Chapter Text
Chell awoke feeling stiff. Her neck had lolled back against the edge of the cube and left a crick in her neck that made her wince at the sudden movement. Standing up, she stretched her arms above her head and began to shift her body to loosen up and then began to work on her neck. Not the most comfortable sleep but at least it was restful.
With the morning came more pressing matters. Chell felt the pain in her stomach that came with the lack of food. The adrenal vapors had made her not feel hunger but when she had dropped into Old Aperture, they had worn off pretty quickly. She had felt hungry and there wasn't anything to eat down there. There was relief when she reached New Aperture to actually not feel the hunger as much, but it was still there. The last thing Chell remembered eating was a can of unopened beans she found in one of those alcoves with the paintings.
Chell liked those hidden areas. They had helped her catch her breath and clear her mind. Even though she had ideas of what horrors Aperture held before, those little rooms sealed her mind on the matter. They warned her and guided her where to go. It may not have been to an exit, but they took her where she was needed.
She had made it outside after her fight with GLaDOS. She had made it to the surface but was only teased with the thought of freedom before being draggedback inside. She had blacked out soon after but not before seeing something moving among the wreckage. It had been human shaped and looked to have a mop of dark greasy hair. They must have been the artist. Chell hoped they lived at least. Someone who managed to help her the way they did needed to live.
Picking up her cube, Chell made her way back down to the street. The sun was still low in the sky, but it was light enough for Chell to see. The buildings cast dark shadows across the broken streets and made everything blend together. Despite that, Chell thought it might be best to get her bearings and find somewhere she could get food and water. She had justescaped and she didn’t plan on dying of dehydration or starvation anytime soon.
For a place designed to house employees of Aperture, then there had to be a place they all got their food. It would justtake some searching is all. It’s not like all the employees gained nutrients like plants. They were human and would need to eat like everyone else. Even if there wasn’t some sort of grocery store, there should at least be a convenience store or gas station.
Although the streets were quiet, Chell couldn’t shake the feeling that something was watching her. She held the cube a little closer and kept walking. Sometimes Chell thought she heard something squeak but when she turned to look nothing would be there.
Chell approached what looked like it could have been a store at some point. Wiping away some of the dirt, she peered inside but still found it too dark. Tugging on the door proved it to be unlockedand a small bell above the door range to welcome her inside. An actual bell, not one of the electronic ones.
Inside was justas dreary and some of those same brown stains littered the ground and walls as they did in the apartment complex. Although here they looked darker, stranger... It wasn’t until Chell noticed how it looked as if something had been draggedacross the floor that it registered what the stain trulywas. Blood. Lots of blood long dried on the ground.
Something bad happened here to cause so much blood to appear. Something that GLaDOS couldn’t have done…
‘Things have changed since you last left the building. All I know is that I’m the only thing standing between us and them.’
Chell felt her body stiffen. It wasn’t good. Whatever had happened made Chell’s blood run cold in panic. Turning back to look over her shoulder, Chell noticed the dark brown blood stain on the wall justleft of the door. A smeared handprint and two small holes near it. She reached out with a frown to trace the holes. Bullet holes…
It was at that moment that Chell heard it. The low moan and shuffling of what sounded like someone dragging their feet. Thinking that she finally found someone living, Chell turned back but was metwith an entirelydifferent site.
The clothes consisted of blue denim pants and a white shirt. Both ripped to shreds and barelyhanging onto the figure that slowlyapproached Chell. It was coveredin crusty brown blood and some strange orange stains as well, but the entire torso looked to have been rippedopen. She could see the remaining organs it still had and several broken and jagged ribs. Its arms were bare and the fingers were almost a foot long and curved into jagged claws. Then came the head. It wasn’t human at all in shape. It looked like a plucked raw chicken or a mutant crab sitting on a human shaped body. It was disturbing and horrifying to look at.
Then there was the smell. It smelled like as much like death as it looked up close. The closer it got, the more Chell realized the smell of rot and decay she had smelled back in the apartment building was the same as the creature. If she could, she would have thrown up. Did that mean there were more of these things in town? How had Chell not come across one before now?
Chell turned around to leave the store but she was a second too late as the creature launched a nearby snack stand at her. It caught Chell in the back as she fumbled to pull the door open. She gave out a pained hiss before running out the store.
