Half-Life Integral
Separation Anxiety
I don't know how long I was out for, it seemed like forever. I eventually woke up to my HEV's voice.
"Warning. User death imminent. Seek medical attention. Administering morphine...morphine administered."
I was dying, I could feel it. My suit's chest area was broken in several pieces with blood staining it and I could feel myself slipping away. I had to make it to someplace safe or I'd be dead soon.
I mustered all my strength to stand against the wall. I looked behind me and saw a large chunk of rubble blocking one path of the tunnel I was in. That explosion must have trapped me down in a tunnel below.
I began to edge along the concrete wall forwards feeling slight pain from it. If not for the morphine I would be on the ground crying in pain. Hell if not for the suit I'd be dead.
I came to this large class door shut tightly and this is when the pain and bleeding caused me to pass out.
Now I really thought that I was dead. I had come this far and then died like many of the people working here. I can't believe my life ended so fast.
Then I began to hear voices. Several men and a woman. Was it Gina? Did she find me?
"How is he?" the woman asked.
"He'll pull through. Thank god he was wearing a Hazard Suit." One of the male's said.
I groaned as my eyes opened. The intense light burned a little but I adjusted quickly.
"Doctor he's awake." Another man said.
"Oh thank goodness." The female voice said.
"What happened?" I said weakly.
"You collapsed outside our little base here and we found you and saved your life." The woman said.
"Oh, thank you. Will I live?" I asked.
"Oh yes. If not for your Hazard Suit you'd have been dead hours ago." A male scientist with glasses told me.
I looked at the woman now. She was in a Hazard Suit herself and looked more beautiful than Gina did.
"Who are you?" I asked looking at her.
"My name is Collette Green. Who might you be?"
"My name is Gray. Do you know someone named Gina?" I asked her.
"You know Dr. Cross? How?" she asked.
"I'm her new intern." I said.
"Well now. You're safe down here with us. The only way out is through these old piping systems and I doubt the military will want to wade down there to get to us. It seems we can just wait this whole mess out. We have enough food and weapons to survive here for awhile." A black scientist told me.
"But I have to get out of here. Gina probably thinks I'm dead and I have to leave myself. I don't want to spend all my time down here waiting. It could take days or even weeks before this all ends." I protested.
"Something tells me you'll still leave if we say otherwise." The man in glasses said shaking his head.
"It's too dangerous for you kid." Collette said holding my shoulders with her gloved hands. "You'd be dead in moments before you made it anywhere safe."
"You're right." She looked calmer, until I said. "Where is my Hazard Suit?"
"We managed to repair it thanks to the nanotechnology inside it and some of our own technology and it should be working now." The man with glasses said.
"Walter! You didn't have to tell him." Collette said.
"I'm sorry Dr. Green. However we found no weapons on you when we found you. You'll have to settle for what we've got. Follow Barney over there." He directed to a security guard.
"Come with me kid. I'll show you to your things." He said opening a safe door and inside was my Hazard Suit and several guns and ammunition, enough to take over half the base.
I suited up and it felt great being back inside it. "Welcome to the HEV mark four protective system. For use in hazardous environment conditions." It said to me like the first time I put it on.
I then grabbed all I could once my helmet was on. I found a pistol like the one before, a shotgun, and plenty of ammo for each. It was all I could get.
Barney then showed me down a small hallway to a large door. "The military isn't here but there are probably monster galore around the place. I'll come with you but it won't be the safest path." He told me.
"I don't think there is any safe path here anymore." I told him.
Hadley, Barney's last and preferred name, and I were wondering around this dark place for about half an hour without any monster encounters when we took a rest.
"Must suck for you kid." He said.
"Why?"
"A 19 year old going through this sort of hell. It isn't pretty."
"Well I don't think age has much of a factor here. We're all going through hell."
"By the way kid. Where were you when this all went wrong? I've been interested in knowing all the different stories." He asked.
"I was in Gina's office while she went off for an experiment and then this security guard, Roberts, came by and was going to buy me a drink. While on the train everything went crazy and these beams and bolts hit everything. Then I was teleported twice to some strange places and then the train crashed into the platform and that's how it happened." I told Hadley.
"Well here's my story. I was working shift around Sector G and I had to go down to the train platform. My buddy Calhoun was off to his own job then, but once I got to the train platform the lights went out and then these strange creatures began to chase after scientists. I followed one down a tunnel and it got blocked off by debris and we both ended up down here. Not as dangerous as your story but it felt it." He told me.
"Well think you want to continue now?" I asked my friend.
"Sure." He said as we heard footsteps coming from the direction we came from. "Do you hear something?" he whispered.
"Yeah. Someone's coming. I'll hide over there and jump them, and then you get ready to beat them or whatever if they need it." I told him taking my place as Hadley drew his sidearm.
