This was it, we made it. I was actually getting out of this facility. This nightmare would end at last. Then I noticed something peculiar on the road. It was one of those creatures, the ones with three legs and numerous eyes.

"It seems that the situation is worse than we thought," Kleiner said. "They've already escaped the facility."

I put my foot on the gas, and sped up, driving over the creature before it could do anything.

Suddenly we started to hear shots bouncing off the window. I looked in the mirror to see another Humvee on our tail.

"Grimsberg, get into the turret."

"Right," He climbed up to the turret and aimed it at the humvee.

Then I saw a chopper in front of me. Grimsberg turned his gun around to fire at it.

"They're closing in everywhere!" Otis yelled.

Suddenly, something popped out of the ground right in front of the pursuing Humvee. It was a large green appendage, looking something like a tentacle with a sharp point on the end, that wrapped itself around the Humvee and pulled it into the ground."

The helicopter fired a missile. It hit the ground, and suddenly the vehicle was sent flying. I braced for impact, not sure if I was going to survive.

And then I felt nothing. No pain, no impact. I looked around, and it was as if someone had pushed pause on the world.

I opened the door, and was able to step outside.

Everything was frozen in place. The Humvee was suspended in mid-air. The helicopter motionless.

Then I heard a familiar voice.

"Maya Bishop."

I turned in shock, to see a familiar figure standing in front of me, a man who it seemed had been following me since I first left for Black Mesa.

It was the pale man in the blue suit.

The whole world faded from view. The tableaux around me shifted into an empty black void. All that remained was the man, if he was even a man. I suspected there was something off about him, the way he seemed to be following me since I left for Black Mesa, and possibly even before that. But this… this was not what I could have anticipated.

I had a feeling he was keeping secrets, but now I wasn't even sure if he was human. Why was he so interested in me?

"I imagine you are… confused about many things," he said. "Do not worry about your friends."

I stared at him, unsure how to respond. "Who are you?" I finally said.

"Who I am is not important. My… shall we say… employers… were unsure about you at first, but you have proven to be most effective. As you can see, the situation is far more… complicated… than you could have realized."

That was when I thought of Black Mesa, and the bomb. "They're going to nuke the place. I have to go ba-"

"Do not worry about Black Mesa," the man said. "I already have two of my best… employees working on it as we speak."

Suddenly, a white rectangle appeared in front of me. The man turned and walked toward it. "Anyway, this is where I get off."

He walked through the rectangle, like it was a door, and it disappeared behind him.

Next thing I knew, I was lying on my side in the sand, my joints hurting. I quickly rolled over and sat up to see the smoking wreckage of the Humvee nearby, now overturned and crashed into a ditch. I got to my feet, and walked toward it.

"Maya," a voice said. I turned to see Kleiner looking at me. He looked a little worn out, his labcoat was torn, there was a crack in his glasses, and his clothes were stained with sand and dirt, but he didn't seem to be seriously hurt.

"HEY!" I heard a voice yell. I turned toward a small hill. Otis was at the top, and Grimsberg was stumbling down toward me.

"What happened?" Grimsberg asked. "Where'd they go?"

"I'm not sure," Kleiner said. "It's almost like we were teleported, but how? Fascinating."

I looked around. In all the confusion I hadn't processed that our pursuers had disappeared.

"Uh, guys," Otis said.

I quickly ran up the hill to see what he was looking at. I stopped at the sight of a very large mushroom cloud.

"Was that-"

"Yeah," Otis replied. "Black Mesa."

"I must say I'm amazed we were able to get this far away from such a powerful blast," Kleiner said. "How is that possible?"

As the blast died down, and was replaced with a growing cloud of smoke and ash, I stared, thinking about what the man in the blue suit had said. I can only assume he did something to move us but would anyone believe me?

I just uttered a simple "I don't know." It was technically true, as I only had a guess as to what happened, and no idea how that man did it.

"So what do we do now?" Grimsberg asked. "We're stranded in the desert, we got no supplies-"

"Not to mention the creatures that escaped the facility," Kleiner said.

"Way to boost our confidence," Otis snapped back.

"Our best shot is to get to the road and follow it. Hopefully we'll eventually reach something we can use for shelter."

My attention was briefly drawn to the sound of rotors. I looked up to see a helicopter flying over us, heading into the distance. It must have been what was left of the Black Ops team.

But more surprising was the projectile I saw heading towards it. A thin black streak that struck the chopper. The cockpit was engulfed in flame. It started to wobble, before spiralling downwards.

"Should we check for survivors?" Kleiner asked.

"Are you kidding?" Grimsberg asked. "After what they did to us?"

"They might still have supplies."

"Kleiner's right," Otis said. "They might have some ammunition."

"Or food reserves," Grimsberg said. "Alright, let's go."