Chapter 4: Tunnel Vision

Darkness surrounded Adrian as dust assaulted his lungs. His whole body ached and carrying his bound interrogator over his shoulder certainly didn't help. She may not weigh much but Adrian was so exhausted; mentally for the most part but she was just another burden to deal with. He knew he was in some basement but he wasn't sure if anyone still alive was with him. Someone coughing to his left told him he wasn't alone. He could hear someone fidgeting with some gear. He was letting his eyes adjust to the darkness until he was blinded by a bright stream of light that suddenly appeared before his eyes.

"Get that light out of my eyes, dammit," snarled Adrian.

"Sorry," said the man with the flashlight, "Sound off, who's here."

"Randall," said a voice.

"Yurkevich's here."

"Chang here," said a man.

"I'm here, Yuri's here," said Yuri.

"Shepard here," Adrian responded.

The man with the flashlight waited for any more voices but when none came he pointed the light toward Shepard, "Collins' here. Shepard, you're the American marine we freed, correct."

"Yeah," Adrian responded.

"Who's that you're carrying Shepard," said Collins, who appeared to be the leader.

"One of the interrogators, Kaitlyn O'Rourke is her name."

"Okay, good. We're gonna have to go through the tunnels. Take her with us Shepard, if we can't take her all the way we'll leave her," said Collins.

"Where are we going sir," Adrian asked, obviously confused.

"To one of our bases, of course," Collins said with a hint of annoyance in his voice, "Alright, lets move out," he then took some glow sticks from a pouch on his belt and cracked them on. He tossed one to each person including Adrian.

Adrian caught the stick and before he followed he adjusted his gear, he strapped his MP-7 to his body so it hung in front of him. He propped Kaitlyn farther up his shoulder and then fell in line behind all but Chang. He looked over Chang with the blue light from the glow stick. He wore gray fatigues with a black combat vest. He was an Asian man with black hair and brown eyes. Although he stood several inches shorter than Adrian he was incredibly powerful. Not only did he carry an RPD, an eastern bloc light machine gun, he carried several belts of ammunition, a sidearm, and an RPG launcher. Adrian tried to scan over the other men but all he could see were their backs. Other than Yuri he knew nothing of the men with him.

He must have been in sort of warehouse because the basement was huge. They had walked fifty meters before they came up to a wall. The wall was covered with rubble and tossed over furniture. Two of the men in front of Adrian tore down some of the rubble to reveal an iron hatch in the ground. One of the men pulled it open and dropped through, the others followed suit. Adrian lifted the unconscious girl off his shoulder and gently lowered her through the hole where one of the men took hold of her. Adrian dropped down into a small, dank tunnel that was evidently a sewer due to the dark, smelly water that went up to his ankles on the bottom of the tunnel. He turned to face the rest of the group only to have Kaitlyn thrust into arms.

"Here, you take her," said a man with an Eastern European accent, "By the way, my name is Boris Yurkevich."

"Thanks, Adrian Shepard," he said in return, quite annoyed by what Boris did. He started to lift the girl over his shoulders when she started to moan through her gag. Adrian looked at her face, she was still unconscious and her long black hair was disheveled and covered part of her face. Adrian went to tear the silver duct-tape off her lips but Chang grabbed his arm.

"Don't," he said, "she may wake up and we don't need a screaming Combine bitch with us."

Adrian left the gag on her and hoisted her over his shoulders. He fell back in line and followed the group with Chang still holding up the rear. They walked for about three-hundred yards before the stone ceiling of the sewer gave way to a long iron grate. Sunlight poured into the sewer so Adrian and the rest pocketed their glow sticks. Adrian looked up to see that they were right under a street in the middle of this so-called City-17. He could see several old, eastern European buildings and a bleak, gray sky. They kept walking until the stone around them began shaking.

All of a sudden several armored cars passed right above them. Just after they passed Adrian could hear the sound of marching boots. He instinctively pressed himself against the wall. In order to get as close to wall as possible he pulled Kaitlyn off his shoulder and held her with her back facing him tightly. He noticed the other men press against the wall as well, scared expressions covered their faces. The marching became so loud that Adrian knew they were getting close. After several seconds a group of thirty soldiers dressed in heavy body armor and black gas masks marched across right on top of the iron grate.

