Time: 5:01 AM
Lance was silent for a good chunk of the car ride. Finally, as we were nearing a bridge over a river, he spoke up.
"So, what were you doing before...this?" Lance waved his hand around.
"You really care?" I asked.
"Well, it sure beats awkward silent driving."
"Fine. I worked with the satellite TV company as an installer of the dishes and that kind of stuff."
"Really? Did you like doing it?"
"I hated it. I was doing searches online for other kinds of jobs and preparing to quit, but then...you know. My wife actually was a nurse, which was where most of our money came from."
"Well, since you told me I might as well tell you. I was a tattoo artist, but I've been with the White Eagles for three years now. When I started, it was just me, Wallace, and like fifteen others. Now we have three bases and, what, 150 members. If you care about my marital status, I'm single."
"I guess I shouldn't be too surprised," I said, eyeing his countless tattoos. "Do you know what Carter did?"
"He was in grad school for a veterinary degree."
"I guess he'd make the most money, then."
"Maybe. But he sure had no life outside of school 'til two months ago, when he joined us."
My radio crackled to life. "Are you guys talking about me?" It was Carter, on the roof of the car.
"What makes you say that?" I asked.
"Just a hunch. I just get paran-"
"Carter, Combine!" Lance screamed into my radio. We had just gotten on the bridge, the four soldiers were rappelling down from one of the arches. Carter opened fire, but his aim was sloppy. The soldier's rifles were much more accurate and nearly each one was hitting the car. I rolled down my window and aimed up at one of the soldiers. I shot one and killed him successfully. He slid down his rope and slammed into the ground. We drove straight under the soldiers. Carter killed another one right before Lance accelerated across the bridge. In the other lane, there was terrible traffic out of the city. Countless cars were driving right through the divider onto our side to get past the traffic. We were among the only vehicles heading downtown. A police cruiser was right behind us, and just getting off the bridge was an army truck.
Built on a large delta in the middle of the river was city hall. There was a huge fire ravaging the delta. I cringed. What other surprises were in store once we got to the other side of the river? The financial district towered above the surrounding area, surprisingly intact.
But on the outer parts of downtown, smoke rose above smoldering buildings. Army helicopters were flying around the burning buildings, shooting at the Combine below.
The first glimmers of daylight were visible over the river, turning the surrounding sky pink.
"Guys? What the hell is that?" Carter asked. "Up ahead, over the Hilton."
"Good god." Lance gasped. It certainly wasn't any aircraft I had ever seen. It looked alive, even. Rocket-propelled grenades were hitting it every few seconds. It was shot a few times before it finally spiraled down into the river.
"Score!" I smiled.
We finally got to the other end of the bridge. People were running everywhere, screaming. We couldn't drive at full speed without hitting someone. There were people trying to break into our car. I heard Carter yelling that we were here to help, but people kept whacking the car with whatever we could find.
"Thank god we have this." Lance flipped up a panel on the car's dashboard. "Carter, I'm using the tear gas. Cover up."
Lance pushed a small blue button. Almost instantly, I saw gas rising up from the bottom of the car. People started falling away, screaming and covering their eyes. Now that those in front were scared of us, they ran away. We had a clear path. Lance accelerated.
"Lance to base! Lance to base! Where do you want us to go in downtown?" He yelled through his radio.
"This is base, set up at the children's hospital. The Combine are attacking it. You'll have six other Eagles to help you."
"Those bastards. Can't even leave the kids alone!" I yelled.
Lance turned off onto the main street. After a few minutes of cautious driving, we came to the hospital complex. Parked in the front of the lot were three other White Eagle cars, each with their own bullet holes and dents from wannabe carjackers.
The lights in the hospital were off, possibly because the Combine cut the power. The glass entry doors were shot out. The dead receptionist slumped over her desk, a bullet wound in her back. The sun was now reflecting off of the windows, giving them a golden glow.
"Okay, people. No talking." Lance commanded. We cautiously stepped through the broken doors and put on our helmets. Glass crunched under our feet.
