Half Life : Converging Force
Chapter One- Rebel Voucher
It was a normal day, like any else, if you could call any day normal. James peered out his window, in the shabby apartment he shared with thirteen other tenants. He watched the large, trifocal creatures walk across the "roads" of City Seventeen, now used only for Military Transport. As if City Seventeen needed it, nobody dared to try to escape, or fight back. The Metro Cops had Stun Batons, USP Pistols, and sometimes Sub Machine Guns. James had once seen a citizen brutally murdered by a Metro Cop with an Automatic Pulse Rifle. Even if somehow, he was able to escape, the Metro Cops had life detection, so if he killed one, he would have three more on his tail. Maybe if he could invent-
"I'm back from the Food Depot."
James heard the door slam, as twelve other Citizens eagerly waited at the table.
"What did they have this time, Kelly?"
Kelly was one of the Citizens that shared an apartment with him. The life of a citizen was dull, hard, and painful. One citizen from an apartment had to go down each day to get scraps of food left over from the Overwatch's meals, and bring it back, so that the Citizens were able to 'eat', if you could call it that.
"They call it 'Ham and Cheese'."
Kelly scooped out a small, textureless, gray blob of 'food' and dumped it onto each of her roomates' plates.
"James, are you going to eat?"
James was still standing by the window, looking outwards at the Striders. He couldn't help thinking, "Why couldn't they leave us be? What did we do to deserve this? They struck first, but why?" . He knew it was pointless, no amount of philosophy or 'radical thinking' could save them. James toyed with the thought of sending this question to the Administrator, but he knew that each question that could deal negatively with the Combine would probably result in the death of him and his friends.
"Yeah, I'm coming."
He sat down on one of the two sofas surrounding an overturned refridgerator, and began to eat with his fingers. The Citizens didn't get tables, or silverware, they were given mere pieces of malfunctioning machinery and expected to deal with that. One of their old roommates had made a set out of a decommissioned ManHack, but he was taken downstairs for 'questioning'. As he was halfway finished gulping down the runny mush, the TV blared on. Their Administrator, Wallace Breen, was displayed prominently. He looked at a piece of paper, and began to speak.
"I have received a letter from Citizen Two-One-Six-Three. This has be-"
"Turn it off. Please" James said.
Kelly reached for the knob, twisted it, and accidentally broke it off.
"Great, now we don't have to listen to that geezer anymore" one of the roommates remarked.
Kelly sat back down sheepishly, and continued to eat. The food was gone quick, and it wasn't long before the Citizens grew bored again. Most of them decided to go back to sleep, and James and Kelly were the only ones still awake. A hard, cold rapping sound brought James' attention.
"I'll get it."
Kelly stood up and walked to the door. Before she could reach it, the knocking came again, more irritated and restless. Kelly opened the door, and a Metro Cop stood in the opening. James didn't remember why they were called Metro Cops. Their official name was 'Civil Protection', but that was the opposite of what they were. All that was important was the fact that seeing one in your apartment was not good.
"You, Citizen. Come with me." The Metro Cop's voice was mechanical, cold, unfeeling. Just like every other, and the entirety of City Seventeen.
"What? Why? I haven't done anything wrong!" exclaimed Kelly
"You were illegally using an Expired Food Voucher."
"What are you talking about? Every day I get my food from the Depot downstairs, and I get a coupon for the next day. This is not my fault!"
"First warning, Citizen. Come with me."
"Leave her alone, she hasn't done anything wrong." James had stood up behind Kelly, although he was shaking wildly.
The Metro Cop reached for the USP Pistol tied to his waist. He plucked it casually from the side, and aimed. Shot. The bullet grazed a fleshy spot where the arm and shoulder intersect. Scarlet blood leaked out where the bullet had stuck. James feebly reached one hand up to the wound, and looked at the crimson on his fingers.
"Citizen, come with me now."
Kelly timidly shook her head, and the Metro Cop grabbed her neck with one hand. He began to strangle her, as James slowly stood up.
Holding his wound with one hand, James slammed into the Metro Cop with his free shoulder. The Metro Cop stumbled backwards, loosing his hold on Kelly. Kelly kneed the Metro Cop in the chest, as he heaved forwards. James looked around for something to use. He saw the glinting of metal infused with electricity. James grabbed the Stun Stick from the waist of the Metro Cop, and beat him over the head. Sparks flew from the hilt of the baton, as he struck, and struck again. Blood began to leak out of the notches on the top of the mask, as a monochromatic tone echoed from the suit.
"Unit 829 down at: Street 28, Building 81, Apartment 23"
James turned around, and looked at the rest of his friends, and 'family'. They looked downwards of the corpse of the Metro Cop; they knew more were coming, and that meant certain death for them.
"I'm leaving this place. They'll be here soon, if you stay here you'll die. I'm…sure you already know that. I'm trying to escape."
The Citizens looked up at him with fear, and a small glint of hope in their eyes.
"I've heard rumors of a canal route for getting refugees out of City Seventeen. That's where I'm going. I…don't know if I'll even make it to the canal, but I know that I'm going to die here anyway."
