Half-Life 1. Prologue

**Escape from Black Mesa**

**Prologue **

_**"The right man in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world"**_**- G-man**__

"John, John. Wake up!" he felt the bony hand of Nina, his lab assistant make contact with the back of his round head. He bolted upright and found himself still in his lab.

His desk had been smothered underneath a mass of reports and papers. The formula of relativity and many other assorted equations and formulas were scribbled messily in blue marker on his whiteboard.

"Why don't we go get some coffee" suggested Nina.

"Yes" he agreed. He needed something to wake himself up fully. This was the big day in his division. After three and a half years and 600 million dollars worth of research, the Anomalous Materials Lab -part of the Sector C test labs and control facilities- was ready to test their brand new, state of the art, anti-masspectrometer. He had been up all the previous night preparing for today's big experiment.

He immediately walked over to the coffee machine and poured the hot liquid into his thermal-blanket heated Black Mesa coffee mug. He rejoined Nina at one of the many cafeteria tables.

"Well I hope that this experiment goes well" he said.

"John, you mustn't worry so much, everything will be fine" replied Nina.

"I don't know how you could say that" he retorted.

"This new crystal may be the purest sample we've seen yet" stated Nina in a positive tone.

"Yes, but also, potentially the most unstable sample as well. I have no idea why Wallace would put his faith in that man with the briefcase, I don't trust him Nina".

"The administrator knows what he's doing, Eli trusts him as well. The man after all gave the specimen directly to Eli just this morning" Nina indicated.

"Well, I'm sure Izzy would have agreed with me if he hadn't been transferred to the Lambda division" replied John.

"He would have seen the rare opportunity this has given us and supported the project. John, the possibility of a resonance cascade scenario is extremely unlikely, under one percent even" informed Nina, assuredly.

"Who is going in with an HEV suit to conduct the experiment?" asked John. "It's Gordon, he volunteered" answered Nina.

John glanced at his watch and began to have a slight panic attack. His watch told him that it was 8:45 am. The experiment was set to begin at 9:00 sharp. He quickly gulped down the last of his coffee and ran towards the test chamber. He didn't even say goodbye to Nina, who he would now see again for a long time.


	2. Chapter 1: Probability

**Escape from Black Mesa **

**Chapter 1: Probability **

"I'm here," panted John as he burst through the door to the main control center. He had arrived at 9:02, all the doors that required retinal scanner access had considerably slowed him down.

"You needn't worry, Gordon was late too. In fact he just went down to the test chamber about a minute ago," reported James, one of the head scientists.

"Excellent," said John as cheerfully as he could. As he looked out the small window he could see the large blast doors opening and Gordon stepping out in his pumpkin orange HEV suit.

John opened a small door to a compartment and took out a miniscule microphone. He tapped it a few times with his finger.

"Testing, Testing." John cleared his throat for a moment. "Everything seems to be in order" he said. James took over with the microphone.

"Alright Gordon, your suit should keep you comfortable through all this. The specimen will be delivered to you in a few moments. If you would be so good as to climb up and start the rotors we can bring the anti-masspectrometer to 80% and hold it there until the carrier arrives" James told Gordon down in the chamber.

"We're going with the usual 95 % power today, right?" asked John.

"No," replied James. "We decided to boost the anti-masspectrometer to 105 %."

"But that could..." started John.

"I know it's a bit of a gamble but we need the extra resolution," interjected Stephen, the project's lead technician.

Suddenly the mechanical whining of the rotors ended the discussion and made John focus on the task at hand. The locking mechanisms were released and James took the mike again.

"Very good, we'll take it from here" said James.

"Power to stage one emitters in three, two, one," announced John. He keyed in a series of commands and the three large transponders released high energy beams down into the center of the test pit. "I'm seeing predictable phaser rays" informed John. "Stage two emitters activating... now." A second group of high powered beams joined with the first.

"Gordon, we cannot predict how long the system can operate at this level or how long the readings will take. Please work as quickly as you can." James reported over the mike.

"Overhead capacitors to 105 percent," said John nervously. "Uh, it's probably not a problem, probably. I'm showing a small discrepancy in..." John began to get extremely worried. _No, stop it; everything will be fine_ he told himself mentally. "Well no, it's well within acceptable bounds again. Sustaining sequence." Little did he know that this would be the biggest mistake of his life.

"OK, good to know, what, oh thank you," James said over his walkie-talkie. "Dr. Cross and Dr. Green have sent the specimen up". He walked over to the mike and began to speak.

"I've just been informed that the sample is ready Gordon. It should be coming up to you any moment now. Look to the delivery system for your specimen" James told Gordon.

The entire team in the control center watched the anticipation, fear, and curiosity as Gordon pushed the machine holding the crystal towards the beams of concentrated energy. No one expected what would happen next.

There was a very harsh cracking sound as the sample made contact with the energy beams followed by a sickly green flash emanating from the specimen.

"Oh dear!" exclaimed John.

James responded quickly. "Gordon, get away from the..."

Boom! The entire control center rocked from the force of the small explosion.

"Shutting down!" said John who was now thoroughly panicked.

"No!" yelled Stephen.

Boom! Another explosion shook the control center.

"Attempting shutdown!" responded John fearfully. "It's not, it's not shutting down!" screamed John as sparks flew out of the machine as it spun out of control.

Suddenly a beam of bright green energy flashed through the open window of the control center. The beam hit the computers arrayed along the back wall, causing them to erupt in a horrific explosion which sent shards of broken machinery to and fro across the room. John's chair was blown forward by the force of the explosion.

