What now?
Chell thought as she stood with her faithful companion cube by her side, blankly staring at the seemingly indefinite wheat field stretched out in front of her. Sighing, she sat down on the grass and folded her legs, covering her face with her arms.
As miraculous and glorious her escape had been from Aperture, it was definitely not well thought out.
Great. Just great.
Chell thought, exasperated by her own stupidity.
Alone in a wheat field that seems to spreads out for eternity, with nowhere to go and nothing to count on but a cube and myself.
No offense. She nodded to the companion cube.
Moments of irritated silence passed on the outside, her mind relentlessly yelling at her for her lack of actual, realistic plans once she got to the surface. Groaning in her head, she fought back. It wasn't like it was her fault that she couldn't plan ahead. Though she had once considered the thought of escape from Aperture as a realistic concept, being trapped there twice had made her (Though she would never admit it) cynical of her actual chances of reaching the surface. And sometimes, when times got really bad, she would doubt the fact that she could ever see the sky again.
But in the end, that one streak of stubbornness in her that never died down triumphed over all else, and by some outrageous miracle she persisted on her escape. Out of all odds, she prevailed. To say the truth, she was surprised to even be alive right now.
Sighing again, she looked at her empty, scratched palms.
She had let go of her portal gun when she made her last mad dash (Or in this case, desperate crawl) to catch Wheatley, and she'd seen it fly into outer space, sucked out like every other loose object that once littered the floor of Glados's chamber.
Idly, she wondered if she should have just held on to the gun instead of trying to grab Wheatley. That could have possibly helped her out in the long run, though she doubted the chances of Glados letting her keep it on the surface.
Even she was not that generous.
…What am I saying? Chell thought back to herself. She's not generous at all. I was just lucky.
Man… Chell sighed, ruffling her ponytail absentmindedly.
I could almost hear the voice of that damned mechanical construct mocking me right now.
With that, she stood up, annoyed by her own thoughts.
That's it.
Chell thought as she grabbed her charred companion cube, taking her first step away from the small Aperture shaft entrance.
I'm going to find civilization, society, anything, and I'm going to live.
After coming so far and sacrificing so much, I'll be damned if I let the voice of Glados haunt me forever.
I am not going to let her laugh at my death. Not now. Not ever.
It had been three hours since Chell's march began. But to her, it felt much longer than that. The sun was still high up in the sky, its bright rays blazing in the late summer heat.
Chell was getting tired.
She felt like she'd walked on for miles on end. And still, nothing was in sight. Only the endless wheat stalks and the occasional lone crow in the blue, cloudless sky.
She had seen several birds in her days of Aperture – crows like the ones flying around the fields – but their appearance surprised her even now.
To say the truth, she had very limited knowledge of what went on in the actual world.
She knew that the creatures (If they could actually be classified as 'Creatures') flying around the place were called 'Birds' and amongst them, 'Crows'. Glados and Wheatley had explained them to her once, and the words sounded familiar, and not out of place.
Chell knew things, common things that other people did, but she knew next to nothing about herself.
For one, she knew that she was surrounded by a field of golden wheat, on the surface. It wasn't like she didn't understand English, she did, in fact. But every notion, every word describing a world outside Aperture felt unfamiliar and new.
'Humans' for example.
The idea of meeting other humans, humans just like her, excited her – but only as much as they terrified her.
She worried the consequences of not fitting in with them, not being able to speak after being silent for so long. But in a place without a single human in sight, and inevitable death facing her if she could not find civilization soon, not fitting in with the pack was the least of her worries.
Squinting, she looked up to the birds flying overhead.
Strange. Chell thought, studying the birds.
They were flying fast, tumbling one after the other in a sparse group. It looked as if they were agitated, panicked even, and hurrying to get out of one area.
Chell scanned the horizon, looking for the source of the birds.
They all came from the same direction.
Looking back to the yellow horizon of wheat, a glimpse of deep navy blue caught her eye, her lids fluttering in what felt like timeless shock. Further movement from the tall thing confirmed her thoughts, her surprise making her drop her companion and stagger backwards.
It was a man. A man in a dark blue suit.
How had she not noticed him before? Lingering far in her peripheral vision the man continued to stand, a grey briefcase hanging loosely in his left hand.
Too shocked to move forwards, too alarmed by the man's sudden presence to even make a move, she continued to stand in a hunched stature, her body language betraying her stoic silence. Surprise continued to keep her there, stock still, as one part of her brain screamed at her to move, to run toward the first human she had ever seen.
And quietly, as the man turned to leave, Chell sank weakly to the floor, right beside her still-glowing companion cube.
