Merchrip's Story.

By the title you probably guessed it, I'm going to start writing a book based on my adventures on the server. They will be posted page by page, spanning from a day apart, to at the most a week.
A Girls Life, After the War.
Inspired by Vavles Half-Life Series.

Chapter 1: Introductions
[Page 1.]

I opened my eyes, inspecting the current area. My Shotgun lay in the corner, a magazine barely touching it. I moved my hand to my side inspecting if my side-arm was still there. I sighed in relief as I felt the familliar edge. A footstep echoed from outside my room, and I wondered who made it. "Hey, Open up!" Someone said, and I replied "Who is it," I quickly motioned over to my shotgun, as I leapt out of bed grabbing it. "Ripcord!" The man replied, and I walked over to the door inspecting if it was the man. I nodded as I undid the lock, and pulled the door open. "Thanks man," "No problem," I replied. I had known Ripcord for awhile now, he knew Sparrow, and he was an old RDA. I never knew what that stood for, but they helped throw over city 13. "How've you been?" I inquired, and he responded "Good, I got a new shotty." I nodded, and I was litle excited, because Shotguns were rare in this era. The combine rule us, they are a bunch of people from another world, who took us over in 7 hours, or something along those lines. Then we formed the Resistance, not all of us were in it, but I had attempted to restart it. The combine struck us down, and seperated the RDA, and Ripcord was all I knew from that.
[Page 2.]
I walked towards the door, holding the shotgun at arms length. I walked through it, going through the familiar back alleys. The floor was made of cobblestone, but the side buildings were made of bricks. The buildings stretched a few stories up, but it wasn't too hard to climb. I took a right, which lead me over to the bridge. The bridge was an important part of the slums, as the rebels call it. The bridge allows us to look over the Plaza, and scope out the area. I turned another corner, as I bumped into someone. I instinctively raised my shotgun, already pumped. "Woah, Woah! What are you doing?" The man told me, and I inspected him. After realizing it was Gareth, I quickly lowered it, apologizing. "Sorry Gareth, can't be to careful, eh?" "Yeah, guess so." I nodded to him, and he did the same. I continued on my way quickly, making sure to be more careful. I heard a beep from behind me, and I raised my shotgun and fired a quick shot. The shot went straight into a floating object. The object was clear to me, a city scanner. These things floated around, and shot pictures of you to send to the Combine. The civil protection, as they call themselves. The scanner shattered into pieces, scattering among the floor. I managed to destroy it, before it took a photo. I inspected the parts, seeing if I could use any of them. The parts were useless, and I continued on my way. I dug into my Alice pack, and took out a pair of binoculars. I inspected the units, they were dressed in black outfits, with white patches on the shoulders, and kneecaps. They also had a white mask, but their lenses were clear.
[Page 3.]
I managed to get back from the bridge, unscathed. Binoculars were indispensable to me, and I never left without them. I knew almost everyone, and newcomers were rare to head into our territory. The Combine left us alone, and we were happy about that, but we occasionally headed into theirs, and attacked. Sometimes we managed to save a couple citizens, and other times we lost one of our own. We could never really know what would happen, just that we were trying to save people. Citizens are sort-of brainwashed. They are given these cans, with some weird chemical in it. That made you lose memory, so it seemed as if every day was the same. We attempted to save them from the Combine, but it sometimes worked. Some wanted to come, and some wanted to stay. The Civil Workers Union, don't get me started on them. They work FOR the combine, and do it happily. They aren't the officers, or anything like that. They just sell those brain-washing cans to the citizens. I always had my Shotgun on me, it was sort of like a baby, as well as my Beretta 9mm. I also had an Alice pack, and it held most of my stuff. Things like food, extra ammunition, and miscellaneous items. I always had a flash, a normal grenade, and a smoke grenade ready to fire as well. Things like this are necessary in the world we live in. Think of the Combine as the communists. They have a bad way of running things, and somehow they get away with it. I guess it's because of the 7-hour war. That was when the Combine invaded, and took over the planet in 7 hours.
[Page 4.]
