Chell was baffled by the woman lurking in front of the cake stall. At first, it seemed as if she was simply showing interest in the cakes, and it was Chell's job to sell them to her. Nothing out of the ordinary.
But as soon as she had interacted with the potential customer, the woman's face had shifted from mild interest to... horror? Fear? Chell wasn't quite sure.
The woman, probably in her early 40's, was about Chell's height and relatively thin. Her platinum blonde hair was plastered to her face with sweat and grime, her outfit caked in dirt. Something about the outfit caught her attention, but not as much as what came out of the woman's mouth next.
"You- you're talking. You have a voice-" the woman looked alarmed, attempting to step away from Chell. She pulled back and gripped her head with a groan, whispering something about how she knew it.
Something's not right here.
It wasn't all that uncommon to get strange behavior like this from some of the locals, but this person was unfamiliar to her. Chell would have to get the woman away from the stall before they had any more fiascos with the cakes. Her boss would be greatly displeased if any more were damaged under Chell's watch, and it would definitely come out of her paycheck. Again.
The woman ran her fingers through her hair in distress and it suddenly became clear to Chell that this woman's face was horribly disfigured (burned?) on the left side. Except the injury looked fresh and was probably causing her pain.
Chell felt pity for her but also didn't want to deal with it. "Why don't we get you some help?" The town doctor was nearby and Chell knew he'd be happy to help and take the distraught woman off her hands.
Chell grabbed her by the arms, ready to guide her away, when the woman yanked away from her, panic clear in her voice. "Don't touch me!"
Chell held out her hands, "Just trying to help. Relax-"
"Hold on, hold on, let me take her!" a man's voice piped up, grabbing Chell's shoulder a little too roughly and pulling her away from the woman.
She glanced at the newcomer and raised her eyebrows. He wasn't wearing any pants. Or shoes for that matter. Of course, the woman didn't have shoes either. What was up with these two?
The blonde, lanky man ignored Chell and started to lead the woman away, "Nothing to see here, we're just fine. Don't worry about us humans not making a scene," he laughed awkwardly.
Chell stopped him, alarm bells ringing in her head, "Hey, I think she needs medical attention."
He finally looked at her and his composure drastically shifted, similar to the way the woman had reacted to her. "Holy- Bloody- Mother of-" he stammered.
Seriously, was there something on her face?
"Chell?"
Chell stiffened but didn't reply. She was positive she had never met this man before.
"Oh my God," he balked at her, blue eyes practically bulging out of his head, "It's you. It's-"
The distraught woman straightened up suddenly as if nothing had even happened and grabbed the man by his shirt collar, "He's mistaken. Let's go."
"What? But I'm pretty sure that's-" he started.
"Let's go," she yanked him away.
But Chell was having none of it.
She chased after them, "Wait a second, how do you know my name?"
"Shouldn't we talk to her?" she heard the man whisper.
"Ignore her. She'll go away eventually," the woman hissed.
"But-!"
Chell sprinted in front of them, stopping the two strangers in their tracks. The woman was struggling to stand straight but continued to glare at Chell with one eye, and the man just ogled at her as if she was the one not wearing pants.
Suddenly, it hit her. The orange jumpsuit tied down around the woman's waist, the lack of shoes, the inside-out shirts... They were-
"You're test subjects," her mouth fell open at the revelation.
They were escaped Aperture test subjects. Just like her.
Author's Note: Woohoo! Ten chapters already! :D