Under blue moon I saw you
Under blue moon I saw you
So soon you'll take me
Up in your arms
Too late to beg you or cancel it
Though I know it must be the killing time
Unwillingly mine
Fate
Up against your will
Through the thick and thin
He will wait until
You give yourself to him
Echo and the Bunny Man – The Killing Moon
-Shephard's Epic-
-The Great Green Abyss-
Shephard awoke the next morning to the sound of hammering. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he instinctively reached over next to him, and frowned when he realized that the space next to him was empty. He thought back to the night before, how he and Katya had stayed up in the small apartment, sharing a bottle of what passed for liquor in this brave new world. They laughed and talked about things that had nothing to do with life in this day and age, about things that shouldn't have concerned a person living under the oppression of an interdimensional alien race.
Katya had looked so beautiful in the candlelight, and Adrian did his best to refrain from leaning forward and taking her in his arms. He remembered sighing in relief, content that they were finally reconnecting.
At one point Shephard remembered Katya pouring herself another drink, then handing him the label-less bottle, before she brought the conversation to a screeching halt.
"So what was it like before the war?" Her eyes, which had for so long been filled with that glimmer of happiness and contentment, suddenly darkened slightly.
Adrian suddenly found the bottom of his clay cup very interesting. What could he tell her? That the world before the Combine was paradise compared to this? That good men served daily to protect freedoms that she only dreamed of? A world where people freely exchanged ideas without fear of reprisal, of retaliation. A world, as far as Adrian was concerned, that teetered on the edge of a cultural renaissance? She saw the sadness in his eyes, and quickly switched the subject.
"So you knew my uncle? Dmitri?" Adrian pulled the bottle over and poured himself another shot, shooting back the fiery liquid. Wincing and wiping his hand across his mouth, he nodded.
"Best damn company CO I ever served under. The brass never gave him his due, though. Got passed over time and time again for promotion." Adrian had an idea why, though. It was common knowledge that Destovaya was a defector. He'd felt the crumbling socialist regime too much to handle, and offered his services, by which he meant his valuable intel on Soviet military hardware and procedure, to the US military. Adrian assumed that the Marines offered him a position as Company CO in exchange for his loyalty.
"Dad never talked about him much… I could tell he did approve of what he had done." Katya said, staring at the table. "He said he had betrayed the motherland. He wasn't worth our time."
Adrian sighed and took the bottle, taking a shot straight from it. "Your uncle did what he thought was right. He was a good man, and a damn fine soldier." He said, hitting the table with the bottle for added effect.
Katya was silent for awhile. "You… you had some good friends in the army?"
Adrian chuckled. "Not the army, we're the, or I guess, "were", the marines. And yeah… I had some good friends."
"You sound like you think they're already dead." Katya frowned.
Adrian stared at the bottom of his cup. Hadn't Edgar said that some of the people he had known were still among the living? His heart was beating so loud; he guessed Katya could hear it. The silence lasted for so long, Shephard contemplating his old comrades' fate.
Katya finally looked around. "Well look at the time. I might be wanting to get to bed." Adrian looked around, realizing that there wasn't a clock, but understood her anyways. Nodding without saying a word, he stood up, wobbly at first, but got his bearings. Katya stepped forward, and Adrian, in his inebriated state, leaned forward, intent on kissing her, but Katya sidestepped the kiss and hugged him tight. "Goodnight, Shephard." She whispered, before turning and leaving the room.
Adrian licked his lips, the dried alcohol making his stomach curdle. His eyes shut tight, trying to block out the annoying green hue of his heads up display, but to his dismay it shown brightly in the darkness behind his eye-lids. Rubbing his eyes pitifully he resigned to get out of bed. He stretched and noticed his side no longer hurt. Poking a finger into the hole in his fatigues, he breathed a sigh of relief when he felt newly repaired skin underneath.
There was a brief knock at his door before Katya let herself in. She walked towards the small table with the rifles laying on it, but stopped mid-stride and stared at Adrian.
"You're not out of bed? It's almost noon!" She scolded him. Shephard grimaced, causing her to laugh. "Come on, we need to pack up, Edgar says we're moving out." Swinging his feet over the side of the bed, Shephard stood.
