|
Chapter 3: The One Free Man
Torrence stared
blankly at Nemo for a moment, who was still gripping his collar tightly. "Er...
who?"
Nemo let out an
exasperated groan, releasing Torrence. "Idiot..." Nemo muttered, shaking his
head. "Just please... please tell me you didn't kill him."
"Of course not. I
don't think... he dropped pretty hard after I hit him, so maybe..."
"Torrence! How
the hell can you not tell if someone's dead or not?!" Nemo yelled, shaking him
again.
"Calm down, Nemo!"
Amelia snapped, pulling him off Torrence.
"Calm dow- do you
have any idea what could happen if this clueless wonder just killed Gordon
Freeman?!" Nemo asked, lowering his voice slightly but clearly still
panicking.
"Not really. The
Half-Life games never really interested me." Amelia said, crossing her arms.
"You don't need to flip out on the poor guy though."
"Thanks, Amelia."
Torrence smiled at her.
She continued,
not hearing him. "Sure he's an idiot, and might have doomed this world by
killing the hero, but that's no reason to go nuts, start screaming and
attracting every Combine within five miles here."
Torrence's smile
faded and he turned away halfway through her sentence. "Ah..."
"You say
something?"
"Nope."
"Enough standing
around, can you take us to where you left him?" Nemo asked.
"Sure, it's not
far from here."
"You've got a
memory five seconds long." Amelia sighed. "What about Rachel? She's expecting
our help!"
"Oh crap, I
forgot all about her!" Nemo gasped, turning to run.
"I kinda gathered
that." A cold voice said from the alleyway. Rachel was walking toward them,
her smoking shotgun resting over her right shoulder and an irritated
expression on her face. "You two are pretty useless backup, you know that?"
"Sorry, Rachel...
but we got attacked, then found one of our friends and..."
"Save it. I'm
mad, but there was no harm done, except to the Combine idiots that came after
me." She said coldly, then turned to Torrence. "And now we have more
firepower. So blondie, you any good with a firearm?"
"Well-" Torrence
began, but was promptly interrupted by Nemo.
"There's no time
for chatting right now, damn it!" He shouted, temper rising again. "We have
more important things to do, so hurry up!"
Torrence led the
group a short distance down the street into an apartment building that didn't
look much different than the one Nemo had woken up in.
"Whoever built
these places has no sense of originality." Amelia said, looking around.
"A fine time to
be interested in architecture..." Nemo mumbled to himself.
"What exactly are
we looking for in here?" Rachel asked. None of them had bothered to fill her
in, since she would probably react badly. They simply told her Torrence had
lost something important and he had to come back for it.
"We told you
already." Nemo said, trying to stay calm.
"Yes, but what
did he lose?"
"Oh.... it was
my..." Torrence hesitated, thinking.
"WatchLocketButt!"
Three jumbled voices said in unison.
Rachel stared at
them oddly for a moment, then they all turned to Amelia. "Did you say he lost
his... butt?" She asked, obviously trying not to laugh.
"Oh... I..."
Amelia stuttered, turning red. "See, I've been really, really nervous since
I've got here, and I was just doing what I normally do in that situation... so
it just sort of slipped out..."
"What you do
to... nevermind; I don't think I want to know." Nemo said quickly. "You stay
down here with Rachel and guard the entrance, Torrence and I will head
upstairs to look for it." He hurried upstairs, pulling Torrence along with
him.
Amelia buried her
face in her hands. "Oh geez... how embarrassing."
Rachel waited
until Nemo and Torrence's footsteps faded before speaking. "If you don't mind
me asking, what exactly were you thinking about that made you say that?"
"I don't really
want to say... I've only ever told one person about it, and that was because I
thought she wouldn't laugh..."
"Must be nice to
have a friend like that." Rachel said, peering out the door into the street.
"I wouldn't know,
since my friend did laugh." Amelia said, a hint of bitterness in her tone.
"Oh."
"Still, it's not
like she continually brings it up to annoy me with it like her idiot brother
probably would. That Jamie can be such a jackass."
"Men can act like
that when they're interested in someone... Sam... Sam did that when we first
met. Maybe this Jamie has... an interest in you?"
"I doubt it. He
used to, but not anymore. We broke up last year. He's just too much of a..."
Amelia trailed off, trying to think of the best way to describe him that
wasn't too rude. She thought it over, but couldn't think of anything
that didn't involve excessive swearing or questionable language. She said
nothing and walked over to the doorway to check for any Combine soldiers,
leaving Rachel to wonder.
