> Cut off from the others, Sam had a few options upon hearing the order to retreat over the radio..

He could surrender, and become a dissected mess floating in a jar in a Citadel somewhere. Nope.

He could detonate all his grenades at once, killing him and taking some of the soldiers with him. The situation wasn't that desperate... yet.

Or, he could run, using the cut-the-pie technique that soldiers were trained to use in the pre-Combine ere, which entailed aggressively alternating between retreat and offense. Sounded good.

Reloading with a clip of .38 and taking a few seconds to properly adjust the barrel, he came out of his position and strafed towards the footsoldiers, forcing them behind cover. Once most of them were out of his sight, he sprinted north. He had planned on picking up a few clips from an ammo cache just a mile south of the camp, but the Combine had been advancing from that direction.

But then, he heard the noise that no human ever wanted to hear coming from a Combine position...

Bweeeeeee-BWOOP

A combine ball was headed right for him. Dodge rolling, it hit a tree, and he kept going towards the rest of the group.

> As the group retreated David made for a steep slope in the landscape and found himself running parallel to the Russians, with the Combine on his tail. The sound of ricochets, dirt impacts and the scratching of shrapnel from trees and their hanging branches was constant; it was a wonder that he hadn't been hit so far and he put it down to blind luck and the **** aiming the Overwatch grunts were famous for.

Conserving his ammunition he'd emptied half of the single MP7 magazine the Russian - the fucking piece of **** - had given him along with all but four rounds in his Match. It seemed, however that he was to have his lucky break; the Combine had noticed the group of mercs and a substantial part of his pursuing group broke off to go after them, leaving him with a handful of grunts and- ****!
His thoughts cut off mid sentence as the tree beside him vaporised in a plume of energy and the energy ball responsible bounced past by his face so close that he could feel the warmth.
- so, a handful of grunts and an Elite; great.

With an Elite on his heels he wasn't going to leave it to blind luck and dove through a patch of thick scrub, rolling uncontrollably down the slope he had scaled barely two minutes ago. Through some miracle he managed to avoid the thicker trees and quickly found himself sprawled in a pool of water in what seemed to be an almost dry riverbed.
"...I suppose...", his head spun wildly as he lay, "...I should just lie for a while..." and his thoughts faded as he slipped into unconsciousness.

>The combine weren't making the Red Eagles' retreat easy. At every step they matched them in speed and tactics. The presence of the Elites seemed to make the regular Overwatch soldiers fight harder and smarter than they had previously encountered.
"We'll never lose them out here!" Sasha shouted as she let fly her final volley of 9mm before shouldering her MP5SD and readying her AK. "We need to find better cover!"
"I'm working on that!" Andrei called back, carefully dividing his attention between his PDA and the route ahead. "There's a large cave system up ahead. Old mining operation before the war."
"Worth a try!" Ivan shouted. "Take point!" Andrei headed to the front of the group and led them further up the hillside until it flattened out; a rockface stood 200 metres ahead of them.
"There!" Andrei indicated a small fissure in the rockface. The group headed inside.
"If you'll do the honours, Sasha." Ivan whispered. Sasha headed across to the entrance and planted a Claymore at the opening. She ran back to the others as they headed further into the cave. The chamber they had entered was small and dark. "****. Anyone happen to-" he was cut off by the sound of the detonating Claymore and the sound of a rockslide. The little light that had been there to begin with suddenly faded out and the group was left in pitch darkness.
"Hang on." Andrei whispered, his voice seemingly louder in the darkness. Suddenly a beam of light became visible. "There we go." Andrei scanned the cave with his rifle flashlight.
"Remind me to never make fun of you and your spares again..." Grigori muttered.
"I just wish I had the initiative to carry a spare set of night-vision goggles..." He replied. "Got another light here." He handed it to Ivan who promptly attached it to his AK.
"Well I guess that answered my question..." Ivan whispered, leading the group further into the caves through a narrow passageway. "Looks like these mines have been out of commission for a long time." He scanned the passage walls; a series of cables intespersed with dormant electric lamps lined the right hand wall. "Although I'm not overly familiar with how these are powered up."
"Generators would seem most likely." Valentina replied. "Although whether they are topside or down here is anyone's guess... Either way they'll have portable backups."
"Alright then." Ivan whispered. "Let's find out where they keep their spares..."

The group headed further through the mines, hoping they were going in the right direction. The cold damp air and the tendancy of sound to carry was unnerving to the group, who'd spent most of their military careers fighting on open ground or in forests.

