//------------------------------// // Chapter 12 Lowlife // Story: Black Bloom 2 // by Bronycommander //------------------------------// Chapter 12: Lowlife “Hold up a sec…I uh…I gotta catch my breath” Alyx leaned against the wall. Apple Bloom trembled in Konrad’s arms. He passed her over to Mia. Apple Bloom stayed curled up in her arms. “Shh, it’s over, calm down.” Apple Bloom took a deep breath. “Better, sweetheart?” “Better, mommy.” Mia smiled warmly at her. “Okay…Well…This might not be as easy as I thought. We’re in the same boat as the other evacuees now. On foot to a train station. Let’s head for the surface.” Alyx deactivated a field. “Careful – I hear turrets.” They fought Zombies in a dilapidated tunnel. The turrets made only clicking sounds. “Oh–they’re out of bullets.” “That’s a relief.” Jacob killed a Zombie. Gordon reprogrammed Hooper Mines to use it against the Zombies. The next corridor was pitch-dark. “I can’t see a think. We’re blind as bats without the flashlights on.” “No were not.” Jacob activated his flashlight. Apple Bloom noticed that the googles of Konrad were glowing in the dark. “I have built-in Night-Vision in my helmet,” He explained. Alyx saw a closed door at the other end. It was powered by a power box on the other side. “We need to get through that door…” She tried to open it. “Damn…it’s got a powered lock…How are we gonna get this open? Let’s see if we can find a power box.” She looked around. “Hey–an air duct. I’ve heard stories about you and air ducts. Doctor Kleiner says whenever he locked himself out of his office you and Barney used to compete to see who could get in fastest without using a key.” Gordon laughed on the inside at this memory before he entered the air duct. “Are you afraid of the dark, Apple Bloom?” “A little bit, Alyx,” she replied. Gordon opened the door from the other side. “Nice job! Hey, and you found a gun!” Alyx said as Gordon had now a pistol and a shotgun. The next room was also pitch-black. Alyx and Mia had to rely on Jacob's and Gordon’s Flashlights in order to proceed and attack enemies while Konrad had his Night-Vision. Apple Bloom tried to stay near Jacob and Konrad. His glowing googles made him easy to spot. Alyx spotted dead Antlions. “Antlions, here? The Combine's defense field must have collapsed. Makes sense if it was powered by the Citadel.” “It WAS powered by it,” Konrad commented not surprised. “So this is an Antlion, daddy?” “Yes, Apple Bloom.” Two Antlions attacked. Gordon used the gravity gun to flip them over making them easy targets. The group found a troop train on the other side. “Looks like we’ve found a troop train.” Alyx saw a Soldier that was a victim of a Headcrab. “Hmmm. A Combine zombie. That's, that's like a...ah...a…Zombine! Right? Heh... Zombine, get it? Heh heh. Okay.” Apple Bloom got the joke. “Contact…” “Did you say something, Konrad?” “No, Mia.” It came from the Zombine that was at the control panel. It pulled out a grenade. “Crap! Look out, it’s got a grenade!” The Zombine blow himself up, opening the way. “Didn’t see that coming,” Apple Bloom commented. In the next section, more Zombines attacked. Gordon grabbed their grenades with the gravity gun or used flares to burn them. However, Zombines were capable of short sprints. One of them was after Apple Bloom. “Get away from her!” Jacob intercepted him, to unload his full magazine on him. The Headcrab was removed, revealing that the Zombine had no head aside from the lower jaw and a small lower portion of the skull. Also the groans were filtered through the soldier's vocoder. “Biotics....overrun....infestation....move.....target....contact...Necrotics inbound.....Shiiiiiiiiiit!!....Parasites....Biotic overrun.....Biotics in perimeter...Sector is...not secure....MEDIC!...Extractors...Bouncer.....!” Gordon and Alyx looked for another power box for a door. The others waited at the door. “I believe that the Combine, are losing control of City 17.” Mia suspected. “No doubt. From the large number of Zombines and recently deceased bodies, I think that the underground was used by resistance members even before the rebellion, and that the Combine, were attacking Resistance members hiding there. Never thought I had to go through here, as the underground was apparently no longer used and fell into serious disrepair after the Seven Hour War.” “Any idea how the Zombine can speak, uncle?” “The only possibility I see, is that the vocoder is stuck on the last report the soldier was trying to make before being attacked.” “Tell me, what is worse? Fighting through a Zombie infected ghost town or through a pitch-black car park infested with Zombies?” “I