Chapter 6: Surface Tension
The truck rolled. First stop was the dam. Apple Bloom covered her ears from the gunfire and explosions in the distance. Still, she enjoyed the beautiful view of the canyon. The marines gave their best to fight the aliens but even with their M1 Abrams, Lav-25s, Harriers and even support of the US army in form of M2A3 Bradley’s and Apache helicopters, they had no chance against them.
“I wonder why your comrades are letting us go.”
“That’s simple, Jacob. Since our orders were to bring the personal to the surface for interrogation, they are thinking that we are exactly doing this,” Tower explained.
After the marines opened the blast door, the truck moved to the Topside Motorpool. The entrance was guarded by a squad of marines and a M1 Abram but they let the truck pass. Apple Bloom's eyes went wide at the sight of the tank.
“This is the M1 Abram, the main tank of the US-forces. It has a 120mm cannon and a M2 machine gun for defense at close range. It is deadly.” Michael explained.
In the driver's cab, Konrad and Tanner had a conversation.
"Jesus...This is not how I thought my first mission was gonna go. Monsters, hell yeah! But civilians? We have sworn an sacred oath for god's sake! Who is in command of this operation again, Tanner?"
"I only know some kind of G-man ordered it. But I overheard talks of other commanders while you helped Gordon in the lab. I don't know how, but they know about Apple Bloom and also do whatever they can to get her to safety."
"You sure?" He asked suspiciously.
"I know many of those marines and I can tell when they lie. But they're honest. Still, we got to be careful. Snipers are deployed and they shoot everything that is not HECU."
"Then, we better be careful."
"Yes. you earned the promotion for sure. You already make a better squad leader then I am."
"Can we talk about this when we're out of here?"
The road to the Ordinance Storage Facility was guarded by a LAV-25 and a squad of entrenched marines. Also this time, the truck passed.
The marines stepped out of the truck to fight a Vortigaunt that was dropped off by an Alien aircraft. After the Vortigaunt was defeated, an Alien Grunt was deployed by another alien aircraft. Konrad used a rifle grenade to damage him. He was wounded enough to be finished off with a few shots.
Jacob, Mia and Apple Bloom climbed out once the area was secured. “Ah only slow you down.”
“Not at all Apple Bloom, I can carry you.” Being carful of her wound, Mia lifted Apple Bloom up.
The left part was blocked by a mine field, so only the right part was an option. Detonating some trip mines from a distance, they encountered a dying security guard. “Help… Help me… Please… Somebody help me… I’m dying out here… Please… Help me…”
He died. Jacob was about to help him as Konrad stopped him. “Are you crazy? There’s a sniper in there!” He pointed to a window where a red laser beam came out.
The sniper fired at Apple Bloom but missed. Still, she yelped in fear. Tanner threw a grenade into the window. The sniper was killed but his rifle fell out. Konrad swapped it for the shotgun just in case he would need it.
To pass another mine field, Michael used a rifle grenade to detonate the entire mine field. It was guarded by another sniper but Konrad took care of him.
Tower deactivated the electricity and helped Apple Bloom up as they had to climb a fallen down radio tower.
A scientist was in the facility. “Oh no, you're one of the... them. Can't we just get along?” He asked afraid.
“Yes we can. We are heading for the helipad to get out of here.” Konrad meant no harm.
“Well, then be careful. Take one look through that door and you'll see what I mean! I'm just going to wait out the catastrophe in here. If you intend to go on, then I beg of you, for all our sake, proceed with extreme caution!”
"We will.”
The Facility was filled with trip mines. “Be careful. One wrong move and this whole Building is gone.”
“I know, Tower. I just wonder how they managed to place all those trip mines without blowing up themselves,” Jacob commented.
It was difficult, but they all managed to get to the elevator without detonating any of the trip mines. Members of the HECU were trained for many situations but crawling under barbed wire or remain crouched in a live fire exercise was nothing if you had to jump over and crawl under trip mines without detonate any of them.
“Any idea how many of our crew have died?” Jacob asked as he saw two dead guards.
“Already too many,” Mia replied.
Shortly before the group reached the surface again, an airstrike shook the ground.
“Guess this operation gets slowly out of control,” Konrad commented. Mia comforted Apple Bloom as she was a little bit scared.
An Alien aircraft deployed 3 Alien Grunts but a Harrier took care of them.
After that, a LAV-25 with a squad of marines arrived. “Hey man, good to see you. Can’t believe you made it past those…freaks. Listen, we've been cut off pretty bad and orders are coming down to pull out. I take it you didn't find Freeman? Forget it, Corporal. Apparently, they've got other plans for Black Mesa now. Anyway, we cover your evacuation. There’s also an Armory, so take some supplies if you need them.” The squad leader gave Apple Bloom some chocolate, showing his sympathy for her.
“Thanks.”
She heard how the squad had a agitated conversation.
"Christ! There's no frontline with these things."
"Lock it up! They're giving out new extration points."
"This whole operation is FUBAR!"
"Konrad, what does 'FUBAR' mean?"
"That means...uhh...that a military operation is going very bad."
"Oh, okay."
Phew! Didn't expext that she would ask me that. She's too young to understand the correct meaning of "FUBAR." He thought relieved.
They moved to the Armory, only to be held at gunpoint by a security guard that was hiding behind a desk.
“Freeze!”
“Whoa! Whoa! Hold your fire.” The guard recognized Jacob.
“Johnson? Good God man, how many lives do you have?” Jacob chuckled.
“None if it wasn’t for my new buddies here. Hey, buzz us in, will ya?”
“Oh yeah…” The guard pressed a button and the door opened. “Go ahead.”
