A Pursuit of Treachurous Hope

A Pursuit of Treachurous Hope [[-New Game-]] [[-Character Details-]] (set: $playerhasbag to false) (set: $playerhassled to false) (set: $playerhasphoto to false) (set: $playerhasknife to false)

You wake up on the ground. You are dazed. [[--Look around--]] (set: $playerhasbag to false) (set: $playerhassled to false)

As you lift your head up you feel your joints ache, you feel nothing but fatigue. You raise your head and you find yourself squinting at something bright. Your blurry vision clears and you see that the bright yellow light is flowing. It's fire. [[--Stand up--]]

You get yourself up off the ground with your achiness. As your natural adreniline starts to shoot up through you, you discover that it is a building on fire. You start to notice the heat from the blaze, you are about 15 feet from the engulfed building. You take a second to check yourself, you are lightly covered in soot. You happen to be just wearing your typical pajama set, a t-shirt, bottoms and a pair of socks. [[--Where am I?--]]

After evaluating your current apparel, you temporarily ignore the inferno to see where you've just woken up from. You had been laying on a section of grass, its a section of grass you recognise. You quickly discover you are in your back garden in the middle of the night. [[--Look back at the building--]]

That's your house that is on fire After a breathless and jarring pause, "where is my family?!" is your next thought. You start to take some very uncoordinated steps and panickingly scan through the fire into the house in desperation to see if theres anyone you recognise You snap to your closer surroundings, maybe you will see someone who was also on the ground near you. [[--Search the back garden--]] [[--Find a way into your house--]]

You choose to look for an entry way that can let you search your house for family members. The main backdoor that would be the typical way into the kitchen is now a wall of fire, no way in here. [[--There's got to be another way--]] [[--This is pointless and I could get hurt in the process--]]

Theres an attractive path made by the debris that leads across the yard, or so it seems. It seems to be the safest option available right now. You take into account that there are a few bits of debris that are also a lit with very small fires. [[--Follow the path cautiously--]]

You take a step back and you see the window to the left that would also lead into the kitchen. It's not currently ablaze and the glass is shattered, a possible way in. [[--Try hop in through the window--]] [[--This is pointless and I could get hurt in the process--]]

You walk up to the opening, being mindful that there is glass that you might step on, you are only wearing socks after all. The frame of the window is decorated in sharp glass, you might be able to get in safely if you're careful. [[--Climb in--]] [[--This is pointless and I could get hurt in the process--]]

It was probably going to be a dumb idea to search a burning building and you probably wouldn't of found much. [[--Search the back garden--]]

You begin your attempt to climb in through the window. No turning back now. You first look down at the bottom of the wall and see a pipe leading out of the house, this is the pipe that the water from the sink leads through. You remember that the sink is just in front of this window. If you stand on the pipe you'll get yourself nice and high up so getting in should be an easier process. You proceed to do so. [[--Use the pipe--]]

You step on the pipe with your left foot and pull yourself up to the window. I've got to be careful here. You slowly grip onto the frame where there isn't any glass and then swing your right leg up onto the window sill. You reach in through the window and look to grab something for better leaverage. You grab the tap of the sink. You pray that the tap will be able to hold your weight for this next bit. You make a swift manuever up and get both feet onto the outside windowsill. That was the hard part. [[--Make your way in through the window--]]

You slowly extend one awkward leg in through and step on the counter of the kitchen. Then you swoop the rest of yourself through, trying to stay as low as you can. But you're a little too low and feel glass lightly poke you in the bum. It doesn't cut but it does snag onto your pajamas. With a sigh you get yourself free and make it all the way into the kitchen and hop down off the counter. [[--What's to see--]]

Surprisingly, the kitchen isn't overly on fire and is safer than you thought, but a majority of the kitchen is charred and burnt. You see that the door that's on the far side of the kitchen from you, leading to the front hall way, is covered in flames. Can't go that way to look for your family. You turn to the right to see that the dining table area is on fire aswell, no where to look there either. There's no where that leads farther into the house. All you hear is the fire rumbling in the rest of your house. You don't hear anyone else inside. [[--Leave while you can--]] [[--Search for something that might come in useful later--]]

You hastely get back out through the window without getting cut and find yourself in the backgarden once again. It was probably going to be a dumb idea to search a burning building and you probably wouldn't of found much. [[--Search the back garden--]]

