Chapter 1: The Awakening
Darkness. That was all that he saw. He heard a voice, it was female, but there was something…different about it. It seemed, fake, he listened harder and finally made out what it was saying.
"Cryo test subject 00-02 scheduled reanimation in progress." The voice was mechanical.
He opened his eyes, but all he saw was cracked glass, making it impossible to see what was outside.
"Cryo test subject 00-02 partially reanimated, subject release in progress." The voice had a soothing tone underlying it he thought.
He heard a hissing noise, then the cracked glass opened, a fog flooded the room then dissipated, he stepped out of the tube, not knowing what to expect. He was instinctively uneasy but he had no clue why. He was under the impression that he was in danger. That's what made him uneasy.
He suddenly became aware of his surroundings; he was standing in the middle of an empty room. It looked very clean, the cryo unit behind him made a low humming noise, but that was the only noise he heard besides the sound of his breathing.
He looked around but he saw no windows and only one door, he went over to the door, but there was no handle. He saw a red light over the door. He looked around again and saw a steel table behind the cryo unit, on the table was an olive green shirt with 'Rangers' printed on it. That meant something to him but he couldn't remember what. There was also a pair of tan camouflage pants, and a pair of black combat boots. He put these on and noticed something else on the table, a pair of dog tags that read:
Jones
Lance, A.
244988469
AB+
He put these on and looked around again.
"Hello?" he called.
"Subject 00-02 fully reanimated, subject containment cycle concluded," the light pulsed green and the door hissed open, "Subject 00-02 released."
He stepped through the door, unlike the room he just left, the hallway was dimly lit by red emergency lights, rust covered the steel walls, and the floor. The ceiling was crumbling, and most of the lights were shattered.
Bullet holes lined the walls, and old shell casings littered the floor. He was still extremely uneasy, and the more he looked around, the more he wanted a way to defend himself. That's when he noticed a faded red arrow painted on the wall. The word 'Armory' was stenciled above it.
Jones followed the arrow, first at a brisk walk, and then a jog. The sound of rusty shell casings scraped and echoed across the bare walls. He kept alert for any signs of life, but so far he didn't notice any.
The arrow finally led Jones to a large rusted pair of doors. He tried to open them but they were locked from the inside. He shook his head in irritation. He then started kicking the door, after a few minutes the locks started to break.
Jones inhaled, reared his foot back and pushed forward, only to hear a buzz and a click as the door unlocked and swung open. Jones' momentum propelled him forward and he landed face first into the room.
"Armory room unlocked." The cool voice announced.
"Thanks for the warning." Jones mumbled to himself.
He then got to his feet and brushed himself off. He looked around and saw what could only be described as chaos. Rifles were scattered all over the floor, along with clips, shell casings, single bullets, ammo boxes, and grenades.
Jones walked over to a set of dusty steel green boxes that had "FN P-90" stenciled on it. Curiosity aroused, he opened a case and saw four compact rifles, still wrapped in plastic. He picked up one of the rifles, and took it out of the plastic. He worked the action on the rifle, which opened and closed with a satisfying clack.
He saw that the rifle wasn't loaded, and he looked through the other boxes. He opened one box that said "CMBT VST" which he opened. In it was a black combat vest, which he put on. Another box contained clips for the rifle. He picked up one of the clips and looked it over. It was thin, but long. Jones looked at the rifle and saw that the clip was fed through the top.
Jones sled the clip in place and chambered a round. The action was so natural that it was like breathing. He picked up six more clips and a couple of grenades off the ground. After a few minutes of stocking up on ammo, which included a Desert Eagle sidearm, and, much to his surprise, an M72 LAW disposable rocket launcher.
'Ok,' Jones thought to himself, 'I need to find a way out of here, question is,' he stopped and looked for any indication of where he was, "Where is here." He finished aloud.
He made his way down the halls looking for a way out. He walked for what seemed like hours until he finally an old EXIT sign that was cracked, its light had burned out a long time ago.
There was an electronic lock next to the door, and, unfortunately the light was red.
"Helpful computer lady?" Jones tried.
The light still pulsed red.
"Fuck this." He muttered and raised his rifle.
The light pulsed green and the door opened.
Jones shook his head in wonder. "What the hell is with this place?" he asked himself quietly.
