Things continued on that day very usually. Nothing too interesting going on in the afternoon, and the usual evening poker game, and then to bed for me. I turned away from the fire, trying to get some good shuteye. Little did I know that I would need sleep that night more than ever, because it would be my last night sleeping in this camp.

Not softly do the drums of war sound.

A distant voice called to me, telling me something. All sound was muffled, and I couldn't hear what the person was saying. I felt myself being shaken, and someone telling me to get up. "Mwhamm…" I made a noise. "Just 5 more minutes, please…" I rolled over and pushed the person's arms away. Apparently they got annoyed, because their next move was slapping me in the freaking face. I yelped, jumping up, becoming notably aware of my surroundings. When I find out who the bastard was that slapped me, there would be some Hell to pay! "Mike!" yelled the person whom I heard in my sleep. I turned to see Blake crouching next to my slumber area, fear alive in his eyes. "Blake, what the hell is going on? What's wrong?" I prepared to hear the worst from him. I braced myself for the answer.

"It's the Combine. They've found us."

It was too much. I reeled back, clutching my chest. "What?" I yelled. Blake grabbed my shoulders and shook me. "Calm down!" he yelled back at me. I shook him off, my face grim with anger. What the hell was wrong with this kid? "Calm?" I asked him. "The damn Combine have come to kill us all, and you want me to be calm?"

"Damn it, Mike! Shut it for one second!" Blake yelled. I shut it, hoping what he had to say was important. "You need to go down to the armory to gear up. We're fighting."

Holy shit, this is big.

I gave him a weak, breathless nod, and then hopped out of my makeshift bed. As I swiftly changed myself into my combat clothes, I thought. Damn! So they're finally here. I never thought this day would come…

No, that was another lie.

I knew this day would come, I knew it all along. I just feared it. I feared it until I managed to put it into a vault in my brain under lock and key, where I fooled myself into thinking that the Combine wouldn't come, that they would just go away. Well, now this day is come, and there is no more hiding, fearing, or fooling. Today, we're gonna fight.

I should have gone directly to the armory after I had gotten dressed. Should have, but didn't. There was one thing that I needed to get first. I rushed into the remains of my old home, and ran up to my room. I frantically began tearing out the drawers of my dresser, looking for something. Come on, it's here somewhere… it has to be…

Aha! I found the item, two items, actually, that I was looking for and stuffed them into my pockets. The two items were the only left of any value to me: my two favorite medals I had won while on my crew team. God was with me when I won those medals, and I prayed that God was still with me now. And anyway, if we lost here, no Combine scum is touching my precious medals.

I rushed out of my house and sprinted to the armory, which was an old shed near the center of the camp. I flung open the door and dived at whatever weapon I could. An extra pistol and a .22 hunting rifle for me, just because that was all that was left. I grabbed one of the few remaining flak jackets and was about to take off when I noticed my old wood-cutting axe in the corner of the shed. I thought about it. Yeah, take it. Those bastards deserve much worse. I slung the axe across my back and took off to the front lines at Point 1. I climbed the ladder as fast as I could, hopped up on the platform, and looked out into the wastes.

Oh my Lord.

There were at least a hundred of them. Scratch a hundred, two hundred, more like. All coming at us like ants to a picnic. They weren't alone, either. They brought tanks. Tanks with a single machine gun turrent on the top and the capability to launch rockets like madness. They were Combine APCs, and there were at least 8 of them.

Dear God and it didn't stop at the damn tanks.

They had one air unit, a lone Combine gunship flying overhead. It looked almost like a giant flying manatee, but there was no time to describe it, it was going to overtake us in seconds. "Get down!" the man next to me screamed. "GET DOWN!" everyone obeyed, and to good reason. The first volley of those blue streaking combine bullets tore through our concrete and wood defensives, leaving car-sized gnashes in our hard work. These sons of bitches need to be taught a lesson in humility. "Let em' have it!" I yelled, pointing my rifle to the sky. I fired several times, hitting on the mark. It wasn't a very hard target to miss. With horror, I realized that bullets were not doing a damn thing to that flying beast, even with everyone shooting at it. "Oh shit!" the man next to me yelled again. "INCOMING!" I turned to face the incoming soldiers, and my eyes bulged.

Rockets. 5 of them.

My mind couldn't think.

"Glory be to the Father," I began to pray. The rockets inched closer.

"To the Son," Closer.

"To the Holy Spirit," Closer still.

Time seemed to slow, and turned my back to the death canisters coming at me.

"As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end,"

With tears of fear in my eyes, I leaped off the Point 1 wall.

"Amen…" I whispered.