Chapter 1: Military Expertise Rated M: for language and violence
Adrian couldn't see a thing. Not that his eyes didn't work but because of where he was, an endless black void. It was like being in outer space, he wasn't standing on anything, he couldn't feel a floor yet he still stood erect and the infinite space had no stars. He wondered where he was. The last place he had been which only seemed to be moments ago was an Osprey, a military helicopter. He was onboard with that man in a blue suit and carrying a briefcase, he had no idea who he was or who he worked for, he could only assume he was a agent for the U.S. government but he had no idea which agency. After that "g-man" seemed vanish when he entered the cockpit everything slowly went dark and Adrian seemed to have fallen asleep only to wake up after what seemed to be a few seconds in this void. He had to get out of here, so he did the one thing he could, he started walking. He did not know where he was going or what he was looking for but even after walking a few minutes in this place and not find anything he started to run frantically, hoping to find something or better yet, hoping he would wake up from this terrible dream to be in his barracks with his fellow marines. He hoped that all that had happened at Black Mesa was not real, the death of his friends and the horrific monsters and betrayal was not real, just a sicked, twisted nightmare.
Or perhaps this was real. Could this place be where that g-man had said he would detain. Adrain did not know and his fear took control of him as he fell to the ground screaming, "Somebody help me, please! Is anybody here, help me."
"Help, Corporal Shepard...help?" asked a voice, "I would not have thought someone so well trained as yourself would need any sort of...assistance."
Adrain recognized that voice immediately, it was the voice of a man who seemed to have a speech impedement, one who would pause frequently in sentence and stress certain words needlessly. The man's voice was low but he talked in a eiry way, almost in a way that a witch would talk. It was the voice of that g-man.
"Where are you? Show yourself coward and tell me who the fuck you are!" shouted Adrian. He then heard footsteps behind him. As he turned around he saw the man who had imprisoned him here. He wore a blue suit with a black tie, his shoes were black and the black briefcase he carried had the gold symbol of Black Mesa on it. He had a skinny body which his suit seemed to cling to. His face was long and scrawny and his white skin seemd to have a tint of yellow in it. His jet black hair was in a crewcut style and his eyes were a bright green. It appeared he did not get enough sleep because under his eyes his skin was bluish and shallow yet he seemed wide awake.
"Now now Corporal Shepard, that conduct is...unbefitting to a United States Marine. What would your...superior officers say to that.," said the g-man as he came to a stop a foot away from Shepard.
"Where am I and who the hell are you?" demanded Shepard.
"I, I am of no importance but my...employers...they are of importance. As to where you...are. Well to tell you would just be giving away a...vital secret...one which i would not like to fall into the wrong hands." he said. Adrian wondered what the hell he was talking about but before he could speak the g-man spoke, "Besides, to answer all your questions would take time and time is not always...on our side, Corporal Shepard. Although I suspect you cannot grasp the reality of time...being in the state you were just in. And I have an assignment for you Corporal, one which your...military expertise would benefit you and my employers...well. Now good luck Corporal Adrian Shepard, you will...need it where you are going. Now get moving marine, get moving and see what...time has done."
Adrian didn't know what to say. He closed his eyes and tried to think but when he couldn't he opened his eyes to see that the g-man was gone and he was standing on an open beach. He looked around and saw that the beach was about one-hundred yards wide and ended at a fifty foot ridge that was a long as he could see. He saw a few houses atop the ridge, each had a dock that jutted off the ridge but stopped only a few yards out, not even close and well above the water. The sky was gray and overcast and cold wind made it feel close to freezing. He looked down to see he was wearing his combat boots and urban fatigues. What stunned him even more was to see that he was wearing his Personal Combat Vest or PVC. He wasn't wearing a helmet or the gas mask he had on at Black Mesa and beside his basic combat knife he was unarmed. That did not suprise him since the g-man said back when they were on the Osprey that his weapons and gear were government property. He could tell it was getting close to nightfall and knew that the temperature would drop further. He decided to seek refuge in one the homes. He took a step toward the ridge and froze.
The ground started to rumble as if an earthquake was happening. Then a dozen yellowish insect-like creatures dug themselves out of the ground and encircled Shepard. They were only about a meter high and just as wide with four bug-like legs coming from the torso and it head was connected to it torso but it seemed to have no neck. Adrian was stunned at first but not scared. He had never seen these things before but they bore a semblence to creatures he fought at Black Mesa. Did those aliens or whatever they were spread across the entire world, did humans even exist anymore and how long has it been since the incident at Black Mesa occur. It had to be years, at the least three or four if not more.
