AN: Hey guys, I went back and read some of the earlier chapters of my story and realized how much I'd let my writing degrade. I'm hoping that I can start giving more descriptive chapters and make the characters seem a little more "alive." The consequence will be longer chapters and less frequent updates but I'm sure you will appreciate the extra effort. Sorry about that.

Chapter 49: Shotgun Rider

Gordon killed a couple zombies with some help from the vortigaunt. They were finally almost to the other end of the bridge.

"Whew," he said as they walked out onto the bridge, "We made it."

"Indeed." the vort replied, "And there is the vehicle we seek." it added pointing to a car which was missing most of the body panels but would serve well enough for what they needed. After a few moments it added, "Freeman. If you will bring the vehicle I will cross the bridge to let you out of here."

"Go ahead," Gordon replied, "Give me a minute and I'll catch up." The vort took off and Gordon took a minute to examine the car. Most of the body panels were missing as wel as all of the glass. "Well let's see if it starts." He said to no one in particular.

Gordon climbed into the car and turned to key. Nothing happened except for the dash lighting up. He then realized that the car was a standard transmission, and that Chase had told him that a car with a standard won't start unless the clutch is pressed. Gordon then started the car and drove across the bridge to Alyx, Chell, and the vort.

"Nice car Freeman." Chell said as he got out.

"Yeah," Alyx said in agreement, "We scored on this one."

"Well done Freeman!" the vort told him, "Unfortunately I must now return to my kin. We have been killing unhatched advisors as we find them."

"We'll keep on the lookout." Alyx said. Just as she finished another portal storm ripped through the valley, causing the bridge to tilt to one end and partially collapse.

"At least I beat that event..." Gordon thought to himself. "Thanks for your help." He told the vort.

"Yeah..." Alyx said, "I can't thank you guys enough for what you did for me."

"Our bonds are of nature and do not necessitate gratitude." The vort replied, "I will open the gate for you."

Gordon walked over and got into the car and started it. He waited for Alyx to make her way around to the passenger side. As she climbed in he thought he saw a wink but he wasn't dead set on it. But it did give him some confidence about being around her.

"Let's go!" Chell exclaimed as the gate opened. Alyx and Gordon both looked at her. "What?" She asked.

"You're usually pretty level headed," Alyx responded, "why are you all excited now?"

"It's been a while since I've had the wind in my hair." Chell responded, "Now let's get moving, we've got a base to get to."

Gordon and Alyx looked at each other and shrugged. Gordon put the car in gear and drove off through a tunnel. Shortly after exiting the other end of the tunnel they arrived at a road block.

"Well," Alyx muttered, "We should have guessed it wouldn't be as easy as driving down the road."

"Well let's take a little detour..." Gordon said as he noticed another road nearby that appeared to pass over the hill and down the other side. He downshifted and punched the throttle, the engine roared and carried them up the hill.

"Hey a radio tower!" Alyx pointed out, "We should try to send a warning to White Forest. I doubt they know the Combine's headed their way."

Gordon nodded and stopped the car. They all got out and began looking for a transmitter.

"Over here!" Chell called from a nearby building. Alyx ran over to her and Gordon began heading their way.

"I think that's it." Alyx said, "Let's hope it still works."

Gordon stood watch while Alyx and Chell went inside.

"There's no power." He heard Alyx say. "Let's see if we can find a power source." Before Gordon could even start looking for a source he heard a sound that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up.

"We've got a live one!" He yelled as he spotted a hunter. He ran for cover and used the gravity gun to hit it with an explosive barrel. Aly came out of the building and used her pistol to start shooting it. Chell charged at the hunter and sank a couple shotgun rounds into it, killing it.

"There's another one!" Alyx called from behind him. Gordon turned around to find a hunter ready to charge him. Without thinking he picked up a nearby chunk of rock and used the gravity gun to punt it at the hunter. The rock managed top stun it long enough for him to pull out his SMG and launch a couple grenades at it to finish it off.

Just then Gordon heard shogun blasts coming from behind him as he turned to face the direction of the sound he heard Chell's voice, "Lookout Freeman!" Right as she finished that statement he found himself flying through the air, eventually being stopped by a tree. He took a moment to regain his composure before using the gravity gun to throw a log at the hunter. The log stunned it long enough for Chell to finish it off with her shotgun.

"Gordon!" He looked to his right to find Alyx kneeling down beside him. "Are you alright?" She asked.

Gordon to a moment to make sure he could feel every part of his body and the nothing was broken. "Yeah I'm ok." He responded. "Nice work taking out those hunters."

"Yeah we make a pretty good team." She replied, "We should find the power source, get our warning out and get moving."

"I think I found the power source." Chell called, "Let's go try it."

Gordon stood up and followed Alyx back to the transmitter.

"White Forest come in." She said messing with the dial, "Come in White Forest. White Forest do you read?"

A man appeared on the screen. "This is White Forest," he said, "Identify yourselves."

"This is..." Alyx began before being cut off by Magnusson.

"Alyx Vance?!" he yelled walking into view "Where on earth are you?! You should have been here hours ago!"

"We had a bit of a setback..." she replied.

"Don't you understand the gravity of the situation?" He asked, clearly annoyed. "The fate of humanity rests on the data you carry."

"I know but the Combine's headed your way." Alyx said, the live feed suddenly cut before she could finish. "Crap..." Alyx muttered, "I'm not sure he got that..."

"Man that guy seems hard to deal with..." Chell commented.

"He is." ALyx responded. She turned to Gordon, "We'd better get moving, I'll open the gate and meet you at the car."