The one just past that, however, is absolutely crawling with Combine and headcrab zombies alike. And so is the next, and the one after that. Frankly, Gordon can't help but wonder if two Combine commanders didn't get separate orders to take the hospital and one of them turned headcrab rockets loose on the place rather than send infantry.

There is, at least, one small mercy. There are hardly any poison headcrabs to be seen among the bunch. Just one bloated, purplish zombie in a room with a gaping hole in the floor, and it goes down swiftly enough under a hail of shotgun fire. "Have we got any clue where the stairs are?" Gordon asks once the sound of gunfire dies away.