Ahh, here we go, this is something I've wanted to do for a long, long time.
"We don't go to Ravenholm..." has to be the most famous chapter of Half-Life 2, for obvious reasons. When Alyx talks to you about it ("That's the old passage to Ravenholm. ...We don't go there anymore."), she sounds so depressed about it that it really made me think, what happened there to make her feel like that? And so, I wrote this. This is also my theory about the relationship between Black Mesa East and Ravenholm, and a little story about how Barney got his scar. This is a long story--3,172 words--so sit tight!

Special thanks to Spartan-IV for being such a huge inspiration. Please check out his pieces, they're amazingly well done!

Based on: Half-Life 2 (Valve)
Rating: T (The zombies were basically the main reason why the game was rated Mature)
Author's Notes: I like giving names to the rebels. Rich happens to be the name of my bass teacher, as well XD
And I'm sorry, I like Barney too much.

--

September 13th, 2011

Barney had asked me to come with him and some others on a supply run to Ravenholm, which I've only been to once before for a quick moment. What happened there today is something I will never be able to forget…

-Alyx

"Alright guys, you ready?"

"Yeah!" Alyx was the first one to respond before the other refugees had even received a chance to take a breath. The young girl was very excited for this—she had never been in Ravenholm before. Well, she had one time, but that was when she was helping with building some machines there. Barney had managed to convince her father, although without his share of trouble, of having her accompany him and some other residents of Black Mesa East to make a supply run to Ravenholm. She already knew everything there was to know about that town—who lived there, who ran it, what they did. She even studied the maps her father had kept within his files more times than her eyes could take.

It was Barney and another group of refugees that had once discovered that town, after they cleared a closed up, hidden tunnel inside the lab. Old and nearly abandoned yet somehow not known to the Combine, they came across the very few locals there, surviving on nothing but old cans of food and water from random items that managed to catch the rainfall. The hellish atmosphere it gave seemed a lot like the Combine residential cities. The entire team at Black Mesa East soon shaped up that town; gave it generators to create its own electricity, running water from the canals nearby, wood to rebuild the broken-down houses and factories. They even supplied the citizens with food, guns and ammunition, and crops. After talking with them, the team had soon thought of a plan of bringing any runaways they might find throughout the canals and take them there. As time went on those past seven years, its population had grown. Black Mesa East continued to make runs to the town, carrying new guns and ammunition, food and water if they needed it, tools—the works. They contacted each other via radio when they needed more of anything, and recently they got a call from Ravenholm about two days ago.

Barney stood in the lead of everyone in the tunnel, still wearing one of his spare bullet-proof vests from Black Mesa, which was in surprisingly good shape. He wore it all the time since paranoia seemed common in everyone after the Combine came to Earth, and only had a few noticeable bullet-holes. His Black Mesa tag was removed, however—that was hanging up back at the lab inside his room. Alyx's gun had been slipped into her hand-sown holster, an old Black Mesa T-Shirt from her mother the only thing keeping her safe from the somewhat-cold day. It was still summer, and the weather was keeping its warm days as long as it could. About four refugees were behind her—each of them holstered either a revolver or a pistol in their belts. All of them were carrying something—Barney had the radio attached to his belt, next to his gun, and was holding a small box of ammunition for unknown types of guns with one of his arms. The other refugees carried either food or a box of tools. Alyx had the smallest box, which happened to be filled with crops, as requested from her father, so his twelve-year-old daughter wouldn't feel exhausted.

Barney turned around to face the cameras attached to the stone wall behind him, red lights blinking to show that they were recording. "See ya in a few hours, Doc!" He gave a thumbs-up towards the cameras, before turning back around and heading towards the ladder. A large, hollow box was a little ways off from the base of the ladder, connected to a rope which ran to a pulley at the top. Barney carefully placed his box of ammunition in there, and the others did the same. "Shayna, you take care of the pulley." A dark-skinned woman behind Alyx nodded, and Barney and the others soon made their way to the top of the ladder.

