May, 2002
Currently over Black Mesa Airspace
The Osprey's blades swirled around and around in a monotonous circle that made Sergeant Liam Snow think back to the merry-go-round from his home town during the summer. It was an odd memory to think about now, but it was the first thing that popped into his head.
"Alright boys, you know the drill!" Lieutenant Miller yelled over the whir of the blades. "We get in and do the job quick and painless. This should be a walk in the park."
"You know, you could just tell us about the job sir!" Private 1st Class Creasy called from his seat next to Snow.
"Shut that trap of yours Private; it's gonna get you in trouble one day." Miller snapped.
"I thought I was already in trouble sir." Creasy laughed.
Creasy had made the mistake of hitting on the base General's daughter and had been in hot water with the brass there ever since. The HECU didn't play around when it came to their family.
"Oy, just shut it Creasy!" Private Carl Mathers shouted at him. "If I have to do more laps around that damned track for your mouth I'll cut your tongue out."
Snow chuckled. The laps hadn't been so bad, but the weeks of cleaning duty had been hell.
The rest of the squad was quiet. Tyke, the heavy gunner, simply sat in his seat staring out at the passing New Mexico wasteland. Tyke was a large man with dark skin and even darker eyes. Next to him sat Martinez, the squad's slightly squirrely sniper. He sat mostly still, other than the constant tapping of his foot against the floor of the Osprey. LT Miller had debated about bringing Martinez to a place like this.
According to the maps they'd seen of the compound known as Black Mesa it seemed to be a mostly underground facility, which meant that a shooter like Martinez would be next to useless.
The other "Grunts" in the Osprey's around them would land and follow through with the orders they had been given. Only the commanding officers in each group had been let in on the classified orders, a fact that had Snow a little on edge.
What could we be walking into here, he thought.
He pushed the thought away. It would probably be a simple clean-up mission. There had probably been a chemical spill and they needed help clearing everyone out. Routine.
He sighed and leaned back in his seat.
His moment of peace was shattered when an explosion rocked the Osprey.
"Holy shit, Goose 3 is down!" the radio screamed, "Goose 3 is down!"
Snow looked out the window and saw the flaming wreckage of what used to be Goose 3 crashing to the rocks below. Flying above it was, what looked to Snow, like a huge Manta Ray.
All around them the Osprey's started to collapse, each one attacked by another strange creature.
"Hang on!" Miller screamed.
The Osprey did a sickening lurch as something big slammed into it. Miller grabbed onto the straps on the ceiling for dear life, while the rest of the men scrambled to get a hold of something.
"We're going down!" the pilot yelled, "I repeat, Raven 6 is going down!"
One of the Osprey's wings crashed into a large rock plateau and the rotor crumpled.
"Shit, shit, shit!" The pilot yelled.
Snow closed his eyes and braced for impact.
. . .
His head was a throbbing blob of pain. The whole world was blurry and everything hurt. The Osprey was upside down and Snow was being held by his seat belt. He grunted and undid it before crashing to the roof of the helicopter.
He struggled to his feet and looked around. The rest of his squad was trying to untangle themselves from the wreck of the helicopter.
Miller had managed to hang onto the strap, but the impact had mangled his right arm and it was twisted in a horrible angle.
Snow rushed over and ripped his knife from the pouch on his chest. "Hang on sir," he said sawing at the strap, "I'll get you out."
"Damn it, what the hell was that thing?!" Miller snarled as the strap jostled his broken arm.
"I was hoping you could tell me sir." Snow replied.
The strap snapped and Miller sat up, pulling off the rest of it with a grimace of pain. "Get the others on their feet Sergeant. We need to move now."
"Yes sir!"
Snow turned and saw Tyke pulling Creasy out of the helicopter's opening and laid him on the ground. The man seemed to be only unconscious, but the piece of shrapnel stuck in his thigh looked like it could be bad if not treated soon.
Snow instantly turned to try and look for the Medic, Grayson.
He passed Martinez on his way to the back of the Osprey.
"Fuck!" he snarled.
Grayson had been impaled on a sheet of metal. He choked and tried to sit up.
"Hey, stay still Gray'," Snow said squatting next to him. "We'll get you some help, just don't move."
"Contact!" Tyke yelled before the report of his heavy MG sounded.
"Open fire!" Miller yelled, grabbing his pistol off his belt and hurrying to the back of the helicopter.
"We need to move Snow!" Miller yelled.
"But sir, what about Grayson?!" Snow asked.
"He's dead anyway, we have to go or we're all gonna die."
"But sir..!" Snow pleaded.
Miller grimaced and fired a bullet into Grayson's head. "Grab his medical bag and move Sergeant, we have to get to cover!"
"God Damn it!" Snow yelled grabbing the bag off his fallen comrade. He slung it over his shoulder along with his pack and shouldered his assault rifle.
Gunfire erupted all throughout the air and as Snow stepped out of the helicopter he saw another crash into a plateau. In front of him three strange creatures lurched forward and a bolt of electricity shot through the air and hit Jenning's right in the chest. He collapsed dead next to Tyke, who growled something incomprehensible and fired his gun.
The bullet's whizzed through the air and several of them hit their mark on the creature's chest. It fell over and started to thrash, but before it could die a bolt of green split the air and another one appeared.
"All units, fall back to the building!" Miller yelled.
Snow turned and saw a large compound behind them. He fired his rifle and hurried towards the guard station in front of a huge metal door.
He smashed through the glass window and hopped inside. The squad was falling back as fast as they could, but the creature's just kept coming.
Snow fired his rifle and nailed one of the creature's in the head, before slamming his fist down on the big red button in the middle of the console.
The metal door creaked open slowly.
"Good job Snow, now let's get our asses inside!" Miller yelled.
Peterson dragged Creasy behind him and was close to the door when a bolt of electricity hit him and he collapsed.
Snow shot out of the guard station and grabbed the unconscious Creasy by his vest and pulled him, all the while firing blindly with his rifle with the other hand.
Miller crashed up against the door once he got in and fired blindly around it. "Martinez, we need this door shut, now!" he yelled.
"R-roger that!" Martinez said. He unslung the rifle from his shoulder and took aim.
As spastic as Martinez was, once the rifle hit his hands his whole body changed. Nothing shook, nothing twitched, and he fired a single precise shot that collided with the console in the guard station.
An alarm went off and the secondary door slammed down in front of them, closing off the building from the outside, and away from those creatures.
Martinez sighed and collapsed to his knees next to Miller. "I didn't think we were gonna make it sir." he said shaken.
"We're the HECU Private, we always make it." Miller said.
The flipping red light on the wall was the only thing that illuminated the room, which looked to be a large garage.
"Let's get some flares up, I want more light in case more of those things show up." Miller commanded. "And for Christ sake, someone wake of Creasy. I am not gonna drag his ass all over this compound!"
Snow reached into his bag and pulled out a flare. He snapped off the tip and the rod burst into flames. He tossed the flare into the middle of the garage with a dull thud.
Some of the others followed his actions.
"Tyke, you think you can do something about Creasy's leg?" Snow asked.
Tyke was the only other member of the team who had a slightly better understanding of first aid.
"Yeah," the big man said softly squatting next to Creasy and grabbed the back from Snow, "I'll do what I can."
"It would have been better if Grayson had survived the crash." Snow said with more than a little venom in his voice.
"Well he didn't," Miller said in a tone that broached caution. "So get over it and do your job soldier. We need that door open." Miller said pointing to the door that must have lead into the rest of the compound.
"The simple things are always hard." Martinez said, quoting Murphy's rule #14.
"I didn't ask if it was going to be simple Private, just get it done."