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Chapter 2: Living a Half-Life
“You… you can’t be serious.” Nemo mumbled, still looking out the window. He
stared at the massive, bluish building that stretched up to the sky, the top
hidden amongst the clouds. “How could we be… here?”
“I wish I knew.” Amelia mumbled, still staring at Nemo as though he might just
vanish. “At least you know what to expect though, I wish I did.”
“I wish I didn’t.” Nemo said softly, thinking of the zombies, man-hacks and
countless other things that could cause a very painful death. “I must be
dreaming… it’s that simple. It has to be.”
“I thought that too at first, but it’s not. If you don’t believe me, jump out
the window and try to fly, you’ll know you’re not dreaming about a second
before you splat on the pavement.”
“Would you two mind telling me what exactly you’re talking about?” Rachel
asked, giving them an annoyed look. “Of course we’re in City 17! Where the
hell else would we be?!”
Nemo and Amelia stared at her for a moment, and then turned to each other,
each wondering if they should bother trying to explain something neither of
them understood. After a few moments of silence, Amelia spoke. “I don’t know
about you, but we’re supposed to be in my friend’s house. We were, last I
knew. Things are a bit hazy… do you remember anything, Nemo?”
“I’ve been more focused on the present than the past.” Nemo said, looking back
out the window. “I remember arriving at Jamie’s place, but everything after
that is gone… that’s not unusual for me though. My memory has always been
horrible.”
“Even in this situation, you’re about as helpful as a hernia. Why couldn’t I
have found someone less useless to be stuck with?” Amelia sighed, leaning back
on the couch.
“And I see you’re as much of a bitch as ever, in spite of the circumstances.”
Nemo said, glaring at her. “You look less terrified than when you came in
though, so you must feel a bit relieved to have someone you know around.”
“No, I’m relieved to have someone with a gun around.” She retorted,
gesturing to Rachel. “Specifically, someone that is good at using one, and
isn’t aiming it at me. If you had one, then I’d be worried.”
Nemo walked over to Sam’s machine gun that was still on the ground and picked
it up. “You’d better start worrying then, cause in a place like this there’s
no way in hell I’m going to be without a weapon.” He said, examining it. He
slid out the magazine, making sure it loaded, before hanging it over his
shoulder by the strap on it. “What’s the plan, Rachel? You and Sam must have
had a destination in mind before stumbling upon me.”
Rachel looked at him rather vacantly for a moment; she had been so wrapped up
in trying to understand Nemo and Amelia’s conversation she wasn’t expecting to
be addressed. “Oh, yeah… we were going to the Citadel. Everyone’s on their way
there.”
“Anticitizen One.” Nemo mumbled mostly to himself, but loud enough for Amelia
to hear, even though she didn’t really know what he meant. “At least we know
when we are now. Unless…” He turned to Rachel. “…do you know if there’s
been any word about Freeman?”
“I don’t know. Sam and I haven’t been in contact with anyone for a few hours,
thanks to the Combine. We-“ She stopped abruptly, just realizing something.
“Wait a second… from what I gathered from your conversation, you’re not even
from around here… how do you know about Freeman?”
“It’s a long story… but don’t most people know who he is? City 17 resident or
not?”
“You’ve got a point… all right, you there.” Rachel took another pistol off her
belt and tossed it to Amelia, who barely caught it. “You ever fire one of
those before?”
Amelia looked at it for a second before shaking her head.
“Oh for… you’re both useless. And I’m not sure I’m comfortable with you using
that, now that I think about it.” Rachel said, facing Nemo again. “You said
you never used a gun before, right? That thing’s a bit different than a
pistol. There’s a lot more kick to it.” She explained.
“I’ll figure it out.” Nemo said, walking back to the window and picking up the
pistol he dropped. He slipped it into a holster on his belt. The new clothes
may have been odd and uncomfortable, but at least they were useful.
“For some reason, that doesn’t make me feel any better.” Amelia mumbled.
Rachel gave her a look that clearly said she agreed with her, but Nemo wasn’t
paying attention. He was looking out the window again. “All right, so we just
head to the Citadel? No problem… provided we don’t meet up with too much
resistance.” He said, feeling a bit more confident. Amelia was right, as much
as he hated to admit it. Knowing what was coming made things a little easier,
even though he had no idea why.
“Oy, who do you think the leader is here?” Rachel asked crossly.
“Sorry, sorry… just getting into the right state of mind for what’s ahead.”