Thor Fredrik "Desekrator" Haugen

Desekrator moved forward through the forests, using as much stealth as possible to escape the Combine forces. Jeg er da alltid uheldig å havne i mistet i en skog he thought to himself as he checked where he was. Somewhere along the line he'd been separated from the Red Eagles, as well as the other visitors. He held Psyklon in readiness, just in case. He'd always trusted his instincts, and they were telling him to go north. Shaking his head in annoyance, and embracing the solitude once more, he headed north.

Jack Reid

The caves had been eerily quite of late. Ever since the rebels had begun taking refugees to Black Mesa East this path was rarely used barring the occasional supplies.
Jack was almost falling asleep in his chair when the sound of shuffling material caused him to snap awake as a figure crawled into the opening through the small passage.

Jumping to his feet, Jack readied his shotgun before realising the person wasn't Combine. Startled he began blurting questions without even stopping to think about them.


[revised by MNDF]

Rowan Ophelia

Rowan had been walking an crawling through the cave system off the back of her cave for at least an hour now. She had heard a while back an explosion and the sound of falling rock and with a worried look she had carried on deeper into the caves. Ahead of her she could see some firelight and possibly even some electrical lighting. She walked carefully towards the light when all of a sudden Gwen ran over towards the light and rounded a corner. Rowan walked a bit quicker towards the light to see where Gwen had gone when she came face to face with a man holding a shotgun who spoke a barrage of questions too quick for Rowan to comprehend. She then got a sudden feeling of dread about this man which made her blurt out. "You shouldn't be here, it's not safe for you, me or anybody. Get out of here while you can!" And before the man could respond Rowan ran off down the caves with Gwen following her.

Rowan ran for about ten minutes before she started to fatigue and slow down. It was at this point that she took a notice of the cave walls around her, rather than being natural rock they had become smoother and more man made. "Hmm Gwen it looks like we have left natural caves and have come across an underground complex of some kind." Ahead of her she could faintly make out some more voices which sounded vaguely familiar. Rowan started to move forward a lot quieter and more carefully, "We don't want a repeat incident of earlier do we Gwen?" Who just replied with a small meow before leading the way for Rowan towards the voices.

They travelled for about another 5 minutes before coming to a T Junction. Gwen sat down in the middle of the T junction and started to groom herself. While the voices they had heard earlier were starting to get louder. Rowan stopped beside Gwen, "I hope you know what you are doing as I am completely lost now Gwen." She said before sitting down near to Gwen with her back against a wall. "I am in no state to run any more right now, I am exhausted."

[OOC - Sorry Jack that I didn't interact much with your character but I am anxious to do an important plot point for Rowan as hopefully everyone will see soon.]

Jack Reid

Jack made to follow the woman but quickly stopped, what if Combine came through? He shook his head and made the decision to follow, starting off at a jog.

[revised by MNDF]

((I posted this in another thread, but nobody saw it; reposting here))

Seeing one of the mercs plant a claymore at the entrance to the mines made Sam's heart sink into his stomach.

"NO NO NO NO NO NO!!! WAIT FOR M-"

And then, the cave entrance collapsed.

"Aw, hell naw!" Sam cried.

With soldiers still on his tail, he had but one option: keep running. He was tired; his body had taken some small damage in his legs during the transhuman surgery. Thus, he could not run as far as most transhumans (and many humans) could.

Upon reaching the collapsed entrance, he turned around. Just two hundred feet away, there were already two dozen soldiers rushing at him.

This was it; he was trapped. He would not risk capture; capture meant a great deal of pain by torture and dissection. He pulled three grenades from his belt; a white phosphorous and two frags, and put his finger into the pins. He was going to take as many of these bastards with him as he could, and they were going to burn.

"C'mon... just run right up to me..." he murmured to himself. "Just a bit more..."

When the soldiers were twenty-five feet away, they stopped. Dammit. Just outside the killzone...

"What do you want from me?" Sam demanded in a cold, malevolent tone. "Well? Go ahead, shoot! You're not getting me alive."

((I am NOT going to kill Sam at this point. Somebody needs to save him with something amazing, or he's going to get captured somehow.))

[OOC: here comes somebody... in a somewhat odd post :p]

David Landerson

It was all a dream. A wondrous dream.

He was limping through an area of hilly countryside, magnificent pines rising high into the night sky from slopes that seemed to roll on forever into the horizon... the horizon, there was something wrong with it... something... missing. Something that had been an integral part of his life since they came... they? Who were they?
The world around him suddenly seemed as if it were a watercolour with a glass of coffee spilt upon it; the colours drained to a dull, brown monotone and from the horizon grew monstrous structures... it was no longer a dream; it was a nightmare. Frantically David began to run, as fast has his legs would carry him he ran up the endless hills for what seemed an eternity. But before long he simply fell to his knees and looked down at the ground... but it wasn't the ground, he had transitioned to a God's-eye-view of a semi-circle of oddly uniformed men enclosing a single figure backed against a cliff face... a cliff face... he looked down further until his eyes met with the solid land upon which his knees rested.