“Mother of god!” None of the marines could believe their eyes. The Amory was filled to the roof with ammo for pistols, SMGs, shotguns, grenades and satchel charges and even RPGs and ammo for Crossbow and Tau cannon. First Aid kits were no exception. Man, If I could afford this... Konrad was lost for words.
“Not bad, huh?”
“Not bad! You hit the motherlode!” Jacob was impressed.
“What can I say? I got expensive taste.”
“Dammed if I’m not glad to see a familiar face. What say you, me and the soldiers here grab what we can, and get out of dodge?”
“Well…we should wait for a while. Let things die down a bit. But why are you together with them?”
“Unlike the others, we got orders to rescue any personal we can find. I swear.”
“I can’t trust you Corporal but the Lambda team said that you were helping my buddy. So I think I CAN trust you.” The guard chuckled. “You’re alright, Corporal.”
“Thanks.”
“Head out if you’re want buddy, but make sure you’re stocked up. I don’t think it’s getting any easier from there. But if you’re can’t get out here, the Lambda teams offers his help to get her home. You still got some friends out there.” The guard smiled at Apple Bloom. She was glad that they got help from the Science team.
After stocking up on supplies, a Sniper shot a Vortigaunt and shot down a fire escape allowing the group to procced.
The group walked through a bombed building. “Yay, we made it to the helipad!” Apple Bloom was glad that they had made it.
However as the Osprey arrived, 3 Alien Grunts attacked. Mia managed to find cover but was now pinned down.
“We must help them!”
“I know Tower, covering fire!” Tower and Michael ran to Apple Bloom and Mia covered by their squad, Jacob and marines that were rappelling down from the Osprey.
Konrad aimed down the scope of the M40A1 Sniper Rifle. He aimed at the exposed head of one Alien Grunt. With a scream he died. “Heh, sniper school sure paid off today.”
Jacob fired a MP5 from a fallen marine. “Yep, all that target range time is gonna pay off today.” Tower and Michael managed to get Apple Bloom and Mia to safety while the other marines killed the Alien Grunts. A Vortigaunt was about to attack Tower from behind, but Jacob reacted quickly.
“Die, you bloodsucker!” With a few shots to the head, the Vortigaunt was dead.
The Osprey landed. “Get in! Go! Go! Go!” They all got onboard.
“Any station! Any Station! This is Goose-4! I have sixteen wounded, seven dead at LZ Sparrow! We have multiple X-Rays all around us! We cannot take off, we are grounded. Is anyone out there? We need support now!” the radio buzzed as several units were in trouble.
“Goose-4, this is Bloodhound 3. Reading you loud and clear. ETA, one mike. Sit tight guys.”
"Any station, any station, this is Echo-5-Bravo. Are there any available air assets able to provide support in Sector 8? Any station, any station, this is Echo-5-Bravo. Are there any available air assets able to provide support in Sector 8? Is anyone reading this?"
"Thunderclap, this is Echo-5-Yankee. We need fire support, how copy?"
"This is Thunderclap-1. No longer in a position to assist. We're moving to LZ Finch."
"What the hell are you saying? We're freakin' surrounded over here!"
"Push out to the nearest LZ, and await further instruction!"
Konrad let out a relieved sigh. He had survived that mess. But most important, Apple Bloom was alive. She was also relieved. “Ah owe you all something. Without you, Ah had never survived.” “You own us nothing Apple Bloom, it’s our job.” Tanner smiled at her. They looked down. Marines supported by an Abram were fighting aliens.
“This is Mastiff-1. Multiple targets in the open. 3 o clock! 50 meters, on the way!” the tank fired at Vortigaunts and Alien Grunts. An Alien aircraft arrived on the scene.
“Enemy air incoming!”
“Back up! Back up! BACK THE-“
The tank tried to retreat but was destroyed by the aircraft before he could do so. The infantry was overrun by the aliens after the tank was destroyed.
The moment was short as another alien aircraft was above the Osprey. With its energy beam, it damaged the Osprey, causing it to go down and spinning uncontrollably.
“Everyone, hang on!” the pilot shouted. Mia clenched Apple Bloom protectively, bracing for impact.
Konrad strains and barely holds onto the side of the Osprey, but managed to pull himself back into the Osprey. Not today, Death!
Before the Osprey hit the ground, someone shouted, “Shit! Goddamn it!”
Apple Bloom regained consciousness. Her coat was dirty, she had multiple scratches and bruises and her ribbon was ripped off. She looked around. Mia and Jacob were still breathing but were unconscious. The marines were not so lucky. Suddenly, a marine she didn’t know and Konrad regained consciousness. He coughed blood. “What a mess.” He looked around. He was bleeding from his right leg and he had a labored breathing. He used his portable radio.
“Any Station, any station, this is Echo-3-Juliet. My Osprey…shot down…I am injured. I’m losing a lot of blood here…right leg.”
“Echo-3-Juliet, this is Echo-5-Romeo, I need you to tie a tourniquet a hand’s length above the wound. Get one of out your IFAK now.”
“IFAK’s gone.”
“Say again?”
“Konrad’s breathing got weaker, “My IFAK’s gone… I’m uhh…” Konrad was about to pass out from the blood loss but adrenaline kept him awake and strong as he spotted Apple Bloom buried under debris and injured.
“Ok, you’re gonna need to find another pack, and get a tourniquet out of it. “
“Apple Bloom! Hold still, we get you free.”
Before he could help her, the marine shouted, “Aliens! Incoming!” The marine fired his MP5 at a Vortigaunt but was killed.
“Is that all you got? You got nothin'!” Konrad fired his Desert Eagle but was also hit by the Vortigaunt. He fell to the ground but was still twitching from the electricity.
“Are you still there? Echo-3-Juliet, can you hear me?”
Apple Bloom turned her head. A Headcrab shrieked as it latched into her Face. She managed to scream in fear before the Headcrab reached her.