The only place to search is the kitchen, that has been damaged form the fire. You best get looking now before the fire stops you from leaving. You look around to check the drawers and presses that haven't been burnt, which turns out to be not alot. You open the cutlery drawer and reveal an array of knives. Theres not alot else to collect that is worth saving. [[--Leave now, you don't need a knife--]] [[--Take a knife--]]

You hastely get back out through the window without getting cut and find yourself in the backgarden once again. It was probably a better idea to leave sooner rather than later. [[--Search the back garden--]]

You choose to pick up the kitchen knife that is the sharpest knife in the drawer. You examine it quickly and determine that this was a good decision. -You now have a knife- <img src=https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/767501697845035088/781507143164493855/the_knife_ss.PNG> You hear the house start to creak, it probably wont be long before something collapses. (set: $playerhasknife to true) [[--Leave now--]]

You hastely get back out through the window with your new-found knife without getting cut and find yourself in the backgarden once again. [[--Search the back garden--]]

After your search of whats to be seen in the back garden, all you can identify is alot of wood, drywall and other unidentifiable parts of house that has managed to found itself rather far away from your house. "An explosion?", questioning the debris has heavily littered you backgarden. You feel a sense of claustrophobia due to the volume of debris that feels like it has lightly encased you in a circle. You want out, right now [[--Look for a way out--]]

The path leads across the yard with very little challenge however your mind is sapping in worry about your family members. You walk along paying more attention to your house in hopes to see someone more than the path to make sure you dont get hurt as you tread across the debris. [[--Evaluate where you are now--]]

You find a clearing of debris and take moment to map out your surroundings. You are right next to the tall wall that runs down the left side of your house, a possible way out. [[--Check out the next possible path--]](set: $playerhasbag to false) [[--Scan around the clearing--]]

You take a moment to look down at the open space you found, you identify some items that are supposed to be inside your house. There's a lot of clothes. Some wood that seems to have once been a chest of drawers or a desk. Parts of a bed including the frame and some of the bed clothes. [[--Rummage to see if you can find something useful--]]

You are shocked to see that your neighbours house has also been mangled and the right side wall of their house has collapsed, and has peeled away to crash against the side of your house, the side of the house not yet on fire. This has made the walkway very tight to trek down. But you can make out a possible tunnel that you could crawl through. [[--Look down the tunnel--]]

You get down on your knees and begin shuffling through clothes. As you shuffle through you realize that these clothes belonged to your older brother. "This is his favourite hoodie....and this are the trousers he always wears". That's when you look up at your house and see that the second storey corner has been blown out. Most of the material in these piles must have come from there. You look down and rummage into his pockets to see if theres anything that might be worth saving from the fire, along with the other things in the pile. You pause, "what the hell happened??". You are slapped with the realisation that you cant recall anything in relation to your house being partially destroyed. You subconciously make it your mission to find out what happened to your home and even more importantly, your family. You move on and lunge over to the bits of.....a desk maybe? Flipping over the wooden panel reveals a leather messenger bag. The one that used to sit at the foot of your brothers bed. [[--Pick up the bag--]] [[--Leave the bag, you don't need it--]]

You grab the bag and hold it in front of you, making sure that the shoulder strap doesn't get caught on anything. You bring it into your lap and open the flap to look inside. All you find are his college textbook and papers. You choose to take them out and make sure that the bag is empty, you want to be able to collect things that you want to save. -You now have an empty messenger bag-(set: $playerhasbag to true) <img src=https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/767501697845035088/781516002125938688/messenger_bag_drawing.PNG> [[--Examine the next possible path--]]

You look down along the walkway that was between the wall and your house. You are shocked to see that your neighbours house to the left has also been mangled and the right side wall of their house has collapsed, and has peeled away to crash against the side of your house, the side of the house not yet on fire. This has made the walkway very tight to trek down. But you can make out a possible tunnel that you could crawl through. [[--Walk up to the possible way out--]]

It's a tunnel alright, but you question the stability. It's been formed out of a collapsed wall. Not exactly ideal. You see that it's a very tight squeeze and the surface of the ground that you think youll have to crawl through is rough and jagged. You know you can get through but its risky. You sit back and look behind you from where you just came. Those little fires have gotten bigger and have spread quickly. There is very little time left. You look back down the tunnel, your only visible way out. "Fuck!" You know that the risks are high but staying in the garden is riskier. [[--You get on your hands and knees--]] [[--Look for something to help get through the tunnel--]]

