Suddenly a bullet zoomed past me. I ducked behind a large pipe, drawing my pistol and firing. I saw someone take cover behind a doorframe. Grimsberg ducked behind me.
The shots stopped. The shooter was probably reloading. I signalled for Grimsberg to follow. I stood up, ran towards the door, pistol ready, with Grimsberg behind me.
A security guard stood in front of us, dressed in a stained blue uniform. He was a large man, with a mustache. His hands were in the air, a pistol in one.
Next to him, sitting against the desk, was a scientist with a large hole in his stomach, the blood pooling on the floor.
"DROP THE GUN!" I yelled.
"DROP IT!" Grimsberg yelled.
"I REALLY DON'T WANT TO SHOOT YOU!"
"You'll shoot me anyway?" the guard yelled.
"Look, I get it, you're caught up in something you don't understand but we're going to have to shoot if you don't put the weapon down!"
"Oh for goodness sake," the scientist gasped out. "PUT DOWN THE GUN, OTIS! You're not helping anybody right now! I'm already dying."
"Okay," the guard replied. He slowly lowered the pistol, placing it on the ground.
"Am I seeing this right?" The scientist said. "You're a marine and you… you're one of the… other ones."
"You mean the black ops?" Grimsberg said.
"Yes, black ops, but you're working together. Last I heard the Black Ops were targeting marines as well. That means you're different. Don't worry about me, I'm already gone. But there is one thing you can do for me."
"What's that?" I asked.
"There are others… trapped in the test chamber… they need help. Find Dr. Kleiner."
"Dr. Kleiner?" I asked.
"Is he still alive?" Otis said.
"I don't know, but if he is, he can help. If anyone knows a way out of here, it is him. Otis has the codes to the elevator."
"You want me to go with them?" Otis asked. He was unsurprisingly nervous.
"We don't have much choice. They sent a man up already… Freeman, but he hasn't come back. Find Kleiner. Tell him Dr. Jonathan Frichman sent you."
"Doctor," Otis said.
"Don't worry about me. I'm not going to make it. Sooner or later, we all must live up to full… life… conseque-"
The scientist's breathing stopped. Grimsberg picked up the pistol, and handed it back to Otis.
"Now, Otis," I said. "Those key codes?"
"Yes, I'll take you to the door."
"Are you sure this is the best idea?" Grimsberg asked. "We're going DOWN! Isn't that the opposite direction we want to go?"
"It is, but I don't see much choice. Hopefully Kleiner knows a way out."
Otis led us to a door, punched in a code, and opened it. As we stepped through, he led us to the elevator.
Or at least it used to be an elevator. One of the doors was blown off , the other just barely attached. The lights flickered.
I looked down into the shaft. It must have gone down several stories. The elevator was stuck at the very bottom, sparks still flying from it.
In front of me, on the other side of the shaft, was a red ladder. It looked like the only way down.
"Are you serious?" I asked. "Whose bright idea was it to put a ladder in and make it as hard to reach as possible?"
"Oh, that's probably the Administrator," Otis said. "He's been trying to cut costs for a while now."
I jumped and grabbed the ladder with one hand. With the other, I reached for my sidearm, and began to climb down. The ladder went as far as two stories before I could climb onto the next platform. One by one the others followed.
The next hall was a ruin, even moreso than the rest of the base. Debris was scattered everywhere, and I could see the corpses of scientists scattered around the floor. Some of them had bullet wounds, no doubt the doing of the marines, or some of my squadmates. Others showed large wounds I did not recognize, likely the doing of these creatures.
The hall got darker, until only the red emergency lights allowed us to see where we were going. At the end of the tunnel was a door with a small broken window on the bottom, just big enough for a person to squeeze through.
I crouched down and stepped through it.
No sooner had I stepped through than I noticed a figure lumbering toward me. It looked vaguely human, dressed in the tattered remains of a lab coat. But its body was warped. The arms were unnaturally long, with even longer fingers on the very end. The torso appeared to have been turned into a sideways mouth, lined with sharp teeth. Where the head would be was one of those creatures I saw at Breen's office. Its sharp-pointed legs were embedded into the victim's shoulders.
More haunting was the cry it produced. It sounded like a muffled screaming. I could not make out any of what he said, if he said anything at all, but it felt like a cry for help.
I fired two shots into him. When he collapsed to the ground, I fired another few rounds into the creature on his head to ensure it wouldn't escape. The strange thing was it felt like an act of mercy.
Next up was a room containing three large tubes, one of which was shattered. The other two contained small… I'm not sure if they were balls of energy or something. And finally, I entered a control room, with a large window overlooking a massive chamber. That was where I saw it.
Something inside me told me this was the source of the "Resonance Cascade" I'd read about.
A large machine stood in the middle of the test chamber. The device itself did not appear to be working, but the large glowing ball inside was fully functional. From it lightning bolts seemed to shoot out at the walls and floor. Another just barely missed.
