Disclaimer: I don't own Half-Life.

The Black Mesa Incident

Chapter Five: Unforeseen Consequences

As he regained consciousness, the only thing that Gordon could feel was a tremendous pressure on his legs. After his eyes fluttered open drowsily, he looked down and found out why.

His legs were pinned under a sheet of metal that had most likely fallen from the wall or ceiling.

The sound of the emergency alarms assaulted his ears. It was a noise he had never heard before in person, and it was doing to nothing to calm his already frazzled nerves.

The test chamber had been ripped apart. Cables and wires flopped out of the cracked walls like severed limbs, sparking wildly. A large pipe was dangling overhead, swaying ominously above Gordon like the sword of Damocles.

Looking down, Gordon gripped the top of the sheet of metal and tried to push it off him. It wouldn't move. He tried again, his face reddening with effort as he clenched his teeth and pushed. Still nothing.

A quick wiggle of his feet confirmed he still had feeling in his legs. After taking a breath, Gordon pushed up with his legs, barely moving the metal up. He reached under with his hands, and added to the upward force his legs were exerting. With a massive grunt of effort, Gordon rolled away from the metal and to safety.

He struggled to regain his breath as he lay beside the metal. Slowly, he pulled himself up so that he was sitting, rubbing his eyes with his gloved hands.

And then he heard it.

The same noise that the strange creature had made. Almost frozen with fear, Gordon slowly turned his head. Gradually, he saw the twisted form of the alien out of the corner of his eye.

And it was looking right at him.

Gordon saw its clawed hands come together, and remembered the bolt of green electricity it had shot at him. He tried to move, but he was still paralysed with fear.

He saw the brilliant green lights reflecting off the walls of the chamber, the sparks fizzling as they came in contact with the metal.

With a sudden burst of miraculous energy, Gordon sprinted across the test chamber and to the airlock doors, which had been blasted open by the resonance cascade.

Gordon leapt forward, his arms held out in front of him in a dive as he hurtled through the opening in the doors. He landed in the airlock with a thud, rolling along until he hit the metal wall, hard. A grunt escaped his lips as the wind was knocked out of him.

A burst of green electricity shot through the opening and exploded violently against the wall behind Gordon, showering him with sparks. Panic powering him, he looked around the room for anything that might help him.

His eyes fell on the retinal scanner that stood beside the airlock exit, the screen below it flickering on and off deliriously. Below the damaged scanner lay the body of Philips, who was clearly dead.

Gordon had never seen a dead body in his life, let alone anyone he knew. But at that moment, he didn't particularly care who it was. Adrenaline and survival instinct were still pushing him onward, blanking out anything that might hinder him.

He scampered over to the scanner and put his eyes to the lens, hoping that whatever was causing the scanner to spark and sputter so was also hindering its access to the database.

"Access.. Unauthorised… unauthorised…"

Gordon heard clawed footsteps approaching outside the airlock, tapping eerily on the metal floor of the test chamber.

"Unauthorised personnel."

The door slid open. A desperate smile on his features, Gordon darted through the door before it closed again. He fell through into the corridor outside, landing on his back. The usual white lighting had been replaced by a neon red hue that bathed the entire corridor. Before him lay a security guard, a bushy bearded scientist beside him, desperately pumping his chest and periodically checking his breathing. Gordon's thoughts went back to Philips' dead body, and, with the danger now gone, a wave of nausea hit him before he could even move.

And then he heard a noise behind him. He turned, and his eyes widened in horror behind his spectacles.

The door was opening and closing randomly, unable to choose a position. And behind it was the same creature that had been attacking him, now wandering towards the door.

Gordon quickly got to his feet and almost fell on the scientist as he ran over to him.

"Do you have retinal scanner access?"

The scientist wasn't paying attention to him. "What?"

Gordon grabbed him by the shoulders, turning him so that they looked on another in the eyes.

"Do you have retinal scanner access?"

"Yes, but for God's sake, let me save his life before thinking about your own self preservation!"

The bespectacled scientist pointed to the door angrily. "We're all going to be dead if you don't close that door now!"

His companion frowned and threw a quick glance at the door. He promptly froze as he saw the alien creature coming towards them, almost at the door. Gordon glared at him.

"Go!"

The scientist ran to the undamaged retinal scanner beside the door and put his eyes to it. The door beeped compliantly and shut the door just as the alien reached it. Long brown fingers snaked around the side of the door as it attempted to shut, but all that was accomplished by the act was the loss of its fingers. The small brown tentacles fell to the floor, writhing and wriggling in shared agony before dying.

