We woke up, still in the shed. Before we left, we looked around to see if there was anything that could be of use to us. In the back, I found a map on the wall. I touched it, hoping to be able to take it down, but it crumbled at my touch. I left it alone, studying it.

"Hey, look at this," I said over my shoulder. Ali was digging around in a pile of tools, but stopped to see what I was looking at.

"It's a map of some sort," I said, trying to read what it said.

"It's Michigan," Ali realized, "That's probably where we are now."

I saw what she meant. Near the top-right corner of the map were the words Michigan State Map, but everything else was completely faded out.

"Well that's one question answered," I said. We took one last quick look around the room before leaving, still heading directly away from the entrance to Aperture Science. We still had no idea where we were going, or if we were even getting close to the end of the field, but we were determined to find out.

About an hour after we left, I heard a very faint and distant noise. It sounded like the ocean. At first I thought it was my imagination, but it got louder.

"Do you hear that?" I asked Ali.

"Yeah," she said, "I'm not sure what it is."

Then we looked behind us.

In the distance was a giant tsunami, probably fifty feet tall, and wider than I could see. And it was coming straight for us, fast.

"Go!" I said, "Run!"

Once, we were sprinting through the endless field. My lungs were screaming, but I ignored the pain. I glanced back, and saw that the wave was getting closer, fast. I grabbed Ali's hand, both of us still running as fast as we could. As it neared, I couldn't hear anything but the unmeasurable amount of water coming closer and closer.

What was a tsunami doing in Michigan? I knew it was next to one of the Great Lakes, but that couldn't be close to big enough to create something this massive. But then again, it's been a while since I learned that, before I had my memory wiped. I remembered GLaDOS saying that I've been asleep for a really long time after I killed her the first time, but there was no way I was asleep for long enough for the lakes to move and get bigger. I would have had to be unconscious for at least a few thousand years, which I thought was impossible. But there it was, a wave larger than I could ever imagine.

Running was useless, knew no matter what we couldn't escape the tsunami. I stopped, and Ali did too. The wave was getting closer. Fifty feet. Forty feet. Thirty. Twenty. We stood there, not running anymore, just embracing each other in our arms as thousands of gallons of water crashed over us.

I felt like my skin was being teared apart, and all the debris in the water kept hitting Ali and me. I felt a sharp pain in my arm, and I almost let go of her hand. I knew I wouldn't be able to hold on forever, though. My lungs were burning, and I knew we needed air badly. But I was disoriented, I didn't know where to go. I stopped myself from taking a breath.

I started kicking in a random direction, desperate for air, but Ali was weighing me down. I didn't think she was moving, which really scared me. I tried one last time to push myself somewhere in the water, getting nowhere. My entire body hurt from all the debris, and my lungs were at a completely different level of pain. I didn't want to give up, we didn't go through everything at Aperture just to die. But apparently my body didn't feel the same, and I lost consciousness.

I woke to the unmistakable smell of bacon cooking. I sat up, trying to remember what happened, and opened my eyes. I was in a bed, an actual bed, in a small room. There was a framed picture of a river on the wall, a door, and a window. I looked at my arms and saw dried blood and cuts everywhere.

Suddenly, all at once, I remembered where they came from. The tsunami in the wheat field. The thousands of gallons of water crashing over me, the feeling of my skin being ripped from my body. But how was I still alive?

The door opened, and somebody stepped out. It was a boy, who looked about my age. He had short brown hair and very pale, green eyes.

"Oh good, you're awake," he said.

"Who are you?" I asked, "Where am I?"

"I'm James," he answered, "And you're in my house. I found you in the forest yesterday, just laying there on the ground. I figured you were probably hurt pretty bad, so I brought you back here."

"I'm Chell," I said, "Is there a shower or something I could use?" I asked. I needed to get cleaned up, I had dirt all over my body, along with my cuts.

"Yeah sure," he said, "There's one in the room right next to here. There's towels in there, too."

"Thanks," I said, standing up. I walked over to the other room and took a shower. When I was finished, I put on one of the towels and walked back to the bedroom. On the bed was a change of clothes and a plate of eggs and bacon. I smiled, then changed into the new jeans and T-shirt. I ate like a wolf, I hadn't eaten for a while before. I still had no idea how I was able to go without food or water for so long.

I finished quickly, walked outside of my room again, and went down the flight of stairs. I searched around for a bit until I found James, who was sitting down at a table in the kitchen. I sat next to him.

"How do you feel?" he asked.

"Great, thanks," I said, "But I still have a few questions. So I've been, um, absent, for a while, and I've been told that there aren't any other humans left. But apparently I was lied to, so what's the status of humanity?"

"Well, the numbers aren't great," James said, "There's not very many people alive. But what do you mean you've been absent?"

"I don't really want to talk about it," I said, shuddering, "Bad memories."

"Okay, fine. Anything else?"

Then I remembered Ali. I haven't thought about her at all since I woke up here.

"Yes," I said, "Is there any chance you've seen someone else, a girl about my height, with long blonde hair?"

"No, I haven't seen anyone else in months, sorry," James said, "Who is she?"

"Her name is Ali. She's my… my girlfriend."

James raised an eyebrow. "Girlfriend?"

"Yeah."

"Like, as in more than a friend? You're in a romantic relationship with her?"

"Yeah. Why are you looking at me like that?"

"So you're gay?" he asked cautiously.

I thought for a moment. "Yeah, I guess you could say that."

"Okay then."

There was a sudden crashing noise on the other side of the house.

"Stay here," James said, getting up. He slowly walked over to where the noise came from. I waited. Then I heard a gunshot.

"Chell, run!" James yelled.

I jumped up and ran to the sliding glass door next to the table, opened it and dashed out. I didn't go far, though. I didn't want to get too far from where I was, in case James needed help. I also needed to find Ali, assuming she was still alive. I shook that thought out of my head. Of course she was alive. I hoped she was. I couldn't bear the idea of her dying.

I found a big tree to hide behind. I kept looking at the house, seeing if anyone else came out of the doors. I watched for about 2 minutes, and then I decided to walk back in and see what happened. But before I could move, somebody grabbed my arms and put them behind my back.

"Don't move," he, tying a rope around my wrists. He put a blindfold around my head and put his hand over my mouth. He led me deeper into the forest.

"There's things that must be done," he said.

After a few minutes of walking, we stopped. I heard doors opening, and then the man threw me into the back of what was probably a truck, closing the doors behind him.

"Chell?" said Ali's voice.

"Ali?" I asked. My blindfold was taken off. Right in front of me was Ali. Without thinking, I leaned in and kissed her. I kissed her like her lips were air and I couldn't breath. When I finally pulled away, she laughed.

"What's happening?" I asked.

"I have no idea," she answered, "It can't be good, though."

"Of course not. Nothing good ever happens to us."

Ali laughed again. "So what happened to you after the wave?"

We exchanged stories. Ali simply woke up in the truck, and nothing happened until I came.

"We were only apart for a few hours, but I already missed you so much," I said once we finished.

"Yeah, me too," said Ali, "But the important thing is that we're together now. Wherever we're going, we will be together, and that's what matters."