They saw a man, carrying a flamethrower, blasting what looked like another man... Attached to a mass of God knows what, its legs that of various twisted shapes, it's arms being claws and numerous tentacles, like nothing they had seen and... A dogs head sprouting out from an opening on it's side? What the Hell is going on here? In the midst of the fight, they saw a large vehicle coming over the mound. It was Rich and Carl! "I never thought I'd be happy to see them again.", Richard muttered. The APC sped downhill, and came to a screeching halt, kicking up snow everywhere.
This caught the thing's attention. It immediately faced the man and whipped a tentacle at his foot, but he jumped back and fell into the snow before it made contact. The creature then turned it's rage toward the APC. And in an instant, it shot a disfigured through the cockpit, just nearly missing the two drivers. The man who was fighting the creature, tossed his torch over at us, making a break for it. "Hey, where the Hell atre you going/! Get your ass back here!", Richard screamed. He was about to chase the man down, but Stolls stopped him. "Theres no time Rich, grab that torch and burn that ugly son of a bitch! We'll cover you!". He grabbed the torch that lay a few feet from him, and cautiously made his way torward the beast. Hearing him, it turned around. There he was, face to face, with a monstrosity that made an Ichthyosaur seem cute. "Man he's right. You ARE an ugly SOB!", He said. The creature hissed at him and started to make it's way torward him. A burst of SMG fire came blasting from behind him. It pierced the creature's skin, and it let out a screech of pain. Richard hadn't expected this. The chunks of flesh that were separated from it's body slowly began to rejoin with the creature. It was healing itself!
"You can't be serious! It's not even slowing it down!", Garret screamed in fear. Morse remembered what the man who abandoned the fight was doing. He had to have thrown the flamethrower to them for a reason. "The torch! The torch for God's sake Richard! Burn it!", He yelled. As it drew closer with each second, he looked up at it and brought the flamethrower up, facing the creature. "Eat this!". He squezzed the trigger. The nozzle of the torch lit up with a blue flame, eventually growing and engulfing the creature in a vivid display of Hell fire and clumps of charred flesh falling into the snow. It let out one last long screech, before it collapsed into a burning heap. The creature was dead. He looked for a moment, and remembered that Sean and Carl were still trapped inside the APC. He opened the hatch and jumped down. "Sean, Carl! You guys okay?" He was greeted with the sound of Carls voice 'We're fine man." "Any wounds?"He asked the two. "Nah. It's just a little scratch. Nothing a little rubbing alcohol and a few days can't heal." Carl said relieved. "Nothing here sir.", replied Sean. Helping them out, they stepped back onto the cold snow. Then they heard another sound. A chopper. It swerved slightly in the air due to the heavy winds, but it safely landed near them, with the pilot patiently waiting on them. Celsius loaded into the chopper, eager to get the Hell out of here.
Richard stepped into the co- pilot seat and talked to the strange bearded man. "Thanks for abandoning us out there dick. Hehe that was some pretty good flying ou there" He said sarcastically. "What the Hell are you doing out here by yourself anyway?" The pilot calmly replied," Oh you know. Just found myself on an extended Winter vacation." Richard impatiently asked," Ok smart ass, just who are you any way?". The pilot turned his gaze to the side window of the cockpit, then forward again. He replied. "R.J. MacReady, helicopter pilot, U.S. Outpost 31.".............

End of Chapter 1. Coming soon, Chapter 2.

 

[DeusExMachina]

Wow, thanks for stealing my idea jerk.

Nah I'm joshing ya...its ok. You can have it .

But seriously, good work. I like what I'm seeing.

 

[Tollbooth Willie]

Chapter 2- "Uncivilization"

Richard felt his heart skip a beat. He did not know what to think.

"Wh........ What, I'm sorry? I... Don't think I heard that clearly. Did you say R.J. MacReady?"

"Yeah, you have a problem with it?" He looked over at the young Rebel, his mouth agape.
Richard came to and asked him questions he wanted answered. Right then. Right there. "We heard your log on that audio recorder. It dated 26 years ago. How the Hell could you have possibly survived?"

