Chapter 5: Surprise Surprise
Scott woke up a few hours later lying on the floor. The light shinning through the window made it seem like it was about 9 in the morning. Scott didn't really know, he could hardly remember what had happened last night. He stood up and saw a newspaper on the table next to his bed. 'The Rebellion Tribune'. It's headline read 'Teleport nearing completion in City 17.'
"Better not let the Combine get their hands on this"
Scott read on at all the other articles headlines. City 6 has been isolated, the Safe Haven of New Zealand has been invaded, 'Gravity Guns' and Combat. Propaganda Today… Tragedy in City 15… Last week in City 15 an elite group of saboteurs were killed in an ambush. They were trying to destroy a strider construction plant when they were ambushed by the Overwatch and killed, of all 10 squad members only 2 survived. 8 of them were a confirmed KIA, but one, Scott Stark, is still MIA. The 2 other suvivers claim he was not killed and may me still alive. If you have any information about Scott H. Stark please contact the City 15 recruitment center.
Scott started shivering. "Their still alive"
"I thought I told Karen to burn that paper. If the Combine got their hand on that we would all die within a month."
Scott whirled around to see a Girl about mid 20s walking into the room
"Hi, I'm Jacqueline Carpenter, the leader here."
"I though… never mind"
"Follow me, lets get you out of those 'civilian' cloths and into something more military."
"Actually I'm a bit hungry"
"Too bad breakfast was an hour ago,"
"Aww…"
"Fine… here's a granola bar."
Jacqueline throws a granola bar at Scott's head. It bounces of and lands on the ground. They stand there staring at it.
"Umm…are you gonna-" Scott jumps on the ground and almost destroys the granola bar.
"Wow… how long has it been since you've eaten"?
"Well actually I ate yesterday but for the last 2 weeks I've had to live of Lunchables and Hot Pockets… Cold Hot Pockets"
"Oh you poor man…"
"You don't know the half of it…"
"Right… Well come on we got to get you a resistance outfit."
"Or maybe you can let me go?"
"You leave and I shoot you."
" 'Sob' "
With Jacqueline in the lead, she took Scott out the back door of the medical room. Scott nearly died when he saw the back door was adjacent to what must have been a 50 ft. cliff.
"HOLY CRAP!"
"Watch your step."
Scott looked up from the cliff and saw what must have city 21. It's Citadel reached up and beyond the cloud. Down below it were several skyscrapers and a few buildings that almost looked like the Citadel.
"Those small ones are the Combine factories. I use to work there."
Jacqueline handed him a pair of binoculars and said, " Look over there" and pointed to the right of the Citadel.
"Oh my God what city is that"?
"That's the Citadel of City 18. And if we could see a behind the Citadel here we could see City 17."
"Where's City 15?"
"Are you kidding'. City 15 is way down in the Swiss Alps."
"And where are we?"
"Are you serious? All right we are in Germany, City 17 is in the Chez. Republic. And Switzerland is maybe a hundred miles South."
"Would it be possible to get there?"
"There are 24 major Combine strongholds between here and there. Not to mention all the headcrabs."
Scott looks to the south.
"If I got here, than I can get there."