John's head collided with the desk his computer was placed on and he slumped to the floor. As his world started to go black he could have sworn that he had seen a large brownish creature with one large red eye appear in the doorway. The entire room was soon enveloped in total darkness.


	3. Chapter 2: Ground Zero

**Escape from Black Mesa **

**Chapter 2: Ground Zero **

A loud ringing began to echo inside John's head as he slowly regained consciousness. His vision was blurred but returned to normal quickly.

The alarm was ringing quite loudly and as he looked around he saw the bodies of all his co workers around him. The computers arrayed along the back wall were utterly destroyed.

John staggered towards the door out but caught a glimpse of the anti-masspectrometer. The entire machine had been reduced to a pile of twisted and molten metal. John knew he had to leave and get help. He placed his hands on either side of the retinal scanner and froze as the machine verified his identity. The computer answered in its robotic and monotonous voice "access granted". The door opened part way when suddenly a flash of electricity fused the door to the wall and it stopped halfway through opening.

"Oh well, it's sufficient" John muttered to himself as he squeezed through. The hallway seemed to be fine until John found his way to the room that contained the backup generators.

The steel pipes that carried the coolant to the generators had collapsed and spilled the toxic liquid with it. John knew that the coolant was very acidic and devised a plan to get around it. He climbed up on the nearest pipe and began to balance precariously on the steel apparatus as he moved forward.

Sweat tickled down his forehead until he finally passed the coolant and reached the door. His problems continued to mount as he entered the next hallway. The larger computers were housed in this hallway and they were scattered all about like a child's toys. To make matters worse, the pipes in this hall had ruptured as well, but these pipes did not contain coolant. They contained high focus laser beams that were now carving fine black lines into the walls. One laser was moving around wildly and hit a computer, the computer exploded with such force as to knock John flat.

"This day cannot get any worse" John said to himself. He decided to try a mad dash to the other end of the hall and hope the lasers did not fry his brain on the way. He counted down in his head "5, 4, 3, 2, 1, go!" He sprinted with all he had down the long hall, he was getting close now, he could see the door but he could also see one of the lasers heading towards him. At the last second he dived for the door, it opened just in time for him to get through.

He smelled something burning and checked to make sure he hadn't lost any limbs. He was relieved to find out that the laser had only singed a small piece of his lab coat.

He quickly ran to the service elevator and found that it was still working. He pushed the button and began his ascent. He reached the top without incident and was greeted at the top by a 9 mm pistol aimed at his right temple.

"Don't move or I'll blow your brains out!" screamed the security guard.

"Uh, I'm John from Test chamber C-33/a. My id is right here" he said and held up his employee tag.

"Oh, sorry, I'm a little on edge; you're the first living human I've seen since the thing happened. Hey you're a member of the science team, what happened?" asked the security guard.

"Well, my colleagues and I were testing our brand new anti-masspectometer but there was an accident and we inadvertently caused a Resonance Cascade," answered John.

"Well I don't really understand all that mumbo jumbo scientist speech. Could you dumb it down a bit?" he asked jokingly.

"We caused a tear in the wall between different dimensions and that tear is destroying this facility," John explained.

"Oh, so the weird creatures I've been seeing are aliens from another dimension," he security guard said to himself.

"I'm sorry, what aliens?" asked John.

As John asked this question a small green flash emanated out of thin air and a small creature dropped to the sterile metal floor.

"Ahh!" screamed John. "What is that?"

"Beats me sir. I just know it isn't friendly," replied the security guard as he put three rounds into it. The small creature squealed as it fell to the floor dead.

John went over to examine the creature. It bared a resemblance to a Thanksgiving Day turkey except for its two fairly large front claws, which were slightly similar to the claws of a crab. It had two pairs of stubby legs and had a tan like skin color. John was no expert of biology, much less alien biology but he was good enough to conduct a decent examination. He made another telling discovery as he flipped the creature onto its backside. It possessed a large circular mouth, which was surrounded by teeth. Further inside the mouth, John noticed a sharp claw like beak. He pondered what it could be used for. _Digestion or eating perhaps_ he thought.

The security guard derailed his train of thought. "C'mon John, we need to get moving, we have to evacuate the facility," he said. John got up and the two of them continued on towards the transit system.

They turned down the hall that led to the lobby and two more of the creatures appeared. The guard quickly dealt with both of them. As they turned the corner and entered the lobby they encountered a new alien horror. This creature was roughly the size of a human and indeed looked very much like a human. The real shock came when John realized that the creature was wearing a science team lab coat. He noticed one of the crab like aliens perched on the man's head.

This headcrab had attacked this man and horribly mutated him. His hands had turned a dark shade of purple and his fingers were at least twice as long as a normal human's. They were sharpened at the end, but the most gruesome discovery was that the man's internal organs had swollen and had snapped apart his rib cage. The jagged ends of bones stuck out at sickly angles. The zombie stood up and began screaming incoherently as it approached the duo. It swung its claws at the security guard who jumped out of the way and responded by shooting the headcrab; the zombie fell to the floor.

"Well, that's one less horror in the world," commented the guard. The proceeded to the transit system.


	4. Chapter 3: Our Saviors?

**Escape from Black Mesa **

**Chapter 3: Our saviors? **

The tram line seemed to be still intact as the guard and John reached it. The guard reached the glass door and keyed in the code. The door slid open and they entered the small, but spacious tram.

"By the way, we were never properly introduced. I'm Louis" said the security guard.

"Well I'm certainly glad I ran into you first and not one of those aliens" replied John.

"We should get to the surface and find a way to get out of this facility" Louis suggested. He pressed the start button beside the door which closed behind him. The tram shuddered as it began to slowly push forward on the monorail track. John sat on one of the seats and stretched out a bit. He would take any moment to relax that he could, no matter how brief.

