Chell had been long gone, presumably very far away from Aperture. She was intent on her own survival and stood strong-minded day after day. She was impatient and eager to explore the world she'd been deprived from for years, but turns out... it wasn't exactly what she expected.
The woman had accidentally stumbled across a once fully-populated town about a few weeks ago. The place was completely destroyed and appeared to be abandoned for a long, long time, considering there was no sign of life anywhere. Old guns and disfigured rotting corpses were left out in the middle of the roads, laying in a pool of their own dried blood. It was a horrid sight, and she was forced to look away, wondering what had happened out here. Venturing curiously but cautiously further into the wreckage, her foot lightly kicked through a hill of loose rubble, and she saw pieces of filthied white torn posters, all displaying the same peculiar message. A single word. "Born". A skillfully painted picture of an open hand holding an odd symbol in the palm. She couldn't understand the meaning behind this painting at all, considering she had no knowledge of anything in the outside world to begin with. So, she simply chose to disregard it for the time being, and kept on walking.
Not too much later, she finally exited the town, but empty-handed and with no luck in scavenging for supplies. It was starting to get dark out, but she was still curious to see what was further ahead. Instead of turning back like she probably should have, she kept on going, and a bit further than she should have. She'd been suddenly brought to a halt in the middle of the street by two masked figures, both wearing the same black attire and every inch of their skin being covered. Staring into the glowing blue oculars of their masks, she swallowed nervously.
"You citizen, stop right there." One of them ordered, pointing directly at her.
The first aspect of these beings that'd caught her off guard, was the electronically defamiliarized voice speaking sternly at her. Right away, she assumed these things weren't human judging by their voice and attire. They couldn't have been human... But more importantly, who the hell were they and what did they want with her?
Startled by the two's sudden approach, she backed away on instinct, but that only seemed to irritate them even more when she disobeyed their command. When she stepped back, they came forward, and before she knew it, she was sprinting, then running as fast as her legs would take her, the two masked figured right behind her with speed almost matching up to her own. Racing as fast as she could down the road, her heart pounded in her chest, sharp breaths of air being inhaled and exhaled past her lips. Glancing back just briefly to see if they were still after her, she was suddenly met with a heavy blow to the shoulder with something that felt like a strong electric shok, causing her to lose her footing and stumble forward to a halt, the two beings taking advantage of the moment and violently grabbing her by both her arms.
Not only had they harshly yanked her back by her arms and a handful of her hair to keep her steady under their control, but they forcefully shoved her to the ground, knocking the air right out of her lungs. Before she had a chance to retaliate or even think, she was held down and given another painful electric jolt to the waist by one of their stun sticks. Choking out a pained gasp, she just faintly heard the sound of one of their radios clicking on, and that same cold voice vocalizing aloud again.
"Officer needs assistance. Send backup at zone 22. Report of unidentified citizen in block 08."
Chell winced, a wave of fear and dread rushing over her. She was not about to let herself get captured this easily. Adrenaline instantly kicking in and giving her the strength to fight back in retaliation, she shook off the discomfort radiating through her body and quickly wedged her legs between her and the being on top of her and gave a forceful kick to their stomach, the strong metal heel of her long fall boots making the hit even more painful. Watching as the man collapsed in response beside her, she slipped herself from out beneath them and swiftly rose to her feet, only to be greeted with the barrel of a gun pointed directly at her forehead. Breath hitching in her throat, it was just to her luck that the officer she hit was rising to their feet again, this time, agitated. He too pulled out his gun in defense.
It all happened so fast and she knew she couldn't escape this one without a bullet being shot point-blank at her face. Closing her eyes shut and expecting the blow to come, the sound of a trigger had been pulled, but it hadn't been either of theirs. When she opened her eyes, the officer she had kicked off of her had collapsed to the ground, a visible hole in the forehead of its mask and a pool of crimson leaking out from beneath them. Blood? So they were human, or-?
"Shit- Officer down, I am 10-99 I repeat, I am 10-99! All units come through to my 10-" The officer spoke in such a rush that it was almost uncomprehendable. But before he could finish his request, another gunshot erupted, and he too collapsed at her feet, his dying noise a long lifeline beep, then fading off to static.
Stepping back with a frightened look on her face, she heard the sound of multiple footsteps approaching her from behind and she instantly spun around to face them. To her surprise, she had been warmly greeted by a small group of fully-armored men and women who had claimed to be part of "The Resistance". The name was what caught her off guard, though. Resistance? Who the hell were they? Resistance against 'what'? As the leader gestured towards one of their professional medics on duty, the woman medic had calmly walked up to Chell to make sure she was unwounded. She simply stood there, dumbfounded as the medic carefully checked her over. She was still trying to comprehend everything that had just happened, but her thoughts were short lived when the male leader of the group stepped forward, clearing his throat before he spoke.
"I'm Kojin, the temporary leader of this group. You're lucky we saw you when we did; we were just on our way back to the base when our medic here spotted those two Civil Protection guys harassin' you." He rested his gun on his shoulder before continuing. "You look quite like another straggler, so, how about we take you back to our base and provide you with the basic food, water and armory? It's practically a stone's throw away from this place, not too long of a walk. What'ya say?"
Standing there in absolute silence, she carefully considered his open offer. She 'had' been struggling out here on her own for so long, hardly no food, no water, no human contact, just nothing. But could she really trust these people right away? Well- they 'did' just save her life, and they seemed nice enough.
Exhaling, she obliged with a single nod.
