Shaken from your encounter with Woods, you somehow manage to recollect your thoughts. What happened? Where did everybody go? Jones is still alive somewhere, and Patrick could be as well. You realize that the only way to figure out what's going on, is to find Jones. From your last communication with him, you know he's "in" somewhere. Most likely one of the houses. No way he would have strayed further than the check-in point.
You take a few breaths, and run your route through your head a couple times. You know you want to start at the furthermost eastern house. From there, you will move west and check every room of each house until Jones is safe. You observe the houses and take one final breath of preparation. Time to move.
You slowly make your way to the house on the left. There are three stories to this house. Three stories of "who knows what?" and endless possibility for horrific surprise. You inspect the outer area of the house, and notice wooden doors leading to the cellar. An old rusty padlock holds them shut. This would most likely be the best point of entry. You can start at the bottom and work your way to the top.
Keeping quiet, you move to the doors. You listen through the old wooden doors, and hear nothing coming from beyond them. You pull your picks out once again and remove the old lock, granting access into the dark cellar of the house. Slowly, you open the doors and gently lay them down to avoid making too much noise. You draw out your sidearm and a flashlight. Weapon ready, you shine the light down the stairs. Nothing appears to be moving inside, so you begin your descent into the lower level of the house.
Inside, the smell of mold and spoiled food takes over. Every breath you take nauseates you. Pressing on, you glance around the basement. No real danger seems to be present down here, but you should probably still be extremely careful. You find the source of the smell, a full size freezer. With the power turned off for a few weeks, all the meat inside has long since become expired. Now only the flies can stand being near it. You close the freezer, and continue scanning the area. Another freezer sits a few feet away, there's really no point in opening it to see what horrid smell it contains. There are a few work benches set up complete with all of the tools neccessary to complete any task needed. In the corner are a washing machine and a dryer, complete with a folding table and a laundry chute that drops a few feet in front of the washer. Finally, you find the stairs.
You slowly, and quietly move up the stairs into the kitchen. Old boxes of food are scattered around, chewed through by the local wildlife. Walking through the dining area to the living room, you still see no real signs of life. Everything is covered in dust and cobwebs. The smell of death increases as you make your way to the stairwell leading to the next floor. Taking a deep breath and releasing it with a sigh, you begin to climb the stairs. You take one step at a time, listening to the sounds of your breathing and the still air around you.
On the second floor, the smell becomes very strong. At the top of the stairs is the bathroom. Blood stains the floor and trails from the tub, leading out and across the hall. The flies stay gathered near the toilet, and you decide it isn't worth it to inspect any further. You instead follow the blood trail into a bedroom.
The bloody trail ends at the window. Whoever was bleeding, decided the best way to escape was the long drop to the ground outside. Moving on, you check two more bedrooms on the second floor to no avail. You come to another staircase, leading to the third and final floor of the home. Walking up the steps, the stench of the house grows stronger. You make it to the top of the stairs, and the third floor is just one big open room. You can start making your way to the other side, looking behind any piece of furniture you can. You make it to the other end, and see an old wardrobe. The smell appears to be coming from inside. You reach out to grab the handle and open it.
Just as your hand touches the knob on the old wooden door, you hear crashing on the first floor. It sounds like the windows are being smashed in. The shattering glass is closely followed by loud thudding sounds, and heavy footsteps. The steps are quickly moving through the house. You listen as they run throughout the first floor and make their way to the second. It's just a matter of time until they start heading up to the third floor...
What Now?
No comments:
Post a Comment