Just as the soldiers were passing above them Kaitlyn began to stir and moan through her gag. Adrian realized she was regaining consciousness. After stirring for a moment she woke up and began looking around. All she saw was a group of rebels holding her in a dank sewer. She looked up to see a platoon of soldiers, so she tried to scream as loud as she could through her gag. Adrian quickly slipped his right hand over her mouth and squeezed tightly. What little noise she had made immediately silenced. However, the last two soldiers of the group stopped, it seemed as if they had heard the Kaitlyn's whimpering. Adrian and the rest tensed, Chang and Yuri raised their weapons, prepared to fire if they were discovered.

Kaitlyn, noticing that the soldiers may have heard her began to struggle frantically, she tried to twist out of Adrian's grasp and yell through the tape over her mouth and Adrian's hand. She began to hit Adrian in the stomach with her handcuffed hands. The blows did not hurt him but they made some noise so Adrian slipped his left arm between Kaitlyn's bound arms and back and pulled her tightly to him, stopping her from hitting him and making too much noise. The soldiers above them did not seem to notice them, perhaps they were just standing guard Adrian thought. They did not seem to have heard the noise because they were just standing there, talking casually. Though Adrian could not hear what they were talking about they both spoke with that deep, artificial sounding voice the rest of the soldiers and guards he encountered talked with.

Though Kaitlyn still struggled, as long as Adrian held her tightly and added to the tape gag with his hand she wasn't causing too much noise. As he held her he suddenly realized how beautiful she was. He had noticed her stunning facial features in the interrogation room, such as the jet black hair and button nose, but now he finally took the notice of the rest of her body. She was slim but appeared to be in good shape with some small but toned muscles. She had long legs and her chest seemed to grow as she breathed so heavily. Her breasts were large and supple. Adrian was just starting to admire her soft, bodacious buttocks when suddenly, Kaitlyn, as if she knew he was looking over her grabbed his testicles and squeezed tightly.

Adrian almost cried out in shock and pain but he barely managed to hold it back. The pain was terrible, it felt as if a vice was crushing his crotch. His face twisted and contorted but he still held her tight, desperately not wanting her to give them away. Finally, Chang took notice of what was going on and drew his pistol, shoving it up to her head.

"Let go," Chang whispered softly but in a harsh tone as he jammed the gun to head. Kaitlyn finally released his crotch and Adrian let out a sigh of relief. The pain was still there but it was slowly subsiding. He pulled her against him tightly and squeezed tighter with his hand over her mouth. Kaitlyn managed to let out a near silent whelp of pain but she suddenly stopped her struggling as Chang pressed the pistol to her head harder. Between the hand over her mouth and the gun to her head, Kaitlyn was in excruciating pain which Adrian took notice of due to lack of struggling but he took no care of it. The pain she had just caused him was something she could not experience. Kaitlyn finally gave up and just slumped over in Adrian's arms. She became a dead weight that Adrian had to hold up himself. Seeing that the girl had given up Chang holstered his sidearm.

Though she had given up, Adrian was surprised in Kaitlyn's resilience and refusal to give up without a fight. Even though Adrian had no idea where he was or what was going on he knew she was his enemy; but he was surprised that he did not hate her and was actually glad to have met someone with her character. His attention was directed toward the soldiers above when one bended down and began tying his undone boot strings. As he was tying his boots Adrian thought he had seen them. The soldier had stopped tying his boot and was looking through the iron grate intently. Though sunlight pierced the sewer through the grate there was enough shadow to hide Adrian and the group from any passing person. However, this soldier was looking directly into the sewer and scanning it intensely. Adrian froze, he still held Kaitlyn but she seemed to not take notice to the soldier above. He hoped the soldier would not see them and when he sat there for over a minute looking into the sewer Adrian knew he couldn't have seen them. He couldn't have been more wrong.