"Supplies coming up!" shouted Shayna, as she pulled the rope and brought the box up. Each person took back their supplies, and their journey to Ravenholm had started again. The call of a distant bird and the light of the late afternoon sun soon poured into the tunnel, indicating that they had arrived. "Yo, Rich!" Barney called out into the distance. Alyx easily recognized who he was talking about—Rich was the head of the refugees here, and also controlled what they did with the supplies given.
"Rich?" Barney called out again.

Dead silence was their answer.

Sunlight blinded each being's eyes, as shock soon left them dumb-struck. "Oh my god," came a cry from Alyx—everyone else was silent.

All of their vision was looking straight at a large canister in the corner of the area, looking as though it was some sort of large missile.
"What is that thing?" The obvious question everyone was currently pondering slipped out from one of the refugees behind them. The only answer that followed was Barney shaking his head in worry. He slowly took a step forward, examining the area. His senses didn't trust the environment; it was easy to tell as he quickly placed down the box and slipped out his pistol. Alyx was already used to this from her training, although this was the first time she might actually shoot her gun in a real emergency situation. Each other person did the same—dropped their supplies, took out their guns.
"Alright everyone…" The first words after a minute or two of silence had came out from Barney. "If it's not obvious, this isn't something we want to be around. There're a lot of those missiles, or-whatever-the-hell-they-are around here, so keep your guns at the ready."
Everyone complied without word.
"There's gotta be someone around here that can tell us what's happened," Barney muttered. "Alright, new mission—we're now starting a search party. Kane, I want you to head back and get some help."
"I'm on it," replied one of the men behind Alyx, as he turned around and went back towards the ladder. "Alyx, you do the same."
"What?" Alyx blurted out. "Barney, I'm not leaving!" Barney sighed, looking as though he didn't want to argue at the moment.
"Fine," he said, with a sigh of annoyance. "Move out! I want you two to go left," he pointed at two of the others, "and you guys come with me. You too, Alyx."
Alyx muttered something to herself quietly. Barney only wanted her to come because he didn't trust her alone. Each group began to run ahead as Barney shouted, "Let's go!"

That…was nearly an hour ago. That entire time, all they had been doing was walking. The two other refugees that had followed Barney and Alyx had gone a different direction long ago. Every door Alyx and Barney passed by they had to knock, every room they entered they had to search and clear out everything, every noise they heard they had to stop and listen. But not a single piece of proof of survivors was able to be found. The sun was already setting, and the beautiful light that the golden hour gave out casted a bright orange light on anything it touched.
"Barney," Alyx began, sounding a bit tired. "Why don't you try the radio again?"
Barney had tried to contact somebody in Ravenholm via radio at least five times now. Every ten minutes, that's all he did. Unclipping it from his belt, he tried once more. "Ravenholm, this is Barney Calhoun. Come in, over."
No response but static.
"Ravenholm," he repeated again.
Still no answer.
"Rich, damn it, somebody, answer!"
Silence never sounded so painful to either of them.
"God, where the hell is that search party?" Alyx gave her turn at complaining. They tried to reach Black Mesa East before, but the signal didn't seem to get through. Neither of them had seen the others, nor had they seen anyone else from the lab.

A horrible smell soon began to carry itself throughout the air. "Oh god," Alyx said, blocking her nose with her free arm. "What the hell is that smell?" Barney didn't seem to answer. Judging by his expression, he smelt it too, but it seemed like a…familiar smell to him.

Finally, a sound entered their ears. But it wasn't exactly a comforting sound of a human voice. No, it was a loud crash in the distance, stopping each being in their tracks. "What was that?" Barney asked automatically, aiming his gun towards the source of the noise. Again, another crash—this time the source was visible to them.

"Get down!" came a cry from Barney, as he turned around and pushed Alyx out of the way. They both jumped forward and hit the ground as one of those canisters—the same model as the one they had seen back at the town's entrance—crashed nose-first into the ground only a few yards ahead of them, shaking the ground violently. A sizzling noise could be heard as smoke began to settle around it. The back flaps of its tail opened up, releasing with it cries of an unknown creature, along with the creatures themselves. Barney shouted a curse to himself as he immediately recognized that sound.

