Welcome to Black Mesa
"1, 2, 3..." spoke a voice against the blackness of my current state of unconsciousness. "1, 2, 3, 4, 5" I woke in what seemed like an office of plain desks and closed cupboards. The walls were white and the carpet was mouldy blue. A table in the centre of the room was broken and the splintered wood was spread everywhere. Next to the table was a man with an Einstein-like haircut in a scientist's coat giving CPR to a bloody USMC soldier with another one (probably dead) slumped in the corner. "1, 2, 3.." he counted his pumps on the soldier's chest. The scientist, obviously not getting anywhere, stood up to find me standing also.
"Oh, you've woken up," he spoke in a calm, collected voice. I could now see that he was about fifty, fifty years too old for this madness.
"Corporal Shephard, is it?" he asked. I gave a silent nod in response. "I've read the tag on your uniform. I glad to see my life-saving efforts weren't in vain. I can't say the same for him."
I looked at the dead body in front of me. He looked big and buff with a cigar fallen out of his mouth.
"I'm afraid you've been through a serious accident. Most of your..." he paused and looked at the dead men below his feet. "...friends didn't make it." He looked back up at me. "I was hoping that you soldiers had come to rescue us, but now it seems we're all in the same... situation. I think I saw a radio near the crash site where I found you. Perhaps you could go there for help?" I walked towards the door and nodded with appreciation for his bravery.
Just before I left, he said in a sympathetic tone, "I'm afraid these troops aren't going to make it. I hope you have better luck out there, or I fear none of us will get out of here alive." And with that remark, I opened the door and left.
The room I had entered into was a wreck. Before the situation (whatever that was) it must of looked like a normal, slightly wide corridor. But afterwards, three of the iron columns which were meant to hold up the ceiling had fallen and were sticking out of the ground like a javelin field after a competition.
At the end of the corridor room were two doors. One had been wedged closed with a table, the other leading to another maze of closets and doors.
Through the glass in the next room, I could see another soldier lying in a catscan machine with a scientist in some kind of weird spacesuit. As I looked closer at the soldier, I realized it in fact wasn't a soldier at all...at least, not anymore.
The zombie-military-thing was wearing military uniform, with the same body structure, but his head was covered by some kind of crab without claws. His stomach had been split open horribly, like someone had stuck a knife inside it and ripped it apart. Its stomach and intestines and anything else he could actually identify as human was spilling out, but that didn't seem to stop it from getting up.
The zombie stood and grabbed the scientist examining it. The scientist struggled and kicked and screamed. The zombie just continued on, without notice of the scientists pleas. It flailed it long, spindly arm at the scientists suit, ripping it open with its sharp, barbed claws. It then threw the scientist into the glass, braking it and letting the zombie out of its cage.
I carefully pushed the dead body away from me as the zombie got ever closer. The zombie got closer and closer, despite its slow pace. I got up and ran, hoping not to be its next victim.
I found my way through another doorway, where I found a security officer. He was wearing the custom blue undersuit with a black bullet-proof vest. He was fat and would probably fit in more as a mall cop.
I approached him and was about to warn him about the fast coming zombie but before I could, he said in a very scared tone, as if he thought if he said anything I was punish him: "Sorry, uh, Shephard, sir, uh, see I was not to open this door for you, until you agreed to help us. Besides, you wouldn't want to go out there without your armour vest, anyway. I left it for you where all the other soldiers are being treated. Just uh, come on, back here when y'found it." I looked at him in horror. Why wouldn't I agree to help? Surely this mission was to save the people of Black Mesa from this situation! I mean, I know I didn't get a briefing, but still!
I turned back to the zombie corridor. I would have to run past the zombie back to my armour. Then I could really get this show on the road.
I ran through the door. Around the corner, a zombie who could kill you in one well-placed swipe was waiting for me. I realized I could die. I realized I could even turn into one of those things. But, I had survived a helicopter crash (two, in fact, if you count the plane that knocked me unconscious) and I had survived flying stingray, electrical-shooting aliens and military zombies. So far I had a pretty big lucky streak. I hoped my luck would hold out.
I ran towards the zombie. It stared at me with its crab-shell face, just waiting for me to come closer. I strafed to the right to try and avoid it, but it flung out its arm. Suddenly, my reflexes kicked in and I ducked and rolled straight under its arm. I searched for some kind of infirmary or doctors office. Through one door I saw three soldiers being treated: one normal, one zombie and one strange thing in between, where his stomach wasn't open and the only thing wrong was a crab latched to his face. So that was how it happened!
