Chapter 2: The Streets
Cindy was already waiting for the two men in the alley behind the enclave. She had only been waiting for a few minutes when they emerged from the darkness. "Cindy, you out there?" called out Cory, trying not to be to loud though, however. "I'm over here," replied Cindy, stepping out into the moonlight. "Are we ready to go?" she asked.
"We sure are, how do we get to the railroads from here?" asked Leon.
"We can use the back alleys to head north from here, once we get to the train station, we can walk the railroad that leads to City-17, it should be vacant," said Cory.
"Alright, lets-" Cindy was cut off. A hissing noise overhead had interrupted her. The three looked up and Leon yelled out "It's a shell! Cover!"
The Combine had obviously discovered the Resistance enclave that Cory, Leon, and Cindy had resided at, and decided to shell it out. The Combine strategically packed ordinary capsule shells with headcrabs, effectively used to clear out any location that the Combine saw as a threat.
The shell flew over their heads and smashed directly into the roof of the building. Screams could be heard inside, and after a few seconds they would be muffled as headcrabs would soon be covering the faces of all those that were inside.
"Run!" yelled Cindy.
The three of them ran only a few steps when they realized that their building wasn't the only one that was being shelled. As they looked up, they could see that hundreds of shells were gliding overhead. They started smashing down into all the buildings around them.
The three of them continued running. They didn't stop to look back. Debris from broken buildings was falling all around them as they ran. They did their best to avoid major chunks but couldn't help dodge the smaller objects.
They made it to the end of the alley and stopped to catch their breath. They outran the destruction but were now presented with new problems. Headcrabs were now creeping all throughout the alleys. As they looked behind them, one had emerged from the shadows and into the moonlight. It was slowly crawling towards Cindy.
Being unarmed, she was frozen with fear. To most, a headcrab isn't anything to be afraid of, but that usually because everyone is armed with something, but Cindy wasn't. The headcrab stopped about ten paces in front of Cindy; she knew this was because he was getting ready to leap up and attach himself to her face, making her a zombie.
As she predicted, the headcrab made its leap. She closed her eyes and braced for impact, but it never came. She heard a bashing noise, but nothing happened to her. When she opened her eyes, she saw the headcrab lying on its back dead in the alley. She wondered what had happened and looked to Cory and Leon for an answer. However it was evident what had happened when she noticed the bloody crowbar in Cory's hand. He really did decide to bring it with him on the journey.
"Thanks," said Cindy.
"It was nothing, you'd have done the same," said Cory.
"That was super cool and everything guys, but we seriously need to go now," said Leon.
Cory and Cindy saw Leon's reasoning behind this when they saw that the alley was now populated with about twenty headcrabs. Cory couldn't kill them all, so the three of them turned on their heels and ran again. Luckily for them, these were the regular fat headcrabs, they were easy to outrun, were there any fast headcrabs in the bunch, and they'd be dead for sure.
After exhausting themselves from running, they had put a safe distance between themselves and the headcrabs. When they slowed down and caught their breath, Cindy thought it was time to let Cory have it.
"What were you thinking bringing your crowbar!? If the Combine or the Mets see you with that, they'll shoot you on sight! They'll also shoot anyone they see you're with! I don't want to die just because you wanted to bring your fucking crowbar!"
"Calm down Cindy, last I checked, this "fucking crowbar" saved your life, you should be more thankful," replied Cory.
"Oh yes, thank you for sparing me a horrible painful death just so I can die a little less painfully," said Cindy sarcastically.
"She does have a point you know," said Leon.
"Listen guys, if any Combine or Mets find us, I'll just kill them, it's that easy," said Cory.
Leon just couldn't take it anymore; he was tired of Cory always thinking he was Gordon Freeman. "Your not Gordon Freeman! Your not Gordon and you never will be! So stop pretending to be him! You can't kill a mass of Mets with just a crowbar! That's something only Gordon could do and you're not him!" snapped Leon.
Cory suddenly felt very hurt. He saw Leon's point, but he felt Leon presented it a bit harshly. Nevertheless, even if it made Cory look like somewhat of a poser, he had to keep the crowbar anyway for protection.
"Okay guys, we'll just have to stay out of sight because I'm not leaving it behind, it's the only protection we have."
"Okay fine," said Cindy, "but you better not get us killed because of it."
Cory always felt very uncomfortable whenever Cindy got upset at him. Though Cory never outwardly admitted it, he had already admitted to himself that he does in fact like Cindy. He had liked her ever since he first saw her when he joined the enclave. Her long beautiful blond hair and her dark tanned skin made her very attractive in Cory's eyes. She also always dressed very well (for a member of the Resistance) she never seemed dirty or dressed in anything that she considered "raggedy." Everyone at the enclave knew that Cory liked her; it was obvious by the way he looked at her, or sometimes didn't look at her. Everyone knew about his loss earlier in his life and secretly agreed that no other guys would try their luck with her, so that Cory would evidently end up with her someday. However, Cory never took a chance and asked her out, he has always had something that he considered a higher priority on his mind. Like survival or his idol Gordon Freeman. Cory figured that maybe somewhere along the journey ahead of him, he'd find time to talk to Cindy about his feelings.