Nemo explained.
“That’s understandable, I suppose… let’s get going.” Rachel said, leading the
way out of the apartment.
Amelia got off the couch rather unsteadily, still looking at the gun in her
hand. “So, tell me… why are we going to the Citadel?” She asked.
“Because, if any more of our friends are here, they’ll be going there as well…
or should be.” Nemo explained, walking over to the doorway. “It’s just a
matter of time.”
They stalked along the alley, two blocks from the apartment. Nemo glared at
Amelia and Rachel as he brought up the rear, Amelia now carrying the machine
gun. They had met up with a Combine patrol not long ago, and Nemo lost control
of the gun after the first shot. Sure, he had mowed down half the troopers by
sheer luck, but most of the bullets didn’t go anywhere near the enemy, and a
couple almost hit Rachel and Amelia. He turned his attention to the pistol he
was absent-mindedly twirling around his finger, reminding himself he preferred
handguns anyway, even though it didn’t improve his mood.
As they passed an alley leading off to their left, a series of gunshots rang
out, hitting the building to the trio’s right. A group of Combine soldiers was
charging down the alley at them, firing relentlessly. Rachel dashed ahead,
while Nemo and Amelia jumped back out of the line of fire. Rachel took a
couple of pot shots at them, hitting one and making the rest take cover behind
the metal barrels and crates that lined the alley.
Amelia fired wildly around the corner, not even hitting one of them. Nemo
stayed back, not having anywhere to shoot from. He glanced up and down the
alley, hoping the enemy didn’t try to box them in; it would be easy in a place
like this.
Apparently Rachel had the same idea, since she yelled over the gunfire for
Nemo and Amelia to go back around and get behind them. They complied without
question, sprinting back to the last alley in the direction they passed.
They
hurried down it, but were greeted by more soldiers once they were almost to
the end of it. Amelia opened fire again, this time actually hitting them since
they didn’t have any cover. Nemo starting firing at them as well, running out
of ammo rather quickly, since he hadn’t reloaded since their last encounter
with the Combine. Fortunately, they were all on the ground before Amelia ran
out of ammo, even though she kept firing after they dropped.
She lowered
her gun, breathing heavily. “I’m never going to get used to this… I don’t see
how you’re finding it so easy.” She mumbled. Before Nemo could respond,
another soldier appeared around the corner. Nemo and Amelia quickly raised
their guns and fired, but were met with an empty click, forgetting they hadn’t
reloaded yet. The soldier took aim at Amelia, there was a blast, and the next
thing they knew the soldier had been clubbed by a metal barrel that flew
across their field of vision.
They both
hesitated, wondering what had just happened as they stared at the Combine
soldier that was now clearly dead. A voice laughed from around the corner,
startling both of them. “That’ll never get old.”
Someone
with wavy, slightly short dark blonde hair walked into view. He was wearing a
green uniform, and carrying a large device in his right hand that was glowing
yellow. His ocean-blue eyes fixed upon Amelia and Nemo, he looked surprised
for a moment, and then simply grinned at them. “Hey guys! What’re you doing
here?”
They stared
blankly at him, until Amelia broke the silence. “What are we… do you even know
what you’re doing here?! I swear… you’re almost as bad as this idiot
sometimes, Torrence.”
“I’m
nowhere near as bad as Nemo! And no, I don’t know why I’m here, but I figure
I’ll just go with it.” Torrence said simply. Nemo and Amelia exchanged
concerned expressions.
“I take it
back.” Amelia sighed. “You’re worse than this idiot.”
“Now you’re
just being mean.”
“Torr…”
Nemo interrupted, just then noticing what Torrence was carrying. “Where did
you get that?”
“Huh?”
Torrence glanced from Nemo to the device and back. “Oh, I got it from some
guy. Since he wasn’t wearing a uniform like mine I figured he was a threat, so
I snuck up on him, whacked him over the head with a chunk of wood and knocked
him out. I took it from him so I wouldn’t be unarmed.” He explained. “Isn’t it
cool? This is what I used to shoot that barrel.”
Amelia
looked, despite her crack about him being worse than Nemo, a bit impressed.
Nemo, on the other hand, looked shocked. “You… you…” He stuttered.
“Eh? What’s
up, Nemo?”
“You…
idiot!” Nemo yelled, grabbing Torrence’s collar and shaking him violently.
“You freaking idiot! Do you have any idea what you’ve done?! You. Clubbed.
Gordon. Freeman!”
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