HλLF-LIFE: PΘIΠT ΘF VIΣЩ

Chapter 7: Welcome To Earth (Part 2)

Disclaimer:

Half-Life belongs to Valve.

Point of View belongs to Toadman, DAV & Doc Brown.

Xonxt took a moment to regain his composure, and made his way further down the hall. The door ahead of him was marked, "DANGER! AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY", so Xonxt went to the door on his left. It led him to a staircase. Quickly descending, he braced for another attack by the soldiers. He looked at his surroundings, and saw that he was in a tunnel. There was a yellow dotted line running down the middle of the corridor. Then, he realized that was all he could see, along with his hands & the light above the door he came through.

So, he walked blindly, taking care not to step on anything sharp or trip over anything.

Much quicker than he expected, Xonxt came across a bend in the tunnel. A white light could be seen down the tunnel, and Xonxt saw a human transport vehicle, like the one on the train. One of its' lights was broken, but the other one worked fine. (Too fine, because Xonxt had to squint to avoid being blinded.)

He walked further down the tunnel, after trying a door marked "SECURITY" and only getting a negative buzzing sound.

Xonxt could hear someone whimpering, so he stopped & curiously looked at the orange-clad human, cowering behind one of the cars, holding a wrench.

"D-don't hurt me. Please, don't hurt me! I-I wasn't in-involved with the alien invasion. I'm just an elevator maintenance worker. You've got to believe me!"

The man looked up. Xonxt could see overwhelming fear in his eyes. The man's face was grimy and he had a bit of chin stubble. When he saw that Xonxt wasn't a soldier, he said,

"Oh, good. You're not one of those trigger-happy mofo soldiers, and considering you haven't fried me like an egg, you must be trying to help us, right?"

Xonxt nodded, unsure of anything the human said other than "not", "help" and "soldiers".

He stood up, dusted himself off, and extended a grimy hand.

Puzzled, Xonxt put his hand out, too, and was briefly surprised when he grabbed his hand & shook it. Taking it as a way of greeting, Xonxt tried his best to ask,

"Who are you," but it came out almost unintelligible. However, the worker seemed to get the meaning.

"My name's Redd. And they call you...?"

*Xonxt.*

"Xonxt? Is that it, Xonxt?"

*Yes.*

"Hmm. Well, Xonxt, I think you and I are going to be great friends. Now, I assume you want to get out of this tunnel, right?"

Xonxt nodded again.

"Okay, see that door over there, marked, 'SECURITY'? Well, the one next to it won't open without a special key. I've got that key. Apparently, they don't trust me with security detail. I don't know what the system is like for your species but around here, people like me, workers, don't really get that much respect from the higher castes."

At the word, "caste", Xonxt's ears perked up.

*Caste?*

"Yeah. So, I take it your society uses it too, huh? Well, enough chit-chat. Let's get outta here."

Redd opened the door, and Xonxt stepped through first. Redd followed not a moment later. They ascended a staircase not dis-similar to the one Xonxt descended a little while ago.

At the top, Xonxt saw a door marked, "AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY", and another door, unmarked. Assuming the unmarked door would open was, for the most part, a safe venture. What lay beyond, however, was not so safe. The door led the "dynamic duo" into a large room, with more of the lined stretches of road, and, oh goody! More soldiers.

"Hey, Xonxt. All I have is this puny wrench. You think you could work your magic on these guys?"

Xonxt nodded, charging his electrical attack. Leaping out from behind the wall, he shoved his hands forward, the speed at which he moved causing the bolt to cut a path through an unfortunate trio of soldiers who thought they could take the Vort by surprise. They fell, their midsections smoking. The other soldiers took notice, but stayed apart. Redd saw one soldier creeping up behind Xonxt, and shouted,

"Look out!"

The soldier stopped, turned towards Redd, and fired.

A spray of lead hit him in the chest, and he fell slumped against the wall, a sickening trail of blood following him.

Time seemed to slow as Xonxt spun 180º, and shoved the soldier headfirst into some crates. He was out cold.

Xonxt knelt by Redd's bleeding form.

"Y—agh, jeez. You did g-great." He coughed, a small trickle of blood running out the corner of his mouth.

"I've never seen moves like that before. Now, get going. I'm-" He coughed some more. A small spatter of blood hit Xonxt, who didn't seem to notice.

"I'm not gonna make it. That soldier tore me up good. Hey, give 'em--"

Redd never finished his sentence. With one last cough, he fell over, his eyes rolled up into his head, blood still trickling out his mouth.

Xonxt shuddered. One of his colleagues, no, one of his friends, was just killed in cold blood by another of his race.

The soldiers looked as though they enjoyed killing the scientists & workers below them, like Redd.

They. Enjoyed. IT.

If Xonxt was mad before, he was literally glowing white-hot with seething rage now.

Storming into the large room, he saw 2 more soldiers, laughing about how their unconscious friend killed the defenseless worker, Redd. Xonxt charged at the pair, thin green "strings" of electricity trailing behind him from his wrist shackles.

One soldier spotted him, aimed his weapon at the glowing green-brown blur speeding at him, and then...

"Heh heh-- OH GOD!"

Xonxt shoved his left hand into the soldier's gut, the current running through his hand ravaging the soldier's internal organs. He screamed in agony for a second, then fell, twitching violently.

"You sonofa-"

Xonxt did the same to the second soldier. He too, screamed in agony, and depressed the trigger on his rifle, which proceeded to turn the wall in front of it to swiss cheese.

He looked up, and saw the very same blue-suited man, holding the very same briefcase he did when Xonxt was on the train.

'Now's my chance!'

Drawing electricity from random objects near him, Xonxt fired, and scored a direct hit on the man's face.

But nothing happened.

Trying again, this time taking in more charge, he fired. Still no effect.

'How can he simply brush off my attacks?! No human is invincible! WHY CAN'T I KILL HIM?!'

The man brushed something off his tie, smirked, then walked away to parts unknown.

Before Xonxt could start cursing him out, he heard shuffling behind him. Turning around, he saw his would-be assassin, staggering slightly, brandishing a large multi-barreled weapon.

"Looks like we got your little friend, ya b**tard." His smile took on a sadistic tone.

Xonxt began "charging", but the soldier dropped his weapon and was on the vortigaunt in less than a second, a knife to the creature's throat.

Xonxt shoved the soldier away, then ran. He eyed the soldier's now ownerless weapon curiously, wondering if he could use it. He attempted to pick it up, but the bloody thing was just too heavy. So, Xonxt waited until the soldier was in front of the barrels, and fired. The soldier barely had any time to react before everything he had below the knees was eviscerated instantaneously. He screamed & swore, but Xonxt paid no mind. The grunt clawed his way out of the line of fire, took aim, and then...

Time stopped.

A figure stepped out of the shadows.

Author's Notes:

This chapter was LONG! Also, for those of you who played/discussed/watched videos of F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin should know who the the elevator maintenance worker was a reference to. Also, the soldier w/ the minigun was a reference to Victor, a character in SuperChocolateBear's HL2 novel-fic: Welcome to City 17, which I loved.