Fleeing From The Darkest Blue
Chell stared into the distance, exhausted, as the end of the corridor slowly emerged from the distance into the sister's view. Rusting, iron doors with smashed glass windows passed them as they walked on, their bodies weighing them down.
"I- I wonder if... if we went the wrong way," Wheatley began feebly.
Chell privately agreed. They had been going on for what seemed like ages now, and there was no adrenal vapour back here...
"We have been going through this hall for - for quite a long time now,! Wheatley continued in the background as Chell squinted at the wall ahead of them. Was that a door?
"Perhaps the exit's through... that door! Or that one, or that one..."
Chell rolled her eyes and looked over to Cara-Mia, who looked back, trying to hide a smile.
"...Or that one, or that- oh god, is that what I think it is?!" Wheatley suddenly exclaimed, his optic shrinking as he stared through a cracked window pane. Chell's eyes widened as she stared at the spot Wheatley was looking at. Something moved quickly, as if running out of their view.
"What was it?" Cara-Mia asked, her voice shaking. "I've had enough of this underground place, I want to get out of here!"
"I don't know what- what it was, exactly," Wheatley stuttered a reply, giving a nervous laugh. "Okay, that- that was a lie. It- well, I think it was, that is to say- um, the - the guy I- Uh, Rattman."
The sisters froze as they stared at him, shocked. "You killed him," Cara-Mia insisted. "It can't be. It must have been something else. It- it has to be."
Chell had a feeling deep down that it was, but nodded all the same. She didn't want to know it. She just wanted them to get out of here, before that mad man came back.
"Just- let's go," Wheatley said fearfully.
A few minutes later, they had reached the door at the end of the hallway. An old, worn sign above it read in faded writing; Elevator to Surface. As they examined the door, searching for a way in, another sign blared across the front of it; OUT OF ORDER.
"What are we going to do now?" Wheatley complained. "The only way out is broken, theres no way other way except through Her chamber-"
"We'll just have to try," Cara-Mia interrupted, looking the filthy doors up and down. "We've come all this way, there's no turning back now."
Chell raised her portal gun to the glass windows and pulled the trigger. Shattered shards of it fell to the floor, shining dimly in Wheatley's flashlight. Aiming the device through the broken window she pulled the trigger again, but the beam hit the old metal wall and only a few sparks buzzed off the walls. The portal gun had finally given out.
"Well, that's the end of that," Wheatley said dully, watching a few sparks fall from the old device's rusting wires. "I- I suppose there's no other way into that elevat-"
Suddenly, Wheatley fell silent, and his optic shrank to a tiny pinprick. The two sisters exchanged glances, listening hard. Very distant footsteps echoed through the dark hallway, getting louder...
Chell dug her nails in between the two doors frantically, felt the rust scrape from the metal onto her fingers. Forcing the doors apart, a loud screech drowned out the footsteps as Cara-Mia joined in and they finally opened the elevator doors.
The footsteps filled the air as the two sisters squeezed through the half-open doors, and searched for a button-
Briefly looking up, Chell saw two bright blue eyes glare back at her, lit up with a snarl of rage-
"You left me behind," Doug accused, every syllable filled with spite. The squeal of rubber on metal sounded as he hurled himself towards the elevator-
Cara-Mia pressed the button in the elevator just in time, and they felt it rising slowly with a groaning rattle-
BANG.
"What- what was that?" Wheatley dared to ask, looking up at the two sisters in terror.
"I have no idea," Cara-Mia replied as the elevator creaked and shook. "The important thing is, we're getting out of here."
"I- I'm just wondering, why was there an out of order sign?" He asked carefully, watching as the walls around them sank below.
"I don't know, I just hope it's because it's going slowly," Cara-Mia said distractedly, "I wonder if there's a speed up button?"
BANG.
The elevator gave a voilent shudder and the sisters were thrown to the other side-
Up above them, Chell could make out a thin line of light...