Monster Research

Was that really something moving in the water? Surely not? Panicking, you swim up to the edge of the pool and get out. Looking behind you, you see the water rippling slightly. Was it your wake? Or something else? You can't believe you fell in. Amateur. You look up at the light you were fixing. What was it that made you fall? Either way, the light was broken and you need to wait until tomorrow to fix it now. Better do this in daylight. Your eyes rest on the water. Maybe it was one of the interns swimming, you had seen one of them out here earlier. It was probably that. Bloody interns. You were only one last year, but still. You always said you wouldn't hate interns. But here we are. Society. [[Watch pool some longer]] [[Go back inside the research institute]]

You try to catch a glimpse of stuff out there. the water does seem to be moving. But it's hard to tell with the light broken. You walk to the edge of the pool. 'Anyone there?' No answer. YOu pretty sure your dropped your screwdriver in the pool too as you fell. Your favourite screwdriver. Sure you could get another one, but not the same. You wouldnt go as far to say it was yoy lucky screwdriver, evidently it wasnt. But you had a connection to it. You take a glowstick out of your pocket and snap it. It's bright green seeps into existence. You throw it into the pool to see if it does anything. The glowstick disappears after a few seconds. Strange. Maybe it was faulty. Either way, you need to get out of these wet clothes. [[Go back inside the research institute]] [[Look further at the pool]]

You walk up to the keypad and look at it. It asks you to identify yourself. You type in the number and enter the research facility, and the changing area. Thankfully there was some spare clothes in your locker. Something about that water troubles you. Day in day out, you could remember this place easily. How long have you been here now? A year? You joined full of hope and promise, but the day to day of this is just mundane now. But you know it inside out. That's why the water looked so different. You're used to seeing every inch of this institute. Should you tell someone in the data lab about this? Or will they just tell you off for falling in...as well as not fixing the light. As you finish putting on the dry clothes you think about going to your room, or the canteen to grab something to eat. What do you want to do? [[Room|Room]]? [[Canteen|Canteen]]? or [[Data Lab| Data Lab]]?

You get back to your room and there is a note on the door. (font: "monospace") [ You need to call me. Lighting still bust. - Kay] Great, you forgot you needed to do that. You've always been rubbish at remembering things to do. You've dabbled with different formats, but usually you just rely on memory. You walk into your room, your tiny little cubicle room. It's not as tidy as you'd like it to be but oh well. You think about going to the canteen to grab some food, but remember you have some leftovers in your fridge. You open it up. Noodles. Great. Marcus walks past the door. You've known Marcus a while. Both started at the same time. 'Hey mate,' he says, leaning against your door. 'Heard you fell in the pool. Wanna come to the canteen and grab some food?' [['Yeah I'll come along.']] [[Na,I've got these noodles.]]

Stepping into the canteen there are a few other people here. Not many around at this time of year. Everybody tends to book holiday at the same time. But you like this time of year. Bit like chilling out really. Most people are away. You walk up to canteen and see the options. What type of pasta is this, it has to be [that funny shaped one.]<think|(click:?think)[What is the name of this one! Can't just be the silly pasta can it?] You look out and see Sandra sitting there. Marcus sits on the other side of the room. You do you sit next to? [[Marcus?| Markus]] or [[Sandra?| Canteen chat]]

You decide it's probably best you go tell someone about what you saw. Even though you walk around this place every day, some parts of it are still exciting. The lab tech is always cool to see. That's what drew you here in the first place, to get to work on some of the exciting tech here. And granted you are no engineer, but you've picked up bits and bobs over the year. You wanted to network with some researchers anyway, get a feel for the industry before maybe...maybe...doing a PhD. On your way to the data lab you notice Sandra walking towards you. Do you [[ask her about the football|Football Chat]] Do you [[Smile hello and carry on|Smile and walk]]

"Hey did you see the game?" you say. Sandra smiles "Oh that was crazy wasnt it?" she says. "What was a goalkeeper doing taking a penalty anyway?" "I know right." "I'm glad I bumped into you she says. I need to ask you something. I need you to look at the lights in my lab. The dimmer isn't working." "Oh sure," you say "Happy to help." "You hair is wet?" she says. "Oh I fell in the pool fixing the light." "Seriously? Don't tell Chambers that, he'll go crazy." "Well I was just going to see him actually." "Forget that, he's on some emergency call. Look, let's go to the canteen and have a chat. There is something else I want to talk to you about seeing as you were out by the pool and all that. It'll just be quick, I'm gonna grab a coffee, maybe some lasagne, and go back to the lab." [["Sure, sound's good | Canteen chat]] [["I gotta get back to my room, but let's do it another time" |Room]]

You stroll over to Sandra carrying your lasagne. She smiles as you approach. "So when do you think you can come fix my light?" she says. "Oh straight to business then?" you say. "No chat about the football?" "No. Business first. Then we chat about the fun stuff." "What happens if I find business fun?" "Then I guess it's a win win for you, and you shouldn't really be complaining." "True." You sit down. Sandra always manages to outwit you one way or another. As you sit down, she looks at you. "So?" she said." "Okay I'll come by after I finish this." "Hasn't your shift finished." "If it get's you off my back, then I'm all for it. I have some stuff for Kay to do as well." "Busy guy then?" "Not really. More lazy and it's all caught up with me." "I know the feeling." "How's your husband by the way? Did he get that deal?" "Yeah, so that worked out well eh?" "When will you next get to see him?" "Oh my shift here ends in a week, so I'll get to see him. It's been 7 months." "Wow." "You have anyone?" "No. Not really. Not anymore." "Is that why you are here?" "Partly." You fiddle with your lasagne for a bit. Then you hear a rumble. You go to ask Sandra about it, but as you do you hear an explosion and the floor gives way and you both fall through. [[Open your eyes]]

"Hey Marcus," you say walking over with your tray. "Hey mate," he says, "how's it going?" "Oh don't...I just fell in the pool." "Seriously? Did you see any fish? I think they cleared all the life forms out of there right?" "Well I thought I saw something. But something bigger than the fish?" "Interns?" "That's what I thought. Anyway, how's things your end?" "Oh I think I'm tired of doing these odd jobs. Same stuff all the time." You and Marcus had joined around the same time, and had been doing odd jobs for the past couple of weeks. The head of maintenance had been ill, so you two had stepped in to cover. If you had to put a label on it, you'd say he was your best friend here. But Marcus doesn't like labels. "Tell me about it." you say I lost my screwdriver too in the pool." "Oh here, take one of mine." Marcus lays out a few screwdrivers. Do you choose: the [[cross hair?| Cross Hair Screwdriver]] the [[flat head?| Flat Head Screwdriver]] the [[reversable head?| Reversable]]

(set: $screwdriver to "cross hair") Nice, you have a screwdriver again. It feels good. You've only been into this electrics business for a short while, but it feels good to have a screwdriver on you. Besides, something paranoid inside you also thinks it could be a useful weopon. [[Next| Screwdriver chat]]

(set: $screwdriver to "flat") Nice, you have a screwdriver again. It feels good. You've only been into this electrics business for a short while, but it feels good to have a screwdriver on you. Besides, something paranoid inside you also thinks it could be a useful weopon. [[Next| Screwdriver chat]]

(set: $screwdriver to "reversable") Nice, you have a screwdriver again. It feels good. You've only been into this electrics business for a short while, but it feels good to have a screwdriver on you. Besides, something paranoid inside you also thinks it could be a useful weopon. [[Next| Screwdriver chat]]

"Interesting choice. You went for the (print: $screwdriver) one." says Marcus. "I've got few more of those so don't worry." Marcus finishes up his dinner, says he better get back to the tech room as his lunch break is over. That he wishes his shift had finished like yours. "Thanks again for the screwdriver." you say. "No worries mate. Let's hope a fish doesnt learn to use yours now its at the bottom of the pool." You laugh and wave goodbye. You sit thinking about all the things that could go wrong with that screwdriver in the pool. It couldnt could it. You look around the canteen. You see Sandra sitting there on her own. You think about going over to speak to her. Then you notice Marcus left his keycard on the table. Do you go speak to [[Sandra | Canteen chat]] Catch up with [[Marcus to give the card back|Catch Marcus]]

You catch up with Marcus in the coridoor. "Hey marcus, wait up." He stops and turns around. "Hey man what is it?" As he turns around you hear an explosion somewhere in the building. The ground rumbles beneath you. Alarms start blaring. "What was that?" asks Marcus. Before you can answer another explosion goes off. You see the ceiling collapse and all goes black. [[Next | Wake Up]]

'Oh don't worry,' you say. 'It can wait.' She looks at you. Judging. 'Then what is this?' she asks. 'A catch up? I said I'm busy, we've got some unusal activity in the main pool. I need to take care of it.' You tell her you're sorry, but she's already off doing something else. As she walks off. You shout that you saw something in the main pool. She doesn't hear you though. One of the other people in the room comes up to you though, Ada. You've seen her around for a bit. 'You saw something in the pool?' she asks. 'Yeah.' 'No way, I saw something too. Do you want a chat about it?' [["Nah,it's okay. I'll go catch up with Alonso."]] [["Yeah, that would be great. It was really weird.]]

"I ummm think I saw something in pool 5." you say. "When were you in pool 5?" she replies. "About twenty minutes ago. I fell in." "You what?" "I was fixing a light above it, and fell in." "Typical. Look, come with me." She leads you to a small office. You've never been in her office. Even the office looks arrogant. Far too tidy. You've always wanted a tidy workspace but it's never been posisble. Watched so many productivity videos, tidy room, tidy mind etc. Never worked. "We're dealing with a bit of a situation," she says. "Take a look at this." She plays a video of the pool. You see the head of maintenance walking towards the pool, dragging something behind him." "What's he dragging"? "An intern." "What? And hasn't he been in bed ill for weeks. I didnt think he could walk around." On the video the head of maintenance, leaves the intern by the side of the pool and then dives in. He bobs around on the surface a bit before being dragged under. "Was he dragged?" you ask. "We don't know. But this was around the time you were out there." "I thought I saw something in the water." "Human?" "I can't say." "Okay, well this was useful wasn't it" You think about asking about if there is a live feed of the footage by the pool? [["Is there a live feed?" | Live feed]] [["Is Dr Chambers around?"| Dr Chambers]]

"Yeah it does have the live feed." Dr Alonso turns it on and the live feed is a bit darker than before, you really need to sort that light. Then you notice it, lying next to the pool. The boyd of the intern. Somethings creeps out of a water. An arm? A tentacle? Takes the body and drags it into the pool. "What was that you say?" "I dont know," says Alonso. "I have to go make a call. Dr Chambers" She quickly rushes out of the office. You notice on her desk in Dr Chambers swipe card. You peer closer and notice a fleck of blood on the card. Do you [[wait for Alonso to return?| wait for Alonso]] Or pick up the [[keycard?| Pick up Card]]

"Is Dr Chambers around?" you ask. Alonso looks a little nervous. "No," she says "he's busy dealing with a call." "What happened?" "Something to do with the head technician." "I'd like to talk to him about what I saw by the pool." "Well it's just not possible now." She looks worried, you can tell she is thinking about [changing the subject.]<sub|(click:?sub)[You had heard rumours about a bit of a thing between Alonso and Chambers. Maybe that's why she is awkward on the topic. Either way, you don't really care about office gossip like this. Let people get on with their lives right? Let people be with [[who they want]] and all that] 'How about the live feed?' she asks [["Yeah sure"| Live feed]]

You wake up to the sounds of screams and alarms. You look around and see Marcus lying there. "Marcus," you shout. "Hey mate," he says. He removes the rubble from him and slides over the side of the coridoor. "I think my ankle is a bit damaged." You look at it, covered in blood. "Can you walk though?" you ask "I think so." he says. He gets up. Tries to make sense of the environment, but he looks calm. Better than you. You are panicking a bit. Trying to act calm, but you're not sure it's showing. 'Are you okay?' he asks. 'Yeah.' you say. 'You don't look it. You sure?' 'Well no. But I've never been in an explosion before. Electric shock yes. Explosion no. You look calm. You been in this type of thing before?' 'My first explosion too.' 'Okay. Glad we're on the same page.' 'You shouldnt have followed me. You nearly died. Anyway, we got to get out of here. You coming?' [[Yeah I'll come| Go with marcus]]

You watch outside the scientists going about their research. You hope to join them in this work someday. Become more than you are. Do they look happy though? You dont know. Does anyone? How many people love their jobs? Should we all follow our passion. that's bad advice apparently. You need to stop watching those motivational videos. They seem to do anything but motivate. Suddenly an explosion rocks through the building. You hit the floor and scramble under the desk. That's a thing right. Before long there is a second explosion somewhere else in the building. You hear lots of scream. And splashes of water? Must be soemthing to do with the pool. A scientist comes into the office scared. BUt you seem them get grabbed by something and start to be dragged away. Towards the pool. The scientist screams for help. Do you [[help?| Yes help]] Do you [[stay hidden?| Hide]]

(set: $keycard to true) You pickup the keycard and put it in your pocket. As you worry about the fact that Alonso would notice something out of place on the desk you hear an alarm start. People out by the pool start panciking. You look out of the window and see a few people fall into the pool. There are screams and then an explosion. You hide under the desk, hoping for the best. There are more screams which are then silenced by what seems like another explosion but deeper in the facility. You feel the ground rumble beneanth you. And then silence. Apart from an alarm in the background. You peer out into the research lab and something is dragging a scientist into the pool. The scientist screams for help. Do you help? [[Yes you help| Yes help]] [[You decide to hide| Hide]]

(set: $helpscientist to true) You rush out to go help the scientists. And there it is. Some form of creature dragging the scientist to the pool. You want to throw up. In fact you do a little, but you swallow it. Such a hero. You remember doing that at the office party once. Never drink too much at an office party. Should remember that. The scientist screams for help. Shit, yeah. You pick up a filing tray and hurl it at the creature. You hit it directly on the back. It lets go of the scientist and turns. Stares at you. It lets out a scream that sounds like its mixed with a gurgle. It starts walking towards you. You panic and look for anything to hit it with. You scramble around looking on the desk, but there is nothing. Damn these minimalist desks. Why was that even a trend? You pick up a computer monitor and throw that, but its an ineffective as you thought it would be. The monitor crashing to the floor a few feet in front of the creature. As the creature gets near it extends a webbed hand towards your face. You see a small tentacle extend from its palm. As it does its eyes seem to go dead, the tentacle retreats back into the hand. The creature twists slightly and you see a pair of scissors sticking out the back of its head. The scientist stands there look quite proud. The creature drops to the floor. "Hi, I'm Zara," says the scientist. "Hey," you say "Thanks." "What shall we do with this?" says Zara, gesturing to the body. [["Kick it back into the pool?"]] [["Forget about it,let's get out of here."]]

You decide to hide. It's probably too late for them anyway. You here the screams get a bit quieter and the splash of water. Phew. You wished you could ahve helped. But it was too far away right? You couldnt have made it in time anyway. You decide to try and escape the data lab. You stand up and walk out of the office and past the main pool. As you do you hear a sound behind you, wet footsteps. A gurgling sound. You turn around to see the scientist that just got dragged in. But different. Part animal. Fish like. You scream and run, the exit looks closed and you see Dr Chambers office. You run to it. The door is locked. (if: $keycard is true) [You remember you have the card in your pocket. You swipe it on the door and [[it slides open|Chambers office]]] (else:) [You hear the gurgling behind you and the scientist grabs you. You scream for help, but no answer. You notice someone else watching. Hiding. They turn away as you are dragged into the water]

You decide to look a little longer. And there you see it, something lying by the pool. You creep closer. A bit concerned from your wet clothes, dont want to get too cold. But you need to see what this is. As you get closer you see it's a body. One of the interns maybe? Hard to tell when you all wear uniforms. "Jean" you whisper...you're pretty sure that was the name of the intern. Youre terrible with names, always have been. You go to say the name again, when you see something crawl out of the pool next to the body. An arm of some form, but slightly elongated. It wraps a hand around the body and pulls it in slowly. You stare at it. Fear begins to pump through your veins. The body gets pulled into the pool with an unnerving elegance. You watch as it slips back beneath the surface. You want to move but can't. You decide to go back inside. [[Go back inside]]

You go to move but can't. You look down and something has hold of your feet. One of those arms. You scream, but as you do it pulls you to floor. You feel yourself being dragged towards the pool. That same elegant speed. You try to grib to the concrete, anything. Your screams seem to get lost in the night. As you are dragged you panic and pull out a glowstick you had in your pocket. You feel yourself go over the edge of the pool and into the water. As you do you snap the glowstick and it lights up the dark water around you. You see the slimy arm leading towards a human like body. Do you [[drop the glowstick to see more?]] Or [[keep hold of glowstick|keep hold]]

You let the glowstick fall. It falls slowly, gliding through the dark water. You watch it light up the long arm that holds you. Its fleshy tendrils swaying in the water. As the glowstick hits the bottom of the pool it throws partial light on some movement. Something eating. And the arm s pulling your towards it. You are struggling to free yourself from its grip. And as you get closer you see the creature is eaitng the intern. Big gulps of flesh each time. But at the same time it seems to be vomiting something onto the intern's body. You feel you havent got long left. Head pounding. You just want to breathe. Then you see the intern's body kick back to life. The arm lets go of you and goes to caress the intern's corpse. It's your chance. You swim to the surface, gasping into the midnight air. You need to decide what to do. You know there is a tunnel in the pool that leads to an inner pool at the research centre. You could hold your breath and make it. Just about. Do you [[swim to shore?]] Do you [[swim through the tunnel?]]

You see its face. A horrific contortion of a human. Fish-like features emerge from it. As you look at it, you see its face changing. Trying to be human, trying to be fish. You hit it with the glowstick but its mouth closes around your hand and tears it off. It all goes dark before the creature spits out the glowstick. As it does, it's second bite closes around your head. [[Go back to beginning|Beginning]]

You go to swim to shore. But something keeps you where you are. Is it the water? The salt? The taste of it in your mouth, reminds you of your first time in the sea. Hit by a wave you didn't see coming. Life didn't change much since then. You begin swimming but you know it's futile. You know you wont make it. You want to. Every part of you wants to. But you know it will catch you whatever it is, and part of you wants your last thoughts to be nice ones. Not drenched in terror. You know you have no one left behind, you have no one to make it home to. But still you enjoy the simple things. Like sitting in your room listening to music. Okay, you did want to share that with someone at some point. But we can't have everything. You won't have everything. You feel something grab your leg and begin to pull you down. As you see the sky dissappear, you try to focus on the music. The end [[Return to beginning|Beginning]]

You take a breath, and for some reason remember video games as a kid where you would swim through a tunnel. You wish you had that meter that told you how much oxygen you had left. You dive beneath the surface and swim towards the wall. You can see the tunnel in the murky distance. You want to look back at the creature to see if it is coming for you or if it is still with the intern's corpse. You decide to just keep swimming. Before you realise it you are in the tunnel. It is just about wide enough for you to swim through. At least you wont get stuck. But the pain in your lungs is getting worse, you just want to breathe. You swear you feel soemthing grabbing unscuccessfuly at your feet, but you dont want to turn around. Just keep swimming. You see the light from the inner pool. You speed up your swimming until you emerge into the pool. You swim to the surface, gasping once more. The surface is in disaster. Smoke and fire fill the room. You hear someone shout for you to get out of the water. A woman is standing by the side of the pool waving, pointing. As you go to swim you feel yourself pulled under. The water here is clearer, and you see it's the intern. But different. Changed. More fish-like. You punch its face but it does nothing. It's face then suddenly goes dead, and blood fills the water. It's grip loosens and it begins to sink. Its is place you see the woman with a knife. She gestures you to swim to the surface. You swim to the side and get out the pool, collapsing. You stare up at the ceiling. "Hey, I'm Zara." says the woman. "Is it just you?" "Yeah, just me." [[Next| Zara pool]]

You make it into the office and shut the door behind you. You hear screaming behind you. Desperation. Desperation to get at you. What the hell was that thing anyway? It looked a little bit like the scientist, but fish-like. It's then that you notice Dr Chambers in his chair. Gun in hand, gunshot to the head. You get up and walk to the body. In front of him is a note. (font: "monospace") [ I'm sorry. I didn't mean for this. If you find me, there is a tunnel to Level 1 behind my bookcase.] You look at the bookcase. It looks huge. You wish you went to the gym more. It's full of books too. Typical. You start unpacking them, when you hear a swipe at the door. But it sounds like the keycard is rejected. You hear someone swear behind the door. Do you [[open the door]]? Do you [[leave it]]? You've got to focus on yourself in these situations right? Right?

