Chapter 14
My old fashioned alarm clock rang, wobbling slightly, awaking me. My eyes opened, and I sat up in bed. After a moment of getting out of my sleepy state, I stood up, and reached for my brown pants. After putting them on, I slid a pair of boots over my feet, and threw on my leather armor shirt. After that, multiple bags were placed on it, all full of survival items. I fumbled through the small wardrobe for a couple of med packs, even though I doubted needing them. I had learned my lesson.
I opened the door to my room, and stepped out of it. I slowly closed it behind me, to make sure that I didn't awake anyone. I jogged to Lazlo's putty wall, pressed the hidden button, the jogged back to Lazlo's lab. After it scanned my fingerprint, I pulled off the handle, and removed the fake door. I silently replaced it, and slid into the scientist's laboratory. To my surprise, Lazlo was not alone, but was accompanied by two Vortigaunts, including Uriah. They all had glowing hands that were moving up and down the man's body.
"Hey, Griggs, I told the Vorts what had happened with my machine. They're checking me out."
I nodded my head, and walked over to Uriah. "Got anything?" I whispered.
Uriah turned away from Lazlo, and faced me. "The human is special."
"Yes," the others agreed.
"Wait, whoa, you mean Lazlo's a Vort?!" I shouted, louder than I had intended.
"Not exactly," Uriah explained. "Few humans here on Earth have the ability to use Vortal energies. For most, it is a freak of nature, brief ability that is never investigated, but the Rickit is special."
Rickit?
Lazlo blushed at hearing his last name. The Vorts took a step back, finished, and turned towards Uriah.
"He has a rare ability, brought on by the use of his machine," one said.
"Agreed," the other applied.
"The Rickit must keep his ability secret," Uriah softly spoke. "If the Rickit would like, we could give you training."
The other Vortigaunts 'gasped' in shocked, or rather made a deep noise with their throat.
"To train a human in the Vortessense has never been done," one said.
The other replied, "We must, for the good of both us and humans alike."
"Sorry to disappoint you," Lazlo glumly said, "but I am needed at the coast. They say they need a scientist to study pherapods."
"Wait," I said. "I have an idea! Some other scientist could pretend to be you, and go to the coast instead!"
"Erasing my identity in the process," Lazlo added.
"It is agreed," Uriah said. "However, the Rickit mustn't stay here. My kin will take you to a Vortigaunt camp, however I must stay here. A new Dr. Rickit will be sent to the coast, and will take all of your achievements."
"Agreed."
"Yes."
"But what will we do about that car you made?" I asked.
"It shall be taken to a Rebel outpost not far from here, by the old mines," one Vortigaunt replied.
"Yes."
"Okay, it was nice knowing you, Griggs," Lazlo said. He patted my shoulder, and walked out of his lab. The other Vorts followed, and exited the room, but I stayed for some time.
*****
ABOUT ONE WEEK LATER
*****
I jogged out of the lunch room, after my dinner meal, and took a big breath of air. I looked around the base, watching everyone scurry about. People were going crazy after what Gordon Freeman did. I still couldn't believe how hard he hit Nova Prospect. It was heavily guarded, and he slipped right in.
I ran through the corridors to get to Lazlo's lab, and placed my hand on the door handle. I waited for a green light to flash, but nothing happened. I then turned it, and opened the door normally. They had 'fixed' it. Inside, Lazlo's machines were gone, and a couple of scientists were setting lab equipment up.
I miss Lazlo's lab.
"DR. HARRISON!"
I slowly turned around with a blank expression on my face to look at Dr. Magnusson.
"YOU are supposed to be on crow duty. GET OUT THERE, NOW!"
Moved around him, and rolled my eyes. I headed for the big blast doors at the front of the base, and exited them.
*****
I looked around to make sure nobody was watching, and then pulled away the disguise we had place on Lazlo's car. I got in, and started the engine.
We had decided to keep the car at the base for a few days, and then take it to the outpost near the mines. I pressed on the gas, and moved out of the trees.
Then, my view was shifted to the Citadel. At the top was a massive swirling fire storm, growing unstable. I turned on the headlights, gripped the yellow steering wheel, (we had given it a paint job,) and drove down the dirt road. Then, a heard a shout, and stopped the car for Sheckly.
"I wanna come too!" he shouted.
I grunted, and let him enter the car. "Hold on tight!" I said, just before accelerating out of White Forest.
*****
I parked the car just at the mouth of the bridge. A rebel came up to greet me. "Hey, we'll take that from here." Sheckly and I got out of the car, and I turned it off. I admired their base they had; multiple shacks lined the chasm, and were all filled with our troops. "Nice base," Sheckly remarked.
"Thanks, but I'm afraid you can't stay here. We hardly have enough supplies for all the people here."
"I understand," I said, disappointed.
He saw my sorrow, and replied, "There's a mine not too far from here. If you can hold off the antlions, you'd never get touched by the combine!"
Ugh, antlions. Hate the little boogers.
I glance up at the citadel. The cloud was growing, and starting to flash with energy. "You know, Shecky, I think we should head for the mines." "AGREEDED!" he shouted, already running there himself.
I followed him under the metal door the rebels opened, and into a dark hallway. After a second or two, we were back into the light, at the edge of a cliff. "HERE!" my friend shouted, motioning at an elevator. When we got in, however, we saw that a pick axe was stuck in the lever. I tugged on it, but couldn't get it out. "Over here!" he said, leading me down a cliff side, and down a ladder.
When we finally got to the bottom, he took off through the grass. We passed a couple of antlion thumpers along the way. After being up all night driving, I stopped, and bent over. "Come on!" Sheckly shouted, having all the sleep he needed. I moaned, and looked back up at the Citadel. Then, a flash of light caught my attention, followed by green sparks flying into the cloud. Suddenly, I felt a small Earthquake, and the firestorm at the top exploded into a ball of white light.
That gave me the energy to sprint towards Sheckly, and into the mines. I ran down a small corridor, and got to an elevator. Sheckly was waiting. I jumped in, and jabbed the button with my thumb, slowly brining the elevator down. Another Earthquake shook the ground, rattling the elevator. Then, the elevator shuddered, and began to fall. "The quake must have knocked a gear out of place or something. JUMP!" I did as Sheckly advised, and leapt to the left out of the elevator onto a concrete surface. The elevator flew downwards, but then the brakes kicked in, locking it in place, meters below us. I slowly got up, but another quake shook the ground enough that I collapsed. I grabbed on to the metal elevator shaft for my life, as a blue/white shockwave was about to fly over us. I looked up towards the bright sky, and then shut my eyes to shield them. In the darkness, a man appeared.
A tall man in a suit, with a briefcase.
TA DA! There it is, my whole story, thanks to Hyr'ayl. I won't call it complete just yet, in case someone finds an error or something. Please review my story, and take a look at my profile; I put a poll up, so you can vote on the next fanfiction for me to write.... PLEASE VOTE!!!!