"Robert to base, which floor of the children's hospital are they on?" I whispered.
"The majority are on the fourth floor."
Carter walked over to the elevator and pushed the button. "Um, Carter? No power equals no elevator. We're taking the stairs." Lance opened the door to the fire exit stairway, I immediately walked in and shone my flashlight up the stairs. A Combine soldier saw my light and dropped a grenade down the stairs.
"Fire in the hole!" I yelled. I jumped out of the way of the falling grenade and shut the heavy fire door behind me. Once the grenade blew up, Lance opened the door and Carter rushed in. He shot the soldier, getting three bullet wounds in the process.
"Bitch." He mumbled. We continued up to the first floor. I opened the door to this story and gasped. It would have been enough to see dead adults littering the floor. But this was a hospital for children. I almost fell to my knees. Dead kids lay on the floor, a single fluorescent light illuminating the corridor.
I slammed the door angrily. "Come on, you COWARDS!" I swung my gun at the wall. "COME OUT HERE!" I fired into the stairs. Carter shoved me up against the wall and Lance yanked the rifle out of my hands.
"Robert! Don't be so foolish!"
"Foolish? DO YOU KNOW HOW IT FEELS TO SEE THIS? Especially after losing TWO SONS!" I struggled against Carter's grip. "I'll take them all by myself if it comes down to it! EVERY ONE!"
"Robert! If we don't succeed in this mission then every single ICU on Earth is going to look like this! Not to mention nursing homes, maternity wards, insane asylums...the Combine hate the humans, be they crazy, old, young, seriously injured or just finishing up with an incubator. You know those hippies you were told about during your training? They're always whining about peace, not war, wah wah wah. Well, people are going to die either way, it's just that when you have a war, you prevent millions more from dying. Think of the people after you when you act like this!" Lance glared at me angrily. "Now sprout some balls and let's keep moving." Carter released me.
I was silent the rest of the way up the stairs. I was furious at Lance earlier, but now my anger was slowly evaporating as I realized he was right.
--
As we came to the fourth floor, Carter put his ear up against the door and listened. "Oh, there's definitely something going on in there. Gunfire and whatnot." He pulled out his radio. "Carter to all other units at the children's hospital, are you on the fourth floor of the west wing?" A few seconds of silence followed.
"Negative, Carter, we're in the east wing. There's a walkway connecting the two wings on the third floor, you can get to us there."
"So, down to the third floor?" Carter asked Lance.
He thought for a bit. "Later. First, let's deal with the stuff past this door. We don't know what we're walking into, so stand back." Lance quickly turned the doorknob and pushed the door open. Carter and I were on both sides of the door, hidden by the wall.
"Boys! Give 'em hell!" Lance charged into the corridor and opened fire. I ran into the first hospital room on the right after firing a few rounds at a soldier. I checked my gun and popped out of the hospital room to shoot a soldier.
As soon as I emerged, I sustained enemy fire. There were so many at once, I just couldn't concentrate. In the end, I just stuck my gun out the door and fired that way.
Peeking out, I saw I hadn't killed anyone, just injured them. Lance had taken cover behind a medicine cart and was killing much more efficiently. He was using a mirror on the opposite wall to aim. Unfortunately, there was no mirror on the opposite wall for me. I just came out of cover again and shot a soldier. He finally went down.
"Robert! Incoming!" A grenade rolled along right in front of me. I kicked it back down the hall as it blew up. "Nice work!" Lance gave me a thumbs up. I came out of cover and shot the remaining soldiers.
Carter appeared out of a supply closet.
"You slick little bastard." Lance chuckled.
"Hey, I killed one!"
"Guys, did you even see the damage done on this floor?" I pointed to the dead children the Combine had killed before we came.
"Robert, remember what I said on the stairs and stop trying to make me feel like a cold hearted killer, it ain't working." We left the hallway and returned back to the third floor corridor. We walked along the silent halls and across the wing connector, ready for to fight with our fellow Eagles.