Have the chapters been a little short so far? Say the word, and I'll make them longer.
Alyx Vance moved gracefully through the rubble-strewn road, Dog following closely behind. She told him to search as much as he could, while she made it to the checkpoint. From there, she could contact her father, and find out what the hell was going on.
She ducked under the archway of a destroyed building, looking around. Dog lightly leapt into the foundations, and began digging. Alyx jumped down next to him, moving to a smaller pile of wreckage. She moved a large rock, shoving it aside.
"Dog, I don't think he's-" She turned, to see Gordon Freeman in Dog's hand. "Gordon!" She cried, delighted. Gordon stepped down, and she wrapped her arms around him, beaming from ear to ear. He smiled, awkwardly patting her on the back, obviously caught off guard. She finally stepped back, still smiling.
"I knew we'd find you Gordon, I just knew it."
Barney shook his head, trying to clear it. His ears were still ringing; he was still shell-shocked. He stumbled down the train tunnel, trying his best to avoid the fires, although he was seeing double. He fell, and crawled to the nearest wall, slumping against it. Shakily, Barney lifted his radio, pressing the call button.
"This is Calhoun, is anybody there? Repeat…Barney Calhoun…is anybody there?" He waited almost a minute, and when there was no response, he switched channels. After another minute of static, he did it again. Several channels later, he heard a voice.
"Barney…Barney is that you?" It was Doctor Isaac Kleiner.
"Isaac! What…what the hell is going on?" He managed to say. His head was becoming clear now.
"Gordon and Alyx breached the Citadel. They rescued Eli, but Breen escaped. They blew it up. They blew it up!" Isaac yelled, still happy.
Barney was flooded with relief, and elation. He would've cheered, had his vocal cords allowed it. He settled for a smile. "Are they ok?"
"Yes, yes, they're quite all right. Alyx and Dog found Gordon buried in rubble, alive and well. But there's one problem."
"What?" Barney asked, knowing it was too good to be true.
"The Citadel is melting down," Isaac continued, "In twenty minutes, it will release a catastrophic explosion, bigger than the one before. Gordon and Alyx went in, to try to stop it."
"Son of a bitch!" Barney shouted. It hurt, and he dropped the radio in a coughing fit. It hit the ground, breaking into three pieces. Through the coughs, Barney cursed again.
"What's that?" He heard the gruff voices of Combine soldiers. A moment later, he heard the whirring of a Combine tank. He crawled up against the wall, drawing the Glock. He lifted it shakily, and watched the vehicle come into view, turning down the tunnel towards him. Four Combine soldiers escorted it, walking carefully on the footpaths above the track. Barney made himself as small as possible, but knew there would be no way to avoid them.
Damn it! He thought. He could barely hold the weapon steady, and knew he would hit nothing. He lowered the pistol, and lay down, narrowing his eyes to slits. Several moments later, he clamped them shut.
"There's a body, check it!" Barney heard one of the soldiers jump down nearby, as the tank trundled along. He tried not to cough, but it was becoming hard; his throat was incredibly raw from all the dust in the air. He felt a foot prodding him, and tried to hold his breath.
"This one's dead," He heard.
"Burn it," Another soldier responded, "But wait a few minutes so we can get far enough, the tank's leaking. You, wait with him!"
"Yes sir!" Barney heard two sets of feet walking away. Almost two minutes later, he heard a flare ignite. He opened his eyes, to see two feet, lit by the fire. Not waiting any longer, he kicked out, breaking the soldier's leg at the knee and throwing him back. Barney lifted the pistol, aiming across the tunnel at the second soldier. He emptied the clip, dropping him. Fumbling with a new magazine, he slid it in clumsily. The soldier he had kicked was trying to sit up; Barney put three shots into him.
He shakily clambered to his feet, picking up the flare. It illuminated the tunnel around him with red light. He knew a train would not make it through; there was no way. He was surprised the tank had managed it, frankly. He heard shouts coming from ahead, and grabbed the pulse rifle by the stock, pulling it towards him. He hefted it, and climbed up onto the footpath.
The two soldiers came into view, brandishing their weapons. Barney peered down the iron sites of the rifle, laying his finger down on the trigger. One of the soldiers fell back, riddled with burning globs of plasma. He swiveled the rifle, emptying the magazine. The other soldier dove down onto the track, unharmed. Barney threw the rifle aside, drawing the Glock. He heard a scream, and looked over the pile of wreckage. The soldier had tripped, and fallen onto the electrically charged track. Barney grimaced, but sighed with relief. A moment later, he heard the tank coming back.
"Not now…" He groaned, looking for an exit. All he saw was a mechanical access tunnel. He shot the lock off the door, and clambered inside. He holstered the pistol, and grasped the ladder, slowly reaching for a higher rung. He slipped, and crashed back to the floor, groaning.
It took him ten minutes to climb the ladder, another five to move the manhole cover. He hauled himself up, shakily standing in the road. Looking around, a loud curse came to his lips. The city was destroyed, almost every building reduced to rubble. Massive holes were torn in the road, littered with bodies of both human and Combine.
Despite the destruction, Barney knew where he was. He was two miles from Isaac Kleiner's lab. If he moved now, he could probably make it without detection. His head was clearing, both vision and hearing restoring themselves. He shook his head, and stumbled over to a wall. Leaning against it, he felt a raindrop on his cheek.
