"John? John are you okay?!" I could hear the voice, piecing through the darkness. "God dammit John, answer me!" There it was again. I was floating in darkness, stars thousands of light years away surrounding me. I couldn't find where the other-worldly voice was coming from. Suddenly, I heard a rush of noise in front of me, and a light shining through the darkness. It was coming straight at me, and in fear I tried to move, to get out of its path, but I couldn't move any of my body. It hit me, and I shot up, looking around. I was in a concrete room, with a door to my right, and a pile of rubble to my left. I stood up slowly, and noticed a pool of blood on the floor. My head also hurt, and I when put my hand to it I felt the warm sticky blood that matted my hair. "John please! Are you there?!" The voice was there again, and I looked around again until I found a Bluetooth ear phone and mouth piece lying next to the puddle. I picked it up and carefully putting it in my ear, wincing at the shot of pain from moving too quickly. "Yeah…yeah I'm fine. Who…who is this?" I couldn't remember anything before waking up, and I had no idea where I was or why I was here. "Thank God John! So you're ok? Good, we need to…wait did you ask who I was?" It was a deep voice, a familiar voice. Standing had made my head throb with every heartbeat, so I sat down and leaned against the wall. "Yeah I…I hit my head, sorry. I'm a little foggy." "Damn you must have been hit good. It's me John, Tony. Your friend. Your business partner. You don't remember?" Tony. I recognized the name but other than that I was coming up blank. Business partner. That turned some gears apparently, because my memory came flooding in. My name was John Kinly. I lived in a small town in New Mexico, with my wife, Sherry, and my two kids, Milley and Jarred. Tony and I had known each other since grade school, and we had always been best of friends. We worked at a facility in the mountains, one of the most secret in the world. In fact, I shouldn't even be talking about it, but I might as well. It was Black Mesa, a testing lab for anything that the government didn't want their name on, but still wanted to control. I was in the Anomalous Materials branch; basically we worked with anything and everything that was…other worldly I guess you could say. Tony and I were field scientists; we would go out and work hands on instead of sitting in front of a microscope all day. We had worked here for the last 35 years, and the pay was great. It was so good that we had decided to retire at the age of 52, and today was our last day. We had been at our retirement party with our colleagues, when Catherine, our assistant who gave us our jobs and helped with our paperwork, got a call from the big shots, our bosses basically. They said that something urgent had come up, and we needed to get to into Sector 87, the old, abandoned part of the facility. It had been shut down a few years after I started working there, in 1971 I think. It was where they tested biochemical weapons, and not just poison gas and nerve agents. The stuff they produced there were the bombs that would spread some kind of airborne chemical, that when breathed in, would really mess its victim up. Like, really mess the person up. There had been an accident when they were attempting to do a controlled experiment on a new gas that was supposed to radiate the area without causing an actual explosion. One went off, and that set off a chain reaction of those bombs in their holding bay. The area was evacuated immediately and the whole sector was sealed off, leaving those inside to mutate horribly from the radiation. Our job was to get in, take care of any "exposed", as we were calling them, and find a crystal in the main lab. The crystal was from my branch, the Anomalous Materials, and was thought to be able to be used in some kind of weapon. Apparently, it had been emitting critical radiation levels lately, and could become unstable at any moment, and if it blew, it would take this half of New Mexico with it. Everything had been going fine in the old, dilapidated section of the facility, only encountering a few mutated rats other rodents, when we got to a rusty old bridge across a pit. I went first, and midway across it started to collapse, so I jumped the rest of the way and barely grabbed onto the other side as the bridge fell into darkness. I hit the other side with most of my body hanging off, but luckily there were holes in the platform that I grabbed onto and pulled myself up. My HEV suit, the full body suit that was issued to me and protected against most dangers, saved me from a few broken ribs, but the visor to see out of was cracked when I landed, so I had to take it off to see. I had on an "extra skin" though, which was basically a plastic like covering around my entire body that filtered the air and protected me from any of the physical dangers of the radioactive waste. Like I said, we had top technology at Black Mesa. Tony told me to keep going, that he would find another way around, and to arrange a meeting point over our radios. I agreed, and that was the last I saw of him, but we were keeping in touch, having our microphones set to always broadcast so we would know if the other was in trouble. It was about an hour after we split, when the entire place started to shake and rumble, and being old like it was, huge chunks and pieces of the ceiling and walls started to fall. It must have been one of those pieces that had fallen and knocked me unconscious. I wasn't bleeding anymore, and I started to take inventory and see what I still had and what still worked while Tony talked.
