Our Own Kind of Resistance
Chapter 1
May 5th, 2000
It was a blisteringly hot day, which was unusual for Salem in springtime. For the past few years, every May had been marked with a cold front, some even bringing snow to the Pacific Northwest. It was quite fitting, thought Jack, that this year should be different. The previous months had marked a rapid maturation for Jack – having graduated high school a semester early, he had secured a job at the local grocery store and bought a car. More importantly, he'd started making friends.
Jack had never been very good at talking to people – he never shared mealtime conversations with friends, and spent most of his time away from the world of academia with his nose buried in textbooks and manuals. He was fascinated with the way things worked together to create an entire universe – subatomic particles were of particular interest to him. It came as a surprise, then, when he began to gain popularity during his junior year.
He hadn't done anything to warrant this sudden interest in him – quite the opposite, he avoided other people practically like the plague. However, when he came back from winter break, he found himself surrounded by classmates eager to talk to him and learn more about who he was. Jack suspected this newfound interest stemmed from his recent coverage in the local newspaper for having built a device which was capable of monitoring shifts in elemental particles, an achievement which garnered attention from none less than MIT, who thought he was showing amazing potential.
For Jack, though, the amazing thing was the interaction he was suddenly experiencing with his peers. These people he grew up with and had known for as long as he could remember were suddenly taking an interest in him, and he found that he loved that feeling he got when he could talk to someone at their own level, rather than sounding like an egg-headed genius whose IQ was larger than most MENSA members'.
During this period of self-discovery and growth, he discovered his best friend. He and his classmate Kat had been close as long as he could remember, but he'd never really considered that fact. She'd always been there for him, and he for her – they didn't have what anyone would consider to be a normal friendship, but she put up with Jack's quirks, and he liked being around her. However, re-evaluating his personal life lead Jack to really take a close look at the people around him, and he soon came to realize that he had deep feelings for Kat that went beyond the realm of simple friendship. However, Jack still lacked the skills, and more importantly the confidence, to admit these feelings, so he allowed their friendship to flourish naturally. All that was about to change, though, because this was the day that Jack had finally decided to tell Kat how he felt.
Jack was ripped from his reminiscence by the sound of a fighter jet screaming past at a rather low altitude, heading southeast towards the clearly visible Mt. Hood. "Well, that's odd," thought Jack as he looked out his window to follow it. "The National Guard doesn't usually fly missions during the day… I wonder if something's wrong." Jack dismissed the idea and finished putting his laptop into its carrying case. "Honey, where are you going?" Jack's mother called from the kitchen where she was busy making jam from the early crop of strawberries they had harvested the previous week. "I'm going over to Katherine's, I'll probably be back in time for dinner," came the reply. "Are you finally going to confess your love to her? You should do it on one knee by candlelight, that's always romantic." "Good-bye, mom," said Jack, as he hurried out the door. "My little baby's finally growing up," Jack could hear her mother sigh as he closed the front door and walked to his car.
On the way to Katherine's house, Jack practiced what he'd say to her. "'I love you… I've always loved you'. No, that sounds lame. 'Kat, you've always been there for me, and I just want you to know that…' Bah, this is stupid. I'll just wing it." To take his mind off the tension he felt growing in his gut, Jack turned on the radio. "…making this the sixth time in as many years that CEO Cave Johnson has announced a plan which leaves his shareholders worried. In other news, there has been a disturbance in New Mexico today, as military forces from as far away as Portland, OR are currently descending on the Black Mesa Research Facility following a catastrophic systems failure. Black Mesa administrator Wallace Breen has been unavailable for comment all day, and it is currently unknown how extensive the damage to the facility is. It is believed that Black Mesa personnel were conducting an experiment on radical new technology somehow related to the previously mentioned Aperture Science announcement, and…"
"Well, I suppose that explains the jet. That's got to be one hell of a 'disturbance'…" Jack's inner conversation came to a conclusion as he pulled up to Kat's house and resumed worrying over what he was going to say.
When he knocked on her door, Kat answered immediately. "I wondered if you were even going to show up, it took you so long," Kat teased. "If you don't want to see me, just say so! There's no need to stand me up." "But, I wasn't, I mean, I just…" Kat pulled Jack into a friendly embrace and reached up to ruffle his hair. "Hey, don't be so serious! I'm kidding, all right?" "Oh, yeah, I guess that makes sense. Sorry, I'm just a little distracted today…" Jack and Kat made their way to their usual spot, at the desk in her room where Jack's laptop fit comfortably next to Kat's computer. As Jack was setting up his laptop, Kat asked him "wasn't there something you wanted to tell me?"
"Oh, yeah, that," Jack started. "It's a little awkward…" Kat interrupted him. "Jack, we've been friends for, what, 17 years?" "Well, I don't know if you can really count those times we can't remember…." Kat cut him off again. "The point is, Jack, that if you want to tell me something, anything, you should feel comfortable about it. If you don't want to tell me something, that's fine too – I'm not going to push. If you want to just think about it for a while longer, then that's what you should do. Here, let's play a video game together – that always cheers you up!"
As Kat pulled up Red Alert, their latest video game obsession, Jack had time to think on what she'd just said. He really did want to talk to her about their relationship, but it was obvious that Kat saw that he was nervous. "Kat did say that I should be comfortable about talking to her… Maybe I should think about this a little more." As Kat selected the Soviets and Jack the Allied forces to play in their game, Jack decided. "Until I'm sure about this, I'm not going to bring it up. I just hope it's the right decision."