I knew this guy, Hood. He thought of the Combine as communists. For some reason, it made sense to us all. No one questioned him, I don't really know why. He was strange in the way he could always make that joke to keep us together, but often said the wrong thing. Hood had a strange look on things, and I wasn't too sure if he was sane. I didn't even know if I was sane! The world was so screwed up at the time. We were fighting for a drop of water, or a crumb of food. You had weapons, you had power. You didn't have them, you were the "followers." That's what we called them. They follow you around, asking "Are you rebels? Can I join you? I'm a good shooter, just give me a weapon!" They were annoying, and we usually told them to shoo off, or we threatened weapons. I also knew Sparrow, my sister. She had appeared dead more than once, but she always had a trick up her sleeves. I reckon she's in the Outlands, or the place the Combine don't look. You make it out of the city, it's a free for all. There's no law out there, and if you have something, you can be killed for it. I prefer the cities, and I liked it that way. You hear a gunshot, find a safe place to hide. The combine are doing a sweep, which is a bunch of highly-trained units, who are checking for rebels such as myself. Don't forget Judgement Waviers, those are the worst! Imagine those units, highly-trained. Now imagine a bunch of people in heavy kevlar, and a great helmet. Along with Augments, or things that increase your running speed, how tall you jump, or even how hard you can punch. These people are the worst to take down, if you hear the "Thmmmmmmmmmmmmmm," You want to get in a place, fast! They catch a sight of you, and it's over.*Some scribbles are seen.*
[Page 5.]
Chapter 2: The day.

Friday, Febuary Twenty-third, 2011: Nothing really happened today. Went out, scared a few followers, and managed to trade for a few specs of food. Nothing that major, until Hood came dropping in. He popped up behind me, and almost got a round in his chest. "Woah, hold on there! Just me, Hood." "God dangit, you scared me. You need to stop that!" I was furious with him, but I got over it. "I have a proposal for you." "Hmm?" "I have a plan, but it's risky.." "What is it?" He explained the plan, and I can barely remember it. My part was to cover him, while he acted as bait. I suppose it was something about, him yelling out at the combine, and when they got up here. I shot at them. The plan seemed legit, but something was wrong. The units were too low for that kind of contrabrand. I knew they were up to something, so I called for Hood to come back. "Hood, you there?" "Yeah?" "Get back here, those units are 04's, they usually send 01's." "Easier muggin', right?" "No, that means its a trap, get back here, now!" "Alright, alright, calm your horses. I just want to mug one." "Fine, but if you get captured, don't blame it on me." I held out a small sniper, a rarity they were. The finest of all, a Barret fifty-caliber. I only had a magazine, but that's all I needed.
[Page 6.]
Everything happened wrong. The 04's came out, and right behind them were Overwatch. Five of em', at least. I couldn't take them, and I radioed to Hood, "Get out of there, Overwatch is there!" "Goin'." I switched the saftey off, read to take their heads off. I saw Hood running below me, yelling at me to climb off, and run. I denied his request, and instead I left two shots in an Overwatch. I fired off another round, this one going into oblivion. A shot came up right beside me, and that was my answer. I left the sniper there, and ran to my side. I leaped off the edge, attempting to make it to the other side. The gap was only about two feet, and I managed to make it over. I did a quick roll, as I continued to sprint. Climbing up small obstacles as they occured. Soon, I made it to a safe place, and radioed Hood. "You there?" "Yeah, managed to shake em' off, you okay?" "Yeah, I'm fine, just a bit shaken." "Good, I'll meet you at the red room after the JW." "Meet you there." JW stood for Judgement Wavier. A hour later, I looked down the edge, it was about 10 feet down, with a window half-way. I dropped onto the ledge, and I dropped again. I managed to get a small grasp of the window, and then I dropped again. The cobblestone hurt my feet as I hit the ground, but it didn't hurt to much. I held my shotgun at my chest, and I headed through a black corner. The other side led to a little walkway, with a ladder in the corner of it. You follow it, it takes you to the red room. I did as said, and I flicked the handle down three times, indicating it was me. "Come on in." I heard the familiar voice of Hood, and stepped inside. "What'd you get from this?" "Nothin'." "Great."
[Page 7.]
Sunday, Febuary Twenty-fifth, 2011: Nothing really happened over the weekend, just some normal things. Mugged a Combine, got into a fight. I managed to get some more food, and a mag for my sidearm. I think the Combine have cameras around the slums, they seem to know where we are now-a-days..
[Page 8.]
