Chapter One: Goodbye, My Old Friend (Escaping Aperture)
Chell had finally awoken several hours after GLaDOS had let her out of Aperture Laboratories. She could remember distinctly walking out of the elevator and turning around but she must have collapsed from the overwhelming comprehension of the past years. She could feel a cold, soothing sensation pressed up against her feet. When she turned her head to look she discovered it was her faithful Companion Cube. Feelings of joy and comfort arose in her and she sat up to give the cube a great big hug. It was all over now; Chell was finally free of that horrific facility. The problem was where was she? How far away from society was she? Chell looked around and all she could see was wheat. Even by standing up it seemed the dry grain stretched on into eternity. Chell picked up her Companion Cube and slowly began making her trek towards what she could only hope as being humanity. She had no idea which way was north or south because she had no idea what time of day it was and could not use the sun as a reference point, but any direction away from Aperture was a good sign.
The sun almost seemed to race across the sky and Chell felt like she was getting nowhere. Fortunately, the wheat field did come to an end, but now she was deep in the center of a damp forest. She wanted as much as possible to simply run out of the woods and try to avoid any possibility with encountering any animals or parasites but she knew if she ran she would run out of energy quicker and end up fainting before she could escape. Chell needed food and something to drink. She placed her Companion Cube down and sat on it to think. Chell knew she couldn't trust any of the vegetation in the forest to eat for fear of being poisoned, but she needed something to eat. At that moment she remembered GLaDOS offering her false hopes of cake.
"Cake, and grief counseling, will be available at the conclusion of the test."
Chell clenched her fist in rage. That lie haunted the back of her mind. Test after test she leapt through seemingly impossible hoops for a deranged AI and all for naught. No, she had to forget it. There were more important things to deal with. Cake wouldn't just appear out of nowhere, she had to reach for it! With a new resolve Chell looked up and her heart began pounding. Right there, as clear as day, was a pink frosted slice of yellow cake sitting perhaps twenty feet away. Her mouth was watering and her fingers began gripping the edges of her Companion Cube. It would be hers now, she thought as she took off towards the cake. In her pursuit the strangest thing happened and the cake began sliding across the ground as if running away from her. Chell refused to let that happen. With her beloved cube still in the grip of her right hand she flung it with all her strength straight at the cake. At that point her mind began think clearly again and the hallucination of moving cake vanished. Chell had actually taken out a small rabbit with her assault. The cube impaled the critter in the head and had, unfortunately, killed it. Chell dropped to her knees and picked up the bunny. Tears were streaming her cheeks out of sorrow and joy; sorrow for killing the poor beast and the denial of delicious cake once again but joy for the fact that her hallucination brought her a meal. She didn't want to actually eat the poor beast, but she had no choice now. At that point Chell began gathering tools and dry wood together to start a fire. The rest of that night she spent crying while disdainfully eating her unwanted kill and whimpering in her sleep cuddled up to her Companion Cube. Freedom was not treating her well. For a moment she was almost wishing she could go back…
Tender raindrops woke Chell the next morning. It wasn't drizzling too hard, but she didn't want to take the chance of getting wet and sick through her thin clothing. Chell and the cube had to keep moving through the forest, but stopped once in a while to open her mouth and get a small drink of water. The rain was cool, but not plentiful enough to fully quench her thirst with each mouthful. Chell had to find a town soon and get help.
It wasn't for hours until Chell found the call of civilization she was asking for. After she had escaped the forest and found a deserted highway to follow into a town. The town looked pretty petite from far away but as she got closer… It was still small. Chell didn't care, though, and she began to jog towards it excitedly. All she could imagine now was a shower, a new change of clothes, and best of all: food! When she walked in she was so giddy at seeing other people like her bustling around and being human. It was so much better than seeing robots, or turrets, or most of all GLaDOS and her redundant personality cores. One of them she did hold a sort of respect for: Wheatley. Corrupt as he turned out to be, Chell did feel a small form of empathy for him. If only she knew how sorry he felt about the whole thing.
"You know, if I was able to see her again, d'you know what I'd say? I'd say "I'm sorry." Sincerely. I'm sorry I was bossy, and monstrous, and I am genuinely sorry."
