Living in the Half Life World.

[Rictalspace]

// This is a story I'll be developing from time to time since I just wanted to. I'll probably include music with it sometimes.

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agp6_IqNVLw" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agp6_IqNVLw</a>

The Day Before Darkness
It was a cold, misty afternoon in Denmark where Thomas stood. Mist covered many parts of the area around the infrastructure that Thomas had come to call 'home' over the past few days. His life, his future, his loved ones, all gone in a matter of hours. There was nothing but the dull, endless mist in all directions, Thomas' life had almost ceased to exist. A door behind him opened, as a young girl known as Lucy stepped out of the building. At a considerable young age compared to Thomas, Lucy had brown hair with a smooth texture of a face. Thomas didn't know her real age as she never disclosed it with the group, all he could guess was she was below the drinking age. He could only guess that she was a teenager filled with hopes and dreams of her future, all relentlessly crushed in front of her large blue eyes. Thomas had only known Lucy for a few days, but in this place it may have well been years. With little to do, all there was to do was to get to know each other. Quiet and observative, Lucy was a smaller voice of the group. Usually keeping out of decisions made by the group to relocate or to gather supplies. She stood next to him, and stared into the abyss of grey. Thomas extended an arm, reaching for her opposite shoulder. He grasped her shoulder, almost as in a protecting manner. All Thomas could do was feel sorry for her, her entire future had crumbled before her eyes. Her history, although short, was a fufilling one where she was studying for her exams. She would not state which, as they would give away her age but Thomas knew she was bright. He reached into his pocket, pulling out a small piece of chocolate he'd been saving like a squirrel saving nuts over winter. He handed the piece to her where she extended her arm, and began to feast on the little amount of sustenance.

Thomas' life had not been an easy one, no job, decreasing amounts of money, a sick wife and a world against him. This new life he was living seemed the slightest bit better than the predecessor, where he was not the only one suffering. He could still remember the last day he'd seen his wife, laying in a hospital bed under intensive care. Not only was she sick, but was also in a coma where the doctors did not expect her to wake. He was faced with the daunting choice of whether to pull the plug, or to sit and wait. He could not tell if she was suffering, or was perfectly content. It was on his way to his parents house further away in the countryside, did the catastrophy that stranded him here occur. He knew it was too late for her and with nothing to turn back to, he remained in the countryside. It was over a period of a few days where more survivors from a nearby village moved to this structure, looking for food and shelter.

Both Thomas and Lucy turned back inside, to the group of 'refugees' that huddled together for warmth. The cold was ruthless with no heating remaining in the household, there was no warmth but the comfort of each other. Supplies were running low, and the group were getting smaller. With accidents happening almost every time they left the house to gather supplies from a nearby village, it was more of a death-run than a supply-run. Creatures, that were the portrayal of children's nightmares, lingered the streets looking for their next attack. Thomas didn't know how many more times he could risk their lives without losing them all.

It was a mere few more days, when the supplies had dropped to near zero and two of the six members of the group fell sick from the cold, that Thomas and the group were 'found'. It almost happened like a dream, as if it never happened. A large creature followed them home one trip, and had the power to smash through the front door. As it attacked a nearby group member, Thomas quickly ushered the others to run upstairs. The look of horror on the face of Thomas could've turned water to ice. As he, Lucy and the three other members ran upstairs, the distinct noise of rotors could be heard. Thomas opened a wooden curtain to look outside, as a floating object stared into his eyes. He slammed the curtains shut, still oblivious to what it was. He gathered the group in a corner, as firing could be heard downstairs. He ran to the wooden door, opened the golden coloured knob and swung it open. He practically jumped the length of the stairs, onto an unsteady wooden step. It broke under the tremendous pressure of Thomas as he was thrown forward where he hit his forehead on the wall opposite. He attempted to look around but all was a blur as the door near him was kicked open as his vision faded from him. All he could hear was the distinct scream of a girls voice, Lucy. Thomas, almost knocked out, attempted to open his heavy eyes but could not. His senses failed him as darkness overcame his vision.