Once the person came into view I tackled them to the cement floor. "I got him Barney!" I shouted triumphantly.
"Let go of me!" I heard the person yell. It wasn't a soldier or an alien like we expected, it was Collette.
"Oops, sorry about that Dr. Green." Hadley told her as we helped her stand. She dusted off her Hazard Suit and picked up the shotgun she dropped.
"What are you doing here Collette?" I asked her.
"They decided I should go along and help you two out. My Hazard Suit will keep me alive and with three of us our chances of living are greater." She explained to us.
"Hey Doc, could you tell us your end of the story?" Barney asked.
"Huh?"
"He's interested in what you were doing while Black Mesa became hell." I told her.
"Well I had to assist Gina with getting this crystal sample on the delivery carrier for the experiment. We successfully got it on and Gina was heading down to deliver it. I was heading back to put back my Hazard Suit when the facility started rumbling and then alarms went off everywhere. I got so scared I didn't know what to do. I ran as far as I could until I ended up down in that place we found you Gray." She told us.
Then Barney and I told her our sides of the story. Even though it was a scary thing I enjoy hearing it to get an idea of what happened elsewhere.
"We should continue along this tunnel. Maybe we can find a way to the surface or at least maybe somewhere else safe." Hadley told us.
"The Lambda Complex should be safe. They were the brains behind the experiment so if anybody knows what to do about this mess it should be them." Collette told us.
"You two lead the way." I said to them.
"Why us?" Barney asked raising an eyebrow.
"You two have been through more training than me. I mean you did receive training right?"
"Yes there is a Hazard Course where you learn the functions of your HEV suit and I'm sure there is one for security guards." Collette said.
"That's right. You just happened to find a suit so you don't know all its abilities." Hadley commented as we began to move forward.
We found a strange group of brown and green creatures standing around looking at one another. They must be talking to each other. However they spoke in a tongue I didn't understand.
"What are those?" I whispered to my friends.
"We called them slaves. They only act when there is a higher ranking soldier around them. However they are rather lethal. They can gather electricity and shoot it at its prey." Collette explained to us.
"How should we take them down?" I asked. Collette and I were thinking and thinking when Barney tossed a grenade in the middle of their group. They obviously didn't know what hit the ground before them until it exploded killing all of them.
"That could also work too." Collette said a little stunned that such a simple act worked so well.
"In this kind of thing you have to blast your way out." Hadley said standing and walking over to the wall.
"This tunnel is caved in too. I guess we can't go further." I said feeling like I was trapped down here.
"Wait, this wall is been destroyed. Looks like we can go through this piping." Collette said softly with some fear in her voice.
"It's extremely dark in there. And if we got attacked we wouldn't be able to defend ourselves as well." I said.
"Well it's the only choice we have." Hadley brought up. He was first to turn his flashlight on and step into the sludge within the pipe.
"This stuff sure stinks." Collette said pinching her nose.
"That's what a helmet is for." I said walking in next turning on my flashlight.
"Mine doesn't have one." She moaned doing the same as Barney and I.
The three of us wandered through this pipe for several minutes and we had to fight back some headcrabs but we were in fine shape. Until this large rumbling shook the pipe open and we saw that we were several hundred feet up, with the canals below us.
"That was close, but what the hell did that?" Hadley said as he looked down.
"I have no idea. We can jump this gap though. I'll go first." Collette volunteered.
She took a running start and jumped the gap to the other pipe. She made it look easy.
"My turn." Hadley said jumping across. Now it was my turn. I was scared like you wouldn't believe.
I went back to run and jump and as I did I hear something in my helmet. "Move in!"
"Shit!" I yelled running as grunts began to pour into the pipe and fire at me. One bullet hit me in the leg and I happened to jump just short of the gap and fall. I fell and fell and fell for what seemed like an eternity. I watched the world fly past me as I dropped. Then my body hit the water below and the splash was immense.
I was almost certain I had died this time. I cheated death twice before but now it seemed as I was gone for sure. Then I opened my eyes and began to struggle to the surface of the water. I was alive but my suit's power according to my Heads Up Display was at 3 percent. It had taken a lot out of it.
I swam over to a ladder and climbed up it and was on solid ground. I looked up and couldn't see or hear anything from above. Hopefully Collette and Barney made it out of that okay.
I went through the service door and came to a loading area. Inside was a radio device that I've seen some grunts use. A message was coming through.
"We have lost track of Freeman! He has escaped into the Rocket Test Labs and we are currently being pinned down by these creatures! The other Hazard Suits are heading in separate directions. One is coming through the piping to Sector E and another heading for the Lambda Complex! The other we have lost sign off, he is presumed dead!" a soldier said over the radio.
"Who the hell is Freeman?" I asked myself. "Doesn't matter, I need to find a way out of this place." I said to myself. A large storage elevator led upwards. It was my only option right now and I took it.
