The strangers led us back to their headquarters, which was situated in a heavily fortified college campus that took about an hour to reach even with our vehicles. They identified themselves as the Resistance, a leading rebellion force against the Combine. We were welcomed at their base with open arms, and they kindly housed all of our refugees and tended to our sick and wounded. Despite the safe housing, no one slept that night, preoccupied with mourning for their lost friends and family. Many people could be heard whispering prayers in the solitude of their own rooms, the quiet lamentations for the lost dead. I, on the other hand, wandered ventured out into the campus with my father's body, on my way to a sectioned off area that the Resistance used as a graveyard. When I found it, I found two solid planks of wood and a length of ruined rope and set to work. I had purposely not asked anyone for tool, because I wanted to be completely alone in the endeavor; I would bury my father with my bear hands if I had to. I dug a hole using one of the planks, and gently laid my dad down to rest. Words do not describe how difficult it was to actually spread the dirt on his body, knowing that I would never see his stern face ever again, nor hear his sarcastic mockery of the world as it was. My knees were shaking violently by the time I managed to tie the two planks together to form a cross and stick it in the ground behind my dad's grave. When I solemnly stepped back to survey my work, a new wave of grief swept my body, and I fell to my knees.
I had always promised myself that I wouldn't cry when my father died, that I would be glad when he was gone, and that I would finally get some of my inheritance. Now that the day had come, I saw that I had been an incredibly selfish bastard. I couldn't even hold back the wails that I let out, flushing the ground with enough tears to grow corn with.
"Dad… daddy…" I reverted back to the days when I called him childish names, whishing to Heaven and Hell alike that those days were still real. I thought this was all a dream, it had to be… Soon I would wake up in my bed and everything would be peaceful and calm again. I closed my eyes and wept until my mouth felt dry, and when I could cry no more, I started making harsh oaths, cursing whomever I could for this horrible atrocity. That moment, that precise minute, I decided.
"Every single one of those Combine bastards will die…" I growled, breathing heavily enough to crush metal. "They will all suffer… I will skin them alive and burn their bodies to ashes!" My rage blinded my better judgment, but I didn't care. If they wanted to throw their God-damned lemons at me, I would throw them back. Screw the pie. "If they want to see me dead, then I will be known in their records as their slayer! I will make my name feared to be whispered among their greatest leaders! They pushed me into a fight, and now they're gonna get one." I stood up and bowed to the cross and swiftly walked off to my assigned dorm, leaving my father's grave with a black heart and a fiery mind.