Rubbing the back of his head, he watched Katya check the magazines in their weapons. "Moving out?"
Katya checked the action on her M4 and replied without looking. "He's gonna help us navigate through the forest so we can get to Nova Prospekt when Freeman does." She slapped a fresh magazine into the rifle and slung it behind her back, moving next to their collection of pistols. "Say's we need to make a supply run on the way, though."
Adrian shook his head as he looked to the bedside table, where the small memory stick lay. He wondered just where this thing would take them.
X X X
Stella's weight securely slung against him, Adrian strode down the street, past the construction that was going on in a continued effort to repair the damage done by the last skirmish, and towards what he was told was the staging area for excursions into the wastelands.
A small industrial complex, enclosed by a city block of rusty chain link fence, stood out on a small jutting bit of land across the bay from the monastery. A Kamaz military supply truck, a myriad of workers surrounding it, packing boxes into it, stood in the middle of an otherwise empty warehouse.
Walking up, Adrian could see their Vortigaunt ally, Edgar, standing next to his companion Ambrose. Ambrose and the military leader Dirk conversed over a supply manifest as Adrian and Katya joined them.
Ambrose looked up. "Ah Corporal Shephard, Ms. Destovaya, you seem ready to depart." He grinned. Shephard nodded and caught a glimpse of Rebels opening one of the crates. Among the polystyrene packaging, Adrian could see the outlines of several RPG-7's. Dirk saw Adrian make the connection.
"On your way through the forest, we need you to deliver a weapons cache to a rebel base near an old pre-war mining town." He gave the manifest to Ambrose and walked over to Adrian, speaking in a lower voice. "They've had reports of these things, 'bout the size of pre-war Gorillas. They call 'em Hunters, anyway they need a little more fire power to take 'em out, and your standard Remington just isn't cutting it."
Dirk's eyes closed solemnly. "I hear they lose ten men a week to those things." He straightened up and turned to Katya. "Edgar here is going to guide you to the base."
Edgar bowed slightly, a universal gesture among all Vortigaunts. "We would most enjoy aiding the Shephard on his journey East." Katya smiled politely.
"Thank you Edgar." She turned to Shephard. "Ambrose has told me that Freeman'll be ontop of Nova Prospekt before tomorrow night." The old fisherman nodded.
"Yup, just got a report in from Light House Point, say they just sent him on his way." Dirk gestured to a map on a mobile corkboard.
"We're here, almost halfway between Ravenholm and Nova Prospekt." He traced his finger along the coast, towards the Combine prison. "Now Freeman's gonna follow the coastal highway, and eventually huff it to the Vortigaunt camp near the Coastal entrance to the prison." He tapped his finger on the large, red area marked NOVA PROSPEKT. "He's gonna assault it and make enough of a confusion for you two to slip onto one of the East Bound trains." The old soldier folded his arms and chewed what must have been tobacco. "That is if he doesn't blow that up too." From the look on his face, Adrian was surprised to see the man wasn't joking.
Sure their short scuffle hadn't given Adrian adequate time to size up Freeman as an opponent, but Shephard doubted that bi-spectacled buffoon could cause that much damage. A rebel walked up to Dirk and whispered something in his ear, to which Dirk nodded. The rebel waved off in the direction of two others sitting next to a large plastic carrying case. The two guards leapt to work, both picking up the container and sliding it on the back of the truck.
Dirk signaled for Adrian and the two walked up to the back of the truck. Adrian read along the side of the box and saw FGM-148 printed on the side, PROPERTY OF UNITED STATES ARMY, printed on the other. Shephard immediately knew what he was looking at.
"Jesus." He said under his breath. "I didn't think I'd ever see anything like this again…" Dirk slid the locks aside and opened up the case. The long, green tube sat elegantly in the form fitting foam. The FMG-148 Javelin anti-tank missile launcher was a sight to look at. Fire and forget, they called it, get a lock on and you're golden, or use direct fire to track your target and give it one hell of a surprise." Adrian had never held one save for a training exercise, but it had proven quite an impressive weapon. "What the hell are you shooting? Tanks out there?"