You decide that taking a bag with you could risk your chances of getting out smoothly so you leave it where you found it. [[--Examine the next possible path--]](set: $playerhasbag to false)

You kneel by the start of the tunnel and examine the path. its a very tight squeeze and the surface of the ground that you think youll have to crawl through is rough and jagged. You know you can get through but its risky. You turn back to see the garden, you notice the little fires are a bit bigger than when you last checked. You might have enough time to check around to see if theres something that can help you get through quickly. [[--Look for something to help get through the tunnel--]]

You lunge across to several piles of material to equip yourself with something to protect yourself from the rough ground. You lift up some sheets of thermal insulation to reveal a busted apart filing cabinet. <img src=https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/767501697845035088/781529698823962644/cabinet_drawing.PNG> One of the sides has come off and looks like you could lay on this and practically sled throught the tunnel if you bend up the font. You take a second to modify the metal pannel. You roll up the front end so it doesnt get snagged on the ground. You examine you're DIY sled and sigh "This is ridiculous". But time has almost ran out now. [[--Here goes nothing--]] [[--Just go for it without the sled--]]

-you now have a sled- (set: $playerhassled to true) You kneel by the tunnel again and lay your sled down. You size it up to double check it fits. "Ok" You sit back and look behind you from where you just came. Those fires have gotten bigger and have spread quickly. You look back down the tunnel, your only visible way out. "Fuck!" You know that the risks are high but staying in the garden is riskier. [[--Lay on the sled--]]

You lightly place your chest and lay down on the sled, you stare down the tunnel, you cant see the other end from here but you can tell you will fit down the entire way, hopefully. You grab onto the floor to align yourself with the tunnel more and you are shocked to discover just how easy it is to pivot on the debris. You look down the tunnel again, a little bit excited. But you know this is really really dangerous. "Focus..." [[--Onwards--]] [[--Be slow and cautious--]]

The sled is working the dream though, you are getting through very quickly. You are proud that you thought of this idea. You are tired but you have to get through incase the tunnel gives out. You quickly forget your geniusness because it...is...HOT in this tunnel. No fire but you feel the heat from the burning buildings that are either side of the passage. (if: $playerhasbag is false)[You notice that the tunnel is becoming less and less dense with material, looks like the end is close.](if: $playerhasbag is true)[ [[*Snag!*]] ] (if: $playerhasbag is false)[ [[--Continue--]] ]

Sure enough you were right, you go around a bend and are blessed with the sight of the night sky. You slide on out of the tunnel without an issue. You put your hands on the sled to get off but are forced to jump off immediatley, "CHRIST". The metal sled had been heated from the tunnel. You kick it to the side, still pretty happy with the idea. You are in your front garden, next to your dads car. It looks like its been hit with shrapnel from the house. [[--Look down the street at your neighbours houses--]]

(if: $playerhasbag is true)[You tighten the strap on the messenger bag on your back as tight as you can get it, you do not want to get something snagged in there. ]You begin to dip your head into the opening, you crawl forward slowly to get your shoulders in and you realise that you are going to have lay prone to get through the tunnel. You sigh and wince as you get on your stomach, your pajamas providing no protection from the bits of house that covers the gound. [[--In you go--]]

You're making you way through the tunnel which doesnt seem to have an end, well at least, you can't see one, but the tunnel continues farther anyway. You aren't incredibly experienced with crawling but you pick up the rythm fairly quick. You feel as though stopping for a second is not an option. That fire was moving quick when you looked back before getting in here. And it...is...HOT in this tunnel. No fire but you feel the heat from the burning buildings that are either side of the passage. (if: $playerhasbag is true)[ [[*Snag!*]] ](if: $playerhasbag is false)[ [[--Proceed on through--]] ]

You feel the strap of the bag pull on you as you are (if: $playerhassled is false)[crawling](if: $playerhassled is true)[sledding]. You impatiently look back to see why. A splintered piece of wood has hooked itself into the D-ring of your bag that holds the strap. The strap is too tight to try and ditch it. [[--Try to remove the bag from the wood--]] (if: $playerhasknife is true)[ [[--Cut yourself free from the bag--]] ]