You open the door and it's Dr Alonso. She barges into the room, screaming to shut the door behind her. As you shut the door, you hear her scream. She must have seen Dr Chambers. You're going to have to deal with this now. You turn around. "I'm sorry," you say " He-" "Used my printer paper to make this note. I know." "What?" "I told him. Don't use my printer paper. And can you believe this? I mean he didn't even use it to print anything. He handwrote this note. Handwritten. It's called printer paper for a reason." "Do people still call it printer paper?" "I bet he used one of my pens too." She picks up the note and inspects it. "Yep." she says "One of mine. Selfish prick." She slumps down into a chair in the office. Looks at you. "What?" she says. "Don't tell me you used my paper too." "No. I havent printed anything for months." "Months? What are you trying to do? Save rainforests?" "Well yeah. Arent we all?" "Hey, I donate money once a month to some charity. Is that not enough?" "I dont think it gives you the right to use as much paper as you want." "Oh well. Doesnt matter much now anyway. The printer got destroyed in that explosion. Shame. You should have seen how efficient that printer was. so fast." "You seem more upset about the printer than you do Dr Chambers?" "Have you been on his computer?" she asks. [["No, but shall we?"| Check comp]] [["Let's focus on the tunnel. We really should be thinking of getting out of here no?"| Tunnel]]

You decide to leave it. Yourself first. Survival and all that. Then you panic, feel guilty. Realise you can't do it. Can you? The person outside shouts for help. What are you gonna say when you open it now? Surely you've left it too long to be awkward. Maybe just act normal. Act casual. Act like you just heard it. [[open the door]]

Zara kicks it into the pool and you watch it sink below. 'That felt a pointless?' says Zara. 'What? Killing it?' 'No, kicking it into the pool. Felt like we were just kicking it in there for no reason. I mean it was dead.' 'Was it though?' 'Seemed pretty dead. What happens if the water brings it back to life?' 'I hadn't thought about that.' 'I mean water is the secret to life and all that. Plus it came from the water.' 'I didnt think about this.' 'Hey, don't worry. This is new for all of us. 'Thanks.' [["Forget about it,let's get out of here."]]

You look around, must be something to hep you get out of here. Then you see it in corner, Dr Chambers' office. You go to mention it to Zara, but she is already one step ahead. You move the wreckage out the way of the door. And go to push it open but it's shut. 'Shit' you say. 'And I lost my keycard in the explosion,' says Zara. 'You're the electrician, can't you just get technical on it?' 'You're the scientist, can't you just get science on it?' you reply. (if: $keycard is true) [You remember you have the card in your pocket. You swipe it on the door and [[it slides open|Chambers office Zara]]] (else:) ["Right, well we need to find somewhere else to hide then" "Could we swim out?" says Zara. "I'm not too keen on those things being in there." You then hear some gurgling come from the pool as one of the creatures emerges. It struggles to stand and slips around a bit. Zara looks at you. "You're just going to stand there are you?" she says. She walks over to the creature as it struggles to stand. She pushes a monitor over and it crushes the creature. "You need to be a bit more proactive if we're going to get throught this. So, are you coming for a swim? The next pool is about ten metres away. There may be a way out there." [["Fine, let's swim."]] [["No, it's okay. I'll find another way."]] ]

You go to office and swipe the card and enter the room. As you do you notice Zara looking at something in the room. You follow her gaze. Dr Chambers is in his chair. Gun in hand, gunshot to the head. You walk to the body. In front of him is a note. (font: "monospace") [ I'm sorry. I didn't mean for this. Just know it was all for progress. If you find me, there is a tunnel to Level 1 behind my bookcase.] You look at the bookcase. It looks huge. You wish you went to the gym more. It's full of books too. Typical. "This guy was a prick anyway." says Zara. "Worst boss I ever had." "You knew him well?" "Yeah. He was just a bit arrogant you know." "I never really spoke to him much. I wanted to, but never happened. In fact I think this note is the most he's ever said to me." "You haven't missed out on anything." "What was he sorry for?" "I dont know,we were working on some genetic stuff with fish. But all the projects I was on were above board. All ethical. Maybe something went wrong. Maybe he tried soemthing he shouldn't." "What were we doing here anyway?" "Saving the world you know, the usual." You look at the bookcase. It's worth checking out the tunnel at least. You start taking the books from the shelves. [[Next|the tunnel]]

'Cool' says Zara, 'Let's do this. I'll go first. You stay behind me.' 'Okay cool' You watch as Zara get's into the pool, and dive beneath the surface. You're happy following people sometimes. You don't like it about yourself, but hey, it is what it is. You put it down to not being confident about leading things. You've tried watching some talks online about this, read the odd blog, but you never seem to translate it into real life. You'll get there one day. You realise you probably shouldnt leave it this long before following Zara into the pool. You dive in and its much colder that you thought it would be. You thought for some reason with the explosion and everything it would be much warmer. You dive under and you see Zara swimming ahead, you follow her into one of the other pools and get out. You try and catch your breath, you need to be fitter. 'You okay?' asks Zara. 'Yeah, just the harsh realisation I'm not as fit as I thought.' 'We need to get out of here.' [[ Leave with Zara]] [[ Wait]]

"You sure?" says Zara "Yeah, I've already been the water once today. I'm not took keen to do it again." "Okay, well there may be a point today that you might have to. I'm sorry to be hard on you. I'm glad you saved me. I hope I repaid you by killing this one. "It's fine. You've got to do what you want to do. It's not your fault if I don't want to get in the water." Zara walks over to you. She pulls a piece of paper out of her pocket and starts drawing a basic map. She tells you she is going to head to the next pool and then begin heading up to escape. She'll send help once she is out. "Thanks," you say. "Hopefully we will see each other again. Is it really just the water?" "I have friends in here. I want to see if they are okay. I need to know before I leave." "Who are they?" "Sandra and Marcus." "Never heard of them." "These big places we never do eh?" Zara smiles. She hands you a pen from her pocket. Tells you you never know when it might come in useful. She thanks you again and says you hope you find your friends. She sits down next the pool, and slowly slips in. And like that, your are alone again. [[Look for a way out.]] [[Change your mind and follow Zara]]

Double-click this passage to edit it.

Once Zara has gone the place seems eerily quiet. The occasional buzz of broken machines. You don't hear many screams. Maybe your friends are already dead? Marcus and Sandra seem sensible people. Maybe they have already made their way out. You look around the room and can't really see anything. Then you spot it, in the corner, a vent that seems open. You hate small spaces. But you think its worth a shot. It sounds like the ventilation system is shutdown, so should be safe. You walk over to it and peer in. 'Hello?' you shout into it. You're not sure why you did that? What would you have done if a voice responded? And besides surely shouting may draw attention to more of those creatures. You hear some splashing in the water behind you. You turn around and one of those creatures is coming out. Looks like you are getting into the vent. [[You crouch down and crawl in.]]

Once Zara has gone the place seems eerily quiet. The occasional buzz of broken machines. You don't hear many screams. Maybe your friends are already dead? Marcus and Sandra seem sensible people. Maybe they have already made their way out. That's it, you're following Zara. You slip quietly into the pool. It's freezing. You were hoping it would be warmer as this was inside. No joy. You see Zara swimming towards the tunnel, and you begin following her. You are about to enter the tunnel to the next room when you see a dark shape emerging from it. It's one of the creatures. You scream but just let a load of water into your lungs. You try to swim to the surface, but the creature grabs you. You outstretch your hand for the surface, but only your fingertips break the surface. The creature drags you down to the bottom of the pool. You try fighting, kicking, anything. But you can feel the life draining from you. Oxygen needed. Your efforts become more sluggish as the creature puts its hand over your mouth. It's then that you notice it looks like one of the interns. It has hold of your arm and you notice your arm changing. It's appearance becoming more fish-like. You try to scream but the creature squeezes tighter. Then all is gone. [[Go back to beginning|Introduction]]

(if: $explosion is true) [You follow her through a tunnel and emerge in another pool. Your lungs burn as your break the surface. You gasp so much it hurts. You float there for a bit 'Get out the water,' says Zara swimming to the side. 'Those things could follow.' You pull yourself out of the water and collapse on the side. 'Thanks for saving me,' you say. 'No worries. Can't believe Ada.' 'I know.' 'What was that explosion?' 'No idea. But we need to get out of here.' [["Yeah"| Leave with Zara]] [["Just give me a couple of mins to catch my breath.| Wait]]] (else:)["Nice to meet you Zara," you say, catching your breath. "Thanks for saving me." "That's okay." "It was one of the interns. I saw him get taken by some creature outside." "Yeah, they seem to change us." said Zara "You've seen others?" "Yeah they've been appearing out of the pools and changing us. I've had to kill two colleagues already." "What is happening? Where has the fire come from?" "There was an explosion. The whole institute is in ruins. I'm looking for a way out. You came from the outside pool?" "Yeah, but I wouldn't go back out. Something is out there." "Okay maybe we can make it up and out through reception." "Sounds good." "You ready to leave now?" [["Yeah"| Leave with Zara]] [["Just give me a couple of mins to catch my breath.| Wait]]]

(if: $explosion is true) [Zara says we need to work our way up to the top of the institute. That it should be okay, there is an exit there we can escape from. 'Do you think we can make it?' you say 'No idea. But, I don't wanna die. And I think if we stay here we will. We need to keep moving. I'm sure those things will find their way to this pool soon enough.' 'What about Ada?' 'I wanna go back and kill her. But I wanna survive. Priorities right?' 'I can't believe she did it. I spoke to her about board games and stuff...' 'Hey, people are shit sometimes. You'll get used to it.' 'Thanks for helping me.' She smiles. 'No worries,' she says. 'I just hate to see-' Zara stops talking. Eyes focussed behind you. 'What?' you ask turning. And there you see it. What you was hoping wouldn't happen. Couldn't happen. The room is flooding. The pool bursts its banks slightly and water starts drifting around your feet. 'Shit,' you say. 'Quick,' out the door. You dash through a door and seal it behind you. Water begins to seep under, but it should hold for now. You then hear a gurgling sound from around down the corridoor. Wet footsteps and a strange smell. It's one of those things walking toward you. [[Attack it first]] [[Let Zara attack first]] [[Ask Zara who would like to attack first, but secretly hope she says yes]] ] (else:) [Zara says we need to work our way up to the top of the institute. That it should be okay, there is an exit there we can escape from. 'Do you think we can make it?' you say 'No idea. But, I don't wanna die. And I think if we stay here we will. We need to keep moving. I'm sure those things will find their way to this pool soon enough.' 'What happened with the interns?' 'No idea, but something strange has been happening. We gotta be careful. these things seem to turn us into them somehow. Or some version of them.' 'Thanks for helping me.' She smiles. 'No worries,' she says. 'I just hate to see-' Zara stops talking. Eyes focussed behind you. 'What?' you ask turning. And there you see it. What you was hoping wouldn't happen. Couldn't happen. The room is flooding. The pool bursts its banks slightly and water starts drifting around your feet. 'Shit,' you say. 'Quick,' out the door. You dash through a door and seal it behind you. Water begins to seep under, but it should hold for now. You then hear a gurgling sound from around down the corridoor. Wet footsteps and a strange smell. It's one of those things walking toward you. [[Attack it first]] [[Let Zara attack first]] [[Ask Zara who would like to attack first, but secretly hope she says yes]] ]

You lay on your back and look up at the ceiling, surprised it still remains largely intact. You lungs are burning and you wish you were fitter. You always thought you'd be prepared for something like this, but turns out you weren't. Oh well, maybe you will be prepared for the next catastrophe that happens. Or won't you? Every time you plan to exercise you just don't. Lot's of other things to do. Oh well. Onwards and upwards. You stand up and look at Zara. 'We need to go,' she says. 'Cool, I'm ready now.' As you take a step you feel something grab your ankle. You look down and there is clammy, grotesque hand gripping you. 'Zara-' Before Zara can do anything though, the hand pulls backwards. You land face first on the floor. You taste blood in your mouth. The feel yourself being dragged. Zara rushes to help you, you try grab out, but all you manage to do is touch fingertips. You fell dizzy from hitting your head. The water feels cold as you are dragged under. You see trails of your own blood rising towards the surface. You surrender yourself to the flow of the moment, hazily descending into the depths. THE END [[Introduction]]

You open your eyes and you're in one of the research rooms. One of the main research pools lies in the middle. Sandra lies next to you. She's alive. "What was that?" she says. "An explosion." "Where?" "I don't know. Are you okay?" "Yeah." (t8n: "fade")+(transition-time:20s) [Screams emerge from the room. Sound like pain, but also like someone being attacked.] (t8n: "fade")+(transition-time:30s)[You see some of your colleagues near the pool. They appear to be fighting something off. It looks human but not quite. A couple more of these things emerge from the pool and drag your colleagues in. 'Shit. We need to get out of here,' you say. 'What is it? What are those things.' 'Research project gone wrong,' says a voice behind you. You turn around and its Ali from security 'And I'm going to solve this now.' he says. He walks towards to pool firing shots. As he does so, you see an unhinged look in his eye. You notice him pull a grenade from his belt and throw it at the pool. He continues walking and throws another. 'We need to go now,' says Sandra. 'Those grenades will flood the room.' A grenade goes off and breaks a hole in the wall. Water comes rushing in. 'Thats the main pool water. It's linked to the ocean. This place will fill up quick. We can [[climb up to the canteen?]] Or head to through the [[equipment room]].' ]

(align:"=><=")[ (t8n: "fade-left")+(transition-time:8s)+(text-size: 2)[The] (t8n: "fade")+(transition-time:10s)+(text-size: 2)[Pool]] The Pool is an interactive story about a research institute that studies aquatic life. Only there seems to be some new form of life... [[Begin story|The joke]]

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She walks over to his computer and moves the mousepad. It turns on. "Strange." she says, "He left it on." "Maybe he wanted us to find it?" "Maybe." You walk over and look over her shoulder. She clicks around on some files. "Nothing much." she says. "What about emails?" She opens his email, but it's empty. You look back at Dr Chambers body and notice something in his [jacket pocket.]<think|(click:?think)[You find a phone. Maybe [[something is on it?]]] You look back at the bookcase. "I think we should just make a run for it through here. Whatever it is you find, probably doesnt change much anyway." Alonso looks at you. Dejected. "You're right," she says. "Let's do it." [[Try tunnel|the tunnel]]

'Look Alonso, we should focus on getting out of here. Apparently there is a tunnel behind here.' 'You don't have to call me by my surname you know.' 'Sorry, habit.' 'Fine. Carry on. But once we're out. You can call me by my first name.' 'Which is?' 'Not now. It'll muddy the water. What about this tunnel?' You walk over to the bookcase pushing it aside. Alonso responds shocked. 'Woah, never knew that was in here. And i've been in here a lot. I mean you know, meetings and that.' 'I'm hoping it leads us out of here.' 'What did he use this tunnel for?' 'I guess we'll find out.' Enter [[the tunnel]]

(input-box: bind $code, "XXX=", 2) [[[enter the code into the keypad|enter phone code]]] [[ask Alonso for ideas|Alonso ideas]]

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'Great let's try and head up to the lift shaft' says Marcus. You agree and follow. As you walk through the chaos you see various bodies lying around. You dont see anyone else though as you follow Marcus. 'What do you think happened?' you ask. 'No idea,' said Marcus. He looks distracted on his phone. You look at some of the bodies on the floor and notice something is changing in one of them. 'Hey Marcus, look at this.' You look at the body. 'I think its Ada.' says Marcus. 'But what's happening to her face?' 'You look closer and her face seems to have changed. Scales appear on it. And what looks like the beginning of gills appear to be forming on her neck.' 'Step back from her,' says Marcus. 'Whatever it is, the process still looks like its still happening.' [['Let's look at it some more']] [['Sure, let's get to the lift']]

'Nah, we gotta see this,' you say. 'Could be a clue as to what's happened.' 'I think we gotta move,' replies Marcus. You peer closer at Ada. Suddenly she bolts to life and her hand grabs yours. 'Fuck', you scream. 'Marcus-' The hand grips deep into your arm. Breaks skin. You can hear Ada gasping for air. Gasping for survival. You try to break her grip free but it doesn't work. Her gasping mouth clamps onto your leg, biting deep. You scream. Marcus, kicks her in the face and she let's go. Goes unconscious. 'Let's move,' says Marcus. [[Follow Marcus]]

Great. Marcus leads the way towards the lift shaft. As you walk, he says he's going to need to go and see Dr Chambers quickly. Best to make sure the boss is there. On your way there you pass by the lift shaft with its doors open. Marcus peers in, shouts hello. You hear his voice echo. 'Mate, you gotta see this' he says. He steps out the way and you take a look. The lift lies at the bottom and flames surround it. 'Wow,' you say. 'Doesn't look safe to climb up. I remember when we had to fix these lights in here. That took ages right?' 'Yeah,' says Marcus. 'What a first week on that job was for us. I'm sorry.' 'For wh-' Marcus pushes you. And you fall. Fall amongst the flames and the wreckage. You keep your eyes on the lift as you head towards it. You close your eyes as you approach, hitting hard. All goes dark. [[Open eyes]]

Great. Marcus leads the way towards the lift shaft, but as he does so he looks back at Ada. As you walk, he says he's going to need to go and see Dr Chambers quickly. Best to make sure the boss is there. 'How's your arm and leg?' he asks. You look at it, it's not doing well. 'It's not great, ' you say. 'Let me look at it.' says Marcus. 'You show him your arm.' 'He looks closely. And that's when you see it too. Your skin has changed. Become scale-like. You look at your leg too, the same there. 'Shit...what is this?' 'It looks liek the process has stopped though.' says Marcus. 'It's not like on Ada. That was still happening. I think we got to you in time.' 'What was happening?' 'Looks like you were changing.' 'Into what?' 'Let's go get Chambers. Then we will know. It's just around the corner.' Marcus helps you around the corner to one of the doors to Dr Chambers' office. Marcus uses a keycard to swipe in. 'Wait, how come you have a card?' you ask. 'Don't worry about. Just come in, we need to show your arm to him.' [[Go into the office|Office Marcus]] [[Ask Marcus how he got the card| Ask Marcus about the card]]

(if: $screwdriver is 'flat')[ You open your eyes and you're staring up at the lift shaft. You notice the lift itself way above you, a couple of floors above where you got pushed. Marcus is gone. You try to move but it's a struggle. You notice a panel next to you, some kind of vent. You drag yourself to it and take a closer look. Can you undo it somehow? You get the screwdriver out of your pocket and it's a match. Great. You start to undo the screws one by one and it works. Perfect. As you do, you hear a sound above you. A creaking, a twang coming from the lift. The sliding of metal. [[You crawl into the vent]] ] (if: $screwdriver is 'reversable') [You open your eyes and you're staring up at the lift shaft. Marcus is gone. You try to move but it's a struggle. You notice a panel next to you, some kind of vent. You drag yourself to it and take a closer look. Can you undo it somehow? You get the screwdriver out of your pocket and it's kind of a match. Thanks for reversable screwdrivers, so versatile, so handy. You notice its currently set to crosshair so you turn the head around to see the flathead. It doesn't look good. It looks a bit mushed and damaged. Great. You should have checked this, you feel like such an amateur. But of course you are an amateur, you certainly were no screwdriver expert. And didn't it make more sense just to go for a reversable one? You start to try undo the screws on the vent. First works okay, but you struggle on the second. Can't seem to get it working. You hear a sound above you. A creaking, a twang coming from the lift. The sliding of metal. The lift. It's falling. You drastically try pulling at the vent but its too late. The last thing you hear is the screeching of metal as the lift falls. THE END [[Introduction]] ] (if: $screwdriver is 'reversable') [You open your eyes and you're staring up at the lift shaft. Marcus is gone. You try to move but it's a struggle. You notice a panel next to you, some kind of vent. You drag yourself to it and take a closer look. Can you undo it somehow? You get the screwdriver out of your pocket and it's kind of a match. Thanks for reversable screwdrivers, so versatile, so handy. You notice its currently set to crosshair so you turn the head around to see the flathead. It doesn't look good. It looks a bit mushed and damaged. Great. You should have checked this, you feel like such an amateur. But of course you are an amateur, you certainly were no screwdriver expert. And didn't it make more sense just to go for a reversable one? You start to try undo the screws on the vent. First works okay, but you struggle on the second. Can't seem to get it working. You hear a sound above you. A creaking, a twang coming from the lift. The sliding of metal. The lift. It's falling. You drastically try pulling at the vent but its too late. The last thing you hear is the screeching of metal as the lift falls. THE END [[Introduction]] ] (else:) [You open your eyes and you're staring up at the lift shaft. Marcus is gone. You try to move but it's a struggle. You notice a panel next to you, some kind of vent. You drag yourself to it and take a closer look. Can you undo it somehow? You get the screwdriver out of your pocket and it's the wrong kind. Damn. You knew you should have gone for the reversible one, that would have been perfect. And didn't it make more sense just to go for a reversable one? You start to try and kick open the vent. But it doesn't seem to work. Just slightly denting it. Plus your legs arent the strongest after that fall. You hear a sound above you. A creaking, a twang coming from the lift. The sliding of metal. The lift. It's falling. You drastically try pulling at the vent but it's too late. The last thing you hear is the screech of metal THE END [[Introduction]] ]