"Kid, let's just say when you've been through the pain, the fear, the truth, and the harsh reality I've had to survive through, you might understand. Of course, those Norwegians gladly left that base at least intact for someone to hole up in." Mac responded to him in a deep and tired tone.
Richard continued, "What was that creature in the snow?"

Mac looked at him and back to his view of the terrain ahead, trying to keep in control of the chopper. "That creature? That Thing? .... It's the devil himself. The worst nightmare man could ever encounter."
Richard grew frustrated with the lack of a good explanation he was getting. "Ok, if your not gonna tell me what that "Thing" is then what the Hell happened to everyone else?!" MacReady's head immediately turned towards Richard. His eyes looked strange. They looked a misty blue and white, like the Antarctic tundras they had traversed earlier. They were filled with fear. They were filled with hate.

He tried to say something, but only his lips moved. He began to clench his fist, as if he was getting ready to knock Rich's jaw loose, but he looked forward, continuing the flight out of the frozen Hell hole. Everything was quiet, except for the spinning blades of the chopper, and the howling, unforgiving winds outside.

Richard knew something had happened. He knew on the inside, Mac had done something. He turned toward the passenger window, looking on into the emptiness that surrounded the area.
"So, any place in particular were headed kid?" Mac asked him. Richard looked at him and thought for a moment. "Yeah. As a matter of fact there is. City 14." He responded

MacReady truned toward him with a confused look on his face. "City 14? Is that some fancy name?" Richard looked at him, as if he had truly lost it. And he believed it.
"Look old man, I uderstand you've been out here for a while, so is there any chance your damn brain has frozen the Hell over?"

MacReady still confused, responded. "No. What is City 14, and since when did the military have it's men dress in the mangled crap your wearing?" Richard looked at him. He thought he was just playing games now, but he realized. He had been trapped out here for 26 years. "So, you don't know? You haven't noticed anything strange at least once while you were out here?"
Mac sat back and rest his hands comfortably on the controls of the chopper. "Nope. While don't you tell me about it while we head out there?"
A day passed. Richard was walking down a street, 9 others following him. A strange noise rang down the empty street, then an explosion. A building beside them blew apart in a shower of concrete and debris. A large 3 legged creature stepped out from the large cloud of dust. A light began to emit from the creatures underbelly, then the same sound again. "Oh sh-." He was cut off.

He heard Garret's voice. It was just a dream. Or more realistically, a nightmare. "Sir wake up. We're inbound to City 14." He sat up in his seat and looked around, dazed. MacReady spoke. "Thanks ass, you fell asleep at the part with the "Earth is in Hell" thing you were telling me about. Earth always was in Hell my friend. And after hearing your little story, I would have to say YOURE the one whos crazy. Hehehehehehe." Mac stopped laughing. He looked out over the landscape.

It was dead. Twisted shapes everywhere. Remnants of the past. Figures moved about in every direction, some small, some large. This was Earth now. Nothing more than a dry place that no longer supported life for mankind. "MacReady stuttered, "W- what the Hell happened? What happened to everything?" He was gone for a long time. Trapped in the snowy hell hole. He may not have remembered Earth like it was in '82, but he knew it didn't look anything like this.

Richard replied to him. "This the world we live in now Mac. Welcome to Earth. Welcome to City 14." One of the crew looked outside. He looked at the city. He looked at it, and smiled. It was time.

 

[johnny john]

nice stroy going on here. Hope to see the rest soon.

 

[Tollbooth Willie]

You might. May take time though. Looking back at my previous 2 entres, thewriting is shit. Right now I'm kicking back, and taking my time developing the story into something a little better.

 

[M_Gargantua]

nice story so far. Good to see that your going to try to develop it.

 

[huntingbear]

*bump

 

[Tollbooth Willie]

Jesus I stopped writing this a month ago. And someone still remembers this? Well, maybe I should continue this.

 

[Tollbooth Willie]

Ok if anyone is still reading this I'm about done with the next chapter.

 

[huntingbear]

and i am

 

[Tollbooth Willie]

Finally done with the next chapter. Coming Winter 2006, The Thing will be unfrozen...........

 

[Remus]

The Thing will eat the Combine and the rebels for breakfast:naughty: .

 

[Tollbooth Willie]

Ok, Chapter 3 "Climate Shift" in December .