Chapter Text
They were on the move. They were always on the move. It was constant running and fighting and Gordon was mostly used to it by now. That was just his life, though it didn’t used to be that way before the incident at Black Mesa.
Alyx was moving ahead, gun ready in case they ran into any zombies or Combine troops while Gordon found himself beginning to lag behind.
Alyx reached the end of a hallway and frowned. “Dead end. The building is pretty clear as of right now at least.” She said with a sigh.
She turned back to Gordon, only to find him sitting on the floor, resting his head back on the wall. “Gordon?” She said in concern and moved over to him, crouching beside him. “Are you okay?”
He looked at her and didn’t do anything for a few moments. Then he signed, <Tired. Give me a minute.>
She nodded and moved so she was sitting down. Now that she thought about it, she hasn’t seen Gordon rest since she met him. She was beginning to wonder if he even rested during the times they were apart. What has been keeping him going for so long?
“Gordon? We’ve been going almost non-stop for a while now… How do you do it? Keep going, I mean.” She asked. “I don’t really see you rest very often or… At all, actually.”
Gordon took a deep breath. <Adrenaline, I’m assuming.>
She frowned. “Yeah, that… Makes sense.”
There was silence for a few moments, then Gordon stood. <Let’s go.>
Alyx got up as well. “Are you sure? You still look very tired.” She asked in concern.
<We can’t afford to sit around. We have to keep going.> Gordon signed, though his hands went a little quicker this time and Alyx wasn’t sure if Gordon was really alright. He paused for a second, then continued. <We always have to keep going. No more time for resting.>
Then he stopped and sighed. <I don’t want to dwell on it. Let’s just go.> He signed and started to walk off.
“Gordon.” Alyx said, causing him to stop and look over at her. She walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. “We’re almost there. We’re making a lot of progress. If we keep going, it’ll all be over. You’ll be able to rest without worry then. I’m sure of it.”
And for a moment, Gordon believed her. He really did. But then G-Man came to mind and that glimmer of hope died. He was sure after all of this, he was just gonna be put into stasis again until his next mission and stasis wasn’t really resting to him.
He just offered a sad smile. ‘Doubt it.’ He wanted to sign, but decided that wasn’t the best idea. So instead, he signed out a ‘Thank you’ and kept walking.
They had a long way to go.