I do not own the rights to half life or its characters and locations, they belong to the VALVe corporation.
CHAPTER 2 – THE LONG SHIFT
Martin groggily rubbed his face. He looked over at the alarm clock – it was squawking so it meant it was time for work…again.
Sarah was still asleep; far away dreaming in her own little world. Martin hit the snooze button on the alarm clock and pulled himself out of the bed. He took a look around his room and sighed.
Martin's new dorm small, dark, cramped and he hated it. At least on the surface he had a window to look at…well nothing but sand and mesas but it bet the hell out of sitting around with a picture of some street somewhere in Eastern Europe.
Sector C wasn't all that bad, it wasn't what Martin was expecting though – David had altered the truth slightly about its grandeur. Sarah had nearly killed him when he told her that he had been promoted after all.
That was a painful experience.
He went to his closet and pulled on his uniform of his cotton shirt, black tie and blue pants. Before he pulled on his shoes he tiptoed gently over to the snoozing Sarah and kissed her goodbye.
He finally peeked in on Tim who was also sleeping soundly.
He then departed the room closing the door quietly behind him. Nobody was in the corridor down from the dorms. It was 8.30- his shift wasn't until nine.
Martin scratched the back of his neck.
I have all the time in the world.
Martin wandered into the cafeteria; nobody was present there except for one scientist who was flicking through a copy of the Black Mesa times. Martin got a breakfast for himself and sat next to the scientist.
"Hows a goin"
The scientist looked up. It was Gordon Freeman. The guy really was weedy looking, but he looked friendly.
He smiled and opened his mouth to speak when the intercom interrupted him.
"DOCTOR…FREEMAN…RE...PORT…TO…ANOMALOUS…MATERIALS...LAB"
Freeman's face turned pale. He checked his watch and leapt off his chair and ran out of the cafeteria charging down the door.
Martin leaned back bemused.
"Yeah umm bye"
Martin grabbed Gordon's Black Mesa times and made for the tram station. Just ahead he could see the pale skinny scientist standing at the front of his tram as it chugged past the security station.
As he strolled along the platform he skimmed through he pages of the newspaper. Apparently some huge scientific test was occurring today in anomalous materials that the whole science team was worked up about.
Martin scanned his card at the door to the tram and the door merrily pinged and opened. Martin took his seat and looked ahead. Area 3 was less that 500 meters ahead yet he had to take the tram due to the chasm that was between the dorms and the hub.
It was stupid.
No less than he had thought that then the tram had stopped. He exited the tram and entered the Area 3 door which was surprisingly open. Inside a security guard was flicking through a brochure for something.
"Hey"
The guard looked up and his face seemed to light up at the sight of Martin. Martin recognised him as John Lewich, one of the only friends he had made in sector C.
"Martin! How are ya man?"
"Me, ah I'm good – what's the deal with the door?"
"What, oh yeah. I wouldn't open for Calhoun; there's been system crashes and the like all over the facility this morning, like I told Calhoun; it's a wonder this whole place hasn't been shut down"
Martin paused for a minute.
"Does it have anything to do with the experiment this morning John?"
"Hell if I know Martin, the eggheads are really worked up about it though"
"I bet anyway I better begin this shift, gotta pay the bills you know"
As Martin departed John called after him something about getting wasted every night in Lucia's.
Martin went to the locker room and grabbed his uniform of Kevlar and the matching steel helmet. Martin then went to the range and got his standard glock sidearm.
Not that I'll need it.
Martin proceeded back into the lobby area and checked in for his shift. The section manager he reported to now was actually more of a dick than the last guy and that was saying something.
"Ready for your shift today Thompson"
"Yes sir"
"I apologize but you won't be paid for your overtime this evening either Thompson, something to do with the costs of equipment for this sector. Anyway you're wanted over at Anomalous Materials…well what are you waiting for get goin. "
Martin nodded slowly and regarded the manager with cold eyes before stalking away.
His new position in sector C didn't seem like much of a promotion to Martin; while he didn't have no "personal workspace" to worry about; his pay and hours were simply unfair. He would return home to his family at about 10 and after that shift was usually in no mood to talk to Sarah or play with Tim.