Next thing I knew, I was standing on a small ledge. My legs seemed to be fused into place, they would not move no matter how hard I tried.
The ledge overlooked a large open cavern. That was when I started to hear this voice, except it wasn't spoken—it was in my head.
"BIIIIISHHOOOP!"
It sounded muddled and crude, like if it was spoken by a being who had never used a mouth before, like it was less a sentence and just one long word.
"…understandyoucannotunderstand"
That was when I started to notice a shape appearing from under the ledge, a large round surface. It was rising quickly, and I started to realize I was looking at a head.
"The truth…you must never know the truth… I am alone… alone…alone like you… I am alone"
As it moved higher, a pair of what looked like two large empty eye sockets appeared, seemingly staring at me.
"We…were… theirslaves… aretheirslaves. You… you are man but he is not man… not man."
Suddenly everything went dark. Next thing I knew I was lying on the ground and saw a man crouched over me—a scientist, dressed in the same labcoat as the other Black Mesa scientists.
"You should be okay," the scientist said. I looked up at him, and could only utter the one word:
"Kleiner?"
The scientist paused in astonishment. "You know my name. Oh thank goodness! Gordon must have made it to the surface. He sent you down here didn't he? I knew we could count on him!"
I could feel my strength returning and I was able to sit up. "Gordon?"
"Gordon Freeman? Tall man in an orange HEV suit?"
"So that's who Freeman is," I said. I started to stand up. Kleiner grabbed my arm to help me regain my balance.
"You know him?"
"No, I heard the marines talking about him. Apparently he's been killing them."
"Odd," Kleiner muttered. "I had never taken Gordon for the violent type. Well, if Gordon didn't send you, than what are you doing down here?"
"I ran into a scientist named Dr. Frichman, who said I should find you. He said you might know and escape route."
"Dr. Frichman? He's alive."
"He was hurt pretty bad."
Kleiner sighed. "I'll admit he was never the greatest scientist. He once published a paper saying he found an isotope with a quarter life instead of a half-life… but he was a good person, and he never deserved to be caught in this mess."
"Are there any other survivors?" I asked.
"I don't think so. I had another colleague down here, Dr. Vance, but when Freeman didn't return he left to find his daughter. I don't know where they'd be now, if they're even still alive."
"Well, we'd better get moving," I said.
I led Kleiner back down the hall, and through the broken window in the door to where the rest of my new colleagues were waiting.
"KLEINER!" Otis yelled, a smile on his face. This must have been the first good news he heard all day. "You're alive!"
"It's good to see you, too Otis. We haven't been able to reach anybody down here."
Kleiner paused, before he took a deep breath.
"How bad is it?"
"It's really bad," Otis replied. "These creatures are all over the place? I don't know how many of us are left. If I could just find Barney he'd know what to do."
"I suppose you have a lot of questions," Kleiner said. "As do I. We weren't supposed to talk about this but now… now I feel like you deserve an explanation. You see, every object in the universe has its own resonance tha-"
"In English, please," Grimsberg said.
"We found a way to open a portal to another dimension. We've been collecting samples from that dimension for research purposes. It had been perfectly safe until now."
"Is that the "Resonance Cascade?" I asked
Kleiner looked at me, surprised. "You know what that is?"
"No, but I found a letter to Breen that mentioned it."
"Yes, he had been very keen to have this sample tested. It was a surprise that he was unable to come in for the test."
"This mess was planned."
"What? But how? And why?"
"I don't know, but Breen knew it would happen. He arranged to be away from here."
"You've got to be kidding," Kleiner said.
"Wait, he left us here to die?" Otis said.
"Yes, he saved himself by letting the rest of you die."
"My goodness," Kleiner said. "I know he's been cutting costs lately but that is a new low even for him. Now, who are you?"
I paused. "We're what's left. The army was sent here to cover up the… Resonance Cascade. Then they sent us. Now we're stuck working together."
"Wait, you mean?"
"Yeah, our orders were to silence all witnesses," Grimsberg said. "But this is more than we can handle."
"We have a few common enemies," I added. "Now, I was told you knew a way out of here."
"I'm not sure," Kleiner muttered. "We could try taking the tram."
"Tram's busted," Otis replied.
"Oh dear, We might still be able to follow the tracks."
"How would we do that?" Otis said. "You aren't suggesting we climb along the tracks. They aren't built to hold the weight of a person, let alone four."
"No, they are not," Kleiner replied. "But we would only need to do that if we entered from the docking platform. There is another way in, however. There's a room the tunnel opens directly into, with a bridge that leads straight in. I believe I can get us there with my security clearance."
"We'll probably have to fight our way out," Grimsberg said. "But that's alright with me."
"If you can get us to the tram, we might be able to follow the track to the surface," Kleiner said. "Provided of course I can get the doors open."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Grimsberg said. "Let's GO!"
Kleiner led us back to the elevator, and through there we made our way back into the lobby.