#a_f.exe

[hlvre]

Your name is GORDON FREEMAN and...

This isn’t right. This is the wrong game, the wrong web series! Can we please go to the right one?

[hlvre]

well, then... where to now, gordon? aren't we near the trains now?

“WE WOULD BE, BUT...”

HE GESTURES WEAKLY AHEAD OF HIMSELF. There’s not a train in sight. Just tracks. Tracks that, as he walks along, come to an abrupt end, with a red and white stripped bar being the only thing that would have stopped him from going down a drop.

OF COURSE. The train would have already gone down, the platform with it. Gordon stares hopelessly down the drop, a pang in his chest as he realizes -- Forzen wasn’t there to catch him. Forzen might not be able to catch him ever again.

DEEP BREATH. He blinks rapidly to fight back tears.

“ANY IDEAS?”

[hlvre]

WHY ARE YOU A CATBOY????

“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU ALL TALKING ABOUT.”

[hlvre]

wh-HELLO??? -Sniped

DRAGGING A HAND DOWN HIS FACE, GORDON GETS SHAKILY TO HIS FEET. What a dream... no. A nightmare. He needs to move. If he lingers any longer, he might not be able to keep going. 

“DON’T ASK. I DON’T KNOW EITHER.”

[hlvre]

“...yoooo... freeman, wake up, man, you gotta wakey wakey...”

GORDON PEELS DROWSY EYES OPEN, BLINKING A FEW TIMES TO CLEAR HIS VISION. God, what an awful dream... all white and black, no arms, back in the tram...

“c’mon, gordonnnn, wake uppp... you gotta wake up...”

“I’M AWAKE, FORZEN, STOP IT...”

“no, gordon... wake up.”

“run.”

WITH A GASP HE BOLTS UP, CHEST HEAVING AS HE TRIES TO CATCH HIS BREATH. What was that Inception bullshit...? A dream in a dream...

THE EVENTS OF EARLIER REPLAY IN HIS MIND, AND BEFORE HE REALIZES IT, HE’S SHAKING. Forzen... God. God, he was... no, he couldn’t dwell on that. He needed to keep moving.

[hlvre]

gordonTheoretically: Tell me about it.

[hlvre]

[hlvre]

“WHO PULLED UP HOMESTUCK? GET THIS SHIT OFF MY COMPUTER--”

“hehehe. they got no arm what up with that”

“BENREY!”