There had been a point during her imprisonment in Aperture that Chell reflected on the difference between being paranoid and being cautious. Was it paranoid to consider the fact that any door could be hiding a platoon of turrets? Was it cautious that she made sure there was nothing nasty lurking behind the emancipation grills before she entered them? She hadn't been able to make a distinction between the two. At the time it had bothered her.
Now, though, all she could think about was whether or not there was something following her, and what the proper course of action would be in that situation.
She was walking quickly, and still she was quite sure she could hear it. A crackling of wheat stalks being snapped, mowed down by something moving faster than her. Adrenaline was pumping through her veins, and she clenched her fists. She had learned that it was unwise to hesitate. Taking time to stock the situation was a good thing, but she had already determined that there was danger and it was coming fast.
She took off through the wheat and the crackling behind her seemed to increase in speed. A wave of betrayal shot through her and she nearly doubled over, but instinct kept her moving at a fast pace. Is this GLaDOS' toy? she thought, gritting her teeth. Does GLaDOS want me back after all? Or does she want an absolute assurance that I'm dead?
The wheat parted as she bulled through it and she realized that she had made it to a gap between fields, the border made distinct by a river running between them. Without hesitation she plunged into the water. It came up to her waist and she jerked up her back, trying to keep the Cube from touching it. She had no idea how the Cube worked, but getting it wet might kill it.
The thought made a grin of triumph spread across her face. If the thing following her was GLaDOS' creature, water would destroy it. The river was much too wide to simply jump across, and deep enough to prove a problem to even the most industrious of robots.
With a gasp, she flung herself on the opposite bank and whipped her head around. To her surprise, there was nothing on the opposite bank but serenely waving fronds of wheat. As she watched, the wheat jerked sporadically, suggesting a presence. She caught a glimpse of a surprisingly human figure, and took a step back. If that's a human, I'm not safe. The figure did not come closer, and with a flash of what seemed to be a colorless eye, it sank back into the anonymity of the stalks.
So she was safe, then. She took a step away from the river anyway, preparing for a surprise attack. When nothing was forthcoming, she released a breath she hadn't known she was holding and padded into the new field, listening carefully for any sign of pursuit. If that was the only thing following her, it would probably take several hours for it to find a way to ford the river safely. By that time, Chell would be long gone.
Had it been a human? She didn't think someone so bent on pursuit would give up at the sight of a little water. So it was a robot? Chell had never heard of a human-robot before. Then again, she hadn't really seen it. It might have been designed to resemble a human from far away.
It didn't really matter what it was. The worrisome question was its motivations. Why was it hunting her down? Was it a simple case of mistaken identity? Doubtful. This place seemed deserted; Chell had begun to fear that she was the only human being for miles. It was definitely looking for her, then. Why?
Several ideas flitted into her head, all of them involving a crazed AI with a thirst for blood. Was GLaDOS rethinking her decision of letting Chell go? It was very possible that the computer wanted to know for a fact that Chell would never come back. Still, GLaDOS hadn't killed her in the lift; it would have been relatively simple and more effective than sending a water-fearing robot after her. Why would GLaDOS change her decision?
Maybe GLaDOS wanted her back as a test subject. But the computer had two perfectly viable sources of information at her disposal now; Chell really wasn't necessary.
A third option flickered into her mind, and it made her stop dead. Maybe… just maybe… GLaDOS wanted her back because she genuinely liked her? The thought made her huff, and not only because it was stupid. If that were the case, why would GLaDOS have let her go in the first place? If that were the case, why would GLaDOS have tried to kill her so many times?
No, GLaDOS obviously hated her and wanted her dead, or at the very least out of the way. The thought made a lump in her throat which she swallowed painfully. She had literally no friends. It wouldn't be so bad, but the one friend she'd really liked had ended up trying to murder her. He had shattered any sense of trust she'd ever possessed. Chell could never look at someone and just assume that they were trustworthy, not anymore. Everyone was a potential enemy, and she would find it difficult to treat them as anything else.
