Shepard wakes up in a Black Mesa infirmary having been saved by one of the facility's scientists, but it turned out that he was the only one who survived from his Osprey that crash landed. Unlike other HECU squads, Shepard's team went down before they could be briefed on their mission, meaning that Shepard and his squadmates don't actually know that they were sent there to clean up the mess, including killing off the employees. As a result, Shepard has no beef with the scientists, and is just trying to survive like everyone else. The scientist informs Shepard of a radio he could use to call for help at the crash site, and sends the corporal on his way. He picks up a spare Powered Combat Vest before leaving the infirmary, and then begins making his way towards the crash site.
Making his first trek through Black Mesa, Shepard fights his first encounters with the Xen aliens, and eventually reaches his Osprey's crash site. The Osprey had crashed through an electric fence, which Shepard shuts off the power generator to turn off the electricity in order to reach the radio. Upon making radio contact, the soldier on the other side is glad to hear of Shepard's survival, which he informs the corporal that the HECU have begun pulling out of Black Mesa. Shepard then returns to trekking through Black Mesa again in order to reach the extraction point. At one point, it looks like Shepard gets himself trapped within a room filling up with hazardous waste, but the G-man, who appears to have taken an interest in Shepard, opens a door for the corporal to escape. Shepard eventually comes across a damaged tram that sends him off to another area of the facility.
This Chapter contains examples of:
- Call-Back: Shepard fights through two sections that were seen in "Black Mesa Inbound" when Gordon was on a tram heading to work. The first location was the area where Gordon's tram stops to watch a supply truck drive by, and the second location was the area where a robot goes into hazardous waste that had spilled out into the room.
- Too Dumb to Live: A security guard Shephard meets tries to open a steel gate, which is currently electrified thanks to a broken generator behind him. Unsurprisingly, the guard is shocked to death, forcing Shephard to shut down the generator himself.
