A story I wrote as well (Part 2 now uploaded)

(Trippy Nightmare inspired me to sit down and write a story about the citizens in City 18. This story is about one citizen during the time I started to play RP. enjoy)


The following takes place in a combine interrogation room.

"Citizen 46143, you understand why you are here. Correct?" the unit asked. I nodded. "You are being audio recorded, Terry. Explain what happened." he asked again.

It took me awhile to respond, drawing together the horrid memories I had of this ungrateful moment I had lived. The cold air in the room didn't help, and neither did the second unit with a death grip on his pistol in the corner facing us. My right shoulder was pumping with pain after the Helix Unit patched me up slightly. I took a deep breath and placed my hands on the table, I began to speak. "Joel uh.." My voice quivered. "Joel saved my life." My head nodded up and down, while my eyes stared blankly into the floor. "He was.. shot multiple times in the chest..." I moved my hands around my body to point out the locations of bullet holes I had witnessed on my friends body. "Umm..." My lips shook, and I began to tear up. The Unit did not take kindly to my stalling.

"I said explain what happened. If you want to cry, do it in a cell. But not in front of me." His arm had an 02 badge. The Unit in the corner was a weak 05, he must have been ordered to follow the 02 for training purposes. The 02 leaned onto the table gently "Terry, we need to know what happened out there. You will give us answers or you will be classified as an Anti-Citizen." The Unit's eyes on his mask stared into my soul, as if this was his life mission to get answers from me. "Start from the beginning."

I nodded, and without hesitation the story began.

"I had just entered City 18 from the train station. My suit case had been stolen and I had no money to buy food. I spent the first few nights sleeping in the halls of the C.A.H, until Joel offered his couch for me to rest my head on." The Unit pulled out a piece of paper and asked

"Without a permit?" the pencil in his hands was already writing it down, so I did not feel the need to answer.

"He gave me a place to stay, a safe haven. He was rather kind, but he was cautious at first. He wanted me to get a job and get my own money, and get my own food. I was thankful enough for the couch that I thought nothing more than 'Oh he is just saving his own supplies.' and I understood that. It wasn't long until I found a job at the Nargodian as a chef. The job was really simple, infact there were only a few meals that required actual cooking. So, the pay was nice and the job was easy." My expression had changed from depressed to slightly interested. Going over the details of my past with Joel reminded me of how kind he was. "After I got a job... Joel fed me... He bought a second bed for me... He told me to save my money. Save it for something important." I bit my lip and shook my head from side to side slowly. "I had already known what I was saving for, there was no doubt in my mind what I was going to do with that money. But that very same day that he told me that, he introduced me to a few of his friends." The 02 interrupted once more.

"What were there names, and where did you meet them?" His eagerness to find these men made me delay the story slightly, simply because I was enjoying my self by being able to talk about Joel.

"Joel told me to let him do the talking, and he walked me over to the entrance of the Ration Distribution Center. I had no idea what I was going to be getting into at the time, but I felt comfortable with Joel at my side. The man took care of me for well over a month, and I didn't even ask for it. So, when we arrived there were two men standing outside waiting for us. Joel was silent until we were within whispering distance. It was then that he told them who I was, and turned to me and said 'On your right is Jared, and on the left is Thomas.' I just nodded and whispered hello, I was nervous actually... I didn't know why we were whispering. That's when Jared turned to Joel and said something about a plan being in place and that it was ready to go." The 02 became intrigued and pulled a chair over to sit down and listen.

"What plan?" The 02 asked, in a fairly calm voice compared to his last interruption. I looked up at him and said

"A jail break." I folded my arms and nodded. "Jared went on to tell Joel and I that another man was in a Combine uniform inside of the Nexus." The Unit began writing down everything I was saying, instead of small crimes we committed. "Jared told everyone that we were going to meet the undercover man, and the detainee outside the back entrance of the Nexus in District 6. It was that moment when I realized that this was a large plot, and not just some money scam like Joel had pulled in the CWU plenty of times to get food for me. I was hesitant, but Joel looked at me and said 'Everything will be fine, trust me.'" I paused for a moment before proceeding. "I trusted him. He was the only friend I had." I gulped, and the 02 wrote that down too. "Jared took us to District 6 after climbing over the fence. When we made it to the back door to the Nexus, Jared instructed me to keep watch down the alley to make sure no one was coming. I said 'Sure, no problem.' and walked down the alley a ways and leaned on the wall." I began to smirk a little. "It was funny though, because most of the time I had my eyes on them instead of the alley. I wanted to make sure that Joel was in a safe spot as well, he was my only source of help and care in this city. If I screwed things up now, that would have been it for me." The Unit abruptly blurted out

"Look's like you couldn't escape that fate anyway." he chuckled under his breath, and the VO-Coder made it sound like a devil laughing at his victims. That's when I spoke out.

