Author's Note: Black Mesa, Barney, Otis, the Black Ops,
everything from Half Life and Opposing Force is owned by Valve. The original
characters are all mine however. This was originally published a few month's
ago at the Half Life Writer's Block, now the Writers Block Media Group. Check
us out at www.wbfanfic.com !
Black Mesa, New Mexico
The
administrator watched his monitors impassively. The sound was off, but the
scenes of destruction they showed spoke for itself. Scientist gutted by
horrible beasts that had once been their colleagues. Security guards fighting
vainly against creatures they had never imagined possible. Hallway after
hallway filled with blood and death. Walls collapsing on helpless pedestrians.
Scenes that would have terrified any other man. But the administrator just
watched.
So, he
thought. The Xen creatures are more intelligent then I originally suspected.
This could be difficult. Slowly, calmly, he reached over and picked up the
phone, and dialed a number he saved for emergencies.
"Colonel
Johnsson? We ssseem to have a problem."
En route to Black Mesa
Corporal
Robert Blake shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He hated these long airborne
trips. It wasn't so much that he was airsick, the seat was just damn
uncomfortable. His leg was falling asleep. Would it kill them to pay for some
padding? These Osprey's are state-of-the-art, and they still won't spring for
decent seats.
Blake wasn't
an unusually tall man, standing about 5'10''.
He was good looking, with clear blue eyes and short brown hair. He had a
rugged look to him, enhanced by his 5 o'clock shadow. He was in good shape,
trim but not overly muscled. He was also a marine.
One of the
best. He had risen to the rank of Corporal through hard work and dedication,
not to mention combat prowess. He was good in a fight, very good. It was this
prowess that had gotten him assigned to an MEU(SOC), the marines special
forces.
"Getting
uncomfortable over there Blake? Poor baby." Shaken out of his reverie, he
looked over at the grinning face of Animal, one of his squad mates. God he
hated him, a feeling which Animal was more than happy to return. Blake thought
Animal was a sociopath, Animal thought Blake was soft. Animal was also jealous
of his rank, which he thought he didn't deserve.
"Suck on it,
asshole!" Blake shot back, annoyed.
"Maybe when
your momma's done."
"You secure
that shit, soldier! Both you shut the hell up, I don't you at each other
throats in the damn field!" roared Seargent Taylor, their squad commander.
They both
quieted immediately. Taylor didn't look kindly on disobeying orders. Blake
thought back to their briefing before leaving Fort Chester. It had been pretty
vague, but from the sound of it, seemed like another babysitting job.
Seemed some
eggheads working at a secret research base called Black Mesa had been running
some kind of experiment that went wrong. Their job was to go in and run
security until things were under control. No big deal, probably just set a
control wrong and overloaded something. Their commanders were supposed to give
them a more detailed briefing when they arrived.
***
Black Mesa.
From what he had heard at the briefing, it was an old missile silo converted to
a highly classified research base for government black projects. Weapons
research, spying, advanced communications technology, anything they didn't want
to be public knowledge. Could be interesting to look around.
He thought
back to just before takeoff, when he made the traditional bet with Adrian. Last
one on the ground buys the beer. He had damned well better win, beer didn't
come cheap at these high security deals. He could just picture the smirk on
Adrian's face if he lost his weeks pay.
Corporal
Adrian Shepard was his best friend. They were from the same company, different
squads. They had been through basic together, and trusted each other. Always
had fun in the field. He remembered this one time in-
"Alright
gentleman, ETA is in 15 minutes! Time for you to find out why you're here."
Taylor's barking cut through his memories. He sat up, curious. "Some eggheads
were working on a project that you don't need to know about, and they fucked up
big time. The rest of the battalion is going to take care of security in the
base, to make sure nothing else dangerous happens. Our company has other
orders. We're gonna go in and make sure these eggheads don't go and tell anyone
what they were working on. We can't afford any witnesses."
It took a
moment before the full realization of what Taylor had said dawned on Blake.
They were going to kill them all. Innocent civilians, and they wanted him to
kill them in cold blood. He had to say something.
"Sir, we can't
just kill them! They're fucking civies! I didn't sign up to be a murderer!" he
objected.
"Oh shut up
Blake! You're such a fucking pussy!" sneered Animal, before Taylor could do so.
"He's right
Blake! You put on that uniform, you follow orders. End of story. IS THAT CLEAR
MARINE!?" Taylor shouted.
Blake just
nodded, shocked.
"Good.
Alright, check your gear. I want you all ready as soon as we hit the ground."
Blake went
about checking his gear without even thinking about it. His mind was still
racing, trying to absorb what he'd just heard. His SAW was fine, wasn't going
to jam. Desert Eagle loaded, ready if he needed it. The old Colt .45 he kept at
the small of his back was there too. His PCV vest was fully charged, everything
sealed tightly. Not that he noticed any of this.
Out of the
corner of his eye, he saw Animal stroking his tactical shotgun lovingly, a look
of anticipation in his eyes. Oh my god, thought Blake, that crazy
bastard is actually looking forward to this.
Black Mesa
The Osprey
touched down on one of Black Mesa's many outdoor helipads. The squad was out
the doors quickly, fanning out to sweep the area. Blake stayed a little to the
rear, like his training dictated. He wasn't paying attention anyway.
Under the
directions of Taylor's hand signals, they quickly found the area to be empty,
and moved into the nearest building. It was a combination office building and
lab, dark and eerily empty. The lights were mostly out, casting shadows everywhere.
Floor after floor was empty, with papers and experiments left suddenly, as if
their owners had dropped everything and ran. Finally, in the basement, they
found a set of doors locked and boarded up.
"Alright boys,
this is it. Move in." ordered Taylor.
The squad came
crashing through the doors, Animal first, the others fanning out behind him. It
was a cafeteria, filled with terrified scientists who had been holed up in
there for a while. Tables had been converted to beds, some of which held
injured scientists. A line of covered bodies lay in the far corner.
"Oh, thank god
you're hear! Those horrid creatures proved too much for our security forces.
Please, get us out quickly! I can't take another moment of this hell!" cried
one of them, rushing forward.
Taylor gave a
curt nod to the rest of the squad. It was all the signal they needed. They
opened fire, cutting down the shocked scientists one by one. Blake held back,
torn. Torn between what his training and his conscience said was right. Time
seemed to slow as the horror unfolded before him.
One of the
scientists ran towards a crowbar lying on a nearby table, trying to defend
himself and his coworkers. Animal laughed as he put a hole through the
scientists back.
Blake made up
his mind. He flipped off the safety of his machine gun and opened fire,
sweeping it back and forth, cutting down men where they stood. When the smoke
cleared, the last remaining scientist looked at him. The terrified man
screamed, and ran away in horror. Blake did not pursue.
Instead he
paused and looked over his handiwork. His squad lay dead before him, all shot
in the back, all by him. It took a moment to realize the full extent of what
he'd done. He'd killed them. Every last one of them. He dropped his machine
gun, and he ran.