Separation Anxiety
I don't know how long I was out for, it seemed like forever. I eventually woke up to my HEV's voice.
"Warning. User death imminent. Seek medical attention. Administering morphine...morphine administered."
I was dying, I could feel it. My suit's chest area was broken in several pieces with blood staining it and I could feel myself slipping away. I had to make it to someplace safe or I'd be dead soon.
I mustered all my strength to stand against the wall. I looked behind me and saw a large chunk of rubble blocking one path of the tunnel I was in. That explosion must have trapped me down in a tunnel below.
I began to edge along the concrete wall forwards feeling slight pain from it. If not for the morphine I would be on the ground crying in pain. Hell if not for the suit I'd be dead.
I came to this large class door shut tightly and this is when the pain and bleeding caused me to pass out.
Now I really thought that I was dead. I had come this far and then died like many of the people working here. I can't believe my life ended so fast.
Then I began to hear voices. Several men and a woman. Was it Gina? Did she find me?
"How is he?" the woman asked.
"He'll pull through. Thank god he was wearing a Hazard Suit." One of the male's said.
I groaned as my eyes opened. The intense light burned a little but I adjusted quickly.
"Doctor he's awake." Another man said.
"Oh thank goodness." The female voice said.
"What happened?" I said weakly.
"You collapsed outside our little base here and we found you and saved your life." The woman said.
"Oh, thank you. Will I live?" I asked.
"Oh yes. If not for your Hazard Suit you'd have been dead hours ago." A male scientist with glasses told me.
I looked at the woman now. She was in a Hazard Suit herself and looked more beautiful than Gina did.
"Who are you?" I asked looking at her.
"My name is Collette Green. Who might you be?"
"My name is Gray. Do you know someone named Gina?" I asked her.
"You know Dr. Cross? How?" she asked.
"I'm her new intern." I said.
"Well now. You're safe down here with us. The only way out is through these old piping systems and I doubt the military will want to wade down there to get to us. It seems we can just wait this whole mess out. We have enough food and weapons to survive here for awhile." A black scientist told me.
"But I have to get out of here. Gina probably thinks I'm dead and I have to leave myself. I don't want to spend all my time down here waiting. It could take days or even weeks before this all ends." I protested.
"Something tells me you'll still leave if we say otherwise." The man in glasses said shaking his head.
"It's too dangerous for you kid." Collette said holding my shoulders with her gloved hands. "You'd be dead in moments before you made it anywhere safe."
"You're right." She looked calmer, until I said. "Where is my Hazard Suit?"
"We managed to repair it thanks to the nanotechnology inside it and some of our own technology and it should be working now." The man with glasses said.
"Walter! You didn't have to tell him." Collette said.
"I'm sorry Dr. Green. However we found no weapons on you when we found you. You'll have to settle for what we've got. Follow Barney over there." He directed to a security guard.
"Come with me kid. I'll show you to your things." He said opening a safe door and inside was my Hazard Suit and several guns and ammunition, enough to take over half the base.
I suited up and it felt great being back inside it. "Welcome to the HEV mark four protective system. For use in hazardous environment conditions." It said to me like the first time I put it on.
I then grabbed all I could once my helmet was on. I found a pistol like the one before, a shotgun, and plenty of ammo for each. It was all I could get.
Barney then showed me down a small hallway to a large door. "The military isn't here but there are probably monster galore around the place. I'll come with you but it won't be the safest path." He told me.
"I don't think there is any safe path here anymore." I told him.
Hadley, Barney's last and preferred name, and I were wondering around this dark place for about half an hour without any monster encounters when we took a rest.
"Must suck for you kid." He said.
"Why?"
"A 19 year old going through this sort of hell. It isn't pretty."
"Well I don't think age has much of a factor here. We're all going through hell."
"By the way kid. Where were you when this all went wrong? I've been interested in knowing all the different stories." He asked.
"I was in Gina's office while she went off for an experiment and then this security guard, Roberts, came by and was going to buy me a drink. While on the train everything went crazy and these beams and bolts hit everything. Then I was teleported twice to some strange places and then the train crashed into the platform and that's how it happened." I told Hadley.
"Well here's my story. I was working shift around Sector G and I had to go down to the train platform. My buddy Calhoun was off to his own job then, but once I got to the train platform the lights went out and then these strange creatures began to chase after scientists. I followed one down a tunnel and it got blocked off by debris and we both ended up down here. Not as dangerous as your story but it felt it." He told me.
"Well think you want to continue now?" I asked my friend.
"Sure." He said as we heard footsteps coming from the direction we came from. "Do you hear something?" he whispered.
"Yeah. Someone's coming. I'll hide over there and jump them, and then you get ready to beat them or whatever if they need it." I told him taking my place as Hadley drew his sidearm.
