Escape from Black Mesa
Chapter 3: Our saviors?
The tram line seemed to be still intact as the guard and John reached it. The guard reached the glass door and keyed in the code. The door slid open and they entered the small, but spacious tram.
"By the way, we were never properly introduced. I'm Louis" said the security guard.
"Well I'm certainly glad I ran into you first and not one of those aliens" replied John.
"We should get to the surface and find a way to get out of this facility" Louis suggested. He pressed the start button beside the door which closed behind him. The tram shuddered as it began to slowly push forward on the monorail track. John sat on one of the seats and stretched out a bit. He would take any moment to relax that he could, no matter how brief.
"Where are we headed anyway?" he asked Louis.
"I think that we should head towards the Area 8 Topside Dormitories. Those are on the surface and I know how to get there" replied Louis.
John was glad he had met someone who had a plan and who knew how to put that plan into action. They continued their tram ride for about another 10 minutes before a new problem arose.
There was a loud rumble which shook the tram car as it was moving along the rail line. John heard a cracking sound and turned to look out the window. The glass was beginning to crack.
"Get down!" John yelled to Louis who immediately took cover underneath one of the rows of seats. John had just made it under another row of seats as the glass exploded, sending shards of glass to and fro across the interior of the tram. After a few seconds, the two of them crawled out from under the seats. The tram had completely stopped moving and swayed gently, suspended on the upper portion of the rail. There was an electrical sounding noise as if wires were being fried.
"Oh, shit" said Louis.
"What's going on?" demanded John, with his voice becoming higher pitched with each word. He soon received his answer. There was a snapping sound and then the rail gave away, sending the tram and its two beleaguered occupants hurtling towards the paved floor below.
The tram slammed into the floor at full speed which caused John to be propelled upwards. His head hit the ceiling of the tram and he landed on one of the seats. Once again he was dazed and slipped in and out of consciousness for a while but came to after no more than 15 minutes. As his focus returned he saw that Louis was relatively uninjured because of his helmet. He did, however have a large gash cut in his forehead. John crawled over to him.
"Are you alright?" he asked.
"Yeah, I've just got this cut on my head" Louis replied.
"Well I think I can help you with that" John answered. He pulled a syringe out of his lab coat and took the cap off.
"What the hell is that?" asked Louis nervously.
"It's a self sealing bio-chemical. It will heal most wounds 4 times faster than the body normally would. The boys in the Sector E Biodome Complex whipped it up for us. I still have no idea how they did it. They said that they got it from an animal but no animal on Earth can heal wounds that fast" explained John.
"Ok, but you didn't need to go into all that detail; I don't really care. As long as it does the job I'm fine with it" said Louis.
John placed the syringe near Louis's wound and squirted a few drops into it. Then he placed a bandage on it.
Louis got up and they thought about what to do next.
"I think that we should still try to reach the Area 8 Dormitories. They are close to the Air-Traffic-Control center; we can find a plane or a helicopter to take us out of here" suggested Louis.
John agreed, he wanted to leave as soon as he could. They climbed out of the shattered windows and began to walk around in the large open storage area.
Suddenly there was a loud chirping noise. John looked around anxiously this sound was different from the head crabs and the zombies that they had previously encountered. A small tan creature with three legs appeared from behind a supply crate. It had blue luminescent stripes along its backside and had a large cluster of about 20 eyes on its "face". Louis pulled out his sidearm and prepared to fire, he fired at the creature but missed. It became enraged and began to emit a strange humming, all at once it released an extremely loud noise. John grabbed his ears and fell to the floor, the pain in his ears was so intense that he felt like he was going to throw up.
Louis fought back his pain and managed to silence the creature with 2 rounds from is 9 mm. John got up slowly and took his hands off of his ears, he looked down at his hands and found them streaked with blood.
"There are no elevators around here so will have to use that" Louis said as he pointed towards a ventilation shaft.
"Oh, no I'm extremely claustrophobic" retorted John.
"Well if you don't want to come I'll just leave you here, by yourself with no protection against whatever else is down here. If you want to go on your own be my guest" answered Louis coldly.
"Alright, I'll come with you" replied John.
They approached the grate that lead to the vent and Louis pulled out his gun. He fired at the locks and the grate fell open.
"C'mon this shaft leads to where we want to go" said Louis as he climbed in.
"I'm going to regret this" muttered John as he climbed in.
The shaft was pitch black, Louis turned on his flashlight as he ventured forward. John was right on his heels the whole time. After almost half an hour of arduous and cramped movement and climbing the pair reached the end of the shaft. It opened into a strange room with odd flooring. As Louis and John stepped out of the vent, the floor beneath them gave way and they both fell to the tiled floor.
"Not again" John panted; he was tired of falling all the time. They soon realized that they were in the Sector D Administration Office Complex. There was a balcony above them. He could see a scientist up there and he called up to him.
"You, up there get down here, we're headed for the surface!" he called out. The other scientist gave them some good news. "I've just received a secure access transmission, soldiers have arrived and their coming to rescue us" he told them joyfully. Suddenly a headcrab jumped out of the shadows and latched onto the man's head. The scientist collapsed instantly.
"We need to link up with the military, we cannot stay here" said Louis. They proceeded to the elevator and pushed the ascend button.
"Finally, some good news today" said John, who could barely hide his jubilation. The elevator continued its climb towards the surface and safety.