Betrayed, betrayed, betrayed. Every "friend" she'd ever had ended up betraying her. It was disheartening. What bothered her the most was how upset she was getting. What had she expected, honestly? This was GLaDOS, not the Hugs Machine. Why had she decided that GLaDOS was going to leave her alone?
Why, for a moment there, had she thought that GLaDOS really was her friend?
It had taken her several hours and three more river crossings, but at last Chell had left the last of the wheat fields behind her.
For a moment, she wanted to slip back into the wheat. The stalks that had irritated her seemed much safer than what she was seeing now. The bright color of the sky had tricked her into believing there was no grime in this outside world, no dirt or muck. This little town had vastly revised her hypothesis.
None of the houses seemed new. In fact, most of them seemed ancient, with peeling paint and dirt splayed all over the cracked windows. All over there were huge bladed machines with bodies of black chrome. She would assume that the machines were farming equipment, but she'd been underground for so long that she really had no idea. Tentatively, she took a step forward, and an explosion of sound shattered the silence. She moved back hastily as a black and brown figure hurtled towards her. She recognized the sound it was making as furious barking. Dog. She hadn't seen a living animal in a long time, if you didn't count the birds that had made short work of GLaDOS. (She didn't.)
The dog had reached her. It had a skinny tail that was waving madly. Fluidly, it jumped onto its hind legs, pressing its front paws into her stomach. It had a fat pink tongue that was out, licking at her outstretched hand.
Slowly, she moved her hand to the dog's head. It barked again and flopped to the ground, rolling onto its back and presenting her its belly. She kneeled down beside it and gave it a rub. Wriggling, it demanded more and she found herself petting the dog with a repetitive motion of her hand. It was warm underneath her fingers and she felt strangely at peace with the animal.
"Hey! What do you think yer doin' with my Reggie?"
Her head jerked up, her hand pausing in its endless circle. A stout woman with her hand on her hips stood behind Chell, her face red with disapproval. Her beady eyes narrowed as she took in the young woman, and widened abruptly. "Hey!" she exclaimed. "You ain't from around here!"
Chell shook her head, legs poised to run. If this woman wanted trouble she was going to get out before it started. To her surprise, the woman rolled her eyes.
"Well thank the good Lord fer that," she said. "Everybody round here's a buncha dirty thieves. Trying ta steal my Reggie at all hours of the morning."
Chell grimaced, and pointed at her tongue. She flapped her jaw and drew a finger over her throat, hoping the exclamation would suffice.
The woman cocked her head. "Whatcha saying, ya can't talk? Mute?" Chell nodded quickly and the woman clapped a hand to her mouth.
"Well isn't that a shame!" she said, bustling forward and grabbing Chell by the arm. "Come on home with me; we'll get ya out of those dirty clothes quick enough!"
Chell felt herself being dragged to her feet. Instinct told her to rip her arm out of the woman's grasp, but that might be an unforgiveable faux pas and she didn't think it was necessary to risk it. This fat woman couldn't really harm her, and would be easy to run away from.
"My name's Janis," the woman told her, still dragging Chell past the chrome machines and towards one of the larger (still decrepit) houses. "What's yer—oh, right, ya can't say." She gave a high pitched giggle. "Sorry 'bout that, I ain't used ta having mutes over fer dinner. Haw haw!" Chell smiled uncomfortably.
This was the first human being she had seen in a long, long time. The experience was supposed to be novel for her, exciting and strange and wonderful. The only thing she could feel right now was suspicion, and a slight sense of annoyance towards the woman who was currently wrenching her arm out of its socket.
"This here's the homestead!" Janis exclaimed, halting in front of a flaking red door. She looked as though she was going to knock on the door, and then her face went rigid. "Land sakes, what's that?" Her finger was pointing at the Companion Cube, still strapped to Chell's back.
Chell shrugged painfully and pointed at her mouth again. Janis nodded, but she looked unsatisfied. She really wants to know, Chell thought, and felt a surge of protectiveness for her Cube. It'll be fine; I won't let anyone take it, or get too close, Chell reminded herself. I failed the Cube once, and I'm not going to do it again.
Janis rapped the door with her knuckles. "Bert! Get out here! We're having a guest over for supper!" For a moment, there was silence, and then shifting could be heard from inside the house.
