Author's Note: Sorry the chapter is so small...I just wanted to play on the suspense a bit.
Subject: Barney Calhoun
Location: Train Station 813E, City 17
Status: Accepted
Barney leaned against the train rail, looking down fondly on his two friends, Gordon Freeman and Alyx Vance. They had agreed to find another train, taking the ease off some of the space for the evacuees.
They would all meet up at the Woodlands Base.
He grinned down at Gordon, shaking his head inside. Gordon had not only survived that blast, but he apparently hadn't aged for twenty years. Now, if that wasn't fair, Barney didn't know what was.
He wanted to tell them that he wished them luck (he was no fool, he saw the way they looked at each other), that he was overjoyed to see them back safe, that he looked forward to paying Gordon back that beer, that he wanted them to take care of themselves, but as usual, all he wanted to say didn't come out.
So he said it all, very simply. "I'll see ya when I see ya." And waved at them.
Gordon grinned. "You too."
"See ya later, Barney. Take care!" Alyx called.
And they waved. They kept waving until the train was far, far out of site, until Barney reluctantly watched them dwindle into tiny dots on the horizon.
All was fine after that, except for a lack of elbowroom and panic attacks whenever they heard a rumble around the next hill. Everything was so fine, in fact, that Barney found time to look out the window and relax.
Which was even better, considering that he suddenly noticed the broken tracks ahead.
"Stop the train!" He jerked up, roaring, crawling and scrambling and kicking through the crowd of rebels. "Stop the train! Broken track!"
No one heard, maybe because everyone started screaming and panicking.
A terrific roar, and than a jolt that normally would have sent Barney into the next world. This time, however, he merely collided hard with the wall.
Everything was silent, dead silent, when Barney opened his eyes. He stood up, and saw with no little trepidation that everyone was still crouched, frozen, on the floor, mouths and eyes open, hugging each other, praying, looking out the window.
Alright. I didn't drink anything. I must be dreaming. Barney pinched himself, hard. Nothing happened.
"No, you are not…asleep, Mr. Calhoun. Not in the…clinical sense."
Barney looked to where the voice was coming from and nearly pinched himself again. He was seeing the same suited, green-eyed man he had seen once at Black Mesa. "Who are you?" He snapped distrustfully, reaching for a gun on his belt that had somehow vanished.
"Let's just say…I'm a go-between, a businessman. You…Mr. Calhoun, you were unfortunately…lost to us…before we could…. properly…access you. During the Black Mesa Incident, my employers were…observing the events with interest. Three particular…subjects…were outstanding in their…performance. Alan Sheppard, Gordon Freeman, and…yourself."
"What? What do you mean? Who are these employers? Some whacky government program?"
"That information is…classified. But understand, we operate outside time and space. We employed Gordon…and planned to employ you."
"So you're the reason Gordon reappeared so suddenly, not looking a day older! What did you do, pull a Rip Van Winkle on him?" Barney felt the urge to step forward and punch that sallow yet fascinating face, to make up for a little of the anxiety and loss he had suffered from for twenty years.
"He was…suspended. Until we needed him…again. I'm offering you the same…job."
"What, and wake up twenty years later to do whatever the heck you want me to? I don't think so!" Barney snapped.
"I'll give you a…choice, if you can call it that. This train, and all the souls aboard, can be saved. If you refuse, I can simply…let time flow again, and everyone here will…die. If you accept, I will save everyone." The G-Man reached down and brushed some hair away from the face of a young woman. "Look at her. Only twenty-six years old. She lost her parents, and her young husband died in her arms. Must she… join them?"
Barney's fists clenched. Of course, he knew what he would 'choose'. Even if the girl hadn't suffered such losses, Barney knew he would give up his life and even his liberty to save these people. There was no choice. The long and short of it was, he was being pressed into slavery.
"You…" He was going to spew out a million names, none of them bad enough for this little god-playing G-Man, but he gave up, somehow realizing all his abuses would only slide off the G-Man, merely amusing him.
