You take the crowbar and return to the bed.
You take the book and the screwdriver and ascend the ladder back to your room. It appears just as you left it, though the air feels thick and musty. The silence is broken by the sound of splintering wood nearby, followed by an inhuman growl.
You awake in a dimly lit room, lying upon a bare mattress on an old iron bedframe. The only source of light is the lone window on the wall opposite the bed. Outside the sky is a dark gray as rain pours down onto an empty countryside. Though the sky is dark, there is just enough light to see the room around you. There is an old television set on the floorboards next to the window. The antennae are bent wildly out of shape and the knobs look as if they've been gnawed on by rodents. On the wall just above the TV hang some empty shelves. To your right stands a solid wooden door. It is unlocked...
The sound seems to have come from your room. You open the door to find the iron bedframe pushed across the floor leaving deep scrape marks in the wood. Where the bed once was is now a gaping hole in the floorboards. There is no sign of anyone else in the house who could have done this.
Looking into the hole, you find it rather shallow. At the bottom is an old crowbar.
You kneel down and turn on the TV. For a moment, nothing happens. Then the screen slowly fades into a blizzard of static. Adjusting the knobs has no effect. One of the antennae breaks off in your hand when you try to adjust it. You turn off the TV.
You gaze out the window at the empty countryside. There's not a single tree as far as the eye can see, just flat, even land stretching off out of sight. You try to open the window, but it seems jammed. The lock is closed and has rusted over. You might be able to break it with the right tool. You return to the bed.
Using the crowbar, you manage to break the rusted lock off the window. Outside, the rain has stopped. Looking around, you notice a ladder leading down from the window into a small fenced-in area.
Climbing down the ladder, you realize the fence is much taller than you expected. In the corner of the area is a patch of freshly turned dirt with a shovel sticking out of it.
Using the shovel, you uncover a metal lockbox. Inside is an old black leatherbound book. Strange symbols in gold leaf adorn the cover. Flipping through the yellowed onionskin pages reveals more symbols. Also in the box is a screwdriver. It looks like it could be the right size to unscrew the dining room chairs from the floor.
The sound seems to have come from the room next to yours. The door has been broken open. As you move to examine it, a shadowy humanoid figure lurches through the doorway towards you. It raises one ethereal hand, seeming to point at you. A hiss escapes its mouth. "The book..." A chill runs down your spine as you feel an icy hand closing around your throat. If you stay here, you are fairly certain that this entity will not hesitate to kill you in order to obtain the book. You may have your means of escape, but you must ensure that the creature will not pursue you. It is clear that it wants the mysterious book. Maybe this can be used to your advantage. You will need to find some way to trap the creature to allow for your escape, as well as a way to kill it. Maybe you can do both at once?
You decide to fight. You draw the large kitchen knife, pointing it at the entity. It lunges towards you, and you thrust the blade into its torso. Stabbed, it stumbles back a step, glancing down at the knife handle protruding from its chest. The knife slowly melts out of existence, and the creature growls. Once more you feel an icy hand closing around your throat. Your ears fill first with the sound of your own blood pumping, then with a screeching hiss of white noise. Your vision fades to black. All that is left is the noise, now inside your head. Suddenly you hear a sickeningly spongy crunch, and your mind ceases.
As you open the door, you realize you have no memory of how you got here. This place is unfamiliar, and you remember nothing of the previous few days. You look around, attempting to analyze your surroundings. You are in a hallway. To the right, another lone window allows a small amount of natural light to land on an end table. To the left, a staircase descends around a corner. A window above the stairs gives a view of a small fenced-in area. There are four doors in the hallway. The first door leads back to your room. The second is on the same wall as your door, to the right. The third is on the opposite wall, to the right. The fourth is on the opposite wall, to the left.
You are in the nearby bedroom. The creature is approaching quickly. There doesn't seem to be anything to use here.
This room looks nearly identical to your own. There is a bare mattress on an old iron bedframe facing a lone window on the opposite wall. The window looks out onto the front yard of the house, a rather small patch of brown grass between the house and the road. The empty road stretches on out of sight in both directions. Past the road, the empty countryside stretches on indefinitely, soaked by the constant rain. Return to the hallway
You are in the master bedroom. The creature is approaching quickly. There doesn't seem to be anything to use here.