Chell shrugged off the memory of Wheatley being released into space, trying very hard to put everything about Aperture behind her. He probably still held a grudge against her for getting him in space in the first place. Chell was quickly distracted from these thoughts by a nearby diner. She meandered over to it and pressed her face up against the window. Food and people galore, what more could she need?
She walked into the diner and shuffled into one of the window booths and placed her cube in the seat across from her. An older waitress made her way over to Chell and handed her a menu. Chell stared at all of the delicious entrees, but knew she couldn't afford any of it. The waitress looked down impatiently, waiting for Chell to say what she wanted. The Aperture escapee still said nothing.
"Can I get you anything?" The waitress said with a hint of annoyance.
Chell opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. The most she could say were raspy breaths and gasps. Chell was shocked and began tapping at her throat. The waitress saw the girl act strangely and immediately made up an order for her.
"I'll just get you a glass of water and let you think," and she wandered behind the counter to fetch a drink. Chell was still trying to find out why she couldn't talk. Had it been because of all those years at Aperture she lost the ability to speak? She looked over to her friend, almost hoping it would have an answer for her, but she knew that it simply couldn't speak. When the waitress returned she set the glass down and began to examine her customer more closely. Chell was still clad in the Aperture Science test subject jumpsuit and gave the outer appearance of an escaped convict, which wasn't very far from the truth when she thought about it.
"Not from around here, I guess, are you?" To which Chell nodded witlessly, "Where are you from?"
As much as Chell did not want to look like an idiot, all she could do was point at the Aperture logo above her right breast on her jumpsuit. The waitress had to squint her eyes a little to read the name, and even then her puzzled look gave a hint that she had no idea what was going on.
"Aperture Laboratories? So, what are you, some kind of scientist?" And the lady began to chuckle at Chell. Angry at the woman making fun of her, Chell drained the water, grabbed the Companion Cube, and stormed out of the diner without a glance back.
The rest of the city began to stare at her freakishly as well. Chell tried as hard as she could to not attract any attention but the bright orange just wasn't helping. In order to avoid majority of the populace she ducked into the closest building that had an open door. The place of choice happened to be the family owned bed and breakfast. Chell almost backed into the counter if it weren't for the kind receptionist stopping her with a greeting.
"Can I help you miss?" Chell turned around to the first kind face since she got here. She placed the cube down and tapped her extended throat to the woman, indicating her muteness.
"Oh, you poor thing, you can't speak? Is there anything we can do for you, you look famished! Mom, dad!" She disappeared into the room behind the counter and returned with her assumed parents, "Guys, this young woman looks like she's been through a lot, can we please help her out?"
The receptionist's parents looked over Chell to see if she held any threat. Chell stood there, hoping she would pass the visual test, and discreetly patted her companion for comfort.
"Alright, Caroline, go get her settled into an empty room upstairs," her mother spoke after exchanging glances with her husband over the decision. The receptionist delightfully picked up Chell's friend and grabbed her by the arm. She then quickly whisked her up the stairs and opened up one of the rooms in the farthest corner of the building. The girl dropped the cube on the bed and turned back to Chell with a bright smile.
"Here you go, ma'am, you'll be right next to my room so you can knock if you have any troubles tonight," the receptionist also left a notepad and a pen on the bedside table, "hopefully you know how to write, maybe this way you can communicate with me! I'm Caroline, in case you were wondering, what's your name?"
Chell knew that Caroline was eager for her to write an answer down. She picked up the pen and paper and tried her hardest to muster the ability to write. Her right hand was jittering and the letters looked like a Richter scale had written them but a distinct "C" was visible on the pad. Chell tried just as hard again to make out an "h", but the skill just wasn't coming to her. She then gave up and tried drawing something to indicate her name. Her goal was the shell of a clam, but it looked like a scribbly cloud. Chell gave up and threw the pen on the bed. Caroline gently took the pad from her and tried to interpret it.
"C… Um… What's that?" She was pointing at the disfigured "h", "And what's this?" Caroline looked at the shell, "You poor soul. It must have been hard to have been out there all this time. You've even forgotten how to write, as if you've been isolated all this time. It's like you withdrew into a shell for years.."