[Rictalspace]

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyDZscyf8lU" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyDZscyf8lU</a>


Chapter Two - Transferral

Thomas slowly regained his sight, his eyes stinging as they opened. His senses told him he was sitting, a slight comfort that he wasn't dead. His memory was sketchy of the situation that had sent him spiralling into this mess. He wanted to remember, but it was as though something in his mind was blocking access to those memories. He struggled to open his eyes until he was jolted by a movement of the terrain around him. He forced his eyes to open, but they were opened to a blurry mess of a grey and silver surrounding with the slightest of red under him and up through the box he was in. He shook his head and rubbed his forehead where pain struck him in the process. He smoothly ran his index finger over the source of the pain, where he noticed an uneven surface. As he did so, flashbacks of his fall cornered his mind. His sight was slowly returning as he noticed blue over the majority of his body. He was jolted again as the terrain shook, followed by a horn. Good, he now knew he wasn't deafened. As his sight slowly returned, he looked over to the other side of the rectangular object he was caged in, to see a slightly blurry man wearing the same coloured attire as himself. An older voice spoke:
"Are you alright, son? Looks like you've had a nasty fall."
Thomas attempted to speak, but his insides prevented him with the torture of pain. In response, Thomas nodded back to the man and turned to look at the brown square leaning on his leg. As his vision almost cleared, he pulled up the suitcase noticing it felt slightly heavy. He placed it on his lap and opened it, inside were clothes, some food, and his name with numbers below it, '84829'. He closed it, looking around the now known metal box and noticed it was a train. He turned his head to look outside where he saw an endless mist. He guessed that he couldn't of gone far from wherever it was that he'd been taken from. As he leaned further and looked lower, he noticed they were moving across a bridge until darkness covered the train. Thomas turned back to the rest of the carriage in total darkness, whilst attempting to remember what happened.

He continued to concentrate, replaying the images portraying in his head as his train moved into a large city. His concentration decayed as he noticed a single skyscraper that reached into the clouds. The mist had cleared enough for him to notice the tower that seemed to centre in the middle of the city. As Thomas looked at the environment around the train as it moved through the city, it was empty. There were nothing but wrecks of cars and buildings with zero life. Two flying objects went straight over his train carriage which took his vision away from the ghost town. The moment he laid his eyes on them, more flashbacks occurred of him opening wooden curtains to the exact same thing. But the rest was still a blur to him, as he tried to remember who else he could have been with and what could have happened to him. The train began to decelerate as it approached a station, Thomas clutched his suitcase like a life support and leaned out to get a better view. Soon his vision was covered by overheads of metal and other nearby stationary trains. His train soon slowed to a stop at a station he'd never seen before. Other people in his carriage began to stand, clutching their suitcases as if they were their own offspring. Thomas stood, and walked over to the currently closed doors. His legs ached as if he'd pulled every muscle possible, he ignored the pain and held a rail to keep him steady. The doors swung open where two masked figures stood, and ushered the members of the carriage to step off.

Thomas attempted to keep his glare away from the empty mask but could not help it, he had never seen such clothing. He was pushed from behind as he jolted forward, struggling to keep his balance. He turned to see where the force had come from, and it was another man who had a large frown on his face. It was as if hatred had filled his mind toward Thomas in this strange time, from which Thomas turned again and walked into a line of people. They were guided forward toward barriers where more masked men stood, Thomas had so many questions to ask. He tapped the right shoulder of a woman in front of him and spoke:
"Where are we?"
Silence. Nothing came from the young woman's mouth as she ignored Thomas like a ghost. He attempted to get her attention again where a masked man walked over as a beep sound emitted:
"Have we got a problem here, citizen?"
Thomas shook his head, and had his mind stuck on 'Citizen'. What had he meant like that? What does that make this place?

