Chapter 8
He heard a fire crackling away beside him and could feel the warmth radiating pleasantly on his face. His head was resting peacefully on something soft. It felt so good that he would have been content to lie there forever. But the memories of what had happened came flooding back to him, and Gordon Freeman sat bolt upright.
The sky above him was dark, and judging from the smell in the air it had been night for some time. As far as he could see it was just trees and shrubbery, so he came to the conclusion that he was in a forest. But… he'd just been in a plane crash, how in the world had he gotten here?
Gordon looked down and saw that he'd been lying on a well-worn sleeping bag. There was no way he could've gotten there on accident, so someone must have left him there. Gordon looked off to his left and saw the small campfire, its flame casting a peaceful golden hue over the entire area.
But… where was everyone? Gordon found part of his answer when he rose to his feet, finding the unconscious form of Zoey lying on another sleeping bag beside the one he'd been on. There was an old picnic table behind him, on top of which Gordon found all of his weapons and supplies, along with everyone else's. Except Francis. Gordon didn't see the man's shotgun or his bag of supplies, and a small wave of remorse hit him. He'd seen countless deaths, but this one-
His thoughts were interrupted by the rustling of the bushes beyond the campfire. Gordon plucked his revolver off of the table and kept it in his hand. The rustling turned out to be Bill and Louis, both of whom were carrying Francis. Gordon dropped his weapon and hurried over to help. Between the three of them, they managed to get the bag Gordon had been on, placing the biker on top of it.
Louis fell back, looking completely exhausted. Bill sat down on the bench of the picnic table, lighting a cigarette and blowing out a smoke filled sigh of relief.
"Glad to see you're awake kid." He commented in his ordinary gruff voice. Underneath that, though, the scientist could tell that the veteran was truly thankful.
"We got lucky. The plane crashed on the side of this mountain, and thank God it got caught in those trees, or none of us would be sittin' here right now."
A wry smile made its way onto Gordon's face. So much of his survival had been just because of plain luck. Although, when you had a guardian that could stop time and predict the future watching over you, your chances of survival were a lot higher. That was probably why these four weren't dead. He had yet to find the marine that he'd been instructed to locate, and probably would never find him without their help. Gordon was weary of travelling with them, as most of his companions ended up dead. He didn't want the same fate to fall on these people.
"I'm gonna get some rest now, I advise you to do the same. Not very comfortable up here, but we should take what we can get."
Bill gingerly lay down on the grass beside the fire. Gordon briefly wondered why they weren't appointing a person to keep watch, but he knew the answer almost before his mind even asked the question. There likely were very few, if any infected up here.
Even so though, Gordon couldn't sleep. It was due to the chemicals the HEV suit was giving him. That reminded him of something, and he glanced down at the yellow numbers of the heads up display.
His health read 91, extra power at 77. That wasn't too bad, considering all he'd been through. Still not satisfied, Gordon decided to do a little bit of exploring. He picked up his revolver and the crowbar, keeping the latter held tight in his hand. He didn't expect he'd need either, but better safe than sorry.
He stepped silently over Louis and Zoey, heading away from the campfire and into the forest. He activated the suit's flashlight once he was out of range of the fire's light.
Gordon found himself on what looked to be a well-used path, and began following it. Something flashed back at him from up ahead, so he made his way over to where he'd seen the flash. Gordon stood before another picnic table. It had a folded up piece of paper that Gordon hoped was a map, as well as a battery powered lantern. He turned the knob on the small object, and to his surprise it worked, casting an artificial blue glow across the whole area.
Next he picked up the paper, unfolding it and spreading it out on the table, where he saw that it was indeed a map. According to the map, they were in Allegheny National Forest. He was pretty sure that was somewhere in Pennsylvania. A red arrow on the upper right hand side of the map pointed to one of the mountain tops, the words 'YOU ARE HERE' written in bold print underneath the arrow. More towards the bottom left of the map was the line that meant 'train tracks', and without too much difficulty Gordon was able to trace a path from their current position to said tracks, where another red arrow was drawn along them.
The tracks and the arrow ran south, and beside that arrow, the words 'MILITARY EVAC AT FARM' written there. Satisfied with his findings, Gordon refolded the map and turned off the lantern. Now all he had to do was wait until morning to share the items with the others.