Five minutes later, the rain was pouring, coming down in sheets. Barney, stumbling along the road, was drenched. The rain had done one good thing however: He had been restored the full use of his senses. His leg hurt, and he slowly limped down the road. He looked down, seeing something jutting out of his thigh. Reaching down, he pulled a small piece of shrapnel out. With a curse, he tossed it aside.
Barney heard a familiar noise. Creaking metal, and something massive hitting the pavement: A Strider. The behemoth turned the corner two blocks ahead of Barney, headed right for Isaac's lab. Barney cursed, limping as fast as he could after it. He knew he had to stop it, but he had no clear idea how.
Gordon Freeman stepped out of the destroyed van, jogging around to help Alyx. He looked around. Sparks flew everywhere, loose wires and beams hanging from the ceiling. Gordon stepped forward, hefting the Gravity Gun. Alyx followed closely.
They walked through the destruction for several minutes, encountering nothing. Gordon moved a bundle of wires from his view, and saw something ahead.
"Stalkers…" Alyx breathed. She stepped forward, lifting her 9mm. Squeezing the trigger, a single bullet zipped through the air, catching the Stalker in the eye and throwing it back. She and Gordon ran for it, Gordon checking its pulse. It was dead.
"These…they used to be people. The Combine hurt them…tortured them…into doing their bidding. They're monsters now," She continued, shaking her head. "We've been taught to show them no mercy."
Before she could say anything more, bullets panged off the metal near them. Both dove into alcoves on the side of the hall, Gordon cringing. They should not have allowed the Combine to sneak up on them like that.
Shepard sat in Breen's chair, thinking about what to do. He had put the fires out, removed the chair from the window, and dressed himself in the elite's suit, not liking the tight fit Breen's clothes presented. He realized that without Breen, he had no clear idea on where to look for these people. He had thought rashly about killing the soldiers, deciding now that he could use them.
He started, hearing yelling. After a moment, Shepard realized that it was coming from the radio inside his mask.
"Intruders in the Citadel!" The radio screamed, "We can't get a clear picture, but one is wearing bright orange body armor!" Shepard tuned the rest out.
Freeman…He thought. Freeman had worn an orange HEV suit. Did that mean…was he still here?
Cursing his stupidity, he sprinted out of the room, listening for a location. He ran for several minutes, through empty and destroyed corridors. This was too perfect, two of his targets in the same building.
Finally, he found them. Four Combine soldiers had them pinned down in a narrow corridor. He hurried to them, skidding to a stop.
"Sir, we've got the two intruders!" One of them yelled. Shepard looked around for who he might be talking to, but then realized he was wearing the Elite's suit. He grinned, a plan formulating in his mind.
"They're pinned down! All units move up!" He shouted, knowing that without any cover, they wouldn't stand a chance. He was right. Quickly, he slipped into a small alcove, and heard several shots, followed by screams. And then; silence.
"That elite's still up there!" He heard a female voice call. Shepard smiled, and tore off his gas mask. He set the rifle down, and stepped out, coming face to face with a pistol.
"Don't shoot! Don't shoot!" Shepard cried, falling to his knees, "I'm on your side!"
He recognized the woman, from before. He had watched her shoot down one of those massive machines without even flinching. When Breen had mentioned Alyx Vance, Shepard had not even made the connection. It was a shame that she would have to die so needlessly. She cast a look at Freeman.
"He's right," Alyx said, apparently recognizing him as well, "I fought with him earlier, just before they brought me to Breen. I thought you were killed."
"No, only wounded. I awoke in Breen's office, under interrogation. I feigned unconsciousness, and when they were hauling me back to my cell, I killed two of his guards and escaped. I've been creeping through air vents for hours!"
"Poor bastard," Freeman snorted, and Shepard got a good look at him. He hurriedly looked away, not wanting the hatred to show in his eyes.
"What…what happened here? I was in a bathroom when an explosion sounded. I blacked out, and when I woke up, everything was destroyed. Did you do that?" He asked, once again looking at Alyx.
"Gordon and I-" She began, but Shepard cut her off. He grabbed her wrists, still grasping the pistol, and spun them around, firing several shots into her leg. She collapsed, and Shepard had to dive into cover, as Freeman reacted faster than he would've thought, opening up with his MP7.
"You son of a bitch! Gordon!" Alyx cried, gasping for air on the floor.
Shepard said nothing, drawing his Magnum. He leaned out, but was forced back into cover by Freeman. Alyx managed to somewhat recover, peppering the walls with bullet holes, slowly crawling towards cover. Shepard crouched, and peeked around, firing a shot at her. It missed, shattering the metal near her side. She yelled, and propped herself up against the wall, still shooting.
Gordon stepped out, opening up on the alcove where Shepard crouched. He covered his head, as a bullet ricocheted into his side. He grimaced, but the suit absorbed most of the blow.
He had underestimated his opponents, figuring them to be a bumbling scientist and a poser daddy's girl. He silently cursed himself, remembering that Freeman hadn't fucked his way through Black Mesa. He had left his rifle in the middle of the corridor, and only had two bullets left in the Magnum. He figured the rifle wouldn't be much help in this situation.
Shepard saw his answer across the hallway: A glass door. He lifted the Magnum, and fired both bullets into it, shattering the glass. Dropping the Magnum, he sprinted out, scooping up the rifle and diving through what was left of the door. He was in a mess hall.
"Gordon!" He heard Alyx scream, "Kick his ass!" He knew Freeman would not be far behind, and advanced into the dark room.