It wasn't fair.
Martin made his way along the corridors back to the tram station and waited patiently.
Behind him two scientists were having a thrilling conversation about…well Martin didn't know what.
"I hear the anti-mass spectrometer's safety buffer is 90%, so why are they pushing it above it, is the extra resolution this morning worth it?"
"Now I don't know everything but it's by order of the administrator so I'd worry about my own work if I were you"
"But it's unstable enough as it is, what if…"
"Don't go there – nothing will go wrong, you know that, the administrator himself oversaw certain areas of this!"
Martin didn't like the sound of that, something with a safety buffer being pushed didn't sound too good. He pushed that thought from his mind – he couldn't afford to think like that- anyway he wasn't a scientist who knew about atoms and things like that.
It wasn't his problem.
The tram arrived and Martin sat in on a bench and closed his eyes – trying to catch some precious sleep while it journeyed along the tracks. For some reason the words of the scientists wouldn't leave him though- he was worried bout this experiment even though he knew nothing about it.
He had a feeling in his gut that something wasn't right.
The tram's automated voice came across the speakers and the tram came to a halt quicker than Martin had hoped and he wearily got to his feet. The security guard that came to open the door of it Martin recognized; it was David.
"Heya Martin, nice to see most people are on time"
The door opened and Martin climbed out.
"Whadoya mean?"
"The new guy, Freeman…arrived here a couple of minutes ago like his head was on fire – didn't even say anything just went straight in"
"Ah well, he seems harmless enough"
"Yeah, apparently he's best friends with Barney…"
"Calhoun?"
"Yeah. Anyway – how'd Sarah take the move?"
"Better than I thought actually, only got hit with a saucepan"
The two security guards laughed.
"Anyway I better get in there"
"Yeah yeah, anyway I'll talk to you later man, have fun I hear you got a long one"
"How'd you know that?"
"Because we're all on fucking long shifts, seriously I haven't been able to go to Lucia's in ages, anyway get going- say hi to Arnie for me"
"Like hell I will- I like living thank you very much"
"That why you married Sarah?"
They laughed again and Martin hurried inside the airlock. The doors opened slowly and Martin made his way down the hallway toward his post, where he guarded the airlock to sector B.
As he passed the ramp down to the lower labs and the test chamber he caught sight of a figure hurrying by in an orange HEV suit. As the figure rushed by a roar came from behind it, down the corridor.
"FREEMAN! I WON'T FORGET THIS FREEMAN! I WONT FORGET AND FORGIVE!"
An angry looking graying scientist hobbled after Freeman. The unforgettable Dr. Arnie Magnusson, and from the sounds of it Freeman had just made an enemy for life.
Poor Bastard.
Martin arrived at his workspace and simply stood at the door, barring entrance to anyone who didn't have clearance. A boring job but it was slightly better than the damned personal workspace in sector god-knows-where. He wondered how Quentin Jones was getting on down there actually.
Martin found himself alone with his thoughts for what seemed like an age and again his thoughts once again returned to what he heard the scientists say,
What the hell is an anti-mass spectrometer? Were they in danger if this thing goes?
"Hello?"
Martin shook his head.
"Wha"
A small scientist stood in front of him. A small, plump man with a wiry moustache. The mans lab coat barely fit him and his tie was half way down his torso.
"May I get by please?"
"Security clearance sir?"
"Ah yes"
The scientist fished around in his pockets and produced an I, D tag which he presented to Martin. He looked it over and stood back and opened the door for the scientist.
"Here you go Mr. Rooney"
"Thank you officer."
The scientist entered the glass airlock and the door sealed behind him. The scientist put his thumb to the button which would open the next set of doors. He pushed it and it made a dull sound. The doors remained sealed.
He tried again and again. Finally he looked over at Martin.
"Is this your idea of a funny joke, get me out!"