"What're ya talking about?" a voice roared. "We ain't had a guest over in twenty years, ya old bat!"
"Get out here and open yer eyes, old man!" Janis called, her voice at an equal volume. "It's a girl ain't from around here!"
"Ain't from around here?" The voice sounded closer to the door, and then it was banged open. In the doorway stood a man around Janis' age, with a huge moustache and piggy eyes surrounded by the red skin of a man in bad health. He looked at her and grimaced. "Who're you?"
"She's mute, Bert," Janis exclaimed, her voice making it sound as though it was obvious. "And just look at her wet clothes!" Her finger poked at Chell's chest. Bert glanced at her for a moment, and then nodded.
"Fine. She can stay for supper. I don't suppose you've got a place to sleep?" This question was directed at Chell, who shook her head. Bert rolled his eyes. "Fine," he exclaimed again. "You can sleep on the couch."
He moved away from the doorway and Janis grabbed Chell's shoulder, pulling her into the house. Chell's eyes adjusted to the dim light inside and she took in a messy sitting room, complete with a couch that seemed covered in a thick layer of dirt. She swallowed. Perhaps taking her chances with the carpet would be a better option. Something scuttled past her foot and she bit her lip. Maybe she'd just stick with the couch.
The dining room and kitchen were combined into one, and piled high with dirty dishes. The smell of rot was overpowering, and a platoon of flies bounced against the glass, trying in vain to escape into the light outside. "Come on," Janis said. "Bert will stay here. He's got a phone call to make, to his mom. Right, Bert?"
Bert looked at her for a moment. "Yeah," he said slowly. "Ya don't have ta go shouting it to the whole world."
"Just making sure ya remember!" Janis said. "I'm gonna take this young lady to the back room, get her out of these wet clothes and get that thing off her back." Chell felt a moment of panic, but it quelled quickly. Janis wasn't going to take the Cube; she was only going to remove it from Chell's immediate person. Chell's back hurt anyway.
Janis led Chell up a set of rickety stairs and into a small room. Copies of paintings hung on the wall, and the room seemed neater than the others. "This was my daughter's room, bless her soul," Janis said wistfully, pushing Chell onto the clean white bed. "She went off to make her fortune, haven't seen her since. I don't know what Bert was saying earlier, you can have this room fer the time being." She smiled broadly.
Chell grinned back tentatively. The feeling of her facial muscles stretching was almost painful. Had she ever smiled during her stay at Aperture? Sure, there must have been a time. Maybe during the time that she was with him… And then her smile evaporated and her muscles went tense. Even thinking about him hurt. He'd thoroughly ruined her.
Janis didn't seem to notice the sudden change in mood. She had moved to Chell's back and was busily untying the jumpsuit keeping the Cube in place. "Now, I know ya can't tell me what this fancy machinery is for," she said, "but I'm mighty curious. Lookit you, with all these nasty marks!" She prodded at the indentations the Cube had made on Chell's back. The areas were tender and Chell bit her lip to avoid making a protesting sound. "Wonder what's so important 'bout that square thing," Janis said.
The Cube was now sitting on the bed. Chell turned around and put her hand directly over one of the hearts on its side. Although the Cube was not humming, she could feel slight vibrations underneath her palm. Don't worry, she wanted to tell it. I'll take care of you, I promise. The Cube she knew was her friend, someone she could really trust. The fact that it couldn't stab her in the back really did help, after all.
Chell looked back at Janis. The woman had watched the interaction with her jaw hanging open. Squaring her shoulders, Chell pointed at the Cube and then at a corner of the room, next to a bureau. It should be safe there for a few hours.
"Ya want to move it over there? Well sure, if that's whatcha want." Janis extended her arms towards the Cube and Chell felt the protectiveness again. Shaking her head, she wrapped her own arms around the Cube. Lifting it was a challenge, and she felt her knees buckle. Abruptly there was flesh against her own; Janis had wrapped her arms around Chell's waist. With Janis holding her tightly, Chell managed to stagger towards the designated corner. The Cube slipped from her grasp and thudded to the floor, slotting neatly into its new position. Anxiously, Chell tapped it to feel for injury, and was relieved when the vibrations came flooding into her skin. It was alright.