"Where are we headed anyway?" he asked Louis.

"I think that we should head towards the Area 8 Topside Dormitories. Those are on the surface and I know how to get there" replied Louis.

John was glad he had met someone who had a plan and who knew how to put that plan into action. They continued their tram ride for about another 10 minutes before a new problem arose.

There was a loud rumble which shook the tram car as it was moving along the rail line. John heard a cracking sound and turned to look out the window. The glass was beginning to crack.

"Get down!" John yelled to Louis who immediately took cover underneath one of the rows of seats. John had just made it under another row of seats as the glass exploded, sending shards of glass to and fro across the interior of the tram. After a few seconds, the two of them crawled out from under the seats. The tram had completely stopped moving and swayed gently, suspended on the upper portion of the rail. There was an electrical sounding noise as if wires were being fried.

"Oh, shit" said Louis.

"What's going on?" demanded John, with his voice becoming higher pitched with each word. He soon received his answer. There was a snapping sound and then the rail gave away, sending the tram and its two beleaguered occupants hurtling towards the paved floor below.

The tram slammed into the floor at full speed which caused John to be propelled upwards. His head hit the ceiling of the tram and he landed on one of the seats. Once again he was dazed and slipped in and out of consciousness for a while but came to after no more than 15 minutes. As his focus returned he saw that Louis was relatively uninjured because of his helmet. He did, however have a large gash cut in his forehead. John crawled over to him.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"Yeah, I've just got this cut on my head" Louis replied.

"Well I think I can help you with that" John answered. He pulled a syringe out of his lab coat and took the cap off.

"What the hell is that?" asked Louis nervously.

"It's a self sealing bio-chemical. It will heal most wounds 4 times faster than the body normally would. The boys in the Sector E Biodome Complex whipped it up for us. I still have no idea how they did it. They said that they got it from an animal but no animal on Earth can heal wounds that fast" explained John.

"Ok, but you didn't need to go into all that detail; I don't really care. As long as it does the job I'm fine with it" said Louis.

John placed the syringe near Louis's wound and squirted a few drops into it. Then he placed a bandage on it.

Louis got up and they thought about what to do next.

"I think that we should still try to reach the Area 8 Dormitories. They are close to the Air-Traffic-Control center; we can find a plane or a helicopter to take us out of here" suggested Louis.

John agreed, he wanted to leave as soon as he could. They climbed out of the shattered windows and began to walk around in the large open storage area.

Suddenly there was a loud chirping noise. John looked around anxiously this sound was different from the head crabs and the zombies that they had previously encountered. A small tan creature with three legs appeared from behind a supply crate. It had blue luminescent stripes along its backside and had a large cluster of about 20 eyes on its "face". Louis pulled out his sidearm and prepared to fire, he fired at the creature but missed. It became enraged and began to emit a strange humming, all at once it released an extremely loud noise. John grabbed his ears and fell to the floor, the pain in his ears was so intense that he felt like he was going to throw up.

Louis fought back his pain and managed to silence the creature with 2 rounds from is 9 mm. John got up slowly and took his hands off of his ears, he looked down at his hands and found them streaked with blood.

"There are no elevators around here so will have to use that" Louis said as he pointed towards a ventilation shaft.

"Oh, no I'm extremely claustrophobic" retorted John.

"Well if you don't want to come I'll just leave you here, by yourself with no protection against whatever else is down here. If you want to go on your own be my guest" answered Louis coldly.

"Alright, I'll come with you" replied John.

They approached the grate that lead to the vent and Louis pulled out his gun. He fired at the locks and the grate fell open.

"C'mon this shaft leads to where we want to go" said Louis as he climbed in.

"I'm going to regret this" muttered John as he climbed in.

The shaft was pitch black, Louis turned on his flashlight as he ventured forward. John was right on his heels the whole time. After almost half an hour of arduous and cramped movement and climbing the pair reached the end of the shaft. It opened into a strange room with odd flooring. As Louis and John stepped out of the vent, the floor beneath them gave way and they both fell to the tiled floor.

"Not again" John panted; he was tired of falling all the time. They soon realized that they were in the Sector D Administration Office Complex. There was a balcony above them. He could see a scientist up there and he called up to him.

"You, up there get down here, we're headed for the surface!" he called out. The other scientist gave them some good news. "I've just received a secure access transmission, soldiers have arrived and their coming to rescue us" he told them joyfully. Suddenly a headcrab jumped out of the shadows and latched onto the man's head. The scientist collapsed instantly.

"We need to link up with the military, we cannot stay here" said Louis. They proceeded to the elevator and pushed the ascend button.

"Finally, some good news today" said John, who could barely hide his jubilation. The elevator continued its climb towards the surface and safety.


	5. Chapter 4: Rules of Engagement

**Escape from Black Mesa **

**Chapter 4: Rules of Engagement **

There was a loud beeping noise when the elevator reached the top floor. John's ears still throbbed in pain after the sonic attack from that animal in the storage area. The door opened, John and Louis proceeded down the empty hall towards the doors that lead to silo. As they neared the end of the hall there was another flash of green light and a new alien appeared. This one was familiar to John, it had dark brown skin, sharp claws, one large orange eye in the middle of its face, and a third arm growing straight out of its chest.

"John, take my pistol. I see something that can help us fight this creature in that security station," said Louis. The creature's hands began to glow green.

"Get down!" screamed John and the two of them dove into the opening in front of the silo door. A bolt of green coloured electricity sparked as it hit the concrete floor where they had previously stood. There was an HEV wall outlet and a small medical station by the door where they were hiding.

