Short chapter, but hope it's good. Enjoy. More soon as I can manage.

Chapter 12

It couldn't have been more than five minutes, or at least it didn't seem any longer than that, before a couple soldiers came and whisked Gordon away. Without any form of weapon, he didn't stand much of a chance. And also being that his hands were restrained, that made any hope of hand to hand combat simply that. A hope.

The soldiers led the Physicist-turned-fighter to what appeared to be a containment room. Gordon looked around slowly, eyeing the room curiously. The floor was made entirely of concrete, and the room of bricks. There were barred windows all the way at the top of the room, letting in just a tiny amount of eerie moonlight.

Thankfully, this place still had electricity, and thus the building wasn't reliant on natural lighting. Dirty yellow lights hanging from the ceiling lit the room, and Gordon was powerless to resist as the HEV suit was stripped off of his body. Grateful that the soldiers monitoring him were wearing gasmasks so they couldn't smell his most likely horrible body odor, he was left clad in thin sweat pants, a pair of scraggly socks, a white t-shirt, and his glasses.

The heavy HEV was wheeled away on a cart by one man, who seemed to be struggling to push it.

Gordon was then lifted forcibly by the arm, and taken to yet another room. This one, compared to the last, was a welcome site. A shower room, a small one at that. After being shoved in, a bottle of travel sized shampoo and two bars of soap were thrown in after him, and the door shut and locked from the outside.

Deciding to take the opportunity to get clean, something he hadn't had since… well, all the way back at Black Mesa East, he couldn't have been more grateful for hot, running water. Choosing the last shower stall in the row of four, he turned on the water and allowed it to get hot.

Stripping off his clothes and stepping inside, the man drew the curtain across to effectively hide himself from the world. Or, what was left of it.

Convenient shelves for the soap and shampoo were built into the tile wall to his right, and he placed them there, simply enjoying the feel of hot water. Steam rose up and became stagnant around the ceiling.

Gordon used the entire bottle of shampoo to wash out his hair, discovering that its scent was.. 'fresh rose', at least according to the label on the bottle. The soap was of a different kind, some kind of island coconut scent, or something.

He didn't really care. As long as it did its job, and it did, he was happy. Staying in until he could barely see his hand in front of him due to the huge amount of steam in the room, Gordon finally shut the hot water off, shivering instantly.

Stepping out of the shower room, he found some fresh clothes and a white towel waiting for him. Hefting the towel, he discovered that it was actually clean, with the fresh smell of dryer sheets. It was surprisingly soft on his body, and seemed to absorb all of the water droplets.

After drying, he hung the towel over a nearby towel rack, and put on the clothes. Surprised to find that they all fit, he was now clad in a pair of thin jeans, as well as another white t-shirt.

It was funny, how something as simple as regular clothing could please the mind so much. It felt good to have that bulky HEV suit off, although he did feel exposed now without it. It provided a warm comfort which was rare to come across during these times.

And it was then that Gordon's mind finally seemed to catch up with the events that had just happened. Why were these people allowing him a shower, giving him fresh towels and clothes? Suddenly feeling suspicious, he hardly had the chance to think anything else over before the heavy door to the shower room burst open again.

The soldiers there hardly seemed phased by the cloud of mist that was drawn out of the room by some unseen air current, and one man stepped forward. The large amount of medals and badges displayed on his uniform seemed to indicate he was the ranking officer here.

"Doctor Freeman," the man spoke, raising a gloved hand, "If you would please follow me. We have many things to discuss, and so little time to get through them."

…

Francis and Louis sat alone in their cell. Well, at least they weren't entirely alone. They were together. Their clothes had been removed, and their cleansing had been no where near as nice as it could've been.

They'd been dragged out of their cells by six armed guards, taken to a room, and stripped of their clothing as though they were animals with no dignity. After that they'd been sprayed by a hose. It wasn't quite a pressure washer hose, but it had hurt pretty badly.

There had been a brief pause, where men in toxic suits had entered with scrub brushes at the end of six foot wooden poles. They had been scrubbed hard, and then rinsed again. After that they'd been given white gowns as though they were in a doctor office.

After that they'd been taken to a room with chairs, strapped in, and blood was drawn from them. Any protests, or curses were dealt with harshly, and even Francis had learned quickly to keep his mouth shut.

That had all taken about two hours, and the men had then been brought back to their cells, with no idea as to what was going on with their other friends. Bill, Zoey, and the strange scientist that had appeared in their group.

And then, suddenly, an idea popped into Francis's mind. "Hey, Louis?" he asked quietly, looking over at the manager. The man looked up and toward Francis.

The two were lying on hard metal beds, across from each other in the cell. "Yeah?"

"I didn't really think about it before… but isn't it kind of strange… that a scientist.. wearing such an advanced looking suit.. appeared in our group and then we were taken here?" Francis said slowly, shifting slightly to look at Louis.

He could see that Louis's brow furrowed as he seemed to think, and then slowly he nodded. "Perhaps. But do you really think he'd betray us? I mean.. he's no better off in here than we are, even if we can't see him." Louis said, as he always tried to look on the bright side.

"I know. And it's possible they're just keeping us separate for fear.. but… I can't shake the feeling. Where else would he get such a suit, unless he was sent out to set us up?"

Louis sighed. "That's one possibility, but you didn't think of the other."

Francis snorted. "And what other possibility is there?"

"He was working on or with the virus, and now the military is pissed at him and he's already dead. Or, perhaps since he is a scientist, they're using his knowledge to try to find a cure. Don't judge someone until you've seen both sides of the story." Louis said, propping himself up with his elbow, and using his other hand to accentuate his point with several gestures.

Rolling his eyes, Francis finally seemed to concede. "I guess you're right. But are you gonna tell me to wait to judge these asshole military guys?" Expecting some sort of smart remark, Francis was actually surprised to see a dangerous glint in the other man's eyes.

"No. If I get free and get my hands on them, I'm going to kill them."