Giving the Cube a reassuring pat, she got to her feet. Janis still looked mystified, but the woman could get no answers from Chell. After a moment, Janis broke free of her reverie and clapped her hands together. "Okay," she said. "We need to get ya some nice new clothes!" She moved towards the closet set in the wall. "I'm sure Teresa left some of her things when she left… mebbe some of them'll fit ya!"
Chell picked at her tank top. She had a sort of attachment to it, seeing as she'd been wearing it for a while. Besides, it was the only thing she had left of the facility, that and the Companion Cube and her long fall boots. She'd assumed that she'd want to forget all about Aperture, but now that she was here on the surface she found that she didn't want to. Her adventures belowground had stolen a spot in her heart and in her mind, and it wouldn't do to forget them.
"Lookee here!" Janis crowed. "This dress looks like it was made fer ya! C'mon over and try it on!" Chell raised an eyebrow at the monstrosity of fabric that Janis was waving in the air. The yellow color resembled pus or vomit, and it was clear that the starch on the dress would be torturous against her skin. But it would be rude to refuse the woman's generosity. Chell didn't care about rudeness, but she had no reason to anger Janis and she was going to try and avoid doing so. She hadn't had any food all day and her stomach was beginning to pinch. If she was going to take off the dress, it would be after she had a good meal in her.
Janis tossed the fabric at her, and she caught it deftly. "I'll leave ya ta change," Janis said. "Gimme yer wet clothes and I'll put 'em on the line for ya." Chell had no idea what "the line" was, but Janis had already left and she wasn't sure how to translate that question into hand motions anyway.
She stripped off the bottom half of her jumpsuit, and her tank top. Leaving them on the bed, she held the dress before her and tried to make sense of the cut. It would have a very high neck, that much was obvious. It was almost certainly going to be unflattering. Chell couldn't care less about her appearance. What bothered her was the dress' stiffness and general lack of give. If she ended up having to run, the dress was going to make things difficult for her.
Slipping into the dress was a bit of a challenge, but Chell was a master of challenges and this was not something that would trip her up. The dress caught at her throat and the cuffs of the short sleeves were tight enough to prevent circulation. Rubbing her arms vigorously, she glanced at the hem and was startled to find that it barely came up to her knees. "Teresa" must have been a very small woman, or a very promiscuous one.
She was not going to take off her long fall boots. Janis hadn't offered her any alternative footwear, and the boots were too useful to leave behind. They'd saved her life on several occasions, and she was too used to jumping from great heights to stop doing it now.
Leaving her clothes behind on the bed, she exited the room and moved towards the rickety stairs. She took one step and was surprised that the stairs didn't squeal as they had when she ascended them. Her long fall boots worked wonders in nullifying the irritating sound.
She was halfway down the stairs when she heard the rasp of whispered voices. She was too used to GLaDOS and her tricks to ignore this. Flattening herself against the wall, she cocked her head and closed her eyes. "… upstairs getting changed," Janis was saying.
"Good," Bert exclaimed. "We've gotta keep her occupied 'till the guys from Scorptech come ta pick her up."
"Jus' think of it," Janis said. "Runt from Aperture Laboratories comes right ta me. How much they offering for information on Aperture again?"
"Lotta cash," Bert said. "That head of Scorptech's real curious 'bout Aperture. Real curious."
The breath caught in Chell's throat. Oh no, no, not again. This cannot be happening.
"I'm gonna go get her and bring her down here fer supper," Janis said. Chell heard the screech of a chair being moved aside, and a panic blossomed in her chest. She moved backwards and bolted back upstairs. At the end of the hallway, an open window beckoned. Putting on a burst of speed, she reached the window and swung out, dropping easily onto the ground. The starchy dress fluttered and she remembered that her clothes were still on the bed upstairs. She stamped her foot in frustration. The Aperture logo had been clearly stamped on the front of her chest for everyone to see. If only she'd realized that people were hunting for Aperture. If only she'd used her head.