You enter the office and Dr Chambers is sitting there. 'Thank god you're here,' he says when he sees Marcus. 'I got your text.' 'Sit down,' says Marcus. Dr Chambers does so. You look at Marcus. Why is Chambers listening? 'Look,' says Chambers, 'Everything is still ready for the arrival. It's just a little mix up.' Screams are heard outside. 'Doesn't sound like a little mix up,' says Marcus. 'And where's Alonso? She was supposed to be in here. We were supposed to take care of her. She could track us.' 'She wasn't in her office when it happened. Look it's fine, we can get it under control. We don't need to worry about her.' 'Look at this,' says Marcus, pointing to your arm. 'It's spreading amongst us. This is not the calm, relaxed environment we need the shipment arriving in.' 'I'm sorry.' says Chambers. 'I know,' says Marcus, pulling a gun out of his jacket. 'But we can't allow it.' He shoots Chambers in the head. Then points the gun at you. 'Don't move,' he says. 'If you do. I'll shoot. And I'll feed you to whatever is out there.' He walks over to Chambers and puts his gun in Chambers' hand. He then walks over to the desk and writes a note, and pins it to the body. 'Why?' you ask. Marcus stops. 'Don't talk either.' You hear someone trying to get into the office. Must be Alonso. She's the only one you know with access. 'Quick,' says Marcus. 'Push the bookcase aside, there is a tunnel that leads topside. We're leaving.' [[Push Bookcase aside]] [[Shout to person outside]]

'Why do you have the card?' you ask. Marcus stops. Takes a deep breath. You hear a swift sound. Followed by a second. Silent, but there. You feel pain in your stomach. You look down. Blood. Marcus shifts slightly, revealing a gun in his hand. He shot you through his jacket. You look at him. Try to talk. But can't. 'I'm sorry,' he says. 'I can't take the risk after you have been bitten. Who knows.' 'But I feel...' 'Fine, I know you do. But its not the point.' 'I thought we were-' You drop to your knees. As you do, you notice your arm and the scales it has developed. You raise a hand to grab hold of Marcus but he steps backwards. And points the gun at your head. Marcus lets out a slight smile and its the last thing you see. THE END [[Introduction]]

You push the bookcase aside and Marcus gestures for you to go first. 'Why do this?' you say as you step into the tunnel. Marcus follows behind you. 'Well, come on now. We're in a dead end job. The world wants us out in these institues trying to save the world. But progress is so slow. I just can't stand it. So an opportunity came up. I took it.' 'An opportunity?' 'Another research institute. They had made significant progress on what they were working on. Discovered some new life form. And I'd found one here. So thought we'd merge.' You mean you were working on these things?' 'Yeah, but it got out of containment because of Chambers and it's begun multiplying. Why I had to destory this place. Bloody idiot. Bet he was probably trying to show it off to some intern. Sleazy guy. I knew i shouldn't have got him involved. Oh turn left here.' You do as Marcus says and the tunnel opens up slightly but looks like it is partly flooded. You step into the water and it's waste deep. As you do you wonder if you can take Marcus down in the water. But you aren't feeling yourself for some reason. The pain in your leg and arm buzzing. That bite must be doing something to you. 'Shit, there was a lift around here somewhere.' says Marcus. 'I think I took a wrong turn.' 'Great,' you reply. 'Now what?' 'Let's head back' [[Head back]]

'Help' you shout. 'Marcus shot Chambers.' 'What?' says a voice outside. Sounds like Alonso. Marcus looks at you. 'Great,' he says. 'Now I'm gonna have to kill her too.' He walks over to the door and swipes the keycard. The door slides open but there is nothing. He peeks his head outside the door. As he does so a monitor comes crashing down on his head. It's Alonso. She stands above Marcus' as he lays unconscious. She drags him out of the office and then comes in. Shutting the door. She stands looking at Chambers body. 'That Marcus is a prick. I should kill him.' 'We should get out of here,' you say. You screams form outside the door. Sounds like Marcus. 'Oh there were a few of those things out there,' says Alonso. 'Thought Marcus could keep them occupied for a bit. Probably should have got his gun though. Sorry about that.' She walks over to the note on Chambers body, picks it up. 'This is my printer paper. I told no-one not to use this. Bet he used my pen as well. What happened in here?' 'Marcus shot him. But Chambers was in on it anyway.' 'I'm not surprised. He was getting desperate in his career. You know these old researchers. Do anything almost.' 'I thought you were close?' 'We were. A few years ago. But time changes you know. I wanted us to stay close, but it all seemed to just slip away. But hey, that's the past. Let's focus on getting out.' 'There's a tunnel.' 'I know.' You then hear the beep of the door. Someone has a keycard. Marcus stands there, gun pointed. The first shot takes down Alonso. The second gets you in the shoulder and you fall backwards. As you do, you realise it is some kind of dart. You begin to feel drowsy. [[Remove the dart]]

'Let's climb.' you say. 'Great.' Sandra grabs your hand and runs to the side of the room. As you do, you hear Ali still shooting at something. A second grenade goes off and you hear some inhuman screams. Followed by the rush of more water. Climbing over rubble Sandra says you can climb up broken walls. they have enough hand holds. It will be hard, but doable. As you run someone else joins you. It's Ada. 'We're climbing out.' you say. 'I'm in,' she says. 'Up here,' says Sandra pointing up the wall. 'I'll go first. Just follow what I do.' She begins climbing up the wall. The water begins rushing around your feet. 'You go first Ada. I still havent fixed your light. So I feel I owe you one.' 'Thanks,' she says. She begins climbing. You try to pay attention to what Sandra is doing as well. A bunch of the researchers here used to go climbing every week. You meant to join, to socialise. But you always put it off. Always some reason. You put your hand on the wall and gain some footing. You can do this. You start climbing. You can't really see Sandra, so you follow what Ada is doing. You look below and the water is filling up the room. Bodies float. From the corner of your eye you can see Sandra has made it to the canteen. Ada is about three quarters there. You see her slip on her footing. She screams as she dangles by her hands. A few seconds pass. She falls. YOu watch her fall past you and plunge into the water below. Do you [[dive in to help]]? Or [[carry on climbing]]?

As you think about the equipment room, you remember there are a bunch of locked doors if you want to head that way. It's quicker, sure. But looks like it might be a bit more of a puzzle to get through. What do you want to do? [[Stick with equipment room]] [[climb up to the canteen?]]

(set: $saveada to true) You dive in to help her. As you do dive you think momentarily that maybe the room isn't flooded enough to stop you cracking you head open on the bottom. Perhaps a more conservative jump would have been a better option. Thankfully you land in a deep part. Once you emerge, you spot Ada standing in water up to her shoulders. 'Hey', she shouts. 'You came back for me?' You hear Sandra from above shouting if you're okay. You gesture you are. 'Come on Ada we need to get out of here.' As Ada goes to move you notice someone behind her. It's Ali, one of the security gaurds. Phew. He could be useful. But he grabs Ada around the neck and plunges her underwater. He starts screaming he's going to kill her. You look around for a weapon, anything. You find a piece of rubble that fits in your hand. The security guard notices you but is too intent on killing Ada. You pause briefly. Wondering if this could go wrong. Then you do it. Smash the security guard on the head. He looks up at you, stumbling backwards. 'But...' he says. He falls backwards beneath the water. Ada bursts up gasping for breath. 'Thanks,' she says. 'Now let's get back up there before this floods.' [[Climb back up]]

You see Ada hit the water amongst the chaos. You want to let go and jump in but you don't. Something in you makes you stop. Some hidden feeling. You watch as the creatures surround her. But you see her struggling with someone else. The security guard is down there. He is screaming at her. His screams are cut short though as she stabs him in the neck with something. She then takes down a couple of creatures and jumps back on the wall. Shit. You panic. You start running through excuses as to why you didn't help. Sandra shouts from above if everything is okay. 'Yeah,' you shout, looking up at her. Not wanting to explain you left Ada for dead. Ada stays silent below. But you can here her coming up the wall. Muttering to herself. You reach the top and are exhausted. Sandra helps pull you over the top. 'I'm just going to go check one of these doors,' says Sandra. 'You wait here and help Ada get up.' 'Sure,' you say. Sandra rushes off, as she does Ada's hand appears on the platform. [[Help her up]]

'Actually, I'll come with you.' you say. 'Great,' he says. You always thought you should socialise more, it's all part of the process right?. Noodles can wait. You lock your door. Marcus notices the note on your door about the light for Kay. You both start walking towards the canteen. 'Still havent fixed that one for Kay eh?' asks Marcus. 'It's so hard to get around to all of them.' 'Tell me about it, the job list is ages. I dont know how the maintenance guys keep on top of this.' 'Any news on them coming back?' 'Nah. Guess we just got to make do. At least you like lights and electricity.' 'I know. I guess I could end up working on worse stuff. I was quite glad when they asked me. Little victories here you know.' 'I feel I've been telling myself that for a long time.' 'Try to focus on your shift ending. You're gonna find yourself.' Marcus stops by the maintenance office. Says he needs to pop in and get something. Say's he will just be a second. You stand waiting, and a couple of other employees walk past. You nod, but youre not sure you recognise them. You know this place inside out, but not the people. New ones showing up all the time. Marcus comes out the office. 'Come on, let's get to the canteen. Starving and I hear it's pasta.' 'You sure it's not noodles today?' you ask. Marcus laughs. Then you hear a rumble. 'What was that?' he asks. An explosion tears through the hallway. [[You get thrown against a wall.| Against the wall]]

'Nah, it's okay I've got some food here.' You lift the noodles as if to convince him of their worth. 'Is that the noodles from two days ago?' he asks. 'Nah that was yesterday.' 'I'm pretty sure it was two days ago. Yesterday was pizza.' 'You're right. It was.' 'You need to get out more. How's everything going anyway?' 'Well I just fell in the pool. Lost my screwdriver. And now I'm questioning what I'm doing in this place.' 'Ahhh okay, so the usual Monday then?' 'I mean I know I don't want to go home. But I know I don't want to stay here.' 'When does your shift here end?' 'One more month.' 'Ouch. But you don't want to see your family?' 'Not really. But I don't have the heart to tell them. I keep telling them I'm excited to see them. But you know...Anyway...when is your shift over?' 'Two weeks. Can't wait. I'm just gonna go travelling around. You know, find myself.' 'You mean you havent found yourself here?' He laughs. 'I know,' he replies. 'That was part of the draw right. Come here. Work on something good for the world. Purpose and all that shit. Funny how it turns to the mundane quite quickly. Think I need to look elsewhere to find myself.' 'I need to find an elsewhere first. Then see if my self is there.' 'Anyway, I'll let you crack on with those noodles. I'm starving. I'll be in the canteen if you want.' [[Actually, I'll come with you.]] [[Thanks mate, enjoy the food.]]

'Actually, I'll come with you.' you say. 'Great,' he says. You put the noodles down and lock your door. Marcus notices the note on your door about the light for Kay. You both start walking towards the canteen. 'Still havent fixed that one for Kay eh?' asks Marcus. 'It's so hard to get around to all of them.' 'Tell me about it, the job list is ages. I dont know how the maintenance guys keep on top of this.' 'Any news on them coming back?' 'Nah. Guess we just got to make do. At least you like lights and electricity.' 'I know. I guess I could end up working on worse stuff. I was quite glad when they asked me. Little victories here you know.' 'I feel I've been telling myself that for a long time.' 'Try to focus on your shift ending. You're gonna find yourself.' Marcus stops by the maintenance office. Says he needs to pop in and get something. Say's he will just be a second. You stand waiting, and a couple of other employees walk past. You nod, but youre not sure you recognise them. You know this place inside out, but not the people. New ones showing up all the time. Marcus comes out the office. 'Come on, let's get to the canteen. Starving and I hear it's pasta.' 'You sure it's not noodles today?' you ask. Marcus laughs. Then you hear a rumble. 'What was that?' he asks. An explosion tears through the hallway. [[You get thrown against a wall.| Against the wall]]

You sit on your bed and eat the noodles. You think about that note Kay left you, that you need to fix her light. What are you going to tell Kay? You've been meaning to look at their lighting for a while. Always tomorrow. Why are you at this place? Marcus is right, you need to get out. You thought it was the answer coming here. Always tomorrow. Always tomorrow you say. You consider calling your Mum, to tell her you still aren't coming back. As much as you don't like it here, you still don't want to go back. Not yet. You consider being honest with her. Say that you're still not ready. You know she'll make some comment about still not finding what you were looking for. But to be honest, you havent really done much looking. And was it looking, or escaping that you were doing? You never quite knew. You put the noodles on the bedside table. May as well get an early night. Fix those things tomorrow. You close your eyes and think of things, people back home. Regardless of not wanting to go back home, it still helps you sleep. Remembering other times. As you feel yourself drifting off you hear an alarm going. You scramble out of bed, knocking the noodles to the floor. Can't be a drill can it? Where was the meeting point anyway? Gate 5? You meant to check. You take a quick look at a bracelet on your desk, wondering if you should take it. Memories. An explosion engulfs the room. The end [[Return to beginning|Beginning]]

You look around and the corridoor partly falls away. Fire begins to fill the room. You look around and see the colleagues form earlier running towards you. As they approach, the ceiling falls on them. You hear screams from elsewhere in the institue. You feel the back of your head and there is blood. The rest of you seems fine. You stand up. Your back hurts. You wonder if you worked out more you'd be better to withstand this stuff. Is that why people work out? For these situations? Maybe. Oh well, no point worrying about wasted gym memberships now. You walk over to where the ceiling fell on the colleagues. You remove some rubble, one of the colleagues looks dead. You check their pulse. Dead. The other one coughs. 'Help me,' he says. [You pull more rubble off.]<think|(click:?think) [ It doesn't look good. And you can't hide your reaction. 'I know,' the guy says. (t8n: "fade")+(transition-time:20s) ['I know it's not good. I feel like I'm-' He goes silent. And still. You slump back down to the floor. Thinking about how you didn't know them. Yet you were probably one of the last people they saw. You think about your family back home. For the first time in ages you feel like you want to see them. You hadn't told anyone, but you had volunteered to stay here longer. You were supposed to be home months ago. You try to think what to do. You could [[sit and wait]]. Or [[look for Marcus]] ]]

You think you should sit and wait. Just let it take over. As you sit down you realise you are more drowsy than you thought.

You decide to look for Marcus. You stumble through the corridor and find him there at the end, just about standing up. 'Marcus,' you shout. He turns. Smiles. 'Oh hey, you okay?' 'Yeah,' you say. But you really arent sure. The back of your head is bleeding a bit more than you think. You don't want to worry Marcus though. You are fine compared to the others. 'What are we gonna do?' you ask. Marcus hesitates slightly. Debating something. Probably a plan or something. 'I know a way out,' he says. 'We can use the lift. Sound good?' [[ Go with marcus]]

Everybody is laughing, but you don't get the joke. Or you missed it. Maybe you missed it. That's what you'll tell people. Marcus sits next to you, laughing. He got the joke. He always does. On some level, you wish you could be more like Marcus. Is that something that always happens with friends though? You look back to the person who said the joke, Dr Chambers. He's giving a mini speech to everyone at the research institute. He does this at the end of every month though. Reminds us why we are here, why the world needs us. And as always, he thanks everyone for coming. If it wasn't for people like us, the problems that face the world may not get solved. You wish solving the world's problems was the main reason you came. In fact you'd guess it wasn't the top reason for most people. 'Anyway,' says Dr Chambers, 'that's enough from me. Enjoy the drinks, enjoy the music. You've got another half hour off work, so make the most of it.' Everyone claps. Do you [[clap]]? Or [[not]]?

You make sure to clap. You dont want to, but you remember one time you didn't clap at a friend's gig and they came and asked you about it afterwards. You sat through it for 2 hours and were at the back. How she saw you not clapping will forever evade you, but you learnt your lesson. You join in the clapping. After it dies down you turn to Marcus. He's still clapping a bit. Always one. 'I'm gonna go get a drink,' you say. 'Want anything?' 'Nah mate, I'm good.' You make your way over to where there are some drinks on a table. Alcohol. Alcohol. Alcohol. Alcohol. Soft drink. Soft drink. Water. You've been trying to cut back on alcohol lately. Nothing good ever comes of it, especially at work things. You pick up the water, can't beat it. As you do you hear a voice behind you. It's Ada. You turn around. 'Hey,' you say. 'Enjoy the speech?' she asks. 'Inspiring,' you say. 'That joke...' she says. You dont know what she's implying so you just say 'yeah right...'. She picks up a water and asks if you want to come join her and Kay at her table. [['Nah, I gotta take Marcus a drink']] [['Sure sounds good.']]

You don't clap and immediately regret it. Dr Chambers spots you in the crowd not clapping. He's looking at you. Eyes fixed. You debate just sticking to your guns and carrying on not clapping, but his eye contact is awkward and you find yourself clapping. He smiles and looks elsewhere in the room. Cant believe you got caught doing that, that happened once before. The room begins to talk amongst itself again. 'I love these meetings,' says Marcus. 'Same...' you say. 'Do you think Chambers saw I wasn't clapping?' 'Come on mate, you know the answer to that.' 'Great...I'm gonna go get a drink. Want anything?' 'Nah...I'm good.' You get up and walk to the drinks table. As you get there. Chambers cuts across your path. 'Hey,' he says. 'How's it going?' 'Hey Dr Chambers. It's good thanks, just getting a drink and then I'm off to fix the pool light.' 'I noticed you weren't clapping. You sure you're okay? You know if you want to talk, you can chat to your buddy. That's why we have [that system.']<buddy|(click:?buddy)[ Your buddy was Sandra and she is actually pretty cool. Much better than some people you could have ended up with.] 'Okay, I will do,' you say. 'Good,' says Chambers. 'I know you just signed on for an extra month, no leave. That's rare.' 'I don't feel like going home just yet. Right...I've really got to get a drink before I go fix this pool light.' [[Head to drinks table]]

You pick up a drink and say your goodbyes. Heading back to your table you see that Marcus is chatting with Dr Chambers. As you approach you put the drink down next to Marcus. 'For you,' you say. 'Oh I didnt ask for one.' he says 'Thought I'd treat you.' 'You're too good to me.' 'Hi Dr Chambers,' you say. 'Hey,' he says. 'Where's my drink?' He smiles. You laugh. 'Sorry, I forgot to take your order. Right I gotta head out to fix this light in the pool.' 'Thanks,' says Chambers. 'You're both doing a great job. Especially consideirng Chris has vanished. We wouldnt be able to do any of this research if nothing was working.' 'I'm just in charge of lights.' you say. 'Well, they help illuminate our world.' he says with a smile. 'Right, well I'm gonna go illuminate the pool.' you reply You pick up your bag and head towards [[the pool|Go to the pool]].

You head over to Ada's table. As you do you look around the room. You really should socialise more. You came here to escape home, and yet havent really spoken to more than handful of people. 'You haven't fixed my light yet,' Kay says to you as you approach. 'I'm sorry, it's a long list of jobs to get through' you say. It had been. You and Marcus were working overtime now. Your boss had been missing for a few days. You are Marcus were only meant to be helping out briefly, but when your boss vanished you were left in it. It's not bad, you like lights and quite like electricty, but it's not your expertise. Just what is your experise you dont know, another one of those things you were hoping to find out. You wanted to get into research either way. 'Yeah I heard Chris has vanished,' said Ada. 'What happened?' 'We don't know,' you say. 'Is this why you asked me over?' 'You know we love gossip,' says Ada smiling. 'Plus we wanted to see how you were doing, haven't seen you this week?' 'Yeah just been busy. But yeah apart from that, all good. I'll try and pop by next week. We'll have a catch up. But anwyay, speaking of lights, I've got to go fix the main pool light. So catch you in a bit.' 'Ahh that can wait,' says Ada. 'I need to ask you about Dr Alonso.' [['I've really got to go.']] [['Oh, really? What about Alonso]]

You say goodbye to Ada and Kay and head back over to Marcus. He is talking to Dr Chambers. 'Hey Marcus,' you say. 'I'm gonna do that pool job.' 'Sure, he says. 'Catch you soon. I better get back to it as well.' 'Nice to see you boys working hard,' says Dr Chambers. 'I'm sorry it's been a bit harder on you now that Chris has disappeared.' 'Hey, these things happen.' says Marcus. 'I hope he's okay, wherever he is.' 'Reckon he just ran away?' you say. 'I don't think so,' says Chambers. 'There's not much around here. It wouldn't be worth the risk to just run. Miles before the nearest town. Plus he seemed fine here.' 'Well I better get to this pool light.' you say. 'Yeah we need that main light fixed, that would be awesome.' 'You need the office key?' asks Marcus. 'Nah, I've got my kit here,' you say pointing to your bag under the table. You pick it up and sling it over your shoulder. 'It's been a pleasure,' you say. 'Enjoy the rest of the day.' [[Go to the pool]]

You love a bit of gossip too. Okay you don't socialise much, but you like hearing about other people's stuff. 'Oh really?' you say. 'What do you know about Alonso?' 'We were hoping you could tell us.' Truth is, you've never really interacted with Dr Alonso. She always seemed a bit arrogant. Up herself. But you're keen to get any dirt on her. 'Sorry, I've only just seen her about.' 'Well we think she was getting close with Chambers.' 'Oh that? That's old news. Even I know that.' 'And...,'continues Ada. 'We last saw her chatting to your missing boss.' 'Seriously?' 'Yeah,' says Kay. 'We've asked around and a few others said the same. You ever see them together?' 'No. Never. I didn't know Chris spoke with her.' 'Well there you go,' says Ada. 'That's why we thought you'd know. Anyway, wanna come with us to the lower pool. Us a few of the interns are having some drinks.' [['Nah sorry, I've really got to get back to work'|'I've really got to go.']] [['Yeah, why not. Work can wait right?']]

