The Chase

You have to catch them. Skidding sideways into an alleyway, you see the shape of your quarry climbing up a fence in the middle distance, about to disappear from sight. You sprint and lock your fingers into the fence's wire just as they are hopping away from it, running towards a dilapidated apartment block and crashing into the doorway at the bottom. It yields after a kick or two and they run into the yawning mouth of the building. [[Over the fence!]] [[There must be a gate...]]

You dig your fingers in and heave yourself up, hand over hand, feet scrabbling for purchase on the smooth wire links. It's tough work but you get over the fence quickly. Crashing to the ground, you hurry towards the door after the elusive runner. You can hear their shoes slapping against some kind of ancient linoleum flooring. [[Get inside!]]

You rush along the fence at ground level, squinting in the half-light for an opening of any kind. After a few agonising moments you find a crude gate that's more of a flap cut into the wire. Squeezing through it, the wire pulling at your clothes painfully, you emerge into the yard. (set: $delay to $delay+1) [[Get inside!]]

You pound towards the door at top speed but stop as you approach it to listen. You can definitely hear footsteps slapping off the floor in the distance.(if: $delay<1)[ It sounds like they're still on this floor, to the right.] You see a stairway in front of you, and a door each to the right and left in this lobby area. [[Left!]] [[Right!]] [[Stairs!]]

Sprinting through the open door to the left, you find yourself in a short corridor with a few barricaded doors and a caved-in ceiling at the end. Can't be right. (set: $delay to $delay+1) [[Go back]]

This door is shut but pushes open easily as you crash through it, almost putting you off balance. This is a large room like a newspaper bullpen or cubicle office, but in desperately bad shape. There are a lot of ramshackle desks and piles of paper. There is a nearby door and a door at the end of the room. (if: $delay<2)[Footsteps! They're ahead somewhere. But where?] (if: $delay<1)[Maybe behind that further door?] [[Try the near door]] [[Try the far door]] [[Go back]]

You make your way up the stairs as quickly as you dare, because they are really shoddy looking and wobble under your weight. The landing turns sharply to the right, and leads to a waiting room area with ancient magazines strewn around near some overturned plastic chairs. There's one totally barricaded door to your left, a window ahead, and another door to the right. (set: $delay to $delay+1) [[Go to the window]] [[Check out the room on the right]] [[Go back down the stairs->Go back]]

You see a stairway in front of you, and a door each to the right and left in this lobby area. [[Left!]] [[Right!]] [[Stairs!]]

This room is small and foul-smelling. Rot of several kinds, you suspect. There isn't much in it but shelves, mostly covered in sheaves of ancient printer paper. The only exit is the door you just came in. (if: $fallen>0)[The main notable feature is the huge hole in the ceiling tiles where you fell through earlier.] (set: $delay to $delay+1) [[Back to the office room->Right!]]

This corridor is long, it must stretch the entire side of the building. No doors, just a selection of broken-down handcarts and some empty pallets. The floor is in bad shape, too. (if: $delay<3)[Ahead you can just make out a shape rounding the corner at the other end. Your heart quickens.] (if: $delay>2)[The only exit seems to be around a corner at the other end of the corridor. No door is visible but you can see an area of deeper shadow where the wall turns.] [[Push on]]

You've never in your life seen a dirtier window than this. It looks as though it's been frosted by a very eccentric glassworker. (if: $window<1)[The window creaks and grinds as you shove it by the frame. Eventually you manage to get a gap too small for your head to poke out, but wide enough to see down to the alley on this side of the building.(set: $window to 1) (set: $delay to $delay+1)] (if: $window>0)[The gap is too small for your head to poke out, but wide enough to see down to the alley on this side of the building.] The alley is dark and grimy, with rubbish of various kinds strewn about, but totally still. [[Check out the room on the right]] [[Back down the stairs->Go back]]

(if: $fallen>0)[You suppose it's quicker to hop through the hole into the room below than go back down the stairs.] (if: $fallen<1)[You have hardly set foot inside this pitch-black room when the floor beneath you gives way and you crash through into the room below. (set: $fallen to 1)] It's not a long drop but you could break a limb doing less. Luckily, you land in some old paper, which is harder than it looks but softer than the floor. [[Get up->Try the near door]]

(if: $delay<3)[You race after the escaping figure, feet pounding on the ground in a burst of pent-up energy.] (if: $delay>2)[You hurry down the long passageway, eager to finally catch your elusive mark.] You hear a terrible crash from around the corner. As you reach the turn you see the corridor beyond is almost pitch-black, so you bring a light up on your phone. (if: $delay<3)[There, sprawled out full-length by a particularly nasty divot in the floor surface, is the figure you've been chasing. You run up and give it a gentle poke with your toe. There's a groan. Still alive. Well, at least your next move is clear. 'Tag,' you say, 'you're it!'] (if: $delay>2)[You barely avoid a really big dip in the floor thanks to your light, but it also lets you see a burst-open door to the outside. Running up, you see a dark alleyway going off in both directions, but no sign or sound of the running figure. Too quick. 'Damn,' you think, 'I lost at tag again.'] -- THE END