The two scientists had a brief moment of silence before the security guard lying between them occupied their thoughts.

"How did you survive the Cascade?" he asked Gordon, returning to pumping the guards chest.

Gordon shook his head. He was still trying to forget the visions he had seen while in the test chamber. Strange, glowing landscapes and three armed creatures that threw electricity… it was all like some horrible dream.

"Are you all right?"

He shook his head quickly. "Sorry, I… sorry."

"How did you survive?" The scientist looked him up and down. "Never mind. You're wearing a hazard suit. That's all I need to know."

Gordon's gaze fell to the guard. "Can you help him?"

"I don't know. Regardless, I'll need some help to get him out of here and to a proper medical facility." He looked at Gordon. "You'll have to go up."

"Me?"

"You're the one with the hazard suit. And I have medical training."

There wasn't really any argument against that. And as much as Gordon resented the idea, he would have to be the one to go and get help.

"I'll… send help back as soon as I can."

The scientist nodded before resuming his efforts to save the guards life.

Gordon turned and walked down the corridor warily, stopping almost every other step when he heard a noise. The sound of the blaring alarms was putting him on edge, and combined with the flashing red lights, they were threatening to make him hyperventilate.

He took deep breaths as he approached the corner leading into another corridor, which would in turn take him to the elevator. Gordon hoped that Eli was still alive up there.

The elevator sprang to life as he pushed the button, although the sound of creaking metal straining above him didn't fill him with confidence. The elevator turned and reached its destination, and not a moment too soon for Gordon. Gordon stepped through the doors quickly, surprised at how easily they opened.

Gordon looked around the room and immediately saw Eli crouched beside Kleiner, who was wounded on the floor. He made his way over, for some reason reluctant to announce his presence. As he did so, he heard their conversation.

"I never thought I'd even see a Resonance Cascade, let alone create one. Why wouldn't they listen?" Kleiner seemed feverish and not quite aware of what was happening around him.

Eli sighed. "We tried to warn them." He opened his mouth to say something more, but noticed Gordon approaching them. As he leapt to his feet, his expression became one halfway between joy and amazement.

"Gordon! You're alive!" Brown eyes took in Gordon's orange and black clothing. "Thank God for that hazard suit." He gestured to Kleiner sat on the floor, leant against the wall. "I'm afraid to move him, and all the phones are out. Please, get to the surface and tell them we're stranded down here."

"Me?"

"Who else is going to do it? You've got the hazard suit. And I'm not exactly as young as I used to be."

"But-"

A heavy yet comforting hand landed on his shoulder. "Gordon. You can do this. Just use the tram system to the get to the surface, and get help."

The bespectacled scientist paused before nodding slowly, not sure why he had been chosen as Fate's plaything.

At least it would all be over soon.

Eli smiled kindly. "All right." He looked to the other side of the hallway, where the door leading to the control room was sealed shut. "Now, you'll need me to access the retinal scanners. I'm sure the rest of the science team'll be glad to help you."

The two made their way over, and Eli opened the door for him.

"Be careful out there, Gordon. There's never been a Resonance Cascade of this size before. Who knows what the effects could have been."

He nodded silently, not particularly in a talking mood.

"Just get to the tram station and get to the surface." He smiled. "We'll be seeing each other again in a few hours. You'll see."

Gordon nodded again, although he felt a bit more comfortable with the situation. Eli always had that effect on him.

"Thanks, Eli."

"Just be safe out there, all right?"

"…Right."

After a lingering look with his old friend, Gordon stepped into the control room, and the door automatically closed shut behind him. The wall on his left was a control panel running the entire length of the room. He could see the test chamber through the observation port on the right wall. The emitters were fluctuating wildly, stray bolts of electricity firing off in every which direction.

Gordon continued to the door on the other side of the room cautiously.

One foot in front of the other.

He reached out to the door with his hand in an instinctual gesture as he came ever closer to it, even thought he knew it had no door handle. Only the maintenance areas of the facility had door handles and knobs.

A bolt of electricity came through the observation port, almost grazing Gordon's nose before it impacted the control panel wall beside him. At first, nothing happened. A small sparking noise came from within the panel, and Gordon, having heard such things before, leapt out of the way as the wall exploded.

More electricity poured out from the emitters, hitting the wall again and again. Gordon's ears rang from the continuous explosions. Like a frightened animal, Gordon scrambled for the door, all the while keeping his body low. The door slid open, and he fell through into the corridor, his breathing shallow and panicked.