This room seems to be the master bedroom. The walls are lighter in color than the other rooms, and there is carpeting instead of bare floorboards. There is one long window in the far wall, revealing a similar empty view to the others. Looking down at a sharp angle, there is a rooftop with a trapdoor. Looking back at the room, there is a large bed in the center. Opposite the bed is a bureau with a large mirror. Near the door to the hallway is a closet. A strange smell emanates from inside.
Upon opening the closet door, the smell grows stronger. Inside, several jackets rest on hangers. Above them is a box on a shelf. This seems to be the source of the odor.
Carefully taking the box down from the shelf, you become certain that this is indeed the source of the stench. Inside the box is an item wrapped in stained brown butcher paper. Unwrapping it, you discover it is a severed hand. The hand seems fresh, only beginning to rot at the wrist. Put it back and close the closet
You are in a bathroom. The creature is approaching quickly. There doesn't seem to be anything to use here.
This room is completely dark, save for what little light spills through from the hallway behind you. You are barely able to make out an ancient claw-footed bathtub opposite the door. An old shower curtain is drawn across it. There is a sink with a mirror on the wall. Rather then seeing your face in the mirror, you can only see your silhouette in the darkness.
You pull aside the shower curtain. The tub itself is empty, but the bottom is caked with a dark, dried substance. A quick sniff reveals that this is blood.
You come to your senses, finding yourself on the first floor. You had lost consciousness for a moment but are still alive. You feel a faint trickle of blood from your nose, remembering a strange half-dream of your existence being brought to an abrupt halt... The creature is still following you, quickly descending the stairs. You need to capture it if you want to escape alive. It wants the book for some reason. Maybe it can be used as bait.
The stairs creak softly as you descend. You find yourself on the first floor. To your left is a rather cramped-looking kitchen. Directly in front of you, the large front room is divided into a living room and dining room with the front door situated between them. To your right are the stairs back to the second floor.
You are in the kitchen. The creature looms in the doorway, blocking any escape. You must act now or die. The faint smell of gas tickles your nose as the pilot light flickers on the stove. There is an exposed gas line running across the wall at the back end of the kitchen. A quick glance suggests it leads to the oven. The creature takes a step forward, reaching towards you. You feel an icy hand beginning to wrap around your throat as it growls at you. "THE BOOK."
The kitchen is somewhat of a claustrophobic space, able to occupy two to three people at the most. There is a window above the sink that looks out the back of the house to the emptiness beyond. The rain seems to have let up somewhat. There is an old refrigerator, a dirty microwave, a rusty oven, and atop it a gas stove. The pilot lights of both have gone out. There are also several cupboards. On the counter near the sink is a wooden cutting board with a large kitchen knife across it. Return to the stairs
Most of the cupboards are empty. In the far back corner of the last one you find a box of matches.
You pick up the knife. You note that the cutting board has several deep gouges in its surface, too deep for this knife.
Using the matches, you manage to relight the pilot lights in the oven and on the stove.
Smelling the gas, you know what you must do. You pull open the oven door and hold the book aloft. The creature lets loose an inhuman roar and lunges towards it. You throw the book into the oven, and the creature's form flows like smoke in after it. You slam the oven door, turning the heat up as high as the knob will go. The oven shakes violently as the entity writhes inside, shrieking in pained fury. It will find a way out soon. Now is your chance to make an escape. You feel that the windows are the answer, you just need the means to tear one loose from its frame. Move to the living room, or the dining room.
You are in the living room. The creature is approaching quickly. There doesn't seem to be anything to use here.
You run to the living room. There is little here that could be used to break the window. The comfortable chairs seem attached to the floor in the same manner as those in the dining room, yet are positioned so close to the floor that you can't see exactly how to remove them.
You are running out of time.