dunno, Jacob. But I am glad when I am out of here.” Gordon had restored the power. The next area was a parking lot with collapsed ceiling and damaged cars. Antlions came up here through a hole. Gordon blocked it with a car to stop them. “Good idea, Gordon! I wouldn’t have thought you could have plugged the burrow that way.” Alyx killed the last Antlions. They moved to another destroyed parking lot with Antlion burrows and Zombines. One Zombine was fighting with Konrad. Konrad kicked the Zombine causing him to stumble. As Apple Bloom worried about him, he said to her, “It’s okay, I have everything under control.” He groaned. “Get off my boots!!” A Zombine had survived as torso. Konrad kicked it, sending it flying against the wall. Another Zombine grabbed Mia by her throat. She responded by shooting him into the stomach. She was free again. Gordon used cars against the burrows. “That’s better… I can hear myself think,” Alyx said as all Zombies and Antlions were eliminated. Apple Bloom took a deep breath. She just wanted to get out of here alive. Alyx smiled at her. “I swear, I will protect you from any harm and get you home safe and sound.” Apple Bloom returned the smile. Walking down some stairs, the group came to a flooded room. “Ugh… You’re lucky you’ve got that hazard suit. This water’s nasty. Got room for two in there?” Alyx joked. “Do you want me to carry you?” Mia asked Apple Bloom. She nodded in response. After leaving the flooded room, they found an elevator. “I don’t believe it, an actual elevator! I would have settled for stairs.” She called the Elevator. The lights turned off. “You’ve got to be kidding…I've worked with electricity a time or two, and I'm pretty sure this sparking wire must be connected to a power supply.” “Alright, let’s go for it.” Jacob was about to go, as his and Gordon's flashlights ran out of power. They waited for the flashlights to recharge. ”We've really got to talk to Dr. Kleiner about getting a new battery for that flashlight.” Apple Bloom heard a strange groan. It sounded like a Zombie. She startled and screamed as something touched her neck. Alerted, Jacob turned his flashlight on. It was Alyx playing a joke. She laughed. “Gotcha!” Konrad was not amused. “Do that again and I will bury you alive.” Despite the joke, they found the power box and activated it. They walked back to the elevator. “Hey, I hear the elevator-it’s moving again.” “That’s a…” Mia couldn’t finish as a howl of fast Zombies could be heard in the distance. “And here comes trouble.” Alyx reloaded her gun at the elevator. Standard Zombies along with Zombines and fast Zombies attacked. Konrad managed to kill a Fast Zombie as he lunged at him and screamed, “I'll tag 'em, you bag 'em.” “Where’s that elevator?” Alyx killed a Zombine. Apple Bloom cowered at the elevator door and covered her ears. Mia protected her as well as she could. Jacob used a grenade of his MP7 to kill a group of Zombies. “What’s taking so long?” Gordon used a flare to burn the Zombies. Still the Zombies slowly overwhelmed them. “Any time now…It’s here!” They all got in. “Let’s get out of here!” Alyx pushed the button. Mia patted Apple Bloom. “Shh, we’re here for you.” She rocked her. Realized that they made it, she let out a sign of relief. “Whew! That… was close. I hope it’s still light out.” "I hope so too, Alyx.” Jacob checked his weapons. “Thank God-it’s still day! Let’s get out of here.” Glad to see daylight, Alyx ran to a gate. It was closed. In a defeated tone she said, “Oh god no… No, no, no… it’s locked. I can’t believe this.” Two rebels passed by. “Hey, up there! Hello! Can you let us out of here? Hello! They can’t hear us, I guess.” Gordon found a hand wheel to unlock the gate. “Great! Okay-let’s get to the train yard before the Citadel blows.” “Nothing better than that.” Apple Bloom wiped a few tears out of her eyes. “Finally, fresh air…” Alyx then saw the destruction. “Oh my God… Striders really tore the hell out of this place…” She saw Dr. Kleiner on a Breencast screen. “I’ve never been happier to see Dr. Kleiner" They listened to his message. “Careful, Lamarr! These lamps are quite hot! Ahem...Is this on? Yes? Very well, I... I am not much of a public speaker, but I'll... I'll do my best. Ahem... Fellow citizens... Residents of City 17 and environs... by which I mean sentient residents, of course, human and otherwise, although I believe there is little need to explain recent developments to our Vortigaunt allies... At any rate... First, as a matter of great urgency, if you find yourself still within the confines of City 17, you are well advised to leave the city at once by the fastest means available