Now he was beginning to hyperventilate. He closed his eyes and concentrated on his breathing.

One, two, three, four…

It was something Dr Kleiner, of all people, had taken him through. Inhaling through the nose to the count of four, exhaling through the mouth for four.

Calmness gradually returned. At least, as calm as one could be, considering the circumstances. He heaved himself to his feet and carried on his way.

It didn't take him long to arrive at the elevator leading up to the main area of the Anomalous Materials section. As he reached the white framed doors, his foot tapped against something on the ground. Gordon looked down and saw a well used crowbar lying before him, its red coat of paint peeling off from use. Beside it lay an open toolbox.

Gordon ignored it and pushed the button for the elevator.

Nothing happened.

He pushed again.

The button didn't light up, nothing.

With a paranoid glance over his shoulder, Gordon pushed the button again.

And explosion from the top of the elevator shaft made Gordon hop back from fright, and he could only watch as the elevator shot down the shaft in front of his eyes, two hapless scientists trapped inside.

He tried to ignore their screams before they hit the ground with a mighty crash.

Gordon slowly got to his feet and inspected the doors for any way in. A quick check around the doorframe revealed no emergency release button or lever.

Something occurred to him. The HEV Suit clad scientist turned and looked down at the crowbar beneath him, the tool almost inviting him to pick it up.

Warily, Gordon knelt and scooped it up. It wasn't as heavy as he had been expecting. It felt strange in his hand, as though it didn't belong there. Probably because it didn't. Gordon was never an advocate of violence, and he knew all to well from tabloids and psycho killer movies that crowbars were as much a weapon as any other tool its size.

However, it was his only way out right now.

Inexplicable determination powering him, Gordon wedged the end of the crowbar between the door. That done, he took three deep breaths before pulling as hard as he could manage. He grunted with effort, now regretting his decision to forgo weight lifting at the gym.

With less effort than he expected, he managed to wrench the doors asunder and squeezed through the gap onto the small ledge that would usually be level with the elevator floor.

Resisting the instinctual urge to look down at the poor souls beneath, Gordon tucked the crowbar under his arm and grabbed on to the red ladder to his left. He began climbing up, seeing the doors on the floor above him open. As he ascended, he began hearing gun shots echoing through the doorway and down the elevator shaft.

Gordon froze as he reached the ledge that would take him to the next level. What was going on up there? Was someone fighting those creatures? Gordon wondered whether he would have the courage to attack one of those… things armed with only a crowbar. Hell, he was reluctant to the idea of going up against one of them with a machine gun.

The gunfire stopped.

"Target practice sure paid off today…" a voice muttered, the attitude filled voice echoing down the elevator shaft. Gordon clambered up over the ledge, recognising the voice as a security guard named Hastings, although his first name escaped him at the moment.

"What the- ah, hell."

The gun shots started up again, but Gordon was already on top of the ledge, and couldn't go back. He looked up and saw what vaguely looked like a human being lumbering toward Hastings, who was desperately pumping it full of lead from his standard issue handgun. The strange creature looked liked a human for the most part, although it's hands were contorted and stretched to a gruesome degree, the fingers looking more like thin hooks than digits.

On its head sat a creature that Gordon could only compare to a crab, with long claws extended forward instead of a pincers. The smaller crab-like creature seemed to be covering the entire head, completely replacing it, pulsating in a manner that made Gordon nauseous to think about.

Hastings spotted him, but didn't stop his barrage of gunfire. He had to yell over the noise.

"Gordon! Man, am I glad to see you. What the hell are these things? And why are they wearing science team uniforms?"

Gordon checked again. Much to his fascination and his horror, the creatures were indeed wearing science team uniforms, albeit torn and bloodied almost beyond recognition. Gordon wondered how Hastings noticed it.

His curiosity did not last long, as the zombiefied scientist turned towards him, having finally noticed his presence. With a huge swing of its lumbering arms, its claws sailed through the air towards Gordon, and would have travelled completely through him if not for his own fear causing him to trip up on his own feet and fall the ground behind him.

Hastings reloaded his pistol and continued firing.

"Hit it with the crowbar, Gordon!"

The creature continued forward at him, ignoring Hastings' gunfire. Gordon scrambled backward on the floor, going as fast as his hands and feet would carry him while he lay on his back.

"Gordon! Hit it!"

Hastings continued yelling over his gunfire, the presence of another zombie behind him going unnoticed.

It eviscerated the back of his skull with one swipe of its claws, sending blood, bone and brain matter across the floor and walls.