"Here you go" Louis told John as he tossed his .9 mm pistol to him. Louis then sprinted as fast as he could across the hall and launched himself through the window of the security office. The glass shattered as he went through and a second flash of green electricity flashed mere inches from him.

John sat there for a few moments clutching the handgun and trembling uncontrollably. He could hear the alien speaking quietly and softly to itself. There was a creaking sound as the door to the security station opened slowly followed by a loud blast and a horrible screech of pain as the alien died. John looked up and saw Louis wielding a shotgun above him.

"We just got this shipment last week and thank god we did," commented Louis. "There is an elevator around here that should take us to the surface," he finished and beckoned for John to follow him.

"Oh, here is your pistol back," said John.

"You hang onto it, if we get separated you'll need a weapon to defend yourself with," replied Louis.

"Yes, yes of course," said John, he really didn't want the weapon, it scared him and he didn't know how to use one. Sure he knew the mechanics of it but he had never held one before and he was beginning to get nervous. They continued down the hall and passed through a storage area that was filled with crates and boxes. There was a table as well which had several clips of .9 mm ammo and a few boxes of shotgun shells. John dropped the ammo clips into the deep pockets of his lab coat; they were pretty heavy and they slowed him down a bit.

They encountered more headcrabs, zombies, houndeyes -John's name for the aliens with the sonic powers- and more of the one eyed aliens. Eventually they reached a small firing range where they found even more ammo. John was now being weighed down by four pairs of clips in his lab coat pockets.

"Hey, Louis, look what I found!" exclaimed John excitedly. He had found a table that had two untouched bagels on it.

"I, guess that we can take a break, plus I'm starving," decided Louis. They both sat against the wall and ate the bagels hungrily. The bagel tasted so good to John he felt that he was in heaven. He hadn't eaten a thing in almost twelve hours and any food was welcome to him.

They continued down the hall to another storage area and battled another pair of the one eyed "slaves". After defeating both of the slaves, the duo was confronted by another new species. This alien had a large and spotted backside with a tail and two large muscular legs. The eyes were placed on both sides of its body. The strangest thing though was its mouth which was normal but was surrounded by large tentacles.

"C'mon, bring it!" said Louis in an intimidating voice while he aimed his shotgun. He fired one round right into the creature's mouth but this only served to antagonize it. It responded by spewing a glob of corrosive acid at Louis but it missed and hit the concrete wall, disintegrating it instantly.

"Run!" yelled Louis. The duo sprinted down the hall and the creature gave chase. John rounded the corner first and slipped on the wet floor. Louis, who was wearing all-terrain boots, was fine but John kept sliding. He was slipping towards an open elevator shaft. Thinking fast, he grabbed onto the sides of the opening as he approached and used all his strength to stop himself. He was lucky, if he hadn't grabbed on he would have plummeted thirty floors to his death.

The "bullsquid" however wasn't as lucky and did not have the sense to brace itself and it flew through the opening and fell down the shaft.

The group proceeded through another series of tunnels and storage areas and up an elevator until making it to a large room with a staircase and walkway that lead to the way they wanted to go. As they approached the stairs they heard a strange cracking noise. In an instant, the stone wall in front of them blew apart and a multitude of headcrabs and zombies emerged from the makeshift door. John retreated toward the exit and Louis followed behind him, shotgun ablaze. Louis was mowing down the zombies but it seemed that they just kept coming and coming.

"Go John! I'll hold them off!" yelled Louis over the roar of his shotgun.

"No! You're coming too!" replied John.

"There's no time!" fired back Louis. He curled his hand into a fist smashed it through the glass shielding covering the button to close the bullet proof emergency fire door.

The alarm sounded as the door began to close.

"Go now!" screamed Louis and he grabbed John by the collar and tossed him under the rapidly closing door.

"Louis, come through," John said exasperated.

"Don't worry John. I'll meet up with you at the Air-Traffic Control Center," replied Louis. "Head for the surface," were the last words he said before the thick lead door shut out his voice completely.

John sat with his back against the wall; he felt sick to his stomach and wanted to give up hope of being rescued. Somehow he found the strength to carry on and try to escape.

He was crossing a walkway over a dark chasm when suddenly something long and sticky wrapped itself around his neck. He felt the air being choked out of him as the tongue pulled him forcibly upwards towards the ceiling. John managed to look up to his horror and see another strange new alien latched onto the ceiling. It resembled a giant mouth complete with large sharp teeth and a protruding tongue which was now strangling him.

John mustered all his strength and managed to pull Louis's handgun out of his coat pocket. He pointed it at the creature and fired.

The force of the recoil from the gun made him lose his grip on it and it fell to the floor. There was a harsh gurgling sound and he was dropped five feet and landed with a thud. After he hit the ground he was showered in a combination of blood, bones, and alien vomit.

"This day can't get any worse," he commented bitterly.

John cleaned himself off and continued on. He reached a room with a set of conveyor belts and found no exit. He did notice a vent that led upwards towards the surface.

"I'll meet up with you at the Air-Traffic Control Center, head for the surface" Louis's last words flashed across John's mind. _You're going to regret this decision, _his mind told himself. He climbed in any ways and after ten long minutes of climbing and hyperventilation, he made it into another storage room. However this one had an elevator with a sign beside it printed in red letters which read Surface Access.

John was overjoyed; he eagerly pressed the button to open the doors and began his ascent.

He reached the top shortly and found himself in a garage. He proceeded outside and let the cool afternoon air wash over him. He heard a loud spinning sound and saw a huge tan coloured V-22 Osprey transport helicopter roar in above him. The side of the chopper read Hazardous Environment Combat Unit.