Febuary Twenty-sixth, 2011: I woke up again this morning, and I noticed a vortigaunt in the corner. Vortigaunts are a sort of brown, dark-green color, and have three red eyes. They also have three arms. At the end of each arm is a claw. These claws can injure your skin, but not Kevlar. As I've found out. This vortigaunt wore a lab-coat."Who're you?" I motioned my hand to my side-arm, silently undoing the holster. "Thisss one iss Riiki'Nizzo," the vortigaunt said. "Thiss one friendss with Ha'fassss.""Really you say? Whatever happened to him?" "Thiss one knowssss he died.. Sssslain by a heretiic!" The vortigaunt crumbled his fist together. I nodded, even though I didn't know what a heretic was, but it seemed bad. "Does that mean you uhh, took his place? You know, as Grand Elder?" "Yess, thiss oone has beecome Graand Eelder...." I quickly nodded again, getting down onto my knees as I looked below the bed. Removing my Shotgun, and a few magazines for it. "Wheere iss huuman kiin heaaded?" "Dunno, some place. Gotta find food. I'll catch you later." The vortigaunt lowered its arms, and head. I suppose it was a bow, but I never understood what it really was. I went through the door, going into the alleys again. I suppose I could rob a few CP's, but it's risky. I headed around the corner, going down the ladder near the red room. Down there was a black side, next to a cement wall. The wall was about six feet tall, and had no cracks in it. I passed the wall, and headed for a black passage. This led to the checkpoint. These checkpoints, they're hard to explain. What I've observed is that they pat you down, to check for contraband. Then they type something into a datapad, and they find your record, or something along those lines.
[Page 9.]
Febuary Twenty-sixth 6:00PM, 2011: I slid my hand onto the door, pushing it downwards, and forwards. A man stood inside, he had spiky hair, and it was brown. "Who're you?" I asked, and he responded *Scribbles are seen, maybe to keep confidentiallity?* "Good," I looked over to the fridge. I grabbed hold of the handle, and pulled it aside. Inside was some orange juice, which believe me is a rarity. I shoved it into my pack, and the man questioned me again. "Your names Katherine, right?" "No, it's Merchrip. I never heard of that name before." He nodded, and asked another question. "Are you a rebel? I heard some CP's talking about you." "Sure I am." Directily after that, I headed straight for the door, opening it and closing it. I stepped outside, entering the hallway again. I quickly exited, and noticed something in the corner, it was a unit. The unit took my picture quickly, and swiftly ran away. I followed in pursuit, taking out my baretta as I ran. This was a trained officer, he ran almost as fast as I did. I made an assumption, and shot out a single bullet. "ARgh!" The bullet seemed to penetrate the officer, and he fell over in pain. I quickly leaped onto him, taking the gun onto his radio, and shot it. Frying it's circuits. "Who sent you!" I yelled at him, and he laughed "Haha. I did." I didn't take the comment kindly, and I moved the gun to his head, squeezing the trigger. A bang rose out through the slums, and the body lay motionless, no longer struggling. I looted the body. All that was there was a 9mm, a SMG, and a few scrap pieces.
[Page 10.]
I glanced at my feet. Below me was ten feet of air, enough to give me the creeps. I never really stared at the ground, I guess that's why I was so good at parkour. I jump from building to building, and avoid CP. Hell, I even made it to the CA's room, but I left quickly. Never know when he would bust in. Febuary Twenty-seventh, 2011: I noticed a man down on the ground, and I yelled "Who are you?" The man replied with a yell, "Cloud!" "Alright!" I quickly grabbed a rope, and sent it down, after I clipped it to my belt. I felt him grasp on, and I slowly walked to the other edge, bringing him up. "Thanks," "No problem." He stood there, but quickly gained a thought. "Ooh! I got a recruit." He said, and I replied with an inquistive response, "Really? Who?" "She said she was something, but people call her Thorn." "Thorn you say?" "Yeah, you know her?" "A little bit, but I can't get a badge out, I have my own personal project." He didn't reply to that, but then I continued. "A katana, I'm making a katana." "Really?" "Yeah, I just have to work off the fine edges." We then sat down and talked about things, most of which I couldn't remember. I then jumped up the roofs, reaching the edge of the city. All I had to do was drop down, and I was in the outlands.
[Page 11.]
I looked back, all that was there was black buildings, and a few streets. Out here, there was one street, headed to the forest. I never knew how humdrum this could be, walking to the Outlands. After a few days I managed to find a jeep, and do some "favors" to keep it. I'll write again when I get to a place. *Scribbles, obviously written while driven,* and that was that. I found this town called Clairmont. Nice bunch, someone called Walrus lived here. I also saw Sparrow, she still had the Barret. I bonded with her a bit, and we caught up. Nothing really else happened, except the OTA sweep. Sparrow developed a plan to trick the OTA, where I was bait, and she was the sniper. Right when the OTA was arresting me, she would shoot the sniper, and the OTA would fall with his brains no longer in his head. "You there?" Sparrow questioned me. I tapped my helm, while saying "Yep." "Good, let's start this, patrol is coming from the east. Your going to be positioned in the road, hide your weapons." "Alright, going cold." There was nothing around me, just a prairie, and the road. The road was made of cobblestone, and had a yellow line down the middle. A combine ship passed over me, and out came a single OTA. He fell in a sort-of drop pod. Like those things in the video games. "Citizen, wall!" The Overwatch commanded at me, and I did as said. He quickly took out a tie, and began to tie me when a loud gunshot was heard. "Could you have been any closer?" I inquired, and she responded "Nope."
