Beyond BordersBeyond Borders logo.Episode 5

At the Nexus, the Metro Police Headquarters.
Conrad is in his office doing paperwork and grumbling to himself how it is all a waste of time. He thinks to himself how, ever since Darius took over, Civil Protection has been more and more about the public image. Their lie of pretending to be a legitimate police force sickens Conrad and other like-minded people. He reflects on the influx of Combine soldiers into the city and how, despite his promotion to Captain of the Guard, he can't protect his men from the Combine. As he thinks that it is all a time bomb, his assistant Tanya comes over with authorization and access codes for some new Combine officers. Conrad tells her to just put them on his desk but she apologetically insists that Administrator Darius himself requested they were done as soon as possible. Conrad sighs and tells Tanya to let him see them. He looks over the data for three new district officers handpicked by Darius, explaining that there are four districts in City 17, one of which, the Nexus district, he himself runs. He starts checking up who is now running the other three districts. The first is Lieutenant Al-Assad, an Iranian national who volunteered to Civil Protection about fifteen years ago. A well-respected transfer from City 11, who Conrad muses to himself has a surprisingly clean record as far as Combine officers go.
Conrad moves on to the second new Combine officer and his eyes widen at the name. Lieutenant Korbin. Conrad notes that he is supposed to be dead. Conrad notes that he and Korbin have bad blood between them, having worked together in City 15. Korbin is a self-proclaimed sadist who volunteered for Civil Protection for the authority to use violence. Conrad notes that, according to Korbin's file, he requested the transfer to City 17. Conrad tries to find out about the third officer but realizes he has no records, which Conrad notes is very odd. Regardless, Conrad has his orders to approve his clearance, but he doesn't like it one bit. Meanwhile, in Highway 17, Warren's rebel jeep is driving Mark, Cillina, Eric, Hannah and Aaron to New Little Odessa. Warren explains to them that they anticipated the deal with the Cave Dwellers to go south and wanted to intercept them before things got out of hand, though he adds that they didn't expect the Combine Hunters. He tells them how the Combine have been ramping up their attacks and most outposts have gone dark in the last week, which has Colonel Odessa Cubbage worried, so the Rebel Commandos have set up nearby to monitor Combine activity. Warren also points out the Cave Dwellers are growing bolder and taking advantage of the whole shit show. He adds that the Colonel is going to be pissed about losing those supplies and Cillina retorts that that's for her to worry about. In the back of the truck, everyone is silent. Hannah looks over at Aaron, who looks distraught.
Hannah tells Aaron she's sorry about his friend Jessica. Aaron replies that they didn't have to leave Jessica behind and she didn't deserve that. Eric tells him it was her or all of them and that once the Hunters showed up, the decision became pretty clear. He says that Hannah understands this. Mark suddenly notices the ocean and says that he doesn't remember it looking like this. He asks where it is and Eric tells him that that's it, a byproduct of Combine rule. Eric explains it took them a while to notice it happening and says that the Combine are destroying their world, which is why he joined with the Resistance in the first place. He concludes by saying fuck the Combine and Mark asks about the Cave Dwellers, turning to Cillina and asking what that one guy meant when he said he knew her. Warren interrupts, asking if Vernon was there and noting that it's been almost twenty years. Cillina says she knows and that she barely recognized him, but the name hit her pretty hard. She explains to Mark that Cave Dwellers are refugees who sought shelter underground from the Combine early on and formed communities, but criminals took advantage of this and staying so long underground changed people. Mark asks about what Vernon said about her family but Cillina tells him she doesn't want to talk about it. They reach the Commando's outpost and the lookout calls out a man below, Buddy, to tell him Uncle is back and has company. Buddy looks up from a Combine elite soldier's corpse he was inspecting.
Warren greets Buddy, noting it looks like they had a little trouble while he was away, but nothing they couldn't handle. Buddy replies they did good, calling Warren Uncle. Mark stares at him and Warren explains it's his nickname, as he's been around a while. He tells Cillina the Major is in the building and can let Colonel Cubbage know she's okay. A rebel woman with a sniper rifle approaches, saying she's glad to see Warren is still in one piece, and he says likewise, calling her Ellie. He asks her if everyone else is okay and she replies affirmatively, bragging that it was just two mounted patrols who thought they had the jump on them, but they were ready. Warren puts his hand on her shoulder and tells her to remain humble, because they can't afford to get ahead of themselves. Warren and the rest head inside, where an old man is sitting alone with his eyes closed. Warren notes that it would look like they were kept busy. The man looks over at him and notes Warren brought back some strays. Warren tells him he won't believe who he ended up bumping into out there. The Major recognizes Cillina and says he's surprised to see her there. He asks what happened to the Colonel's supply train and she tells him it was derailed by the Combine. The Major tells her he's glad she's all right and Odessa is going to be relieved as well, saying they will overlook losing the train because she made it back safe. The Major complains to Warren that had he known they'd have guests he would have prepared some tea, but they can't stay there much longer as they have to push to New Little Odessa in a couple of hours. He notes that the raid was well coordinated and the Combine are mobilizing for something out here.
The Major then acknowledges Mark's presence, asking who he is. Mark starts to tell him who he is but Cillina interrupts him, saying he's with the Resistance and here to help. Mark complains that he has nothing to do with the Resistance but Cillina angrily notes they need all the help they can get. Mark retorts that he didn't come all this way to enlist with the Resistance. Cillina gets angry, arguing he put on the uniform with no understanding of what it meant and that his best friend died so he could get out of the city dressed like that, but he just selfishly wants to keep running away. Mark points out this isn't his fight and he's been an inconvenience to her since the train. He notes he's trying to escape the Combine, not fight them, and turns to the Major saying he was told Odessa might be able to help him figure it out. The Major tells them both to separate for a while and blow off some steam and he doesn't want to hear any more bickering about fighting the Combine. The Major notes they all need to get to New Little Odessa first and tells everyone to go take a breather. As they leave, the Major muses to Warren that city folk are the worst when it comes to this, to which Warren says he can't blame Mark. The Major says they'll have to see what Odessa makes of all this when they get to New Little Odessa and Warren tells him he will have the rest of them start disposing of the bodies.
