Day 1

I opened my eyes to see a faint light. At first I thought I was dead, but then I decided that you probably don't even see a light when you die, hell no. I was conscious.

"Hey, Jack! The stranger woke up!" I heard a man yell. There were footsteps, and then two men in their mid-thirties were looking over me. I realized I was on a dusty and sagging red sofa. The faint light was a nearly dead light bulb. I was in a small apartment with two windows, a small table with a tiny television, and a boarded up doorway. A mattress lay on the ground, and there was half a beer can lying on the ground. Everything in the room, including the walls and ceiling, screamed "Wash me!"

"We thought you was dead!" One of the men exclaimed.

I decided to sit up. I tried, but I soon became aware of a pounding headache. I groaned and lied back down.

"Ha, new guys don't take their first beating too lightly. That cop beat ya pretty damn hard." stated the other man.

"Wha?" I asked. I was still drowsy. The last thing I remembered was the army nuking Black Mesa. I was taking a tram out of the facility, and suddenly the whole area blew up. I don't know how I survived it, though.

Then I remembered my colleagues. Gordon, Eli, Isaac, and Eli's little daughter, Alyx. They had probably all been blown to kingdom come. I sighed.

" Hey. We should probably get you up for the night inspection. Don't let 'em catch you lying down!" Both men took one of my arms and lifted me off the sofa. My head started thumping and the headache got worse. I somehow kept myself standing as both men released me.

"The name's Jack. Jack Emerson." said Jack. He was bald and pale, with really green eyes.

"And I'm Tom. It's short for Tomas but never, ever call me that." Tom was black, and had black hair. Both were wearing blue uniforms. When I looked down, I found I was as well.

"Where am I, and what the HELL is going on? What's a night inspection? What happened to Black Mesa? Wha-"

"Now hold on a second. Did you say Black Mesa? That place blew up 20 years ago! That's why the-" Tom's speech was cut short by a loud thump from the hallway, since the tiny apartment had no door. I heard a scream, and then more footsteps coming closer.

"Crap. Night inspection! Get against the wall!" Jack exclaimed. He pushed me against the closest wall, which stunk like something had died a long time ago.

I heard the footsteps coming into the room, and a strange mechanical voice said, "You, citizen. Turn around." I turned to see the weirdest thing standing next to me. It was probably human, at around five and a half feet tall. It wore a dark green vest with a radio, and it wore a white mask. There were eye holes, but they were covered with tinted plastic or glass. The most menacing feature was the black baton it was holding. It patted me down, probably checking for weapons or concealed items. "Turn on the television." It commanded in the strange voice it had.

I found a button on the TV, and so I switched it on. A man's face showed up on screen, and started talking. "Let me read a letter I recently rec-" The thing switched off the television.

"GET BACK AGAINST THE WALL." Before I could move, he shoved me against the wall. It then moved to Tom, who was against the wall next to me. Tom was patted down, and the thing moved to Jack.

However, as the thing was patting down Jack, its hand stopped over the side of the pants. Jack was thrown to the ground and the thing pulled a small metal disc out of the pants.

"What is this?"

"Uh, it's a, it's a-" Jack did not have time to finish. Those were the last words he ever spoke. The thing flipped a switch on its baton, making the top fizz with blue electricity. It brought the baton down on Jack's skull as hard as it could. There was a sickening crack as Jack's life was ended without warning. Without another word, the thing dragged Jack by the collar out of the apartment, leaving a blood trail.

"NOOOOO!" Tom screamed.

"What just happened? What was that thing?" I asked in surprise.

"That was a...night inspection." Tom paused and sat down on the mattress. "Before the regulation that states that every citizen in the city has to be in their apartments is enforced, CPs go into each apartment and...inspect everyone. If something is wrong, like we're concealing weapons or the television doesn't work, we get killed and disposed...of." At this point Tom started sobbing.

After Tom recovered from his fit of sadness, I asked him where the hell I was and what was going on.

"After Black Mesa exploded and all the aliens killed, a new race called the Combine took over the Earth seven frigging hours. Now all the Earth's people have been forced into cities. There are about thirty on Earth now. We're in City 17 right now. The Combine did something weird to the humans minds that stops them from having babies. I dunno how you don't know all this. You musta been in some kinda stasis. You were actually found napping on the side of a street. That's a major violation. A cop came up to you and beat the hell outta you. I'm surprised you didn't die on the spot. While you were unconscious, the Combine assigned you to this apartment and dressed you in citizen's clothing, and so here you are."

Suddenly, the lights went off. "Time for bed, I guess. I can show you the ropes of the city tomorrow. By the way, what is your name?"

"Barney. Barney Calhoun. Have you ever thought of a rebellion?"

"Rebellion? Only in my wildest dreams! The Combine will squash any rebellion in a matter of hours. Their numbers are huge. Well, g'night. Don't let the Combine fight!" Tom chuckled as my first day in City 17 ended. I drove myself to sleep by thinking how I got here and how I missed 20 years of my life without aging. That was truly creepy.

End Day 1