"If you want the story you should listen." My bravery was strong, but it should not have been. The 05 in the corner raised his pistol at me and the 02 shouted

"You do as I say when I say, now tell me the story or I will make one up and claim you as the Anti-Citizen, instead of Joel." The silence was almost beautiful at this moment, it was loud enough to hear but silent enough to ignore.

"Fine. When I was leaning on the wall I started to wonder why this guy we were breaking out was so important. So, I moved from my position over to Joel, who was standing behind a wall with Jared while Thomas was waiting at the door. I crept up and as silently as possible asked 'So who is this guy anyway?'. Joel looked down at me, so did Jared, and right before Jared told me to go back to my post the door opened.

A Unit stepped out with a man in his arms, I was in shock of seeing the Unit and I crawled backwards. But Joel grabbed me and told me it was the under cover guy we talked about. I stopped crawling and Jared walked to the two of them, and the fake unit handed the man off to Jared and Thomas who both held him up. The man was severely beaten and looked just awe full. I could not even begin to explain the look of terror on his face when he looked up at us all. It was almost like he had forgotten what it was like to be outside." I raised one hand to point in a direction. "That's when the OCO unit came around the corner from down the alley way. Jared saw him first and scream 'Shit! Combine!' and without any thoughts or decisions, we all ran. I don't even remember seeing who was behind me because I saw Joel infront of me. That was all I needed. The OCO fired off a few shots, I couldnt tell you how many, I was to scared to think at the time." The 02 stepped in again

"So that was you that we heard about? The OCO bragged about a kill over the radio that day." He said.

"Yeah." I responded. "When we reached the safe house Jared tore the door open and rushed us all in. He locked the door behind us and did a head count. All I can remember about that was the tremble in his voice when he said 'Wh- Wheres Thomas...?'" I looked down. "Joel spoke up and said that he saw Thomas go down after hearing the first few shots, and that he couldn't do anything, he repeated that he was sorry for Jared multiple times. But Jared ignored him and held back tears as he tried to stay on task. He said 'Okay... Fuck... Poor Thomas... Well, where is the money? We need that to get supplies...' Thats when I found out the man we freed was actually a black market dealer by the name of Pat. I was standing next to Joel, and we were both right next to a really large container. Pat simply pointed to it, and Jared nodded at Joel and I. We broke it open and inside was a large bag filled with tokens. More than I could count. Joel picked it up and was about to hand it to Jared before the OCO Unit caught up to us and shot the door lock. He was listening to us the whole time and busted in when we got the money on purpose. Joel later told me it was because plenty of Units stole money from citizen to get more supplements. But at the time it did not matter. Joel grabbed my arm and threw us both out the window with one clean run and jump."

"The OCO told us he found an undercover citizen that day too." The 02 pointed out.

"I didn't know his name, but the guy in the Combine suit tried firing at the OCO to buy us time to escape. We don't know what happened to him." I added.

"You don't? That's odd because the OCO said he had gotten away." The Unit replied. I just shrugged.

"I didn't know him, so I didn't think much of it. But right after we got out of the window, Joel picked me up and dashed off down the alley with me in his grip and the money over his shoulder. Jared was climbing out of the window when we turned the corner and I lost sight of him. When Joel and I reached the exit of District 6, I decided to throw out the questions I had, like 'What the hell just happened?' which he responded as he was climbing over the fence 'That... That was called improvising.' I just looked at him as he helped me over the fence. When I landed on my feet back in the Plaza, Joel showed me the money he had and told me we were to keep it in his apartment until we found another safe spot. I told him it wasn't a good idea to hide it in his, and he agreed. So we purchased another apartment on the 4th floor-" The Unit was about to speak up before I said "With a permit for room mates." The 02 went back to listening. "So Joel and I lived the high life for awhile. We had our own beds, we had food, water, and we even had our own radio." I giggled slightly. "We just went to the Bartender down the street and asked 'How much for the radio?' he thought we were joking and said 'Hah, a thousand tokens.' It surprised him when Joel pulled out 1,000 tokens and set it on the counter." I was smiling now, remember the good ol' days with Joel. But then my smile faded.

