Half life: The Rebels' Struggle
Chapter 1: Train to City 17
The group of rebels burst through the warehouse doors, shooting the combine guards. The leader, a tough resistance leader known as 'commander fox' jumped behind some crates and used them for covers, while the others fired bullets in through the door. Seeing no guards, he quietly signalled to the others to come through, picking up ammo from the dead guards for his stolen pulse rifle.
Through the blurred out office window the rebels noticed a few figures standing towards the window. Fox noticed one of them had a weapon in his hands and immediately shouted out the others. "Get down!" The rebels jumped to the floor and the window smashed as bullets went flying through. Through a hole in the window, Fox threw a grenade which exploded in a ball of flames and broken glass.
"Guess we got a new base." Fox smirked.
"This is no times for jokes, sir." One of the rebels, known simply as John, remarked.
"Calm down, look, we got away from those combine didn't we? And now we have a hideout, I think we should at least celebrate it." He smirked again.
"I suppose, I'll see if I can get the radio tuned up. Find any other survivors." John said seriously.
"You go do that, John. The others and I will get some ammo. Seems like we hit the jackpot here."
John smiled a bit then went back to concentrating on tuning the radio. Fox and the other two rebels, known as Mark and Steve broke open some of the crates and took some ammo from the supply boxes. They loaded their guns and went into the office where John was still messing around with the radio.
"Any luck?" Fox asked.
"Well, I picked up something in the nearby area... But no-one replied..."
"Ever wonder when this is gonna end?" Mark spoke out.
"Hm?" Fox hummed.
"I mean... All this. Running from others. Shooting other humans. Innocent people being infested by parasitic creatures..."
"We don't know... Soon I hope. And with the freeman on his way to city 17? The end may be in sight." Fox said hopefully.
The entire group stood there for a minute thinking back to times before the Black Mesa incident, but their thoughts were interrupted by gunfire nearby. Fox nodded at the group who all ran outside of the warehouse. A rebel, stricken with terror, ran towards the warehouse. The group opened their mouths to talk to the man, but then noticed what he had been running from; Headcrab zombies.
Quickly loading their guns, they shot towards them. The high pitched screams of the zombies made them flinch slightly, but they continued to shoot until they fell onto the hard, concrete road. Looking towards the now lifeless bodies of the poor undead victims, Fox saw two men who had been attacked by the zombies. He sighed and looked towards the survivor.
"Friends of yours?" He asked the man.
"All of them were..." The man groaned, struggling to keep himself up. "We got bombarded with headcrab shells. We were the only three not infected... The only ones armed. We stood no chance... We couldn't out-run them..."
"Who are you?" Fox stared at him, sympathetically.
"I... am Bill. That's what they call me. Seems like the combine are targeting us... The resistance is bombarding all the main rebel encampments, we need to take action soon..." The group walked him into the warehouse. Meanwhile, John stood up triumphantly after finally getting a signal. He glanced towards Bill, and then looked at Fox with a grin.
"I reached the radio op. She said that station 12 just went down... Attacked by Civil protection... But we have some good news. Gordon freeman just passed through!" John said, excitedly.
"He has? Ahh, finally some action." Fox smirked. "Get Bill some medical supplies, and a weapon. Good thing there's a lot of stuff here. Probably be able to hold this place as a base, as long as we stay vigilant and use the supplies wisely."
Mark passed the med kit to Bill, who started tending to his injuries. The radio sounded again. "Hey John, are you still there?" The rebel operator asked.
"Yes, what is it?" He asked back, into the small radio.
"I don't think it will be wise to 'hold it out' in that warehouse. The Rebel areas are being bombarded. And I'm pretty sure message is out that a group of rebels took over a Combine warehouse, killing a group of civil protection officers."
"I suppose not, we'd better get the hell out of here soon. Any idea where to go to?"
"Well, just move through the areas around. You'll probably find some old rebel encampments or something. I'd take any supplies you find, and move on, quickly." She replied. "I'd be... very careful... The areas around have been heavily bombarded... the place will be teeming with headcrabs and zombies."
"I... See. We'll leave as soon as possible."
"Keep safe. I'm sure at one point you'll meet up with Freeman... He's not a one man army. He may be exceptionally skilled but... he's just a man. Keep safe! We need all the survivors we can get... They seem to have acknowledged our existence. And they're fighting back... But, we will resist. As we are the Resistance! Down with the combine!" The operator disconnected, and John switched the radio off.
"Well, you heard her. That's our new plan. We'll leave very soon. It's not safe here... Well, nowhere is safe, but I say we shouldn't wait here for our deaths. I say we leave, as soon as possible." John looked at the group, who nodded. The sound of shells hitting the ground could be heard from nearby, and the screams of those attacked rang out.
"It's getting closer, we'd better leave. Now." Fox said quickly, and the group headed outside, running. In the sky nearby there were drop ships, and they were moving swiftly. The group ran into the sewer entrance, just as the warehouse was destroyed. It collapsed, with a loud thud behind them.