Suddenly 10 black ropes coiled down from the chopper and 10 fully equipped marines rappelled down to where John was standing. John was taken aback when the marines turned to face him.

"Get on the ground now!" barked one of the marines as he pointed his MP5 sub-machine gun at John.

"What's the meaning of this I'm one of the science team…." John began to say but did not finish as a cotton rag full of chloroform was placed in front of his nose. He breathed in and felt himself once again falling unconscious. The last thing he remembered was being hoisted into the Osprey and the marine sergeant speaking to one of his men.

"Go in and kill everything, aliens and base personnel. No one in the outside world can know what is happening here."


	6. Chapter 5: Topside for Questioning

**Escape from Black Mesa **

**Chapter 5: Topside for Questioning **

John felt a throbbing pain as he once again regained consciousness. This time he was all tied up inside a large tent. There was a marine sitting at a table with his back to John talking over a radio set.

"We've proceeded deep into the complex; base personnel have offered no resistance so far. Casualties are lighter than expected and we have control of the facility. Alien attacks are frequent but random and unorganized. The operation is a success so far, we are heading into the decommissioned rail system now, out," said the voice on the other end.

"Roger that, out," replied the marine as he hung up the field phone. He turned around and noticed that John was awake; he then got up and left the tent. He soon returned with another soldier who appeared to be a sergeant.

"Alright, I'll handle this," said the sergeant and the other marine waited outside. "So brainy you want to tell me what you mad scientists did down there to cause all this shit?" the marine asked.

"If I told you, you wouldn't understand. It's too much for someone of your mental capacity to interpret," jeered John. He would regret saying that as the marine landed a heavy blow across his face. He tasted blood in his mouth and when he spat it out a tooth came out as well.

John had had enough he was fed up and tired, he vented all his rage out that very moment.

"That's it!" he bellowed fiercely. "I've had it! I have spent the last twenty-four hours going from one peril to another! First I slam my head against a computer desk, then I plummet over 200 feet in a tram car, after that I am forced to crawl through tiny vents or be left behind! Next I am almost electrocuted, then I almost fall down a thirty floor elevator shaft, then I am being strangled by the tongue of an alien, after that alien vomits on me after I free myself from it. Then I was chloroformed by you morons and now you knock out my tooth, this has been the greatest twenty-four hours of my entire life!" John shouted quite loudly.

The radio interrupted Johns rant, the voice on the other end sounded panicked.

"We've got a new contact. We haven't seen this kind before, it's huge, and it's just tearing through us. Mike, Mike! Every one fall back, I repeat fall back. Aughhh!" there was a scream of pain as the man on the radio was killed, a loud and unnatural roar echoed from the radio before it all turned to static.

John was terrified; Louis is still in the complex, if he was even still alive. Hopefully he would not run into that creature.

"What should we do sir?" asked the corporal at the entrance of the tent.

"I'll go in with a strike team to try to locate and rescue L Company. You stay here and guard the prisoners and the camp," the sergeant replied.

"Yes sir," the corporal replied. The sergeant gave him a quick salute and left the tent. The corporal forced John to stand and walked him out of the tent towards another. The marine roughly tossed John into the other tent. John started to get on his knees when he heard a familiar voice.

"John, is that you?" the voice said.

John recognized the voice instantly, it was Nina.

"Nina, how did you get here?" asked John.

"Well let's just say that it was a harrowing experience," replied Nina, refusing to go into detail.

"Same on this end" replied John.

"Well so much for the government" snorted Nina. "Their idea of containment is to kill everyone associated with the project" she stated.

"We need to get out of here," John implied. "I met someone in the complex and he and I were planning to get to the Air-Traffic Control Center and escape on a plane or helicopter. Now I'm not sure, I mean the army is against us and my friend might be dead for all I know," he said.

They tried to discuss a plan of escape but John was simply too tired from all the running, shooting and falling unconscious constantly that he was sound asleep soon enough.

John was awoken the next morning by the sound of gunfire and explosions. He sat up quickly but Nina forced him back down. Several stray bullets whizzed through the tent at high speeds. Suddenly the body of a marine came flying through the tent, shredding it. John noticed that the body of the marine still had its combat knife.

He grabbed it awkwardly and cut Nina's bonds with it then Nina did the same. As they walked by the body, Nina picked up the marines M-16 assault rifle. They exited the tent a sprinted as fast as they could away from the battle. Screams could still be heard from the burning camp.

"Freeze!" yelled a marine as he pointed his MP5 at them. John put his arms up in surrender but Nina fired four rounds into him and he crumpled like a sack of potatoes. John cautiously walked over and picked up the MP5.

"Now what?" John asked Nina.

"We go with your plan, maybe we'll meet up with your friend," she suggested. There was a large canyon that they would need to cross to get to the airfield.

"How do we get across?" Nina wondered aloud.

"Right here," replied John as he opened the hatch of a manhole. "This leads to the underground coolant reserves," he explained. "We can go under the canyon instead of going across it".

"Good idea," said Nina and the two of them entered the manhole with John closing the hatch behind him.


	7. Chapter 6: Once more Into the Breach

**Escape from Black Mesa **

**Chapter 6: Once More into the Breach**

As the last glimmer of daylight disappeared behind the closing hatch, John and Nina began to climb down the ladder into the coolant pipes. A sickly chemical smell washed over them as they stepped down from the ladder. They began to walk along the walkways towards the nearest service elevator.

Suddenly a pair of zombies wearing security guard uniforms rose out of the viscous coolant. John immediately took aim at them and fired. The recoil was strong but he held on firmly. His bullets however whizzed harmlessly over the zombies. He fired again and this time the rounds hit their marks. The two zombies dropped back down into the bright blue fluid.

