//I don't have any objections, but I'm gonna wrap things up in this post. School starts tomorrow and my computer's having a little bit of trouble with its sound card and stuff. I might as well finish things up. I just wanna know how long the time lapse will be between chapters?\\
?Why do you think they don?t go to the Mining District anymore?? Midna asked.
?Beats me. All I know is that I could really use some hot food,? Alex said, his stomach protesting.
?Kind of bad timing,? Midna replied, ?Considering you had a chance to get food back there.?
?Don?t remind me,? Alex grumbled, forcing himself to press on. ?Izzy said that the mining district was infested with headcrabs.?
?Yeah, and??
?I?ve never had to fight one before. I don?t know how they attack.?
?Headcrabs try to leap at someone?s head and take control. Once they do, the victim is turned into a shambling zombie.?
?Nice,? Alex quavered. He climbed up a ladder and kicked down a door. He was once again on the surface, the full moon illuminating the streets in a ghostly bluish glow. As Alex continued walking, his footsteps echoed hard against the cobblestones of the street. The gaslights had long since burned out. Alex stopped for a moment as he saw something speed across the roofs, leaping with incredible speed and height. It emitted a heart-chilling howl as it did.
?Did you see that?? Midna said, herself a little worried.
?Yeah,? Alex sighed. ?I did. Kinda wish I hadn?t.?
The two kept going. Soon corpses littered the streets, some half-eaten. One in particular caught his attention.
?What?is THAT?? Alex said, shocked at the state of the corpse.
The corpse was indeed human, with a headcrab resting over the victim?s head. His clothing was violently bloody, as if he had lost most of his blood already. His hands were elongated and bony claws. Down the middle of his torso was the most disturbing feature. From neck to groin an opening was present in the chest and abdominal cavities, cracked ribs protruding and internal organs clearly visible.
?Oh no?? Midna despaired. ?This is a zombie.?
?Wha??
?The victim of a headcrab attack. When the crab takes control, it horribly mutates the victim into a form it can use for combat. Judging by the blood, I?d say this man?s a fresh victim.
The zombie began to stir. With clumsy coordination he soon found himself back on two legs, approaching Alex.
Though that was not what made Alex?s gut churn.
Underneath the headcrab Alex thought he heard the cries and screams of the poor man, begging and crying for help.
?Alex?there?s nothing you can do. The best thing to do is to put him out of his misery.?
Reluctantly Alex leveled his rifle and pumped a shot into the zombified man. The body flew back and slammed against the wall, while the headcrab popped off and approached Alex.
Confronted with an alien creature, Alex waited for the crab to attack. With a high-pitched shriek the crab leapt off the ground toward Alex?s head. Alex caught it in mid-jump and held it by its two front legs. With a grunt he hurled the headcrab against the opposite wall, it falling limp as it let out one last death cry.
??.Nice?.? Alex muttered, wiping the blood off his visor.
?Okay, that?s quite disgusting,? Midna protested. ?Let?s just get through here as quick as we can.?
?Why the rush?? Alex quipped. ?These things aren?t exactly a threat. We might as well see what?s here.?
?I don?t see it,? Midna replied. ?This place hasn?t been inhabited for at least a year. Last contact I heard from this place was one survivor who had escaped the headcrab attack. He told us that the rest of the town had become zombified. Then he went BACK into the district!?
?Why?? Alex asked, perplexed.
?How should I know, he was a religious nut. Though he did have a shotgun with him when he came to us.?
?Who was he??
?I think he said his name was Grigori.?
Alex heard the same howling sound he had before, this time behind him.
?BEHIND YOU, BROTHER!? A gruff voice shouted, followed by a shotgun blast. As Alex turned around, he saw a zombie on the ground. This one was different.
It had been stripped of almost all of its flesh as well as internal organs, exposing the skeleton within as well as muscular tissue. The head was nothing more than a skull. The headcrab on the ground next to it was leaner than the standard kind, lacking the beak that normal and poison headcrabs had. However, it did have long spindly legs with sharp claws at the end. Perhaps, Alex thought, that was how it gained control.
Alex turned back to where he had heard the voice. On a balcony above stood a bald man of at least fifty, wearing a ragged jacket and pants. He wore a religious symbol around his neck.
?Ah, what is this?? He asked. ?Another life to save? I will keep my eye on you, more than that, I cannot promise!? He went back inside, chuckling in an almost insane manner as he did.
Alex turned back to Midna. ?Was that the--??
?Yeah, that?s him. Father Grigori he calls himself. When he came to us for help, he wasn?t this insane, but he was well on his way.?
?Wait, so you KNEW he was cracked??
?Yeah, and because of that, we didn?t render aid to the Mining District. Seems it was in our error.?
?I?ll say,? Alex grumbled.
?So what now?? Midna asked.
?Well, he might know the way out of this place. I say we follow him.?
?You sure? He seems a little off-kilter.?
?Okay, think about it for a moment. Wade waist-deep through zombies, or ask the psycho with the shotgun for help.?
?You raise a good point. We?ll follow him.?
And so they did. Though the buildings in the district were tightly packed, making most zombie encounters unavoidable. Soon they came to a large graveyard.