As you head out to pool the night seems quiet, apart fromm the slight ripple of water. You look up at the light that hangs above the pool. You've been putting this job off for a while because you didnt want to climb up there. You're sure there is a more health and safety compliant approach, but feels like it might take longer. You put on your belt, making sure your favourite screwdriver is in there. It is. You have no idea why you like it. You're the same with cutlery, you have a favourite fork, spoon, and so on. Don't know why. You're a creature of habit. Is that why you are staying here? You don't like change. And going back home? Well... You climb on up the lighting structure and shimmy on over to light. Below you is the pool. It's higher than you thought. It takes you a bit by surprise. You were always so jealous of the maintenance team in your past jobs. Even in this one. You're quite happy you're now an honorary member. This was the type of adventure you came out here for right? You reach the light. It's blown for sure. But something different. Broken on purpose. You look closer. And slip. You try to grab hold of something but don't. You watch your screwdriver fall into the pool, and know you are following it. As you do, you see something swimming in the pool. You hit the water [[with a hard splash|Beginning]].

As you get to the table you see Ada standing there pouring herself a drink. 'Hey,' she says. 'Wanna join me and Kay at our table?" You only met Ada a few weeks back, but she seems cool. She's one of the analysts here. You keep meaning to ask her how she got into it, you've been thinking a bit more about going down the analyst side. You feel she's going to say you need to learn coding though...doesn't everything now. 'So..' she says. 'You coming?' [['Nah, I gotta take Marcus a drink']] [['Sure sounds good.']]

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'Great', says Ada. 'We're meeting in the downstairs research pool. I'm glad you are in. You'll get to meet more people.' 'Yeah, I really need to do that.' Ada turns to Kay. 'Right Kay, you go round up the others, we'll grab the drinks and meet you there.' 'Awesome,' says Kay. 'Work's for losers anyway right?' You don't think work is for losers, but you do need to make some friends here, so you go along with it. 'Yeah, exactly,' you say. You're not sure you even convinced yourself with that one. Oh well. Kay goes off to get the others. 'Right,' says Ada. 'Let's get going.' [[Follow Ada]]

You head to the dirnks table, thinking you probably should talk to Sandra at some point. It had been a while, but she always looked out for you. You think she thought of you as some kind of adopted child. You were okay with that. She wanted to take you under her wing, make sure you got on well here. She said it was because she was far from her kids, this was her coping mechanism. You liked it. But you really needed to talk to her more. As you reach the table you turn around and look at everyone chatting away. 8 months you've been here. What did you have to show for it? You were happy you were in maintenance a bit now, that was cool. But what else was there? You see Ada and Kay sitting at a table. Ada waves at you to come over. [[Join Ada and Kay|'Sure sounds good.']]

You walk to the data room and you and Ada chit chat about nothingness. Old [[TV shows]], what people do here to relax. She tells you there are some social things you should join. Asks if you like [[board games]]. It feels good to be talking to people more. Your mind starts filling with futures. Maybe you could be happy here? I mean it serves a purpose being here, but maybe you could be happy as well. Maybe when you ring home you can finally tell your mum? Ada leads you into the downstairs research pool room. It's impressive. You haven't been here since you joined. Seems ages ago. You look at the pool that lies in the middle of the room. Watching the water slightly moving. 'This is where we launch the mini submarine, and the rover.' says Ada. You then spot the underwater rover and sub next to the pool. 'Oh, that's cool.' you say. 'I've always wanted to give that stuff a go. I'm a bit of a nerd for that stuff.' 'You should come join us down here one day.' 'Oh I'd love that.' you say. 'Right I'm gonna get the drinks out of the store room. Do you [[wanna come with]], or stay and [[check out the rover?]]'

List of TV shows The Racoons - you loved the theme song. Everybody Loves Raymond - can't remember much. But liked it. Dexter's Lab - Looked cool, never watched it. Hey Arnold - Loved it. Crystal Maze - You loved the Aztec Zone. Something about people falling in water Friends - Was this old? But didnt life seem so perfect... [[Go back|Follow Ada]]

Board games discussed: Monopoly - never finished it Scrabble - you're good, but you know there a much better people 7 Wonders - yes, yes a thousand times yes Settlers of Catan - LOVE it Ticket to Ride - the first one you played. [[Go back|Follow Ada]]

'Sure,I'll come help.' you say. Ada disappears into a stock room, and you follow. As you enter the room you see a bunch of people on the floor tied up. You look up to see Ada holding a gun at you. 'Hey,' she says. 'Don't move. Don't scream. Don't do anything except tie yourself up.' She chucks you some binding. 'Put your hands through that, and pull tight.' You begin to fumble. Fear taking your movements. You can feel tears beginning to form. Not just in your eyes, but somewhere deeper. 'Quick,' says Ada. 'Or we're gonna miss what we need to.' YOu pull the binding tight and hold your hands up to show her. 'Great,' says Ada. 'I really didn't want to shoot you. In fact I couldnt anyway, this is just a toy we had in the office.' She chucks it harmlessly on the floor. 'But this,' she says raising a metal pole. 'This is very real. And it probably going to hurt.' She [[hits you over the head.|You pass out.]]

'I'll just check this out a bit more,' you say. 'Cool, no worries. I'll just be a sec.' You watch as Ada wanders into the store room. You probably should have gone with her, but you havent been able to check out one of these in ages. You have a bit of a nerdy obsession with sensors and actuators. So you start looking al over the rover for its various data collection capabilities. It's then that you notice something move in the reflection on the camera lens. You go to turn around, but its too late. Something hits you on the head. You taste beer dribbling into your mouth. As you fall to the floor, you look up. Ada is standing there with half a smashed bottle in her hand. 'Should have come help me you rude little shit,' she says. 'Now I've got to drag you into the room with the others.' [[You pass out.]]

You wake up swaying. Beneath you is the pool. You hear screaming and crying. Chain is wrapped around you and you realise you are suspended above the pool. You start wriggling to get free. 'Don't,' says a voice next to you. 'Someone already tried that.' It's then that you notice there are five other people dangling above the pool. One of them is Kay, right at the other end of the line. She's the only one you recognise. Ada stands at the pool side, looking up at everyone. 'Great,' she says. 'Looks like everyone is awake. Welcome to the party. YOu might not realise what we actaully do here at this place. In fact I know you don't. But part of it involves new life forms. And well that's why you're here. I wanna see what they do to you.' 'You bitch,' says Kay. 'How could you do this to me? I thought we were-' 'It was what it was,' says Ada. 'Can we not just accept we can be fleeting moments? But seeing as we were close, I'll save you the horror of waiting.' Ada presses a button and Kay drops screaming into the pool. You see movement below you. Dark shapes and blood. The others start screaming and wriggling. Do you try to [[wriggle free?]] [[Stay quiet?]] [[Talk to the person next to you?]]

You try wriggling free. But the chains are quite tight. You start thrashing around. 'Stop it,' says the voice next to you. 'You'll just fall.' You hear another scream as someone else get's dropped into the pool. Followed by another. 'I'm gonna get dropped anyway,' you say. 'I gotta get out.' 'Stay calm,' says the voice, turning to look at you. 'You're right. We are going to drop. But we've got to stay calm. No point hitting the water in a panic.' 'What's your name?' you ask. 'Zara. And I'm just-'(set: $zaradrop to true) Zara drops into the pool. It's just you and Ada left now. 'Hey buddy,' she says. 'I thought we were friends?' 'It is what it is,' she says. 'Maybe different times we could have been.If it's any consolation I dont think these creatures are eating you straight away. It looks like they are taking you to another pool.' 'Why do this?' Ada smiles a fleeting smile. 'I just need to get out of here. An opportunity came up. Gotta take these chances right?' She presses the button and you fall. [[The water hits hard.]]

You stay quiet and just look at the pool. You thought Ada was your friend. You can't believe this has happened again. You always rush in with thoughts. Too much too soon right? But too much for who? You feel an idiot really, you came here to try and get over this. Find somewhere to truly belong, and you found yourself thinking about things too much again. You already imagined playing board games with her and the others. Is having friends too much of an ask in this world. 'Hey, you on the end?' says Ada. 'You're very quiet. You don't even look angry at me.' 'You'e such a bitch Ada,' says the voice next to you. 'Whatever Zara,' says Ada. 'Don't tell me you've never done anything to get ahead in life.' Ada walks over to you. Stares at you. 'I thought we were friends,' you say. 'Well if it makes you feel any better, I think we could have been.' You smile, and she press the button. You feel yourself fall. [[The water hits hard.]]

'What do we do?' you ask the person next to you.(set: $talk to true) 'Stay calm' she says. 'We're gonna fall anyway. Best not to panic. I'm just trying to cut my hands free.' You look behind her to see her rubbing the binding against the chain. 'Do the same,' she says. You start doing so. You hear one of the others arguing with Ada, and Ada starts shouting back. Good buys you more time. 'What's your name?' you whisper to the person next to you. 'Zara.' 'Thank you for your help.' 'What's your name?' You go to answer but someone else comes into the pool room. It's Chris, head of security. 'WHat the fuck is going on here?' he says, pulling his gun onto Zara. 'It's not what it looks like,' she says. Suddenly there is an explosion from elsewhere in the facility. You hear a rumble. The ceiling collapses and you drop into the pool. [[The water hits hard.]]

(if: $explosion is true) [The water is cold and you see chaos around you. The bindings come free a bit but not enough. You realise a piece of the ceiling is dragging you to the bottom of the pool. You watch the world disappearing. But for a moment all is serene. You see the creatures atatcking your colleagues and dragging them off. In silence it all seems beautiful. You come to rest at the bottom of the pool and struggle to free your hands. You realise the cretaure haven't seen you down here. You're all alone. A pain begins to form in your chest. A shape swims toward you. Zara. She unties your hands and gestures for you to follow her through another tunnel.[[You follow| Zara pool]]] (if: $zaradrop is true) [The water is cold. And immediately you panic. You see bodies struggling around you. A mixture of human and creature. You see one creature's hand merging with someone's face. Like becoming one. You need to breathe. Desperately. You swim to the surface. As you do you see a security guard aguing with Ada. He has his gun drawn on her. You then hear a rumble from elsewhere, followed by an explosion. Fire bursts into the room. Ada gets flung into the pool next to you. You hear a noise above you. The ceiling collapses. You try to swim out of the way but parts of it hit you. A pain bursts through your head. You notice the water around you turns red. You find yourself sinking. Slowl sinking away. As you feel life fading you see Ada struggling with a creature. A part of you smiles. Then one of the creatures takes you in its arms and holds you tight. You close your eyes. [[Go back to beginning|Introduction]] ] (if: $talk is true) [The water is cold. You see the creatures fighting over Kay's body. They the see you and start coming towards you. As they do another person drops into the water and the creatures converge on them. You wish you could help but can't. You need to breathe so swim to the edge of pool to see if you can sneak a breath. It's harder with your hands tied. Suddenly you notice light fill the room above your. Fire. Parts of the ceiling fall into the pool. You then feel someone grab you. It's Zara. She cuts your hands free, and gestures for you to follow.(set: $explosion to true) [[You follow.| Zara pool]] ]

This is it you tell yourself. Your chance to prove yourself. You pick up a stray bit of rubble off the floor and run at the creature. As you do, you realise you're stepping outside of your comfort zone a bit. It feels awkward. Reminds you of when you used to try and be part of groups as a kid. Trying to be something you're not. It never ended well then, hopefully now. As you approach the creature it responds to you. And it's then you realise it's someone you've seen around. You hesitate slightly and that's enough time for the creature to grab you buy the throat. It grips hard and brings you to the floor. It bites hard into your shoulder and you scream. It's slippery hand slithers over your face and you feel a stinging sensation. It feels like it's joining your face. Merging with the skin on your cheek. You then feel the creature weaken. You see Zara beating it with a fire extinguisher. She crushes its head. It's hand is still on your face, but the stinging sensation seems to have stopped. 'What do we do now?' you say. Your voice muffled through the hand. 'I don't know,' said Zara. 'I'm not gonna lie, it doesn't look good.' 'Like visually doesnt look good? or I'm gonna die type of doesn't look good.' 'Both.' You knew this would happen. Happens everytime you try to be something you're not. You always end up regretting it. Maybe it's a confidence thing. 'I think we have two options,' says Zara. 'We can rip it off quickly. Or I can maybe try and cut the arm off, and we keep the hand on you for now.' [["Just rip it off"]] [["Yeah, let's just cut the arm off. I can at least still walk around I guess."]]

You let Zara go and attack it first. You watch her rush straight at it and annihilate it. You really are quite jealous. As you see her crushing its head into the ground you just think wow. How did she get like this? Aspirational. You run up after her. 'Hey,' you say. She stomps on the creature a few more times. Then looks up. 'Hey.' You look down at what's left of the creature. 'Hey thats-' 'Jane from the canteen,' says Zara. 'I know.' 'Do you think there are many of us left alive?' you ask. 'No idea. I think it's best we get out of here. Then ask ourselves these questions when we're outside. We've just got a couple more floors to go.' [[Head to next floor]]

'Do you want me to do it?' you ask, but it a way that definitely hints you don't want to do it. Zara looks at you. You are so hoping she doesnt take you up on the offer. 'Seriously,' you say. 'I dont mind at all. I just want to help.' 'It's okay,' she says. 'I'll go and do it.' [[Let Zara attack first]]

Zara breaks the arm and starts hacking at it. It breaks free. It's nice to feel the weight reduce. BUt it's quite awkward having an arm stuck on your face. You ask Zara how it looks, but your voice is a bit muffled. 'It looks good,' she says. 'Try not to worry. We'll sort it.' Part of you knows this is unlikely. But you're trying to do all you can to stop breaking down. Because if you do, you know you will definitely die down here. 'Come on,' she says 'We've got to keep moving.' You stagger around the coridoors, and realise you are near the toilets. 'I just need to go in here.' you say 'Seriously?' says Zara 'Yeah I'm sorry...but I really gotta go.' 'Really?' [[Go to toilet]] [[Carry on walking]]

'Sure, just rip it off. It's just like a plaster right?' 'Identical,' says Zara. 'On three?' You tell yourself you're trying something new again. You'd usually want to just delay this. Best just jump in. 'On three,' you say. Zara counts down and rips the hand off your face. You scream. The pain is unbearable. Zara has a shocked look on her face. 'What? Is my face still on? It's still their right?' 'It's still there,' she says. 'Just a bit bloody.' She peers closer. 'Looks like we got it just in time. I saw this happen to one of the interns and they began to turn. But it looks like you might be okay.' 'Turned?' 'Yeah their face started turning fish-like. It was weird.' 'Is this one of the interns you had to kill?' 'Yeah.' She picks you up. 'Try not to worry. I'm sure it will heal.' 'You don't sound too convincing.' 'Well I don't know what you want me to say. I mean if you have any signal on your phone why don't you try looking it up online.' 'Thanks for tha gold advice.' 'Right, we need to get moving.' [[Head to next floor]]

You walk and carry on to the data lab. You love coming into this room. You remember it on your tour on your first day. You see various scientists milling around doing stuff. You tell yourself you need to get here somehow. You notice an underwater robot over by the main pool. You've always been fascinated by those. You see Dr Alonso working on the robot and walk over. You've always disliked her. She seems arrogant. The type of doctor that always makes you call them doctor. 'Hey,' you say. She doesn't respond. You begin to think if you even said it the first time. 'Hey,' you say again. 'I heard you the first time,' she says. 'But you stopped talking.' 'Oh, so you heard me.' 'Look, I'm dealing with a bit of an issue at the minute. What is it?' [["I saw something in the pool"| Saw something]] [["Oh it's nothing, I can tel you later"| Tell later]]

You say goodbye to Ada and then run after Dr Alonso. 'Dr Alonso?' you say. She ignores you again. You sometimes think you just don't talk loud enough. Commit to what you are saying, people have told you. Stand up for your voice. You try but you equally don't like becoming very brash. Too egotistical you know. But you decide to repeat yourself anyway. [[Tell her again you saw something| Saw something]]

You say that would be great to chat. 'Ace,' she says. 'Follow me. I'm having a bit of get together in one of the other data rooms.' 'Oh cool.' You'd been meaning to get to know more people so this could be good. Finally start to socialise. That's part of why you came here in the first place. As you walk with Ada you get talking about old TV shows, board games you used to play. All the inane stuff. You say you've been meaning to fix her girlfriend's office light for a while. In fact you'd spoken earlier, but you had to rush off for work. You apologise for that. Say you sometimes get so caught up in work. 'Oh,it's fine don't worry,' she says. 'I know it can get quite hectic around here. So don't sweat it.' You arrive at a room. Ada asks if you can [[give her a hand getting some drinks.|wanna come with]]

You both go to head to the next floor. Zara says it's fine, shouldn't take too long. You reach a door. 'This is the way up,' she says. Zara uses her keycard against the door and it opens. She tells you that you need to keep this open or it will lock. You say sure thing. She puts her foot in the doorway to keep it open. Says to put yours in. You do. Ready to go in. You hear a noise behind you as water floods into the corridoor. As you do, your foot leaves the door and you hear it shut. You can tell from Zara's face through the glass that this isn't good. 'Can you slide your keycard through?' you ask. 'No. The door is sealed.' Her voice is muffled. 'What do we do?' 'There's another way.' says Zara. 'One of the directors had a second way through. But there's a code on the door. I can't remember what the passcode is, but its something that is in her office. If you go through there, I will meet you up the top.' 'Which room?' 'It's Dr Alonso's.' [[Go to Alonso office]]

You both climb up and meet Sandra at the top. 'What happened?' she asks. 'Ada slipped. One of the security guards then attacked her,' you say. 'How come?' asks Sandra. 'No idea,' says Ada. 'He just came at me shouting gibberish.' Ada turns to you and says she won't forget this. She smiles and you smile back. 'We need to keep moving,' says Sandra. She leads you into a room, just off the canteen. As you do, you peer into the canteen to see the hole you feel through. You wish your concerns were still as simple as what pasta to eat. 'We can make our way out through the main reception,' says Sandra 'Awesome,' says Ada. 'I just want some fresh air. That's all I want now. So how do you two know each other?' 'Oh Sandra is my buddy,' you say. 'Ahhh the buddy system,' says Ada. 'Mine left a while ago.' 'Did they not give you a replacement?' asks Sandra. 'No,' replies Ada. 'I think I must have got lost in the system.' 'I'm sorry, usually the scheme works better than that.' 'It's okay, I'm quite independent anyway.' You notice that Ada is limping slightly. 'You hurt?' you ask. 'Oh no, it's just from the fall,' she says. 'Okay reception is through here,' says Sandra. [[Head to reception]]

You enter Alonso's office and it's pretty tidy. Again you always loved this minimalist stuff. You see the door up to the next level on the other side of the room. You walk up to it and there is a keypad. You look back around the room. There is [a painting]<paint|(click:?paint)[It's a painting of a landscape. In the corner there is a date 2008.The picture is signed by Alonso]. [A map]<map|(click:?map)[It's a map with various places highlighted. She must have visited these places] A statue of [of a dinosaur.]<dino|(click:?dino)[ (b4r:"solid")+(b4r-colour:white)[Iguanodon 1822]] On the other side of the room, you see the keypad. Looks like it takes numbers. [[Enter code]]

(input-box: bind $code, "XXX=", 2) [[[enter the code into the keypad|enter]]] [[check office again|Go to Alonso office]]

(if: $code is "1822") [Nice. The door slides open. You can get out. [[step through the door|Hallways]]] (else:) [oh no you got it wrong. Looks like you will have to go back and try again. Maybe it's another object in the room that has the clue [[try again|Enter code]]]

There is a staircase and you head up it. It's dark and you can hear water dripping. As you reach the top you see Zara standing there. She has a look of worry on her face. You see someone standing behind her. Ada. 'Welcome to the party,' Ada says. Something about Ada looks different. Looks like she must have been attacked by one the creatures. Her features have morphed somewhat. 'Don't do what she asks,' says Zara 'Shut up,' says Ada. 'Decision is theirs.' 'What decision?' you ask. 'Well. I have one space left to come with me. It's either you or Zara here.' 'What?' 'Yeah I know you want to make friends, so here you go. We can be. We can be best friends.' [[Choose Zara]] [[Choose Ada]]

Double-click this passage to edit it.

