Chapter 05 – Vile Creatures
Gordon Freeman knocked a headcrab off the tree outside with his crowbar. The headcrabs were no doubt inside the rebel base he and Alyx were trying to get to. The headcrabs were nasty creatures. When they attached to a human's head, they somehow killed them then controlled their corpse like a zombie. Gordon had faced their likes before, but the time could not possibly worse for him to fight them now. Alyx fired two shots from her handgun into the fallen headcrab, effectively killing it. Gordon switched to the shotgun slung over his back and cocked it. He turned to his love, Alyx.
"You ready Alyx?" He asked. She nodded yes and walked over to him. He held out his arms and they embraced. When they stopped hugging, Alyx stole a kiss from Gordon. He quickly returned the favor. "I love you." he said.
"I love you too Gordon." She replied. They moved away from each other. Gordon walked toward the door of the house the rebels called a hideout, as did Alyx. Gordon clicked on the flashlight built into the collar of his HEV suit. He heard Dr. Kliener's voice in his ear through the earpiece.
"Be careful Gordon, you've faced headcrabs before. You know what they're capable of." He said. Gordon signaled to Alyx that he was ready by nodding his head and she returned the gesture. Quickly, he ran to the door and kicked it in. The door swung open and bits of wood splintered every which way from the lock area. Gordon slowly walked into the house. His flashlight proved useful because the lights were off and the trees blocked the sun from the windows. Gordon looked around the room. Strangely he could find no trace of human life. There were signs of a struggle and there was some blood spatter on the walls, but Gordon saw no bodies.
"Do you hear that Gordon?" Alyx said. Gordon was suddenly aware of a small ticking sound. It sounded like a small creature communicating with something. The sound quickly escalated and soon turned into a high pitched screech. That's when the light flicked on. Gordon looked around the illuminated room and saw the threat that he would face. The headcrabs had apparently become more resourceful since Gordon last met them. The room Gordon was in looked as normal as a regular shack. There was a large table, about 3 chairs, and what was once a TV scattered around the room. Blood stained the walls and the curtains covered the windows. The headcrabs had hid themselves well in the dark and the screeching was their way of saying 'attack'. Two poison headcrab zombies clung to the decrepit wooden ceiling and three normal zombies emerged from behind the table. Alyx and Gordon reacted quickly. Gordon took on the fast zombies who dropped from the ceiling with his shotgun. Alyx took care of the other three slow ones across the room. The fast zombies ran to Gordon, one of which fell before it got to him. The second jumped on top of him, knocking him down. The wretched thing slobbered and shrieked in Gordon's face while it tried to break the defense of his shotgun. Gordon hit the zombie in the face with the butt of his shotgun, aimed it at it the crazed creature and fired at the demon's head. The zombie was thrown across the room. Meanwhile Alyx was dealing with the other three zombies. Alyx fired her handgun at the three beasts and two of them dropped from their wounds. The third zombie knocked Alyx over and fell on top of her. The zombie knocked away her gun and all Alyx could do was hold the creature away.
"Gordon! Help!" Alyx yelled as Gordon shot away his zombie. Gordon heard her cry and flipped over to look at Alyx. Gordon quickly cocked his shotgun and fired at the zombie on top of Alyx. The zombie was thrown off of Alyx by the shotgun blast. Alyx and Gordon stood up and looked around the room. Alyx was the one to ask the question.
"Hey doctor, where's the teleporter? This is just an ordinary shack."
"Yes, I know." he replied. "Since the destruction of the Citadel, some of the rebels suggested we retreat even further into obscurity because the Combine had evacuated City 17 for the forest. So, I modified a few hideouts to look normal at first glance. The actual hideout is located under the shack. There's a hatch in the center of the room. Look for the loose floorboard." Gordon looked around the center of the room for the floorboard. Alyx found it first.
"Here it is Gordon." She said. Gordon pulled out his crowbar and stuck it into the crevice of the floorboard. One pull of the bar made the board flip up. Suddenly, the floor began to shake. Gordon and Alyx started moving away from each other. Soon they realized that the floor was opening. Gordon jumped to Alyx's side of the room. As the floor was opening, an elevator rose from the ground.
"Is that supposed to be happening?" Gordon asked.
"Just wait for it to rise. We've re-established communication with the rebels underground. They turned off their radios when the headcrabs attacked for fear they would find them as they did the lookouts above. When we mentioned that you had cleared the cabin over the radio, they replied quickly." Kliener replied. Once the elevator had risen fully, Alyx and Gordon boarded it. They flipped the switch to make it go down. "The base is about 2 stories below." Dr. Kliener said.
When the elevator was about 10 feet below the ground the hatch above in the shack closed and darkness engulfed the elevator shaft. Gordon couldn't see anything at all. Soon he felt something touching his arm. Alyx had moved over to Gordon and wrapped her arm around his and they were soon holding hands. The elevator was slow and the trip was long, but Alyx's embrace kept Gordon in high spirits as the couple descended the dark elevator shaft. Soon a flicker of light emerged from below the two on the elevator.
"Look Gordon, we're almost there." Alyx said. The streams of light moved up the elevator and illuminated Gordon's face. Alyx noticed the expression on his face. He wasn't looking at her; he was staring at something behind her. "What's wrong Gor-" a quick screech and a gunshot was heard. A headcrab had survived the fight upstairs and traveled down the shaft. Just before it had attacked Alyx Gordon shot it with his 9mm pistol.
"Are you okay Alyx?" he asked.
"I'm fine." She said. "Thank you Gordon. You know, I can never repay you for all the times you saved me." She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him again. "But I can do that." She said.
"That's all I'll ever need." He replied. He kissed her once more. The elevator reached the bottom floor. The grated gate at the bottom opened and Gordon and Alyx were met with the friendly faces of the rebels in the hideout.
"Thank you Dr. Freeman and Alyx Vance, Dr. Kliener called ahead and told us you were coming. We have no time to lose." Gordon and Alyx stepped off the elevator and followed the rebel.