Sudden energy exploding into his veins, Gordon scrambled to his feet and ran as fast as his legs would take him.

He ran straight through the malfunctioning secure doors leading to the personnel area, his lungs burning, his feet pounding on the smooth tile floor, and ran straight through the corridors until he arrived at the lobby area. There, he dropped the crowbar, collapsed to his knees held himself, breathing deeply and rapidly until that was all he could concentrate on. Gordon clenched his eyes shut, trying to push aside the mental image of Hasting's face as the back of his head was carved open and the contents inside displayed everywhere.

With a jolt, he even realised he had a piece of Hastings on the front of his suit, resting on the lambda symbol.

He picked up the crowbar and scraped it off, feeling the bile build up in his throat before he even saw the pinkish blob hit the floor. A groan escaped his throat as he vomited across the floor, the liquid covering the piece of Hastings that was left, much to Gordon's relief and dismay.

Shakily, he pushed himself to his feet, and walked to the airlock doors that would lead him to the tram station, and, finally, freedom.

He pushed the button on the console beside the doors and waited for them to open.

Nothing.

He pushed the button again.

Still nothing.

With desperation distorting his features, he pressed the button again and again, but to no avail. In a final act of both rage and hopelessness, Gordon slammed his crowbar into the panel, the pointed end going straight through the thin metal of the keypad. Sparks flew in every direction, and Gordon took a step back, his crowbar easily sliding out of the wreckage of the panel as he did so.

With a groan, the lower half of the thick metal airlock doors opened, and Gordon crawled through, overjoyed to see the doors at the other end of the airlock already open.

As he stepped out onto the train platform, his desperate smile disappeared.

The walkway was gone, ripped away by some side effect of the resonance cascade. What remained barely reached halfway to where the train would usually stop. On the precariously groaning platform stood another of Gordon's colleagues, although fear was blocking his memory somewhat.

The balding scientist stood completely still, his arms held out on either side of him as though he were trying to keep his balance.

Gordon took a cautious step forward, a 'what's wrong?' on his lips.

"No! Stay back!"

The platform gave way, and the scientist frantically grabbed onto a dangling cable, his grip rapidly being lost.

"Gordon!"

The scientist fell, screaming the entire way before being interrupted by a sickening crunch. Something growled down below, and Gordon backed away from the platform and quickly scuttled back to the lobby area. He tried to push the sound of the man hitting the ground from his mind, his thoughts going a mile a minute as he tried to think about what to do with a logical, analytical mind.

He couldn't get a train out, and all the communication lines were cut…

The sewage maintenance area. If he remembered correctly, he could find his way to the Sector C office complex and from there, it was simplicity itself to get to the surface.

But how to get to sewage maintenance… the corridor was blocked off by rubble, and no amount of heaving with his crowbar would be able to move it.

A dislodged vent cover behind the reception desk caught Gordon's eye, and he made his way over. He crouched and wedged the crowbar in the gap between the vent and the wall and pulled. It was surprisingly easy to pull off, which Gordon found slightly reassuring.

Not that he'd be crawling through vents that much anyway. With any luck, he would be able to find a working elevator, get up to the surface, and start to put this whole mess behind him.

He crawled through the small vent and ended up in a control room, the huge control panels that once ran the length of the room thrown haphazardly around the room. Alarms blared, pounding at his ears.

A quick survey of the room revealed a ventilation duct in the upper right hand corner of the room. Gordon headed towards it.

One of the control panels on Gordon's right exploded and fell towards him. With a sudden thrust of his legs, he managed to shove himself out of the way before it crashed to the ground. He continued on, instinctively keeping his head down as he went for the vent.

A strange squeaking noise stopped him in his tracks.

This wasn't a chair or door squeaking, either. It had an almost… organic quality to it.

Gordon slowly turned and yelped in surprise as a strange crab creature like the one that had been attached to the scientist zombie's head flew at him.

He fell to the ground and scrambled back, eventually getting to his feet. Not entirely sure what he was doing, he held up his crowbar above his head and put his other hand out in front of him, as though it would be able to stop the small creature if it lunged at him again.

After steadying itself, the crab did indeed jump at Gordon, again going for his head. Gordon reflexively ducked out of the way, and the crab hit the wall behind him, falling to the ground in a slight daze.

Survival instinct powering him, Gordon brought his crowbar down on the creatures' white, fleshy head again and again until there was barely anything of the creature left, and he was just hitting the ground with his crowbar.

He forced himself not to dwell on what he had just done. It would only lead to more delays, and Gordon needed to keep moving.

Keep moving.