Once the person came into view I tackled them to the cement floor. "I got him Barney!" I shouted triumphantly.
"Let go of me!" I heard the person yell. It wasn't a soldier or an alien like we expected, it was Collette.
"Oops, sorry about that Dr. Green." Hadley told her as we helped her stand. She dusted off her Hazard Suit and picked up the shotgun she dropped.
"What are you doing here Collette?" I asked her.
"They decided I should go along and help you two out. My Hazard Suit will keep me alive and with three of us our chances of living are greater." She explained to us.
"Hey Doc, could you tell us your end of the story?" Barney asked.
"Huh?"
"He's interested in what you were doing while Black Mesa became hell." I told her.
"Well I had to assist Gina with getting this crystal sample on the delivery carrier for the experiment. We successfully got it on and Gina was heading down to deliver it. I was heading back to put back my Hazard Suit when the facility started rumbling and then alarms went off everywhere. I got so scared I didn't know what to do. I ran as far as I could until I ended up down in that place we found you Gray." She told us.
Then Barney and I told her our sides of the story. Even though it was a scary thing I enjoy hearing it to get an idea of what happened elsewhere.
"We should continue along this tunnel. Maybe we can find a way to the surface or at least maybe somewhere else safe." Hadley told us.
"The Lambda Complex should be safe. They were the brains behind the experiment so if anybody knows what to do about this mess it should be them." Collette told us.
"You two lead the way." I said to them.
"Why us?" Barney asked raising an eyebrow.
"You two have been through more training than me. I mean you did receive training right?"
"Yes there is a Hazard Course where you learn the functions of your HEV suit and I'm sure there is one for security guards." Collette said.
"That's right. You just happened to find a suit so you don't know all its abilities." Hadley commented as we began to move forward.
We found a strange group of brown and green creatures standing around looking at one another. They must be talking to each other. However they spoke in a tongue I didn't understand.
"What are those?" I whispered to my friends.
"We called them slaves. They only act when there is a higher ranking soldier around them. However they are rather lethal. They can gather electricity and shoot it at its prey." Collette explained to us.
"How should we take them down?" I asked. Collette and I were thinking and thinking when Barney tossed a grenade in the middle of their group. They obviously didn't know what hit the ground before them until it exploded killing all of them.
"That could also work too." Collette said a little stunned that such a simple act worked so well.
"In this kind of thing you have to blast your way out." Hadley said standing and walking over to the wall.
"This tunnel is caved in too. I guess we can't go further." I said feeling like I was trapped down here.
"Wait, this wall is been destroyed. Looks like we can go through this piping." Collette said softly with some fear in her voice.
"It's extremely dark in there. And if we got attacked we wouldn't be able to defend ourselves as well." I said.
"Well it's the only choice we have." Hadley brought up. He was first to turn his flashlight on and step into the sludge within the pipe.
"This stuff sure stinks." Collette said pinching her nose.
"That's what a helmet is for." I said walking in next turning on my flashlight.
"Mine doesn't have one." She moaned doing the same as Barney and I.
The three of us wandered through this pipe for several minutes and we had to fight back some headcrabs but we were in fine shape. Until this large rumbling shook the pipe open and we saw that we were several hundred feet up, with the canals below us.
"That was close, but what the hell did that?" Hadley said as he looked down.
"I have no idea. We can jump this gap though. I'll go first." Collette volunteered.
She took a running start and jumped the gap to the other pipe. She made it look easy.
"My turn." Hadley said jumping across. Now it was my turn. I was scared like you wouldn't believe.
I went back to run and jump and as I did I hear something in my helmet. "Move in!"
"Shit!" I yelled running as grunts began to pour into the pipe and fire at me. One bullet hit me in the leg and I happened to jump just short of the gap and fall. I fell and fell and fell for what seemed like an eternity. I watched the world fly past me as I dropped. Then my body hit the water below and the splash was immense.
I was almost certain I had died this time. I cheated death twice before but now it seemed as I was gone for sure. Then I opened my eyes and began to struggle to the surface of the water. I was alive but my suit's power according to my Heads Up Display was at 3 percent. It had taken a lot out of it.
I swam over to a ladder and climbed up it and was on solid ground. I looked up and couldn't see or hear anything from above. Hopefully Collette and Barney made it out of that okay.
I went through the service door and came to a loading area. Inside was a radio device that I've seen some grunts use. A message was coming through.
"We have lost track of Freeman! He has escaped into the Rocket Test Labs and we are currently being pinned down by these creatures! The other Hazard Suits are heading in separate directions. One is coming through the piping to Sector E and another heading for the Lambda Complex! The other we have lost sign off, he is presumed dead!" a soldier said over the radio.
"Who the hell is Freeman?" I asked myself. "Doesn't matter, I need to find a way out of this place." I said to myself. A large storage elevator led upwards. It was my only option right now and I took it.