Chapter Text
Chell took her first steps into the golden wheat fields that stretched around her for kilometres. She inhaled deeply and felt her lungs fill with fresh oxygen for the first time. The invisible fluid crashed into her lungs like a tidal wave against jagged cliffs, pulses of relaxation and pleasure coursing through her arteries. The sensation almost knocked her off her feet; she had completely forgotten how refreshing it was to take in non-recycled air. Instantaneously, her mind, which had been racing non-stop for the past twenty-seven hours, calmed. All thoughts previously occupied by homicidal intelligence-dampening spheres, egotistical scientific minds and very large pits ceased as she sat in that moment, bathing in the golden, resplendent sun rays cascading across her pale skin. Chell’s thin, tight-lipped mouth cracked and spread into a wide, resplendent grin. She couldn’t help it. The feeling of being outside again was too much to bear on her deprived senses. A tear rolled down her cheek. And then another. And then another. Many tears fell in quick succession and before Chell knew it, she was openly weeping.
She was free.
Holy shit, she was free.
She tried to let out a loud cheer, but her vocal chords crackled and what emerged from her throat was much less a cheer of triumph as it was a gurgle of mild excitement. Apparently, disuse of one’s vocal chords for an extended period of time followed by a sudden burst of energy flowing through them leads to less than favourable results? Chell cleared her throat, took another deep breath and tried again, this time to much better results. The sudden loud sound bounded across the wide-open space and dispersed almost as quickly, dissolved into the screaming natural cacophony of her surroundings. About twenty metres away, a crow had been spooked by the sound and it lifted out of the field and flew away. Chell watched the crow flap in the air until it got so far away that she could no longer make out the bird’s wings from its body. Again, she sat in that moment, feeling her being reconnect with the natural world, something that it had been deprived of for who knows how long. It was weird to think about, but this world felt alien to her. The lush, warm and silent outdoors was the world she had originated in, and yet it felt intensely strange compared to the lab she had just come from. After being in that cold, dark, artificial cave, filled with the constant hum of machinery, her body had adapted. It found comfort in the fact that there was always a noise, no matter how low, no matter how quiet. There was always a presence. She was always there. And now she was…free.
Chell’s grin slipped slightly and looked around. Now what? She had finally achieved her goal of escape, yet she didn’t know what to do with her newfound freedom. She spun in a circle, scanning the horizon for any semblance of a destination, a human settlement, a grove of trees, even a hill that rose above the rest of the field. Nothing. Chell threw her hands up in frustration. Aperture just had to expel her into the middle of the flattest plain in the world, full of unmilled wheat. Granted, the only reason that GLaDOS had sent her out was because she literally couldn’t be bothered to try and kill her anymore. No chance she would care about anything to do with her wellbeing. Maybe this was intentional, a last ditch attempt to kill her: Perhaps Chell was expelled at the Aperture exit furthest from human civilization, too far for any human to reasonably reach before they expired due to thirst. GLaDOS was probably laughing to herself in the heart of Aperture, gleeful that she had finally removed the biggest thorn in her side. Chell grit her teeth. She turned around to look at the small shed she had just stepped out of. She walked toward the building and kicked the side as hard as she could. Her foot made contact and the sound reverberated across the landscape, just as her excited exclamation had done moments before. It wasn’t just sound that was reverberating; pain shot up Chell’s leg and throughout her nervous system. She choked down a verbal outcry and turned away. She stood facing the field before, curiously, turning back around. Chell had braced for the structure to be searing hot and yet, when her foot connected with the wall, it was entirely cooled. She walked back over and, slowly, pressed her palms to the metal. Huh, she thought. She then concentrated on the sensation of the metal beneath her fingers, waiting to see if she could feel it. After ten seconds of waiting motionlessly, she found it. Past the feel of the wind, past the rise and fall of her lungs, even past her own heartbeat, she could feel it: The thrum of the machine. Very faint, essentially imperceivable if you didn’t know what you were looking for, and yet still present. Chell honestly couldn’t believe she was able to zero in on the sensation through all the background noise, faster than she could even have predicted as well.
It was almost as if her body knew to look for it.
Like picking a face out of a crowd of a thousand people.
After all, she had been inhabiting the lab for 9999999…
Chell retracted from the structure and heaved. Harsh, yellow liquid poured from her mouth, pooling around her bare feet. She barely had time to gasp for another breath before another deluge rose from her stomach. After the second, her guts attempted to eject a third, but the convulsing muscles found nothing left within themselves.
Why the hell had that happened?? Chell thought to herself.
A completely reasonable question. She hadn’t felt a smidge ill since as far back as she could remember, since she first woke up in that pod. What was happening inside her body? Chell steadied her throbbing head and stepped away from the sheet metal structure. Seeking a distraction from her head spinning, she turned her attention to the companion that had been sent up with her: Her beloved Companion Cube. A grin slipped back onto her face. She staggered over to the cube and sat down beside it. She nudged the cube playfully. The cube said nothing. She slid her arm around it and stared off into the golden sea surrounding them.
The wind blew.
Another crow rose from the sea of gold.