(no subject)
Gordon opened his eyes to a sharp, pounding pain in his head that throbbed in time with his pulse. It would have been nice to say that this was somehow something new.
As the pain began to recede, the light began to trickle in instead- gleams of sunlight through gaps in darkness, patches of paleness that might almost have been the blue of sky. But only patches. Most of his vision was taken up by sharp-edged bulk... metal fragments? It looked like it-
Oh. Oh.
The Citadel swelling, and then the explosion, and the shockwave catching up to the-
He was in the train car, he remembered that now. The wrecked, torn train car; and with that memory came the realization that gravity was pulling on him from entirely the wrong direction. With a grimace and a set jaw (there was no more painkiller in the HEV suit, and hadn't been for a long time), he managed to wriggle himself loose from the pieces of metal pinning him in place. It looked as if the train car had landed with its forward end down and the rear end up in the air, and Gordon was not in the forward part. Neither, for that matter, was Alyx. So far as Gordon could see, she wasn't anywhere- but that meant nothing until he could get loose and be sure.
He worked himself the rest of the way free and started tentatively picking his way down the slope of the car's floor, holding onto the odd remaining passenger seat or vertical pole as he went. Window segments and pieces of roof or wall swung alarmingly as he moved, and more than once he had to pause in his forward progress as the metal around him groaned with the effort of not falling over or apart. As he reached the forward end of the car he discovered that most of the rest of the train was half-submerged in water, and appeared to be trying to sink further. He lunged for the last door of the forward car as swiftly as the rising waters would allow, only to find it jammed shut, and the windows unwilling to open far enough for him to fit through.
Well. That was just prime. Now what?
As the pain began to recede, the light began to trickle in instead- gleams of sunlight through gaps in darkness, patches of paleness that might almost have been the blue of sky. But only patches. Most of his vision was taken up by sharp-edged bulk... metal fragments? It looked like it-
Oh. Oh.
The Citadel swelling, and then the explosion, and the shockwave catching up to the-
He was in the train car, he remembered that now. The wrecked, torn train car; and with that memory came the realization that gravity was pulling on him from entirely the wrong direction. With a grimace and a set jaw (there was no more painkiller in the HEV suit, and hadn't been for a long time), he managed to wriggle himself loose from the pieces of metal pinning him in place. It looked as if the train car had landed with its forward end down and the rear end up in the air, and Gordon was not in the forward part. Neither, for that matter, was Alyx. So far as Gordon could see, she wasn't anywhere- but that meant nothing until he could get loose and be sure.
He worked himself the rest of the way free and started tentatively picking his way down the slope of the car's floor, holding onto the odd remaining passenger seat or vertical pole as he went. Window segments and pieces of roof or wall swung alarmingly as he moved, and more than once he had to pause in his forward progress as the metal around him groaned with the effort of not falling over or apart. As he reached the forward end of the car he discovered that most of the rest of the train was half-submerged in water, and appeared to be trying to sink further. He lunged for the last door of the forward car as swiftly as the rising waters would allow, only to find it jammed shut, and the windows unwilling to open far enough for him to fit through.
Well. That was just prime. Now what?