Thomas found it difficult to keep quiet in a world that was no longer familiar to him, it's as if the entire world had ceased to exist and he was on some distant planet. Throwing this preposterous idea from his mind, he drew his attention to the barriers in front of him where several masked men awaited him. An announcement of a soothing woman's voice appeared from speakers around the area:
"Please have your Civil Identification Cards ready for show. Failure to own an identity card will result in off-world relocation."
Thomas thought back to the train, the card he'd seen in his suitcase. He hurried to open his suitcase as all of his belongings dropped out in his rushed attempt. He clawed his things back into his suitcase before another masked man would come over, he wasn't planning on doing something wrong from the looks of those batons in their hands. He took his card and placed it in his top right pocket, keeping it safe like a passport at check-in. As his turn approached, sweat developed on his forehead which he shook off. He approached the stand where he was asked for his name, and his Civil Identification Digits. Thomas quickly moved his hand into his pocket to pull out his card, he then read the five digit number he expected to be right. A satisfying green light appeared through the glass as the darkened figure stated:
"Thomas Murray, your apartment is in District Four, Block A, Number 37. Move through."

A sigh of relief flowed over Thomas as he clutched his suitcase when he pushed the barrier open. He turned a corner sharply keeping the apartment name in his head, when a voice of an older man emitted from the speakers nearby. He turned his head to a nearby monitor which towered over the room to see an old man, probably in his late sixties, in a brown suit addressing the 'city'. Four words were spoken which gave Thomas an idea of where he could be.
"Welcome to City Twenty-One."

[Bromine]

Amazing!

[Rictalspace]

Part Three - The City Of Ghosts
Thomas had just gone through a very nerve-racking experience, but his mind was still clouded with questions as more and more was shown to him. Who was the man on the screens? Was he the only one who didn't know what was happening? He moved round another corner to see more masked beings crowding others into a line like cattle to a slaughter. He joined the line wearily and slowly moved up. People were being taken into seperate rooms, perhaps for interrogation, or an interview? Thomas didn't like the idea of a face to face confrontation with these 'beings'. His turn quickly approached as people were taken into seperate rooms for reasons Thomas couldn't imagine. Thomas was then taken by a figure into a room where he was placed into a chair. There were several screens and cameras making escape almost impossible.

The figure turned to him and again another beep emitted from him;
"I will be showing you a video of how to behave in the city and what rules to follow. Failure to follow these rules will result in detainment and possible amputation."
Thomas didn't like the word 'Amputate' as he thought to a limb amputation. He didn't want to find out what it meant for his whole body. The video played, showing the area of the city outside this building, as well as other people who all looked happy and cheerful. Others were busy building walls back up or helping these men in white coats. The video then turned to a division called 'The Civil Worker's Union' which seemed like some higher up class of person. Thomas was still confused and wanted to know where he was, but confrontation with these masked men was a risk Thomas didn't want to take.
As the video finished, Thomas was taken out of the chair and was guided out of the room. He was given directions to follow through 'checkpoints' as they were called. He kept his suitcase close to him as he walked through silent streets. It was rich in human life, but voice was halted entirely as people walked past him, depicting him as nothing more than a ghost. He couldn't help but feel as if he was being watched on his  every movement. Several metal floating contraptions hovered over Thomas until one looked him dead in the face at point blank range. His lenses flared and a bright white light blinded Thomas as he stumbled back from the shock. This quick flash jolted Thomas backwards into another man who quickly caught him before he fell.
"Careful there, don't want to do anything wrong out here." He whispered as the floating metal camera turned away. "Where is your apartment?"
"It's over toward Block B." as he pointed in a direction.
"Good, so am I. Come on, lets get you settled in your new home."
The two men then walked up the street remaining as silent as ghosts until they walked round a corner where they could not be observed by unknown forces.

[Rictalspace]

// Added part 3
Reserved for part 4.