Chapter 20, everybody! There is cake! :D Or at least, mention of cake—along with Deerclops.

Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment

Portal © 2007 Valve

Willow kept an eye out for Wilson, her former vim and vigor back in full force. There was hope. She could get out of this.

She just had to stay on her toes.

Come on, already—I had to re-read the test-subject handbook to remember how you move this slow.

She gave another salute, as the cameras were once again on non-portable surfaces.

Don't make me surgically remove those—you don't need your middle finger for optimal portal device handling.

She stepped in the elevator, studiously ignoring him.

Oh hey—I saw a deer the other day—

Didn't he just wake up this morning? How long had she been testing?

At least, I thought it was a deer—it was huge and blue and only had one eye. Maybe one of the experiments got out during my…forced retirement.

Yay, mutant monsters. Here's hoping he didn't catch one and make her test with it.

Anyway, maybe if you behave I'll take you to the break room and tell you about it again.

Yeah right.

Or maybe I'll catch it and have you do co-op testing with it. That should be fun to watch.

Boy, could she call it or what?

You know, I've been thinking—

Joy, Willow thought, stepping out of the elevator.

Maybe you need a fresh motivator. The cake obviously didn't work—

You think?

Cake? This guy was seriously promising her cake as a reward?

That's what it says, he told her. Black Forest Cake—it's overrated, trust me. Chocolate, vanilla icing, cherries on top….

Oh boy—she was salivating now. When was the last time she had even had cake? Her middle school dance?

Wait—what was he saying now?

Fish cakes, shaped like itself—who writes this garbage? Although he didn't quite say garbage.

"I think I'll stay away from the cake, thanks," she muttered—it had been before she had decided on the silent treatment.

I'm sorry, what?

"I said, I don't want any cake," she said, projecting towards one of the frosted-glass windows high above her.

Probably wise—I think there was antifreeze in there. "Grief counseling…no cake," he said, sounding like he was jotting something down.

"Why would I want grief counseling?"

Because you give me grief. Now back to testing!

And then of course, once they had escaped—

Say, pal, you're cake's getting cold! You keep this up, and we'll eat it without you!

"He really wants to eat the antifreeze-cake?" Willow asked.

"I think the coding for that file got corrupted," Wilson explained. "I've been meaning to fix that."

"Can we wait until after he eats it?"

"HA! No, we probably shouldn't."

In retrospect…but then again, would poison really work on a guy who was more machine than man?

And come to think of it, where was Wilson? It was only a matter of time before Maxwell really did run out of patience—

And why are you still standing there?

She hurried on to the next test.