End Millenium<div class="text-section static"><h1>End<br>Millennium</h1>[[Click to begin|The highway]]</div><div class="bottom-menu">[<div class="load"></div>]<restore|(click: ?restore)[(loadgame: "A")]</div><div class="text-section bottom-line twistedtrees">You look out past the verge at the little signs of devastation. Tilted trees, mainly. Tilted power lines. Storm debris is scattered among the pines.</div><div class="text-section bottom-line celltower">From a rise in the highway you see the winking lights of cell towers shining like coded information along the great depth of the evening savanna, all of it shadow-hung like the stuff that sits beneath a campfire.</div><div class="text-section">You look over to your [[sister|Angela drives]], and then glance back at [[Shep|Shep sits upright]]. You have to [[pee|I have to pee]].</div><div class="text-section angeladriving">
Angela has no expression of any kind
as she drives along
[[Interstate 10|Staring out at Mississippi]].
</div><div class="text-section shep-sitting bottom-line">You assume that Shep is sleeping, but he’s awake, upright, just staring out at the [[road|Staring out at Mississippi]].</div><div class="text-section met-shep">You met him on Craigslist, sending out emails from your phone while rain flattened the dust of a midday Floridian parking lot. He was the first to respond, and he responded almost instantly.</div><div class="text-section">“I have to [[pee|Really have to pee]],” you announce, still watching the [[highway|Staring out at Mississippi]].</div><div class="text-section">You've been holding it in for over an hour.
Angela passes an exit.
[[Wtf|Next exit]].</div><div class="text-section">"Hey, next exit, [[pull off|Angela pulls off]]. This is getting kinda serious."</div><div class="text-section">The next exit finally arrives. Angela slides the truck down the ramp, onto the service lane and out down the street toward the gas station. The street's empty of traffic and the gas station's closed, the windows boarded up. Laminated notices hang on the plywood and the pumps. Angela pulls along the edge of the place and parks. You go around back and piss near a pile of crates and then [[return to the truck|Return to the truck]].</div><div class="text-section shep-on-haunches">Shep's resting on his haunches smoking a cigarette. He's staring hard across the road, [[considering something|Shep's incoherent thoughts]]. He doesn't move at all except to pass the cigarette to and from his mouth. Your sister lowers the tailgate to his truck and sits down.</div><div class="text-section">Angela asks Shep if he wants her to keep driving. He mutters something in a friendly enough way, but you have no idea what he said. You and your sister exchange a quick look. Shep [[laughs|Shep laughs on his haunches]].</div>{
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}<div class="text-section bottom-line">You dream of a hole, and inside the hole is the highway.</div><div class="text-section bottom-line electricsky">You dream of casino billboards as they come and go, and of exit signs. When you open your eyes, it’s much like the dream. The sky wheels above Mississippi. [[The land is electric|Staring out at Mississippi]].</div><div class="text-section headlights">A car passes like some homeward spaceship that lost a war. It’s going east. You're going west. The low sun breaks apart in the sky.</div><div class="text-section walmart-question">Shep: “What I’m asking is, if I went and got a couple things from Wal-Mart, would you two [[mind|Mind going to Wal-Mart?]]?”
</div><div class="bottom-menu">[<div class="save"></div>]<save|(click: ?save)[ _saved(savegame: "A")]</div><div class="text-section choice">> [["Nah, let's go."|Let's go to Wal-Mart]]
> [["We'd have to break in..."|We'd have to break in to Wal-Mart]]
> [["Yeah, we'd mind."|We'd mind going to Wal-Mart]]</div><div class="text-section">Angela smiles, and the three of you [[climb into the truck|Get in the truck for Wal-Mart]].</div><div class="text-section bottom-line">Shep shakes his head. "You aint gotta do shit. Wait in the truck for all I care."</div><div class="text-section">Angela laughs. Silence follows, and the three of you [[climb into the truck|Get in the truck for Wal-Mart]].</div><div class="text-section">Shep grimaces for a moment. Then he smiles. "Well then you get to wait outside. Let's get moving." Without another word exchanged, the three of you [[climb into the truck|Get in the truck for Wal-Mart]].</div><div class="text-section bottom-line">You sit in the narrow backseat for forty miles before Shep exits the highway into a [[wholly vacant suburb|Vacant suburb]].</div><div class="text-section radio">The emergency service station plays on the radio. The man at the microphone speaks extemporaneously about things he's heard, what's flooded and what's not. None of it sounds good.</div><div class="text-section headlights-off">Shep seems to know just where he's going. He travels north for several minutes through a lane of low-rise stucco malls. In one parking lot are many military vehicles but nowhere are there people. Debris covers much of the road. He makes a left, cuts the headlights and drives along slowly by little suggestions of the moon. He circles to the back of the Wal-Mart and parks his truck in the [[driveway|Complex driveway]] of a small residential complex across the street.</div><div class="text-section bottom-line">As your eyes adjust to the dim moonlight, Shep gets out and begins filling the tank with a gas canister from the truck bed. Without looking up, he asks that you and Angela move his tools from his job box into the cab of the truck.</div><div class="text-section choice">>[[You ask why|Why move tools]].
