Check Battery
Go to Alyx. Protect Skitch. Avoid being tracked by the Combine.
Each of these directives is simple enough in and of itself. Doing all three at once, though... that's trickier. If D0G travels at maximum speed, he risks having Skitch tumble out of his makeshift basket. If he takes the most direct route to Rowlesburg, down an old interstate highway, he'll be out in the open where anyone can see him. He has to go slow and stick to wooded areas, weaving between the tree trunks where he won't be spotted from above and where there's little snow in which he can leave a track.
Unfortunately, this means it will take a lot longer to reach his destination. D0G has been traveling for thirty-nine hours, forty minutes, and one second. Rowlesburg is still approximately one hundred and eighty miles away.
Skitch still shows no signs of life. D0G hopes that Alyx will be able to fix him.
Meanwhile, D0G has another concern: his batteries are starting to run low. He could pull out his solar panels, but at this time of year, it would take at least ten days to fully recharge--assuming a total lack of cloud cover and D0G remaining in standby mode for the duration. No, he'll have to find another source of power. Fortunately, he knows just where to look for it.
There's a break in the trees up ahead. It's difficult to tell with his optic as scratched as it is, but D0G thinks he can see buildings in the clearing. Where there are buildings, there is electricity, or the means to produce electricity. He should be able to find some means of recharging his batteries there.
He limps out into the open to get a better look at the area. It's a small town, or the remains of one, anyway. The nearer buildings are collapsed and nearly invisible under the snow, but there are more solid brick buildings further on, and a handful of still-standing utility poles pointing the way in. They seem to be clustered toward the far edge of town--could there be a power station there? D0G lumbers into the town, picking his way around the snow-covered remains of houses, seeking out the spaces with the least snow to track through.
The snow muffles sound to some degree, but not completely. As he reaches the first of the mostly-intact buildings, D0G can hear a faint humming noise coming from somewhere in the distance. He cocks his head, trying to pinpoint the sound's location and what's causing it. It doesn't quite sound like anything he's ever heard before... like Combine scanners, but not quite...
!!!
It's coming from the west, and there are scanners. Maybe not the same kind D0G is used to, but there they are, drifting in over the treeline like a flock of misshapen birds. In a few seconds, they'll be close enough to spot him against the snow, and then--
There is no 'and then.' Because D0G is going to duck in through the open garage door and conceal himself as best he can.
Each of these directives is simple enough in and of itself. Doing all three at once, though... that's trickier. If D0G travels at maximum speed, he risks having Skitch tumble out of his makeshift basket. If he takes the most direct route to Rowlesburg, down an old interstate highway, he'll be out in the open where anyone can see him. He has to go slow and stick to wooded areas, weaving between the tree trunks where he won't be spotted from above and where there's little snow in which he can leave a track.
Unfortunately, this means it will take a lot longer to reach his destination. D0G has been traveling for thirty-nine hours, forty minutes, and one second. Rowlesburg is still approximately one hundred and eighty miles away.
Skitch still shows no signs of life. D0G hopes that Alyx will be able to fix him.
Meanwhile, D0G has another concern: his batteries are starting to run low. He could pull out his solar panels, but at this time of year, it would take at least ten days to fully recharge--assuming a total lack of cloud cover and D0G remaining in standby mode for the duration. No, he'll have to find another source of power. Fortunately, he knows just where to look for it.
There's a break in the trees up ahead. It's difficult to tell with his optic as scratched as it is, but D0G thinks he can see buildings in the clearing. Where there are buildings, there is electricity, or the means to produce electricity. He should be able to find some means of recharging his batteries there.
He limps out into the open to get a better look at the area. It's a small town, or the remains of one, anyway. The nearer buildings are collapsed and nearly invisible under the snow, but there are more solid brick buildings further on, and a handful of still-standing utility poles pointing the way in. They seem to be clustered toward the far edge of town--could there be a power station there? D0G lumbers into the town, picking his way around the snow-covered remains of houses, seeking out the spaces with the least snow to track through.
The snow muffles sound to some degree, but not completely. As he reaches the first of the mostly-intact buildings, D0G can hear a faint humming noise coming from somewhere in the distance. He cocks his head, trying to pinpoint the sound's location and what's causing it. It doesn't quite sound like anything he's ever heard before... like Combine scanners, but not quite...
!!!
It's coming from the west, and there are scanners. Maybe not the same kind D0G is used to, but there they are, drifting in over the treeline like a flock of misshapen birds. In a few seconds, they'll be close enough to spot him against the snow, and then--
There is no 'and then.' Because D0G is going to duck in through the open garage door and conceal himself as best he can.