"Headcrabs!" he shouted, as he began to shoot at the alien forms that emerged from the canister. Alyx soon followed his example and shot at the creatures—the last time she had seen those were back at Black Mesa. Another sound carried itself throughout the darkening sky…it sounded like a bull, or an elk call to Alyx. Unfortunately for her, the source of the call wasn't exactly something she wanted to see.

People soon began to emerge from the corners of the buildings ahead of them—although, these could be counted as creatures now. Headcrabs covered their heads, with their legs embedded into their chests and spine. Blood dyed their shirt and jeans, their hands completely covered with it, with their fingers elongated so that they were now sharp claws. Their chests were completely ripped open, exposing their lungs—now tinted a sickly color—along with their ribs and other organs, some of them missing. They limped their way over towards the two, however slowly. Barney and Alyx easily shot them down, with Barney grabbing her by the arm and pulling her up. "Come on!" he shouted, turning around and dragging her back towards the entrance of the hidden town. More calls of the headcrab zombies entered both of their ears, making Alyx grip her gun tightly. Another alien call was heard, as another zombie jumped down from the rooftops in front of the two. But this one was different—its skin had been completely torn off, along with most of its muscle and organs. Three of its fingers were elongated, and its bone was exposed around its limbs. It ran quickly towards them, like an animal on the hunt, surprisingly showing no trouble even though it was missing vital parts of its body. Its headcrab was rounded, paler, and had thinner legs that were embedded into the host's body in a criss-cross fashion. Neither Barney nor Alyx had seen this type of monster before, but the both of them did the exact same thing—shot right for its head. The fast zombie fell onto the ground, allowing them to continue their escape. More zombies appeared here and there, and Barney was currently trying to replace the ammunition within his pistol with his last full magazine. The sun was nearly gone, and the two were relying on the dim street lamps to guide their way.

A hissing sound, like that of a rattle snake, came from a dark shadow next to one of the buildings. A black headcrab launched itself at Barney's head after it let out a squeal.
"Damn it!" Barney shouted, as he stepped back towards a corner of a fence while the creature tried to grip itself around his head. He tore it off—although with difficulty—and Alyx immediately shot it dead for him. Barney's legs soon became shaky, and with two steps the old security guard had collapsed face-first with the hard soil below.
"Barney?" Alyx nearly shouted, stepping back to help the man she felt was an uncle to her. "Barney, come on, we're almost there!"
"Damn…poisonous headcrabs," Barney whispered, although it could hardly be heard over the calls of the approaching zombies. More of them came, slowly creating a circle around the pair. Barney was helpless at the moment, so Alyx grabbed his pistol and attempted to dual-wield. It was pretty tough for her to do; she was getting the most hits with her own gun, and only occasionally hit her targets with Barney's gun. Nevertheless, she continued to shoot at the zombies, bringing them down with a muffled scream of pain from their hosts. Alyx managed to shoot the headcrab off of one of them, but shock caused her to pause for a moment. Its face was covered in blood, but Alyx easily recognized it—it was Rich. She saw him here once before, and has seen many, many pictures of him. But to see him come across a fate like this…the thought was too much for Alyx to bear.

She took a quick scan of each of the zombies. Was she shooting at the Ravenholm citizens this entire time? The thought made her feel weary herself, but she tried to keep her vision focused on reality. She knelt down and faced Barney, shaking him and saying, "Come on Barney, wake up!" with desperation. Barney seemed to be only half-conscious, but it was obvious that he couldn't stand on his own. It didn't matter who Alyx was shooting at anymore—she continued to wipe out any zombies she could. If she was expecting this, she would have packed more ammunition for her gun as well, but right now she was running on her last magazine. Knowing that she couldn't be in this situation any longer, she wrapped Barney around her back and began to drag him towards the entrance. That was something hard for her twelve-year-old-body to do—she barely made it a few feet ahead of where they originally were before collapsing. A zombie had suddenly emerged from the shadows ahead of her, taking a swing at them with its bloody, inhuman claws. Alyx tried her best to shoot it down before it could damage them, but she was a second too late. The tip of one of its claws took a swipe across Barney's cheek, creating a long, but thin, gash. Barney yelped as a reaction to the pain, as blood leaked down towards his lips, both of his own and dried blood from the zombie's claws. Alyx could feel her body beginning to shake with her fear, even though the headcrab fell dead before them.