You have now mastered crawling, you finally make it out the end in no time. You are now in your front garden. The cool breeze feels great but you also feel the blood run down to your elbow. You dash on over to the side of your dads car and sit with your back agaisnt the back left tire, you are gonna have to sort out your arm. You pick out all the glass fairly fast, your hands are shaking. you need to stop the bleeding. You tear off the short sleeve of your shirt without a second thought and slide it over the cuts. You twist it over and over to tighten it to then fasten it into a knot so it stays. Thats better. You take a second to breathe and collect yourself only to hear the tunnel you came out of collapse. You did shift that strut of wood alot when you ripped your bag off it after all. You finally made it to the frontgarden. You get up and look around [[--Look down the street at your neighbours houses--]]

You peer over your dads car, down the street and you see that everyone else's house has also been heavily damaged and mostly on fire. Your neighbourhood is in shambles. The realisation is heartbreaking and you still dont know anything about your families whereabouts. (if: $playerhasphoto is true)[ [[--Open your bag--]] ](else: )[ [[--Look at the front of your house--]] ]

You loosen the messenger bag and bring it to your front. You open the flap to look inside and then take out your family photo that you managed to save. Its a photo of the time you all went on holiday to a waterpark in Spain. You stare at the photo depicting your Mom, Dad and older brother and yourself. You have never felt so lonely, you become frustrated at the predicament you are in. There is no obvious way to know where your family is. The feeling of isolation is incasing. "what the fuck am i supposed to do now" you say under your breath. All you hear is the neighbourhood fire, rumble around you, somethings are collapsing in the distance, just absolute static chaos. [[--Emotions get the better of you--]]

You turn and look up at the front bedroom windows belonging to both your parents, and the other belonging to your older brother. All you see is the flames fill the width of the window. You think of everything that you do and dont own in the house that will inevitably burn. You have nothing to remind you of your family. You have never felt so lonely, you become frustrated at the predicament you are in. There is no obvious way to know where your family is. The feeling of isolation is incasing. "what the fuck am i supposed to do now" you say under your breath . All you hear is the neighbourhood fire, rumble around you, somethings are collapsing in the distance, just absolute static chaos. [[--Emotions get the better of you--]]

You pull your way through the tunnel which doesnt seem to have an end, well at least, you can't see one, but the tunnel continues farther anyway. You choose to slowly and carefully make your way through the tunnel.(if: $playerhasknife and $playerhasbag is true)[You are tired from climbing in and out of the house and you begin to slow down. As you trek down the tunnel, you hear distant fire somewhere above you, the structure around you starts to creak and groan. This isnt a good sign. You don't get much farther before you hear the tunnel behind you splinter and shudder, it's starting to collapse!! [[--Hurry!--]]] (else: )[ [[--Onwards--]] ]

-You are a young boy, Maverick, aged 14 living in England. -You have a mother, father and older brother -Your family owns a dog -Maverick is of average athletic ability and is an observant problem solver. Back to [[Menu]]

You hastfully spin over onto your back to deal with the inconvenience. But you spun so quick that you have planted the back of your left arm into broken glass! [[--Assess your injury--]]

You retrieve you're new-found knife and use it to cut the strap of your brothers bag off and free yourself from it's grasp. (set: $playerhasbag to false) [[--Get the hell out!--]]

"CHRIST!" you start to panic, this has gone so terribly wrong. You lift your arm to assess your injury. There is small shards of glass in your arm. You look at the pile of glass on the ground. Your gaze is caught on whats beneath the glass. You had planted your arm into a broken picture frame of a family photo. You get inspired by the sight of your family with motivation of your main mission, to find your family. You snatch up the photo of your family, yank your bag free and get back making your way out of here, all hope is not yet lost. (set: $playerhasphoto to true) [[--Put the photo on your bag and power on through--]]

You have now mastered (if: $playerhassled is false)[crawling](if: $playerhassled is true)[sledding], you finally make it out the end in no time. The cool breeze feels great. You take a moment to relax. You finally made it to the frontgarden, next to your dads car. It looks like its been hit with shrapnel from the house. [[--Look down the street at your neighbours houses--]]