to you. We have restored service to much of the commuter transport system in order to carry citizens out of the city as quickly as possible. We have also established camps and triage areas in the surrounding environs. I repeat, you must evacuate the city at once. While there was certainly a great benefit in destroying the Citadel's teleport core, we have detected one rather unfortunate side effect. It would appear an inevitability that very soon now, the Citadel will be consumed in a destructive event whose magnitude I cannot currently estimate with any certainty, except to say that it will almost certainly irradiate an area of many miles' radius. Therefore, I repeat, evacuate City 17 at once if not sooner! I cannot state this without enough undue emphasis! On a lighter note, if you are already in one of our designated safe zones, I feel obliged to point out that a more fortunate side-effect of the reactor's destruction is the complete removal of the Combine's reproductive suppression field. Previously, certain protein chains important to the process of embryonic development were selectively prevented from forming. This is no longer the case. For those so inclined, now would be an excellent time for procreation. Which is to say, in layman's terms, you should give serious consideration to doing your part for the revival of the species. We must make the most of the time we have, as it is by no means certain how much time we have secured ourselves before the Combine attempt to restore their dominion, as they certainly shall. Since this is in fact the first opportunity we have had to speak openly of the baleful influence of the Combine, there is much ground to cover—and in fact I hope to institute a series of useful bulletins in the days ahead. However, for now, we will have to content ourselves with some relatively meager exposition. The destabilization of the City 17 reactor has had repercussions that were not entirely unexpected, although we hardly dared speak this hope ahead of time. The destructive pulse forced a damper on the entire network of linked Citadel reactors. Thus, for the time being, I believe that all Combine portals have failed completely, as well as all communication systems based on that technology. In short, the Combine are completely cut off. Combine forces currently stationed on Earth are now isolated units. Stranded. However, this is most likely a temporary state of affairs. As we once learned to our dismay, even the relatively tiny fracture at Black Mesa gave our enemies an opening which they were able to force ever wider, as they poured through in greater and greater numbers. In addition to the completely xenotheric species, there are many modified post-human allies still remaining on Earth who will be doing their utmost to re-establish lines of communication and supply with the larger forces. Even so, there is greater reason for hope now than at any time in the past decade. We have made, in secret, several technological advances which we will do our best to deploy in advance of the Combine's return. We continue to diligently assemble and train a new generation of scientists and technicians. For what the Combine fear the most is not any tangible human weapon, but our will, our intellect, our ability to respond selectively and rationally to every terror they turn against us. We place our firmest hope in the human spirit, even knowing how easily it may be shattered. We have all seen friends and family crushed by the Combine. Some of our neighbors have allowed themselves to be co-opted, and purged of their humanity, by the military machine. And those who resisted have met a most terrible fate. Still, I cannot overstate how important it is that we retain our humanity. Only this will allow us to hold together as we must for their inevitable return...and what is certain to be unimaginable retaliation. And...oh yes, if you missed any part of this message, it will loop repeatedly until there is no point in looping it any longer. I apologize for any inadvertent errors or omissions. As you can imagine, we have had scarcely time to record, let alone rehearse- What's that, Eli? Oh, right. This has been Dr. Isaac Kleiner, formerly of Black Mesa, now simply a citizen, like all of you, of Earth. Let me just add to all those who can hear me now, as we struggle out of the shadow of our malefactors, welcome back to the light. Now...where did I put that calculator...?” “Enough TV, let’s move out!” “Alright Corporal, let’s get to the train.” Jacob had only one goal: Get Apple Bloom out of City 17 before it was too late. And he would be successful or die to guarantee her safety.