"Don't worry Barney, we'll get out of here," she shouted to him, trying to comfort him the best she could. It seemed as though she was doing that more for calming herself down, however—Barney used to be a security guard, after all, he's probably had worse than this. This was Alyx's first real emergency, never has she fought these creatures, let alone see them since Black Mesa.

The zombies just kept on coming. Whimpers soon began to escape from Alyx's mouth—she knew that the others that came with them from Black Mesa East were probably one of them by now. Closing her eyes and gritting her teeth, she flipped Barney over so his back was on the ground instead, and grabbed his arms, pulling him as she tried to walk backwards towards the entrance. She memorized the maps of Ravenholm and knew that it wasn't so far from their current position, but at the state Barney was in, who knows if they'll make it back ok.

Another new sound—Alyx was just about sick of hearing those. Maniacal laughter followed by a blaze of shotgun fire entered the night, making one of the zombies close to the two fall dead in its tracks. A male voice then said something, sounding as though it was a scripture from the Bible. The voice sounded gruff and had what seemed to be a Russian accent. More sounds of a blazing shotgun silenced the zombies, however not once did its bullets try to reach Alyx.

"Hello?" But this time it wasn't the mysterious man talking, it was a soothing voice. "Anyone here?" it called out again. Alyx turned towards the source, shouting a response.

"Hey!" She used all of the oxygen within her lungs to scream for help. "Help us! I've got an injured one over here!"

Gunfire from some type of machine gun along with footsteps was her response. "Alyx?" called someone. It was one of the refugees back from Black Mesa East, the one that was sent to get help earlier. About six others were behind him, and Alyx couldn't feel happier about their timing. Without saying another word, the team already knew what to do. Three of them went ahead of the others, shooting down the zombies that currently posed a threat, while two of the others came over towards Barney.

"Is he gonna be all right?" Alyx asked, nervous about what the answer might be. A brown-haired woman quickly took a look at his gash.
"Yeah, he'll be fine," she said, showing a smile as an attempt to calm Alyx down. "He just got bitten by a poisonous headcrab. One shot of the antidote and he'll be fine. That gash might leave a mark, though." Alyx frowned.

Sorry, Barney, she thought to herself, as she could hear another curse about the headcrab be muttered under Barney's breath. His eyes were half-closed and he looked pale, but Alyx was confident that he would heal fine. The two refugees quickly picked him up and began to drag him towards the exit.

"Let's get out of here," shouted one. Alyx could hear a command directed towards her be called. She had no hesitation when it came to leaving. Before she did, however, she quickly turned around and faced the mysterious source of the unknown voice.

"Thank you," she whispered, before high-tailing it to catch up with the others.

"May the light of lights guide you!"

--

The brief mention of Father Grigori was put in there mainly because he's like, you know, the reason why Ravenholm's so cool. I like zombies and everything, but Ravenholm? While it never really scared me, going to the "wrong side of town" wasn't exactly a joy. And don't even get me started on that XBOX achievement of going through it using only the Gravity Gun...

If it's not obvious, Barney got poisoned by the headcrab, so he couldn't do anything. Gordon's suit has the antidote, so of couse he's fine, but Barney doesn't. And I'll go ahead and say that Alyx got the antidote sometime in her life before Half-Life 2, which is why she's fine when attacked by a poisonous headcrab.

Let me know what you think, anyway. I really enjoyed writing this chapter, I got three pages done in way day, which is a record for me, and finished it today, adding to five and a quarter pages. There was a brief mention of something from "Raising the Bar", and if you're a geek like me you might have spotted it.