It was so simple, the touch of the earth and the recognition he felt when he looked onto the lone figure seemed to ground him into this monotone dream and his thoughts turned to those of action. He looked about his body and found a small weapon hanging from him, he did not recognise it but knew that he should be familiar with it as he played it over in his hands. Slowly his finger found it's way to a piece of metal that jutted from the main body, it was the trigger... that much he knew, but what was a trigger? Nevertheless he felt compelled to pull it and went with his desire.
A deadpan thump noise hit his ears and he dropped the weapon out of surprise as some sort of object flew in slow motion from the end of the weapon and down into the group of odd men below. As it tore through the flesh of one man's leg the other men reacted oddly; they all looked up and started to flash lights on and off at him... but there was something else... all around him dirt was being kicked up into the air, obscuring his view as he thought he saw the lone figure slip out of the web in which he had been caught...
His mind seemed content and a flood of relief coursed through his body and he slumped backwards to the ground, letting his eyes close and the blanket of sleep take him into the darkness.

Just as he thought that he was done for, a pistol shot echoed out of the night, and struck a soldier in the leg. Immediately, they all turned around and fired at the source of the shot.

Grenades still in his left hand, Sam rushed the soldiers on his left. He drew one of his knives with his right hand, slit the throat of a soldier as he passed by, and simultaneously dropped all 3 of the deadly cylinders... now all armed. 5 seconds later... BOOM.

Sprinting as fast as his legs would take him, he finally reached the edge of the forest, and dove behind a tree, mere seconds after they began to fire at him. He stayed prone, and crept fifty feet into the foliage, being sure to check over his shoulder every so often.

He then jumped up and ran... but not very far. His legs were now screaming for rest, and he was only able to proceed another half-mile before he could run no more.

But, there was an upside to this... he had found an easily defendable position; a radio broadcast station, crumbling from disuse, but still there.

He unstrapped his SCAR, and swept the largest building, looking for antlions, headcrabs, or zombies... nothing.

Alright... he thought. This looks like a good temporary safehouse.

((For those of you who don't realize it, I'm at the radio station where Gordon and Alyx are ambushed by hunters))

RP Conversation
Involving: Rowan Ophelia (TeePee) and Ivan Zakharov (Deimenried)
Drafted: 27th Mar 2009 via IM


> "We must be getting close..." Andrei whispered, his voice echoing around the group despite his best efforts.
"You'd better be right... " Grigori muttered, straining to see in the darkness of the caves. "I don't want to spend my last hours walking around in a pitch black maze."

Suddenly they heard a light tapping on the ground behind them. Andrei and Ivan spun round frantically searching behind them with their lights. Nothing.
"Probably just water..." Andrei nervously whispered to himself. The sound was once more behind them, somewhat louder than before. "The **** is that!?" He whispered angrily, moving to the rear of the group, checking any side passages they had passed.
"Calm down, Andrei." Ivan implored. "It's nothing. Let's just get to the generators before the Combine find another entrance."

Andrei reluctantly ceased his futile search and returned to the group as they advanced.

> Rowan feeling a bit more rested now suddenly heard some hushed voices in the near distance. "Gwen, did you hear that?" Gwen looked up from her grooming and gave a small meow before padding off in the direction of the voices. "Gwen you better know what you are doing as everyone around here seems to be armed." Rowan said with a hint of dismay in her voice before pulling herself to her feet and following Gwen down a passage that looks pretty much like the others.

>"Bingo." Ivan moved across the large cave they had entered towards a mesh fence assembly close to one of the walls. Behind the fence lay the emergency generators. Within seconds of Ivan throwing the switch, the caves became dimly lit.
"Well, I guess this is better than complete darkness." Valentina nodded.
"Alright." Ivan took a deep breath. "So what's our next move?"
"Give me a second..." Andrei replied as he got his PDA out again. "Got a rough schematic of the mines here... they're just as unintelligible as they look. I have no idea where the hell we are..."
"I guess we just carry on North." Ivan said, checking his AK. "Worst comes to worst we end up at White Forest. Let's move out."

>As Rowan and Gwen were walking along the passage there suddenly was a light source at the end of the passage. This caused Rowan to pause but Gwen carried on walking towards the light source so Rowan carried on but kept a safe distance back as she did not feel so sure as Gwen did. The passage very quickly opened out into a large cave with a group of armed people in the cave who looked faintly familiar to the people who had had a camp in the two forests that she had known. But she had never dared to be this close to them so she quickly ducked behind a rock formation before examining them closer.