You half sit, half collapse to the floor. You lean against your dads car and feel that lump in your throat tease you to cry, you give in easily. Whats supposed to happen now? you dont even know if your family is alive. The idea that they may be gone is crippling, you slump and fall over to your side in tears. You then peer up at the night sky. Subconsciously mesmirized and even a bit comforted by the sight of the stars. You turn over to your otherside, towards the car and you close your eyes and just rest for a while.... Until, about four doors down to the right of your house, you hear screams and yells and scuffling. Your eyes shoot open, and you are greeted with the sight from under the car of people fighting one another. You lay on your chest now and impatiently lay underneath the car to watch whats going on. [[--Whats going on?--]]

You're face is the definition of pure confusion as you watch on. You recognise about three or four of your neighbours involved in the scuffle, but who are they fighting with? You are glued to the conflict, who are these people?? Thats when you see the flash of some electric baton be raised to the air and whips down to strike one of your neighbours who tried to push away one of these unidentifiable people, the man yells and falls in agony, the others in his family cry "DAD!" The family is shuffled away to a truck and the one who hit the father is standing above his prey. Now, you get the chance to see who these strangers are. It looked like a man in some type of uniform, what is he wearing??? He is covered head to toe in some type of armour? His helmet covers his entire head. You have never seen any uniform close to this. You make out the faint lights that line parts of the armour. <img src=https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/767501697845035088/781563203137044490/the_guy.PNG> They turn and you get to identify the badge/emblem on his shoulder a little. Its a simplistic, geometric design with unidentifiable words around it. <img src=https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/767501697845035088/781551194975764491/emblem.PNG> The other strange uniformed people call out to this one still condiscendingly watching the father writhe. But you cant make out a single word, its robotic and harsh sounding? They swoop down and grab onto the father and flings him across the ground towards a vehicle with that emblem on it, the other strangers are there already, loading your neighbours into the back. [[--Look on--]]

The eldest daughter of that family is on her knees, reaching to her father. She is hit with baton aswell and slumps forward, wincing. She turns her head and lightly opens her eyes, she sees you. She does not say a word, her face goes emotionless and she then stares at the dirt in front of her, her hands scratch the soil nervously. One of the strangers comes into view, he is close. He seems to be searching the area, on his way towards you, but has not seen you yet. you need to do someting. [[--Hide--]] [[--Distract him--]] (if: $playerhasknife is true)[ [[--Use your knife--]] ]

You have to hide somewhere good. (if: $playerhassled is true)[ [[--The tunnel--]] ][[--Get under the car--]]

You look around to see if theres something you can use to distract him from coming your way (if: $playerhassled is true)[ [[--Throw your sled--]] ][[--Throw some rubble--]]

You lunge over to some debris that has hit your dads car, you pick up a brick. You look back to see where the stranger is, he is about 10 feet from your front garden but is looking the other way. Now is yor chance. You throw the brick into the window of your own house, it crashes into the living room loudly. The stranger hears it all but doesnt know what happened exactly. He speeds over to the window to investigate. While he walks over, you rotate around the car to stay out of sight. He peers into the window and tries to work it out. Its not long before you hear the other strangers start to shout, the stranger by the window looks back and replies. Seems as though they want him to come back so they can leave. He jogs out of the garden and back to the others. [[--Watch them leave--]]

You choose to pick up your sled and use it to distract it. You turn and grab it, but the moment you touch it it makes noise, its a thin sheet of metal and the wobbling sound is so loud. You whisper aggressivley "shhhhiiiiit!" and try and get it to stop. You turn back to check where the stranger is. Your heart drops, he sees you. He has already made it up to the house. [[--Run--]] [[--call for help--]]

You choose to slide in under the car, in hopes that he wont see you. You watch his feet walk into your frontgarden. You hold your breath. He is right next to the car. He gets on one knee and peers under the car with a flashlight, he sees you straight away. [[--Run--]] [[--call for help--]]

You look around to find somewhere good to hide and you look back the tunnel. Its your only hope right now. You scurry over to the entrance and slowly crawl back in. You get in far enough that he wont see you. You look down the tunnel and see that the fire has gotten through fairly far, but hopefully its enough time for the stranger to go away. You peer through a gap to watch what he does. You see him scan past your house and does not notice you. Its not long before you hear the other strangers start to shout, the stranger looks back and replies with a short shout of his own. Seems as though they want him to come back so they can leave. He jogs back to the others. [[--Watch them leave--]]