"Hey! Stay where you are!" the soldier shouted as he raised his gun at them. The other soldier spun around but before either could do anything Chang and Yuri fired long bursts at them. Bullets tore both soldiers legs to pieces. The one who had seen them had his face blown straight off as a burst from Chang's RPD tore through his neck. The other soldier fell back onto the street, his legs were nothing but torn bone and flesh but he was still alive. The gunfire had brought Kaitlyn back to reality, she started to struggle again and was screaming for her life through her gag.

"Captain," the wounded soldier said faintly into his radio, "I'm hit, need back up."

"Roger, we're on our way," said a voice on the other end of the radio.

Collins got up and yelled, "Come on! Let's go!"

He started to run down the sewer as the rest followed. Adrian hoisted Kaitlyn over his shoulder and ran as fast as he could. When they finally came to a point several yards down where the iron gate was replaced by the stone ceiling he heard the grate open behind them. He looked back to see a large sack fall into the sewer.

"Satchel charge," Adrian shouted as he fell to ground, covering Kaitlyn with his body. The rest of the group dropped to the ground but before Randall made it the way down the charge exploded. A piece of shrapnel lodged itself into Randall's neck as blood spewed from his jugular. A flying shard of stone pierced Adrian's left leg. He wanted to check it out but he knew he had to keep going. He got up with the rest of the team and continued running. He heard another splash and a burst of gunfire. He looked back to see a soldier lying in the water, turning it red. Chang had shot him when he dropped in. A rifle appeared in the sewer from the opening and began firing. Bullets ricocheted off the walls but Adrian kept on running, Chang close behind him.

They had ran for another two-hundred yards before he realized there was no one pursuing them. Collins had stopped at a dead end. Adrian thought they were trapped, but Collins took out his flashlight and shined it onto the wall revealing another iron door. It was then that Adrian heard a metallic clang behind them. It disappeared but several seconds later he heard it again. It sounded like a buzz saw cutting against a stone wall.

"What is that?" Adrian asked.

"Manhacks!" Chang said, "Collins, hurry up, open the hatch."

"Dammit, it's fuckin' jammed. Cover me, I gotta cut through the bolts," he shouted as he pulled out as small electric drill.

"Shepard," Chang said, "put that bitch down, I'm gonna need your help."

"We can't leave her," Adrian responded.

"Just do it and get ready," he said. The appearance of a dozen red lights and sparks down the sewer told him he should do so. He put Kaitlyn down and readied his weapon. Before he could see what was making the lights and sparks Chang began firing. Adrian and Yuri followed suit as Yurkevich helped Collins with the door. Several of the lights disappeared when they consumed by small explosions. Adrian's gun clicked indicating it out of ammunition. He began reloading, when he looked back up he saw one of the red lights coming straight at his face. He dropped to the ground as the object flew over his head. He got up and turned around to see Yurkevich's chest torn open. His blood drenched Collins, covering most of his body with Boris' blood.

Floating above Boris' body was a metal cylinder with a red "eye" about the size of an adult's head. Spinning around the floating cylinder were two metal saws about a foot long apiece. This flying saw had hacked Yurkevich apart. The manhack turned toward Collins but before it could attack him Adrian blew it to pieces with several well aimed bursts at it. Chang and Yuri were still firing so he turned around he provided support for them. When his clip ran empty the remaining manhacks were destroyed.

"What the hell are those things?" Adrian asked.

"Manhacks," said Chang, "the Combine deploy them in sewers in order to disrupt our movements."

"Listen," Adrian said angrily, "I know now is not the time but when we get the fuck to some safe place I want to know exactly what the fuck is going on"

"Yeah. Sure." Chang responded, obviously startled by Adrian's tone. A metallic crack behind them turned their attention back to Collins.

"Okay, I got this open. Let's move out," Collins said as he opened the hatch, flooding the sewer with sunlight that blinded Adrian. Collins, Yuri, and Chang went through the opening so Adrian picked up Kaitlyn, who was still struggling and walked out of the tunnel, disappearing into the light.