?We should be safe here,? Alex said, taking cover behind a tombstone.
?Clearly. What zombie would set foot in a graveyard?? Midna retorted.
Before long, legions of shambling mutants were soon approaching the rebel and imp. More than outnumbered, Alex began blindly firing into the group. In a cascade of body parts and fire, the zombie numbers began to fall.
?I?m surprised this is actually working,? Midna said, taking cover.
?Of course! Why wouldn?t it??
Fast zombies were why it wouldn?t. With the fifty or so zombies that made up the first wave dead, a group of the terrifyingly fast skeletal monsters dashed towards Alex at a disturbingly fast gait.
?Fear not, brother! I have come to save thee!? Father Grigori kicked down a door and began firing at the lean zombies, delivering a shell into each head. Finally, the undead hordes were laid to rest.
?So you are the one I have heard so much about!? Grigori chuckled. ?As you can see, my congregation has grown rather unruly! I am sure you are wishing for a way out of this unholy place??
?That would be nice,? Alex replied.
?My apologies, brother, but the only escape is through the mines! I myself have not ventured in there, though you seem more than capable of laying the dead back to rest.?
?That?s all right,? Alex said. ?Any help at this point is good.?
?I will show you to the mines, but it is here I must stay. The shepherd must tend to his, err, flock!? He chuckled again.
The shotgun-toting monk wasted no time leading Alex to the entry to the mines.
?It is here that I must bid farewell to you, brother! I wish you luck in the mines ahead!? As he waved to Alex, a final horde of zombies converged on him. He turned around and began firing, knocking one lit gaslight to the ground, surrounding him in flame, laughing insanely all the way. Forcing himself to look away, Alex looked down the dark shaft leading to the Asgarnian mines.
?Alex?? Midna scolded. ?I hope you?re not thinking what I think your thinking.?
?What?? Alex said. ?Unless what I?m thinking is jumping down into the shaft, and landing in the deep pool of water below??
?Exactly!? she cried. ?I won?t let you.?
?If you see another way down, be my guest. I myself can?t float.?
Midna sighed. ?Fine.?
Alex positioned himself on the ledge, and looked down. He could see water in the bottom, but he had no way of gauging how deep it was. ?I got it. How about you go down and tell me how deep it is??
?It?s better than you taking a chance.? Midna drifted down into the tunnel and hovered above the water. The pool was about ten or so feet deep, just barely enough to cushion Alex?s fifty-foot plunge.
?Go right ahead,? she called back up.
Alex strapped his rifle onto his back, and stepped into thin air. He plunged like a lead weight into the water below, and splashed down. His splash echoed throughout the cavern as his picked himself up on the side of the pool.
?Well?? Alex said. ?That was fun.?
?He said that we wouldn?t have to go far into the mines to find a way out. He told us that one of the catwalks leads to a ladder that would get us back up to Asgarnia proper. Question is, how do we find it? It?s pitch black down here.?
?Don?t worry,? Midna said, holding her hand up and casting a strange spell. A bluish sphere appeared in her head-hand, casting the cavern in a soft blue glow. ?I?ll light the way.?
Unfortunately the mines were just as infested as the town itself, sans zombies. All that was down here were headcrabs, all three flavors. Normal, fast, and poison. Defeating them wasn?t too much of a problem, but their numbers were. The normal kind, without speed or poison, were merely a nuisance. The fast ones, Alex had to chase down and kill, and the poison ones he tried to avoid completely. At the end of the tunnel the moonlight cast down from a large opening where mining carts were rolled through.
?Finally, out of there!? Alex said, taking off his helmet in relief. He turned back to Midna. ?Now we just need to get back to Rebel HQ and see if the Kandies found them out. Hopefully not.
As the two made their way through the wrecked streets, one wayward poison headcrab from the mines stalked Alex.
?Oh, hang on, gimme a moment,? Alex said, as he checked his gun. ?There we go.?
The stop had given the crab enough time to reach Alex. It emitted the spine-chilling hiss that Otis made those eighteen months ago when he stalked that bird.
Unfortunately, this wasn?t Otis.
With an ear-piercing scream the headcrab launched forward and clamped down on Alex?s exposed neck, injecting massive amounts of the deadly toxins into his bloodstream.
?Alex!? Midna cried as she pried the crab off and zapped it with a fireball to ensure its death. Alex had lost his footing and slumped to the ground.
He moaned as Midna examined the clear bite marks on his neck. While the poison was rarely fatal, it would seriously inhibit Alex?s health. If a Kandie found him in this state, he would be as good as dead. The neurotoxin immediately brought Alex?s body functions down to bare minimum, the absolute least exertion he would need to stay alive. In this state, his was immobile, weak, and incoherent. Midna drifted down to his side and embraced his cold metal body.
?Don?t worry, Alex. I?ll find a way to help you, I promise. I won?t let you die. Not after all you?ve done for me. Not after all you?ve worked for. We made a promise to defeat Damien, and we will. Together. Alex??
She paused for a moment as a tear sprinkled in her exposed eye.
?I love you??
//End Chapter 11 for Alex and Midna.\\