"John, you still there?" He asked. "Yeah, sorry, I just spaced out there for a little. I just had a little memory lapse too, I'm fine now." I could hear his sigh of relief. "Thank God. I've been yelling through this mic for the last half hour. You really got me worried there." While I was listening I checked my guns and ammo, making sure both were still usable. I had a black 9mm pistol, the most commonly issued gun for Black Mesa employees. I also a brown 12 gauge, the same one I had been using since I started my job here. Both worked and were in good condition, other than a few scratch marks on the barrel of the shotgun, but they weren't important. I had enough ammo to last me a while, so I wasn't too worried about my weapons situation. My suit was fine, and its battery was just over three quarters full. "Thankfully," Tony said, "nothing too big fell around me. I'm in a huge room; I'm pretty sure this was where the original reactor was." In order to power all their equipment, Black Mesa had giant nuclear and other types of reactors. They were torn down and moved from time to time though, so the radiation wouldn't reach fatal levels. Right after the accident, they used the manual shutoff switches in the center part of the facility, which could deactivate any sectors reactors at any time to stop them from going critical. "Only problem is that my ways in and out are blocked. I'm stuck basically. Although I think I'm ahead of you, so when you get here we can bust our way through then get the hell out of here. Where are you at?" He asked. "I'm in a small room with a low ceiling, made of concrete mostly. The way I came is blocked off but there's a door I can leave through. Hold on a sec, I'm going to see if I can open it." I said, holstering my guns and walking to the door. Many of the doors in the lesser used passages had been locked shut, because that's the way they were when everyone evacuated. I reached down and twisted the handle, but it crumbled to pieces in my hand. I put my hands against the door and pushed, which opened it a little but then hit something on the other side, stopping it. "Dammit." I said under my breath. Tony must have heard me because he asked "What?" "Nothing, nothing, the door's stuck." He didn't say anything to that, so I pressed my shoulder against the door and pushed as hard as I could. It didn't move at first, but then it slowly started creaking open, until whatever was on the other side of it broke, and I went flying forward, face first. I landed hard, in a sticky brown and red substance that slightly lessened the fall. I quickly stood up and wiped my suit and face off, and when I was done I looked at where I had fallen. "Jesus H Christ" I said in almost a whisper. "What? What is it? John?!" In front of me, where I had fallen, was a large puddle of a red and brown paste like substance, emitting a horrid odor. But that wasn't the bad part. Poking out of it, at random points and angles, were arms and legs. There was even half a skull extruding from the edge of it. It must have been a group of scientists that hadn't gotten out, and were literally liquefied by the radiation. Like I said before, this wasn't any normal type of biochemical lab. This was much more. I stepped back from it, horrified that this pool of disgustingness had once been living, breathing men and women. They had once been scientists, just like me. "It's more…radiation effects." I said back to Tony, who had been yelling at me the entire time. "Oh geez John, don't scare me like that." "Yeah, sorry, it was just…it's just so horrible." I said, turning around and walking back to the door to see what had jammed it. There was a large shelf that had gotten jammed in between the floor and ceiling when it fell sideways, and pushing on it had broken the old rusty bars in half, which was why it gave way so suddenly. I left the door open so I would know I had been here if I got turned around, because many of the rooms here were built on a small budget and were mostly the same. This was a hallway, with simple brown metal walls and a ceiling slightly taller than the room I was just in. It went about 50 meters down, turning either way at the end. Just before we had gotten into this sector, they turned the power to the lights back on, but the only ones that worked were the emergency lights, so the hallway was bathed in a dark red glow. Along the right side there were two rusted metal tubes running the length of the hall, and there were dull red signs on both that read "CAUTION. CONTENTS AT EXREMELY HIGH PRESSURE". I stepped over the top of the pile of bodies, gagging as I did. As I was walking down the hall Tony came over the radio again. "Ok John, we have to finish the mission no matter what. If it