Chapter 1

Doug Rattman

Doug sucked in yet another pain filled rasping breath. Every movement was complete and utter agony, but he had to keep going. He stretched a shaky hand out and dragged himself one bit closer to the Medi bed. He knew he had 90.99% chance of dying of blood loss, 9% was the slim chance of survival, the other 0.1 percent meant he was already dead. The last thing he can do before deaths door closes upon him is leave a message for her; she needs to know what I've done for her. Blood smeared across the floor as Doug dragged his broken body to the base of the cold metal bed. Doug tried not to scream as he lifted his leg in front of him. A whimper escaped his lips as his shivering hands gently placed his bloodied leg on the cold tiles. Doug grabbed the radio off the side table and collapsed gasping and shivering upon his faithful companion cube. His only comfort in dying was he knew she would be with him until the end.

"You were very brave back there, you probably saved her life" Her voice whispered his ear. Doug let out a breathy laugh.

"Too bad I couldn't do the same for myself" he wiped away the blood gathering around the edges of the cube.

"At least you died trying..." The cube said affectionately.

"You always know what to say..." Doug felt the whole world had gone cold and the only warmth came from his cube. With a grunt he pulled the radio onto his lap and ran a bloody finger across it's glossy buttons.

"Doug Hopper"

A voice spoke to him from the darkness. The radio was speaking to him again. His slippery fingers found the record button and were poised to press down when movement caught his eye. My eyes must be lying to me again, reality has deserted me Doug thought as a blood covered figure stood about three meters away.

"Henry?" Doug head was spinning. Henry was standing there, a ghostly phantom his mind must have created, smiling sadly at Doug. The drugs in his system were long gone, he could feel the lucid grip of his inescapable schizophrenia begin to kick in. Unexplainable anger filled Doug as he stared at his old partner. He hit the record and began to yell madly.

"You said it was only one! One isn't much" Doug mimicked Henry's voice "Here's your choice, THERE WAS NO CHOICE!" He shouted at the ghostly figure. His finger released the button as Henry began to convulse. Strips of skin began o peel off of Henry's face, then his arms, his chest, and his legs as he began to decompose right before his very eyes. With a scream Doug watched the flakes of skin take the shape of more people. One of the men caught his eyes, the man was holding a round spherical device, the morality core. With a cry of terror Doug pressed the button.

"HELP ME UNCLE JOHNSON!" Then with a hysterical laugh he added "Help me draw the design". Doug was being engulfed, smothered even, by his memories. There he was drawing up sketches and plans for new cores, each created by the DNA and personality of real people. To himself and to the memory of Henry he spoke slightly crazily "Oh man well, we've got a couple of sure fire winners, put them in" the memory showed the core being plugged into the mother board. My mind skipped ahead to the moment we realized what she was doing.

"Guhhh they turned out like the last ones , going through lation. It's countless to explode servers" Doug was vaguely aware of Companion cube trying to calm him down but he was too far gone to hear her. He could see all the workers, the test subjects, the family's everyone being engulfed in the noxious green mist. They all began to scream and thrash, trying desperately to escape the deadly vapor Mingling between the bodies Doug imagined Death closing in on him.

"ITS STARTED AGAIN, the ships has started" A quick image of a metal boat flashed through his mind, but it was gone almost as soon as he saw it. The bodies had stopped moving, they were all dead again. Fresh grief washed over Doug. The only person left standing in the room with him was...himself. It was him when he knew what was real, the drugged version of himself. He looked at the other Doug who's eyes were scared confused.

"Whatchya done now? They'll blame you ya know" Doug realized he was crying as he told himself it was his fault they were all doomed. Suddenly the world turned red. He saw the fake version of himself stroke his right leg, under his touch blood blossomed. It ran down the floor in a flood. Doug Screamed as the waves threatened to drown him.

"Please come back, IT'S NOT REAL!" Companion cube voice cut through the nightmarish visions. With a sob he opened his eyes back to reality. The room was clear once again.

"I'm going to die aren't I? I'm going to end up just like the rest of them. What was the point of it all?"

"To save that girls life, because of you no one else can be destroyed by the computer's madness, when she comes out she'll be free" The cubes voice was all Doug had to hold on to, he thought if she stopped speaking the madness would take hold again. Maybe it was better to die mad than alone. He flicked the record button one again.

"This is all futile, everybody is dead. It's the end of-" He sniffed as more tears spilled over his cheeks. Suddenly he felt desperate to tell Chell everything. The pool of blood around him began to shiver and a face formed. It was Chell. She was even more beautiful than her files said she was. Doug was almost ashamed by his painting of her for not capturing her beauty.

"Please go to the top, touch it-" He choke on his words as he hastily spilled them out. He was lost in his memories again. All Doug could see was the moment he lost companion cube's voice.

"The voice is gone, the murderous turrets. Dodge left or right round those turrets? Oh will it download?" Chell melted back into Doug's blood, leaving him all on his own again. Black spots had begun to dance before his eyes. Doug noticed the pain was beginning to ebb away. He looked to his cube and was struck with paranoia.

"Your my long time partner, please don't go! Please don't leave me. The pain is too much!" He cried to the cube.

"It's ok, I'm not going anywhere, I'll stay with you 'till the end of time if I could" She said warmly in Doug's ear.

"I'll take a nap." He finally switched off the radio.

"I hope she finds this...I'm so tired" Doug could feel himself slipping closer to darkness.

" You've earned a rest" She said as Doug claimed over her into the bed.

"You see, I told you I would always need you" Doug gasped with pain as his injured leg hit the cold bed. His senses were numbing as he slipped closer and closer toward the painless peace of death.

"I love you" He told the cube as his eyes began to close. He thought he saw a flash of blue but he was beyond caring anymore.

"I love you to Doug" Companion cube said in barley more than a whisper. Pages spilled out the bag on his shoulder and fluttered to the floor. With one last sigh Doug Hopper succumbed to the inevitable darkness of death...