You quickly get up and turn towards the fence that leads to your next door neighbours frontgarden, you plan to hop it and run away. Hes gaining on you. You run up to the fence and swing yourself over. But you baggy pajamas get caught on the top of the fence and you swing over the fence upside down, now snagged on the fence. The stranger is on the other side, now right on top of you. You scream in panic, he leans over calmly and lifts you up with ease and slings you over his shoulder. -You have been caught- Back to [[Menu]]

You stand up and call for help, this just alerts the other strangers that you're there. The stranger thuds on his way towards you. You run up to him and go to push him away, but he tacks no knockback and swiftly lifts you over his shoulder and walks back to the others. -You have been caught- Back to [[Menu]]

You(if: $playerhassled is true)[ crawl out of the tunnel and] look back at at the truck. You see the girl still there with her hands on the ground She is picked up and loaded in with the rest. You are numb all over watching all this unfold. Thats when the lights of the truck turn on, the blue faint lights go on too and line the truck in a similar way as the strangers armour. The points of the truck where...the wheels should be then beam with a cone of the light, the truck begins to lift off the ground and hovers in place, then slowly pulls off and goes down the road out of sight. You sit there, staring at where this all happened, paralized in horror and terror, after what seems and eternity you speak your thoughts. "WHAT THE FUCK????" [[--Collect yourself--]]

You take a moment to calm yourself and try to understand whats happening. "So, there are soldiers? police? pillagers? that are going around capturing people from their homes that have been destroyed. Did they do all this??" You take a step out and look all around at the burning houses. You then pause, eyes wide. "so maybe my family are alive... but have been captured". Its enough to keep you motivated. You slowly walk over to where the scuffle went down. "But who are these guys? they looked so strange and their gear looked like it was from space" you say jokingly...but, what if. You shake your head, no. You walk to where the girl had been kneeling and look at the soil. Theres alot of lines that shes made.....!!! ITS WRITING. You go numb as you read it. The comfort you feel from the word is melting. She has written the word "HOSPITAL". And you know damn well what she means. You recall how nearly every time you have gone to your local hospital before, you spot one of your neighbours. So this must mean that your family has evaded capivity by fleeing to the local hospital for safety. You look up in the direction of the hospital. You know exactly how to get there. [[--Your mission continues--]]

(if: $playerhasphoto is true)[You swing your bag around and get your photo out. You smile at the faces of those you will see again. You begin to cry, you know what to do now.](if: $playerhassled is true)[You walk back to your house to get your sled.] You are emotional at the thought that you can find your family now. But your are also nervous. These strangers seem to want to take over and you dont know how many more of them there are. You come to terms that you will probably run into more on your journey. This is going to be a treacherous journey, but one you must take. (if: $playerhasphoto is true)[You return your photo to the safety of your brothers messenger bag and look on to your next point of call. ]You take your first steps of determination in the diraction of the hospital, only getting closer to completing your mission. --This concludes Part 1-- Back to [[Menu]]

You have gathered enough information that the best option is to murder one of these strange things. You feel hollow at this decision, but you have to commit now. You're face goes numb and emotionless. You choose to wait out of sight till they are close enough so that you can assassinate them. You've never murdered something before... or someone. You sit there statically behind the car, at the back left wheel, clutching your knife. Your knuckles are going white due the tightness of your grip on the handle. You can't tell if your heart is racing at a million miles or has stopped. Your prey is coming close. [[--You wait--]]

You have to get out before it's too late. You try pull yourself through as fast as your tired self can. You feel small chips of wood hit your feet, it's collapsing faster than you can go. You feel bigger and heavier pieces of wood hit you. It's too much, you start to slow due to fatigue and the collapsing tunnel has caught up. It's too late. -You were killed by the tunnel collapsing before you could get out- Back to [[Menu]]

You hold still, the stranger has just walked into your front garden, and is coming up to the front right end of the car, you are out of sight still. A beam from his flashlight shines under the car, he is checking if there's anything to see, and since you've taken cover by the wheel, you're still out of sight. He stands up again and walks up past the back of the car to the front door of your house, seems to be looking in through the glass. You have never sneaked up behind something more quietly. You are right behind the stranger, and he is very tall. [[--slit his neck--]] [[--Pounce on him to the ground--]] [[--Just stab him--]]