was urgent enough to pull us from our retirement party, then it's a lot worse than just bad. If you stayed on course the entire way there, then you should be very close to it. I found a map that lays out the entire complex, and the way I went means our paths won't cross until after you retrieve the crystal." Damn, I thought to myself. That meant that I would be alone when I entered the room where the crystal was, and that was where the radiation was going to be the worse. The deeper we had gotten, the more effects from radiation were visible, and so I figured that that room was going to be horrible. "Ok, that should be fine." I said, nearing the split at the end of the hallway. "Do you know how close I am to it?" "Yeah, describe what your area looks like and I'll see if I can find you" He said. "Ok, I'm in a long hallway, about 50 meters. It splits like a T at the end of it. On one side is…" I looked to my right. "On my right is another hallway, about the same size. There's a door on the left about halfway down, and another one on the right at the end. To my left is…" I said, turning around and looking the other direction. "It's a small, open room, that isn't much larger than the actual hallway. There's also a door directly in front of me." "Ok, give me a moment." He said, and there was a long pause while he looked at his map. "Oh good. I found you I think, and if you're where I think you are, you're almost there. You need to go into that small room and through the door, take your second right after that, and go straight for three more rooms. I'll guide you as you go." Well, I was close to it at least. There was the frame of where a glass door had once been, and I had to duck slightly to get through. The broken door glass crunched beneath my feet as I stepped in, and before I opened the other door I looked around. The room was washed in the same red glow as the hallway was, but it was duller here so I had to turn on my flashlight to see. The light was powered by a rechargeable battery in the arm of my suit, which was slightly larger than a quarter. I could either make the light come from my palm of my suit, the chest, or the head piece, if I still had it.I shined it around, and the room was bare other than a white box on the wall next to the door. It was on about three feet off the ground, and was about the size of a large shoebox. It had two holes on the top of it that were directly next to each other, but other than that it was completely smooth. It was an eye check station, used for safety. Only the security guards that were stationed around the facility could open them, and they would only open the doors if they got a message from headquarters saying that the scientist was allowed access. It was more for protection of Black Mesa than it was for the people inside. Before they were installed, which was a few years before I started working there, a scientist had accidentally entered the wrong wing of the Anomalous Materials sector and tested on the wrong sample. Luckily, all that happened during testing was a bright light that left the scientist temporarily blinded. By now though, the wires and scanner had broken down, so it was easy to open the door. I stepped into the next room and closed the door behind me, looking around while I did. It was the main lobby, where the receptionist sat and the only point where the entire facility came together at one point. It was a large, round room, with a desk in the middle and long LED lights hanging from the ceiling. Well, there were a few left hanging; most of them had fallen and shattered against the ground. To my right there were two small rooms leading to doors, almost identical to the one I had just been in. There were dull colored lines on the walls leading out of every direction, each being about two feet tall. On them, there were the labels of wherever that door led to. On my left there was a curving hallway that I couldn't see the end of, and I giant, two part metal door. It was two pieces; one piece went up and the other down, but they would create an airtight lock when they sealed. They more than likely led to where, normally, the room was easily accessible from a trolley that ran around the entirety of Black Mesa, but recently there had been a cave in due to deterioration, and it was deemed too dangerous to try and blow through the rubble. The room had the same red glow as before, but it was much brighter here, so I turned off my flashlight to let the battery charge up. There was a thick layer of dust that covered everything, and every step I took a huge cloud of dust flew into the air. My "second skin" I was wearing filtered out the dust and other impurities, so it didn't affect me. "Dammit" Tony said, startling me with the sudden noise in the silence. "What is it?" I asked, walking towards the desk to see if anything was left in or on it. "I think the heater in my suit broke, I'm really cold all of a sudden." Oh no, that wasn't good. Black Mesa was underground, and since the heaters no longer worked here, it was cold. Very cold. Enough to kill a man if he wasn't protected from it in some way. "It should be fine though," he said, "it shouldn't take you that long to get