…
Gordon surprised himself when he was the first one awake. In fact, he was surprised he'd even got to sleep. He still held the folded up map in his hand, the lantern having been placed on the ground beside him. Bill heard the noise and was up soon after, taking a drink from his water bottle before moving to check on the other three. It took about an hour for everyone to fully awaken, and another thirty minutes before they were ready to move again. It was then that Gordon revealed the map to everyone.
Zoey spread it out on the table, while everyone took up positions so they could see the item. Gordon retraced the path he'd found the previous night, and after a brief discussion, they decided to follow it. They set off through the forest, weapons held at the ready.
Despite the low fog that hung over the area, something that gave everyone an eerie feeling, there was an expected but merciful lack of infected, the only few easily dispatched by a swing of Gordon's crowbar or a slice of Bill's knife. It wasn't long before the survivors made it down to the railroad. The path they followed led them down to an expansive warehouse, the tracks extending out beyond that, heading north and south. The only way to get to them was through said warehouse, so the survivors took the liberty of the temporary shelter.
A light rain had begun to fall, and the sight of shelter was something they all relished. The building was easily entered by way of an unlocked side door, which took them through several winding, dirtied, but thankfully still lit corridors, until they stood on an observation deck overlooking the largest part of the warehouse. Two sets of tracks in the middle of the room ran parallel to each other until they reached a pair of identical, mammoth sized garage doors at the far end of the warehouse. Crates and other supply items sat stacked up in impressive piles on either side of the tracks, with two large cranes on top of the roof that would be used to pick up heavier objects and load them onto the train cars below. It would've been neat to see when it still worked.
The giant locomotive sat on the left track was equally impressive, its blue and gold paint attracting the eyes of all present.
"Do you think we could use that, and drive outta here?" Louis whispered for reasons unknown to even himself.
"That's what I'm thinkin'." Bill said in a much less reserved tone. He began looking for a way down to the floor of the warehouse, finding it in the form of a ladder to the left side of the platform they stood on. The veteran descended first, landing on the concrete floor with a loud 'clomp!' that reverberated annoyingly off the metal walls of the huge building. Gordon stepped down with barely any noise at all, moving out of the way so Louis could follow.
Once everyone was safely on the ground, Bill gathered them up and pointed to Louis, Zoey, and Gordon.
"Why don't you three search some of these crates, see if there's anything useful in 'em. Francis and I will see if we can't get this train up and runnin'."
And with that, each individual turned away to get started on their assignment, and hopefully, on their way to rescue.
...
(A/N
You're a 19 year old kid.
You're critically wounded and dying in the jungle somewhere in the Central Highlands of Vietnam ..
It's November 11, 1967.
LZ (landing zone) X-ray.
Your unit is outnumbered 8-1 and the enemy fire is so intense from 100 yards away, that your CO (commanding officer) has ordered the helicopters to stop coming in.
You're lying there, listening to the enemy machine guns and you know you're not getting out.
Your family is half way around the world, 12,000 miles away, and you'll never see them again.
As the world starts to fade in and out, you know this is the day.
Then - over the machine gun noise - you faintly hear that sound of a helicopter.
You look up to see a Huey coming in. But.. It doesn't seem real because no MedEvac markings are on it.
Captain Ed Freeman is coming in for you.
He's not MedEvac so it's not his job, but he heard the radio call and decided he's flying his Huey down into the machine gun fire anyway.
Even after the MedEvacs were ordered not to come. He's coming anyway.
And he drops it in and sits there in the machine gun fire, as they load 3 of you at a time on board.
Then he flies you up and out through the gunfire to the doctors and nurses and safety.
And, he kept coming back! 13 more times! Until all the wounded were out. No one knew until the mission was over that the Captain had been hit 4 times in the legs and left arm.
He took 29 of you and your buddies out that day. Some would not have made it without the Captain and his Huey.
Medal of Honor Recipient, Captain Ed Freeman, United States Air Force, died last Wednesday at the age of 70, in Boise, Idaho
May God Bless and Rest His Soul.
I wonder how many of you heard about this hero's passing. We've sure heard a whole bunch about Whitney Houston, Lindsay Lohan, Dr. Murray, that sicko Sandusky, and a 72- day sham marriage.
Shame on the media !
Medal of Honor Winner Captain Ed Freeman
Now... YOU pass this along.
Honor this real hero.
Please.
( So he really died quite a while ago, but this little thing is just something I saw and decided to repost. It doesn't matter how long he ago he died though, the point still stands. Posting these kinds of things is what I'm going to try to do at the end of every chapter now. Don't know why, I just want to.
ANonymouS
