Doctor Hill hurried up the stairs to the Johnson farmhouse, muttering under his breath, irritated at getting called out at two in the afternoon. He was the small town's only doctor, and when something happened he always had to be there, but seriously, who gets hurt at two in the afternoon? Just when he was getting into that book-
"I swear to God, Bill," He said as he crossed the threshold, "If you got your hand caught in something again-"
Hill looked up to see the Johnson family, entirely healthy and whole, clustered around a young woman he had never seen before. She looked young, late twenties maybe, but thin and sickly looking, with skin that had obviously not been in the sun for a while. Her neck and shoulders looked burned, while the rest of her was an unhealthy pale tone. She was wearing a t-shirt with a smudged, faded logo (Aperture something), and some ridiculous-looking orange jumpsuit bunched up at the waist. He noticed some grey, charred boxy thing was sitting in the corner.
Doctor Hill ran up to his new patient, checking her pulse and breathing, as he asked Bill where he'd found her.
"Just wandering around in the wheat field. She was just walking around zig-zag with that box thing over there- Don't touch it."
Hill paused, his arm half- extended to wipe some grime off a pink, seemingly heart-shaped symbol on the side. "Why?"
"She doesn't like it."
Hill retracted the arm, an eyebrow arched. "Walter, go get me a cup of water." He said eventually, looking his new charge up and down. Definitely dehydrated… He thought.
"Miss?" He said, shaking her shoulder a little as Walter came back with the water. "Miss? Hello? Do you hear me?"
She exhaled a little and opened her eyes a little, squinting in the light. She opened her mouth to say something, but her voice came out cracked and inhuman.
"You want some water?' Walter asked, extending the glass towards her. It was snatched out of his hand in a split second. They all stared in shock as she greedily drunk down the first unfiltered, chlorine free, illness-bearing water she'd had in months. They hadn't even seen her move.
Eventually she finished her water, set down the glass next to the easy chair they had settled her into, and sighed with relief. After clearing her throat a few times, she turned to the doctor with a satisfied smile. "Thank you. I haven't really spoken for a while."
Doctor Hill returned the smile, then pushed on to figure out who she was. "What's your name, miss…?"
"Chell."
The Johnsons and doctor Hill exchanged puzzled looks. "That's a… strange name." Walter began.
The woman's eyebrows furrowed. There was a stubborn, irritated look in her eye, a look that had taken enough crap from people who weren't really people, and wasn't going to start taking it from real ones. "What's your name?"
"Uh… Walt."
"Walt… Walt… Waaaaalt… Wuh-all-tuh… Waaaaaaaaaaaaa-"
"Okay, I get it. It's just, with you dressed like that-"
"So now it's about my clothes, is it?"
"We just thought you might, you know, be with them." Bill said, jerking a thumb skyward.
"Them?"
"… The Combine." Bill said, a little flustered.
"The who?"
Everyone just stared mutely at her. Mrs. Johnson eventually felt her forehead. "Poor thing's got a fever." She said, "Probably doesn't know which way is up."
Chell frowned. "What year is this?"
There was another lengthy pause. "2107." Walt said.
She blinked, then leaned back in the chair, massaging her temples. "God damn it GLaDOS…" She muttered, eyes closed.
"…Who's Gladys?" Mrs. Johnson asked.
Chell just sighed, and started rocking her chair back in forth. In exasperation, Hill walked over to the box thing for another lead. "You know, the style seems familiar," He said, bending down to pick it up, "I could probably take it down to the Antiques shop on Freeman Street and see if they-"
He was interrupted by five piercing points of pain erupting in his left arm, stunning him enough to drop the box on the floor. Chell had gotten out of her chair and grabbed him with vicious strength in a split second.
"Don't touch my Weighted Companion Cube." She said, her voice full of quiet menace. "EVER."
Hill backed away from her hurriedly as she pulled the box towards her chair, laying a protective hand over it. There was an awkward silence in the room as Chell breathed slowly and steadily, calming down.
"I'm sorry", She said, picking up the Weighted Companion Cube and placing it protectively in her lap, "I… I haven't been around people in a while…"
Mrs. Johnson was suddenly filled with maternal compassion for the poor woman. "It's alright, dear," She said soothingly, patting Chell's arm while avoiding the box, "Is there anything we can get for you?"
Chell was silent for a long time. "You now what I could really go for?" She finally said. "Cake."
Sorry if the Half-Life references weren't entirely accurate. I set this so Chell came out some time after the Combine was driven off of Earth. I've never played the game (or Portal 2; My computer sucks), so I was in the dark on the dates.
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