This is it. Your moment. You'd always wanted decent friends. As much as you hated Ada, she was right. You wanted this. This was it. The time to cement Zara as a friend. You had to try. Were you quicker than a bullet? No. But were you quicker than Ada's trigger finger, maybe. As violent as she was, she didnt seem to be a gun expert. You fumble in your pocket and feel a pen you'd kept for some reason. Could be used. You just need an opening. And then it came. Zara pushes her head back hard. You hear Ada's nose crack. Ada stumbles backwards. You run at her with the pen and stab her in the shoulder with it. It goes in, but not fully. Ada screams in pain, drops the gun. She grabs you by your shirt and rams you into the wall repeatedly. As she does you hear a gunshot. Ada screams and let's go, holding her arm, a bullet hole seeps blood. Before anyone can say anything, Ada is running down the hallway and is gone. 'Thanks,'you say to Zara. 'I wanted to kill her. I missed.' 'It's okay. We're okay for now.' 'You're right. [[Not far now| Let's get moving.']]

(set:$betray to true) You look at Zara and she can tell what you've decided. Her face sinks. It hurts you. You didn't realise it until now, but maybe you were friends. But you want to get out of here, and Ada seems to be the right one to help with this. Whatever she is part of, she could help. You step forward. 'Wait,' says Zara. 'Ada. You know I will be more use to you. You know that I'm the one that got us here. I'm the resourceful one.' Ada laughs. 'You know what Zara. I think you're onto something there.' Ada points the gun at you. 'I'm sorry,' she says, 'but Zara has a point. What did you bring to the table?' You know she's right. And you know you deserve it. You just went to sell Zara out to protect yourself, and this is what you deserve. You knew you weren't going to be bringin much anyway. You're about to close your eyes and accept what's coming when Zara rams her head into Ada's hand holding the gun. The gun drops to the floor. Zara kicks it towards you. 'Do it!' shouts Zara. You scramble after the gun, but Ada is already halfway down the hall. You let off a shot. It's terrible, but it seems to glance Ada's shoulder. She falls to the floor, but quickly gets up and runs around the corner. 'You can put the gun down now,' says Zara. She walks over to you and takes it off you. 'Thanks for not going with her,' she says. 'For a moment there I thought you would.' 'Was never an option,' you say. Ashamed. 'Let's carry on,' she says. [['Not far now.']]

You turn the corner and you still can't believe you nearly betrayed Zara. After all she had done. All that she is doing. She walks ahead of you trying to find a way out. Trying to save the both of you. She sees some blood on the floor. You look at it too, wondering if it is Ada's. You decide to say something. 'I nearly betrayed you,' you say. Zara stops. Turns. Looks at you. 'I just panicked,' you say. 'I'm sorry. It's just I...' You can tell you have hurt Zara. You can tell she is trying to hide it, but it's there. 'Why are you telling me this?' she asks. 'I needed to tell you. I couldn't live with it. I thought best get it out in the open' 'Look, let's get out of here first. We all have our slip ups. We can talk about this if we get out. Let's see if we can follow Ada. She must have known a way out.' Zara turns. [[You follow]]

You both turn the corner. No sign of Ada, but you hear some struggle up ahead. 'She probably can't get far with that injury,' says Zara. 'Are we going to kill her?' 'Yes. I will anyway. Don't worry about it. It's on me.' You're not sure how you feel about it, despite everything Ada has done. It seems a line you never thought you'd be crossing. You hear a scream from around the corner. Zara runs ahead. [[Follow Zara]]

You push the door open and there is a body on the floor. You can't tell who it is, the head is missing. You think to check for the name tag but dont want to get too close. You go to look at yourself in the mirror, the real reason you came in here. The arm is stuck there like some new growing limb. You peer closer at it and it seems to be binding itself to your face. You go to pull it off but as you grab hold you feel a warmth in its embrace. You're not sure what this feeling is, but you know it's a hint of something you have been looking for. You try to shake it. But it's there, in your thoughts. A total feeling of belonging. As if you had found your one true...whatever it is people look for. But this seems it. You feel a rush of new thoughts. Exciting thoughts. For the first time in ages, you feel excited by life. By the possibilities. You feel another feeling niggling inside. A suspicion. A mistrust. Of Zara. She can't possibly know what it's like. To be this new you. She wants to get you out of here, remove this limb. She is not on our side. She doesn't want what is best for us. She can't possibly understand. And her ignorance will get in the way. Zara kicks the toilet door open. 'Hey,' she says. 'You were taking a while. You okay?' You are okay you tell yourself. More okay than you've ever been. And isn't that what you are supposed to listen to. Happiness is the only metric. [[Ask Zara to come take a look at your face]]

You decide to carry on walking. Zara walks ahead of you and she seems further away than ever. Something being lost. You try to shake it. This feeling of loneliness, but it's there. You try to convince yourself its not, that you are fine. That she is here with you. BUt you can't help it, you feel so far apart it hurts. Zara turns to you and says something, but you can't really here it. You feel something else now. Something making you feel less alone. Something finally accepting you for what you are, for all your faults and all your imperfect behavior. Zara is still trying to talk to you but you dont want to listen. You want to bask in this new feeling. You feel it emanating from the hand that is attached to you. It's given you exactly what you want. You feel it. Home. Or at least the memory of it. Belonging. Zara tries to grab your hand and pull you along, but you brush her off. Why is she trying to stop you having this? You thought she was your friend. But she obviously doesn't want the best for you. If only she could feel this. You start walking in the opposite direction. Zara's shouts get less and less and you begin to feel finally part of something. You walk back to the water and slowly lower yourself in. Home. THE END [[Introduction]]

'Can you just come look at my face a second?' you ask. 'Sure,' says Zara. She stands in front of you. Peering intent. You know we haven't got long. She's the only thing that stops us now from becoming utterly us. We need to take care of her. We can take her to see the rest of us, sure she will fit in fine. You pick up the soap dispenser and hit her over the head with it. She falls to the floor. She's done. Out of the way. Best to be sure. You look at her to make sure the job is finished. You raise the soap dispenser again, as you do though you notice movement. Then a pain. A knife protudes from your leg. Zara thrusts the knife in more. Pushes you away. She plunges the knife in again. This time stomach. 'Cant believe you-' she says. Amongst the pain you feel the warm feeling leaving. Loneliness returns. You collapse to the floor. You try to tell her you are sorry. Although you aren't sure who you are trying to apologise to. Her or the arm that was stuck to your face. It brought that warm feeling with it. Whatever it was is falling away from you now. Falling quicker than you'd like. Zara stands over you and you know what's coming. Darkness. THE END [[Introduction]]

You turn the corner and see Ada sitting on the floor. You see blood. Zara is standing in front of her. There is another body on the floor. One of the creatures. 'Found her,' says Zara. 'She was like this already.' You walk over to them . Ada is still alive, but she is changing. She looks up at you both with something finally being released from her eyes. Half of her face has already begun morphing. Her leg is also attached to the creature, fusing together. Ada struggles to talk, but manages. 'I just wanted to escape,' she says. 'I just wanted to escape all of this. This monotony. Don't we all? Just want to.' 'You did terrible things Ada,' says Zara. 'I'm sorry.' 'It's not enough. And no, before you ask, I'm not going to kill you Ada. I'm gonna leave you like this.' 'Woah,' you say 'we can't leave her like this?' 'We can. And I will.' Zara continues on down the corridor. You stay still. Zara turns back. 'You will need something to kill her with,' she says. She puts a knife on the floor and kicks it over to you. 'Good luck,' she says. 'If you make it to the surface in time, I may be there.' She heads on up the stairs. You pick the knife up of the floor and look at Ada. 'I can't kill you Ada.' 'I knew you couldn't,' she says. 'But I can wait with you.' 'From what I've seen, this may not be quick.' 'You know I really believed we could be friends.' 'Life is like that.' There is a loud crash from the previous level. Water flooding most likely. You see it coming down the corridoor. Ada laughs. 'Looks like you won't need that knife.' Water begins rushing around your feet. 'Get to the surface.' she continues, 'I was supposed to meet a boat up there. If you tell them you were with me, they may help you.' 'Thanks,' you say. You hesitate. [[Leave Ada]] [[Stay with Ada]]

'How will they know I'm with you?' 'There is a code in my pocket. Take it.' You put your hand in her pocket and pull out a card. You half expected her to try something. 'Goodbye Ada,' you say. She smiles, but you aren't sure she is still there. Something in her has changed, she looks longingly at the water that surrounds her. You were planning to leave her the knife but you think it's too late, she's already one of them. You start rushing to the staircase as the water surrounds you. It's harder than you thought. You run up the staircase and hit the door. But it's locked. You start banging on the door for help. 'Hey,' you shout, 'It's me.' You hear some shuffling on the other side of the door. Then a gunshot. Pain. You look at the door and a slight slither of light shines through a hole. Your hand moves towards the pain in your stomach. Blood covers your hands. You hear two more gunshots. Two more slithers of light. You stumble backwards into the water and feel yourself being dragged away. THE END [[Introduction]]

'What are you doing?' asked Ada. 'I left someone behind once. And I always regretted it. I'm not letting it happen again. It's why I'm at this place. I was trying to get away from it.' 'But you'll die. Leave me.' You grab Ada and help her up. The water fills around you fast. 'I don't think we can make it,' she says. 'Doesn't mean we won't.' You start dragging Ada towards the staircase. You feel the water surrounding you and you know what's coming. But for the first time in a long time you are happy with the choices you've made. You hear Ada telling you she is sorry. You tell her it's fine, it doesnt matter. She still keeps asking for forgiveness though, telling you to leave her. The staircase feels further away than you thought and you can't help but laugh. Ada disappears under the water first, and it's not long before you are too. You try to make sense of all the rushing water, but realise its pointless. You think of home, of the past. You see Ada's body drifting away. You're happy with your choices. This is all you needed. THE END [[Introduction]]

You turn the corner and see Ada sitting on the floor. You see blood. Zara is standing in front of her. There is another body on the floor. One of the creatures. It has its jaws embedded in her leg. 'Found her,' says Zara. 'She was like this already.' You walk over to them . Ada is still alive, but she is changing. She looks up at you both with something finally being released from her eyes. Half of her face has already begun morphing. Her leg is also attached to the creature, fusing together. Ada struggles to talk, but manages. 'I just wanted to escape,' she says. 'I just wanted to escape all of this. This monotony. Don't we all? Just want to.' 'You did terrible things Ada,' says Zara. 'I'm sorry,' she says. 'It's not enough. And no, before you ask, I'm not going to kill you Ada. I'm gonna leave you like this.' Ada smiles, but the smile morphs slightly as it happens. As if regret became part of it. She looks at you. 'You get it right?' she asks. 'Please say you get why?' 'Part of it,' you say. You don't see the point in making her feel bad. She's dying anyway. Ada looks down at her leg. 'I can feel it taking over me you know,' she says. 'It feels comforting in a way. But I'm scared. I've seen what we become. I'm sca-' Her lips slowly fuse together and her voice becomes a muffle before stopping. Her eyes keep looking though. Rapidly darting around the corridoor. They begin to well up. 'Goodbye Ada,' says Zara. Zara walks down the corridoor and you follow. You want to turn back to take a last look at Ada, but you can't bring yourself to. You left someone behind years ago and it still haunts you. You know Ada will be with you too, but you want to do what you can to forget. So you dont look back. You and Zara walk up a staircase and [[exit the doors at the top.]]

The doors open outside onto the main research pool. You step out. Fresh air feels good, you made it. There is someone sitting on the floor waiting. The figure stands up. Steps forward into the light. It's Marcus. He looks a little shocked. 'Expecting someone else?' says Zara. He smiles. You see him fumbling with something in his pocket. A gunshot. You hear Zara scream followed by a metallic clang. The bullet has passed through Zara and gone through the door behind her. You see a faint bit of light behind the door. Some water seeping through. You rush to grab Zara as she falls to the floor. Blood emerges. 'I was expecting Ada,' says Marcus. 'Where is she?' 'She didnt make it,' you say. Marcus turns and looks behind him, there is a boat in the distance. He turns back. 'You mean you left her behind?', he says. [["Yes, we did"]]

'Oh really?' says Marcus. 'Why?' 'She was turning into one of those things. She wouldn't have made it. Was she part of this?' 'Yeah...' He looked a little panicked. Like he hadn't accounted for this. You could tell whatever was happening he was improvising. 'Well,I'm sorry,' he says 'but I can't leave anyone up here. They won't like it.' He raises his gun at Zara. Makes sense, she is far more dangerous than you are. But part of you can't help but feel a little hurt that it wasn't a necessity to kill you first. You feel Zara sliding something into your hand,the knife. 'I'm sorry Zara,' says Marcus. You can tell he is hesitating a bit. Your chance. You jump up at him. He turns the gun on you too late. You plunge the knife into his shoulder and the gun falls to the floor. He grabs hold of you as he stumbles backwards. You realise what is happening. Not ideal. The pool getting closer. You wait for the cold to hit. Both fall in. You try to get your bearings. [[Try and get out of the pool immediately.]] [[Stay to finish Marcus off.]]

Must get out. Must get out. You scramble to swim to the side. You was sure there was a ladder here somewhere. You see it, wishing you was a stronger swimmer. You just wait for something to grab you. You want to look back to see what's happened to Marcus but you dont want to waste time. You can hear Zara shouting something to you from above, but you can't really hear with all the water sloshing around you. You hand lands on the ladder and you feel relief. Start climbing up. Then something grabs you. You turn to kick it and it's Marcus. [[Kick Marcus off]] [[Stop and help]]

You see Marcus splashing about trying to keep himself above water. You see blood around him but want to finish him off. You feel an anger in you. Betrayal. He was supposed to be your friend. You swim over to him to finish him off but as you do so you see something begin to wrap around him. Tentacles slowly twist around his head. He tries to scream for help but his voice is muffled by the tentacles a they begin to crush him, dragging him under. Panicking you try to swim to shore but you know deep down it is too far away. You see Zara screaming at you to swim faster. You want to get to her, escape, stay friends. Live a life. Maybe meet up occasionally with her for coffee to see how things are going with her. Gossip about work, relationships, tv shows, or just chat about nonsense. Nonsense with no meaning. Just friends. You feel happy knowing she wants you to survive. Then you feel it. A tentacle grabbing your foot. THE END [[Back to Introduction|Introduction]]

Before he can even ask you kick him in the face. You see his nose break as you do. And its then that you see something lurking beneath him. Tentacles wrapping around him. He tries to stay afloat. Tries to scream but the water fills his mouth. You watch as he slowly disappears under the water, disappearing into the darkness. You climb back up onto the platform and Zara rushes over to you. 'You okay?' she asks. 'Yeah.' 'Come on, there is a boat we can use to escape.' 'But what about the creatures?' 'I think its too far gone for us to do anything. We just need to survive now.' You wanted to annihilate these things, or at least the source of it. At least finish something in your life. But maybe survival is more key. Maybe just getting to tomorrow is more vital than the big impact on the world. [["Okay, let's go"]] [["I'm gonna head back in to solve this"]]

You hesitate to kick. Lower your foot. Something inside of you wants to help. What is it? Some sense of wanting to do good. Or is it that deep down you know you won't be able to live with this. That it will haunt you. You see Marcus smile. Realising that you on some level have forgiven him. You aren't sure you are 'there' yet, but the moment seems to be happening. You don't want to forgive him, but you dont want to live with leaving him. You put a hand out to help him. As you do he raises his hand, but you see soemthing different. Something in his hand. Something pricks your skin, injects. 'I'm already dead,' says Marcus. 'But you, I've just given you a taste of what these creatures are. You'll soon be one.' You hate yourself. Knew you shouldn't have helped. You know this would drag you down. Marcus smiles that smile again before disappearing beneath the gentle bobbing of the water. You turn to climb, your hand stinging as it makes contact with the rungs. You remember something about how to climb ladders safely. But now it doesn't seem to matter. You can already feel whatever is going to happen happening. You dont even know if it can happen that quick, but you're sure it is. As you are doubting to continue, Zara grabs you and pulls you up onto the side. 'He got me,' you say panicking. 'What?' 'He injected me with something.' You hold up your hand and show her. You both see it changing. 'I can't come with you,' you say. Zara just stays quiet. You know she knows what has to be done. 'You gotta go now,' you say. 'Quick.' 'I'm sorry,' she says. She stands up and walks towards a boat at the end of the platform. [[You watch her leave]]

Zara helps lift you up and you head to a small boat at the end of the platform. You see it swaying gently in the rhythm of the sea. As you approach you think about how the research pool is connected to the sea. 'Wait,' you say 'Can that thing escape into the ocean?' 'It can't fit through the water filters, so no. Should be okay.' You get into the boat and Zara starts it up and you head out to sea. In the distance you see a large tanker. 'Is that heading to the lab?' you ask. 'Must be,' replies Zara. 'Think we should warn them not to go there?' 'I dont know. What do you think?' [[Yes, warn them]] [[No]]

'I can't,' you say. 'What? You're serious?' replies Zara. 'Yes.' 'Right well, I'm out of here.' 'I'm sorry,' you say. Zara smiles a slight smile, gets up and heads to the boat and the end of the platform. You watch her head off. As you see her leaving you wonder why it was you really stayed behind. Were you really that worried about going home? Taking a step backwards. You told Zara you wanted to finish this, but deep down you knew that was wrong. You could tell that on her face too. That disappointment in her face was soemthing you hadnt seen. You could tell that part of her regretted dragging you to the surface when she could already have been long gone. And you couldn't blame her. Truth be told you didnt know what you wanted. The only thing you knew was you wanted to be alone after all of this. And if that meant sitting here for a while you were okay with that. But its true, you wanted to finish something. Just anything. You began thinking about how you could solve this. And that's when you thought it. Electricty. Surely you could electrocute these creatures. Find a way to take out the main one. You sit up and look at the main pool. You see the platform from which you fell earlier at the beginning of this. If you could drop one of the mains cables in the pool, this could work. You stand up and head to the poolside. As you do something splashes out of the pool. You let out a shout. It's Marcus, or what used to be him. Now he is covered in tentacles and lets out a haunting gurgle. Before you can react he has grabbed your foot. You instantly see his hand fusing with your foot. He disappears back into the pool, dragging you with him. As you see the surface disappear above you, you can't help but focus on the mains cable that would have solved all your problems. You fill yourself with the hope of plans that could have worked. All the things that could have been. THE END [[Introduction]]

'Yeah let's warn them,' you say. Zara pulls up next to the tanker waving to get attention. Someone appears on the deck, asking if they can help? 'You need to turn around. That lab isn't safe, there is a biohazard incident. It's-' Zara goes quiet. 'What is it?' you ask. 'The name of the boat,' she says. 'I heard Ada mention it when she...' 'What?' You hear a loud gunshot and Zara disappears over the edge of the boat. Shit. You go to jump overboard but as you do you hear a second burst of gunfire. A pain sears through your back. You hit the water and the pain intensifies. The water around you turns red. You find yourself staring into the darkness of the ocean, hoping to see some form of life. Something to say that it was the last thing you saw. But there is nothing. THE END Go back to [[Introduction]]

'Let's just get out of here' you say. 'Sure,' says Zara. You watch the tanker as you make your way into the open ocean. You wonder what will happen to them when they arrive. You look back at the research lab. And whilst you are happy you have survived, you realise you are finally going home. You tell yourself you are happy. Happy to see everyone back home, happy to slip into the life you had, the routines that were yours. You tell yourself. The END [[Introduction]]

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(if: $code is "roses") [Nice. The phone opens. Oddly it is rather bare. There are just two folders [[text messages|Text messages]] and [[notes|Notes]]] (else:) [oh no you got it wrong. Looks like you will have to go back and try again. Maybe it's another object in the room that has the clue [[try again|ask Alonso]]]

'Alonso?' 'Yeah?' 'What do you think this could be? A word." Alonso struggles to think. Then looks around the room. She spots the plants that adorn the room. 'He loved plants if that's anything. He was always going on about them. Esepcially loved roses.' 'Maybe try that?' 'What? Plants?' 'No. Roses.' [[enter phone code|something is on it?]]