Dirk shook his head. "Look we just found a cache of these things, and the coastal regions have been having problems with the Combine's aerial assault platforms, gunships. They move too fast for an RPG-7." He closed the case. "I just want you to know it's there…" Shephard nodded.
The two men stood at the back of the truck, facing each other. Shephard felt the moment strain on too long as he felt for the right way to say goodbye. But before he could put out his hand to shake, Dirk stood at attention and saluted Adrian.
"Corporal, it was an honor to serve with you." Shephard returned the salute, and then began loading.
Their cargo securely fastened, Edgar and his charges climbed into the truck. Katya slid behind the wheel with Edgar next to her, while Shephard rode shotgun. As he shut the door, Ambrose walked up to the open window.
"Corporal, I don't know how to thank you for saving our town." Adrian took the old man's out-stretched hand and smiled awkwardly, not sure how to reply other than "you're welcome." He wasn't some charismatic hero, he was just some dumb grunt with some real dumb luck. "There's something about you…" The old man began cryptically. "The Vortigaunts see it, and I see it too." With that, the withered, liver-spotted hand slipped out of Adrian's grip and the old fisherman walked away.
Dirk yelled to two rebels stationed near the large warehouse doors. They scrambled to attention and pulled the large aluminum gate open. Katya started the engine and they slowly pulled out.
Over the chug of the old truck's engine, Adrian saw Dirk wave to them and yell out, "When you get there, don't be surprised if some of them act sorta… funny, they've been out there awhile!"
X X X
It was a long time before anyone spoke, save for Edgar, who gave Katya directions as needed.
"It all looks so old…" Adrian mumbled, more to himself than to anyone else, as they bounced along the foliage-overgrown path Edgar had directed them to, off the main coastal highway and into the green abyss of forest beyond. Every now and them they'd pass the remains of cabins or saw mills, buildings of all types and possible uses, that were in the middle of being taken over by the moss and trees that surrounded them. It was as if the planet, in some small respect, was taking back what it once had lost, slowly, but surely.
"The Combine rarely come out here. Sure they send out scouting parties, search and destroy drones, but for the most part, they figure that the area is too wide and too dense to search adequately, not when they've already got their hands full controlling the citizens they already have." Katya told him. "The Resistance uses the forest, well the areas that are safe enough that is, as a staging ground." He saw Katya lean her head out the window slightly. She sucked in a lung full of clean air. "People feel freer out here, where the Combine can't tell you what to do."
"What do you mean by safe areas?" Edgar leaned forward in his seat, studying a small map.
"When our two worlds were intertwined for those short months, when the portals raged across your world, some of the local flora and fauna of our borderworld found themselves here." Edgar explained. "Since then they've found ways to… acclimate themselves to your planet."
Adrian could see Katya sigh slightly, Vortiguants always had an almost Shakespearian way of explaining things. "He means all their lions, tigers and bears are now living in our forests. No where is safe anymore." Katya's attention was soon stolen, though, as she leaned forward, over the steering wheel. "What the hell?"
Adrian followed her gaze and saw the barricade ahead of them. The dirt road, which looked beaten and well-traveled, ended abruptly at the foot of a twenty-foot tall hastily constructed barricade. Katya slowed the van down to a crawl until it stopped several feet in front of the gate. The mists of the early morning hadn't quite fallen yet and the gate was sprinkled with the sunrise from behind the tall trees. The hulks of several burned out vehicles stood in front of the gate, which was little more than an amalgamation of several sheets of aluminum and steel which had been welded together almost at the last minute.
Adrian took the shotgun from in between his knees and checked the action as he slowly opened the door and stepped out, his boots splashing into the soft mud. He heard Katya do the same on the other side of the truck as he approached the gate. The vehicles seemed recently destroyed, in fact the scent of charred metal still wafted in the air. The gate sat between two tall, stone guard towers, equally tall fencing stretching out and into the forest. Above the guard tower a sign, in Cyrillic, was still visible through the decade of rust.
He turned to see Katya standing in awe, her rifle limp at her side, he hand over her mouth. She mouthed something that must have been an obscenity in Russian.
"This is one of the old gulags." She whispered. Adrian had heard about the Russian prison camps, and their use stretching all the way back to Stalinist Russia. Nova Prospekt could be counted among those still in use up to the time of the invasion. "Father had told me they hid some of them out here in the wilderness, to escape Red-Cross and UN inspection…" She turned to Edgar, still sitting in the truck.
