Hi, Gabsie here. Thank you so much for all the views. I hope you enjoyed my first chapter which I've now renamed as "Prologue", so this chapter is officially Chapter 1.

Please please please leave reviews as constructive criticism helps me to improve my writing skills

Once again thanks so much and I hope you've had as much fun reading my story as much as I've had writing it

Gabsie λ

Chapter 1

Sheckley was busy checking the turret when Griggs approached him.

"Hey Sheck, whatcha doing?" asked Griggs.

"Maintaining the turret with my trusty engraver," answered Sheckley showing the tool to Griggs.

"I said I was sorry about that last time. Anyway I've just had a 'brain blast'. Griggs said sounding excited like a child about to open a Christmas present.

"You've been having a lot of those recently." said Sheckley in a sarcastic tone, while tightening a bolt, "So what is this "brain blast?"

"Don't interrupt my train of thought. Anyhow I thought we could go on an adventure, you know explore a little. Get some fresh air. I'm sick of this place.''

"And what do you suppose is out there?" Sheckley asked folding his arms.

Griggs was about to answer when Sheckley interrupted, "Worm larvae, rocks and more worm larvae."

"Don't forget the antlions oh oh and the guardians too. You can't forget those." Sheckley rolled his eyes, "In any case that's what we're going to find out. Oh c'mon Sheck it's gonna be fun." Griggs was doing a bad imitation of puppy dog eyes.

"First of all stop doing that. You look like an idiot. Second of all lemme think about it." Sheckley appeared to be deep in thought, mentally weighing the pros and cons. "Ah what the hell? I'm getting kinda sick of this place too." Sheckley shrugged and went to one of the ammo supply crates. He loaded his gun and packed some extra ammo.

"For the antlions." Sheckley explained.

Griggs packed all the medkits he could find and he also packed some extra ammo for his gun.

"Let's go!" said Griggs pointing to one of the tunnels which had a hole in the fence.

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"Whoa this place really is full of antlion larvae!" Griggs said in wonder.

"Try not to touch it or those damn guardians will be on our ass faster than you can count to three, well, at least, faster than I can count to three." Sheckley warned.

"Ha-ha, wait… hey Sheck!" Griggs said with a frown on his face. Sheckley had a smug grin on his face.

"Aw hell, this place is so boring Sheck.'' Griggs said.

"This was your idea Griggs," Sheckley reminded him, "now we're here, we should just make the most of it-. Oops, uh Griggs?"

"What?" Griggs asked while he was checking his gun.

"Is that what I think it is?" Sheckley asked lifting up his leg to examine the sole of his shoe. There was a jelly-like substance that glowed a brilliant yellow colour in the darkness of the caves.

"Ah hell. Sheckley what are we going to do? If one of those guardians finds us, we're toast!" Griggs said in an unusually high pitched voice.

"Just calm down Griggs, dammit, just calm down!" Sheckley said. "Just let me think for a second."

A few moments passed. Sheckley was deep in thought but Griggs was getting impatient.

"Umm Sheckley maybe you could help us out this century, I mean if it's not a problem." Griggs said in a sarcastic tone.

Sheckley stared at Griggs in wonder.

"In case you haven't noticed I'm the only one around here who actually has two brain cells to rub together." Sheckley said.

Griggs was about to retort when Sheckley said:

"I've got it. If we move slowly, they might not be able to sense the vibrations made with our feet. Back away slowly to the end of the tunnel Griggs." Both of them walked back to the end of the tunnel. They trod slowly so as not to make vibrations with each step.

"Nearly there Griggs."

They trod lightly until the fence was in view.

"One. Two. Three-- Go!" shouted Sheckley. They sprinted to the fence, but when they were only a few feet away the ground began to shake.

"Shit." Said Griggs as antlions began to come out of the ground.

He started shooting without aiming and he killed quite a few antlions, however more started to come. They were surrounded six to one.

"Griggs there's no time," Sheckley shouted to Griggs over the sound of gunfire, "get your ass back to the fence."

As soon as Sheckley said this the antlions ran away.

"See Sheckley," Griggs said with self-satisfaction, "I took care of that problem."

Sheckley took off his green beanie and was about to wipe the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand, when his eyes widened and his hand suddenly stopped moving.