Chell began jumping and pointing at Caroline, trying to exclaim that she guessed her name. Caroline only giggled and thought that she was just excited to have found friends again and left her alone in the room to wash up and get ready for dinner. Chell sighed and sat back on her bed, letting the atmosphere soak in before she would get up and bathe for the first time in years.
When Chell came down to join Caroline's family for dinner she had left her Aperture jumpsuit in the laundry and now wore the dark orange blouse and blue jeans her new friend had graciously given her to change in to. Caroline's parents were now happy that Chell had come to join them, as their daughter was never good at making friends. This puzzled Chell: how could someone so kind not have many friends? What her family spoke of after that, however, surprised Chell even more.
"You're actually the first healthy outsider we've seen in a while," Caroline's father told Chell, "you probably haven't noticed, but there aren't many guests checked in."
Chell would have questioned why if she could, but her vacant expression wasn't enough to convince them she had no idea what was going on.
"It just hasn't been the same since Black Mesa ruined everything," Caroline's mother looked down at her plate as if trying not to think about it. Chell was still confused, but one phrase did stand out. Black Mesa. It was the competing laboratory with Aperture for the longest time. GLaDOS used to mock Chell with it, joking that Black Mesa could help her. Was it true, though? Could Black Mesa actually help?
"Mom, please stop thinking about Black Mesa. Remember what the radio said? There's a free man coming to save us all. The Combine wants us to execute him on sight, but the whole town knows he's our last shot at salvation. If he ever ends up here we have to help him in any way we can. I believe in the free man, and you should too," Caroline calmed her mother down and the rest of the dinner was finished in silence. Chell and Caroline walked up to their rooms together after the meal. Caroline stopped Chell before she could open the door.
"Goodnight, mystery girl," she hugged Chell, "even though you're silent, I have this good feeling about you. I hope we can be friends for a long time."
Chell was moved by this proclamation and hugged Caroline back. The same warm feeling that always overcame her when she embraced the Companion Cube emitted from this girl and gave Chell a sense of love and belonging. The girls retired to their respective rooms and Chell tucked herself tightly under her covers, leaving her Companion Cube to protect the door with its friendship and sturdiness.
In the middle of the night Chell awoke with several loud thumps and a piercing scream. She bolted out of bed and reached for the pen on the table. Gunshots could be heard faintly from beyond her window. She looked out to see some of the townsfolk firing off at something in the dark. What was going on? Chell moved her cube off to the side and slowly opened the door. There was nothing but silence, which sent a chill up the girl's spine. Chell edged her way along the walls, pen in hand, and opened each unlocked door precariously. Most of them were empty, but she was still making sure. While Chell was searching she realized how familiar that scream sounded. It was Caroline. Chell ran back to Caroline's room and tried to open the door but it was locked from the inside. She tried kicking at it, but her feet weren't strong enough to take down the door. Looking closer, Chell noticed that Caroline's room could be unlocked from the outside. If she could find the key to her room, perhaps a master key to the hotel, she could check to see of Caroline was okay. Chell gathered her courage for her friend's sake and went downstairs to look for the key behind the reception counter.
The bottom floor of the bed and breakfast was also eerily silent. Chell circled her way around to the back of the counter and began rifling through its shelves to find any sort of key. In her rifling she heard a shoe thunk on the wood floor. Chell peered over the counter and saw nothing. The thunk got closer, causing her heart to skip her throat and climb right into her mouth. She slowly looked over her shoulder, even though every muscle in her body refused to, and saw where the thunk had come from. It was Caroline's dad; no, it was a monster. The creature had the body of Caroline's father, but the head was missing. In its place was what looked like a featherless chicken with crab-like legs. Chell wanted to scream, but her lack of vocals caused her to let out a raspy squeak. It came closer and closer, now wailing some sort of battle cry, or perhaps was it one of pain? As it came within range of clawing at her with its blood stained hands, Chell's survival instincts kicked in and she drove the pen into its head. The monster shrieked and shriveled to the ground agonizing every second until death swept it away. When it had finally perished the monster revealed itself for what it truly was. The chicken head fell off its victim, revealing the corpse of Caroline's father. Once again, Chell tried to express her fear and disgust, but even if she could say something, there was no sound loud enough to satisfy her. All she could do was say a silent form of prayer for him and shut his bloodied eyes. While performing this small ceremony, Chell noticed the ring of keys he was holding on to. Although she hated to steal from the dead, she plucked the keys from his belt and retreated upstairs to save Caroline.