James bent down, and pulled the Metro Cop suit over himself. It fit snugly, the clasps in the back meshed together perfectly, but the mask wasn't detachable; It was surgically glued to the face of the Metro Cop. He attached the USP Pistol to his side, and held his Stun Stick in his right hand. He began to walk out the door. He heard the soft pattering of feet behind him. Nine of the Citizens had begun to follow him. James waited for one of them to say something.
"Look, I know there's a lot to say about this right now, but we have to get out of here." That was Charles, one of James' friends in the Apartment.
James smiled grimly as he walked through the doorway. He looked downwards through the spiral staircase, as they were on the third floor. He could see the outlines of about five Metro Cops marching up the stair way. James pressed himself flat against the wall, edging himself towards the elevator. He motioned towards the Citizens to follow him; they did so obediently. James crouched low to the ground, and reached for the elevator's control panel. It was an open designed one, with no doors, save for a chicken wire grating designed to hinder a person's 'ability' to fall out of the device. James stretched his arm past the wire, reaching further for the controls. His finger brushed the DOWN button, as he fell forward slightly. The button pressed, as his finger cracked under the pressure of his entire body. His pinky finger was fragmented; he'd need to fix that if he ever got out of here. Through the pain, he could hear the Metro Cops squabbling.
"I just heard the elevator go. Which direction are they going?"
"I don't know"
"Send two units down, three up."
"Roger"
"Roger"
He heard the shuffling feet of the Metro Cops running upwards. James leapt over to a staircase leading to the fourth floor, behind the view of the Cops coming upwards. As the Citizens huddled behind him, James took out the USP Pistol, and aimed towards the wall facing the staircase. The first Metro Cop ran out; James shot it directly in the head. Two more came, shooting the wall behind him. James shot again, got another Metro Cop in the abdomen. The recoil sent his arm back about fifteen degrees, and his bullet wound screamed in agony. He'd need to get that bandaged up pretty soon, or else it would get really infected. He shot the same Metro Cop in the chest, as it fell to the floor, The third Metro Cop started shooting wildly at James. He ducked, and the bullet grazed a Citizen's long hair. She looked behind her at the bullet hole in the wall that was only two inches from the right of her head. As she turned around, the third Metro Cop had been shot through both thighs. Three more Death Alerts rang loudly, resounding through the bloodstained hallway.
"Grab their weapons, quickly." James spoke
Three of the refugees ran over and scooped up the weapons. One of them reached for the uniform the Metro Cop was wearing.
"Don't, there's no time. We need to move." He replied
He shuffled along the wooden stairway while the bullet wound ached through his shoulder. Pain shot through his arm as the bullet lodged itself deeper in his shoulder.
"Forget what I said, get the suits. I need to bandage this up."
He slumped down against a wall, as three of the Citizens began to suit up. Three of the armed Citizens peered down the hallway, looking for the other squad at the base floor.
James felt the suit around his body, searching for something that could help him. He found a green medical vial with a red cross on it, sitting snugly in his chest pocket. He picked it up, and tried to swallow some of it. His mouth started burning intensely, as he immediately spat it out. He coughed raucously as his pain in his mouth faded away. He slowly lifted off the chest plate of his 'armor' as he squeezed the area around his wound. The bullet popped out with a sickening sound, as the cool air singed his wound. He quickly poured the contents of the vial on his wound, and this time, it hurt even more. He wanted to scream, wanted to rub it out, but he didn't. He could slowly see the skin begin to patch together in thin strands. He didn't know how it worked, he remembered something about the possibility of chemical compounds replicating Proteins and Amino Acids to heal wounds, back from his days before the Invasion, but that was a time long gone. He didn't care how it worked, as long as it did. The wound was almost patched up, and the two Metro Cops had almost reached the third row. He saw the Citizens shoot the duo, and they fell downwards toward the base door. Two more Death Alerts rang, as he could hear the stomping of feet in the distance.
"Probably OverWatch Forces" he realized.
They had already terminated six units, the Combine wasn't so irresponsible to just send more guns and vests their way.
James sprinted up the wooden stairs, the soft creaking diminished by the loud pounding of feet, growing ominously in the distance. James and the Citizens reached the attic, a wooden triangle with the frames of broken glass, shattered long ago. James kicked the outward fragments of glass out of the building with a kick, and hopped out of the window. He landed on the creaking foil of the roof, as the footsteps got louder, and louder. The Citizens followed behind, but one was too slow. He screamed as the shells of the shotgun penetrated his side, he fell to the floor, as his body slowly tumbled downwards like a sick ragdoll until it finally fell to the streets below. Another Citizen wildly started shooting his USP Pistol at the OverWatch Soldier. The bullets struck the head, the chest, and the leg, deep syrupy blood leaking out of each.
"You moron! Now we're all dead!" exclaimed one Citizen
James thought back to when he had ridden his train into City Seventeen. They had driven by Nova Prospekt, when he saw them. The 'Elites'. The 'White Cyclops', as some on the train had called them, were the most powerful of the Combine. And now they would be coming for them.
James waited for the Death Alert.
It didn't come.
James turned around to grab the shotgun, and saw him standing there.
-END OF CHAPTER ONE-
Well, I hope you liked it! I'm sorry for any errors in punctuation or placement, but I'm a Writer, I just put my thoughts in. I think I made the cliffhanger in this chapter a bit too obvious :p