Sunlight shined through the door and momentarily blinded him. Squinting, he put his hand over his eyes and looked around. He tried to find his bearings, but the surrounding dry, barren landscape made it difficult. He looked around in wonder. Everything around him looked dead. The whole world looked dead to him. Even the sky seemed different, darker somehow, more sinister. He heard a hiss as the door closed behind him.
Jones turned in enough time to see the door vanish before his eyes. Jones blinked, rubbed his eyes, and looked at where the door was supposed to be. But the only thing there was dirt and rocks. Jones cocked his head in wonder, he poked the spot where the door was, but instead of hitting dirt as he expected, the barrel of the gun went into the hill and hit something with a metallic thud.
Jones let out a low whistle. He turned away from the door and saw two plumes of dirt headed his direction. His hand brushed against the LAW launcher, wondering if he should waste it already. He squinted at the two plumes and saw two black looking armored cars. They almost reminded him of the transports used by the Germans in World War II. He looked around for a good place to take cover and waited for them to arrive.
"Unit 72 to command, approaching target area." The CP unit said into his mike.
"Roger that Unit 72, check area for the source of electrical disturbance then return to routine patrol."
"Command, Unit 72 copies."
In the back of one APC two CP units were discussing events that had happened involving an Elite, and a nice old black lady. They were snickering quietly to themselves when the lead unit ordered them to be quiet. They fell silent until one of them started snickering again.
72 turned, "Shut the hell up or you're walking back."
One of them pointed to the other, "But he started it!"
"I don't care who started, I'll finish it!" The two CP units burst into laughter.
72 turned back, swearing under his breath. He stared out across the barren landscape to they're objective. Combine scanners had picked up a surge of electrical energy in this area, and the higher ups wanted to recon the area to make sure there was no rebel activity.
While the Combine didn't fear the rebel forces, they did acknowledge that they were becoming an increasing nuisance. 72 shook his head in disgust. Why anyone would want to fight against the Combine forces was a mystery to him. The Combine had helped him find purpose, but there were those, he turned to look at the two CP units who were still cutting up, who deserved nothing but a quick and painful death.
72's APC pulled to a stop where Jones was standing not five minutes before. 72 grabbed his Pulse Rifle and climbed out of the vehicle. Units 45 and 63 stepped out of the back, smg's slung over their shoulders, still laughing and joking around. 72 cursed the Elite that kicked them out of his unit and sent them here.
The second APC pulled in front of the first, the noise of the engine masked the sound of the LAW launcher firing.
Jones waited for the second APC to pull up for two reasons, the first was because the occupants of the first had already gotten out. The second was he didn't want to give his position away to early. He waited until the APC was about ten feet away, sighted the back of the APC, and fired. The launcher jerked in his hands as the missile jumped out of the tube.
72 saw the missile streak towards the second APC, the missile struck and detonated, lifting the back of the APC off the ground, killing the occupants inside. 72 cursed and traced the smoke trail back to cluster of rocks. He primed a grenade and threw it behind the rocks. The rebel didn't even try to run, 72 smirked as the rebel was fixing to meet his end.
Suddenly the grenade came soaring back, detonating in mid-air, causing a piece of shrapnel from the grenade struck him in the arm. He wordlessly took the pain and fired at the cluster at rocks. He then noticed that the other two CP units weren't firing at the rebel. Instead they were staring at him.
"What the hell are you two doing? If you don't shoulder you fucking weapons I will personally report you to the administrator!" He screamed.
Unit 45 raised his smg, but instead of aiming at the rebels location, he instead aimed it at Unit 72.
72 stopped, "What are you doing?" he asked again, quieter this time.
"Sorry sir." 45 said, and fired.
The 9mm struck him in the shoulder and spun him around, which caused him to face Jones, who was cautiously approaching, watching what was unfolding before his eyes. 72 reached for his pistol, but before he could clear his weapon from its holster Jones raised the P-90 and put three rounds square in his chest.
Unit 72's vision started to dim, Jones bent down to relieve him of his weapon, and the last thing 72 saw, was the word Rangers on the front of Jones shirt.
45 and 63 were conversing between themselves. Suddenly 63 pulled out an old Motorola radio, "Sierra outpost this is Jefferson, we have the package, package is secure."
A/N: So I've been tryin to get a Half Life story off the ground for a while now and I gotta say… I actually feel pretty good about this one. And for those of you who read A raid, you might remember the two CP units. I've been wantin to use em in something else and here was my excuse. Anyways read it and tell me what you think.