"Good shot John," Nina said kindly.

"Thanks," replied John with pride in his voice.

There was a loud explosion up ahead which rocked the pipe they were standing in. The lights above them flickered as the pipe vibrated from the aftershock.

"I'm going to go investigate," said John.

He tiptoed ahead quietly and peered around the corner. The grate above had been blown open and sunlight was filtering in. Soon the all too familiar black ropes coiled to the floor and a squad of marines entered the pipe. John quietly walked back to where Nina was waiting.

"What is it?" she asked worriedly. She must have noticed the look of panic in his eyes.

"There is a group of soldiers around the corner," he whispered. They both proceeded back towards the corner.

"Lets move out go, go, go!" ordered one of them. The rest stood up and ran down the hall in the opposite direction.

"Phew," John breathed a sigh of relief.

"Sir a heard something back there," said one of the marines.

_Idiot _thought John to himself.

"It's just your mind playin' tricks on you Rodriguez," replied the serge. With that the marine raced to catch up with the rest of his squad.

John and Nina quietly headed down the opposite hallway. For almost half an hour they walked along the twisting maze like pipes hoping to find an elevator. Eventually they found their way to an enormous coolant storage tank. John and Nina wanted to jump for joy; they found a service elevator on the far side of the tank. There was a harsh metallic noise as some part of the tank was tearing open. Suddenly three large green tentacles rose out of the coolant pooled at the bottom of the tank. At the same time the group of marines from earlier entered from another pipe.

"Look serge, scientists!" one of the soldiers exclaimed.

The marines began to run toward Nina and John when suddenly the three large tentacles began to violently attack the squad using their sharp, blade like appendages. One by one each marine was picked off until only two remained. The two marines that were left began to fall back. One was impaled right through the chest by a tentacle and was thrown violently against the wall, his body landed right beside Nina and John. The only marine left appeared to be Rodriguez who stumbled as he entered the pipe. One of the tentacles entered the pipe and began to search for him. Suddenly it latched onto his leg and pulled him into the center of the room. Rodriguez was screaming at the top of his lungs as the tentacle pulled him downwards. Soon he disappeared underneath the thick coolant.

"Great now what do we do?" whispered John.

"These creatures appear to be attracted to loud noises. We could create a distraction while we sneak to the elevator," suggested Nina.

"Good idea, but what creates a loud noise?" asked John. He turned a second later and found his answer. The dead marine still had his grenade belt slung over his shoulder. John detached a grenade from the belt and prepared to throw it; he pulled the pin and threw the grenade as hard as he could. Being a pitcher on his varsity baseball team didn't hurt as well. The grenade landed in the pipe opposite to the elevator. The grenade went off with a loud boom that shook the whole tank. The three tentacles immediately began to stab at the invisible prey. Nina and John began their quiet walk towards the elevator and when they reached it the tentacles were still attacking the spot where the grenade has gone off. John pressed the button to bring the elevator down. To their horror the elevator made a loud beep when it reached their floor. The three tentacles turned around to face them and Nina and John sprinted for the inside if the elevator. They both made it in and John quickly hit the button for the top floor. As the doors began to close one of the tentacles grabbed onto Nina's leg.

"It's got my leg help me!" she screamed. John grabbed onto her hand and him and the tentacle began a game of tug of war. John began to lose his grip and finally his strength gave way. Nina was pulled out of the elevator screaming as the doors closed and John began his ascent to the surface once again alone.


	8. Chapter 7: Size Matters

**Escape from Black Mesa **

**Chapter 7: Size Matters**

The bell rang and suddenly, the entire elevator was bathed in the warm glow of the setting sun. John buried his thoughts about Nina, picked up his MP5 and walked out of the elevator.

He quickly glanced at his watch; it read 5:03 pm. It had been a day and a half since the experiment and by the gagging smell of smoke things weren't going well. As John walked onto the main road, all he could see was utter destruction. Spasmodic gunfire and screams could be heard in the distance. Buildings sported gaping holes while others were on fire. There were bodies strewn everywhere, Marines, aliens and Black Mesa personnel alike. There was an overturned Humvee and a smoldering wreck of a M1 Abrams on the road. At that moment an Osprey helicopter appeared overhead and a fresh squad of Marines disembarked. John quickly dove behind a large supply crate.

"Shit, these poor bastards got destroyed," commented one of the soldiers.

"Stow it marine," came the reply of the squad leader.

There were a bunch of loud roars as a group of five hulking aliens came into view.

"Take them down marines!" yelled the sergeant. The bullets from their MP5s and M16s did virtually nothing and bounced harmlessly off the heavy metallic armour that the creatures wore. The aliens responded with a flurry of yellow projectiles. The "hornets" instinctively locked on and buried themselves the marine's ballistic armour. One by one each soldier fell under a swarm of the hornets.

John knew that he couldn't sneak by the aliens and decided that he would have a better chance of surviving the coming battle. He cursed himself for not taking more grenades off the body of the dead marine in the coolant tank. However fate decided to be kind to him this once and he almost jumped for joy when he noticed it. Painted in white letters on the supply crate he was hiding from were the words T.O.W Missile Launcher warning: handle with extreme care. John felt like singing but he realized that any outburst would alert the alien "grunts" to his presence.

He carefully opened the two latches and lifted the top of the crate up slowly. He then carefully took out the launcher and secured a rocket in the tube. When he stood up the two aliens turned to face him but he had already pulled the trigger. The launcher flew out of his hands as one of the hornets pierced his left shoulder. He cried out in pain as he pulled the hornet out and stepped on it. The missile had annihilated the group of grunts though and John walked out with his MP5 and clutching his shoulder. He stumbled down the road for about and hour before another, even louder roar filled the air.

