Napalm Riot

Meanwhile in City 12: 1 - Hideaway

“So why are these so-called helpless buggers hiding again?”
“Well, they’re far, far from helpless. At least, until the present. They’re small, yes, but ever since Black Mesa, we know what they can do. As for your question – I’ve been thinking about it myself. A guess was made that the offspring of all the human-headcrab hosts suffered genetic changes that rendered them useless in their grasping behaviour. Out here, they’re far too weak to withstand time and grow into their Gonarch form – and zombies had no reproductive capacity at all.”
Herald turned away from the table and stepped towards the wall.
“Can’t we just wait until they die out?”
“That would be equal to letting them grow into Gonarchs. Simply cannot be allowed!”
“Fair enough. I looked through some of the notes of the old team. Someone called Emilio had noticed packs of those things moving across the roads.”
Doctor Falling slowly nodded, “That must have been late Emilio Pole, one of the leading specialists in his field. Botany, if I recall. Poor soul. Last time I heard of him, he and the rest of my team was going out to find where exactly the headcrabs were heading,” he pointed at a tattered map which was lying on the table next to him.
After looking at proper military-use maps you could barely call this one a map at all. It was one of those shoddy tourist maps of the region, with buildings loosely scattered about the roads, with an occasional note of restaurants, hotels, shopping malls. This, and an old miner’s map of the region was all Harvey and the Professor had on themselves in their cramped hideaway off the coast of City 12. Living in one of the hideaways left from the resistance, they continued to fight against the alien infestations that remained on Earth after the destruction of the Citadel. Thought the Combine lost their old controls of the cities, there were still many confused, hungry creatures who took a free ride onto the planet and now had nowhere to go.
The creatures Harvey and the Professor were dealing with now were headcrabs. Unable to attack humans, they were left without much visible protection. Their numbers suddenly decreased to an occasional sunlight-blinded headcrab roaming in the alleys of City 12. Puzzled by their disappearance, a team of researchers was gathered and sent out to investigate, only to disappear. Professor Falling was the only survivor. He found refuge in the abandoned hideaway along with Harvey, one of the last members of the resistance who remained behind in City 12. They were determined to get to the bottom of this unusual disappearance.
“Some of my late colleagues located the approximate locations of the theoretical base of the headcrabs. The base, look here, should be located inside one of the caves on the shore line. The map’s a little outdated, but I am fairly certain it is either Cave Nova or Cave Youthful.”
“I never noticed much pack behaviour in them.”
“Yes, but they didn’t need it when they could hunt!”
“True. What do you propose, Professor?”
“There is only one reasonable thing to do, Harvey. There’s only two of us – going below would be insanity. My team disappeared there, and it was a pack of truly qualified, trained people,” Professor sighed.
“I think we need to explore the entrances of both the caves first. Maybe we’ll find some remains which could tell us anything.,” Harvey suggested.
“Yes, I think you’re right.”