As a large part of her brain continued to scream at her failure to respond correctly, another part whizzed thoughts around her, cautiously calculating her next best step.
If there was one human there, there should be a civilization in the same direction.
But I-I shouldn't go there. It might be dangerous. She thought nervously to herself.
Nobody said it was.
An all too familiar mechanical voice echoed back in her brain.
What if there's more humans there? A house? A civilization?
What if that was all there and you missed it? Just because you were too scared to walk forwards?
The same voice mocked her, a usual feeling of shame and irritation sinking back in her brain.
No. It might be risky. She snapped back. It would be a waste of time to check there, anyway.
Oh, I see. And what time do you have to waste?
The voice replied with a snide tone.
Chell looked up to the sky again, briefly checking its position. It was still as bright as ever, the sun just leaning a little off-center.
See? Nothing to worry about.
The voice said smugly.
…I'm not being given a choice here, am I?
Of course not. Don't be absurd.
Chell sighed inwardly, facing the direction of the birds.
Slowly, hesitantly, she changed direction, taking the first steps of her march into the risky, ominous unknown.
She didn't like it, but the voice inside her was right. The nearest human society could be anywhere. It made sense to search for living people in a place with movement from other humans.
It wasn't like she did have time to waste anyway. If the search there yielded nothing, she would just go search another area. That was it. It wasn't like she was convinced by a voice from the likes of Glados.
Chell sighed again, failing to convince herself.
I need to stop reminding myself of her. She thought sullenly.
When I get to civilization, I swear- I'm definitely getting some friends. And a hobby.
At this rate, I'm never going to forget Aperture.
The sun was setting. Still, nothing in sight.
By now, Chell had lost count of how many minutes it had been since she began walking away from aperture. Her throat was sore and dry, and a consistent pain throbbed numbly through her tired legs. Hunger pangs wrung through her body, making her feel empty and deprived. With every heavy step, she could feel herself getting closer to falling.
Only sheer determination pushed her on, but soon that wasn't going to be enough to keep her standing.
She had well passed the line of being exhausted.
For hours now the birds had gradually decreased in numbers, delicate as they were to the coming night. From what had been an already small flock of birds became a sparsely spread out line, then the rare single bird flying across the sky, and soon, nothing.
For a while now, Chell had been walking blind.
Nevertheless she pushed on, knowing that as long as she didn't change direction, she would be able to get to where she wanted.
It wasn't like she didn't have hope. From the corner of her eye she could see something in the distance.
Something wide and grey. Something that she could almost make out as a wall. Nearer to her position she saw a tall structure, grey like the other. It must be some kind of tower, she decided.
A wall and a tower. That could only mean one thing. She knew what it was, and she was hell bent on reaching it.
But at the same time, she knew she couldn't make it.
As she took another agonizing step forward, her knees buckled from beneath her. Exclaiming a small yelp, she let go of her companion cube, and fell forward, catching herself with her arms.
A dull pain coursed through her body, and she stayed in that position, still for a moment, before she slowly crawled to the companion cube, cursing her legs and her body for giving up.
Using the sturdy construct, she pushed herself up to a sitting position, panting as she leaned on it weakly.
Above her the sun glowed a beautiful orange, changing the once blue sky around it to brilliant shades of magenta and purple. Not a bird, or even a piece of cloud covered the magnificence of the sky's transition from day to night.
Everything around her was covered in a serene silence, aside from the peaceful rustling of the long wheat stalks in the soft wind, not a creature, bird or insect, made a sound.
Her first sunset. To think it would be this unwelcoming.
Chell sighed, staring idly at the setting sun.
For what seemed like hours she sat there quietly, tiredly wondering why she had come to her limit so fast.
Various aches cut through her body, a constant, and relentless reminder of how far she had come. How much she had put herself through.
She never felt this way in Aperture.
It must have been the adrenaline pumped into the oxygen. She thought, her mind active now that she had begun to rest her body.
Glados explained it to me once. She said that she pumped adrenaline mixed oxygen into the test chambers, so that I didn't need to sleep. That might explain why I never got tired. If she mixed in some other things along with the adrenaline, that might also explain why I never got hungry, and why I healed from wounds so fast.
Chell blinked, looking at a thin, painful gash that had formed when she fell.
…I guess that's gone.
She shrugged, letting her arm drop comfortably back to her lap.
But then again, she definitely was not in prime condition. It was no surprise, after all she'd been through.
With all that testing, all those failed plans of escape, her fights with Glados, and her final battle with Wheatley, it would have been no wonder why her body was starting to malfunction.
Wheatley.
She thought, another deep sigh forming in her lungs.