There is just one conversation in here. You see a discussion with Marcus. There is a back and forth about a project. The latest message from Marcus says 'About to set off explosion. Take cover. Will find you and we'll meet them to make the deal.' (set: $marcusbad to true) Go to [[Notes]] [[Exit phone]]

(this looks like some kind of diary) June 2 I'm happy with the progress we made. I'm not too fussed about the deal Marcus is organising. I don't feel good about that. But we need to keep our work relevant. And we need funding. I dont feel good at all though. The need for keeping the project running though. He said no trace of this should be kept, but i've left these notes anyway. Mostly because I dont trust marcus. But I feel on some level I'm doing this to try and externalise my guilt. I feel better just writing it down. June 4 Excellent progress made so far on the organisms. They seem to have the ability to morph. Somehow they have learnt this. We have been experimenting on local marine wildlife. It's strange, it's like the organism is trying to replicate itself. Marcus is very excited about this. Said the buyers are too. Begun building a plan about the deal. Marcus is keen to pass it off as an explosion of some sort. Said he will take care of this. June 8 I feel all of these developments need to pay credit to Alonso. I sometimes feel my sadness comes from not being with her anymore. Some of the inital developments for these ideas came from her. She will be annoyed she wouldn't get the credit. But I'm glad she is not involved with this so much anymore. It's become too dangerous. I just want her to be safe. That's all I've ever wanted really. Why I ended things. Was the only way. I think I'm writing this to let her know. If she finds this, I just want her to know I didn't stop thinking about her. I pretended I didn't, but she was always there. As much my thoughts as me. June 10 Alonso. if you need the code for the end of the tunnel it is 237812. And make sure to take the left turn (set: $liftkey to true) (set: $leftturn to true) Go to [[Text messages]] [[Exit phone]]

'What? Roses didnt work?' 'No.' 'Did you try lower case? He was always going on about roses.' [[enter phone code|something is on it?]]

You put the phone down 'You and Chambers were close?' Alonso looks upset. 'Yeah,' she says. 'But that was years ago. I had no idea he still felt that way.' 'I'm sorry.' 'It's okay. It's just a lot to take in.' 'We should probably try and use that tunnel.' 'You're right.' Head to [[the tunnel]]

You sneak into the tunnel. There is a small strip of lights running along the ceiling. Some water runs along the floor of the tunnel. 'Can't believe I didnt know this was here,' you say. 'Yeah there's probably lots in here we don't know about.' 'Well it's a bit embarrassing. There some lighting in here. I was supposed to be looking after the lights. I wonder how this is running?' 'There's probably bigger concerns right now.' 'Well...if I die now...I die knowing I was rubbish at my job. That seems particularly gutting.' 'Come on, we all knew you were rubbish at your job.' 'Ouch.' 'Sorry. That was mean. If I'm honest, we all thought mediocre.' 'Oh great, like that's an improvement.' 'Technically it is. Well, if it makes you feel any better. I've never felt particularly great at my job.' 'Really?' 'Yeah.I'm constantly worried about losing it.' 'Oh wow. Well if it makes you feel any better, I've heard you are mediocre at your job.' Alonso laughs. 'Yeah that does me feel better actually. So any idea where this tunnel goes?' 'Well I imagine part of it must run to the surface. But who knows. I see it splits in two up ahead.' 'Great.' 'I know right.' You try to think of where you are in the building, and where each might lead. But you are a little unclear as to which would work. [[Go left]] [[Go right]]

(if: $liftkey is true) [ You head left down the tunnel. A smell of damp clings to the air, and your feet make a splashing sound amongst the water that runs along the floor. 'What was this place?' you ask. 'No idea,' replies Alonso. 'Never knew about it.' Ahead you see what looks like a lift in the rock. 'Oh cool, looks like a way out,' you say. Alonso rushes up to it and starts jabbing buttons. You run over to help. Typing in the key from Chambers phone. The door opens with a satisfying hiss and you step inside. From the tunnel you hear footsteps. From the darkness you see Marcus emerging. 'Hey, wait for me,' he shouts. 'We know it was you Marcus,' shouts Alonso. 'Find another way out.' Alonso quickly presses the button to close the lift. You watch Marcus rushing to the door before it closes, but its too late. Alonso looks at you as the lift heads up. 'He deserved it,this is all him,' she says. You both stand there in silence as you [[wait for the lift to stop.]] ] (else:)[ ]

(if: $marcusbad is true) [You turn right and as you do you bump into Marcus. He jumps a little. 'Woah,' scared me there he says. 'I'm so glad you are okay.' 'It's good to see you,' you say. Marcus composes himself. You notice his head is bleeding a little. You back off a little. Look around to see if there is anything for a weopon. 'I was just coming to see if anyone was in the office,' Marcus says. 'We need to go this way. That lift down the other way is blocked. Explosion must have taken it out.' 'What's this way?' asked Alonso. 'I had no idea this tunnel was even here.' 'Neither did I until recently,' replied Marcus. 'But I stumbled upon it from the other end down here. Come on, we better move.' As Marcus is distracted with Alonso, you manage to pick up a piece of broken glass(set: $glass to true). Pretending to tie your laces as you do. 'I think we are going to try the lift anyway,' you say. Putting extra emphasis on tightening your laces. 'I'm afraid I can't let you do that,' said Marcus. Pulling out a gun. 'We know you're involved?' said Alonso. 'So don't think you're all that.' 'Well,' replied Marcus. 'You still managed to get caught by me. So that can't be very clever can it. Now move.' [[Follow Marcus right]] ] (else:) [You turn right and as you do you bump into Marcus. He jumps a little. 'Woah,' scared me there he says. 'I'm so glad you are okay.' 'It's good to see you,' you say. Marcus composes himself. You notice his head is bleeding a little. 'I was just coming to see if anyone was in the office,' he says. 'We need to go this way. That lift down the other way is blocked. Explosion must have taken it out.' 'What's this way?' asked Alonso. 'I had no idea this tunnel was even here.' 'Neither did I until recently,' replied Marcus. 'But I stumbled upon it from the other end down here. Come on, we better move.' [[Follow Marcus right]]]

(if: $marcusbad is true) [Marcus leads you both into a room. You step in and you see two tables in the middle of the room. 'Go get on the tables,' he says. 'No way,' says Alonso. She turns towards Marcus, hatred etched in her face. She goes to punch him. But Marcus pulls the trigger. You see a dart hit Alonso in the chest. 'You bast-' Alonso says, struggling to get the words out. She collapses. You launch yoursel at Marcus and you both fall to the floor. You punch him in the face. You go to again but he pushes you off, kicking you as he does so. You stand up and he is pointing the gun at you. 'Sorry,' he says with a smile. Pulls the trigger. The dart hits. [[Remove the dart]] [[Still try to run]] ] (else:) [You follow Marcus and he leads you down a small passageway and through a metal door. You notice water around your feet. 'This looks like its heading deeper into the facility,' says Alonso from behind you. 'Yeah,' you say. 'You sure this is the right way?' 'Yeah it doesn't make sense I know,' replied Marcus. 'But it does bring us out quicker.' Marcus leads you into a room. You see a couple of benches in the centre of it, and beyond that you spot some scuba gear. You rush over to the gear. Start fiddling. Maybe this could help with escaping? Alonso spots you doing this and follows over. 'I think we better stay out of the water,' she says. You put the gear down, a little dejected. She was right. Maybe it wasn't the best idea. You hear a slight whoosh of air. Alonso lets out a slight scream. Short. Succinct. You look at her and she turns around slowly. You see a tranquiliser dart of some sort in her back. She wobbles slightly then falls. As she crosses your vision, you see Marcus standing there with a gun in his hand. 'I'm sorry mate,' he says. You go to run, but you're to slow. You feel the dart hit you. [[Remove the dart]] [[Still try to run]] ]

As soon as it hits, you remove it. You try to dash at Marcus. You see him panic slightly. You notice he doesn't fire again. Must be out. Surely you can get to him. Surely it must take time for this to... Surely it must take....take. ...time...to... affect. You fall to floor crashing hand lunging desperately. You try to fight the darkness. [[But it caresses]]

You try to run anyway. Surely it must take....take. ...time...to... affect. You fall to floor crashing hand lunging desperately. You try to fight the darkness. [[But it caresses]]

You wake up gradually. Eyelids teasing themselves with light. You roll your head to the side and see Alonso strapped to a bench. Struggling. Screaming. You feel restraints against yourself. You try to break free. Nothing. Solid. 'Good you're awake,' says Marcus. 'Finally. I want to get out of here. I just needed someone to act as bait to try and get me out.' 'Why tie us up? Why not use us as bait on the move?' 'Well, I'm gonna cause a little distraction you see.' You notice something in Marcus's hand. A lead of some sort. You then see why Alonso was screaming. Marcus has one of the creatures tied up and gagged. It is snarling for freedom. Marcus struggles slightly to keep it in check. It seems smaller than the others. You also begin to hear some creaking. Sound of pressure against the room. You see Marcus look worried by it. 'I had this one down here already,' he says, bringing the creature round to your bench. 'One of the original experiments of ours. Once the others really hear it. They will come for it. And find you.' He ties its leash to a pipe on the wall. As he does a door bursts open on the other side of the room and water gushes in. Not a lot. But enough to start filling the room. Alonso's bench gets knocked over. You see her struggling as she lands in the water. 'Pick her up, she'll drown.' you say. 'Sorry, she's gonna die anyway. Will just waste my time.' He walks closer to the bench. [[You struggle]]

(if: $glass is true) [ You struggle. Marcus laughs. You look over at Alonso, whose face is almost covered with water. Her shouts for help becoming half gurgles. 'Well,' says Marcus walking towards the door. 'I better be going. Stuff to do. People to see.' As Marcus leaves the room he slips the gag out of the creatures mouth and it lets out a scream. A scream that resonates through your veins. You know you haven't got long before other creatures turn up. You slide the piece of glass out of your pocket and start sawing at your bindings. They cut through quite quickly. Marcus was evidently in a rush. One hand free you work rapidly on the other one. Keeping one eye on the struggling Alonso. After a few seconds your hand is free and rush over to her, lifting her out of water. She gasps for air. You tilt her table up and drag it away from the creature. As you do you realise she is also trying to cut at one of her binding with a small pocket knife. 'I always keep this on me,' she says, continuing to cut away. 'I'm gonna kill that Marcus once I catch him.' You cut at the remaining bindings, whilst Alonso finishes hers off. Once free, you head back towards the tunnel after Marcus. Alonso grabs your shoulder. 'What about the creature?' she asks. [[Follow Marcus into the tunnel]] [[Inspect the creature]] ] (else:) [You struggle. Marcus laughs. You look over at Alonso, whose face is almost covered with water. Her shouts for help becoming half gurgles. 'Well,' says Marcus walking towards the door. 'I better be going. Stuff to do. People to see.' As Marcus leaves the room he slips the gag out of the creatures mouth and it lets out a scream. A scream that resonates through your veins. You know you haven't got long before other creatures turn up. You try struggling as much as you can. You dont want to tilt too much otherwise you will fall into the water. You thrash wildly but the bindings don't quite budge. They loosen slightly but not enough. You shout to see if Alonso is okay. You hear no response. You see she lies motionless. Her head submerged now. You shout again. Nothing. You turn your attention back to trying to break free. The binding slightly come loose. Hope fills your body. You smile. One hand breaks free. You will make it. You will make back home to them. You can say you're sorry. Sorry for everything. You know this will help. As you turn to work on the next binding. You see a group of the creatures come through the door. Their attention rushing to the small creature. However some of the others come towards you. You put your hand up to try and stop them, but it's too late. One bites into your hand and it hurts more than you ever known. You scream, but it's cut short as the remaining creatures pounce. You feel yourself being dragged away as you feel life leave you. You mutter to yourself that you are sorry. THE END [[Introduction]] ]

You head into the tunnel, and as you do you see Marcus at the end. He doesnt see you though, turning the corner. You begin to run after him. As you do you hear some crashing in the room you just left. Alonso turns to look. 'Think the rest of the creatures are coming,' she says. 'We need to get to that lift.' You turn the corner and see Marcus approaching the lift. He hears your footsteps and turns. He tries to run at the same time but trips up. Great. Gives you more time. By the time he is back on his feet, you are closing distance on him. Alonso overtakes you. 'He's mine,' she says. She speeds up. You watch her catch up with him. As she gets closer she trips him up from behind. You remembered doing that move as a schoolkid, never thought you'd see an adult do it. Marcus scrambles but Alonso kicks him to the floor again. 'You killed him,' she screams, kicking him repeatedly. You catch up. A bit more out of breath than you'd like to be. You know its a disaster but you wish you were fitter. Maybe you should have joined the [[work running club]]. Alonso, gives Marcus one last kick as she sees you. 'We need to get to the lift,' you say. 'Sure,' Alonso replies. She looks back down at Marcus. 'Fine', she says. 'Let's [[get to the lift]].'

'Fine, let's put it out of its misery. But quickly,' you say. Alonso flicks open her knife and walks over to it. Hesitates. 'Actually, I've got a plan,' she says. She looks back at you briefly. Then grabs hold of the leash, cuts it free from the wall. The creature rushes forward but Alonso grabs the leash, bringing it under control. 'What are you doing?' you ask, panicking. 'I'm gonna use it somehow.' 'How?' 'Don't know yet. But I know I want Marcus to pay. Maybe this can come in useful. Quick grab that cloth to gag it.' (set $creature to true) You rush over to the side and pick up a cloth. You can't believe you're doingt his. 'Here, hold the leash,' says Alonso, passing you the leash. You nervously take it. The struggling creature stronger than you thought. You worry about your strength. You [[always have done]] to some degree. 'Hold it steady,' says Alonso. She starts creating a gag until finally the creature's screams are but muffled groans. She takes back the leash. 'Right,let's get Marcus. And then out of here.' She nods her head, and you can't help but nod back. You start walking towards the tunnel. 'Can we not just get out of here?' you ask. 'I mean our survival is more important than revenge right? 'Okay then, whichever of those options comes first I'm happy with. Revenge or survival.' [[Head back into tunnel]]

You head back into the tunnel. Alonso leads the way, struggling to keep the creature in her grip. She sees Marcus up ahead and the creature becomes more animated. 'I'm doing it,' she says. 'I think it recognises him.' 'No, don't you shout.' But she's done. She lets go of the creature and it runs forwards few steps. You wait for it to catch up with Marcus, but it stops. Turns. 'Shit,' says Alonso. 'Run.' You turn to run back to the other room. As you run you hear Alonso get attacked by the creature. You don't look behind though, just run into the room you've just come from. As you get there though, there are more creatures waiting. Your eyes dart around for other escape routes but you can't see any. You decide to take your chances against the one that got Alonso. But as you turn it comes crashing into you, knocking you to the floor. You try to struggle free, but you already feel the creatures gripping tight. You wait for the inevitable. THE END [[Introduction]]

You had meant to. In fact Alonso was one of the founders. No wonder she can run so well. You had always wanted to go to it. Thought it would be good to meet everyone. In fact your buddy had suggested going to it, but you hadnt listened to her. You had a habit of doing this. Hearing a suggestion. Knowing it was right. But not doing anything about it. But you need to stop this. You'd heard lots of cool stuff about the running club. It seemed the ideal thing. Now though. Probably too late to sign up. [[Go back|Follow Marcus into the tunnel]]

(if: $liftkey is true) [ You head to the lift. As you do so, you hear Marcus laughing behind you. 'You know you won't get far without the code for that lift,' he says. 'I know,' you reply. 'That's why we have it.' You tap the number into the keypad. The doors slide open to reveal the lift. A moment of relief rushes through you. You step in and Alonso follows. 'Wait,' you hear Marcus say behind you, as he struggles to get up. You see the creatures behind him. He starts hobbling towards you, begging you to take him with you. He starts saying he can help you, get out, get home. [[Leave Marcus]] [[Let him join]] ] (else:) [ You walk towards the lift and notice a code on the door. 'Damn,' you say. 'What?' asks Alonso. 'Need a code.' You hear Marcus laughing behind you. 'Not get very far I see,' he says. He sits up wiping blood from his mouth. You look beyond him to see the creatures coming down the tunnel. 'You know,' says Marcus 'I can get you in there pretty quick if you need. Just take me with you.' 'No, we're leaving you to die,' says Alonso. 'Wait we might need him?' you reply. 'You can't be serious?' 'We need to survive. That's what's important. Maybe we bring him with us.' [[Bring Marcus Along]] ]

You rush to help Marcus. 'What are you doing?' shouts Alonso. You try not to listen to her as you help Marcus towards the lift. As you approach, you see the hatred in her. You shift your eyes away. Not wanting to deal with it now. You hear her frantically pressing the buttons on the lift to call it. The lift arrives, but doesn't open. You hear creatures in the background. 'Enter the code,' you snap at Marcus. He fumbles a bit. You begin to regret your decision. But then he does it. The doors open and you all rush in. You turn to watch the doors close, creatures emerging from the darkness beyond. There is a pleasant 'ding' as the door shut. For once, you feel a sense of calm. You know you shouldn't, but you do. 'What the fuck is this?' says Alonso. 'This is all him.' 'I'm sorry,' you say. 'I know. I don't know why I-' 'I can help yo get out,' says Marcus. You tell Marcus to shut up and you slouch down to the floor. The coldness of the lift metal coming through your t-shirt. You all exist in silence as the lift makes its way[[ to its destination]]

You tap in the code from earlier, and it slides open. Alonso rushes in. As you enter you hear Marcus panicking. Realising he has no bargaining chip left without that code. 'I can help you get on the boat out of here,' he shouts, struggling to walk. Alonso looks at you. 'Remember what he did,' she says. Still. You want to help him. You hear his shouts as he sees you both hesitating. Realising what's happening. Alonso's hand reaches slowly out to close the door. She presses the button. You hear the slight ding of the doors beginning to close. You want to stop her, to stop this, but you don't. Something about someone else making the decision. You find comfort in it. Marcus's shouts of desperation increase as he notices the door closing. You want to look at him but don't. You just stare at Alonso. Concern on her face, she offers a slight glance out of the lift. Regret hints in her eyes. Soon Marcus's shouts are silent. The doors are closed. Alonso launches towards the open doors button, frantically pressing. But it's too late, the lift is in motion and you head towards the destination. She turns to you. 'I'm sorry,' she says. 'I thought...' 'It's okay,' you reply. 'He did try to kill us.' You both stand silently. You tell yourself he did try to kill you. That he deserved it. The silence continues as you [[wait for the lift to stop.]]

