The A-Team (combination pic/short story/comic promo) - Garry's Mod

[QUOTE]Weiss kicked open the door to the safehouse and scanned the interior with his AK. He gave the all-clear, and I followed behind half-carrying Liam, who was barely conscious. There wasn’t much there. Five cots. Supplies. A generator. A workbench strewn with tools and loose scrap. A radio. A bank of computer monitors displaying round-the-clock surveillance from our CCTV’s—the “command center” as Liam liked to call it. And the remnants of the weapons shipment from White Forest—more RPGs and HEAT rounds. “We’re out of here in sixty seconds,” I said. “Take only what you need—ammo, food, first aid. Burn the rest.” Helo rotors thumped in the distance. Weiss peered out through the shack’s boarded-up windows. “Two hunter-choppers circling in from the north,” he said. “They’ll be on us any minute.” I set Liam down on my cot. The gash on his forehead was filthy and bleeding—he had bled all over me during our escape from the mines. The young radio operator murmured an apology, probably because he knew about my hemophobia. Weiss doused Liam’s “command center” with a jerry can of gasoline. He poured the last of it into a barrel and set it alight, then set about feeding sensitive documents into the flames while I grabbed my backup weapon—a stubby little AK—from the gun rack and loaded it up. The sound of sobbing caught me off-guard. I turned to Weiss, who pointed to Liam, who was holding his head in his hands and whimpering. “The bluesuits knew we were coming,” He choked out. “I—I tried to get to the tunnel... The manhacks—there were too many of them... too many to shoot. That crazy Ukrainian... he gave his life for me.” I knelt beside Liam as wept. “He knew you would have done the same for him.” “Clock’s ticking, guys,” said Weiss, tapping his wrist. Liam clenched his fists. “It should’ve been me. God damn it, it should’ve been me.” Suddenly an unearthly howl echoed in the distance. We all froze. “They’ve sent out the hunters,” breathed Weiss. I lowered my voice to a whisper: “Liam, we can talk about this later. But not here. If we stay here, we die.” I took out the pistol I had been carrying in my belt and offered it to him. It was technically his; I had borrowed it after he was wounded and my AK ran out of ammo. He shook his head. “You guys go.” “All right, Plan B.” I spun the pistol around and thumbed the safety. “Get up.” Weiss struck a match and tossed it on the floor. A ring of flames erupted where it landed. On our way out, something caught my eye: a framed photograph hanging on the wall. It was taken last year at White Forest, when the five of us first signed on for smuggling operations in the Outlands. [THUMB]http://i62.tinypic.com/16le8sm.jpg[/THUMB] Two faces stood out. One of them was dead. I had last seen him reaching for a grenade, trying to buy us some time. He almost had his thumb through the pin before a manhack severed his neck. He drowned in his own blood, and all I could do was run. Those were his last words: “Run.” The other was either dead or—unless he cooperated, which he wouldn’t—on his way to Nova Prospekt for a more thorough “interrogation.” Then he would become a science experiment. I don’t know how the bluesuits managed to take him alive; I would’ve put a bullet through my brain before they could grab me. But it wasn’t the first time today they had gotten the drop on us. The flames danced around canisters of propane and benzene; inched toward the crates of rocket- propelled grenades. I turned my back on the photograph, and walked out the door. ----- A while later the three of us stood atop a pine-covered foothill watching as a plume of smoke billowed in the distance. The hunter-choppers circled above it like vultures. Thankfully there would be nothing left for them to find. We turned south, toward the coast of the Black Sea. Toward City 17. And we ran. [THUMB]http://i61.tinypic.com/2gtnr5t.jpg[/THUMB] [/QUOTE] Hey fellas, sorry I haven't posted any content in a while! I'm not dead, just busy. I've been working steadily on the comic, and since it's behind schedule yet again I wanted to give y'alls some content in lieu of the actual comic itself. But the comic [I]is[/I] coming, see, I have this nifty poster to prove it: [THUMB]http://i59.tinypic.com/5frf9i.jpg[/THUMB] [U][B]About the Comic:[/B][/U] "A resistance smuggler with a troubled past grapples with his own morals—and mortality—amidst the brutal violence of City 17’s Uprising. Faced with impossible odds, the men and women of the resistance must reconcile honor, forgiveness, and human dignity within the fog of war...without forfeiting their own humanity in the process." [I]Kaden[/I] is an upcoming, multi-installment Garry's Mod webcomic based on the award-winning game Half-Life 2. Drawing inspiration from landmark comics like [I][URL=http://metrocop.net/apostasy/]Apostasy[/URL][/I], I began writing the script back in 2007 when PHW was around. The short story you just read is part of the first issue, which has been in production for fourteen months and will be released (hopefully) soon on Facepunch and Metrocop.net. If you enjoyed the story, please leave a comment and a rating. If you didn't enjoy it, rate and comment anyway because I appreciate your feedback! Until next time.

This. Is. Art.

The framed picture is pretty cool and the poster is amazing. The short story is good, too - it has a somewhat unique take on the Half-Life 2 universe. I'm usually more fond of stories that stick more closely to the canon, otherwise we're usually going into the deeper, darker realms of fanfic, but your take seems to have a human drama side to it that is really engaging. Overall, it sounds like it was worth the 14 months wait. Looking forward to it!

The poster's really sweet, when i click it, it redirects me to another site and won't display the full res though =/

[QUOTE=Crazy Knife;45836508]The poster's really sweet, when i click it, it redirects me to another site and won't display the full res though =/[/QUOTE] [img]http://oi59.tinypic.com/5frf9i.jpg[/img] Here ya go.

Why do I get a feeling that something of such good quality will never get finished?

[QUOTE=Crazy Knife;45836508]The poster's really sweet, when i click it, it redirects me to another site and won't display the full res though =/[/QUOTE] Sorry about that, I'm using a pretty crappy image hosting site. Anyone know of a better site with no bandwidth limit, or a one-time fee for unlimited bandwidth?

[QUOTE=mcharest;45844368]Sorry about that, I'm using a pretty crappy image hosting site. Anyone know of a better site with no bandwidth limit, or a one-time fee for unlimited bandwidth?[/QUOTE] You could try [url]www.wduwant.com[/url]. When it uploads, it throws out an [img] tag which you can copy paste easily.

[QUOTE=mcharest;45844368]Anyone know of a better site with no bandwidth limit, or a one-time fee for unlimited bandwidth?[/QUOTE] I distinctly recall telling you I'd host your stuff on Metrocop, free of charge. You just didn't ask. Go team!