Adrian was pulled back to reality when one of the creatures let out a high pitched scream and lunged at him. Shepard did the only thing he could, he rolled to the side, barely dogding its attack. He pulled out his knife only to have one the things jump on top of him. It picked up its leg to reveal a sharp and deadly point which Shepard knew he would be impaled by. He stabbed upward and jammed his knife into point where it's head connected to its body. Yellow blood poured out of the wound after he dislodged his knife from it. The creature let out a short scream and its body dropped on top of Adrian, pining him to the sand. The other creatures screamed and charged but the first one to try and strike him was ripped apart from machine gun fire. The rest appeared to fly away, their torsos split in two revealing wings and they flew about thirty yards into the sky and landed about fifty yards away from Shepard, putting him in between the creatures and the ridge. He turned and looked toward the ridge to see several humans standing atop one of the docks. They were firing what appeared to be assualt rifles as blue tracers passed over his head to hit those creatures behind him. He could hear them shouting and waving their arms, beckoning him toward them.
So he started to run toward the dock only to see more of these creatures emerge from the ground and pursue him. Many fell under the fire coming the dock but there were just to many and some began to gain on him. He finally made it to the end of the dock but could see no way up. He turned to see a pair of the monsters a dozen yards from him only to be torn to pieces by the concentrated gunfire.
"Hey, you," a voice called from above. He looked up to see a rope dropped down from the dock. He grabbed it and without checking to see if it was secure he began climbing. It only took him a few seconds to get to the top. Apparently his military expertise was exactly what he needed considering climbing the rope is one of the first things a marine recruit does at boot camp.
He looked toward the men who had saved his life. There were four pf them and they all were wearing dark blue fatigues with a gold symbol on their arms that looked strangily familiar, he had seen it at Black Mesa but he couldn't remember exactly where. He soon realized they were staring at him, he got up and said, "Thank you, you save my life."
"No problem," said a man who Adrian presumed was the leader, "but what the fuck are you doing on the beach during the Antlions spawning season?"
What the hell is an Antlion, he thought. "Look, sir, I dont know where I am and what is an Antlion?" Shepard asked.
"Those things down there are Antlions and they'll eat anything that walks on the beach and we are on the coast a few miles outside City-17," said the leader, a man in his late forties, early fifties who appeared to have seen his fair share of combat.
"Where is City-17?" asked Adrian, clearly confused by the name and from what just happened.
The leader looked a little annoyed, "Its about fifteen miles that way," he said pointing inland.
"No, what area is it in, what country?"
The man looked at him confused. He was silent for several seconds andhe was about to answer when he looked up into the sky with a distressed look on his face. Adrian looked up to find what he was looking for. Before he saw anything thing he heard a soft but quick thumping sound that sounded closely to a helicopter. It got louder and was coming from behind the hill that lay farther inland about eighty yards away.
Adrian stood there staring when the man grabbed his shoulder hard, "Combine, lets go now!" was all he shouted as he pulled Adrian with him. They ran toward the house at the end of the dock. All the men on the dock excpet for Shepard and the leader were inside the house when what was making the noise flew right over the hill, barely missing the top of it. It flew past Shepard and it looked like nothing he had ever seen before. It looked like a flying beetle, its "cockpit" was small and round but its frame got gradually wider the farther when looked upon its frame. At its end was a helicopter proppeler and it had a fin on each side of it a third of the way up from the cockpit. It quickly turned around in such a graceful and living way. As it turned to the left to turn around it frame and fins turned at different points that no modern jet or helicopter could do.
Adrian stood there in awe as it began firing from a cannon under its nose. Blue tracers tore the leader to pieces as he pushed him through the door of the house. The aircraft then fired into the house, tearing the walls apart and shattering the windows. Adrian was pulled by another man down some old wooden stairs into what must be the cellar. More bullets riddled the house but none were able to penetrate the concrete roof of the basement.
"What the fuck was that?" Adrian said hystrically.
"Quiet," whispered the one who pulled him downstairs. Adrian remained silent and listened to what appeared to be two more ships of the same sort fly over and come extremely low to the ground. A few seconds later he heard two explosions from upstairs and the rustle of footsteps. He could only assume soldiers of some sort were raiding the house.
"Overwatch," said the one next to him as he handed him a pistol. Adrian looked at him confused as he took the gun. He checked to see if it was loaded and released the safety. Just then a grenade fell down the stairs. The others ran to a place to hide as Adrian ran to the other end of the basement, he faced the wall and covered his face with his arms. The explosion shook the cellar and filled the room with dust that obscured his vision. Adrian turned and pointed his gun toward the stairs,his ears were ringingbut he could see fine.
He saw half a dozen soldiers with sub-machineguns and shotguns appears from the dust wearing navy blue body armor and dark, almost black gas mask. The room exploded in gunfire as those hiding in the basement open fired. Adrian fired as well until he was hit by several rounds. His PCV stopped the bullets but he was knocked to the ground. He lay on the ground for a few seconds and then tried to get up. As he got to his knees a boot shot out and kicked him in the face. he fell back down as blood gushed out of his mouth.
"Don't move Citizen," came an extremely deep and artificial voice, "you are under arrest." Adrian looked up to see one of the masked soldiers standing above aiming a shotgun at his head. After that everything went dark and once agian Adrian Shepard entered another black, endless void.