You rush out of the lift to help Marcus. 'What are you doing?' shouts Alonso. You try not to listen to her as you help Marcus towards the lift. As you enter, you see the hatred in her. You shift your eyes away. Not wanting to deal with it now. You hear her frantically pressing the button trying to shut the lift. You hear creatures in the background. You turn to watch the doors close, creatures emerging from the darkness beyond. There is a pleasant 'ding' as the door shut. 'What the fuck is this?' says Alonso. 'This is all him.' 'I'm sorry,' you say. 'I know. I don't know why I-' 'I can help yo get out,' says Marcus. You tell Marcus to shut up and you slouch down to the floor. The coldness of the lift metal coming through your t-shirt. You all exist in silence as the lift makes its way[[ to its destination]]

You watch Zara leave at the end of the platform. She waves goodbye as she guides the boat out to see. You see another boat in the distance, maybe it will pick her up. It seems like it is heading this way. You sit back down on the platform and look into the water. You see things swimming under the surface. It reminds you of why you were drawn to this area of work, all the crazy possibilities of life. You consider just dropping yourself into the water. But part of you stops this. You're not sure what it is. Maybe this will become stronger with time as the virus or whatever it is kicks in, a desire to be with the other creatures swimming around. Join their ecosystem. Be part of something. You lie back down on the platform, and look up at the sky. You were hoping for stars, but just clouds. You feel the urge to get in the water getting stronger and stronger. You feel your body edging yourself towards the edge of the platform. The desire to be with the creatures increasing. Before you drop into the water, you try to take one last look at the sky, hoping for stars, the moon, anything. You feel yourself break the water's surface, and a feeling like home washes over you. THE END Back to [[Introduction]]

The rattle of the lift lurched upwards. You are suprised it's still working. But by the sounds of it, its barely clinging to its own existence. You hope you make it to where you're going. You'd always had a feeling you'd die in a lift. 'Where does this take us anyway?' you ask Marcus. 'Up to one of research pool 7.' 'And you were meeting people up there?' asks Alonso. 'Yeah, replies Marcus. A boat is coming. I give them access to the facility. Job done.' 'Why?' you ask. 'I'm sick of this you know. Working underneath everyone all the time. I see people like Alonso here, lording it around, top of the tree. All the money.' 'All the money?' replies Alonso. 'I don't have-' 'You have more than us,' snaps Marcus. 'And that's what matters. Even if you don't think you have much. You have more than us.' 'But we've just got to work our way up,' you say. Marcus laughs. 'I wish that was the case,' he says. 'I thought that once. But the more I see, the more I know it's not the case. We need to do this for ourselves.' 'But killing people?' says Alonso. 'I'll forget it in time,' replies Marcus. 'Just memory.' 'I dont know if you will,' you say. 'I'll take my chances,' says Marcus, wincing as he stands up. There is a ding on the lift. The lift shudders to a halt. [[Step out]]

You step out and the fresh air feels good. You look at the pool you have come out by, it's calmness betraying the chaos you have escaped. 'We need to get to the end of the pier,' says Marcus. 'That's where I was gonna be picked up.' 'And you think they will take us?' asks Alonso. 'Sounds like a trap to me.' 'I can bargain with them. Tell them you helped me. That I couldn't have done it without you.' 'I'm not buying it,' replies Alonso. 'Well I think it seems our only way out at the minute,' you say. 'And I'm not saying it's a good thing.' Marcus smiles, a look of relief washes across his face. As you walk past the pool, you see one of the research subs gently bobbing in the water. You notice Marcus eyeing it up. 'Reckon we could use that?' asks Alonso. Before you can respond Marcus turns sharply elbowing you in the face. Your nose makes a cracking sound and you fall backwards. You see him kick Alonso, and she falls backwards into the pool. You hear her screaming for help. He comes back to you. 'Too trusting mate,' he says. 'Always wanting to help people. Never works out. I'm taking that sub. But I can't leave you alive. You know that right?' 'Please-' 'Don't, it's not up for discussion.' He grabs you by the foot and drags you towards the main pool. 'Those things will finish you off nicely,' he says. You try struggling. Kicking, pleading, but nothing works. Suddenly, his grip loosens and you see him fall to the floor. Alonso. She is ontop of him punching him in the face. She is screaming at him. [[You see movement behind her]]

You always remember being at school and having to carry stuff from room to room for whatever reason. Helping teachers set up rooms. You could never really carry as much as the other kids and it alwats bothered you. This feeling has never really left you. [[Go back|Inspect the creature]]

The lift opens onto one of the main research pools. You step out. Alonso follows. 'I'm sorry,' she says. 'I know he was your friend. I've never done anything like that before. It's just he caused all of this. And Dr Chambers is dead because of him. I know that doesnt mean he should die though...' 'It's okay. The guilt isn't just yours. I could have said something. I could have tried to open the doors sooner. But I didn't. I think we did a bad thing. But we did it together. It's not all on you.' 'Thank you,' she says. A slight smile emerging. You turn around to the pool. It feels good to have fresh air in your lungs. You didn't think this would be happening again. You notice something in the pool, in the darkness. It doesn't look like a creature though. 'What's that?' you ask. 'Oh wow,' says Alonso, excitedly. 'It's one of the underwater mini subs.' You rush over to it. There is blood on the door. 'Someone must have been using it to escape,' says Alonso. ' We could do the same.' 'This pool isn't linked to the ocean though is it?' 'It is if we open the doors on the other side.' You look out into the darkness. 'Could we not just climb into the other pool? Swim out to see that way?' 'That's true. But then we are just swimming. What do you think?' [["Right let's use the sub"]] [["Let's climb into the other pool"]]

Alonso walks over to the sub. She steps in, making sure to not touch the blood on the door. You follow her, awkwardly avoiding the blood as well. As you settle into the tiny sub, you wonder about the blood. Alonso starts flicking some switches, and some lights come on. You feel the sub coming alive. The door to the sub seals shut. You feel good. You feel like you are making progress. When you hear the door seal shut it feels like all the trouble is locked out. You close your eyes and take a deep breath. You can't wait to sleep. 'Right, we're gonna submerge,' says Alonso. You start descending under the water. As you begin you see some commotion on the platform outside. Someone is running towards you, waving their arms. 'Who's that?' you ask. 'I think it's Zara,' replies Alonso. You try to decipher what they're trying to say. 'I think she is trying to say don't go down.' It's too late though, her waving arms vanish from view as you disappear beneath the surface. 'Let's go back up to see what she wanted?' says Alonso. She starts heading back. It's then that you hear it. A gurgling sound. Something animal. You turn around and peer to the back of the sub. You see something small, crawling around in the back. It looks like part of one of the creatures. But growing. 'Shit, there's one here,' you say. 'What?Whe-' The creature launches at Alonso, attacking her. You grab the creature to throw it off. But as you do, you feel burning in your fingertips. It looks like the creature is fusing itself to you. You panic, start slamming the creature against the wall of the sub. It's not enough though. The creature attaches itself to your chest and you feel everything changing. You look to Alonso for help, but she is sitting there motionless. The sub starts sinking to the bottom of the pool. You want to move but you can't. You just accept sinking into darkness. THE END [[Introduction]]

You head over to the other pool, deciding against the sub. You look back at it wondering if it might be the better option. You would be inside something at least. At least that could keep you safe. Why did you always think like this? You envied those people who could just make a choice and move on. You struggled with this sometimes. Especially if it involves keeping someone else safe. In this case, Alonso. You know you havent really known her that well. But you feel responsible somehow. 'What is it?' Alonso asks. 'I'm just thinking it would be nice to be in the sub perhaps. At least we will be inside something. Protected. Plus its a way out.' 'True.' [[Go back to the sub]] [[Keep heading to the other pool]]

'Let's head back,' you say. 'Sure, I'm happy with that,' says Alonso. 'Great,' You head back to the sub. The outside air feeling crisper, now you've done your best to protect Alonso. And yourself of course. Alonso gets to the sub first. She steps in, making sure to not touch the blood on the door. You follow her, awkwardly avoiding the blood as well. As you settle into the tiny sub, you wonder about the blood. Alonso starts flicking some switches, and some lights come on. You feel the sub coming alive. The door to the sub seals shut. You feel good. You feel like you are making progress. When you hear the door seal shut it feels like all the trouble is locked out. You close your eyes and take a deep breath. You can't wait to sleep. 'Right, we're gonna submerge,' says Alonso. You start descending under the water. As you begin you see some commotion on the platform outside. Someone is running towards you, waving their arms. 'Who's that?' you ask. 'I think it's Zara,' replies Alonso. You try to decipher what they're trying to say. 'I think she is trying to say don't go down.' It's too late though, her waving arms vanish from view as you disappear beneath the surface. 'Let's go back up to see what she wanted?' says Alonso. She starts heading back. It's then that you hear it. A gurgling sound. Something animal. You turn around and peer to the back of the sub. You see something small, crawling around in the back. It looks like part of one of the creatures. But growing. 'Shit, there's one here,' you say. 'What?Whe-' The creature launches at Alonso, attacking her. You grab the creature to throw it off. But as you do, you feel burning in your fingertips. It looks like the creature is fusing itself to you. You panic, start slamming the creature against the wall of the sub. It's not enough though. The creature attaches itself to your chest and you feel everything changing. You look to Alonso for help, but she is sitting there motionless. The sub starts sinking to the bottom of the pool. You want to move but you can't. You just accept sinking into darkness. THE END [[Introduction]]

'Let's stick with this plan,' you say. Something tells you to stick with what you are doing. You want to say some magical gut feeling. But you can't be sure that it isn't just you now can't be bothered to head back to the sub. Laziness maybe. But also a desire to keep moving forwards. You see some movement to the side of you. Something in a shadow. 'Wait,' you say. You and Alonso stop. Someone emerges from the shadows. 'Zara?' says Alonso. 'You're alive.' Zara smiles. 'Yeah it's been horrendous. But I'm here.' You raise your hand to say hi to Zara. Alonso turns to you. 'Zara is one of the scientists on my team.' 'Oh cool,' you say. You notice blood on Zara's face. You ask what happened. 'What didn't happen?' she says. 'Anyway, I was just on my way out to the main pool to try and get out of here. That one is linked directly to the ocean so I think we stand a chance.' [[Continue to pool]]

You all start walking to the other pool. You climb over a wall and drop into the pool area. It still looks quite serene, despite all that's going on. You see some slight movevement in the water. Can't tell if its just the natural movement, or something is lurking beneath the surface. Zara spots a boat at the end of the pool. 'Pefect,' she says 'we can just use that.' Zara tells you she tried to use the sub you'd seen a few minutes ago but there was something in there. Zara had seen some other worker at the institute get killed by it. Alonso lets her know that Dr Chambers is dead. 'Shit,I'm so sorry,' says Zara. 'I don't think it's really sunk in yet. It was Marcus' 'Marcus, yeah. He was in on it.' 'Really?' says Zara. 'That's interesting because-' Something jumps out the water and lands on the floor with a wet slap. You can't help but let out a shriek. It looks like one of the creatures, but it is attached to some form of tentacle. As you are looking at it, another one lurches out of the water next to it. Starts twitching and moving. As if gaining its surroundings. Soaking them in for the first time. Its eyes lock on Alonso and it jumps at her. She screams as it grips tight. Before you can do anything the tentacle has pulled the creature back in, and it drags Alonso with it. [[Dive in after Alonso]] [[Turn attention to other creature]]

You had wanted to keep her safe. You had no idea why. You disliked her at the beginning of today. Thought she was arrogant. Perhaps you were happy you had someone with you to protect. Not that you were all that. Not that you were some great protector. You just wanted to help at the end of the day. And to be in the position to help. You run at the pool ready to jump in, ready to save her. As you pass the second creature on the floor you kick it. But your foot sticks to it. You lose your balance, falling onto the concrete by the pool. Shaking your foot does nothing, some form of adhesive substance oozes from the creature. Its hands then begin to slide around your leg, gripping tight. Zara rushes to help you, but as she gets to you, you are dragged towards the pool. You are left grasping air as you plunge into the pool. It is hard to make out what is happening, but you think you see Alonso below you. The tentacle pulling her towards some form of mouth. You see her struggling, and you realise you can't do anything. Your useless. You see her silently, violently consumed by the mouth. You try to pull your foot free, but your hands stick to the tentacle. You know what is going to happen and you tell yourself not to be afraid. You want your last moments to be calm. After all this time of worry, you just relax. Accept what is going to happen. Try in whatever macabre way to enjoy what is left of your life. The mouth approaches, and you force yourself to smile. THE END [[Introduction]]

You look to see what the other creature is doing. It's eyes roaming its world. 'Quick, run,' says Zara. She runs behind a storage container. As she does the creature attacks, but sticks to the container. The tentacle then pulls the storage container into the pool with a crash. 'Boat,' you shout. 'Whilst they are in the water.' Zara eyes the boat at the end of platform and nods. You start sprinting towards the boat. You feel Zara join you by your side. You hear two splashes behind you but are too scared to look. More splashes. 'Not far,' says Zara. 'Don't look back.' [[Look back]] [[Keep running]]

You can't help it. You always want to. You have to see what's coming. Maybe you're sprinting for no reason. Maybe the creatures are doing soemthing else. You turn. And no, the creatures aren't doing anything else. Still chasing. [[Turn back]]

You keep running. You lungs aching. Seriously...why didn't you join that work running club? Meet people, get fit. What's not to like. You hear sounds behind you. Inhuman sounds. But you keep running. You see Zara approaching the boat. She jumps in and you wish you were there. She turns to you, and you see horror in her face. You panic, part of you wants to give in. Just stop running. The end is the same either way. But you know you want to go home. You want to get home and say sorry to everyone. Just say sorry and sit there with company. You just want to feel at home. To have someone on the end of sent messages. To laugh at a joke someone else had said, not one pre-recorded on a TV show or podcast or whatever media you sit at home consuming. You just want to belong. To be part of something. Keep running keep running. Don't look back you tell yourself. You hear Zara shouting. The boat is closer and your throw yourself in. It rocks heavily as you land, Zara nearly falls overboard. Turning you see a creature approach, but Zara hits the ignition. You see the creature stop as it watches you leave it behind it. You think you see Alonso's features in the creature, but you're not sure. You wish you could have saved her. 'You okay?' asks Zara. [[Yeah, I think.]]

You turn back and Zara has reached the boat already. Why is everyone such a fast runner? You see her rumaging in a box on the boat. Her eyes widening. You feel your lungs struggling to cope with what you're asking them to do. But you see a look of fear in Zara as she looks at you. Great. That doesn't bode well. You keep running anyway. You make it to the boat. You see what's in the box, weopons. Nice. Then you feel it. The pain in your back as the creature attaches. It pulls you towards the pool, but your grip onto the boat. You let one hand free to grab something, anything from the weopons box. You grab hold of something small. Zara shouts no and tries to take it out of your hand. BUt you are pulled away. As you do, you hear a slight metallic clink. You feel yourself [[pulled into the pool]] with a splash.

You enter the water and look at whats in your hand. It looks like a small explosive. Not good. Some lights on it are counting down. No wonder Zara tried to take this off you. It is hard to make out what is happening ahead of you, but you think you see Alonso being silently, violently being consumed by some kind of giant mouth. You consider dropping the explosive. But then think. May as well take whatever this is down with you. You're not even sure the explosive will do anything to it, but hey, got to try. You want your last moments to be calm. After all this time of worry, you just relax. Accept what is going to happen. Try in whatever macabre way to enjoy what is left of your life. The mouth approaches, and you hold the explosive ahead of you, a smile beginning on your face. You wait for time to run out. THE END [[Introduction]]

'Yeah, I think.' 'I'm sorry about Alonso. We didn't have time.' 'I know, we never do do we.' You look out to sea. In the distance you see a large tanker. 'Is that heading to the lab?' you ask. 'Must be,' replies Zara. 'Think we should warn them not to go there?' 'I dont know. What do you think?' [[Yes, warn them]] [[No]]

You see movement from the pool behind her. And then you notice it. A tentacle, is attached to her back. She is screaming at Marcus that he killed Chambers. Marcus struggles to fight back. You see Alonso gradually losing life. Whatever it was that got her in the pool is trying to pull her back. She collapses to the floor. Another tentacle emerges from the pool to try and claim her body. She moves slightly. You see her undoing her belt. 'Alonso,' you shout. 'Stay away,' she says, waving you back with her hand. She continues to undo her belt, using it then to tie her hand to Marcus' ankle. A makeshift handcuff. The second creeping tentacle attaches itself to Alonso and begins to drag her to the pool. Marcus stirs slightly before realising what is happening. As he feels himself being dragged towards the pool, he screams for help. Frantically trying to undo the belt that ties him to Alonso. He begs for help as you hear him being dragged across the concrete to the pool. You watch as he disappears over the edge and his screams become silent. You push yourself up onto your elbows, and then stand up. As you look out to sea, you see a small boat leaving the end of the platform. You limp your way to where it left from and sit down. In the distance you see a large tanker heading towards the research labd. You wonder if this is who Marcus was meeting. You hear a splash of water behind you, but you don't want to turn around. You don't want to see it coming. You try to think of home. THE END [[Introduction]]

You crawl into the vent and hear the lift fall behind you amongst a crash of metal and wire. You relax slightly. Lucky. You look at the screwdriver, happy. You look up ahead into the vent, and decide to crawl and hope. You can't believe Marcus did this. You want revenge. You've never felt this so strongly before. You wonder if this will keep you alive. Although it could just as easily cause you to make some rash decisions. Oh well, you will just roll with it for now. You need to get out of here. You see a turning to the left up ahead. [[Take left turn]] [[Carry on going straight]]

It's funny the whole office romance thing. It always gets forbidden. Written down in contracts, but it seems to happen anway. You sometimes wonder why they bother. Perhaps it's just there a reason to fire people if need be, or not let them get promotion. Always thinking of reasons how to stop us getting promotions you thought. [[Back| Dr Chambers]]

As you enter you hear the creature rumaging around outside. Maybe it didn't see you. You hope it didn't. But this hope quickly fades when you hear it entering the vent behind you. You panic. You can't turn around to look at it. Not enough room. So you just listen to it catching up with you. Its slimy wet body squeaking against the metal of the vent. You get to a turning [[Left turn]] [[Right turn]]

You take a left, and keep crawling. Hopefully you can make it out somewhere in time. But you hear the slithering creature behind you getting closer. It seems to be faster at this than you. You are just waiting for it to grab your foot at that's it the end. Hope keeps burning in you though. There is a slight shard of light up ahead and its another vent. You could drop into another room. The vent is underneath and you just keep banging on it, hoping it gives way. Then you feel it. That clammy hand around your ankle. It grips tighter, tighter than you thought it would. You give the vent one last slam with your first and it crashes through. As it does, you realise you weren't quite prepared [[how you would land.]]

You turn right and keep crawling and see the end of the tunnel. Another vent opening. You peer out and it looks like leads to a lift shaft. Maybe you could climb out then. Perfect. You try pushing the vent panel off with your hands. But it won't budge. There is enough room to slightly turn around, so you awkwardly manage to turn yourself around. You start kicking the vent furiously. It's then you realise that the creature has come the same way as you, and the first thing it will grab is your head. You kick faster, harder, more desperately. It comes loose. You try to wriggle out feet first, but you can't. You feel two clammy hands clasp around your skull. The last thing you see is teeth and saliva. THE END [[Introduction]]

You fall towards a concrete floor. But as you do, you realise the creature's grip is gone. This joy is shortlived though as you slam hard into the floor. You look up at the vent and the creature is looking down on you. It puts one hand gingerly into the open space you fell down. You hope it isn't thinking to follow. You turn over and your shoulder burns with pain. Dislocated perhaps. [[You try to stand up]]

You try to stand up, but as you do, the creature comes crashing down on you. Its jaws clamp hard around your shoulder and you can't shake it off. You suddenly seem weaker. As you thrash around with it, the world becomes a bit blurry. It's bite seems to be doing something to you. It's then that you notice someone else in the room with you, watching. You can't quite make out who it is but you ask them for help. They give no response. Just observe your struggle. Is it Marcus? You think it is. But can't be sure. Surely he would help? Surely. You collapse to the floor and you feel the room drifting away. You hear the voice say it hasn't seen a version of the creature like this before. That it could be a useful specimen. You want to respond, to ask once again for help. But you find yourself just giving in. Not out of want. But just your body shutting down, slowly and painfully. THE END [[Introduction]]

You take a left turn and see an exit up ahead. Looks like someone has already removed the vent cover, nice and easy to crawl out of. Once you are out, you realise you are in the main data lab. You see carnage lying around. You stand up, but it hurts. You think you've broken your ankle in the fall down the lift. You see someone standing by the main pool in the room. It looks like Zara, one of the research scientists. You try to shout to her, but she has already jumped into the pool. You hobble over to the edge of the pool. Maybe it would be [[good to follow her]].

You keep going straight ahead. If in doubt just keep moving forward right? You remember reading that somewhere once. Or did you listen to it? Watch it? You've lost track of the various bits of advice and where they have come from. You dont even know if you listen to it sometimes. Or just pick whatever feels right at the time. Either way, you keep moving forwards. As you do, you hear something behind you getting closer. You, peer over your shoulder and see some creature. It seems to be faster at this than you. You are just waiting for it to grab your foot and that's it, the end. Hope keeps burning in you though, despite your injury from the fall. There is a slight shard of light up ahead and its another vent. You could drop into another room. Hope. Escape. You crawl on top of the vent, and just keep banging on it, hoping it gives way. Then you feel it. That clammy hand around your ankle. It grips tighter, tighter than you thought it would. You give the vent one last slam with your first and it crashes through. As it does, you realise you weren't quite prepared [[how you would land.]]