The Unit noticed and asked "What's wrong?"

I said "Do you remember when I said Joel had told me to save my money?" The Unit nodded. "Well, even though we were living the high life, I secretly kept my job at the Nargodian. After a few months of living freely, our money pile started to run thin. Joel was nervous because of this and I reassured him we would find a way to survive after the pile was gone. Well, what I meant to say was that I had over 10,000 tokens in savings from working nearly everyday. I told Joel I was getting drunk at the bar, he would just sit and listen to music in our apartment so I never got caught. But... The day out pile ran out, I was going to surprise him with the money I had saved. I piled it all into one large bag, just like the one we had gotten. I was walking down the hall when I heard arguing coming from our room. I had the bag in my hands and I slowly turned the handle on our door to see Jared holding a pistol up to Joel demanding the money. I watched through the crack of the door and listened in. Jared kept shouting and asking where I was, what we did with the money, and he constantly threatened to pull the trigger." I started to hesitate for a moment.

The 02 sat in silence, interested in my story. The 05 had lowered his weapon and holstered it, now with his arms folded leaning towards us while listening.

My lips shook again and I kept going "Then I saw him shoot. I charged in immediately after this shouting 'NO!' but Jared was ready and he turned to me and pulled the trigger. I got hit in the shoulder while I was running, and I slammed to the floor." My hand held onto the bullet wound that the Helix stitched up. "I dropped the bag and held onto my shoulder. All I heard was Jared saying 'So there it is. Well then, its been a pleasure working with you two.' He raised his pistol... and he fired at Joel a few more times." I suddenly couldn't speak, so the Unit chimed in.

"Did he fire at you again?" He asked.

I shook my head, no. Then said "He left me alive. I remember. He stepped over me and said 'Have fun in a cell.' and then tossed the gun at my head. It must have hit because that's when I jolted back against the wall, still holding my arm. I..." My voice shook now. "I saw Joel sitting in the corner with his head down and his hands on the floor. his-" I gulped "His blood was, it was everywhere... All I remember is crawling to him and grabbing his shoe and tugging on it. I cried 'Joel... please... wake- wake up man...' I cried there. 'Eugh.. No!... fuck...' but that was when I lost to much blood and passed out." I wiped the tears from my eyes, just telling the story was enough to shake me up again.

The 02 finished writing when he set the paper down and looked at me, saying "I don't think it helps, but the Jared you spoke about.. His name is Jared Smeester. After he got a hold of your money he purchased many weapons and kevlar suits. He now runs the resistance faction in City 18." he told me "And what you say about the weapon found in your apartment does make sense. Jared is crafty and not to be played with. He is known to plant evidence like this on crime scenes he doesn't want to be associated with." he finished. We all sat in silence for a few moments.

"That wasn't his money..." I said. Not caring about the gun, or the death of Jareds friends, or the resistance faction. "I never got to give my gift to Joel... I never got to thank him..." I cried softly. The Unit stood up from his chair and ordered the 05 to leave the room. As the 05 left, he held the door for the 02. But the 02 stood infront of the table and watched me cry. After I was done, I looked up at the 02 with tears dripping down my cheeks. He only said five words. "I'm sorry about your friend." Then he stepped out of the room, and the 05 let the door slam shut.

I was alone.

I like this... for some odd reason. Its pretty good reminds me of this story me and Trippy are writing at the moment for something else. Considering they ARE background biography's. Anyways good job, I give this story a big ol' A+

Edit: Infact that story Trippy wrote is the biography he wrote, I wrote something similar... I might as well post mine if you don't mind.

(this is to add onto the Story I had just written. Please read the first story for this one to make sense.)

The following takes place in a large warehouse in District 6

The door slammed shut behind me. "Jared, oh thank god you guys made it out." I said, rushing inside.

"Leo?" Jared said, turning towards me. "Leo! You made it out! We haven't seen you in months! What the hell happened?" Jared asked, focusing on me. "It's been so long, we thought you died." he pointed out. I nodded, catching my breath.

"I bet.. I.. I just found something I think you will enjoy to know." I said, breathing deep from running so long. Jared looked at me with an interested look.