There was no time for her to be acting childish. She'd made a mistake and now she was going to rectify it. The first thing she needed to do was hide. If the "guys from Scorptech" were coming to pick her up, she didn't want to run right into them. She'd stay safely hidden until they went away. Then she would flee. With her new clothes, she'd be unrecognizable. She'd be safe, and so would Aperture and GLaDOS and the beautiful turret opera.
Where to hide, where to… Ah. Next to one of the other houses was an old shed, similar to the one that housed the lift to Aperture. Heart hammering, she bolted towards the shed, only realizing when she was halfway there that she had company. Reggie the dog was capering along beside her, his tongue hanging out of his mouth. Perhaps Janis and Bert didn't pet him often enough, and he preferred her. Whatever the reason, he seemed perfectly happy to stick with her.
She reached the shed and tore open the door. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness inside, she noticed a stack of burlap bags filled with… well, she really didn't know. Slamming the door behind her, she dove into the stack, wriggling until none of her limbs were poking out. Vaguely she realized that Reggie had wormed himself into the stack as well. Sniffing her elbow, he gave it a lick and then whined. Knowing what he wanted, Chell managed to get her hand on his head. Petting idly, she poked her nose out of the stack, in the direction of one of the shed's grimy windows. She wanted to see this.
After a few moments of watching, Bert tore out of the house, looking frantic. She could see him shouting, pulling at his hair. He moved around to the back of the house, face red. She felt a tiny smirk creep up her face.
The smirk died at the sound of cars. As she watched, three sleek automobiles roared into the small town, sun glinting off their black surfaces. They were streamlined and quite obviously extremely fast, judging from the clouds of dirt that had erupted in their wake. A fourth automobile moved to join them; a massive black truck with gigantic tires and a horn that was blaring.
Men jumped from each of the three cars and advanced towards the house. Chell watched as Bert ran up to them, wringing his hands. No doubt he was attempting to explain her sudden disappearance. He pointed back at the house, and everyone went inside. They were probably going to look for her.
Fifteen minutes later, the door opened and Chell felt her heart sink. Three men were holding her Companion Cube, carrying it towards the large truck. Oh God, I forgot it. Oh no, no, how could I forget? She moved convulsively, biting her lip and kicking her feet. Reggie whined.
Chell's jumpsuit and tank top appeared next, being carried by a business-like woman. The back of the truck swung down, revealing a cavernous empty space. The Cube and her clothes were loaded inside, and the men and woman marched back towards the house, grim-faced.
There was a ringing in her ears. They had left the Cube. She had little to no chance of recovering it now, but still… she had to try, didn't she? She had promised the Cube that she wouldn't fail it. Letting it fall into the hands of these Scorptech people seemed like a failure to Chell.
She slipped out of the sacks and eyed the door of Janis and Bert's home. It remained closed, for now. Opening the door to the shed, she took a deep breath and bolted for the truck. Reggie was still alongside her, thankfully not barking.
With a jump, she succeeded in landing inside the truck. The Cube was crackling, and the sounds it was making sounded faintly like alarm bells. Chell wrapped her arms around it, trying in vain to comfort it. I'll take care of you.
She heard the slam of a door and panic overtook her. The back of the truck was filled with tarp and equipment; it would be easy to hide amongst it. She bolted for what looked like a slot machine and dove behind it. Reggie was still with her, pressing his wet nose into her hand. Having the dog along was definitely a bad idea, but it was too late to bring him back. She could hear voices, and then the swish of the truck door slamming shut. She and Reggie and the Cube were trapped.
She moved out from her hiding place and back towards the Cube. They had secured it with rope to the wall, and it was still humming in alarm. Gently pushing Reggie away to prevent him from licking the Cube, she patted it again and again. Dimly, she registered the whirr of tires and the roar of the engine coming to life. With a shudder, the truck began to move.
Reggie barked, turning in circles. His barking could barely be heard over the roar of the moving truck; they were safe for now. She put her other hand to good use and petted him behind the ears. Comforting the Cube and the dog was a sort of comfort to Chell as well. As long as she could continue making them feel safe, things would be alright. She would be alright. As long as she could continue comforting her friends, she could ignore the fact that she was more scared than she'd ever been in her life.