As she looked over the group one face looked extremely familiar to her and a name sprang to her mind 'Sgt. Ivan Zakhaov, how the hell do I know that' As she looked over the rest of the group another more painful memory sprang to her mind

The cave faded from her view to be replaced by a forest that is full of gunfire, panicked soldiers and weird human type soldiers all around her. Rowan herself is wracked with panic as she is running towards the large stone building behind her. When she is stopped in her tracks by a large thing with three slender legs that suddenly appears in front of her. Something inside of her...training maybe...suddenly gets her to pull out a pistol from a holster and she starts retreating back to where she can spot a small group of soldiers while firing back at this creature. The bullets just ping off and don't seem to do a lot of damage. The last thing she remembers is falling into a crater from a large explosion and hitting her head as she fell. The cave system then fades back into view and Rowan just sees the group heading off down a passage towards the north. She sees her chance to find out more aboout herself dissapearing with these people so she runs over towards them shouting "Sergeant Ivan Zakhaov!"

> Without hesitation, Grigori spun round and began firing his RPK. Ivan saw a strange figure dive behind a rock formation.
"You fucking idiot!" Sasha yelled at Grigori. As Ivan advanced towards the rocks, a defensive look came across Grigori's face.
"Hey, how was I to know that-"
"The fact that she called his name was a dead giveaway!" She shook her head. Andrei joined Ivan, cautiously advancing alongside.
"Hello?" Ivan called. He glanced across at Andrei who was shuffling slowly, his gaze firmly thoguth his ironsights.

>Rowan now shaking from fear behind a rock was audibly berrating herself, "stupid woman they have guns." She then pulled herself together after a deep breath and cautiously raised her head above the rock and said "You are Sergeant Ivan Zakhaov aren't you? For some reason I somehow know you."

>"I wish I could say the feeling was mutual." Ivan replied. "Exactly who are you?"

>"If you had asked me even an hour ago I would have said with complete confidence Rowan Ophelia but now I'm not so certain. Seeing you triggered a repressed memory involving battle against inhuman creatures and three legged slender things to try and save a huge concrete building."

>"I'm sorry, could you run that past me again?" Ivan looked back to see confused looks and a rather disgruntled Grigori. "I don't know if you've been outside much in the last few years but it's all been inhuman creatures, striders and... defending huge concrete buildings."

>"No I think it was the first time this all happened I remember everyone being shocked and panicking." Rowan feel silent for a moment while something else surfaced in her mind. "I also remember that the inhuman creatures weren't as 'polished' as they are today, they didn't look finished..." Rowan trailed off again and looked over towards Gwen who was rubbing her head against Rowan's leg as if providing support.

>"The invasion..." Valentina muttered.
"If that's the case," Ivan mused, still cautious of Rowan. "then you must have been at White Forest. What was a civvie like you doing there?"

> Rowan looked scared and replied "I don't know, I only remember the battle. I'd had some training with firearms but I don't know. I Don't Know! I DON'T KNOW!!" Rowan took several deep breaths after her outburst to calm herself down, "I think I'll have to go there...it seems that visual cues trigger my flashbacks."

> Grigori twitched at the outburst, raising his RPK. Ivan glanced back from Grigori.
"As long as those.. flashbacks.. don't endanger my squad..." Ivan replied.
"Hey, the hell she's coming with us!" Grigori shouted. "She's a crazy b-"
"That will do." Ivan interjected. "Well, it seems White Forest is the popular way to go. Shame we don't know how to get there..."

>Rowan glanced nervously at Grigori before turning back to Ivan, "White Forest...doesn't sound familiar but maybe it will look familiar. As for how to get there I don't have a clue, I'm afraid to say that I don't even know where I am anymore because I have been running blind through this cave system after meeting someone back somewhere in that direction." Rowan points in the direction she came from. "But he looked like a rebel with some supplies rather than a lost large installation."

>"Then North we go." Ivan said, turning to Andrei. "If you'd do the honours." Andrei took point as they left the cave, the meager lighting serving to at least show them the rough layout of what lay ahead.

Geoff Dunt

Geoff was packing supplies into crates with a group of rebels when the cave system's lights suddenly flickered to life.
"The generator?" one of the rebels questioned.
"Must be, we need to check it out." Geoff replied, taking his MP7 and directing a handful of the rebels to follow him at a jog.

As they drew nearer the generator cavern they slowed down and quietly rounded the corner into the entrance, levelling their weapons at the group of figures they saw gathered within.
"Identify yourselves!" Dunt called to them, "Don't shoot and we won't have to either."

Jack Reid

As he moved through the empty caves Jack heard a familiar voice ahead and ran to meet it, only to find a small group of rebels with their weapons levelled at a group of humans.
"What're you doing? They aren't Combine!" Jack pushed through the others, "We're headed for White Forest soon, where you off to?"