Chell wandered through the wheat field, portal gun in hand, and the Companion Cube in the portal gun's zero-energy-field-manipulator. The day was drawing to a close, and Chell knew that she had to find a place to stay for the night.

She eventually came across an old warehouse, which had some logo on it. A triangle-ish thing in a circle. She opened the door, and instantly jumped back.

Blood was splattered against the walls and floor, and even some on the ceiling, and a corpse, already decomposing, was sprawled out on a folding chair.

Chell closed her eyes and tried to wake herself up, expecting to find herself in one of Aperture's motel-type rooms again. She opened her eyes, hoping to see the ceiling fan and hearing the mechanical voice instructing her to look up. What she saw instead was was something similar to a rope hanging from a thing on the ceiling. She picked up a socket wrench she saw against a wall and poked the rope, only to have the wrench yanked out of her hand and travel upwards into the thing, only to have it fall after reaching the thing.

She avoided the rope that came down again, and tried to look for a place in this nightmarish building that she could possibly sleep in without having to worry about things. She found stairs that led downwards, and despite her inner voice telling her to go risk the darkness outside to find another location, she walked down the stairs, looking for things as she went.

As soon as she reached the bottom, she found that she was still holding the socket wrench. She looked at the Companion Cube, and set it down in a corner, thinking that she would probably need the wrench over the cube that was just extra weight. She pushed the cube so that it fit the corner perfectly, gave it a little pat, and took in her surroundings. Yes, there was some blood here, but not as much as upstairs. And the only corpse she saw here was what looked like some animal. It was like a little crab, she thought, but without the shell. And instead of red blood surrounding it, it looked almost greenish. She resisted the urge to vomit, and found a decent enough corner to stay the night in. The last thing she saw before she fell asleep was the animal laying on the ground.

She woke up for the first time as a free woman, but then realized that she wasn't any better off than she was back at Aperture. When she first saw the wheat field, she hadn't expected to see such horrors as she had.

Weren't birds supposed to chirp when you woke up? Wasn't the sun supposed to shine on her face? She then remembered that she was in a basement, and avoiding the animal-creature, she headed for the stairs, when she noticed the Companion Cube.

Goodbye, she thought to it. I'll come back for you when I know what's going on.

As she headed up the stairs, she remembered the rope-thing-creature, and once again, looked for any others there might be. She zipped up her jumpsuit to protect her from the morning chill as she headed for the door. She stuck the wrench in one of the pockets, and placed the portal gun correctly in her hand,when she noticed a little green box right next to the door. Curious, she opened it, to find a shotgun and ammo, as well as a strap to place on her jumpsuit to hold the items. Thinking that it was better safe than sorry, she placed the weapon and ammo on the strap, and put the strap over her outfit.

I'm ready, she thought, and opened the door, to find a bloody person walking around outside.

She wanted to call out to see if he was okay, but remembering she couldn't speak, walked over and tapped him on the shoulder.

The man turned around and, if Chell could, she would have screamed. The man looked like he had no face, but she then realized that one of the creatures like the one in the basement had attached itself to the mans face. She reached out to pull it off, when the man screamed and tried to scratch her. Chell, having fast reflexes due to the endless tests she had to go through, dodged them, only getting a little scratched. It was nothing compared to getting shot at, she thought.

She then noticed that the man had claws, and his stomach was torn open. The man-thing started walking towards her, screaming in agony, and tried to claw at her again. Chell took her portal gun and hit him against the head as hard as she could, but the man only stumbled back, only to come after her again. Realizing she had no choice, she grabbed the loaded shotgun and shot at him right on the head. As the man fell, she thanked no one in particular for the practice she had at aiming with the portal gun.

The creature had fallen off of his face, and Chell saw the bloodied face of a man crying out in terror.

Oh my God, I killed him! she thought. She then looked at the dead creature next to him.

No, wait, that thing killed him, didn't it. I probably saved him. What's going on here?

She reloaded her shotgun and started running away from that place, going nowhere in particular except away.

"No, Dad, please! Please, don't go! I...I need you!" Alyx cried into her father's corpse. Clutching into his chest, she sobbed even harder. "Dad...Dad, no! Please! I...I don't want you to leave me! Dad!"

Gordon could only watch as he saw Alyx cry. He never saw her cry before. He saw her when she was happy, saw her when she was scared, saw her worried, even seen her almost dead before. Never crying. Alyx was so strong, and yet she's crying.

DOG looked down at Alyx and tried to give her a concerned look. Even though he was a robot, Gordon knew that DOG somehow felt responsible for Eli's death. DOG was genuinely sad. How could robots actually have emotions? This only proved that Eli was indeed a genius.

"Oh, dear!" Kleiner gasped in the doorway. Gordon looked back and saw that both he and Magnusson had finally arrived. Magnusson seemed to hesitate, and Gordon heard him say "Great, yet another unpleasant distraction." Even through his words, Gordon could see that Magnusson was trying his hardest not to show his emotion. He knew that Magnusson wasn't as cold-hearted as he tried to make others believe.

Gordon walked over to Alyx and placed a hand on her shoulder, looking at the body of his friend. Even though they were the same age, Eli showed it. Gordon realized, that if it weren't for the G-man, he would also be much older, and Alyx obviously wouldn't think of Gordon the same way she did now. She would have thought of him as on of her dad's old scientist buddies.

Alyx looked up at Gordon, tears freely running down her face, and Gordon didn't even know what to do. Alyx rushed into Gordon and started crying into his chest. "He's gone." she said. "I can't believe that he's really gone!"

Gordon wrapped his arms around Alyx's trembling form and tried his best to comfort her. Magnusson and Kleiner both came down and looked at the late Eli's body.

"Oh, dear." Kleiner said again. "My poor friend." He then looked to Alyx and Gordon with a sad look, and said to Alyx, "Well, he's in a better place, my dear. I'm so sorry."

Alyx's cries eventually became softer, and it then occurred to Gordon that she might have passed out due to all the events that happened that day.

He looked at Kleiner for help. Kleiner, realizing the situation Gordon was in, gave him a little smile, and said "There's a room for her here you can put her in. I'll show you where it is." He looked down once more at his deceased friend, and walked up the stairs. Gordon placed Alyx gently in his arms and followed Kleiner up the stairs and into the many corridors until they reached a door.

"This is it, Gordon. Try not to wake her, she needs her rest, my poor dear."

Gordon nodded and walked into the room and placed Alyx on the bed. He looked down at her one more time, then turned off the light and walked out of the room.

"I'm sure she'll be fine soon. This has been quite a shock for all of us." Kleiner said.

Just then, Magnussons's voice came out over the intercom. "Attention workers, it appears that Advisors found our lab. Good news is, we only have one casualty. Bad news is, it was Dr. Eli Vance, and now we also have to move out of here and find a new location. We will bury Vance at sunset, don't be late. After that, pick up any personal belongings you might have and move out, we're blowing this place up. Too much valuable information, see."

Kleiner straightened his tie. "I guess I better start help digging the grave." he said quietly. "You can help if you want, Gordon."

Gordon nodded and followed Kleiner out of the building.