The vent was ripped open easily, and Gordon clambered through.

Keep moving.

Gordon stopped to check on a scientist who was seemingly sat at his laptop computer in the dark, but quickly left as fast as his legs could take him when he found a crab creature firmly latched onto his head.

Don't stop, keep moving.

He continued on into the sewage maintenance area.

The doors had been ripped open by something, the safety glass from their frames spread across the floor in tiny granules. Gordon didn't want to think about what could so easily break such thick, reinforced glass.

Gordon walked through the maintenance area slowly, paranoia and fear slowing every step. As he entered another chamber, the presence of something other than some slimy creature caught his attention, and his green eyes quickly focused on it.

His mouth hung open in a slight gape as he saw who was looking down at him from an overhead walkway.

It was the man in the suit. The one who had sent chills down his spine before he had reached the lab, and the one who had been arguing with the Administrator's replacement.

Barely acknowledging Gordon, the man straightened his eyes and turned, leaving down a doorway.

"Wait!" Gordon managed, going for the door that would hopefully lead him to a ladder.

He stopped in his tracks as a whirring noise assaulted his ears, almost deafening him.

A creature roughly the same size as a dog came hopping round the corner, its one back leg struggling to keep up with its front two. Hundreds of dark brown eyes adorned its flat front, and Gordon struggled to see any mouth or nose whatsoever.

The whining became stronger, the creature squatting slightly as though it were concentrating. Suddenly, the sound stopped. Waves of white energy pounded out of the creature, knocking Gordon off his feet and into the wall behind him. The walkway above Gordon was knocked from its fittings and crashed to the floor beside him, sending a cloud of dust billowing out.

Gordon squinted as the dust attacked his eyes, and he struggled to see the creature as it powered up another attack. His ears having somewhat adapted to the noise, Gordon got to his feet and tried to locate the source, judging from where the creature had been the last time he had seen it.

With a swing of his crowbar and a crunching noise, the whining stopped, replaced by what sounded like a dog's moan of pain. The dust cleared, Gordon winced as he saw the twitching state of the animal beneath him. His eyes clenched shut, he slammed his foot down on where he guessed the head was, ending its cries of pain.

He continued on, encountering the same creatures again and again.

As he went on, he became more and more proficient at killing them. The small crab creatures would crawl to within a few metres of him before leaping at him, allowing him time to spot them and move out of the way. They also seemed to lack any eyesight, relying on their other senses to guide them.

The bigger, dog-like creatures travelled in packs, and he found they were easily frightened off with a sharp strike of the crowbar's blunt side.

Gordon hadn't encountered any more of the zombies, nor any more like the creature he saw in the Anomalous Materials test chamber.

Hopefully, he wouldn't have to.

After what felt like weeks of swimming through vomit-inducing sludge and walking through corridors that looked the same, Gordon finally reached the elevator that would take him up to the office complex.

A dead security guard lay before it, blood trailing behind her until it gathered in a pool beneath her. Trying not to look at her, Gordon carefully slipped her Glock pistol from the holster around her waist, as well as the spare rounds kept on her belt.

He looked down at his hazard suit and let out a small breath of irritation as he finally found the one thing it lacked.

Pockets.

After taking and blowing out a deep, shaky breath, Gordon wrestled the holster and belt from the security guard's body, occasionally having to stop to allow himself to vomit around the corner.

With the equipment liberated of its original owner, Gordon pushed the button to summon the elevator.

With a heavenly ping, the doors opened, and Gordon stepped in, pressing the button to go up too fast for the elevator to comply.

With his crowbar in one hand and his gun firmly tucked away in its holster, Gordon prayed that he wouldn't have to draw it on anyone.

Hopefully, the resonance cascade would have been mostly confined to the Anomalous Materials lab.

Gordon took some small comfort in that.

(A/N: Well, this was a long time coming, and I apologise for how long it took. Real life things, and all that. There is a lot of ground to cover in this chapter, and I had to pick and choose what bits to keep in and what to remove for the sake of pace. Whether I succeeded or not, well, that's up to you.

Anyway, review!

Next Chapter: Opposing Force

Update 20/08/2010: Just a little tweak to add Dr Kleiner to both this chapter and 'Anomalous Materials' - who, according to Marc Laidlaw, is retroactively the other scientist with Eli. There's been no official mention of where Magnusson was during the resonance cascade, and writing him in would have required more of a rewrite than I was willing to do - inserting Kleiner was just a matter of changing some names and switching some dialogue around. The price I pay for being a perfectionist nerd, I suppose!)