Before she could make it up to the second floor, Caroline's mother stopped her a few steps down from the top.
"Oh, it's you. Thank god you're alright," she kissed Chell's forehead and patted her hair down, "I thought you might have been attacked by the head crabs, they suddenly swarmed the area! I tried getting into Caroline's room to see if she was okay, but she locked the door, that foolish girl! By the way, while you were down stairs, did you see if my husband was okay?"
Chell turned away from her, wishing she didn't see him at all. His mangled body was still freshly etched in her mind. Caroline's mom took the hint and began to cry. Chell tried to offer her sympathy, but before she could, another one of those ferocious parasites attempted to latch onto the weeping woman. Now weaponless, Chell tried her hardest to pull the thing off but its grip was too tight on the face for her. Caroline's mom was crying and screaming out of pure misery, leaving Chell's last option to simply punch the head crab while still attached. The head crab's victim was still clawing at the creature to tear it off, and as bad as she felt for harming another innocent person, Chell continued to swing away at her. After they were already backed up into a corner Chell took that moment to grab a vase that was decorating the hallway and slammed it down in the head crab, causing it to shatter. Caroline's mother fell back into the corner of the room and slid along the wall to the ground. The head crab detached from her face and fell limp at her side. Chell tried lightly shaking the woman to see if she was okay. She actually still had an ounce of strength left. With that last bit of life she left Chell a message.
"Please protect Caroline for us… Until the free man gets here," and she handed Chell the revolver in her robe's pocket that she was too afraid to use on herself. Chell also closed her eyes and let her rest peacefully on the plush carpet.
There was no more time to lose. Chell found the master key to open Caroline's room and flung the door open wide. Her gun was now at the ready in case any head crabs tried to jump for her. She dropped her stance, though, when she saw the sight inside of Caroline's room. There was a streak of claw marks, blood, and some bits of hair making a trail to the open window. She was too late to save Caroline, just like everyone else. Chell leapt over the bed and looked out the window. Caroline was still there! She was lying limply on the convenient roof that her window leads to. Chell grabbed Caroline by her pajamas and pulled her back into the building. She was badly hurt, but it seemed like she had fought off the swarm of head crabs with another revolver kept under her pillow. Chell wrapped Caroline's head up with a torn out piece of her bedsheet. Caroline finally came to and opened her shining green eyes to see her closest friend.
"It's you," she spoke very quietly and winced a little from the pain, "I'm so glad you're here, but you need to get out of here now. It's too bad I never got to know your name."
Chell shook her head, refusing to let Caroline die. Caroline merely laughed and emptied the last two bullets from her revolver to give Chell more ammunition. Chell began shedding tears again and placed the bullets in her pocket.
"Please don't cry over me. I hate to see loved ones cry. Even though I've only known you for such a short time I can't help but think of you as my best friend. Perhaps it's because you could never say otherwise."
Chell covered Caroline's mouth and attempted to carry her piggyback style out of town to get help. She made it out of the hotel, but she had to put Caroline down to fend off head crabs and more possessed people. Caroline's condition was worsening, and Chell couldn't move any faster. Lucky for her, there was a running truck sitting in park nearby. When Chell got closer to see why it was still on she found the driver maimed in the front seat. She had to swallow her fear for Caroline's sake and get in. Caroline was hanging on for dear life in the passenger's seat as Chell put the truck into drive and floored the vehicle through town. Neither of them took a glance back at the town. That was unfortunate for Chell, since back in her room the Companion Cube sat still performing its duty off to the side of the door.
"The Enrichment Center is required to remind you that the Weighted Companion Cube cannot talk. In the event that it does talk the Enrichment Center asks you to ignore its advice."
At that moment, however, and it may have been just the screeches of the head crabs, but it almost sounded like the Companion Cube was whimpering.