"Griggs-- Hey Griggs you hear that?" Sheckley said in a panicky voice.

"Hear what?" Griggs asked.

A second later there was the sound of a low growl. The wall of the cave ripped apart and a guardian came charging out. It was immense and red. It had bloodlust in its eyes and its targets were Griggs and Sheckley, the ones who killed its young.

Griggs began to shoot at it.

"Griggs that's useless." Sheckley shouted at his friend. He looked around and ran through the hole in the fence. "C'mon Griggs." Sheckley tried to make the hole in the fence a little bit bigger. He needed it to be big enough for Griggs to pass through, but small enough so that the guardian would not be able to fit.

Griggs ran towards the fence, but at the same time the guardian was getting ready to lunge at Griggs. It was like a bull which had just seen the red flag of a Spanish Matador.

With the help of Sheckley, Griggs managed to jump through the hole in the fence, however when the guardian charged it broke the whole fence.

The guardian was now in the mines.

"Oh crap… we're doomed," Griggs said sick with worry as he reloaded his Sub-Machine Gun.

"If we shoot it while running around the mine, we'll be able to take it." said Griggs with sudden optimism.

"What have we got to lose? Oh wait… our lives!" Sheckley shouted back.

As they ran around the mines, they began to shoot the guardian. They ran up and down the steps that were behind the elevator. However the guns seemed to have little effect.

Then, out of nowhere came a hum and the sound of gears grinding against each other. The elevator had been activated, and someone –or something- was on it's way up.

"Oh God. What now?" Sheckley asked.

"You think the combine found out about our digs?" asked Griggs as the elevator ascended.

"We'd better hope not or else we'll have to deal with those bastards too. Sheckley said while shooting the guardian, "Aw hell it's like these bullets are bouncing off it."

"You know Sheck, when this is over we really should leave this place.'' said Griggs.

When the elevator stopped, Griggs and Sheckley held their breath for a moment.

Three vortigaunts stepped off the elevator.

"We are here to assist the inhabitants of the mines. We aim to help in the dispatching of the guardian." One of them said.

"Be my guest." Sheckley told it.

Using their vortessence, all three vortigaunts managed to execute the guardian effortlessly.

"How did you know we were in danger?" asked Griggs.

"We were monitoring the movements of the guardian. When we failed to sense it's presence we know trouble was afoot." Explained one of the vortigaunts.

"Hey thanks, Vorts." Griggs said attempting to high five a vortigaunt. When he noticed they only had three fingers he pretended like he was scratching his head.

"Quite. And now we have dispatched of the guardian we will be on our way."

"Thanks once again." said Sheckley as the vortigaunts made for the elevator.

"Sayonara!" shouted Griggs, "Those Vorts. Great guys."

Later that evening:

"Hey Sheck. Remember when I said ' You know Sheck, when this is over we really should leave this place'? Well, I've been thinking about it." started Griggs.

"Ooh Griggs thinking. This I gotta hear." said Sheckley as he folded his arms.

"Ha-ha. Well I think we really should leave."

Sheckley was looking at Griggs as if waiting to hear more of the great "Griggs Idea". Griggs smiled a wide smile but he got the hint (barely).

"Oh yeah. 'Cause this place is dangerous as hell." Griggs finished.

"Yeah and what would we do then huh? What would we eat? Where are we going? These minor details still need to be worked out Einstein." Sheckley said.

"Ein― what? Anyway, you heard Alyx and the other Vort last time. We should meet up with them and go to White Forest. There's the resistance. Oh please Sheck it's dangerous down here, not to mention dark, smelly and scary." He coughed while saying scary so Sheckley would not be able to hear.

Sheckley was about to shoot down his idea yet again, however he had to agree with Griggs on this one. At White Forest there would be protection, proper beds and not to mention food. Not the antlion crud they eat everyday.

"Hmmm… I think it would be our best option and your first good idea. Ok round up all the medkits you can find. We're going to White Forest!" as he said White Forest he put his fist in the air.

"Ok Sheck, but in the morning?" Griggs fell down on his lumpy mattress. He pushed aside some empty bullet casings and got in the foetal position ready to fall asleep.

"Whatever, sleepy head." He said as he took off his beanie and lay down on his mattress.

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