Half life : sidestory V2

by stewi102

this story follows a trio of rebels as they make their way to city 17, this story is set approximately 3 years before half life 2. more chapters to come. this is basically a redux of the original improving upon some mistakes i didnt see in the original version from like 3 years ago this is the start of what i hope will be a long spanning continuity, but not telling ...spoil

1. Chapter 1

Hλlf-life 2: side story.

Chapter 1

At the brink of night the sounds of a train screeching to a halt echoes through the plains as three hardened rebels crawled silently through the long dry grass towards the combine train, they could overhear the combine's radio chatter as they clambered out of the train.

"Vector 1, this is HQ we got reports some rouges out there, report any sightings, eliminate or detain if possible, over"

"Roger that HQ, we will keep an eye out and respond with any developments, vector 1 out".

As they crept closer their goal became, complicated "looks like we got some soldiers guarding the dam thing" Keith said softly to the others, Jake turned his head right to Keith and smiled, "and when has that ever stopped us before huh", and with that Keith turned to his left towards Mason, "you hang back here and cover us, we'll sneak up on them and see whether or not we can hitch a ride", Mason gave a simple nod in response. "Alright" Keith said patiently as they watched them walking along the side of the train, "wait for it, wait...NOW!", as Keith and Jake ran towards the train mason opened fire on the unsuspecting combine, Jake raised his shotgun towards a soldier and pulled the trigger killing a soldier in a blast of hot lead as they neared the train car, it was then that the combine realised there was more than one of them.

As the soldiers mobilised Keith stepped out from between the train's engine and the first car as Jake dived for cover beside him, as Jake scrambled to get up from the ground Keith fired at the soldiers as they tried to organised themselves, as one soldier fell another took his place and fired back on Keith's position . Mason was lying in the long grass at the side of the action aiming his pulse rifle at a soldier as they began to move forwards towards the others, mason smiled and fired a single shot with godlike precision and snickered "headshot", Keith quickly stepped back behind the train car as pulse rifle rounds shot past him narrowly missing his head. The remaining soldiers started moving forwards closing in on the pined rebels to spit masons sniping, Keith slammed another magazine into his SMG preparing for the coming troops, the radios suddenly blared "GO, GO, GO!" And the next cars doors burst open and even more combine troop's leapt from the train car to eliminate the rouge entities.

"Looks like there's something good on this train huh", Jake said optimistically to Keith as he reloaded his shotgun, "Let's just focus on getting onto the dam thing" Keith replied as more gunshots ricocheted off the side of the train car. "I have an idea!" Jake said suddenly, he then reached into his tattered back pocket and pulled out an old 'flash bang' grenade, "were the hell did you find that?" Keith responded as he continued to fire upon the approaching combine troops, "tell you later" Jake replied as he pulled the pin on the grenade and tossed it around the corner of the train car.

As the grenade landed at the feet of the soldiers shooting at them Jake and Keith averted their eyes from the burst of light and noise, the soldiers were instantly blinded and were stumbling disoriented as the rebels both stepped out from around the corner of the train car they gunned down the blinded combine with a merciless vengeance.

As the last glimmers of sunlight flickered across the horizon Keith stepped into the troops transport car on the train with his gun raised in anticipation of a survivor to be hiding in amongst the seats and weapon racks against the walls, but there was none to be seen, Keith sighed with relief, they must of got them all h thought to himself. While Keith continued to check more of the cars Jake were raiding the combine soldier's bodies for ammo and other bits he could use.

Mason ran down from his sniping position waving the others as he got closer he said to Jake "ha ha! Another successful hitchhiking", Jake had just finished shoving some of the loot he found into his backpack and walked over to greet his sharp eyed friend, "yeah and I found some supplies, this is turning into our lucky day huh Keith" Jake turned to face the open train doors expecting to see his friend standing there, but he wasn't.

"Hey Keith you there?" Jake said intently, then he saw Keith step out to look at them "yeah I'm here, listen we should probably get on this dam thing before it starts up again...and there's that whole you know...giant bug thing". Jake and mason looked at each other, after exchanging a look of agreement they both stepped into the train car and closed the door as it began to spring into life again.

Jake walked towards the local control console at the very end of the trains car at the head of the seat row, "I'll try and hack that thing and see where this trains heading, and if there's anything special the combine are hiding" he then sat down at the console and began typing , mason laid down across several of the seats in the car and placed his gun on the floor then closed his eyes, "if you two don't mind ill try and get some sleep before we have to get off" he said lazily, Jake responded with a simple "sure, go ahead, should be safe enough."

Keith was sorting out his gear, pistol, machine gun, good thing for jakes minor case of kleptomania, they would of been long starved or weapon less if not for his little obsession, he looked at Jake slouched over the console carefully typing away. Keith turned away and saw an overwatch standard issue AR2 pulse rifle mounted in one of the weapon racks and smiled, "finally" he said eagerly, he placed his SMG next into his backpack, would be best to hold onto...just in case, he walked over to the rack pulled the heavy rifle from the rack and began to examine it intently, he had never had the chance to hold an AR2 before.

The sun had set and the train was moving at full speed across the horizon of blackness, Keith sat down on the opposite side to where mason was sleeping and began to feel his mind becoming blurry with fatigue, he paced his newly acquired gun on the seat next to him and laid down across the seats and slowly drifted to sleep, where he could dream of a time before the war, the 7 hours war.