"We'll have to put you.. in a placcce.. where you will cause no harm to others, and no harm will come to you.."

That's the last thing I remember hearing as I sat exhausted in my seat from a bloody encounter with another of those aliens. I'm nothing special.. don't have a hazard suit, only this now-useless body armor. Who invented this thing, anyways? Oh well. It's saved me more than once, so I can't complain, I suppose. I remember that we were hunting someone named.. Gord.. Gordo.. wait! I remember now! Gordan Freeman. Everyone thought that he had something to do with making all those aliens appear, but it's obvious now that there must have been some kind of mistake. Well, it was obvious to me.

I've been here for.. God knows how long. I always have enough food and water to get by, and if I ever felt like getting more, it'd always appear. Even so, being on this little floating island, my.. 'prize'.. for surviving. Someone up there must have liked me, but this army camo isn't helping me any. I had long since ditched the gas mask that I had so readily worn when I first wandered into Black Mesa. I killed a couple of aliens, and barely escaped with my life when that.. alien.. thing.. attacked me. When I woke up, a man in a grey suit stood across from me. We were.. in a helicopter. Of some type. I remember coming here in one. Oh, to Black Mesa.

I look down at my dogtags. Adrian Shepard. Name, Rank, and Serial Number. Or.. was it.. well, it hardly matters anymore. The least that could be done is give me a beautiful woman every year. My right hand just isn't giving me what it used to. Infact, it stopped putting out a while ago. Masturbation had officially lost its fun, and the fact that I learned I had to release it over the edge and into the abyss below wasn't a fun thought. Who, or what, might be down there? Was it bottomless? More than once i'd considered jumping down into the darkness below, but to no prevail. It's like trying to commit suicide.

Today, though.. today is different. I'd steeled myself for atleast a month, and it was about time, too. Staying here was getting frustrating. It felt like I was needed somewhere else, anyways, even if this jump would mean a merciful death. Hopefully, solid ground was hundreds of miles below and the end would be less painful than staying here, enjoying my own company. How long have I been here? Oh well. I've lost track. No-one to take orders from, no-one to give orders from. Oops. There goes the army training thing again. I've really got to forget about that.

Slowly standing, I moved my way over to the edge of the platform, and, realizing that I was missing my weapons, I turned and picked up the government-issue weapons the G-Man kindly allowed me to keep, guessing that eventually i'd kill myself. I strapped them to my body, and put feet over the edge. Second thoughts racked my mind, and before I could stop myself, my own balance betrayed me, and my body tumbled over the edge. I gripped the edge of the platform, staring up at the paradise that was my little haven, where only four fingers kept me from falling to certain doom. I gritted my teeth. I had plenty of time for exercise, but again, I began to fight with myself.

Let go!

No, don't let go! You've got alot to live for!

Forget it! No-one can save you! You're in some alternate dimension, and the only sign that people know you're here is that you get three meals a day. And that's it!

No! No! This can't end like this! I'm too young!

My fingers finally slipped, as I gave in to the stronger thoughts of suicide. The death would be painless. I disappeared into the abyss below in the span of a few seconds, closing my eyes as an overwhelming green light flooded all around me. I let out a scream, but it was drowned out by the darkness.

I was dead. Or was I?


"Come with me human." Again, with the venomous voice. I had no choice but to follow him. Anything had to be better than staying under the bright red light of the scanner. I adjusted my glasses, again, just realizing that I even had them on.. and slowly followed the alien through the door.

I followed him down a short hallway, and up a short set of stairs. In the next room, I noticed another alien and another scruffy human male.

"No! No, this must be some sort of mistake! I don't belong here!" The scruffy man screamed, moving over to the door when he noticed, banging on it. He was kicked away by one of the aliens, I could only suspect, and I slowly moved over towards the door, only to notice the face of the alien assaulter.

"What're YOU looking at, human?" The alien spat venomously, sliding the small door closed on the door. God only knew what was going to happen to that poor man. I turned and moved into the room with the open door that the alien that had escorted me was patient enough to wait for me. Knowing that my only ticket out of here was to jump the alien, I was glad that I had my trusty crowbar with me. I slowly opened the compartment on my lower leg, pulling out the crowbar from the hazard suit. I rose it over my head, only to have to hide it when the alien finally entered, crossing over to the corner of the room where a monitor rested.

Finally, the alien turned to me.. a hand lifting up to its face. I prepared to attack, hands grasping tightly around the crowbar. Go for the head. That should kill anything real quick.

"Gordan! Hey! Recognize me? It's me, Barney! From Black Mesa!" The man beneath the mask was none other than Barney, the security guard. I stared for a moment.. slowly lowering the crowbar back to its rightful place. "I managed to escape Black Mesa and now i'm working undercover here amongst the Combine."

So, now that gave me an idea of just who these aliens were. I sat back, finally able to relax for once, as an old friend caught me up on what I had missed while I was 'away'. How long was I gone from Black Mesa? Months? No. It couldn't have been just a few months. It would take years to change this. Apparently, the whole world was being controlled by a similar megalomaniac. And he didn't particularly like humans. What their fascination with Earth was was beyond me. I tilted my head slightly, remembering for a moment the resonance cascade.. what started all this.

"Gordan! Step away from the beam!"

"Powering down.. it won't power down!"

The screams of fellow scientists dying, as the world literally fell apart around me, seemed to echo in my mind. It was like the incident would slowly make me go insane. It just might, someday. It was then the voice of my old friend brought me back to reality.

"Gordan? Gordan, are you okay? You don't look so good.." Barney murmured, slowly digging through his pockets for asprin. Lord knows, I could probably use it. "Well, anyways.." He handed me a small bottle of water, only a quarter of the substance still in the clear plastic, which I took, along with the asprin. He put the asprin in my mouth and swallowed them with a swig of water, handing him the rest. Was water a precious commodity these days?

"We've managed to recover a few of the scientists as they came through City 17 to be processed. We've found a few of the Black Mesa scientists, and Doctor Eli." So Eli had survived? Incredible. He was probably one of the first to get away, anyways. "His daughter was with him too. Alex, I think he name is. She's a resourceful girl. We've got to get you over there. Here.. take this. You'll need it."

Barney handed me his old pistol. It was reminescant of the fiasco back at Black Mesa, and if I wasn't so tired from the events, I would've had another flashback. I slowly stood up, loading a fresh clip into the .9mm deathstick, placing it in its proper compartment, incase I needed it. For now, my crowbar would have to suffice.

"Just be careful out there, Gordan. There're plenty more of those aliens and they're alot more heavily armed than you are. If you need to get to Doctor Eli's lab, head out the back entrance and across the town square. You might have to trudge through the canal, but at the end of it is the lab. Try not to stir up too much trouble, will ya, Gordan?" Barney added.

I slowly stood up, making my way out of the room. Barney took out a key, unlocking and opening the only other door in this little area. "Good luck."

I moved past him towards the other door at the end of the hall. It opened easily, and I guarded my face from the sun again. City 17 was a ghost town.. inhabited only by the rare free human, and everything else was some sort of alien force, it seemed. Papers swept by in the breeze, giving me that sense of loneliness. But then again, I had always been alone..

hadn't I?


End Chapter 2.