#the newest inhabitant // gordon freeman

[ghostsintheai]

It's the morning now, the sun beginning to rise as the collected ghosts stare out the small window into the backyard, watching the group of Black Mesa Officials begin to pack up and disappear through the fence. Gordon is still fitfully asleep in the middle as they start this, but then, as the last of them disappear into the space beyond what the ghosts can reach, Tommy stands, walking over to Gordon and pressing a cold hand into his shoulder. It hovers, then snaps into the phsyical long enough for Tommy to shake him.

Gordon shifts, coughs a bit as the dust is disturbed and flung into the air around him, and he sits up, shaking his head a bit to clear the half-sleep and exhaustion from it, looking towards Tommy, whose smiling a bit.

"Ready?" He asks, quiet, despite knowing only Gordon could hear him.

Gordon only gives him a determined nod in response.

[Everyone Is Open For Asks]

[ghostsintheai]

Drive, man, drive!! - 🎶

But it doesn't stop. It keeps driving, far off, turning the corner at the same speed. Briefly, those stuck in the house, catch a glimpse of Gordon, his hand on the wheel and his stump coming up to rest on his shoulder, blood streaking down it. But he does not stop. He does not look back. He just keeps driving, and those who are stuck lose him from view.

Benrey manages, just a second to late, to snatch the gun from the man's hands, and, in a fit of rage, bashes the butt of it against the man's face with a sickeningly wet crack. The man goes limp, nose a mangled mess.

[ghostsintheai]

GORDON SPRINT

You have no need to tell him twice. He gathers himself, takes a breath, then stands, flinging open his door and booking it down the drive. The door slams into the wall, and he rounds the corner around his house, heading towards his car, just as he hears someone shout form inside. He slides into his car, locks it as he gets in, fumbles, just a bit, almost drops his keys. He ducks a bit to catch them and-

BANG

[ghostsintheai]

Keys Get! Step one complete! - 🎶

Eventually, the two of them stop arguing, and Gordon stares towards the kitchen in fear of one of them coming around, but-

The footsteps retreat back into the room. The man on the couch huffs, settles again.

It's once again silent.

[ghostsintheai]

Oh no

He's stuck here until the two of them finish their argument. They'll see the door open, they'll hear it, his door is not quiet, he learned that in the first few days. He can't do anything but sit here and listen to the two of them arguing over the popsicles he bought for his son. Gordon wonders, briefly, how his life turned out like this. Hiding from a government sanctioned military guard on his house, listening to them talk about stealing his food.

[ghostsintheai]

You’re about to run for your life and these assholes are raiding your goddamn fridge. Unbelievable.

Gordon shakes his head, though it does seem he's having to stifle another nervous laugh. He reaches up, grabs the key chain by the keys to stop them from clacking together, then carefully lifts them up from the hook, holding them tight enough his knuckles are pale. He brings it down closer to his level, behind the wall again, when he hears footsteps from the hallway.

"Dude are you sleeping again? Motherfucker, I just want a popsicle."

There's a dull thud, and a second voice groans "Fuck you... get your own damn popsicle... if there's any left."

"Oh you ass, did you finish them? You know the doodle ones are my favorite."

[ghostsintheai]

Okay this is getting dire real fuckin quick

Gordon does give himself a small sigh as he gets around the couch, closer to the front door. There's a half wall that seperates him and the back of the couch, that he stays crouched behind. Hidden, almost completely by it from the living room. However, he has a direct view into the kitchen, and thus out the back door. If anyone comes around and goes into the kitchen or comes back through the backyard, he's fucked. He lets himself sit there for a second, calm his beating heart.

[ghostsintheai]

Shit shit shit shit shit

Gordon freezes, staring towards the man on the couch, who makes no move to get up. He stays there, frozen, for a moment, before a voice from behind him calls.

"If you're getting up can you steal a popsicle from the guy's fridge? Motherfucker got the doodle ones, love those ones."

Gordon, despite himself, has to desperately stifle a laugh. He stuffs his fist against his mouth and starts making quicker progress across the floor. The man on the couch doesn't answer his friend, and giving no answer means that other is likely to come out and see what in the world is actually happening. Gordon would like to not be in the living room when that happens.