to me. Once you do we there will probably be something we can do about it, but for now just go on with the mission." "Yeah, I'll go as fast as I can to get to you, don't worry." I said, and nodded my head even though I was the only one there. I was about to leave through the second door like Tony had told me, when something poking up from under the desk caught my eye. I walked around the desk and shone my light underneath it, crouching, and it was a sight just as bad as the pile of bodies from before. There was a male scientist leaned against the side of the desk in a fetal position with his arms wrapped around his knees. His used-to-be-white lab coat was stained and bloody, with pieces of it torn everywhere. His head and neck were stuck to the desk with the same kind of paste from the hallway, and he was so covered that I couldn't make out any of his face other than a bit of his nose. He must have tried escaping later than the rest and couldn't get through the doors, so he figured he had a better chance under the desk and hid there from his fate. I sighed and reached down to take his nametag so I could bring it back and have him remembered in some way, when he decided that he didn't want to be forgotten just yet. My hand was inches from his chest, when suddenly both his arms reached forward and grabbed my arm, pulling me off balance. I was too surprised to even yell, and I fell against him, almost landing on top of him. His head ripped from its mold, and the blob of paste parted to show yellow teeth and rotting gums. He let out a horrible scream, sounding like something between a dying cat and bear. I know those two things are completely opposite sides of the scale, but that is exactly what it sounded like. He leaned forward to bite me, and my first instinct was to punch it in the face. He staggered a little, just enough for me to break free and stand up. I ran backwards until my back was against the wall and pulled out my pistol, aiming it at him as he slowly crawled his way up. Now that I was a safe distance away, I looked at him, and cringed at the effects of the radiation. The paste was hardened from his neck up, and his head was just a giant clump of it. It was rounded in the front, and completely flat on the back from being pressed against the desk. One of his hands was mangled and mostly missing, with dry blood clotted around his sleeve. His other hand had been mutated by the radiation, and his fingers were elongated three times their normal size. His abdomen area had been eaten away by radiation or rats, and I could see the lower part of his ribs poking out of his grey, paper thin skin. He was completely up now and walking at me. Actually, it was more of a slow shamble, almost a "zombie" like walk. The office desk chair was tipped over near me, and since the scientist was walking so slowly, I holstered my gun and walked over to it, keeping one eye on him. Tony came in over the radio. "Man, it sure is cold down here without my heater. You okay, you've been quiet for a while?" "Yeah, I'm fine, it's just I found a scientist who was…unfortunate enough to get stuck in here. The poor bastard..." I trailed off, not knowing what to say. "Damn." Tony said, "You take care of it?" "About to." I said, picking up the chair and setting it between me and him so I could watch him. It was metal, with four legs and a black cushion on top. The metal was rusty, and I grabbed onto one of the legs, breaking it off easily. The piece was about a foot long, and pointed at one end. "I'm sorry, but I have to do this." I said under my breath, turning around the chair leg in my hand so the sharp end was down. I had my flashlight shining from a point on my neck, so wherever I looked the light shone. He was within an arm's length of me, and I put my hand on his shoulder and pushed him back, turning him so that he hit the wall. He was growling slightly; a deep, rough purr almost. His arms reached forward to grab me, but I was taller than him and my arms were longer, so he was just clawing at the arms of my HEV suit. I raised the metal chunk, and brought it down hard, piercing through his head and into the wall. He instantly stopped moving, and his arms fell limp by his side. I let go of his shoulder, and after a few seconds his weight broke the bar from the wall and he slumped to the ground, falling into a pile. I stepped back and slowed my breathing, wiping the bit of blood that had sprayed from him off my face. It was actually on the exterior of the Second Skin suit, but it was my natural instinct to wipe it off anyways. "Ok, I'm good now." I said to Tony, who had been silent while I executed the poor fellow. "Good. I'm getting really cold now. Remember, it's the second door on the right from where you first walked in. Hurry. Please John, I don't want to die down here. Not like this." I could hear the fear in his voice. Tony had never gotten that way, even through all the shit we had been in over the years. I did one last look around the room, stopping when my gaze went over the scientist and once again feeling pity for him. What a horrible death, being stuck down here alone. Tony was going to go through the same thing if I didn't get to him fast, so I turned my flashlight off and walked over to the door, bracing myself for whatever could lay on the other side and beyond.
