Want You Gone

[Epilogue: Chell]

As soon as I awoke, I pressed my way through the field, far from the dusty shed that had become of Aperture, and far from the life I had known. Now, I knew no life. I wasn't sure what I was going to do know.

All I knew, was that I carried-- or dragged-- a peice of my old life along with me. The companion cube was too much to lift alonflg without my trusty portal gun, so I took to pushing it along with my feet as I walked. The thing flattened out the wheat that I trudged through, leaving a straight trail back to the utility shed. If the trail of smushed plant life remained there, it could serve as a trail back to Aperture; not that I would ever need it.

I wasn't planning on turning back, now, but if I ever were to come in contact with it again, I wouldn't need a trail. I wouldn't even have to look for it; it had a way of finding its way to me, first.

Whatever the case, I needed to keep my eyes forward. I had passed a few old buildings on my way, but it was nothing but foundations. Even the debris from the old buildings was gone. I must have been walking through a once booming city, now lost entirely to time, and to a wheat field.

Was there anyone left? Even a trace of society? Surely, not everyone was gone... right? With the way things were looking: Peaceful, quiet, undisturbed... It must have been true. There was truly no one left.

At least, this is what I thought. At some point along the way, I had stopped, because one specific structure caught my eye. It looked far more in tact than the rest, and it was very large; much larger than any of the other small ruins I'd come across.

 I went to examine it, finding myself stepping onto the pavement of a parking lot. In every crack, dried grass and weeds had sprouted wildly. Scattered all around, were metal bits, large rings, and what looked to be remnants of a test chamber. 

I looked to the building, which was still fairly sheltered, save for a few holes in the roof. This was undoubtedly the same lot I had found myself being dragged out of after I had defeated GLaDOS the first time. How, I wondered, was everything still preserved? 

I inched my way closer to the building, knocking on the wall. "Hello...?" I called, with an ounce of hope that maybe someone was still alive, though it was a far-off dream. I stepped through a hole in the wall and listened as frail, weathered bricks and concrete crushed underneath my boots. The air inside was musty, but astonishingly, the place almost looked like it was kept up with. 

Inside, there were old tables and chairs, arranged thoughtfully. The floors were somewhat clear, and papers were scattered about in an organized mess. The most peculiar thing that I had noticed, was the radio in the corner of the room, that was emitting a soft static, and the dozens of coffee cups stacked on one of the tables. 

I inched closer, blinking slowly, before I heard a rustling in the wheat just outside. I turned quickly. "Hello-?" I called out, a bit frightened. I slowly made my way back out into the sun and scanned the area. Nothing seemed out of place, until I noticed that my friend, the Companion cube, had vanished from where I'd left it. 

"No," I gasped, running over to where it had been. "No, no..." I looked around frantically, but it seemed to have just disappeared. 

From behind me, I heard a startled yell, and a rustle. As quick as I could turn my head, I saw a man in a white overcoat fall back into the grass, the scorched cube in his grasp, but only barely. 

"H-Hey! That's mine!" I shouted a the man as he let go of the cube and scrambled back. The man's expression was one of terror and shock. His face, all but his nose and ears, which were bright red, was dull and pale. Under his eyes, were dark, purple bags. The man's eyes in question were a light blue. I noticed that one seemed darker than the other, and one of his pupils were far larger, making his sunken eyes appear uneven.