It was a few seconds later that she heard a mighty crash of glass and the creature stumbling towards her with more purpose in its step. The cube in her arms suddenlyfelt much heavier as she rounded a corner into an alley and came face to face with another of those things. Bounding into view as well was something that looked much like a strange dog at first but was shapedmuch like a smoked ham.
It came up to her knees but was as big around as an oil barrel. It had only three legs, two front and one back, and was a mottled green color with a ridged back. The gaps between the ridges was a deep purple. There was no visible mouth, but its face was coveredin tiny black eyes all fixed on her.
The second crab headed creature took notice of her and made to move justas the dog thing went down into what could be considereda crouch. It then began to let out a high-pitched whine that increased in volume before a powerful shock wave emanated from the dog. It tossed both Chell and the second crab headed creature back. Chell had the misfortune of landing against a dumpster that had more rust than paint covering it. It was justher luck that she hit the worst of the rust and the metal gave way, causing bits of the metal to imbed itself in Chell’s shoulder and arm.
The second creature had been knockedaway as well by the shockwave and had hit its head on the wall. It didn’t get back up at least. The dog creature was already starting to make that whining noise again as Chell stumbled to her feet. Without hesitation, Chell kicked the dog thing much like a soccer ball and sent it flying. Despite its size, it was surprisinglylight judging by how far her kick sent it. It hit the opposite side of the alley wall with a thud and splattered yellow blood across the bricks and ground.
Distracted by the dog creature, Chell momentarilyforgot about the first crab headed creature. She was about to pick up her cube when those long claws raked across her stomach. There was a tearing of fabric and a sting of pain but Chell didn’t stop to access the situation.
Instead she gazed the alley much like she would a test chamber. Her fingers flexed as if pulling the trigger of a portal gun to make a quick exit. If should have bothered Chell more than it did with how natural that came to her. A little above the dumpster she had crashed into was a fire escape. The ladder would need to be jumpedto, but at least it was a way out.
Using her cube as a stepping stone, she climbed on top of the dumpster then took a leap to the ladder justas the creature swiped at her feet. It clipped her heal springs and caused her to hit the ladder with less grace that she would have liked, but she managed to not fall back to the ground. After that, she climbed up the ladder as fast as she could until she was well out of harm’s way.
The creature tried to toss Chell’s cube up at her but it banged harmlesslyagainst the underside of the fire escape. She felt the vibration of the metal and heard the cube hitting the concrete but didn't dare look.
Catching her breath, the adrenaline in her system started to fade so the pain in her back and shoulder was increasing. Alright, so she was out of reach of one creature, but there were surelymore of them nearby. She was safe on the fire escape but staying there was not an option. Seeing the only logical choice, Chell began to climb the stairs upwards and approached a window that wasn’t boarded up.
She tapped the window a few times to see if any creatures appeared but when nothing happened, she kicked at the glass until it shattered inwards. Chell then reached an arm in to unlock the window.
By the time she had lifted the window and clambered through, her shoulder was aching and her stomach was feeling sticky. Chell began to scout the room and found it looked much like the living room from the apartment she stayed in the previous night. The only difference was the furniture colors and the amount of cardboard boxes scattered around. It wasn’t the same building but it seemed all the apartments had the same layout in the town.
Chell eventuallyfound the bathroom, but the lights didn’t work in this building either. It didn’t matter in the end as there was a tiny plastic flashlight beneath the sink. The batteries were incrediblyweak, but it gave off justenough light for Chell to survey the damage to her back.
Where the metal snack stand hit her, nasty discolored bruises were already forming across her back. Then came her shoulder and arm. It was bleeding and aching horribly. With careful fingers, Chell picked out the largest pieces of metal and tossed them into the sink. Fishing once again into the drawers, she found an old pair of tweezers in a drawer. Chell put one end of the flashlight in her mouth to see and set to work getting the smaller pieces out of her shoulder.
Chell was actually surprised by her stomach. After untying her jumpsuit and pulling her undershirt up, she saw that the bleeding was not enough to warrant an emergency. It was more of a scratch than a wound. The knot from her jumpsuit sleeves took the brunt of the clawed attack at least. The only problem was that as Chell tried to tie the sleeves back around her waist one of them had ripped completely off and rendered itself useless. Without anyway of securing the jumpsuit it decided to slip down her legs and pool around her boots. She had some cotton shorts on under but with what was going on outside, she would need something more sturdy.