[ghostsintheai]

You have your car keys, right, Gordon? Don’t show them or anything in case they jingle, but you’ve got ‘em? - 🎶

Gordon gives a rather unfortunate shake of his head, before jerking it towards the door.

Still hanging next to it, rather stupidly, is his car keys, with the cowboy hat key chain that Joshua had conned him into buying nearly a year prior. No keys are missing. It's what Gordon focuses on as he steps carefully through the carnage of his own home.

[ghostsintheai]

oh god oh god oh god

With a careful, steadying, silent breath, Gordon begins to sneak his way across his own living room. He had gotten rid of the boxes just days before this all went down, but now his living room is a mess once again. Any books or knick knacks he has are scattered across the floor, though he keeps an eye out for anything broken. So far nothing, as he takes a few steps across the wood, eyes darting back and forth to the man on the couch.

He doesn't know if he's sleeping or not. Gordon's not sure he wants to.

[ghostsintheai]

Shift your weight carefully, houses this old often have creaky floorboards. - 🎶

Gordon gives one quick nod. He knows where some of these floorboards are, having lived here just long enough to pinpoint a few, but he knows there is more, he knows there has to be more.

However, he has years of sneaking out of his old house as a teen under his belt. Perhaps nothing as high stakes as this, but the principle remains the same. He can do this.

[ghostsintheai]

Any radio chatter?

It remains silent. He settles carefully on the floor. The others slowly sink through the floor around him, though they disappear as they do, hiding from living beings. A feeling of loneliness settles in Gordon's chest, but he knows he's not. He knows they're there. He feels something brush against his hand, the one he doesn't have, and he can't help a small smile.

He can hear the man in his bedroom pacing. He peeks carefully around the corner into the living room, and finds the other man reclined on the couch, hands behind his head, hat tucked over his face. There's a gun, one Gordon can't identify but knows is big, overkill even, settled over his lap.

[ghostsintheai]

With catlike tread…

"Here goes nothing." He whispers to himself, before begging to descend the ladder, taking each step with careful precision, trying not to put too much weight on any one spot. It's a over-careful, rather tedious process, but Gordon knows without it being told to him that the people left in his house are armed. They have to be.

As he gets to the bottom rung, he hesitates, a feeling of fear settling deep in the pit of his stomach. Then, he carefully puts his foot on it, easing down just in case-

[ghostsintheai]

Look sharp, everyone, Operation Get The Hell Out is underway! - 🎶

Benrey slips back up into the attic again, as Gordon moves over to the attic door, prepared to let it down and leave the attic again, for what feels like the first time in years. "Two. One in your room, the other in the living room."

Gordon stares at him, seeming to work something out in his head, before shifting, and carefully letting the ladder slide down. Its slow, so it doesn't make any noise, though perhaps the ghosts surrounding it helps, as the hinges probably haven't been moved properly in years.

[ghostsintheai]

Oh god okay it’s go time

"Go time indeed." Tommy stands from where he was crouched down next to Gordon, managing to force his hand once again to the physical to pull the living man up to standing. G-Man places G's hand on Tommy's shoulder a silent communication passing between them and then G's hand drops, and Tommy's goes once again translucent.

"We got an idea of how many are down there still?" Gordon asks. With that, Benrey shifts suddenly downwards, passing through the floor into the main of the house. Silence follows

[ghostsintheai]

Gordon Freeman packs his final boxes into the car, looking to his son, who sits on the curb watching him quietly. 

“Ready to go kiddo?” 

Joshua, clinging to a horse plushie, grins up at his father and nods wildly, cowboy hat bouncing around his head. Gordon laughs, straightens it, and lifts Joshua into his car seat, buckling him in. “We have a bit of a drive ahead of us, alright, but I’ll play Toy Story 2 for you.” Joshua grinned, and settled into his car seat as Gordon moved around to the drivers seat after shutting the car door. 

Once the movie was playing, Gordon started the drive, giving one last look back to the apartment building he had lived in before, before pulling away from the curb and starting the four hour drive to their new home. 

[Lights On In The Attic: Move-In. Coming Soon]