"They didn't tell us they were using these places as bases of operation." Her voice acquiring an angered edge to it. Adrian inspected the gate, which was pockmarked with small arms fire and burn-marks, as well as something else, what looked to Adrian like huge lacerations. But what could make scratch marks that big?
Soon Katya was beside him. "Shit." She muttered, bringing her rifle up and scanning the tree line with anxiety.
Adrian followed suit, crouching down and listening intently. "What?" He whispered.
Katya didn't look at him as she replied. "Antlions."
"Ant-what?" Adrian said. But before she could reply the forest was suddenly alive as the sound of a hundred buzzing bees descended on their location. Katya's eyes bulged as she looked to Edgar.
"Antlions!" Edgar was soon out of the truck, his vision tracking the tree line as well.
"What the hell are Antlions?" Adrian yelled as a form burst out of the thicket and scrambled onto the road. It's thick green carapace rippled as it charged them, its mandibles clicking in hunger. Katya soon had her M4 up and firing as the creature took several rounds before going down, only to be replaced by two more.
His confusion giving way to his military instincts, Adrian raised Stella towards the oncoming creatures and let loose. One of the Antlion's claws was ripped off, causing it to face plant into the mud, a follow-up burst effectively silencing it. The monsters were snarling and crying as they crawled out of the thick under-brush that bordered the old forest road.
Edgar brought his hands together and summoned electricity from the ether, felling two of the beasts himself. Katya's rifle clicked dry as she took down another creature.
"What the hell are we going to do?" She yelled over the fighting, slapping another mag in. Adrian unloaded another shell into an oncoming alien and turned his attention to the gate. There had to be a way to open it. Then he saw it, a piece of the chain that held up the sign had come uncoupled and was hanging just low enough for Adrian to grab on to. He looked to Katya as she fired off several rounds, and Edgar as he let another burst of energy rip one of the monsters to shreds.
"I'll be right back!" He yelled over the fighting. Kayta looked back as Adrian scrambled for the gate.
"Adrian what the hell are you doing? Get back here!" Adrian, his breathing labored, gave himself a running start as he leapt for the chain. Barely catching the end of it, he held on with all his strength as he pulled himself up.
Just like in boot camp, he remembered sourly. Funny how memories can be tripped off by the slightest thing. He remembered the smug drill instructor, Sanders, who had waited for him at the top of the wall, sneering as Shephard grasped the rope. "Wanna try to come up here and knock me off?" That had infuriated Shephard, he used the pain, the humiliation, to grasp the rope tighter, pulling him up and over the wall.
But this time it wasn't pride motivating him, it was fear. Fear that his friends might not be there when he opened the gate if he didn't hurry up. He could hear Edgar crying in primal satisfaction as his energy attacks took down more and more creatures, but they were still loosing ground, soon they'd be up against a wall with no place to go. Saliva sprayed out of Adrian's mouth as his muscles twinged and writhed in pain while he scaled the wall. Finally his hands found the top of the gate and he hauled himself over, nearly letting go, falling to a quick death. He hung onto the ledge no longer than was needed to crawl along the top to the nearest tower.
Once there he slid down the rusted ladder to the ground below. There had to be a winch or something that opened the gate. Under a terrapin cover he found a recently used generator. Once he had ripped off the protective covering, he saw the misplaced car winch, which was what must open and close the gate. Frustration mounting, he frantically tried to start the generator, but was only met with the shunts and grunts of a stubborn piece of engineering. Hearing the gunshots just on the other side of the door Adrian kicked the machine in a frantic, childish move.
The generator crackled to life, leaving Adrian standing in dumb silence.
X X X
Katya's rifle sighted another Antlion charging her, and she pulled the trigger tightly, cutting a swath through the creature. She heard the rustling in the forest just off to her right before she saw the giant green insect crash out of the foliage. Before she could turn, though, the report of Adrian's shotgun blew the animal perpendicular to its charge, sending it crashing into a duo that was just joining the party as well.