The door entryway was the same style as the last one, with an eye scanner and the red emergency light. The door opened smoothly, and I cautiously walked in, turning my light back on and sweeping it around. I almost didn't notice the bloody pile of bones in front of me while I was walking in, and I cringed at the sight of another dead person. At least this one couldn't get up and try killing me. I hope. Stepping over the bones, I looked around the room. It was a little larger than the last, but square shaped. There were tall shelves that used to hold bottles of poisons or other experimental liquids, but most of them were tipped over and broken. On my left there was a row of desks with microscopes and old, simple computers on them. To the right of me there was a large window that looked out onto something, but the lights in there weren't working so from my distance I couldn't see through it. There was a door directly in front of me, but some kind of large metal sheet in front of it. I cautiously walked over to it, expecting something to jump out at me from under the shelves. Nothing did though, and I switched the light to my chest so my hands were free. The metal plate was some kind of locking mechanism, probably airtight also. It must have been turned when the shit hit the fan to help stop the airborne substance from spreading. I tried to open it, but it was set tight, so even pushing as hard as I could didn't move it at all. I stepped back and looked around the room for something I could use, and I noticed a long desk of buttons and levers in front of the window. It was used to control whatever types of tests were done on the other side of that window, but it more than likely also had the door lock switch. As I started to walk over to it, Tony came back on over the radio. "H-h-h-h-h-holy crap, John. It's s-s-s-s-so cold done here. You al-al-almost here?" He sounded half frozen, and it really hit me then how fast I would have to go to make it to him on time. "Don't worry, I'm going as fast as I can. Hang on there Tony, I'll be there soon. Try moving around or something to keep warm." "Y-y-y-yeah, I'll t-t-try" he said in the same shaky voice. I was by the control panel now, and so far I couldn't see anything that had to do with the door lock. I was at the far end of the entire thing when I saw the switch labeled "Door Lock-Air Tight". It was in the up position, so I pulled it towards me. It slid easier than I thought it was going to, so the force from my pull snapped it off. "This day just keeps on getting better and better" I said, looking at the broken off lever in my hand then throwing it aside. The intact part of the switch was down now, and it should have opened the door, but the system must have been completely deteriorated. I looked around for another way through, but that was the only door other than the one I came through. That's when I remembered the window, and I pressed my face against it so to reduce the glare. I could kind of make out the shape of the room, and even though I could only see part of it I could still tell it was huge. It was curved on either side, but I couldn't see the other end through the darkness, nor the bottom or top. The walls were completely bare other than a small ring of protruding metal that was lined up with the bottom of the window. "Tony I need you to do something." I said, conjuring up a stupidly dangerous but possible plan. There was no answer so I tried again. "Tony you there? I need your help." Nothing. I was starting to get worried now. "Tony!? Hello?!" "Y-y-yeah I'm here. What d-d-d-do you need?" he finally answered, still stuttering but now much quieter. "Ok, good. I need you to look at your map again and tell me if I can get to the second room from the large circular one next to it." There was a long pause, and I was worried he was drifting out of consciousness, but after a bit he said "Yeah I think so. They are next to each other, but it's not a door or anything. Hold on there's something labeled here…it says "Viewing Window"." I looked as far left as possible, and I could just make out the very edge of the other window. Great, I thought to myself. I had to break through this window, climb out, and then shimmy along on that thin strip of metal to the other room. It looked like it was only about twenty feet to the other window, but the drop would definitely kill me if I slipped. "Ok," I said, "the door's locked so I have to break my way in through the window. Wish me luck." "G-g-g-good l-l-luck." Tony replied back. I took out my shotgun and shot at the window, breaking through on the 6th shot. The glass wasn't bullet proof, but it was close enough to worry me after not even chipping it at first. The hole was about 2 feet in diameter, just enough for me to fit through. I took a deep breath and climbed through the broken window feet first. It was jagged around the edges, but my HEV suit protected me. I held onto the desk and lowered myself until I felt the ledge underneath my feet. It was thin, only about 7 inches thick, but it was enough for me to be able to push against the wall and walk along. Once I was completely free of the window, I pressed by back to the wall and shimmied my way, going very slowly. Other than the echo of my feet sliding against the metal, it was in a complete dead silence. Just a few more steps now, I thought to myself. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. "GRAAWW" It sounded like it was right next to me, and I panicked and fell forward. My arms wind-milled, and I barely caught myself before I fell to my death. My heart was still racing, and I looked around for whatever had made that horrible noise. "GRAAWWWWW" There it was again, but it sounded like it was surrounding me. I looked around frantically, sure that any minute one would drop in front of my face and knock me off balance. 'GRAAWW" That one was clearer, and it sounded like it was coming from below me. I looked down and waited, and another yell came. There must have been someone down there that was mutated now, like the other scientist from the lobby. I was positive I was right, and was continuing to move towards the window, when suddenly it yelled again, but then there was another, and another, and another. Soon it became one long scream, with some being higher and some being lower than the others. There had to be at least 30 different people in total, and the sound echoed around the chamber and got louder. That was all I could hear, and the sound was so gruesome and loud that I grimaced. I kept going, and within a few minutes I was directly in front of the window. Now I just had to get through. Shit. Didn't think this one all the way through. I stood there carefully, pressed up against the window and searching for something I could use to break the glass. I couldn't use my shotgun or even my pistol, the recoil would throw me off balance and I would go plummeting down to my death, or worse, break my legs and get ripped apart by the mutated. I had my pistol out, about to try, when something caught my eye in the window. I looked, but it was only my own reflection. Wow, I look grim, I thought to myself. I was just coming to the realization that for some reason my reflection wasn't wearing the same clothes as me, when a giant hand, about the size of my torso, burst through the window and grabbed onto me around my chest. I was pulled in, so forcefully and unexpected that I dropped my pistol to the depths of the chamber. The hand brought me in and threw me across the room, where I slammed against the wall and dropped. I was dazed and my vision was blurry, but the adrenaline was starting to rush through me, so I quickly stood up. I got up just in time to jump to the side to avoid getting hit by the charging beast. I rolled when I hit and looked back at the monster, pulling out my shotgun. The beast slammed against the wall, denting it and throwing lab equipment everywhere. I aimed down the barrel and shot, but it didn't seem to even phase the thing. It turned and charged, and once again I had to roll out of the way to avoid getting crushed. I got a better look at it this time, and it was worse than the scientist in the lobby. This one was much larger, standing about eight feet tall. What stood out the most though were its arms. His left arm was huge, about the size of a child, and extremely muscular. His other arm was shriveled and small, like someone born with a disease or deficiency of some kind. His shirt was ripped and torn, revealing a chest that was about the same size as his small arm. When I stood back up I shot again, and this one seemed to do a little more damage, because let out a deep bellow that shook the room. He stood up and turned towards me, breathing deeply with an evil look in his eyes. His face was distorted and, honestly, very ugly. It was also quite scary looking, and the dark red glow didn't do anything to help with that. I put my gun up again and pulled the trigger. Click. Well shit. I was empty. He let out another scream, and started running at me with his big shoulder down. He had an awkward gait, but moved quickly. Time seemed to almost slow, and I went through all my options in my head. I could try and reload a shell or two, but there probably wouldn't be enough time. I could also try to use something in the room to hit him with and hopefully be able to at least stun him long enough to shoot him again, but he probably over power me if I did that. The last thought I had was just as stupid as the one to climb around the ledge. I waited until the last second, right before he was about to hit me, when I dropped down onto my hands and knees. He slammed into me, but I got him off balance enough for him to trip forward, directly into the window. He hit it next to the hole that was already there face first, and his momentum and weight was too much for the window to handle. It shattered and he flew out, screaming the entire way down. I stood up slowly, and my head started throbbing like before. There was a tipped over chair near me that I picked up and put up right. I sat down and sighed, looking around the room and reloading my gun. The room was basically the same as the other one, but this one was a little more destroyed from that mutated creature that