"Sir – I didn't do anything – the door sealed itself, I dunno what to…"
"WARNING…EXTREME…ELECTRO…MAGNETIC…PULSE…DETECTED…IN...SECTOR…C"
The scientist looked up panic on his face.
"But that's here!"
Before Martin could answer a bolt of energy leapt forward from the airlock buttons. Sparks fell from the lights as they dimmed. Lime colored lightning shot into the room from the air – it seemed to appear and then disappear before it struck the ground.
It was total chaos – the lights dimmed, klaxons wailed and sparks flew. Finally one of the lime beams hit the ground in the airlock in front of the scientist who was cowering on the ground sobbing.
Where the beam had scorched now a small creature lay. It looked like some sort of weird crab-blob thingie. It had four legs as far as Martin could see and it was flesh coloured.
The scientist screamed in horror as the thing turned to face him.
"GET ME OUT OF HERE!!! HELP ME!!! PLEASE HELP…"
Suddenly the crab-thing leapt at the screaming scientist and clamped over his head. He struggled to pull it off but it seemed to be suckling on his head. His face was one of pure terror.
"GET IT OFF ME!!! GET IT OF…MMMPHHH!"
The crab had now completely swallowed the scientists face. Blindly he fell over, his blood dripping down from where the crab had latched onto his head and onto the ground where it was pooling beneath his still struggling body.
Martin shot the glass with his pistol, but the glass dented and refused to break. Martin began to run at the window screaming in frustration and pain as he slammed into it.
Suddenly Martin was hurled backwards by a bolt of the green electricity. He hit the wall hard and collapsed into unconsciousness. As the klaxons wailed they merged with the sounds of the slaughter of the Black Mesa personnel.
*
The first sense Martin got back was smell, the smell of scorched flesh and blood. Slowly he forced himself to open his eyes, the dim light of the chamber made it hard to see. He focused on one thing; the airlock – the scientist was still in there, Martin could roughly make out his figure lying on the ground.
Martin gingerly picked himself up; he had minor scrapes and cuts. Where the lightning had struck him his Kevlar had bubbled and melted away. Martin counted himself lucky to have it.
He slowly made his way to the glass.
"Ssir…are…are you okay?"
The scientist began to move slowly. Something was wrong however, the crab thing was still on his head, and where his chest was now only a gapping hole that clamped open and shut nauseatingly, it looked like a mouth because of the broken ribs sticking out of it like teeth.
"LLik eem"
Marin looked puzzled – this thing tried to communicate with him. It got closer to the glass and began to bang on it.
"LLIK EEM ESAELP!"
"I don't know…I can't understand you!"
Once again the torso mouth pulsed – it looked hungry whatever it was. The Scientist raised his arms, Martin saw that his fingers were now all distorted and twisted, they looked almost like cleavers.
Suddenly the glass doors of the airlock exploded outwards. The former scientist shambled toward Martin mouth clamping open and shut and arms outstretched – almost like a zombie.
"Back off!"
Martin was terrified. He walked backwards and raised his gun.
"Stay back!"
The thing slashed Martin across the torso with its claws. He screamed out in agony and kicked it back. Where it cut him he was bleeding heavily. Out of breath he raised his gun and shot the zombie thing. It continued to advance until he shot it in the head. The bullet hit the crab thing which squealed and flopped of the scientist's body pathetically as it died.
Marin fell back in agony. His vision began to dim. He was dying. Desperately he clawed at the health station mounted on the wall behind him. He couldn't reach it, no matter how hard he tried.
As he gave up he felt something powerful grab him and lift him up so he could reach the station. Its needle pierced the skin on is neck, a brief moment of pain and then soothing cold as morphine and other healing drugs and chemicals flowed through his body.
On his cuts scabs automatically formed to stop the blood flow. Morphine reduced the pain and chemicals increased his white blood cell count to fight infection. He was safe now, he wouldn't die.
He fell back down, unable to support himself. He gazed over at his savior, he couldn't raise his head but he saw the orange and black boots.
"Freeman"
As unconsciousness took Martin again he was treated to one more sight, Freeman taking his gun.
O.O - just like you do in the game. Curse you Freeman!