"Oh no... no no
no..." Nemo stammered, dropping his pistol onto the ground with a clatter and
dashing over to the person facedown on the floor. Right where Torrence had
left him, Gordon Freeman lay unconscious with a bloody lump on the back of his
head. The table leg Torrence had hit him with was still by the wall as well.
"Guess I hit him
harder than I thought." Torrence commented.
"He's still
breathing. At least you didn't kill him... but we had better do something
about the wound." Nemo said, seemingly unable to even look directly at the
wound in question. "You know anything about first aid?"
"You're the one
wearing a medic uniform." Torrence pointed out as he crouched over Gordon.
"Which is a
blatant mistake. You know the sight of blood makes me ill."
"You've been
gunning down those soldiers, but can't stand blood. Do you know how little
sense that makes?" Torrence asked.
"I... I haven't
really been looking directly at them when I shoot... and once they're down I
never look at them. What's splattered on the walls is bad enough."
"Haven't been...
are you trying to tell me you've been shooting with your eyes closed?"
"Pretty much."
"And I was
walking in front of you the whole way here?! Jeez... I'm staying three steps
behind you from now on."
After ten long
minutes, Amelia heard footsteps coming down the staircase. She glanced up at
Torrence who, despite his earlier comment, was leading the way, Nemo right
behind him. And behind them, was Gordon Freeman, who was wearing bandages
around his head like a bandana.
Rachel let out a
little gasp that went unnoticed by everyone except Amelia. "G-Gordon Freeman?"
she stuttered, walking up to him. "It's an honor to meet you." She said,
shaking his hand. Gordon smiled at her politely, but said nothing.
"Idol worship can
wait, Rachel." Nemo said, pulling her away from Gordon. "Mr. Freeman, we'll
watch your back, all right?"
Gordon nodded,
his expression turning serious. He raised his pulse rifle and hurried over to
the doorway, giving the street a quick scan before heading outside. Rachel
followed him without hesitation, as did Amelia.
"Is he always
that quiet, or did I give him brain damage?" Torrence asked as Nemo headed
toward the door.
"Well, I've never
heard him talk. Maybe he's mute or something." Nemo suggested, walking up to
the doorway. "As long as he kicks ass, what does it matter? Let's go!" He
said, then vanished around the corner.
"That doesn't
make me feel any better for some reason." Torrence muttered to himself,
bringing up the rear.
With Gordon
Freeman on their side, the impossible began to seem not only possible, but
downright easy. Waves of Combine soldiers came at them as they went, but they
tore through them with little effort. They followed the roads for a while, and
then began to climb up one of the apartment buildings for a way around one of
the blockades Rachel knew about. If they could get to the roof, they could hop
over a few buildings and climb back down, bypassing dozens of soldiers.
The resistance
within the building was minimal. The group made it to the roof before the
trouble began, since the next one over had almost a dozen soldiers on it.
Gunfire roared and bits of both roofs were blown away in the battle. When it
was all over, they had gotten though with only a handful of injuries.
Nemo spending
more of his time reluctantly tending to wounds than causing them, Gordon's
sniping ability with the pulse rifle, and Rachel's uncanny accuracy with a
shotgun even at long range were all key to their devastating victory. Torrence
having to use a pistol and Amelia not being able to aim properly kept them
from being more useful.
The group hurried
toward the next roof, but one of the Combine soldiers had been waiting. He
lumped out of his hiding spot and Gordon promptly picked him off, but not
before the soldier had thrown a grenade at them. They scattered, the roof
shook from the grenade, and parts of the building crumbled.
"Is everyone
okay?!" Rachel called out through the smoke. She had landed near Gordon, so
she knew at least two of them were still alive. She heard someone coughing not
too far away, and could tell it was Nemo. A second later Torrence's voice came
from somewhere on the other side of the smoke as well. When it cleared, the
four of them could see each other resting on the ground clearly, Nemo still
coughing.
Rachel looked
them over, and then came to a sudden realization. "Where's Amelia?!"
Amelia groaned,
straining to breathe. She rolled onto her back and looked up at the sky, but
the sky wasn't there. She was staring at a dirty old ceiling with a large hole
in it. It looked like she had fallen through the roof, along with a few floors
beneath it, before coming to a stop here.
She heard a click
and looked in the direction it came from. Three Combine soldiers were looking
at her, their pulse rifles raised and aiming at her face. She shifted her hand
slightly, and realized her machine gun was gone, she must have dropped it in
the fall. She stared weakly at them, it wasn't like she could have killed them
if she did have it, she barely had the strength to move.
Torrence picked
up the machine gun, which was lying next to a hole in the roof. He was about
to suggest they go back to get her, when the sound of pulse rifle fire echoed
from the hole. Torrence dropped Amelia's gun in shock, and three voices cried
her name in unison.
|