CCA.C18.GRID-01.653 Diary.
[Page 12.]
Unit CCA.C18.GRID-01.653's personal Journal. Confirming rank.
....................................................Confirmed.
User access, MAXIMUM.
I write in this, to leave as a diary, before I go rouge. Many things happened, most of which were never confirmed. The Combine is all wrong. They tell us that we are doing the right thing, but this is obviously not true. Almost every day, I seem to beat up a man, or a woman. Who merely ran, instead of walked. I pretend to enjoy it, but my superior knows that I do not. The Grid DvL confronted me, before herself went ghost. She told me that I should not fear going rouge.
I feel as if people know who I am.. I hope my decoy in the outlands is working.
Unit CCA.C18.GRID-01.653's Personal Journal, Closing.
.........................Closing. User restrictions, ALL.
[Page 13.]
We met up afterwards, and had a good talk. Nothing really important, but I met this guy.. Just let me explain from the start. I quickly walked ahead, a large road before me. Sparrow wished me peace as I left, and I did the same. After a few hours, there was this sort of.. Japanese monastery? I don't know, but there was this guy standing in the middle, apparently worshiping something. I walked up behind the man, my shotgun in my hands. "Come in." He said, quietly finishing. I decided to join, and I leaned up against one of the walls. "Get off it! That is sacred!" I quickly moved away from it, staying silent. He seemed to do a nod into his hands, and then stood up. "You will be teached, in ways you may not understand." I nodded, and asked "in what?" He responded, in a small chuckle, "Live by the sword, die by the sword." I hardly knew what he meant, but I suppose he meant sword training. "Come, come, we will head to the Oceanic pools.." I give a slight nod to the man, and he got up from his pose. The man then continued off of the steps, and into a dirt road. "What is the uh, oceanic pool?" "Another sacred place, not for leaning against!" He raised his pointer finger up, as if to prove a point. I mumbled a few things to myself, and he was unable to hear it, I think. We then reached a U shaped Lake. On the Northern edges of the lake, where mountains, spreading towards the North. We were on the Southern side, so we got a good view of it. The water was unusually still. The wind was low yes, but the water hardly moved at all. "Have you gotten a good view?" "Yeah," I responded. He then turned me around, and infront of me was a piece of paper, and a paintbrush. Beside that, there were several paints with different colors. He then told me, "Paint what you see. A warrior remembers everything with but a single glance.." I attempted my best at drawing it, but it looked pretty shabby. "I'm finished," I said to him. He then took up the paper, examining it. "You have a good memory!" He cracked a small smile, and chuckled a little bit.
[Page 14.]
After that he taught me a few things about my sword, and how to properly use it. He also gave me a bird, that he said was called Sparrow. It wasn't a real bird, but a drawing on a necklace. I managed to scavenge a few things here and there. Saw several traces of Sparrow, but never really saw her again.
******
I had just arrived back in the city, much hardship took me to arrive back. I think I saw Ripcord get shot, that couldn't be as well, but I was in the city. While my times in the outlands, I managed to get a Black Market Dealer workshop. This was a quick project, and I couldn't possibly write it down. I managed to see Neil again, here's what happened. I heard a quick beep on my radio, a voice that was all too familiar. "Whoever's on this, hopefully Merchrip, come to the XCCR. The Commies are giving me and Hood a tough time." I pulled out my radio, and flicked it on responding, "Alright Neil, you have your Merchrip." I quickly shoved it back inside my pack, and pulled out a spare pea-shooter, and Mp7. I loaded a magazine into both, and set up class on the roof next to the red room, but higher up. I made it a challenge to lay down, and take out my Mp7. I laid my pack beside myself, and scavenged for a rare Mp7 grenade. There was a spare one, that had "Penis," written on it. No doubt a gift from Ripcord. I pulled out the radio again, flicking it on.