After all they had been through, after all they had done together as a team, comrades with the same goal; he betrayed her. He went mad, power crazy, accusing her of doing things she never did to him. Things they both knew she would never do.
He tried to kill her. And she hated him for that.
He was a pathetic, stupid bastard for doing what he did. A moron, just like Glados had described. He deserved what he got.
Chell sniffled quietly.
But just as much as his betrayal hurt, she wanted him back.
In the whole, wide world, he was the only one she ever considered as a friend.
Teary grey eyes scanned the dark sky, searching through the stars and void, and then finally resting on the full white moon.
She wondered if he was still up there, still floating around the moon he was once thrown out of. Orbiting around the dead globe, spinning and spinning alone in space, just out of reach from earth…For an eternity to come…
Silently, secretly, she wished for him to come back.
She wanted to see him again.
To hear his weird but loveable accent. To see him mess things up again, and break stuff he considered 'Hacking'. She wanted him here to blabber on about things that didn't make sense, to constantly freak out at every given obstacle.
She missed him. She missed him desperately.
And in a weird way, she also missed Aperture science.
It was the only home she ever remembered, the only place she ever knew. The dismembered voices, the crazy scribbles and drawings on the wall, and even the constant testing; all of those things seemed so familiar now. Everything so distant.
Even Glados seemed so far now that she was outside. In an odd way, she had also helped her.
She was always a clear goal, an obvious challenge to overcome. She was the key to getting out. The goal that kept her so determined, so hell bent to stay alive.
And now she was outside. Alone in the dark, without a goal to overcome. Without a clear reason to keep moving.
Even in Aperture she had never heard a silence as deep as this.
Choking down tears, Chell struggled to keep her stoic posture.
She was lonely and scared. In the dark, wide wheat field, she was nothing but a pathetic child desperate for the company of a friend.
But as much as she knew it herself, she couldn't keep her emotions in check.
One after the other, tears began streaming down her face. She chuckled inwardly, her eyes blinking in surprise when the first tears fell. Her first tears.
She didn't realize she was that weak.
For what felt like hours she sat there, the moon gradually rising above head as she quietly waited for the moment to pass.
Behind her the charred companion cube gave out a soft pink glow, its comforting light gently illuminating the area around her. From the back of her brain, Chell could almost make out what sounded like a song, a soft lullaby coming from the cube itself.
It was as if the companion cube was trying to comfort her.
…Thank you.
Chell thought to her companion cube as she curled up on the ground beside it, ignoring the constant aches that still resonated throughout her body.
Don't worry about me. I'm just tired. Tomorrow I'll be fine.
She patted the cube lightly on the side.
Tomorrow will be a new day. Tomorrow I'll have hope. Tomorrow…
Chell thought drowsily, her mind slowly drifting into the realm of sleep.
Tomorrow I'll live again.
"Hey!"
A uniformed man with a flashlight called out to his companion.
"What?" The other man called out, pointing a blinding flashlight to his direction.
"I found it!"
The first man yelled back, his own flashlight pointing down at a peculiar glowing pink cube with hearts engraved on every side.
"I think this was the source of the light. Not really sure what it is though-"
"-Oh. Damn."
"What? What is it?"
The man's companion yelled, slowly wading toward him through the tall sea of wheat.
"I-I think it's a person."
The man stood still, his flashlight still pointing down on the cube – and the young woman curled up beside it.
"…She's not from another City, is she?" The other man asked quietly, his counterpart silently pulling out his pistol.
"…I can't tell. City 24 is several kilometers away from here, but she did come from that direction." The first guard answered sullenly. "And remember, there have been other runaways who've passed this route before."
In the dark, eerie quiet of the night, the man aimed his flashlight – and right on top of that, his gun – straight at the sleeping woman's head.
"…Do we really have to do this?" The second combine asked quietly, eyeing the gun in his partner's hand. "It doesn't seem like she's one of the resistance, either."
"Well then what do you want us to do?!" The first man snapped. "Don't you remember our orders, Nick? Exterminate all civilians located outside the City! It doesn't matter whether they're of the resistance or not. All cities within Sector 1 are in a complete lockdown! We can't afford to keep her alive!"
"Maybe you can't." Nick started, "But I can."
"Wha-" The other guard exclaimed, momentarily letting his grip on his gun go loose. "Just trust me on this Joe." Nick said, seizing his opportunity to pick Chell up from the ground. "Don't worry. They trust me." He nodded at Joe, signaling for him to get up and go.
"And I know you trust me too." He snickered quietly at his still dumbfounded partner. "Everyone does. One day or another, she'll come to trust me, too. I'll make something out of this, somehow."
"…Besides, have I ever failed my reputation?"