_Great what now_? thought John. His question was soon answered as a two story tall behemoth emerged from the tunnel in front of him. It was covered in a thick blue carapace that looked almost impossible to break through. The claws of the monster opened and jets of flame shot out of its hands. John dived into a crumbling building to avoid being barbecued. He had another stroke of luck as the radio on the body of the dead marine beside him crackled to life.

"This is Apache 1138 of Charlie squadron. Are you there Major?" asked the voice on the other end.

John crawled over and picked up the radio and began to respond. "Yes this is the major. I need you to take out this big blue bastard for me. Can you do that?" John asked.

"Yes sir, I'm on my way, just sit tight," replied the pilot. John soon heard the sound of propeller blades and watched as the Apache unloaded six anti-tank rockets into the creature which fell to the ground with a thud.

John limped out from his cover and spat on the corpse. He then kept following the signs toward the airfield. Two hours past and John was weak from thirst, exhaustion, hunger, and blood loss.

"Must…continue," he muttered before collapsing face first on the sand. The next thing he remembered was flashes of a pair of scientists picking him up on a stretcher before he fell unconscious for the fourth time in a day and a half.

He woke up with a bright white light shining on his face. He sat up and found himself in one of the food courts. There were other bodies lying on the other tables and supplies were scattered all about. Things like food, weapons, ammunition, water, and medical bio-foam were stacked in neat piles all across the cafeteria. One of the scientists in the room walked over to him.

"Well, it seems my lifesaving skills weren't in vain after all," he said.

"Where am I?" asked John.

"We are currently in the food court complex of the Area 8 Topside Dormitories," replied the scientist. Something else was attracting John's attention.

"Damn it that stuff hurts," said a familiar voice.

"This is the only way that it won't hurt," replied the scientist. John turned the corner and jumped for joy.

"I told you that I would meet up with you," remarked a dirt covered Louis.


	9. Chapter 8: Reunion

**Escape from Black Mesa **

**Chapter 8: Reunion **

"How did you escape the aliens?" asked John in utter amazement.

"After I shut the door on you, I quickly hopped over one of the railings and dove into a very conveniently placed laundry chute. I slid down the chute until I realized that it wasn't a laundry chute and rather a garbage chute. I landed on a conveyor belt that was carrying the garbage to an incineration pit. I quickly jumped off to a balcony with a door on the right and entered the service tunnels. When I exited the service tunnels, I found myself in the old underground rail line. I ran into another survivor as I made my way through, and he told me that I needed to tell Gordon Freeman about some satellite delivery rocket that needed to be launched. When Freeman arrived I told him and he just nodded back, with no response."

"What did the scientist say the rocket was for?" asked John.

"He told me that the Lambda team could close the portal with it but those aliens are still coming so I guess it didn't work. Anyway I continued through the rail system until I reached another service elevator that brought me here. So, what have you been doing?" he asked.

John explained to him about getting to the surface, being captured by the military, escaping with Nina, eluding the tentacles and how they got Nina, his fight with the Alien Grunts and the Gargantua.

"Well your last twenty-four hours have been far more dangerous than mine!" Louis laughed.

"So what do you think we should do from here?" asked John.

"You ask too many questions, you know that? The plan okay, I was thinking that we can rest here for awhile and regain our strength. Stock up on ammo and supplies then head for the airfield, it's only a few miles away now. You can see it from outside; c'mon I'll show you," he said. John and Louis passed by a Dunkin' Donuts, a Tony's Pizza, a Tesla's Tacos, and a Cary's Caffa on the way to the outside sitting area. John noticed that both main doors were barricaded with boxes, crates, tables, and chairs with a pair of either security guards or scientists with weapons guarding them.

As they stepped outside John could immediately see the airfield. It was bristling with military activity. He could see helicopters patrolling the area with tanks, troops, and supply crates being unloaded from huge C-5 Galaxy transports. Suddenly there was a loud explosion and bits of rock tumbled down from the cliffside. One of the security guards ran up beside them.

"Sir the east entrance had taken a hit and the aliens are commencing another attack".

"Damn," swore Louis. "That's the second one this hour. C'mon John let's go" he beckoned. Louis loaded his shotgun and John switched off the safety on his MP5. As they approached scientists were heading towards the makeshift med bay carrying wounded personnel on stretchers. When they reached the barricade, the men there were barely hanging on.

"We held off the first wave but we can see them massing for a second one. We just barely survived sir. We need help".

"I can provide that," said a scientist and he produced an M249 Squad Automatic Weapon, essentially a portable machine gun.

"Excellent!" exclaimed the security guard and he rushed to set it up.

Soon the ground began shaking as the aliens charged in one final attack. John and Louis took cover behind an overturned table.

Louis peeked over and gave the order. "Open fire!" he yelled. John, Louis, the security guard and two scientists armed with M16s stood up and fired point blank into the first wave of slaves. The brown aliens were blown backwards by the force of the SAW as it spewed out rounds at an unprecedented speed. John took out two slaves and an alien grunt with precise bursts from his gun. He was getting better at shooting things now. The alien grunts had one enormous weakness; their armour didn't protect some areas of their bodies and shots there were instantly fatal. The alien bodies were now littered all across the area. The defenders cheered as the last of the aliens died but stopped abruptly as a Gargantua came into view.

"John is that the Gargantua you were talking about?" Louis asked nervously.

"Yes it is Louis," replied John. "Run!" he screamed to the others.

The others tried to run but the Garg was too fast and enveloped all three of them in a wall of flames. John prayed for a miracle and he got one. At that exact moment explosions from the HECUs heavy artillery blasted the Garg to bits. Louis laughed and hit John on the back.