[Page 15]
"Hey Neil, you wanted me to come? Just walk outside the XCCR, and cover your faces." Neil didn't respond to that, but I suppose he heard it. He and hood walked out in the CCA ties, and I shot a grenade right infront of the two units escorting them. The grenade exploded, sending the units into the walls nearby, along with Neil and Hood. I heard several radio calls, probably for help. I loaded in a spare magazine, and sprayed down onto the units, giving Hood and Neil time to escape. "Thanks Merchrip, good as always." "No problem," I had responded. They ran to the subway that was near by. I hadn't the time to reach there, but I continued to climb the roofs, and make sure they made it out on the other side. I heard the JW go off, and some Overwatch came by. Nothing really happened, they couldn't find me as always. I did find a strange crate, the crate was brown, with a bird drawn onto the side, and there was an S. I took out my spare knife, and cut the crate open, inside was a wristbrace. "What is this?" I had wondered, but I soon figured out. I slid it on, a bad gift is better than no gift. I had hit my hand onto the top of the wrist piece, and a blade popped out the bottom. "What the!" I moved my hand back down, and it disappeared. I had thought it to be just a wristbrace, but it was more than that. A radio had come out onto my signal, and I wondered who it could be.
[Page 16] March 1st, 12:00 PM.
Today was a regular old day. Woke up around nine-ish, according to my watch. I went to go get my daily supplies from my local source, and some fool tried to rape me. Sadly, I learned that was G. G was a medium sized black guy. He usually wore a resistance outfit, but he sometimes just wore his refugee clothe's. He also was addicted to Sparrow's ass, for whatever reason, but back to the topic! Around Ten-ish, I saw a combine patrol popping through, probably because of some RDA screw up. They passed me without noticing, as I was on the rooftops above them. I felt compelled to toss down a flash or smoke, but I felt that wasn't the best of ideas. They've been sweeping every day now, someone did something. DARRA has been doing well. We managed to get Cities 2, 13, 27, and 43. Lambda are working on 17, but Sparrow said they're waiting for a special someone to come back. Hornet was very awkward about it, as if some guy could warp through time to come and save us. Hell if I know, strange things this time has, strange.. I went out to go check on Ripcord, but he wasn't where he usually was. I waited there for a few moments, and he came back with this girl in a prostitute outfit, no doubt from the outlands. I told Rippy not to tip her too much, unless she gave him something special, and continued on my way. Around eleven-ish, I found some guy hiding in a dumpster. I walked past a dumpster, all nonchalant like, but I heard a noise from inside, and opened it. Inside was another refugee, scavenging for food, the usual. I asked, "What're you doing in that there garbage can?" He replied, "Nothing, just looking for some food." I cracked a small grin, but I took a loaf of stale bread, and handed it to him. He replied with a thanks, and hopped out of the trash can. As I walked away, he asked for my name, I just said, "People call me Crowen," and continued on my way. The way I was headed was the Red Room. That's what most rebels call it here, but some out of towners here just call it room, but I had an appointment. Let me explain in more depth..
[Page 17]
I had unusual gear on me at the time. I had my regular Mp7, engraved with a few names of my followers, and some decorative roses and thorns. I had a .357 magnum, and I had four grenades, on my hips that is, two on each side. I had a two flashes on my left breast, and two smokes on my right, and I had a rifle bag with an Ak47, M16, and AUG A3. AUG's are ranked by their A's. A1 is a sight, along with a rail. A2 Is a sight, with a bipod, and a rail. An A3, is a sight, rail, and room for two other attachments. In my ALICE pack, I had some extra ammunition, along with some new mags I am starting to make, I call them doubles. It's two mags attached to each other by any means, one is right side up, the other upside down. This allows for you to run out of ammo, and switch to your other mag by taking out yours, and turning it upside down, so your other one can go in. Oh, I also forgot my katana! I edited the holster to not be equipped on my back, but onto my side, so my pack and holster don't have to fight for dominance.

---
Including Page 17. My Book has 4573 words. I believe I just broke some sort of record. Thanks for giving me support guys, page 17, 18, and 19 will be out sometime this weekend. 11/30/12

Ripcord had no choice to get a hooker, you left me for Ivtikra :c
And guess what, my penis grenades killed combine.

Taco, maybe I would not double post if I could even merge posts,c reate new sections, etc. You and the owners shouldn't be the only ones doing it, as I quote. "More things to do? WAAAAAAAH I WANT TO DO REAL THINGS LIKE BAN GENTLELADIES" You seem to be too lazy anyways, so GG.