Looking back under the sink, Chell was happy to find a tiny bottle of rubbing alcohol but no bandages were in sight. As nice as the alcohol was, it wouldn’t do much except sterilize the wound. She needed the bleeding to stop.
Chell looked around but found and frowned at the lack of towels in the bathroom. There wasn't any in under the sink either. Seeing no other option but to use what bit of cloth she did have, she pulled the jumpsuit completely off and began to tear a leg off to act as a bandage.
She then sat on the toilet seat and put another piece of her jumpsuit in her mouth and bit down. This is going to suck she thought. One, two, three... A deep breath before she poured the contents of the bottle onto her shoulder as her eyes screwed tight and her hisswas muffled bythe fabric. The pain was stabbing and continued to linger even as she managed to get the orange fabric strips tied around the wound. She repeated the whole process for her stomach as well before standing up and moving back into the hall.
Going to the bedroom, Chell opened the door but immediately stopped in the doorway. It wasn’t another creature, but it was justas disturbing to see.
Laying on the bed was a person. Or what was leftof one. All that was leftwas a skeleton, long decomposed. It was wearing a threadbare suit with one hand laying at its side, the other on its chest. Above the skeleton’s head was a large brown stain splattered across the headboard. Another blood stain. Getting closer revealed a sizable hole in the skull. Chell pursed her lips and squeezed her eyes shut. She felt like she needed to say something but nothing came to mind.
Upon opening her eyes she noticed the glint of metal laying on the figures, justbeneath the corpses' hand.
The site made Chell frown once more. She put a hand on the foot of the bed and closed her eyes, giving the person some form of respect before she completely desecrated their bedroom. Without another thought, Chell turned to the closet and nearby dresser. A quick scan revealed several shirts and pairs of pants. She took several out and laid them on the floor instead of the bed for obvious reasons. The shirts were good enough but the pants were too large. Chell found a belt in another drawer and used it so the pants wouldn’t fall off.
The shirt was a long sleeve burnt orange color and the pants simple dark blue jeans. The clothing had some holes from mice chewing through, but they would serve her purpose. After dressing justoutside the bedroom, she reentered and approached the bed. Chell kept her head turned away and eyes closed as she picked the gun up. She was robbing and desecrating the dead but that didn’t mean she had to like it.
Chell didn’t remember ever holding or using a gun other than the portal gun before so she tried to remember movies. No single movie stuck out because she couldn't remember any but the motions in her mind played out. She pushed a button near the trigger and the magazine fell out. No bullets in it. She put the magazine back in and pulled the slide back. Nothing in the chamber either. The skeleton must have used the last one for themselves.
She tucked the gun into the waistband of her pants since a holster couldn't be found. Chell mostlyjustdidn't want to search for one at this point.
The last two things Chell snatched from the room were a spare bedsheet from the closet and a jacket. The jacket was a dark grey and a little too long in the sleeves but was warm enough. The bedsheet was foldedand tied into a makeshift sling bag for the extra clothes and it would soon hold Chell’s cube.
Her cube… She had left it on the street. She shouldn’t have done that. It was probablywondering where she was by now. She should have brought it with her! She could have gotten it upstairs but no! She had left it behind. What a horrible thing to do!
'You are a horrible person. That's what it says; a horrible person We weren't even testing for that.'
She shook her head at the memory before taking a deep breath. Her cube would be fine for a few more minutes. Nothing bad would happen to it...
After casting another look at the dead on the bed, Chell frowned once more before saying, “Thank you.” Her voice was quiet and foreign to her own ears, but she was happy to have gotten the two simple words out. She turned the lock inside the door and closed it behind her, sealing the grave once more.
Back in the living room, Chell fished through a few of the boxes but they were all files. Justboxes and boxes of files but nothing of use to her unless she wanted to start a fire. She pushed them aside before going into the kitchen. Most of the cabinets were empty but strangelyshe found an extra box of bullets in a drawer. At least she would have some form of protection against the creatures outside. She loaded the gun, flipped the safety on, then stuffed it back into her waistband. She had five extra bullets and put them into her pocket before continuing her search of the kitchen.