She had taken shelter with the resistance for a full two weeks before deciding she needed to get away from this place. But for what reason, exactly? There was just so much she couldn't believe. During her stay with the group, she'd heard everything about what'd happened to the outside world she was still so new to, and all their tragic stories hit her like a ton of bricks. The woman had listened to every little detail about the whole 'Black Mesa Incident'; An experiment gone wrong. They all reminisced on the Seven hour war, each of them telling their own personal stories of that day. Chell only stood there the entire time, shoulders sagged in disbelief. While everybody had finally settle in that night and headed off to bed, she instead, chose to stay up with the people awake on watch duty. She just couldn't sleep, not after everything she'd learned about today. The world was at war. She was devastated.
Wandering aimlessly around the base that night, she had found a cork board hanging crookedly on a wall, papers scattered and pinned on top of another, covering every inch of the board. But what caught her attention, was an old newspaper cutout.
'EARTH SURRENDERS'
She about almost lost it when she read the bolded headline, forced to cover her mouth with her hand to refrain from making any sort of noise that very moment. Her gaze shortly traveled downwards to the picture below. A tall, enormous building was lit on fire. From what the small print said below the image, it was UN Headquarters, and the area was under attack. Fiery clouds of black smoke erupted from the smaller city buildings behind, as well. The beautiful purple-tinted sky, ruined. Tainted with an ugly black. Extraterrestrial-looking aircraft seemed to be flying overhead, and on the ground, two massive robot-like creatures with extremely long legs came striding through the city, destroying everything in its path, as the newspaper stated.
Unpinning the piece of paper from the cork-board, she folded it up and had shoved it in her pocket before anyone would have noticed. Briefly glancing at the newspaper that was hidden behind that one, she stared at it in the midst of depression.
'7 Hour War Ends In Combine Victory'
Lowering her head in dismal, she turned on her her heel, shoulders sagged, and left. The world was nothing compared to the way she'd expected it to turn out to be all this time. She was beginning to have second thoughts about staying, after all. There was nothing here for her, no new life to start, no happiness, and certainly no freedom. Only death and destruction. Watching the last of humanity die before her very eyes, was when she finally, truly gave up. She couldn't take it anymore.
But where to now?
No place was assured safe out here anymore. Like she heard someone say before, "no place is safe, only safer". She remembered those words more than anything else and pondered over the statement several times. Then one day, she remembered. She dwelled on the thought of Aperture for days, wondering if going back there would potentially be more safe. Get shot and killed out here, or get shot and killed in there. Frankly, being out here in the middle of a bloody war with dangerous creatures, combine soldiers and so many other threats she was unfamiliar with, was much worst. At least, in that facility, she was unafraid, due to the fact that she had already gotten so used to it. She would have more of a chance in there than out here, that's for sure.
And at that, she made her final decision.
It didn't take her long to make up her mind. When she finally choose and was definitely sure about it, she didn't dare think twice. Finding an old backpack in an old storage closet, she'd packed plenty of food and water (knowing this base had a great supply of it) and slipped out of there without a single word. She was intent on going back. Find that wheatfield, whatever it takes.
Nearly about three days later, Chell had finally seen the familiar golden field within view through the dark, and she momentarily sighed, both in exhaustion and relief. Still, she couldn't believe she was going back. Soon, several hours passed, and eventually Chell was able to see the sun beginning to rise from the horizon. That's right, she had the brilliant idea to skip this particular night's sleep and keep walking non-stop. Soon enough just like she expected, she began to feel light-headed and was about ready to collapse and give in to the urge to sleep. But she had some pretty strong will-power and continued to walk, regardless of how miserable she was feeling. Lips slowly parting until her mouth opened up wide, she gave a loud yawn and finally paused in her tracks for a moment. Unholstering her backpack from her shoulders, she lightly tossed it to the ground and stretched her arms and shoulders, taking a moment to stretch her muscles and calm her nerves. Exhaling, she calmly raised her head and peered right ahead, observing her surroundings intensely. Squinting her eyes just slightly, she suddenly caught sight of something far off in the distance. Something that seemed very familiar...
Grabbing her bag and suddenly breaking into a sprint with new found energy, she passed through the miles and miles of wheat until she was finally able to see what she saw all the way back there. There it was. It looked the absolute same from the last time she saw it. The shed. Her heart seemed to stop for a moment.
Seizing her jog and approaching the shed with slow, hesitant steps, Chell finally paused when she was just inches away from it. She was back... Back to the place she agreed to never come back to. Her mind was just so overwhelmed with exhaustion and disbelief, that she could hardly think straight. With all this fatigue plaguing her body, she was bound to make every wrong decision. Running a gentle hand across the metal door framing, her shoulders sagged and her head lowered. Several moments later, she had wrapped her delicate fingers around the door handle and gave it an experimental firm jerk, the door suddenly emitting a loud screeching noise as the metal scraped against the cement beneath. Grunting quietly in protest, she gave one more forceful yank and the door flew open, warm rays of sunlight pouring in from behind her. Resting a hand on the doorframe beside her, her eyes focused on the interiors of the shed, remembering the day she was here, stepping into a whole new world. A world she was unable to bear.
Lifting her gaze upwards to observe an old dusty camera at the top corner of the shed, she suddenly noticed its red light flicker on right as she turned her attention towards it. She froze up, staring straight at the camera's optic with a sense of unease. Lightly biting down on her tongue, she took the slightest step back, half-expecting for something to happen. When nothing did right away, she breathed out and lowered her arms down to her sides, her eyes averting towards the ground as she turned her back towards the shed and stepped back outside to try to clear her mind. Covering her face with both her hands for a moment to block everything from her view, she gave a hardly noticeable shake of her head, as if regretting every decision she's ever made. Slumping down to the ground, she sat there on her knees. Everything had gone silent.
In which Wheat has known Bri's GLaDOS too long and has developed a stupidity strong enough to be immune to Her insults and continue to relentlessly hit on Her