Later, Mark is all by himself in a nearby building. Eric comes in and says he's been looking for him. Mark sits down and tells Eric he's just been thinking about it all, especially what Cillina said. Eric sits down next to him and sighs, agreeing that she got a little passionate out there. Mark says he's just confused about her being a Cave Dweller and Eric emphasizes that she was one, not anymore, explaining she never abandoned her family, not willingly at least. He tells Mark about how they both met as teenagers when he joined the Resistance as part of a patrol checking out an outpost they had lost contact with. He relays the story of how they found the place being packed up by Cave Dwellers, tried to fight them and eventually it was just one Cave Dweller and two of them. The Cave Dweller was wounded and bleeding, so they followed his trail, only for the other rebel to get caught in an Antlion trap. When Eric finally caught up to the Cave Dweller, it turned out it was just a teenage girl. Mark realizes he's talking about Cillina and Eric explains they caught her, took her to New Little Odessa and patched her up, so she ended up just sticking around. Mark sighs and tells Eric he knows that the Resistance means everything to Cillina, also admitting things are different out there than he expected, but insists he is hoping for a boat to get away from it all and hopes the Colonel will let him work for it. Eric gets up and tells Mark if he wants to get in his boat and never look back, that's fine, he won't blame him. Eric just asks that he understand that people like himself and Cillina are not doing this for themselves, but for everyone else, because they believe in a future for all of them. It is their home, after all. Elsewhere, outside, Cillina is cooling off and looking towards the horizon. Hannah approaches her and muses that things got a little heated back there. Cillina tells her it's just frustrating to see people like Mark. Hannah notes she thinks Mark means well and seems like a genuinely good person, to which Cillina agrees, but replies she just doesn't understand what he's trying to do. She asks why anyone would be content with just letting the Combine do what they want. She concludes by saying he is a good guy, but he's naive, which Hannah echoes.
Hannah reminds Cillina of those stories she told her about how she and Eric met, noting that Cillina was like that once too and asking her not to be too hard on Mark. Cillina chuckles and says she sure gave Eric a run for his money, then adds that things will be different once they get to New Little Odessa. Suddenly, Cillina notices something over the horizon. As they approach, she recognizes them as dropships and shouts that Combine soldiers are coming. A gunship trailing off the dropships approaches and starts shooting as rebels run for cover. Inside, Eric says fuck and Mark asks him what the hell that thing is. Eric replies that it's a Combine gunship, telling Mark those are far worse than Hunter-Choppers. The Major tells his troops to get into the building and calls out if everyone is all right. Cillina says they're good, calling him Garner, and asks how the hell they're getting out with that gunship out there. Another rebel soldier tells the Major two squads of soldiers are approaching. Major Garner swears at the Combine and tells everyone to prepare to fight their way out of there, then turns to Warren and tells him to get the rocket launcher.
In another floor of the building, Eric tells Mark the Combine soldiers are setting up shop in the front, noting he expected them to come in guns blazing. Mark asks him why they're doing that and Eric theorizes they're probably waiting for the gunship to just flush them out. Mark says they should regroup with the others downstairs and Eric agrees. Below, a rebel calls out two Combine soldiers making a move on their flank. Major Garner says he seems them and shoots them dead. The gunship fires back at the building in response. Eric and Mark arrive, the former asking Cillina what they missed, to which she asks where they have been and tells them they're getting ready to get out of there once they deal with the gunship. The Major calls everyone's attention and explains their strategy, telling them they are going to make a dash to their jeeps and blast their way out of there. He declares to his Commandos that they've been through worse than this. Holding the rocket launcher, Warren tells the troops that when his rocket hits the gunship, it should scramble its sensors for a bit, giving them a brief window to make a dash to their jeeps. Someone asks about the soldiers and Major Garner retorts they're no different than any other soldier they've fought and won't be an issue. He tells Warren to get ready.
Warren peeks out from the building and fires his rocket launcher at the gunship. As the explosion hits, the rebels start running out of the building, firing back at the Combine soldiers. Cillina shouts that the gunship is making another pass and tells the men to move. The gunship starts firing, hitting some of the rebels as well as Mark, who falls to the ground. At the jeep, Cillina hesitates and tells them to wait, but the driver screams at her to get in the fucking jeep. Bleeding out on the ground, Mark loses consciousness. The Combine troops approach his body.
One of the Combine soldiers reports that a rebel is still alive. Wounded in the gut and on the ground, Aaron begs for a moment, but a Combine elite soldier just kills him. The elite tells the rest of the squad to dump the bodies and destroy the building. The soldiers grab Mark last, one of them musing that it is one less anticitizen. The other declares Mark a terminated anticitizen as his body falls to the ocean. End of episode 5.

1 thought on “Episode 5”

  1. Gosh, my tummy hurts from all this excitement.

    Some comics really benefit from the stacked layout. This is one – focus lands on the writing and the visuals of the shot, which are excellent. The zoomed in shots and high contrast say a lot about the lives of the lives the members of the resistance lead: one of harsh sunlight and gloomy shadows, living in close quarters with each other. The interwoven, in-media-res dialog in turn tell us of the reasons they are there, the cost and necessity of their choices. When taken together, they build a world with real people in it, with real opinions and believable motivations.

    One of the finer comics ever produced in Gmod. Looking forward to more!

    Reply

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *.
You can change your profile picture using Gravatar.