-Chapter Two: Dreaming Dismay
Adrian awoke, it was daybreak, but no one was anywhere to be seen, he quickly jumped to his feet, searching for any life form. He ran out the door and began shouting, screaming at the top of his lungs, "Hello?! Why did you leave me?!"
He heard shuffling in the wreckage behind him, he turned, only to see the zombified bodies of what had been his squad. They began limping toward him, he had no weapons. He cried out and fell to his knees as the undead corpses descended upon him. He screamed, but there was nothing to be heard, he kicked and pushed, but could not move and everything went dark. He tried with one last breath to shout as loud as he could.
"Adrian! Adrian! What's wrong?" A slightly familiar voice spoke to him.
Adrian opened his eyes, "What? What happened?" He questioned.
"You were dreaming, it sounded like a nightmare from what I could tell." Alfred said.
Adrian lifted himself up and leaned against the wall which was behind him. "It was strange, it was like a dream, but it seemed so real, I woke up and I was all by myself, I went outside and you were all zom--" Once more Alfred had cut him off mid-sentence.
"Well, it's daybreak, we've gatta get moving." He said, "We can't linger, the Citadel is sending out swarms of scanners, if they find us, we'll be totally exposed to the Combine." He promptly got up and began walking towards the door, "Whaddaya say men, ready to get out of this damned city?"
He was answered with a barrage of 'You'd better believe it!' and 'Hell yes!' Adrian simply got to his feet and sternly said, "Sir, yes, sir!"
"Alright, Corporal Shephard, you'll be leading, remember, you're the point man now." Alfred said as he kicked the door open for no apparent reason. Everyone began running toward the door, including Adrian, who found himself thinking, "Wow, Alfred really knows how to get his squad excited."
They started their jog off strong, with a lot of cheering and happiness, but suddenly everyone fell silent, it seemed everyone had realized that they were now in unfriendly territory, the streets were riddled with the corpses of Rebels and Combine alike. It was very humbling, now Adrian knew what they were fighting for, they weren't fighting because they needed to, but because the species needed to. If they didn't fight back against their oppressors, the species would be destroyed.
Suddenly Adrian heard gunfire, followed by a sharp pain in his left shoulder, he fell to the floor, rolling in pain. "Sniper!" Alfred yelled out, and began running toward Adrian, he crabbed him by his black and white camouflage jacket and began dragging him toward cover. "Where are you hit?!" He yelled.
"In the left shoulder, I think it's just a graze," He breathed, "I think I'll be alright.
"You're one lucky man, Shephard, those snipers almost never miss!" He exclaimed, "Let me just patch this up really quick and we'll work on that sniper." He pulled some medical wrap out of his backpack and wrapped it tightly around his arm. "You're good to go!"
Just then, Roger, the one who was on guard duty the night before ran up to them, he said, "Freddy, I can flush that sniper out with my grenade if I can just get some covering fire." He stopped for a breath, "Shephard, are you up to that?"
Adrian nodded, "Yes, sir." He picked up his MP7 and counted down from three. "Three, two, one!" Roger sprinted across the street and ducked behind a overturned military APC, Adrian giving him the necessary covering fire by firing bursts in the direction of the enemy. Roger continued by running further down the road and behind a chunk of building that had been destroyed. He was directly under the window in which the sharpshooter was hiding, and without hesitation he lobbed the grenade up into the window. Instantly he began running as fast as he could in a straight path back to the safety of the cover. But unluckily the sniper was still unaware of the presence of the grenade behind him and as Roger fled he fired a fatal shot, it pierced Roger straight through the back of the heart, a bloodcurdling scream leaped from his lips. Blood protruding from his chest in a stream, he dropped to the black ashy ground, and died. Just as the shot was fired, the grenade exploded, throwing the sniper through the window where he landed on sharp metal and debris below. "No!" Adrian screamed, running from the cover toward his fallen comrade.
"What are you thinking! They definitely have backup on the way! We need to evacuate quickly!" Alfred yelled at him. "We can't just leave him here!" Adrian yelled back, "Never leave a man behind, that was the rule!" Alfred came towards him, "That was the rule, Adrian, we're in a different time now, people die all the time, we can't worry about everyone." He paused, "The only thing you can do is pray that God has mercy on him. You'd do best to take his weapon as well, you'll need it more than he will."
Adrian realizing that Alfred knew more about what he was talking than himself, picked up Roger's .357 Magnum Revolver, his 12 Gauge Combat Shotgun and all the ammunition he could hold. He stood and walked back toward the group, tossing the H&K MP7 back to Johnson, who was the one who provided him with it before. "Thanks Johnson, I wish I could have been more helpful with it." He began walking in the direction of the forest. Everyone followed.
The day passed without any further confrontation, it went quickly also. Time seemed to fly when all you had to do was run, Adrian thought. Which was another thing Adrian got to do a lot of now, a lot of thinking, he often thought about how things had been before this had all happened. He was young, but now he could see no future past this city. He was sure he would die there.
Nightfall came, and the found an abandoned hotel in front of what looked like a town square, it had a large spire, which had once held up a TV monitor, broadcasting Breen's lies to everything and everyone it overlooked. They proceeded cautiously into the hotel, checking every room for any possible threat, it was clear. They all slept in the same room, to prevent anyone from being caught off guard. Adrian sat in the corner, isolating himself from the rest of the group, he was still upset about the death of Roger. He was mad that he couldn't save him and mad that he couldn't at least bury him. But he knew that Alfred was right, and that angered him. He figured that he should try and get some sleep, at least that would get his mind off things.
He woke up to the sound of moaning, a deep, dark moan. There was a dark figure in corner opposite of him. He waited fro his eyes to adjust, but he still couldn't make it out. He got to his feet, shotgun in hand and began walking toward it. He was sure in his mind that this thing in front of him was in fact a zombie. Just as he reached the object, it turned to face him, now exposed in the rising sunlight he could clearly tell it was a zombie. But Adrian was terrified to see that the corpse that the headcrab had occupied was that of Roger. He was completely frozen is place, afraid to move. The zombie raised it's arm to strike, and just before it could swing, a shot rung out behind Adrian. The zombie dropped to the floor, it's back leaning against the wall, as it bled to death it reached out to grab Adrian, though he was out of his reach. The green and red blood trickled down Roger's body. The zombie cried out as if it were suffering beyond comprehension. Adrian could see it suffer no longer, he lifted his shotgun, leveled the sights on the zombie's head, and fired. An explosion of flesh and bone splattered on the walls and all over Adrian. "Sorry, Roger." Was all he could think to say.