The three of them continued out of the alley and onto the dark streets. Only the moonlight kept the streets from being completely pitch black because the streetlights were off. The generator had obviously been struck by one of the many shells that had previously assaulted the city. They kept off to the side and never out in the middle of the street for fear of being caught by the local Mets or any Combine out for an after-sweep.
"The train station is only about another mile north. We should find it in about twenty minutes if there are no distractions," said Cindy.
"You make it sound like you expect distractions," replied Leon.
"Hope for the best, prepare for the worse," said Cory, almost to himself.
"What was that?" asked Leon.
"Nothing," said Cory.
"I definitely heard something," replied Leon.
"I told you I didn't say anything," said Cory almost angrily.
"No, I mean I think I heard Combine radio chatter," said Leon in a nervous voice.
"I think I heard it too," said Cindy.
They all stopped and stood still to listen. They could all hear it clearly. There were obviously Combine troops very nearby. The noise was coming in a destroyed building nearby, probably a cleanup squad.
Cory pulled Cindy and Leon close and whispered to them both, "we're going to have to be extra quiet here, if they find us its all over."
They slowly crept over the ruble in the streets caused by the shell attack. Leon took the lead followed by Cindy, then Cory. When they approached the building where the noise was coming from, Leon signaled his friends to stop. He peaked through a hole in the side of the building made by a shell. Inside he saw a small squad of three Combine troops standing around a trashcan fire for warmth. They were camping out in the destroyed building for the night. Leon could see the shell that destroyed the wall, and next to it laid several dead headcrabs. The Combine must have killed the headcrabs and decided to rest here for the night.
Leon made a very helpful observation. One of the four Combine soldiers was not near the trashcan fire; rather he was more off to the side by himself in the dark. Leon figured this was a golden opportunity. He approached Cory quietly and said, "Give me your crowbar."
"What? Why?" asked Cory with intense curiosity.
"Just give it to me," said Leon.
"You're not going to kill them all by yourself," said Cindy.
"I'm not going to," said Leon casually.
"Tell me why I should give it to you," demanded Cory.
"So I can get us something better to protect ourselves with,"
This caught Cory's attention. He sensed that Leon honestly felt that he could accomplish whatever it was he had planned. It wasn't often that Leon was ever sure about himself, but Cory knew that he was sure about himself in this matter. Cory handed his crowbar to Leon.
"What are you doing!" said Cindy in a loud whisper.
"I trust him, let him do what he's going to do," said Cory.
"No, he's going to get us killed," said Cindy.
"Cindy, if you were ever to trust me, I'm asking you do it now," said Leon in his own defense.
"Fine, but if something happens, Cory and I aren't coming to help," said Cindy in her stern voice.
Leon held the crowbar at his side as he entered the building through the side hole. He kept to the shadows, which kept him nearly invisible. There was only a small circle of light that came from the trashcan fire; the rest of the room was pitch black being that there was no moonlight to compensate. Leon stealthily kept to the shadows and only walked on the sides of his feet, minimizing the noise he made. He crept up behind the Combine soldier that was alone in the dark. Leon kept his eyes on the soldier's waist holster, which contained a USP Match 9mm handgun. His mind never deviated from his set plan as he kept the single soldier between himself and the other two. Once he was at a striking distance from the soldier, he took the tipped end of the crowbar and used it as a harpoon as he thrust it into the back of the soldier's neck. Leon used such force that the tip came out the front of the soldier's throat, he'd die from blood loss in only a few moments. This caught the attention of the other two soldiers; they drew their weapons and opened fire in Leon's direction. The soldier's body served as a human shield for Leon as he held it up using the crowbar. He wasted no time reaching for the soldier's gun with his other hand and returning fire on the other soldiers. He fired several rounds, and then all gunfire stopped. He had successfully cleared the room of all the Combine soldiers.
Leon caught his friends by surprise when he emerged from the building a survivor with blood soaking his cloths. Leon was also now carrying a handgun. "There are two more in there for you two, sorry but these guys didn't carry any spare ammo."
Fear and surprise could be seen in Cindy's eyes, but something else was in Cory's. Jealousy, Cory was jealous that Leon had just done what Cory had wanted to do for so long now. Regardless, Cory climbed to his feet and entered the building. Inside he found the bodies of the Combine, which Leon had slain. He approached the two bodies near the fire and stripped each of them of their firearms. He exited the building and handed one of the weapons to Cindy.
"Thank you Cory, I really didn't want to see what was in there," said Cindy honestly.
"No problem," said Cory, "can I have my crowbar back now Leon?"
"Sure if you still want it, you do have a gun now you know," replied Leon.
"I know, but what happens when the ammo runs out? Then all I have is a fancy club, and I'd rather have my crowbar then a fancy club," said Cory with a hint of anger.
"Fine," said Leon, handing the crowbar back to Cory. Cory took it and attached it to one of the belt loops on the side of his pants; he kept his gun in hand though, never knowing when he'd need it fast.
"The train station isn't too far from here guys, we should get going so we can be there before morning," said Cindy.