You choose to slit their neck open. So you quickly and powerfully, lunge up at this tall things neck to go for the kill, but he is too tall, you can't reach to the front of his neck. Your knife swings only to bounce off the armour protecting his neck. Your knife bounces out of your grip. The stranger quickly turns to face you, now you know your heart has stopped. You have been caught. The stranger grabs you by your neck and squeezes. He then slowlyy raises you off the ground. You struggle you try pry his fingers loose, but you can't. You can't see through his helmet to see his eyes. It's just an emotionless piece of metal. You slowly start to pass out, struggling for air. He takes a step out away from the car to a clear section of the driveway. You are barely conscious. But with a swift move, he swings you up over his shoulder and straight back down to the ground. The impact killing you immediatly. -you were killed by getting caught by one of the strangers- Back to [[Menu]]

You choose to really take him by surprise and go to tackle him to the ground, after all he is too tall to go for the neck and his armour is probably gonna deflect any kind of body shot. So you take a step back for a run up, pause, and sprint for this tackle. You lunge high and crash agaisnt him. You hold onto him as he hits against the frame of the window and falls sideways to the floor. You get up on his back mash the side of his head into the ground. Thats when you see that up by his temple, theres single, large, circular light thats a slightly dimmer brightness than all his other lights. Youve got to act quick. [[--Slit his neck now that you can reach--]] [[--Stab the light--]]

You are so numbed with adreniline that you just want to get this done. So you take a swift swing of your knife at his side. But your knife swings only to bounce off his armour covering him head to toe. Your knife bounces out of your grip. The stranger quickly turns to face you, now you know your heart has stopped. You have been caught. The stranger grabs you by your neck and squeezes. He then slowlyy raises you off the ground. You struggle you try pry his fingers loose, but you can't. You can't see through his helmet to see his eyes. It's just an emotionless piece of metal. You slowly start to pass out, struggling for air. He takes a step out away from the car to a clear section of the driveway. You are barely conscious. But with a swift move, he swings you up over his shoulder and straight back down to the ground. The impact killing you immediatly. -you were killed by getting caught by one of the strangers- Back to [[Menu]]

You can't risk it, so you go to slit his neck. You quickly and powerfully swipe the front of his throat. Your knife swipes only to be deflected by the armour protecting his neck. Your knife slips out of your grip. Thats when you feel his elbow meet your cheek. You fall off his back onto the ground, heavily dazed. The stranger quickly gets to his feet again, now you know your heart has stopped. You have been caught. The stranger bends down and grabs you by your neck and squeezes. He then slowly raises you off the ground. You struggle you try pry his fingers loose, but you can't. You can't see through his helmet to see his eyes. It's just an emotionless piece of metal. You slowly start to pass out, struggling for air. He takes a step out away from the car to a clear section of the driveway. You are barely conscious. But with a swift move, he swings you up over his shoulder and straight back down to the ground. The impact killing you immediatly. -you were killed by getting caught by one of the strangers- Back to [[Menu]]

You choose to go for the light, hoping this works. You bring your knife high over your head and with all your strength, send the knife diving straight down to the light. You close your eyes, you pray that this works. The knife makes contact with the light, and the light shatters. Your knife proceeds through the light, into is helmet and glides into his head, killing him immediatly. You open your eyes and see that your knife has gone in through the light all the way down to the hilt. [[--Remove the knife--]]

You stare, gawk eyed at this now limp body. Your head full, with a billion confusions and yet still unable to think of anything. What have you done? This stranger is now dead. What does that even mean? Your mind finds it hard to process it all. You come to the conclusion that you should at least take the knife back out. It 'shings' as you yank it and you sit up slowly. You hold the knife in your hand, still with white knuckles and you can't look away from the whole in the strangers head. The glass from the light has shattered everywhere, most of it is now in the gash of the strangers temple. But the gash itself is even more puzzling. You don't see blood, you just see a liquid form of the lights on the armour spill out. But wait, those lights aren't on anymore. The fact that the stranger is now dead starts to connect with you. You look at your knife. It's covered in a thick, luminescent liquid. You come to realise that that IS his blood. The lights were powered by the stranger himself. So now that they're dead, the lights have no power source. [[--You need to collect yourself--]]

