Chell was admittedly disappointed that they'd had to stop. The group had set off in the early hours of the day, but when someone had fallen ill, they'd had to stop at an old gas station. A man had been trying to hide his fever all morning but by mid-afternoon, he'd started shaking a lot. Nobody was mad at him for it, though. They just wanted him to feel better. So now the sun was setting as Chell was paced in front of the gas station. She'd been restless since they'd stopped and she felt that being on guard duty might make her feel a bit better. She was a little ashamed to admit it, but she felt that most of the day had been wasted.
"Hey, Chell," Ben said. He walked up to her and matched her pace in a silly way. "Why don't you sit down? It seems like you've been on your feet all day."
"I'm eager to get to Black Mesa," Chell said. "I want to compare it to Aperture."
"I thought you hated Aperture," Ben said. "Or at least that's how you make it seem."
"I wouldn't use the word 'hate'," Chell explained. "It sort of grew on me. I met a really great friend there." She suddenly stopped pacing and looked up at the sky. There were a few stars that were already visible. "I really miss him sometimes."
"I'm sure he's okay," Ben assured, putting a hand on her shoulder.
"I just hate the idea of him being stranded up there alone," she said quietly. "He must be miserable."
"Well, who knows? Maybe he found a way back down."
"I don't want to imagine him being all alone on the ground somewhere. He'd be trapped."
"Then imagine that someone of the rebellion found him," Ben suggested with a smile. "It could happen."
"I'd like to believe that," Chell said. "I just want—"
There was suddenly a deep, blaring noise that sounded in the distance. It was an otherworldly call that chilled their hearts. Then they heard far off thumps on the ground that sounded like great footsteps.
"What was that?" Chell asked. She looked at Ben who was staring into the forest ahead of them. "Ben?"
"I think that was a Strider," Ben muttered. "Chell, stay here for a minute. I have to go inside and warn the others." He hurried into the gas station's building.
"But what if it shows up?" Chell asked. She was beginning to panic. Striders were giant creatures that seemed to have an armor-like shell. They were like tall three-legged spiders with tough-as-nails skin. And now it was heading toward her. She could feel its footsteps vibrate up her legs from the ground.
Ben came out with three other people and a rocket launcher. The three people had large guns and bags of ammo. One of them handed Chell a submachine gun that felt heavy in her hands.
"This should do the trick," Ben said, slapping the rocket launcher lightly.
"Do you know how to handle one of those things?" Chell asked.
"I've practiced a few times," he answered with slight uncertainty. "When it sees us, we have to run that way." He pointed toward the tress off to their left. "We'll want it to attack us and not the building."
"Is this a suicide mission?" Chell asked quietly. The others now looked just as worried as she did.
"It doesn't have to be," Ben answered. "We should be able to take it out with this sucker." He loaded the rocket launcher and pointed it in the direction of the footsteps.
Before they knew it, they could see it barely looming over the tops of the trees. It saw them and let out a low howl. Then it broke through the trees, and Ben fired the rocket launcher, using the red laser pointer to guide the rocket into its target. The Strider roared and cringed in pain.
"Take cover!" Ben shouted.
The Strider recovered from the blow and started firing at them. They others ran to the left but Chell ran to the right. The Strider hadn't seen her. It was following the others with its fire. It shoots just like a turret, Chell thought. It's just a giant turret that can move. I can handle this. It was now stalking toward her friends and Ben fired at it again. Unfortunately, he missed and the Strider hit the shoulder of the man next to him.
"Shit!" Ben exclaimed. "Aaron, are you okay?! Where the fuck did Chell go?!"
"I'm right here," Chell whispered. She raised her gun and pointed it at the alien. She braced herself for the kickback. She'd only done this once before and her arms had been sore for the rest of the day. She took a deep breath and began shooting at the Strider. It turned around to find its new attacker and she jumped to hide behind a tree. She imagined a turret's little voice asking, "Are you still there?" Instead, she heard an angry, unnatural growl as the thing stomped in her direction.
Ben took the opportunity to launch another small rocket which hit the beast's belly. It stumbled forward and turned around. It shot Aaron again who fell to the ground limply. Ben shot again and hit before he ran behind a tree as quickly as he could. Angry tears welled up in his eyes as he hid from the approaching monster. Aaron was dead and Chell was playing the wild card. He didn't know what to do except run further into the trees. The two remaining companions followed, shooting at the Strider when they could. Ben fired another rocket and missed again. He cursed himself.
Chell stared at the lifeless body on the ground. This was suddenly too real for her. She couldn't handle this. She thought about running away but then she suddenly thought of Wheatley. She could hear his voice in her head saying, "Alright. Now, I know things are looking….Well, pretty bad. But don't panic! You can do this! You've done so many things that were stupider and more dangerous than this. Like putting me in that receptacle and letting me take over the facility. That's one good example of something that was stupid and dangerous. But neither of us could have known what was going to happen. Anyway, stop listening to me and shoot that mobile sentry turret!"
Chell briefly wondered whether or not she was going crazy, but she quickly decided that that didn't matter right now. Wheatley was right; it was time to take action again. She came out from behind the tree and shot at the Strider again. Her arms were really starting to hurt but she couldn't stop now. The Strider turned around again and aggressively attacked her. She ducked behind a tree but smiled at her newfound courage. Wheatley's voice was as reassuring as ever to her. She heard a rocket hit the Strider so she kept its attention on her by shooting at it again. She only got a few bullets out before the gun made a clicking sound.
"Oh no," Chell whispered.
Ben heard the clicking of Chell's empty weapon and panicked. "Did you guys give Chell extra ammo?" he asked the others.
"No," a woman—whose name escaped him—said. "We assumed she was going to stick with us. How the hell were we supposed to know that she'd go her own way?"
Ben loaded his weapon and shot at the Strider. It hit but the thing still wouldn't go down. Why won't it die?! he thought. He shot again and it bellowed out a low wail as it fell to the ground. Everyone that was still alive could feel the impact of its body hitting the ground. Ben dropped the rocket launcher and came out from behind his tree. He cupped his hands around his mouth.
"Chell!" he shouted. "Get over here right now!"
Chell slowly approached them like a guilty puppy. She knew Ben would be furious with her. Her arms hurt too much to hold the gun so she dropped it when she got to her companions.
"Chell, what the hell were you thinking?!" he yelled at her. His face was turning red. "Do you have any idea how much you scared me?!"
"I'm sorry, Ben, but I helped save you guys," Chell said quietly.
"Well, you could have let us in on that plan!" Ben said accusingly. "I wasn't prepared for that and wasn't able to defend Aaron! What if you had died?!"
"Ben, I'm sorry about Aaron."
"Yeah, I bet you are!"
"Hey, man! Leave her alone!" a dark-haired man named David said to Ben. "She did save us. We could have had more causalities than that."
"David and I will tell everyone what happened and give Aaron a proper burial," the woman said. "In the meantime, you should apologize to Chell."
The woman and David headed back toward the gas station. Ben was still glaring at Chell but now tears were forming in his eyes. Chell felt like crying now, too, but she managed to hold it in.
"I'm really sorry, Ben," she said. "Believe me, I am."
"Yeah, I know," Ben finally said in a shaky voice. "I have to admit that what you did was pretty gutsy and smart."
"It was just like the sentry turrets back at Aperture," Chell said. "Only a whole lot scarier."
"It's good that you have experience with live gunfire," Ben said. "I'll need to start training you more with the big guns."