had been in here. The only difference was that there was a wall of switches and levers instead of the desks and test samples. "J-J-John, are you ok?" Tony said over the radio. He sounded even worse now, and his voice was barely audible. "Yeah Tony I'm fine. Just had a little…encounter." That was an understatement, but I didn't have the energy to describe it all to him right now. "I'm n-n-n-not going to m-m-make it man. It's s-s-so c-c-c-cold. Tell Jasmine and Cherry I l-l-l-love them. Oh god, I c-c-c-can't feel my limbs anymore m-m-man." Jasmine was his wife, and Cherry his daughter. He was starting to give up, so I stood and pushed the chair to the side. I couldn't stop for anything from here on out, or he would die. And I wasn't going to let that happen. "Don't talk like that Tony, we are getting out of here together." He was crying now. "N-n-no man, it's just t-t-t-too cold. I l-l-love them so much though. It j-j-j-just c-c-can't happen like this. Please God. Please." He was completely sobbing now, and nothing I was saying was getting to him. We had been through a lot together, and I had never heard him like this. We had known each other since kindergarten, and worked together for the last 30 years. He was normally strong and hearty, and never gave up on anything, but now he was completely broken. "I l-l-love you man. Just p-p-p-please, make it out and t-t-t-tell my f-f-family…please…p-p-please." It almost hurt me to hear him like this, and so I went to the door and opened it, continuing my way through. I turned back on my flashlight and shone it around the next room. It was larger than the last and taller. There were lab tables and desks around the room that were mostly left untouched, with the lab equipment covered in a thick layer of dust. The first thing that caught my eye was the deep blue glow coming from the front right corner. Even from here I could see the crystal, still in its testing apparatus. It was jagged at the top, with three main shards coming from the base. It wasn't very large, only about 5 inches wide and 8 inches tall. It was a brilliant blue color, and the closer I got the more detail I could see in the crystal. It seemed like I could stare into its depths forever, almost mesmerizing. I snapped out of it though, and pulled out the hazardous materials container from the storage on my suit. I slid it over the top of the crystal, and it locked to the bottom of it just like Catherine said it was going to. I carefully picked it up, making sure not to bump it around too much, and I put it back into my suit. "I got it Tony. I'll be right there." He was still mumbling uncontrollably, and I could tell he was starting to slip. "Tony, hang on their buddy, I'll be right there." "T-t-t-t-thank g-g-god. T-t-t-take my body back p-p-p-please. G-g-give it to my f-f-f-family and t-t-t-tell them I love them." I didn't say anything back, not wanting to waste any time to get to him. I ran to the next door, which was directly in front of the one I just came through. It easily opened, and I ran through. There was supposed to be a small box-looking thing in here, where I could put the container to be pulled to the surface using a robot whose only job was to carry things along a rail. Just thinking about the amount of information we could get from this was actually kind of exciting me. Being exposed to radiation this long, who knew what could be learned from it. The room was small and looked kind of like the first one where I was knocked out. The holder was right next to the door, and I opened it and carefully set the sample in, eager to get to Tony. It was a clear glass box that looked similar to a cupboard, and there was a button next to it to seal it off manually. I hit the button, but instead of sealing, the bottom of the box opened and the container fell. "The hell?" I said aloud, confused. "Tony, the sample, it…fell for some reason." There was a long pause, and I was worried he had gone unconscious, when he answered in a still and calm voice. "I'm so sorry John." "What? What do you mean?" He started crying again. "They…they made me do it. They had Jasmine and Cherry and, and, and…I'm just so sorry." What was he talking about? "Tony, you aren't making any sense." "They were going to kill them both if I didn't trick you and I just couldn't let them die. I'm sorry John. I'm so sorry." "Wait, trick me? What do you mea-" I was interrupted by another voice. "Hello boys." Catherine. My heart almost stopped. "Catherine, what…what's going on?" Tony was still sobbing in the background while Catherine talked. "You see, John, we needed a…favor done. And you were perfect for the job. All we needed to do was convince you. And may I just say, Tony, you did a great job at that. Thank you for your contribution to Black Mesa. Goodbye." Tony started yelling into the radio in a horrified tone. "NO NO NO. PLEASE. I DID WHAT YOU ASKED. PLEASE NO. PLEA-AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" His blood curdling scream almost blew out my radio, and I too was yelling "NO!" into the microphone. I was literally listening to my best friend die. He slowly got quiet, until all I could hear was a gurgling sound coming from him. "What