You finally find the nerves to move away from the body. Your eyes are still glued to it though. You seek refuge and kneel behind the safety of the car again to allow yourself to break line of sight from your kill. Now you can think clearly, a little. Your next clear thought since knocking that guys lights out is, "the others are going to notice". You peer back over the car to see the other strangers still managing your neighbours into their truck. You have not been caught. Not yet. That's when one of the strangers turns around to look over at your house, and checks to see where the one you killed has gone, but he has no idea where he is. He starts walking over, he wants to know what happened. You need to do something. [[--Hide under the car--]]

The sled idea would've been dumb. Your hands and knees are more reliable anyway. [[--You get on your hands and knees--]]

You notice that the tunnel is becoming less and less dense with material, looks like the end is close. You've lost count of how many times you've crawled over debris and shrapnel that was a bit too sharp for your liking, the pain of this crawling could drive you insane but you are almost out. Just a little farther. [[--You see the exit--]]

Sure enough you were right, you go around a bend and are blessed with the sight of the night sky. You make out the end of the tunnel and stand up. It felt like it went on for ages, but your just glad to be up off the ground again. The cool breeze feels great. You take a moment to relax. You are in your front garden, next to your dads car. It looks like its been hit with shrapnel from the house. [[--Look down the street at your neighbours houses--]]

You choose to slide in under the car, in hopes that he will be too distracted by the body to look for you. You watch his feet walk into your frontgarden. You hold your breath. He stops for a second, you guess he sees the body. His feet pivot around as though he is looking around for either help or the cause of the death. He walks over to the body and kneels. You can't see his head but you guess he is examining the wound. You hear a second set of feet enter the garden, another stranger. The first one must've waved him over while he looked around. They both pause for a second. Are they going to look around for why he is dead? Are they going to check under the car for you?? Your heart is pounding, you freeze in your petrified state and just watch. You see the one that is kneeling, reach around to a small capsule shaped container attached on his lower back. Takes it off, opens it and takes out a role of bandages. Why? its not like you can save him now. They know he's dead. But they proceed to wrap his head and cover over the open wound. The other retrieves and empty container from his person and... starts to collect the blood. You look on in confusion as this stranger gathers this glowing liquid. Sure enough, they get it all, literally not a drop left. They set their equipment away and pick up the body and bring back to the others. They didn't give it a second thought, they didn't seem to care at all that he's gone. They just took the body, and collected the blood. Why would they bring his blood with them? [[--Look back at the truck--]]

You look back at at the truck. You see the girl still there with her hands on the ground. She is picked up and loaded in with the rest. You see the stranger that has the blood. You watch him walk up to the side of the truck, open a circular flap, and start to pour the blood into the truck. The others don't question him. It looks like he was supposed to do that with the blood. You manage to be even more confused. [[--Watch them go--]]

All the strangers climb on into their truck, thats when the lights of the truck turn on, the blue faint lights go on too and line the truck in a similar way as the strangers armour. The points of the truck where...the wheels should be then beam with a cone of the light, the truck begins to lift off the ground and hovers in place, then slowly pulls off and goes down the road out of sight. You sit there, staring at where this all happened, paralized in horror and terror, after what seems and eternity you speak your thoughts. "WHAT THE FUCK????" [[--Analyze what has happened--]]

You take a moment to calm yourself and try to understand whats happening. "So, there are soldiers? police? pillagers? that use their own blood as fuel for their armour and vehicles and are going around capturing people from their homes that have been destroyed. Did they do all this??" You take a step out and look all around at the burning houses. You then pause, eyes wide. "so maybe my family are alive... but have been captured". Its enough to keep you motivated. You slowly walk over to where the scuffle went down. "But who are these guys? they looked so strange and their gear looked like it was from space" you say jokingly...but, what if. You shake your head, no. You walk to where the girl had been kneeling and look at the soil. Theres alot of lines that shes made.....!!! ITS WRITING. You get light headed as you read it. The comfort you feel from the word is melting. She has written the word "HOSPITAL". And you know damn well what she means. You recall how nearly every time you have gone to your local hospital before, you spot one of your neighbours. So this must mean that your family has evaded capivity by fleeing to the local hospital for safety. You look up in the direction of the hospital. You know exactly how to get there. [[--Your mission continues--]]