Robotic love

Someone else

When Chell had finally reached her destination, had finally reached freedom, she had been suspicious. Who guaranteed her that this wasn’t another one of GLaDOS traps? It could all be fake. The environment looked real and the wheat smelled real, but how could she be sure? GLaDOS surely wouldn’t just let her go. Her speech about being best friends and Chell being hard to kill didn’t sound anything like her. So she stayed at the small shack for almost an hour.

She sat on the companion cube they had given her, watching birds fly around the shack and listened to the bugs that were hiding deep in the wheat field. And she started to doubt. GLaDOS definitely would have made a comment by now if she was watching. Why wouldn’t she watch her to make sure she wouldn’t survive another time. Did that monster really... just let her go?

Chell‘s expression didn’t change as she stood up at made slow, short steps into the field. Two, three, four, five... nothing. No turrets were suddenly put beside her, the ground wasn’t pulled away. She was... free? She was finally free? For the first time in ages, Chell allowed herself to show her disbelief. There was no acknowledgement from GLaDOS, no snarky remark. Chell was no longer a test subject.

With a soft smile, Chell went deeper and deeper into the wheat field. Finally, after so much struggle, she’d be able to see other humans again. She eagerly awaited the moment she would finally be reunited with civilisation. But Chell wasn't stupid. She knew integrating into society would be hard after everything she had been through. She knew that trusting people and relaxing would be the hardest for her to relearn. She knew people wouldn't understand what she had been through and that she would be a social outcast. But everything was better than being stuck in Aperture with a GLaDOS.

But once Chell had reached the first town, she had wondered if there even was a way to be reunited with any sort of civilization. Plants twined up the walls of every building, the rooftops of most houses had big holes in them. And most importantly, there was nobody around. Not a single human being. She had seen a few birds flying around and an old, forgotten dog who had been abandoned by his owner limped across one street. Other than that, there was simply nothing.

Chell had known that something happened in the outside world. There had to be a reason why nobody ever came to Aperture in hopes of finding some of its inventions or freeing the few people stuck inside. She thought that GLaDOS might have attacked them to keep them away, but now that the girl was outside she realized GLaDOS had absolutely no control outside of Aperture. So what had caused so much destruction if it hadn't been her? An epidemic? A war?

Despite her discovery, Chell refused to just give up. It wasn't in her nature to stop moving and break down crying, cursing her horrible fate. Her stubbornness had always made her keep going as a test subject, when GLaDOS had made her do test after test. Even after Wheatley's betrayal she hadn't stopped fighting. She had already gotten so far, she had finally escaped Aperture, giving up just wasn't an option for her. That was the reason why she kept walking and left the first town in search for another one. Pure stubbornness. There had to be humans around here somewhere and she would find them no matter what.

After at least three days of wandering through the towns surrounding Aperture, Chell finally had come to the realization that it didn't matter. Every town was destroyed and the humans were gone. The buildings of the others towns were also damaged, but the difference was that there were a few corpses lying on the streets. Most of their flesh had decomposed until there were only bones, but what really shocked Chell was how many bodies were those of children. It was a horrific sight.

The girl had searched through the ingredients, but the only thing she deemed to still be edible were some cans filled with beans and some honey. The beans weren't a meal she enjoyed, but she had to stay alive somehow and beggars couldn't be choosers. Chell was just glad she was used to eating almost nothing. Her stomach growled a little as she lied on the ground, but it was manageable.

The next morning she ate a little bit of the honey, probably enjoying the sweet taste a little more than she should. It wasn’t much, but she knew she couldn’t eat everything if she wanted to survive. She wasn’t even sure if her stomach could handle it after eating barely enough to keep her alive for such a long time.

She sighed and turned around to seek shelter in one of the less damaged houses- just to be face to face with another woman. Chell froze, her eyes dilating as the other woman watched her silently. They stood there for a couple of minutes, not daring to look away.

Chell shivered with cold. Her orange jumpsuit just wasn't made to keep her warm. At least not with a temperature as low as here. Back at Aperture, the temperature never got as low as outside. Still, she didn't move. She didn't go to a warmer place like she could have so she wouldn't get sick. Instead, she stared at the woman that stood only three metres in front of her. And the woman stared back.

It had been a long time since Chell had seen another human being. Too long. She didn't know how long it had actually been. Why would she? She didn't even know what year it was or how much time had passed since she had began testing for GLaDOS. What she knew was that all villages around Aperture Science had been abandoned for a long time. 

Then, the other woman held out her hand with a little smile.