You slip quietly into the pool. It's freezing. You were hoping it would be warmer as this was inside. No joy. You hope your broken ankle wont stop you too much. But you don't see it as much choice at the minute. You just want to have someone to help you in this. You need to catch up with her. You pop your head underwater. You see Zara swimming towards a tunnel, and you begin following her. You are about to enter the tunnel after her when you see a dark shape emerging from it. It's one of the creatures. You scream but just let a load of water into your lungs. You try to swim to the surface, but the creature grabs you. You outstretch your hand for the surface, but only your fingertips break the surface. The creature drags you down to the bottom of the pool. You try fighting, kicking, anything. But you can feel the life draining from you. Oxygen needed. Your efforts become more sluggish as the creature puts its hand over your mouth. It's then that you notice it looks half human. It has hold of your arm and you notice your arm changing. It's appearance becoming more fish-like. You try to scream but the creature squeezes tighter. Then all is gone. [[Go back to beginning|Introduction]]

You turn back around. 'Yeah we shouldn't have taken the left,' says Marcus. 'There's a lift that will take us to the top.' 'Sounds good to me.' As you wade through the water you feel something swim past your leg. You let out a shriek. 'Something's in here,' you say panicking. 'Must be a fish right?' 'No fish in here, this is flood water from one of the research pools.' 'I just felt it again,' you say. 'Then I'm sorry,' says Marcus. You hear a gunshot and a pain in your leg. Marcus then kicks you and you fall deeper into the water. Your head disappears under and you catch a glimpse of something under. As you emerge from the water. You see Marcus running back into the tunnel. 'Thanks for acting as bait,' he shouts. 'You're a great friend.' As he disappears you feel something wrap around you leg. Before you can react, you are pulled underwater. THE END [[Introduction]]

You head to the equipment room. As you and Sandra reach the door, you notice the water around you is filling up fast. Sandra ties to swipe her keycard, but it doesn't work. 'Card. We need a card,' she says. 'Mine won't work,' you say, 'I don't have access.' You look around you, you see a [body of one of the scientists floating in the water.]<body|(click:?body)[ You tentatively roll the body over, and there is a keycard. You pick it up (set:$bodycard to true). [[Try door now]]]

You stick out your hand to help her up. She grips tight. You help pull her over the edge. She doesn't stand up just yet, just lays there catching her breath. You avoid eye contact. Stay silent. 'Hey,' she says. You look at her. The eye contact hurts. 'Thanks for pulling me up there,' she says. You relax. Maybe she didn't realise you left her. 'No worries,' you say. 'Gotta help each other right?' 'Exactly,' she says. 'Now you gonna help me up or what?' She sticks out her hand. You take it, and feel good. Helping her to her feet. You watch her eyes look towards Sandra. 'What she up to?' asks Ada. You look towards Sandra, who is still fiddling with the door. But as you do, you feel a push on your chest. You stumble backwards. Turning, you see Ada give a little wave. And you know your balance is gone. Your right foot steps into thin air, and you feel gravity take hold. The fall is quicker than you thought. As you crash through the water you hit your head on something. Something that makes the world seem calmer. A lot more serene. A lot more distant. A distance that grows. You feel a warmth emanating from your head, and you close your eyes to relax. THE END [[Introduction]]

You enter the hall to reception and you see something scuttling along the floor, but it crawls out of sight. You then see the main exit is blocked by rubble. 'Damn,' says Sandra. 'It's okay,' says Ada. 'We can just go through the loading bay, that should be free.' 'But that's back through the canteen? says Sandra. 'It's the only way out. Or at least the quickest way. Out the canteen, through kitchen. Onto loading bay. Done.' 'That easy?' replies Sandra. 'That easy,' says Ada. You like Ada's confidence. You find yourself getting swept up a little. You wish you were that confident about things at times. As you all walk back to the canteen you think you may have to worry about pasta after all. [[Continue to canteen]] [[Mention that thing that scuttled away]]

You rush over to the door and swipe the card. The door clicks open. Sandra immediately pushes it open and you both step into [[the equipment room]].

You step in and the door shuts behind you. You test if it's locked, it's not. You will have to move quick. 'What is this room?' you ask. 'I knew it was the equipment room, but its bigger than I thought.' 'Yeah it's a bit of a maze in here,' says Sandra. 'I was in here a few times, to help get stuff.' You notice three doors off to the right of the room, and what looks like an exit door that leads to another room. It looks like it needs two key cards. Just out of chance you [[try to open the exit door]].

(if: $twocards is TRUE) [The door clicks open.[[ Step into room]]] (else:) [It doesn't work. It needs two keycards. [[Try looking around for them]]]

You look at the three rooms in the equipment room. You try [door one.]<one|(click: ?one)[(if: $room1key is true) [It opens! [[You go in room ]]](else:)[it's locked! Looks like it needs a normal key, not a keycard.]] You try [door two.]<two|(click: ?two)[(if: $swipe2key is true) [It opens! [[You go in room two ]]](else:)[It's locked! You notice a swipe pad again. Must need another keycard.]] You try [door three.]<three|(click: ?three)[nice, it opens. You [[step inside|Room 3!]]]

As you step in you head straight to the other door. Locked too. This one seems like it needs a keycode. 'This needs a code. Any ideas? you ask Sandra. She walks over. 'No idea,' she says.

(set: $swipe2key to TRUE) You enter the room, and you see someone lying on the floor. He is half alive. Sandra crouches next to him to see if he's okay. 'He hasn't got long,' she says. His eyes dart around the room. Other movements minimal. 'We need to get out of here,' you say. 'Can you help us?' His eyes lock on you. You see his mouth trying to move. 'The keycards to get out are in room one,' he says. 'But the key to that is in room 2.' 'What?' He reaches in his pocket to give you a swipe card. 'Thanks,' you say. 'We can bring you with us?' He laughs. 'No,' he says. 'I'm just waiting for the end. I can feel myself changing. Leave me.' 'Changing into what?' asks Sandra. 'I don't know,' he says. 'I saw it happen to the others before they were dragged away.' He holds his hand up, and it has started forming scales of some sort. 'You need to leave,' he continues. 'I can feel myself changing, my thoughts don't seem my own.' [[Head back to equipment room|Try looking around for them]]

Stepping into this room there is a strange smell. A smell that creeps up the nostrils and embeds itelf. You start gagging, wanting to throw up. It's then that you see something in the corner. It snarls at you. 'What is that?' asks Sandra. Before you can repsond it runs past you and out of the door. 'Didn't one of the equipment guys have a pet rat?' you say. 'I dont think that was a rat,' replies Sandra. 'Bit too big.' 'We need to get out of here.' This room seems a lot tidier which is good to see. You always wanted a tidy workspace like this. But you never managed. You shared your workspace with Marcus, and you both weren't the tidiest. You keep saying its because your workspace is small, but deep down you just know your untidy. 'The cards. On the desk,' says Sandra. You pick them up (set: $twocards to true). You head back into the equipment room and[[try to open the exit door]].

You step into room 2. 'Wow, this place is a mess,' says Sandra. 'What was going on in here?' 'Yeah looks like people were in a hurry.' 'What were those things anyway?' 'No idea', you say. 'Now where is this key anway? You look around the room, and the place is a state. You head over to the desk, and there are some drawers. Drawer [one.]<think|(click: ?think)[ Inside there is just some pens and post it notes. One one of the notes is a name of what sounds like a ship. Along with today's date.] Drawer [ two.]<draw|(click: ?draw)[ There is nothing in this one. How exciting. What a waste of a drawer. You think of your own small, cramped working space and wish you could have the luxury of an empty drawer.] Drawer [three.]<three|(click: ?three)[ Inside there is a notebook with a key on top of it, you pick it up(set: $room1key to true)] Drawer [four]<four|(click: ?four)[Looks like this was just a snack drawer of some sort. There are a few biscuits, and chewing gum. You consider taking some, but decide now is not the time. Besides, your'e trying to cut out biscuits.] [[Head back to equipment room|Try looking around for them]]

As you step in you head straight to the other door. Locked too. This one seems like it needs a keycode. 'This needs a code. Any ideas? you ask Sandra. She walks over. 'No idea,' she says. She tries a few random goes. 'Looks like it will be 5 characters long though,' she says. 'And I seem to remember people always complaining it was in capital letters' 'Oh really?' 'Yeah they were always moaning in the canteen about having caps lock on' You look back around the room. There is [a storage box]<box|(click:?box)[It's got a few notebooks in it. You open one and it seems to be a list of dietry requirments for a cat.]. [A notice board]<board|(click:?board)[It's full of formula, with the number 78234 written on it a few times]. [A birthday card]<card|(click:?card)[It seems to be addressed to whoever was in this office. It reads 'Dear Jacques, I'm glad we finally got to meet. You've made these last few years amazing. Heres to many more. Love SIMON] A little figurine [of a cat.]<cat|(click:?cat)[ On it is a a little plaque. It reads: (b4r:"solid")+(b4r-colour:white)[Love you forever CHIPS]] [[Enter key code]]

(input-box: bind $eqcode, "XXX=", 2) [[[enter the code into the keypad|enter the keycode]]] [[check office again| Step into room]]

You exit the equipment rooms. 'Who was Jacques anyway? you ask. 'Oh he ran the equipment room. Never knew he was dating someone though. That's cool to hear.' 'Yeah, I never really know much about colleagues. I really should.' 'Yeah, I've been telling you to do that. Get to know people more. It might help you feel a bit better.' You know she is right, you just still find it hard. 'I know,' you say. 'It's just easier said sometimes. Personally anyway.' 'It's okay. Let's keep focussed on the task at hand. Getting out of here. Look these stairs will take us up through the loading bay, we should be out into the main pools then. [[Head up stairs]]'

(if: $eqcode is "SIMON") [Nice. The door slides open. You can get out. [[step through the door| exit equipment]]] (else:) [oh no you got it wrong. Looks like you will have to go back and try again. Maybe it's another object in the room that has the clue [[try again|Enter key code]]]

As you head up the stairs you ask Sandra what you think is going on. 'No idea, I mean I know we were working on some life form stuff. But nothing to this level.' 'Yeah I had no idea. But then like I said I don't know anything that goes on.' 'Well one thing is knowing gossip. Bizarre animal experiments is another.' You exit out onto one of the main pools. The is a silence around the place. 'I was expecting this to be busier,' says Sandra. 'Maybe not everyone is out yet.' 'Shall we go back for them?' 'I think out here seems the safest bet. I think let's focus on getting out of here. I just want to get back to my family to be honest.' Sandra gets her phone out, but its damaged from the explosion. 'Which was shall we go out?' Sandra looks around. We've either got that boat at the end of the pier there, or we walk out the front. [[Boat]] [[Out the front]]

You step into the canteen again. Great. Back here. The place is decimated. You think of all the times you were in here. Work events, lonely lunches, solitary coffees. The destruction has morphed the room. The floor looks unstable, on the verge of crumbling. Sandra leads the way. 'We'll have to tread carefully,' she says. 'Sure thing,' says Ada. You watch as Sandra tentatively makes her way across the floor. The occasional bit of the floor falling. You hear the door swing open behind you. You turn and see nothing, but then look down. It's that creature you saw scuttling away earlier. It runs at you but you jump out the way. You turn and see Ada do the same. Sandra turns to see what the commotion is, but its too late, the creature runs past her and knocks her over. She falls onto the floor. But you notice something in her face. She realises what is about to happen. You rush to help but Ada pulls you back. And then it happens, the floor cracks. And Sandra drops through. Ada grabs you by the hand. 'We need to leave now. I know another way.' [[Go with Ada to docking bay]]

'Ummmm, did you see that thing that crawled away?' 'I think we should avoid it,' says Sandra. 'Well, I was curious about it too,' Adap chips in. 'Fine,' replies Sandra. 'Let's check it.' You lead the way over to the door it crept through. You don't know why you want to do this, but you want to get to the bottom of what's going on. As you open the door, you see it there, eating something. It turns and runs at you. You dive out the way, crashing to the floor. You hear screams behind you. Turning you see Sandra fighting it off, Ada watching on in horror. 'Get it off her,' you shout. Ada panics, still frozen. You rush over and kick the creature, it runs off down the hallway. and then you notice it. The amount of blood. Sandra looks up at you. 'I'm sorry,' you say. 'I'm so sorry. I just-' Sandra struggles to talk. 'Tell my,' she says. 'Tell my-' She goes quiet. Ada grabs your hand forcefully, and pulls you away. 'We need to leave now. Fast,' she says. ' I know another way to the docking bay.' [[Go with Ada to docking bay]]

Ada drags you into a hallway and you start walking briskly. 'If there is another way? Why didn't we try that? you ask. 'I thought the other way would be quicker.' 'But we lost Sandra?' 'I'm sorry,' says Ada. You notice that her limp is getting worse. She seems slower. As you walk down the hallway, you think to make small talk. 'So how has work been in analytics lately?' you ask. 'I hate it,' she says. 'Oh? I thought it would be a cool area.' 'Everyone does.' 'So you don't enjoy it?' 'No. I pretend I do. But I don't.' She winces in pain. 'You okay?' 'I'll be fine, don't worry. Let's just get out.' 'Okay.' [[Head through next set of doors]]

'Docking bay should be just a few minutes. Can lead us to one of the main pools' 'Cool. So I'm guessing you don't like working here then? If you don't like your role.' She laughs. Goes to say something, but then doesn't. You can tell she is heistating. 'Look,' she says. 'I'm gonna level with you. I'm behind this. All of this?' 'What?' You stop walking. Step away. 'Look, hate me,' she says. 'But you need to get out of here. You saved me. So I'm gonna help you.' You don't want to. But you don't feel you have another option. What will you do? You resume walking. 'Why?' 'It wasn't supposed to go like this. I've killed people I cared about. I just wanted a way out you know. I tried looking for other jobs you know, but nothing worked. I tried interviews. But always got to the end and nothing. I was desperate. I'm just tired of being unhappy.'' 'So am I,' you say. 'Unhappy.' It feels good to say it out loud. You are unhappy. There you go. It's out there. Ada smiles. 'I'm glad I'm not the only one,' she says. As she smiles, you notice something different about her. Her face slightly changing. 'Ada, your face?' 'I know,' she replies, her voice changing slighting. 'I know what's happening to me. One of those things latched onto me in the water. I know I haven't got long. In fact I'm just going to sit down a bit' [[Help Ada sit down]]

You help her sit down. 'Thank you,' she says. 'It's okay, you look like you needed help to sit.' 'No, I mean for saving my life earlier.' 'It's okay. I mean I hope you'd have done the same for me.' 'I hope I would have done too.' She smiles, but you see the face is already changing to something else. You feel something around your feet, and it's water. The explosions must have caused more flooding. You go to pick Ada up, but she resists. 'No don't, I'm done for really.' 'I can't leave you here.' 'You can. Go meet the people I was gonna meet. It was part of my plan to get out of here.' 'What?' 'Yeah I was basically delivering the research of this place. But it's all gone wrong really.' [[Leave Ada here]] [[Try and bring Ada with you]]

'How will they know I'm with you?' 'There is a code in my pocket. Take it.' You put your hand in her pocket and pull out a card. You half expected her to try something. 'Goodbye Ada,' you say. She smiles, but you aren't sure she is still there. Something in her has changed, she looks longingly at the water that surrounds her. You were planning to leave her some kind of weapon but you think it's too late, she's already one of them. You start rushing to the staircase at the end of the hall as the water surrounds you. It's harder than you thought. You run up the staircase and hit the door. But it's locked. You start banging on the door for help. 'Hey,' you shout, 'Open it.' You hear some shuffling on the other side of the door. Then a gunshot. Pain. You look at the door and a slight slither of light shines through a hole. Your hand moves towards the pain in your stomach. Blood covers your hands. You hear two more gunshots. Two more slithers of light. You stumble backwards into the water and feel yourself being dragged away. THE END [[Introduction]]

'No,' you say. 'I'm bringing you with me. I've saved you once. I'll do it again.' 'But why?' 'I don't know. I don't trust you, but I'd regret it. Plus if I don't Sandra would have died for nothing.' 'You know I'm turning into something right? I'll kill you.' 'At least I can die helping. I ran away from something before. I'm not doing it again.' [[Help Ada stand up]]

'Fine,' she says. 'But put take this. It's a code.' She hands you a piece of paper. 'What is this?' 'Don't question it. Just take it for me.' You put it in your pocket. 'Can you walk?' you ask. 'Yeah, but not much.' 'It's fine, don't worry, we'll do it together.' You help her stand up. As you start slowly walking away, you feel the water rushing around your feet. Getting deeper. You look down. 'Don't look down,' says Ada. 'You'll just panic. Just keep moving. Just keep moving forwards.' You do, you look straight ahead. 'You can do this,' she says. You didnt realise how much you needed that, until someone said it. You can do this you tell yourself. You see the docking bay up ahead. Not long. You don't look down but you feel the water around your thighs. You peer into the docking bay, but it looks like some of those creatures are in there. You see [[a staircase to the left.]]

'We're going up here,' you say. You start dragging Ada up the stairs, conscious that the water is filling this up too. As you get to the top of the stairs you hear some doors opening up ahead. Footsteps making their way down the curving staircase. And then you see him. Marcus. 'Marcus, you're alive? Help me. It's Ada.' He looks shocked to see you both. 'What's amatter with her?' 'She's hurt bad.' He comes to help you carry her up the stairs. Out through some double doors and you are by the research pool. Once out into the fresh air you collapse onto the floor. Marcus helps Ada lie down. 'I've got a way out,' you say to Marcus. 'What?' 'Well, Ada's got a way out. She gave me this piece of paper? What is this anyway Ada? You sit back up to look at her. But Marcus is looking at you, and you know what's happened. 'She's gone,' he says. 'I'm sorry. What have you got there?' You rush over to Ada. Looking at her for some movement. Some hope. 'It's a code,' you say distracted. 'Ada, was part of this. This explosion, everything.' 'Seriously?' 'Yeah I know right.' 'Right we should get moving to the boat and show them the code.' You stand up. 'Sure thing, good idea. Wait, what boat?' Marcus looks disappointed. And then you notice a body lying just behind him, you recognise her from the lab. You think her name is Zara but not sure. 'I'm sorry mate,' Marcus says. 'Me and Ada were in on in it. I was planning to get rid of her anyway. But now I've got to get rid of you.' 'No please-' It's too late. You hear a gunshot. Followed by two more. THE END [[Introduction]]

'Let's go for the front,' you say. 'I've had a enough of water.' 'Sounds good to me.' You both walk along the outside of the research centre. As you do, you can't help but feel for all those trapped inside still. You hear some screams but you aren't sure. Before long you and Sandra are out on the road leading up to the research institute. It oddly feels like when you say goodbye after a days work, go home, and relax. 'Well, I'm this way,' says Sandra. 'We need to get to civilisation and radio this in. I think if we head this way its quicker. We can get a hospital too.' [[Yes that would be great]] [[No, I'm gonna head in a different direction]]

You get in and manage to call for help once you reach the shops. Sandra says she's heading to the hospital and you agree. You sit there in the waiitng room, annoyed by the brightness of the light. You want to ring home and speak to your parents. But there doesn't seem to be an option for that right now. You wonder if everyone got out okay. You turn to talk to Sandra but she seems asleep. You decide to go to the toilet. As you enter the toilet you look in the mirror, and something catches you as slightly different. Your face is there, but not there. You didn't think this was right when you caught a glimpse earlier. But now in the harsh light it's definitily changed. You start to panic. You want to ask for help. But your thoughts suddenly are taking over. Looping over themselves. You find memory slipping away and a burning desire to be back at the institute amongst the pools. You feel a pain in your leg, you check and there is some form of injury. That can wait. You leave the toilet and see Sandra still asleep in the waiting room. You want to say goodbye, but don't. You leave the hospital and start walking back to the institute. The fresh air feels good, but you are craving water. Just to be in it. Belonging to it. THE END [[Introduction]]

'Okay, well get help as soon as you can,' says Sandra. 'Hopefully I'll come across a shop or something I can call for help.' 'Yeah definitely.' You watch as Sandra drives off. A lift would have been great actually. But you feel like you want a walk and some fresh air. Plus there are some shops about half a mile from here that you can get to and call for help. You start running towards them, but as you do you can't help but think of those inside. Marcus, did he get out okay? You stop running and turn back. You've ran away from things before and it's stayed with you. A regret just niggling away at you, haunting its way inside. You decide to do something about it. [[Head back to the institute]]

You retrace your steps back to where you and Sandra got out. Determined to try and find somebody alive. As you approach the research pools, you see commotion up ahead. It looks like Marcus talking to someone, he got out. You feel happy you came back now. 'Hey,' you shout. You wave your hands. But Marcus doesn't see you. You shout again as you run past the research pools. But you slip on the wet floor and come crashing into concrete. Embarrassing. As you pick yourself up, you notice something slithering out of the pool. It looks attached to some tentacle of sorts. You go to scream for help, but it latches onto you. It grasps tight and drags you towards the pool. You look over to Marcus for help, but it doesn't look like he has noticed you. A scream tries to leave your lungs, but it gets nowhere. Lacks existence. THE END [[Introduction]]

'Okay, well get help as soon as you can,' says Sandra. 'Hopefully I'll come across a shop or something I can call for help.' 'Yeah definitely.' You watch as Sandra drives off. A lift would have been great actually. You could have got a hotel in the nearest city. But you feel like you want a walk and some fresh air. Plus there are some shops about half a mile from here that you can get to and call for help. You start running towards them, but as you do you can't help but think of those inside. Marcus, did he get out okay? You stop running and turn back. You've ran away from things before and it's stayed with you. A regret just niggling away at you, haunting its way inside. You decide to do something about it. [[Head back to the institute]]