The living room is one half of the larger front room, divided by the front door between the halves. There is a fireplace here. It looks like there hasn't been a fire in it for a long time. A few bookshelves line the walls next to it. A quick glance reveals rather boring subjects; history, geography, philosophy. A few comfortable chairs are circled around the fireplace. In the front wall is a large bay window with a padded bench. Looking outside gives yet another view of the unbroken emptiness beyond. The rain seems to have slowed. Opposite the window and below the staircase to the second floor is a door. Opening it reveals a dark staircase down into the basement.
You try to open the front door, but it seems locked from the other side. There is no way to break the lock, even with tools. You'll have to find another means of escape.
You are in the dining room. The creature is approaching quickly. There doesn't seem to be anything to use here.
You run to the dining room. You nearly trip over one of the chairs in your haste, and the screwdriver falls out of your pocket. It rolls on the floor and comes to a stop against one of the chair legs. The head of the screwdriver matches the heads of the screws. Frantically, you begin unscrewing one of the chairs. A few of the screws are rusted over and simply break when enough force is applied. The chair comes free at last. It is still surprisingly heavy, but with a great heave you hurl it at the window. The glazed glass crackles into a spiderweb at the initial impact as the sheer weight of the chair tears the sheet from its moorings. Looking out the window you can see a garage at the side of the house. Before you can move to examine it, the entity lets loose a demonic bellow. It is about to break free. You must destroy it completely in order to survive. The gas line on the kitchen wall flashes through your mind. You'll only have a few minutes...
There is only one way to truly rid yourself of this fiend. You must level this house with it trapped inside. You strike the gas line with the crowbar, cracking it just enough. You have minutes at the most. Thinking quickly, you lodge the knife against the handle of the oven door, trapping the monster inside. With time slipping away quickly, you leap out the front window. You need to get as far away from the house as quickly as possible. Simply running might take you far enough, but there may be another solution.
You cross your fingers, hoping for a vehicle and attempt to lift the garage door. It moves slightly, but something is holding it shut from the inside. You remember the trapdoor you saw from the master bedroom and look for a way onto the roof. There is a ladder leaned against the side of the garage. Clambering up it, you find the trapdoor locked. Using your only tool available, you manage to break the lock with the crowbar. The inside of the garage is dark, but the light from the trapdoor reflecs on a familiar metal surface just below you. Jumping down, you land on the roof of a car. The doors are locked, but the crowbar sails through one of the windows with ease. You find a spare set of keys in the visor, jamming them into the ignition. As the car sputters to life, the headlights reveal that the door is meticulously weighed down with stacks of cinder blocks on either side. With no time to spare, you floor the gas pedal and the car leaps through the door, out onto the road. You peel away into the emptiness, looking back only once as the shockwave from the blast vibrates the car's windows. Where once a dark house stood, now only a pillar of fire burns over a crater of ash. You know nothing about how you arrived in this nightmare or what lies ahead. But you are alive.
The End...
...of the beginning.
The dining room is one half of the larger front room, divided by the front door between the halves. There is a heavy wooden table and chairs here. There is a small closet in the wall nearest the kitchen, containing plates, cups and silverware. In the front wall is a large bay window with a padded bench.
You think you can make a break for it by smashing the window with the crowbar. You swing at the glass, only to lightly crack it. The windows are made of a thickly glazed glass that holds together under such a small impact. You would need something much heavier and larger to properly tear the pane from its frame. Meanwhile, the creature is none too happy, approaching quickly. You need to, at the very least, incapacitate it. There has to be somewhere you could trap it by using the book as bait, at the same time inflicting some sort of harm to it.
You try to move one of the chairs, but it doesn't budge. Closer inspection reveals that the chairs are fastened to the floor. The metal plates holding them in place could be removed with a screwdriver.
You are in the basement. The creature is approaching quickly. There doesn't seem to be anything to use here.
You carefully descend the basement stairs. The only light comes from the door behind you. You notice its reflection on several glass jars on shelves along the walls. The basement is a rather small space. In the far corner sits a giant generator. A power switch on the front is in the "off" position. Under the basement stairs are a stack of old cardboard boxes. Rifling through them you find old clothes and more books like those found on the shelves upstairs.
You flip the switch to the "on" position. For a moment, nothing happens. Suddenly a loud scraping noise followed by a crash is heard somewhere upstairs.