"We survived! Yeah!" he shouted as he danced down the hall back to the supply area. The pair ate a quick meal and gulped down some nice, hot caffa. Afterwards they loaded their pockets and two backpacks with food and ammo. One of the scientists escorted them to a large blast door. He pressed the button and it slowly opened.

"This passage should take you straight under the airport. Here, I've indicated the direction you should go in red marker. Once you get to the airfield you should try to sneak onto a transport plane," he suggested.

"Thanks," said John.

The scientist hit the button and the door began to close. John took a deep breath and prepared to head out.

"Good luck," said the scientist as the door closed behind them.


	10. Chapter 9: Black Ops Down

**Escape from Black Mesa **

**Chapter 9: Black Ops Down**

John and Louis proceeded down the dimly lit corridor for about ten minutes before they rounded a corner and found a marine lying there dead. He radio was still working and a message could be heard from it.

"Attention all squad leaders, fall back to the airport. The turf war is too hot we're pulling out. The Black Ops are taking over from here. Jump off back to Santego at 2200 hours".

"We need to get moving, they're leaving in two hours," said Louis. John nodded curtly and they continued down the corridor. They turned a corner and came face to face with a zombie. Before either of them could react, the headcrab on the zombie's head was violently thrown off. A scientist stood at the other end of the hall with smoke leaving the barrel of his sniper rifle. John finally was able to see what a headcrab did to a victim. The man's head was bent back at a sickening angle, his mouth set in the form of a scream, there was blood covering the security guard's face, and a small hole had been poked in his skull.

"C'mon we need to escape," said the scientist who had just saved them. The three of them continued down another hall until reaching a titanium plated blast door. He pressed the button on a small comm. panel by the door. "Alien!" he yelled.

"Brains, come on in," came the reply.

The door opened and the three of them entered a small survivor base. Inside was a main room which housed computers, weapons, ammo, and medical supplies.

"I found these two out back," said the scientist who, John had identified as Ralph from his employee pass. There were about twenty odd people in the room and they were all getting ready to leave for the airport. Before John could say anything there was a burning smell in the air.

"Shit, they're coming!" informed one of the security guards. John, Louis, Ralph, and all the other survivors crouched near the door with their weapons loaded and at the ready. They all could see the sparks as the cutting torch burned through the back entrance.

"Get ready people," said Ralph.

Without warning the door was blasted off its hinges and a small object flew into the room.

"Flash grenade!" screamed one of the employees as it hit the floor and detonated. John closed his eyes too late and he was hit with a bright burst of light that severely distorted his vision. His ears rang as the loud bang echoed in his ears. He quickly regained his senses and saw a group of soldiers storm in garbed entirely in black and began to kill all the personnel using silenced pistols and SMGs. John found that Louis and Ralph were taking cover behind a computer desk and walked over to them.

"Let's see if we can sneak by," he whispered and the three of them quickly scurried out the blasted door while the black ops were attacking the others. Just as they thought they were safe they heard muffled blasts as the black ops continually shot at them and continually missed. John heard a cry of pain as one of the soldiers shot Ralph in the leg. He fell instantly.

"Go, I'll hold them off!" he said. He pulled out a grenade, pulled out the pin and launched it down the hall. The blast killed two operatives and buried two more under the collapsing ceiling. John and Louis hurried on, determined to make it to the airfield. Louis took out the map and pointed up.

"If we exit out this grate, it should take us right inside the air traffic control center," he informed John. They quickly climbed up and found themselves directly in the basement of the complex. After checking the time and realizing they only had ten minutes before the planes left, they formulated a plan. They spent the next six minutes maneuvering through the complex until they reached outside and were mere feet away from freedom.

They were hidden behind a storage crate and contemplated how to get on the plane.

"We should open this crate up and see if we can fit in," suggested John in a low voice.

"Good idea," whispered Louis and together they silently opened the cargo crate. It was empty. They climbed in, sat down, and closed the hatch behind them. Soon they felt a jolt as the two marines on duty loaded the last of the supplies.

"What are the black ops going to do here?" asked one the marines.

"I have no idea" replied the other and the two closed the rear loading door behind them. John felt a great sense of joy as the aircraft rumbled down the runway and climbed into the sky. He was saddened by the knowledge that probably everyone in the facility was dead or dying. However he put those thoughts to rest and quietly celebrated with Louis in the cargo container, they had escaped Black Mesa.


	11. Epilogue

**Escape from Black Mesa **

**Epilogue **

"God damn, my shift ends it one minute but it's taking forever" complained Pfc. David McCloskey. The Galaxies had just returned from some place called Black Mesa, it was some babysitting mission or something like that and it had gone wrong. It was too hot for the HECU and the big boys had been called in, they were going to secure a position and detonate a nuclear bomb in the facility and wipe it clean off the face of the earth. _That was their solution for everything _thought McCloskey.

30 seconds until his shift ended. He reclined in his chair and placed his feet on his desk at the guard post at the North entrance to the Santego Military Base in Arizona. His friend and bunkmate, Adrian Shepard was sent as part of the mission and McCloskey was going to go see him after his shift ended.

10 seconds, McCloskey stood up in his chair and got ready to bolt out the door before a horn sounded and a Humvee pulled up to the gate.

"God dammit!" he yelled and just opened the gate and urged the driver through. The Humvee sped off into the night. His shift was over; he ran out the door and headed for the airport to see Adrian, knocking over his replacement on his way over. If he had bothered to ask for the driver's ID like he was supposed to he would have noticed the two Black Mesa employee badges, one labeled Louis Parker, and the other labeled John Hunt.


End file.
