acts_of_gord | (no subject)

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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.

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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.

As if there's any such thing!

Meanwhile, Gordon's got the gravity gun out. Not that he's low on ammunition, but there are zombines lunging their way and at least one of them has a grenade out. If he can repay them all in kind it'll put an end to this bilge all the sooner.

As suddenly as they began, the screams and groans fall silent.

"...I think we're good."

"I think you're right," says Gordon, listening for any further zombie sounds over the pounding of his pulse in his ears. There aren't any. "Let's keep going. There's got to be an exit eventually."

There is.

Unfortunately, it's through an abandoned operating room where the walls are painted with blood, and a blackened, emaciated corpse lies crumpled on an operating table.

"What kind of hospital is this?"

Gordon glances sidelong at the corpse, but he's more interested in the cabinets lining the walls. They've got medkits in them- finally- and he could really use some of that bug juice right about now. As he cracks the first kit open he spots the words PROPERTY OF UMDNJ - NEW JERSEY MEDICAL SCHOOL printed along one edge. "Teaching hospital, apparently," he murmurs. "Combine must've appropriated the room."

"...I sure hope it was the Combine that did that." Alyx shakes her head. "C'mon, let's get out of here."

"Fine by me," says Gordon. "The sooner, the better."

Hopefully they've drawn enough of the Combine off that Barney was able to get people to the train station by now.

Edited 2008-12-15 01:57 (UTC)

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