"First you tell me what happened that day, I understand that we got screwed over, but how did that OCO miss you?" Jared said. "We all heard shots, after those fuckers Terry and Joel got out I waited for you and Pat. What happened?" He finished.

I nodded and stood up straight, still in my CCA Uniform. "Well.. The OCO was a good shot, he put a few holes in me." I pointed to my leg where a clear hole in the suit was made. "I stitched it up with some help. But he also got me here too" I pointed to my chest where another hole was. "But the Kevlar stopped it from getting to my skin." I nodded. Jared looked at me surprised that I had been shot twice and was still kicking. "But, I ran out of ammo after forgetting that I had stolen the pistol as well. So to buy you all time I charged the OCO and tried punching him.. That was a stupid idea." I said.

Jared began to laugh a little. "Not even that suit could make you fight better, eh?" I shook my head.

"Those dudes got some kind of Augmentations, man. I went for a punch and he grabbed my fist, then he lifted me up and threw me out the door. I hit the wall outside, luckily the helmet protected my head. My instant reaction was to get the fuck outa there. Which I did, I just booked it in a random direction..." Jared squinted at me, knowing what I was about to say next. "I... I left Pat in there with him.." I looked up at Jared. "I'm sorry."

Jared shrugged it off, upset that Pat was most likely dead. "It's okay. We don't even have the money anymore. They got away with it." Jared said, turning away.

"That's just it! I found out another solution, and you are going to be happy about this one." I said, stepping closer. What I said made Jared turn back to me.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"I found the money.. And I found another BlackMarket dealer." I said. Jareds face lit up.

"Explain." He demanded.

"When I left District 6, I posed as a Combine Unit again. But my leg was hurt and I needed assistance badly. So I walked down the street and found a girl inside the CAH who could help me. I told her I was just a regular citizen who had got into some trouble. She believed me and let me into her apartment." I stopped for a second. "She was a little strange at first, I mean... She had an over large collection of Water cans.. Like... A lot..." I looked at Jared again. He just said

"Keep going. I don't care about what she does."

"Well, she sat me down and took care of my leg. It took a few months to heal up to perfect health, I mean even now I have a slight limp. But this girl... She had a fascination for weapons. Like, she repeatedly told me that she wanted to buy weapons and add them to her Can collection. So.. I suggested her helping us by becoming a Black Market dealer."

"Did she say yes?" Jared asked.

"Yeah! She thought it would be fun. But, well.." I paused and smiled. "I kinda liked the girl, I wanted to repay her for taking care of me. So I got a reservation at the Nargodian for us both. I took my suit off of course for this. But when we got in there, guess who was on the stove?" I asked Jared.

"Who?" He said.

"Terry." I said. Jared stopped and looked at me with intense eye contact.

"You're kidding." He replied.

"No. I sat down and ate dinner with my girl, when we were done I told her to go back to her room and I would come get her later. My leg felt a lot better, so I waited outside a lone. When Terry got off his shift he walked into the Apartments. Him and Joel have a room on the fourth floor. I saw them go in there." I said.

"No fucking way." Jared said.

"Yes way, I even got a witness." I pointed to the door, and it opened. The girl came walking inside in almost slow motion in my eyes. She approached Jared and shook his hand.

"Alexis Wittman, at your service." She said.

"Ah, good to meet you. I've heard a lot about you." Jared responded. "We can use her as a new BlackMarket dealer, I am sure the guys in the Outlands will take a liking to her." He nodded.

"Good." I said. "But she knows the room Joel and Terry live in. Don't you Alexis?" I said, turning to her.

"I sure do. They lived above me for months. All they do is listen to music and buy stuff. They must have a lot of money." She said.

Jared didn't hesitate for a moment. He grabbed a pistol off the table and said "Which room."

"4B" Alexis answered. Jared looked at me and said "Do you want in on this?" I shook my head no and said

"I need to take Alexis to the Outlands, get her set up with her new job. You can do it alone, Jared. They are just two guys." I added. Jared nodded and patted my shoulder.

"You did good man. A true Rebel." I felt good after that. He left the warehouse with his pistol. I don't know what happened to Terry and Joel after Jared had delt with them. But he came back with a bag full of tokens and dropped it on the floor infront of me. Then he said "Thank's Terry." And walked past me.

I finally got out of my suit and put on a new rebel uniform we purchased from Alexis. Today, the resistance was able to start its mission.