Notice: The following writing takes place before the events of the citadel exploding. In any way, there is no relevance to Gordon Freeman or any people linked to him, excluding the rebellion and the combine, for the sake of originality.
Kevin rolled in his sleep, another restless night. The echoing sound of the Sub Machine Gun being fired from far, far, away haunted his thoughts, and filled his mind with distress. The fear of a raid while they were off-guard kept him awake at night, and the footsteps outside of the canals broke his confidence. Whether or not it was the night watchman, or the combine having a successful attack, it would still confuse him and lower his confidence. In order to be safe, he had kept his backpack close to him that night, and kept his pistol inside of his jackets, sown together in order to provide the same amount of heat as a sleeping bag. The warmth would suffice for the night, for they would be on the move once again tomorrow.
He reached into his backpack, and pulled out the red substance that had fallen off of the exploded chopper, and smeared it on himself, attempting to make it look like he had been shot, and had died long before.
These extra-precautions were normal to Kevin by now, and every night, the same thing happened.
Before he knew it, he was fast asleep, his mind cleared. Kevin had the most peculiar dream, he was sitting down in a building, wearing a black sweatshirt, a white undershirt, and blue pants. This wasn't normal. He was watching a Breen-cast. No, wait, this was something different. It was something he didn't recognize. There was a man, talking to another man. They were at what looked like a bar, conversing the latest news and happenings in the world. Eventually, a woman entered, and one of the men made his move and asked her out. This was quickly rejected, followed by Kevin laughing on the couch.
"Hey, Kevin..." a voice echoed.
He rolled in his sleep, focused on this strange dream.
"Kevin..." Lance bellowed, "Hey! Jerry! I think Kevin was hit in his sleep! Get o'er here!"
The sounds of footsteps came closer to the sleeper, "Did the combine sneak in and kill Kevin?"
Jerry bent over and looked at him, examining the red fluid that Kevin had applied earlier that night. "This is not blood. He's fine, just probably in a daze." Jerry wiped off a bead of sweat, and got back up on his feet.
Darcus dashed over, "Heeey, what's up?" he asked, keeping one eye on Kevin, "Oh, no. Did Kevin die. I'm shocked." Darcus said in a monotone, "Well! Let's go ahead and dump his body and uh, shoot at it some. He'd like that."
Jerry and Lance glared at Darcus, while Kevin slowly started to wake up, finding his hat over his head and shotgun stabbed into the ground next to him. Upon seeing blood, he quickly jumped up and looked around. Jerry, Lance, Darcus, and Marine all started laughing.
"Uh, spoiler alert." Lance sighed, "You put that red motor fluid on your face too close to your eyes again... we're all here."
A bell rung, piercing loud. Followed by a whirr of engines and a mysterious sound that they hadn't heard before.
Lance looked up quickly. His eyes turned from care-free to fierce. He glared, and signaled for everybody to move back.
"Strider!" A rebel screamed from outside, followed by the sound of a gun firing.
Lance maneuvered up to the front of the canal opening, leaning against a large metal pillar. He leaned to the right and grabbed onto a silver pipe line protecting them, eying outside with his SMG in hand. Jerry was quick to follow, and they started to talk to each other, attempting not to be heard by the monstrosity lurking outside.
"Hey... what the hell is that thing?" Jerry asked, looking back to the Strider, now crouching looking for survivors.
"It's a hunk of shit that you should just ignore and run to safety. I'll distract it. You take Kevin and Marine over through the canals, and try to get to Orfo. He's probably over by Black Mesa East, follow the river until you reach the big gate. Remember, the security word is 'Broken Meth'." Lance explained without hesitation.
Jerry nodded. He looked over to Kevin and Marine, and Marine looked back to the dead body laying against the wall.
"Poor guy... I'm going to miss Ian." She said under her breath, looking to his Rocket Launcher that he treasured so much. Marine slowly walked over and bent over to grab it.
"Don't touch my damn rocket launcher..." an old video recorder said next to his dead body, triggered when it was touched. It echoed loudly, and the Strider looked over.
"God... Jerry! Its too late! Go! Take Kevin and Marine! Theres no time!" Lance shouted, starting to fire at the Strider. He dodged a shot and took off into the tunnels.
Kevin ran forward and clutched onto the bars, Marine did the same, as they watched stunned as the strider charged up its warp cannon.