A scientist approached me and asked "have you ever seen such a magnificent species?" I looked down at the zombie below me. Magnificent...magnificent? "These 'crabs' can completely control their hosts nervous system. Can you imagine what the next stage of mutation looks like?" Honestly, I didn't know and didn't want to.
I grabbed my suit. The HUD (Heads-Up-Display) flickered into view. The suits power was at zero percent. Luckily in my tiny training course, I learnt all about how to charge it. I decided to get back to the security guard. The zombie had seemingly moved to another area to terrorize and kill. I still needed to get back at that zombie.
When I found the guard, he seemed happy enough to let me threw.
"Okay Shephard, I see you've found your power vest. That should keep you safe out there." He looked at his shoes sheepishly, then looked back up. "See now, I've heard rumours that you troops might not actually be here to rescue us. Just- just don't forget about us out there. Alrighty? Okay, I'll let you through now."
Finally, the guard walked towards the door controls and placed his eyes in front of the scanner. A beeping noise sounded and the door slid open.
"Good luck, sir!" the guard exclaimed as I left the room.
The next room was plain, with the only thing of interest being a tool box and a broken faulty wire. I noticed the monkey wrench hanging out of the toolbox. Finally! A weapon! I grabbed up the wrench and dared any filthy zombie to just try to cross my path. Still, before the crash I had a laser pointer pistol that could hold seven bullets in a clip. Oh well, I'll find one, I thought.
Before I had taken another step, two of those strange crabs, which had turned those people into zombies, suddenly fell from a hole in the ceiling. Out of shock, I jumped back and hid. If one of those things got near me, I could be a zombie like the rest of them. If only I had my pistol.
I grabbed my monkey wrench and slowly creeped out of my hiding spot around the corner. I watch the 'headcrabs' very slowly shuffle towards me. Seems all these aliens had the curse of slow walking. I strolled towards the headcrab, obviously in no danger and held my monkey wrench high, when...it jumped. Well, more like leapt! It threw itself towards me and darted straight to my stomach. If it hadn't missed, I would be dead. Life lesson 1: Never underestimate ANY enemies.
I was knocked over by the force of the headcrab. My head banged the concrete floor and my arms ached. The headcrab on my belly was making fast work though. It had gotten itself up and was closing in on my face. I grabbed my wrench and threw it into the crab. It squished under the heavy iron and weird alien liquid spurted all over my vest.
The second headcrab jumped as well, but this time I was ready. As it jumped, I swung my arm and it collided with the hard shell of the headcrab with great force. What was even greater was the fact that I, then, ran straight to the crab and smashed it in its weak underbelly, all before it had even gotten up. I looked at my work, and thought it good.
Finally I found the staircase that should lead me to the surface. Before I ascended them, I turned to my left and looked peered through the glass of an heavy-duty iron door. I saw a security guard talking to- talking to the g-man in the blue suit? How did he get here? Was he involved with the mission somehow? Why did he bring to this hellhole?
Before I could knock on the door to try and get his attention, he finished his conversation with the guard and left the room, through industrial- strength double doors. I tried to get the guard's attention, but he didn't notice me.
I decided to carry on with many question in my head. Why, why, why? The metal stairs clangs under my feet. After two flights, I found a door. My head still spinning, I pushed the door open to find the rocky plains of the Black Mesa Facility in front of me. A platform had been built along the semi-circle of the formation.
As soon as I stepped out of the door, I realized the path had broken up. It was like a bridge after a earthquake, with chunks of concrete broken off. I looked across the gap. It seemed to be about two metres long, a fairly long jump, especially with all the heavy gear I had on. I walked back about three metres, almost to the door, and ran. Step after step, the gap came closer. I leapt for the other side. Close, closer, closer. I extended my fingers as far as I could without making them pop out of their sockets.
I missed. I began to fall through space. I looked down and saw where I was headed. Down miles and miles of canyon into a tiny river, just like in the old roadrunner cartoons. I closed my eyes. I was sure the sense of adrenaline was more than make up for the luxury of seeing.
My head banged the ground. That was weird; I could have sworn there would be at least five seconds more of falling. And plus, I was alive. I inched my eyes open, almost scared of what I would find. Solid ground. Just two metres lower than the broken platform was a rough ledge. Feeling like an idiot, I pulled myself up to my feet.
I groped along the passage, trying desperately not to fall. Centimetre after centimetre, I found my way across the rock wall and back up to the platform. Life lesson 2: Look before you leap, I noted.
At the other end of the platform, I found a dead 'lightning-shooter-thing' surrounded in a pool of yellow alien blood. I found a slightly used knife in its stomach. I decided it could be useful, so I stuck my hand into the hard shell skin of the... Lightshot...and felt the sharp blade of the knife. I pulled on it and blood squirted all over me. Gross.