>[[You do as he says|Move tools]].</div><div class="text-section">"Lock don't work on the box," he replies. You nod and begin [[moving the tools|Move tools]].</div><div class="text-section">Yall move a drill, a screw gun, a table saw, a drop cloth, a [[tool bag|Shep's toolbag]], and two little plastic yellow cases. On the floor behind the driver's seat, you notice a small [[pocket knife|Take the knife?]]. Once finished, you both [[look to Shep|Shep gets satchel]].</div><div class="text-section">Shep carries over a satchel and begins filling it with various tools from the back seat.(if: $knife is true)[ He looks up at you for a brief moment with a chilling expression.] "I'ma make my way in there. Follow along [[if yall want|Wait with Angela]]. Don't matter to me."</div><div class="bottom-menu">[<div class="save"></div>]<save|(click: ?save)[ _saved(savegame: "A")]</div><div class="text-section">The toolbag is greasy, smells vaguely like trash, and leaves you with the horrid sense that something mammalian is hiding inside it. You set it down quickly and [[return to the truckbed|Move tools]].</div><div class="text-section choice">>[[Take the knife|Take knife]].
>[[Leave the knife where it's sitting.|Move tools]]</div><div class="text-section takeknife">You glance over your shoulder towards Shep, who's busy with something behind the truck. You check the blade on the knife, and then slip it into your back pocket. Angela watches the gesture and says nothing.(set: $knife to true) Shep wanders to the front of the truck and the two of you [[turn to face him|Shep gets satchel]].</div><div class="text-section bottom-line">Shep nods and retreats towards the back of the store.</div><div class="text-section choice">To Angela:
> (link: "How do you feel about this guy?")[(set: $likeShep to "unsure")(goto: "How does Angela feel about Shep")]
> (link: "I like this guy.")[(set: $likeShep to "like")(goto: "How does Angela feel about Shep")]
> (link: "I don't trust this guy...")[(set: $likeShep to "dislike")(goto: "How does Angela feel about Shep")]<div class="text-section">"(if: $likeShep is "dislike")[Well ]I like him(if: $likeShep is "like")[ too].(if: $knife is true)[ Though he may not like us too much if he sees that his knife is missing.] I'm down to wait out here or head in and get some stuff. It's [[up to you|Choose where to go]]."</div><div class="text-section choice">> [[Head toward the back of the store.|Behind Wal-mart]]
> [[Continue waiting.|Continue waiting with Angela]]</div><div class="text-section bottom-line shepheadlamp">You can make out Shep's headlamp as you walk towards Wal-Mart. As you get closer, you see that he's removing screws from a 2x4 that hangs above a large piece of plywood. Angela hurries ahead of you and helps him bring down the plywood. By the time you arrive, they're removing the stops from a metal door frame.</div><div class="text-section choice">> [["How can I help?"|Help get into Wal-mart]]
> [[Continue to watch|Get into Wal-Mart]].</div><div class="text-section bottom-line">You've never seen this many stars along the Gulf Coast before. You watch what you believe to be a satellite traveling in an arc above the shadowed suburb.</div><div class="text-section choice">To Angela:
> [[When do you think we'll get to Norco?|When will we get to Norco]]
> [[I'm getting tired.|Getting tired.]]
> [[I hope the lights never come back on.|Hope the lights never come back on.]]</div><div class="text-section">"Maybe there's no more Norco. Maybe never?" You nod and [[lean against the truck|Choose where to go]].</div><div class="text-section">"And it's your turn to drive. Sucks for you." You roll your eyes and [[lean against the truck|Choose where to go]].</div><div class="text-section">"I'll remember you said that when we get home and there's no air conditioning." You bite your tongue and [[lean against the truck|Choose where to go]].</div><div class="text-section">Shep gestures to a vaccuum cup sitting on the ground near your feet. "[[Hand me that cup|Get into Wal-Mart]](if: $knife is not true)[, if you would]."</div><div class="text-section">Shep pumps the cup against the glass of the door frame, slides it slightly left, and lifts the glass entirely from the door. Angela helps to lean it against the wall. Shep takes a small LED flashlight from his back pocket, twists it on, and hands it to(if: $knife is true)[ Angela. She takes it with a grateful nod.](if: $knife is not true)[ you. You accept it with a grateful nod.] "Well," says Shep, "[[let's get to it|Enter Wal-Mart]]."<div class="text-section" id="end">You've reached the end of this demo. <span class="replay">Replay.</span></div>