As I was driving my buggy along the coast, I could see that the ocean had receded several hundred feet away from where it used to be, waning into its new lot in life, yearning for an age that had since long passed. The Combine had descended from above in their angelic craft what felt like eons ago and simply accelerated the process that we had already started, the destruction of our own planet, bringing our inevitable future closer to us; they burned the forests and drained the oceans, they tortured and massacred and enslaved, and they brought us under the heels of their imperial conquest. A dark twisted mirror of humanity, their boots firmly stomped down on our necks as for the longest time we could do nothing but watch.

I saw the abandoned skeletons of giant ships and the husks of dilapidated docks, the forlorn devasted cottages and formerly occupied seaside villas, the death and decay of our planet. I stopped at an innocent-looking house, ceiling partially collapsed, for a brief respite, crashing through the fence as I lost control and skidded to a halt. The doors were blockaded so I had to find another way in, through a basement at the back.

I descended into the darkness and emerged in a hallway. As I walked up the stairs into the house, broken rays of sunlight creeping through the destroyed beams of the structure, I saw portraits of a happy family, parents and child, remnants of an era long-past peering through the broken frames. Abandoned and cannibalized furniture, scorch marks, and crimson stains dotted the abode. In the middle of the living room, surrounded by its congregation of former chairs, was an empty missile shell, smoke trails long dissipated. My stomach sank as I realized what must have happened to this family; the Combine had bombed the place, releasing the missile's soul-sucking denizens to sap what little humanity had remained.

I sauntered up the stairs with trepidation, dread inching its way with every step. I opened a door into an abandoned child's room, toys strewn about, scarlet splatters soaking the scenery, and a single tear rolled down my cheek before an insatiable rage rolled over me.

I turned the corner and I saw them. The parents. Minds that were no longer theirs, blood dripping from the talons of their unwanted cranial hosts, internal organs peeking through their ribs.

As they lurched towards me, I holstered my gun and drew from my side my oldest friend and introduced it to the vampiric demons that had destroyed the lives of the people that used to live here. Hit after hit of my crowbar, I swung at them, blinded by rage and sorrow, in the hopes of bringing them deliverance from this new life of pain and suffering, if one could even call what these creatures now have even half of a life. Hit after hit of my crowbar led to their further moans of pain, pleading me to save them, to free them, as they swung at me with their distended limbs. Both of the former humans slumped to the ground, as the headcrabs retracted their talons and keeled over, now as lifeless as their prey, green and red blemishes painting the floor and walls, and the rage finally dissipated, replaced with melancholy, my other longtime friend.

I found my health kits and supplies in the corner, and I kneeled down in that corner for much longer than I had anticipated, contemplating my journey. Had this family had given their lives for mine, had they sacrificed themselves for a cause? Or were their death and suffering all for naught? Was humanity doomed to extinction under this savage alien force? Why did they have to suffer so? Was it my fault? Was my mishap at Black Mesa all those years ago, that possibly led to the oppression of our planet, preventable? Was my pursuit of science, of physics, of understanding the nature of the world, what led to this moment? A sort of catastrophic perversion of Newton's Third Law, as if the universe was laughing at us? Or was it fated to happen, no matter what I did? Is this the destiny of this lonely rock, this speck of sand floating through the vast sea that is this indifferent universe, to be just another conquest in a long line by the Combine forces?

There was nothing left but the sounds of seagulls cawing and waves lapping lazily at the shore, blissfully unaware of the horror that had just commenced. I had to end this mournful sojourn and continue with my mission. I slowly stumbled to my feet and returned to my car, ceding to my purpose, to recommence my journey towards oblivion.