She stood in front of the door again. There must be a way to get inside, she thought to herself. She went over her options.
Option one; the door. Despite the state of the rest of the cabin; the door was surprisingly sturdy. That, and her left arm still ached quite a lot. So she knew that wasn't an option.
Option two; the windows. She figured that it would be too expensive to even consider putting high quality glass in such a small cabin. Breaking the windows it is!
She grabbed a nearby branch that seemed sturdy enough, took a running start, and rammed it into one of the windows. The window didn't immediately though, it only made a small hole where the branch hit it. She repeated this a few times until the window finally broke, so she could fit through (GLaDOS would suggest making a bigger hole, but that's beside the point).
The girl first poked her head through, and saw a small kitchen. The cabin was basically one big room, except for one, small separate one, which she guessed was the bathroom. On the other side of the room was a couch, which didn't look all that bad.
She decided to search through the cabinets first. First cabinet. Nothing. Second. Still nothing. It was the fifth cabinet that had anything useful; canned food, and a rusty can opener. In the last cabinet near the floor she found a small satchel. It had a few rips and tears, and it was empty. She decided it was better than her improvised jumpsuit waist bag, and stuffed everything in it.
Secondly, she tried the tap. It had been rusted shut, but after a few minutes of fidgeting, she managed to twist it open. The water that came out of it tasted weird, but she figured it was better than taking water from random streams, anyway.
She then decided to check out the bathroom. It was a cramped little space, and only had a toilet, but that's the only thing she needed. She quietly closed the door, and proceeded to do her business.
When she opened the door again, she saw some peculiar. From this angle, she could clearly see something grey underneath the couch. While approaching it, she quickly considered what it could be. Maybe it's just some random plate, she mused.
When she shifted the couch, she noticed just how light it was. It seemed like some of the stuffing was missing. Whoever owns this place must've done this on purpose.
When the couch was moved out of the way, she saw what it was supposed to be. It was a secret hatch.
[======================================]
She just stood there, staring at it. It was a metal hatch, surprisingly more modern than the rest of the cabin. The cabin itself was hidden quite well in the landscape, so the whatever's in here, really is supposed to stay hidden. But that wasn't the thing that startled her.
Just like the rolling shutter she found on the edge of the forest, the hatch had a logo on it.
The Aperture Science emblem.
She knew that Aperture stretched for miles, but this is just ridiculous. Maybe GLaDOS didn't want her to find out about this. She was curious though. She was about to break open the hatch when she found herself hesitating.
"Don't come back."
The supercomputer's words echoed through her head. Does she really want to do this?
Screw it, she thought. If it's this well-hidden, it better be something of use.
The hatch did have a padlock, though. Even though it was a bit rusty, which might help, she still would have a hard time opening it. Despite that, she decided to try it anyway. Worst case scenario, the room would be flooded with neurotoxin, and she'd run back out. It didn't seem like the hatch could close on its own, anyway.
She set both of her feet against the wall behind it, and positioned her hands on one part of the lock. If the lock was rusted enough, she might be able to pull it apart.
Steadying her grip on the lock, she stretched her entire body in an attempt to break it free. She put so much force on it, that the already broken wall might even have broken down. After pulling for a minute straight, the rusty padlock finally gave in, and Chell was propelled backwards.
She hit her head on the floor, which ached a little, but she got up quickly. Upon seeing that the lock had indeed broken down, a feeling of satisfaction bestowed her. She walked up to the crudely 'unlocked' hatch, and opened it.
The metal made it a bit hard to pull open, but once she did, an industrial-looking metal ladder revealed itself. To her surprise, both the metal objects weren't nearly as rusty as anything else she encountered.
She carefully climbed downwards, not knowing what to expect. It was dark down there, so there might as well be a bottomless pit beneath her. The thought alone made her clamp onto the ladder just a bit harder.
The lights automatically turned on with a click. Automatic lights, huh. She thought to herself.
She looked around for a bit, taking in where she was. She didn't see any other doors, so this couldn't be another entrance to Aperture. She smiled, still feeling that sense of accomplishment, until….
Her eyes had settled on the bed. The wooden bed looked old, regardless of the rest of the room. But it wasn't the bed that frightened her. It was what laid upon it.
On the bed, was an old man. She first thought that he was asleep, and, very quietly, approached him.
Then it dawned on her.
He wasn't simply asleep. The old man in front of her, was, unmistakably, dead.