acts_of_gord | (no subject)

Entry tags:

(no subject)

Barney pulls the bridge shut almost as soon as Gordon touches down in the building across the road. They've just come from apartments in foul condition, but this building's suffered more; the holes in the walls are enormous, and the floor feels as if it might give way at any moment. Some previous Resistance member took the precaution of bridging the gap between this building and the next with a length of metal walkway. It's very thoughtful of them, but Gordon can't help but wish he still had his old long-jump module. That's just not solid-looking enough for him.

That, and he can hear the whirring, thupping sound of oncoming rotors from somewhere very close by indeed.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Alyx would say more, but she's just spotted the exit to the room.

It's a pair of double doors, sealed with a Combine powered lock.

One that's suddenly started flashing and beeping ominously.

"Oh, God, not again..."

Okay, now Gordon wants to start swearing. 'Course, the doors exploding manage to hide whatever it was he was going to say.

At least he's still got plenty of ammo in the pulse rifle. Overwatch is going down.

Between the two of them, Gordon and Alyx manage to kill the whole squadron of Overwatch before they even get through the door.

There's a lot more gunfire echoing down the hallways beyond, though.

"And this was the safe route?" Gordon wonders aloud. "Hold on- did you hear something chirping?"

It's the first of several hopper mines. As much as Gordon would like to make good use of the things, he doubts anyone's going to be chasing them any time soon, so the best he can really do is grab one up with the gravity gun and punt it as hard as he can in the direction of the gunfire. Moments later, he's rewarded with the sound of zombie parts hitting the wall- and maybe some Combine as well.

In amongst the corpses and rubble around the corner are a Combine weapons rack, computer terminal, and a force field blocking the door. It looks as though the Overwatch are setting up shop in the building--or trying to, anyway.

"So much for medical supplies..." Alyx trails off and her eyes light up when she sees that the weapons rack isn't quite empty. "Hey, cool, a shotgun!"

"Need any ammo?" Gordon asks, doing his best to listen for whatever might be on the other side of the forcefield. "I've got extra rounds."

"Yeah, just a sec, let me get this forcefield down..." Bzzap. "There."

The corridor beyond is relatively quiet. For now.

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.

Alyx has decided she really likes this shotgun. Sure, it's too cumbersome to carry around on a regular basis, but it blows away zombies quite well.

"Not a one," she admits. She gestures toward the hole in the floor. "After you..."

Gordon nods and moves forward to drop down through the hole. It's really not all that faaaAAAAAAA.... sploosh.

... dammit, floors are not supposed to give way under impact like that. What if the basement hadn't been completely flooded?

"Oh no..." Alyx peers down from two floors above Gordon, trying to see where he landed. "Gordon! Are you okay??"

"Yeah, I-"

There's a squelching, crunching sound off to his right that he knows only too well. Gordon turns just in time to see the barnacles hanging from the ceiling spitting out the inedible parts of something's remains. A momentary scan of the dark and flooded basement reveals that there are quite a few of the things lying in wait.

Joy.

And yet more wailing and moaning echoing down from Alyx's level.

"Oh, God, more zombies--"

She disappears from view. Sorry, Gordon, she's got troubles of her own to deal with right now.

And the only door he can see down here's got a magnetic lock, too. Dammit, dammit, dammit- Gordon would drag a hand over his face in frustration if he thought it'd do a damn bit of good.

At least the barnacles aren't going to be running away any time soon. It's amazingly therapeutic to wade through the revolting, smelly water that's filled the basement and blow the things away with shotgun blast after shotgun blast. And at least the fusebox that controls the powered door is easy enough to reach, once the barnacles are all dead.

The part where he inadvertently slips in his mad run for the exit and puts a foot in the electrified water for an instant? That's not so helpful. Not that it lasts very long, but his nerves are still screaming in protest when he reaches the blue-lit stairwell that leads out of the dank and noxious pit.

Aim, shoot, dodge, aim, shoot, duck down to reload, shoot some more...

Finally, finally, there's enough of a lull in the oncoming horde of zombies that Alyx can safely ease herself down into the hole and swing over to a spot where the floor's more stable.

"Sorry about leaving you alone down there, Gordon," she pants. "I got a bit swamped."

"Are you all right?" Gordon asks, scanning the room for medkits (there aren't any). "They weren't too bad up there, were they?"

"I'm fine, they just wouldn't stop coming..." She adjusts her headband, which was starting to jostle loose over the course of the fight. "How 'bout you?"

Edited 2008-12-15 00:49 (UTC)

"I'll be okay. It was just barnacles, and one headcrab." He shakes out one hand, more to prove to himself that it still works than anything else. "Let's get moving. I'm starting to hate the smell of this place."

Alyx just nods and heads for the door on the far side of the room.

The building seems less and less structurally sound the further they get. The room around the corner has another huge hole in the floor, and HEY GUESS WHAT THERE'S A POISON HEADCRAB ZOMBIE IN IT.

Gordon is not jumping down there this time. No way in hell. That is why he didn't give Alyx all his shotgun ammo. Because things like that needed to die first.

After the poison zombie falls- and the crabs that leapt from its corpse are similarly dealt with- he waits a few seconds, and then eases himself down. The floor seems solid enough...

"Come on down," he calls up to Alyx. "Someone was stashing supplies here."

Alyx drops into the room and looks around to get her bearings. Double doors and easily-broken glass windows on one side, a half-crumbled wall on the other, and a half-dozen zombies being held back by flaming rubble.

"What I wouldn't give for a couple of gun turrets right now," she murmurs as she grabs a fresh box of shotgun shells off of a nearby shelf.

"Best we can do is these," murmurs Gordon, lifting the first of three hopper mines off another shelf with the gravity gun. "After that we're on our own."

He's just got the third one planted when the first of the zombies finds its way through the rubble and lunges for the window.

"Here they come..."

And they do. From all directions, bashing through doors and windows to reach the two living humans. At least they're big targets.

And at least the supplies included a few flares; a zombie that's had a lit flare punted into its midsection is a zombie that's going to die of fire poisoning very, very shortly. And, hey, the constant gunfire drowns out most of the horrible noises they're making!

"Ha! Burn 'em!"

Alyx might be enjoying setting zombies on fire just a little too much.