She opened the freezer but shut it as fast as she could a moment later. The smell of rotting meat that had been sealedinside wafted out and filled her nostrils. It made her start coughing uncontrollably. The fridge was empty except for strange stains and mold growing in a corner like a culture test. Chell was down to the last cabinet and the hopes of food were getting slim. As if some force of nature was taking pity on her, she found a single can of tuna, unopened, in the cabinet.
She grabbed it and pulled at the tab on top before digging her fingers into the fish. She didn’t like the smell, but the taste was amazing to her. Her stomach was growling as it was wanting more and more. Unable to take it anymore, she scooped up a handful into her palm and ate much like an animal would out of a handler's palm. The can was empty far too soon for Chell and her stomachs' liking. Something was better than nothing at least.
After licking her fingers clean the best she could, she tossed the can out the open window and into the street below. If she was going to do this, then she’d need to move sooner rather than later.
She knew the answer but just to test it out, Chell tried the taps. They didn’t work but made a hissing sound instead. No water.
Double checking her makeshift bag, Chell climbed back outside the window and started climbing up the fire escape once again. She climbed until it went no further. If she could, she would have climbed up onto the roof so she could see better, but the fifth floor would have to do. She could see her cube far below and that creature still justwalking aimlesslyaround it. It’s as if it knew she was still nearby. Chell watched it and calculated its speed before climbing up onto the railing of the fire escape.
Another moment passed then there was the feeling of falling. Accelerating at high speeds that is stoppedsuddenlywith as much force as if she only took a small hop in place. The only difference between this jump and a test chamber is that she landed directlyon top of a snarling and dangerous creature. Chell had aimed one of her feet to hit the very center of the creature's head and she heard a grunt then silence. It no longer moved or tried to attack so she assumed that meant it was dead. That brought a smile to her face. Funny how she was smiling more on the surface with murderous creatures than she did back in Aperture with murderous robots.
The only thing was that Chell’s smile died the moment she looked down. The creature was different now. The plucked chicken hadn’t actually been the head at all but a different creature all together. It had been sitting on the head of what Chell now realized was a person. Or what used to be a person…
Chell dropped to her knees and could only stare. She did her best to keep the food she had justeaten from coming back up at the sight. There was driedblood crusted around the eyes, nose, and mouth of what was once a human being. Whatever was not covered in blood was pale as a ghost in comparison. Its hair was shreddedand knotted with deep lacerations on the scalp that revealed the skull underneath. The eyes were twistedshut and practicallymelded together into a smooth expanse dotted by black specks of what might have once been the eyes. The nose was bulging and pale, but the mouth was the most horrifying aspect.
The mouth was twistedinto a perpetual scream. It was wider than any mouth should be and stretched to the point that the corners of the mouth were ripped. The tongue looked to missing all together, but the inside of its mouth was justa swollen mass of red. If she could ascribe one word to the sight, it would be agony. Pure unadulterated agony. It was terrifying and yet hard to look away.
Looking to the creature that had been sitting on the persons head, Chell felt a surge of anger course through her. She picked it while clambering to her feet. In an instant, she dropped it and kicked it as hard as she could before it could hit the ground. It went sailing like a ball and bounced off the nearby wall with a wet smack. Looking around, she saw where the other one had been and stalked over to rip the chicken thing off and revealed a much similar sight beneath. If it wasn’t for the slight difference in hair color and jaw shape, she would have thought they’d be the same person.
They were humans at one point… Chell felt her hand tighten on the skin of the creature before she tossed it away with all her might.
It couldn’t be, Chell thought to herself. She couldn’t be all thatwas leftof humanity. There had to be more than these creatures. GLaDOS had said there were humans on the surface and deer too. It could have been a lie though. She had lied in the past, had she lied about humans too?
Putting her cube into the sling, she walked back to that convenience store from before and began to scour the shelves. No more creatures but there was another skeleton. Chell soon found what she needed. She opened up the map to find what she believed to be her location. She didn’t have much to go on besides being in the Michigan Peninsula, but there looked to be a larger road nearby. If she was to find civilization, that would be her best bet.
Her face shifted into stone as she made another pass through the shelves. The only other source of food she could find was a single can of potted meat. Shoving it into the sling as well, she exited the store and started walking.
She met a few more of the crab headed creatures but she found out if you moved out of site quicklyenough they seemed to forget about you. Chell nodded at that and continued to move. She wasn’t going to give up just yet. No. She was only beginning.