"Get the truck!" Adrian screamed behind her. Katya turned and saw him waving at her from behind the open gate. Katya didn't bother nodding and sprayed another group as she pushed forward towards the truck.
"Edgar!" She yelled. The Vortigaunt conjured up another devastating electrical blast and began plodding in her direction.
"I heard!" He cried. Katya frantically pulled the driver's side door open and hurtled herself in. Suddenly see felt a searing pain, hot and biting, shoot up her leg. She turned and found her ankle had a long gash in it, a hungry Antlion rearing up for another strike. Katya tried to pull her pistol out of its holster, but she was too slow.
In slow motion the creature's talons descended downwards onto her, but at the last moment a hail of blue death silenced it. Sitting upright and slamming the van into drive, she saw Adrian covering their escape with his stolen AR2. The pain on her foot only intensified as she floored the accelerator, the old Eastern Bloc transport shuddering to life, it's wheels spinning wildly in the dirt before they finally caught, and they lurched forward.
Adrian sighted another… what had Katya called it? Antlion? His finger tightened around the futuristic weapon's trigger and the pulse rifle bucked in his grip. The Antlion's innards almost immediately found themselves outside their native environment. He waited until the van had roared underneath the tall wall before he kicked the release winch next to the generator, causing the giant steel door to come sliding down.
The van came to a roaring halt, Edgar jumping out, and Katya gingerly hobbling out, her rifle haphazardly scanning the top of the gate. Adrian pulled back from just behind the gate and did the same. They could hear the unsatisfied grunts of the Antlions on the other side, heard them slam against the gate, and frantically buzz their wings, trying in vain to fly over the top. One managed to barely claw itself over the top of the gate, only to meet its end with the crack of Katya's rifle. After that, the buzzing and the murmuring ceased.
Still breathing frantically, Adrian didn't let his guard down. His eyes constantly on the gate and the walls beyond that, he didn't let up until he felt Katya's hand on his shoulder.
"Hey, hey, it's over." She whispered.
"It's seems as though the Antlions have given up the chase." Edgar observed. "They will most likely search for other ways to breach the perimeter."
"We've already got containment teams on alert." Adrian spun around at the sound of the unfamiliar voice. To his surprise, almost a dozen men and women, all clad in the ubiquitous Resistance uniforms stood, their weapons in a relaxed, non-threatening, stance. The leader, a tall, slightly aged man with a salt and pepper beard and rugged looks, stepped forward. "You must be the resupply, Dirk radioed me that you'd be up this way. I didn't get a chance to tell him the South Gate had been closed off permanently."
Adrian just stared at the man, who sighed. "But where are my manners? My name's Allen." He stuck his hand out. "Adrian?"
Shephard nodded and took his hand. Allen smiled. "I've heard a lot about you, and how you cleaned out St. Olga." He turned to Katya and introduced himself. He looked to Edgar, his mouth turning up in a sneer, and looked back at his group. "Dirk forgot to mention that you were traveling with one of those… things."
Adrian's brow furrowed. Things? Weren't the Vortigaunts and the humans allies? He looked to Katya, who's face was unreadable. Seeing as how Edgar had not reacted to the maltreatment, Adrian chose to stay silent.
Allen continued. "Two days ago, another supply convoy was attacked just outside the gate, a larger swarm, tore the poor bastards apart. We reinforced the gate and set up some proximity motion detectors. The antlions are starting to move away from the coast and further inland. Some of the eggheads think that their expanding their goddamn colonies, and soon they'll be right below our feet, just waiting to crawl out of the ground." Shephard surmised now that they must have been called antlions because they acted, atleast in some small part, like ants of Earth.
Edgar turned towards the three. "We can feel the vibrations below the surface, as the antlions hollow out new homes for themselves. It is a most regrettable thing." Allen didn't bother acknowledging Edgar and turned back towards his squad.
"Eddy, Pile. You two drive the van." He turned back to Adrian, all smiles. "How about you and Ms. Katya here ride with me? We'll have a medic look at her foot when we get back to base." Katya nodded and leaned up against Adrian for support.
Shephard cast a glance in Edgar's direction. "What about him?"
Allen didn't bother turning towards either Adrian or Edgar. "Put it in the back of the truck, with the rest of the shit."