Blake grew up in Shrewsbury, a peaceful town in England, Where the famous discoverer of evolution was born, Charles Darwin. It was a nice town, with a good park and a nice community and generally low crime. Blake was a pre-war pilot for British Airways, flying a 767. He was in the air over the US, at 30,000ft, not knowing that the Seven Hour War had begun, since he was in flight, with no new news. It was just another routine flight, ferrying passengers to and fro between countries, and in a lot of cases, continents. He loved his job so much. Until he saw the Portal Storms after the Resonance Cascade, with the alien ships whizzing out from the eerie blue glow in the middle. He announced what he saw by voice outside the cabin to the passengers, as his electrics had quickly faltered and failed after the Portal Clouds first appeared out of the kind light blue sky . The cause was unknown, but the crew at the time suspected they had maybe been hit by one of the “alien” ships or another reason for a complete engine and electrics faliure, as they heard a loud thud and vibration from engine 1 (left) and also black smoke pouring from the engine. He prepared to land the plane at Washington Int. Airport, until engine 2 (right) also failed meaning he could not fully fly it anymore, and it was more like a hundred or so tons of metal glider soaring through the sky, dangerously. He managed to bring the plane to crash-land in Washington though with all of his passengers somehow alive, thankfully. Then a passenger who was working for a decontamination company happened to have a gieger counter in his bag. He checked for radiation, and there was none in the immediate area. With his help, they found a warehouse that was out of the radiation zone. A year later, the combine invaded when he was happily watching television in his apartment. It was a literal s***storm. Army APC's, Attack Helicopters, the whole arsenal. After seven hours, the fighting died down. He was hiding in his cupboard by then, peekig out every few minutes to have a look. The Combine forces had won. He was happy and unhappy, Since maybe they could del with the creatures from Xen that were constantly throeing themselves against the City's wall. But he was also unhappy, because everything he had known had disappered in a simple seven hours! Not even a full day! Even though, he wanted to honour a group of Combine soldiers for helping them when he first encountered some Antlions after they broke through the city's defenses after it was weakened by the explosions and general fighting. The other crew members sadly got transferred into City Eighteen, but he manages to write to them sometimes every two to three weeks. He has never got into trouble with the Combine, as he wants to stay as anonymous and blend in as much as possible, to avoid being singled out for a crime he did not commit.