So he took a deep breath, looking at all the people, at the last of the Resistance. He was being taken away, before he could even see the cause he had worked so hard for succeed. Not fair. But at least, at least, he amended, looking down at all the frozen figures, they'd all live to see it.
"You win." He growled. "If you keep your side of the bargain."
"I never break my….word, Mr. Calhoun."
And then, Barney faded with the G-Man into darkness. Time restarted. The screaming recommenced, a frantic struggle at the controls…but nothing happened.
Humming and chugging as if it had not just been tipping at an acute angle, the train zoomed on.
Subject: Barney Calhoun
Location: N/A
Status: Employed
(i)(i)
Subject: Gordon Freeman
Location: Woodlands Rebel Base
Status: Dispossessed
Gordon felt Alyx shift beside him as Dr. Rosenberg's report continued. In his own opinion, Alyx had handled the death of her father with admirable courage. She wept alone, in bed, the first few nights after. She threw herself into her work with a ferocity that worried Gordon at the same time as it thrilled him.
It had been almost four months since the destruction of City 17. Hearing of the success, Rebel supporters were flooding in from all over the Earth. India, parts of Russia and China, most of Europe, and half of America were completely free of Combine influence, while millions of the ever present Xen creatures were being destroyed every day.
Gordon looked wryly at Lamarr as he thought of this, not able to find it in himself to love the nasty creature whose kin were even now turning innocent humans into zombies. He'd never say this aloud, however, partly as he knew it would do no good, and partly for Dr. Kleiner's sake. Barney was much more outspoken, however.
Thinking of Barney, Gordon remembered he had disappeared. He frowned thoughtfully, ignoring the scientists as they rattled on. The evac train had come in, safe and sound, with piles of the old Underground Resistance coming through. Barney had been on the last train, they all said, and then nothing.
It was possible, some theorized, that he had been flung out the window when the train pitched. But Gordon knew Barney. He would never be caught like that. An uncomfortable pit had grown in his stomach, and kept growing. Was this what Barney felt for the last twenty years? The thought that your best friend was gone, but you didn't know if he was alive or dead, or if he'd come back or not.
I'll see ya when I see ya.
Gordon sighed. Everyone halted their discussion and looked at him. "Something wrong Gordon?" Alyx asked, a little impatient yet curious.
"No. Can we please cut to the chase and discuss the recent victory over the Combine Headquarters in California?"
"Ah, good idea!" Rosenberg exclaimed. "We've been sent some live footage…make a very good rallying logo, I think."
Alyx rolled her eyes, making Gordon smile.
He tensed just a tiny bit as the lights all went off, remembering the sewers, and the zombies, the moans, and the stench…
But then the screen sputtered to life in light blue. Gordon, seeing dozens of good kids being slaughtered by the Combine security system in front of the gate, suddenly wished he had been there, somehow thinking he could have evened the odds.
Just then, someone broke from the cluster that was assaulting the walls. He ran around, smashed through a Combine platoon with the aid of a shotgun and two grenades, and then jumped on some barrels, dragging himself over the wall.
He was out of sight for a while. More Combine came up to the gate behind the sentry guns and began firing at the Resistance, adding more kills to the list.
And then, an explosives barrel rolled into their midst. One of the Combine, speaking frantically, fumbled to push it away. But the ping of a bullet ran out, and the gate erupted in flames.
It was a few minutes before the fires died down. The figure seen earlier rushed up to the gate and hacked into the code, before pulling the gates back. He was closer, and Gordon noticed he was wearing Combine armor. The Resistance flooded in for an attack charge. The Combine in the windows began to fire down…
"Stop!" Gordon yelled sharply, causing Lamarr to hiss loudly and Dr. Rosenberg to jump. Gordon leapt up. "Rewind!"
They pulled the film back until the strange figure was opening the gate, his face in a halfway profile. Gordon stepped up slowly as Alyx stood behind him with a gasp, realizing what she saw.
Gordon put a finger on the bluish screen, just under the figure. "It's Barney." He said softly.
**to be continued**