was that!? What the fuck is going on!?" I was irate, scarred, and confused. Catherine calmly answered "That? Oh that was the poisons we put into his suit before you two left. He never was too keen about changes. But anyways, if I were you, I would listen so you don't die unknowing." It finally hit me what was happening. I had been betrayed. Tricked. I was used. "And what if I don't?" I said coldly. "What if I come back to the surface and make you pay?" Catherine broke into laughter, like this entire thing was just a big joke. "Oh, we planned for everything. I bet that Second Skin suit sure has helped you? It'd be a shame," I heard a flip be switched over the radio, "if that suit were to disappear." My skin started to feel like there were bugs underneath it, and it wasn't until it reached my head that I realized what was happening. My skin tight suit, the only thing that had protected my head and lungs from the radiation, was evaporating in front of my eyes. I could instantly feel the discomfort from the radiated air. "There that's better." Catherine said. "Now, listen up, while you still can. This entire thing was a long, elaborate plan. Three years ago, Dr. Breene and I found another planet, one with life on it. We waited though, and didn't tell anyone about it. The other beings are human like in stature, but much more dangerous and cruel. They conquer other civilizations with huge gun ships and thousands of soldiers. We knew that if anyone else discovered it, they would do everything in their power to make sure that this new race, which we call the "Combine", never made it to Earth. They would completely block off any way we could communicate with them. Do you know how much knowledge would have been lost?" The radiation burned, but it's a feeling I don't know how to describe. Horrible is the only word that really describes it. "But what if they were to attack us? Then how would you feel? Killing most of the human race?" I asked. Her answer shocked me to the core. "Who says we don't want that? Imagine, we let them attack us, they conquer most the world, and then we make a treaty of some kind. We let them rule over us, but Dr. Breene and I are in charge of the humans. It's perfect. And you just helped us reach our goal. You see, that explosion from before, it was a little something called the Resonance Cascade. Dr. Freeman, you're good friend if I'm not mistaken, opened a portal that will be the link to the Combines home world. Of course, he had no idea that it was going to happen, but now that it is open there is no way to close it. Actually, there was one way, but you just dropped it into the incinerator. You destroyed humanities only chance. Congrats, Mr. Kinly." I almost felt like crying. I was tricked into dooming the entire human race. How could I be so stupid? "Why trick me?" I asked. "Why not just send someone more trained, more ready for the job?" "Well, they wouldn't be able to escape in time, and honestly it was quite an impromptu decision, doing it today." "Wait, escape? What do you mean escape?" She chuckled. "You think you are making it out of there alive? Don't be silly, no one is making it out from this facility. No one but Dr. Breene and I of course." I could feel myself starting to lose consciousness, and everything around me began to blur. "You see, John, there is a…protocol, in place, that is only ever used if something is going to get out of control and endanger the world. Basically, the military will dispatch a large number of Special Forces soldiers who will analyze the situation, and if it is deemed too dangerous, then the big guns are brought out. And by that, I mean nuclear explosives. Enough to level this facility three times over. It will obliterate everything within a 15 mile radius. The upside is that portals aren't a piece of matter, so they can't be destroyed by simple means of extreme force. And if my clock is correct, then this small chunk of Earth has about 13 and a half minutes left before it's blown to smithereens. But I really must be going, so enjoy the last minutes of your life, John. I wish I could say it's been a pleasure working with you. Goodbye." With that, the line was dropped and all I heard in my ear was static. I took out my headpiece and set it next to me, and even that small movement caused my head to spin. I can honestly say I cried. I sat there as radiation burned my skin, as jets filled with explosives headed to my location, and I cried. After a bit, I remembered about the photo I had in my suit and I took it out. It was a picture of my wife and kids, one that I took on a family vacation to Mount Rushmore. It made me smile a sad smile, but it was a smile none the less, and I leaned my head against the wall, closing my eyes and waiting for myself to slip away. "Hello, Misssster Kinley. I think I have a deal to offer you." The sound startled me, but I was already too out of it to do anything, so I just painfully opened one eye. There was a strange looking man standing next to me, in a black suit and jacket, holding a briefcase. "Perhapssssssss we shhhould talk elsssssewhere." He said, and that was the last thing I heard before my vision spun and I blacked out.
THE END