Sugarcane

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numLighter gte 1>> Remaining lighter uses: <<$numLighter>> <<endif>>\n\n"Holy hell, I think I know why he's been following me," you announce. Your hallmates and Dr. Flynn stare at you. Even Kayla is speechless. \n\n<<if visited ("put it together")>>"He - Brian Carroll - was trying to fuck with the investigation. He was trying to make it look like someone just kind of wandered on campus and killed people who happened to have their doors unlocked. Then he left their windows open to screw with the time of death or physical evidence or something. But I tried Vicky's and Natalie's door and it was locked. I bet- holy shit- I bet he was hiding out in there. Like, he killed them first, scoped out Nikki's room, and went back in to regroup or something. He saw my face through the fucking peephole. He knew I could narrow down the suspect list to people with keys to dorm rooms. Basically to Public Safety. Then obviously his name would come up, because he's a known creep."\n\nYou start to blush a little, and you're particularly conscious of Dr. Flynn's gaze. \n\n"Actually...that's not a bad theory," Marisa says. She seems to set the tone for the rest of the group, because everyone starts nodding. \n\n"Why though?" Dr. Flynn asks. You guess that, as a professor, he's contractually obligated to play the devil's advocate. You've got a guess, though.\n\n"I think he was just trying to fuck over the school," you say, glancing toward Nikki's door. "Just make everyone pay, you know?"\n\n"What an jerk," Kayla whispers, and you're inclined to agree.\n\n<<else>>\n"Whoever this bastard is, I think he's trying to fuck with the investigation. I mean, he left the windows open so the crime scenes would get messed up, I'm pretty sure. And I think leaving the doors open was part of it to, so it would look like Nikki, Natalie and Vicky were just picked at random because their doors were unlocked. But I tried Vicky and Natalie's door. I knew it was locked. I bet- holy shit- I bet he was hiding out in there. Like, he killed them first, scoped out Nikki's room, and went back in to regroup or something. He saw my face through the fucking peephole. And now I'm a loose end. Or some shit like that."\n\n"So who did it?" Kayla asks excitedly.\n\n"I don't know! It's not really my job to know something like that, right?" you say, annoyed that your flaking friend couldn't focus on your accomplishment for just one second. \n\n"The police'll figure it out," Dr. Flynn says. You believe him instantly.<<endif>>\n\n"Okay, let's...let's just wait here until the morning," Dr. Flynn says. He seems kind of out of place and uncomfortable, which is good you guess, considering he's in an undergraduate dorm, "That way, I'll be able to keep tabs on everyone." A few people kind of mumble in agreement, but most people consent by sitting down at the far end of the hallway, condensing into little nervous groups. You, Marisa and Kayla pick a corner and hunker down, watching the other end of the hall for any signs of intrusion. \n\n"Everything is going to be okay," Dr. Flynn says, he tries to smile, but you're slow to smile back.\n\n[[snowmelt|snowmelt whatever]]\n

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n\nYou walk to the end of the hallway and pound on the door to room 120.\n\n<<if visited ("Visit Marisa in room 120")>>"Yeah?" Marisa says automatically, still riding a train of thought from her essay, but you watch her expression slide toward concern as she really looks at you. "What's going on?"<<else>>\n"Yeah?" Marisa says automatically, distracted, "What's going on?"<<endif>>\n\n"Nikki's dead. I'm pretty sure someone murdered her," you say. \n\n"What!?" Marisa takes a step out the door, and you continue, spewing information because that seems like the right thing to do. "Her throat’s cut, I’m pretty sure. I locked the door to secure the crime scene," you feel like shitty extra on Law and Order for saying that. \n\n"That's probably a good idea," Marisa shakes her head, her black curls whisking her shoulders, "Did you tell everyone?" \n\n"In the hall? You think we should?" you say.\n\nMarisa stares at you, "For sure. They'll probably freak out, but at least they'll be extra careful in case..." \n\nYou think that, 'in case the murderer wants to kill them, too,' is what Marisa leaves unsaid. \n\n"Yeah..." you agree.\n\n"Start with Kayla?" she suggests. \n\n<<if visited ("Tell Kayla")>> "She already knows," you say. Marisa looks a little offended that you told Kayla first, of all people. \n<<else>>\nMarisa nods, "You take the left, I'll take the right?" she asks, gesturing down the dark hallway.\n\n"Sure," you say. Predictably, Kayla practically loses her shit when you tell her about Nikki, whimpering theatrically before closing and locking her door.\n\n"She's not going to be any help I guess," you say. Marisa doesn't respond directly, but her face is too tight with worry for you to tell if it was a mistake to speak your mind.\n<<endif>>\n"Let's get going then," Marisa says, knocking on the door to room 121. Some girls don't answer, like the drunks across from Nikki- but those who do run through a predictable emotional course: disbelief, sometimes a short detour to grief, then mortal terror. You deliver the bad news again and again. Down the hall, you hear Marisa try to reason with a pair of girls who want to hike into town.\n\n"We're like, 6 miles from anything. It's too dangerous," your friend says dismissively.\n\n"Well fuck, like it isn't dangerous here?!?" one of them practically screams, hysterical and to you, the whole exchange sounds familiar, like an amalgamation of conversations from cop shows and horror movies. Eventually, you and Marisa manage to inform most of your hallmates. \n\n"Wanna keep going?" you ask, tilting your head toward the junction between your hall and the rest of the building. \n\nMarisa looks away, "Well..." she says, "We actually took a pretty big risk being out here as long as we were. I mean, theoretically, the murder's still out there, right? We should probably just hunker down and wait for the cops."\n\n"Yeah..." you say, not entirely sure. "I probably will too, in a sec," is what you tell Marisa as she heads back into her room, but you aren't actually convinced that's the best thing to do. You think you should at least consider your other options.\n\n[[Wait this out in your room]]\n[[Leave the dorm to tell Public Safety|Walk to public safety]]\n[[Try to hike into town]]\n<<if $numPass is 1>>[[Go to the science building]]<<endif>>

Considering the circumstances, you couldn't care less about getting a computer for Marisa. <<if visited ("Marisa2">> Actually, given the circumstances, she probably couldn't care less, either.<<endif>> But, there is a small chance that there may be someone helpful there<<if visited ("Leave the PS building")>> especially since PS is way, way out of the picture<<endif>> .\n\nYou set off through a cold which seems beyond rationality. At a distance, the building seems like an unhelpful slab in the dark. Honestly, the only thing going for the building is that it requires a pass to enter after hours, so theoretically, unless the murderer is a STEM major or killed someone who was, you'll be safe there. Maybe. Safer and more comfortable than you are now, at least.\n\nYou clumsily swipe Marisa's card at the back door and wedge yourself into the building. The wind helpfully slams the door behind you, and an echoing slam reverberates through the dark building. \n\n[[See who's in|see who's in 2]]

<<if visited ("Go to the Public Safety Building" or "try to run and hide")>>\nYou are not staying on a campus filled with murder and empty of help. You are leaving this Godforsaken school and heading into town ASAP.<<else>>\n\n<<else>>\nYou will not let this fucking weather beat you down. You are better than this. You are not going to die in some shitty dorm room while thinking sad thoughts about how lonely you are. That's stupid. You are getting off this campus. <<endif>>\n\nIt's damn slow, damn dark, going. \n\nYou're almost to the road which will take you into town when you think you hear someone else crunching through the snow drifts. The wind obfuscates sound, scrambling it or drowning it out entirely. You pause. Maybe nothing. Maybe something. You can't know for sure.\n\n<<set $killer2 to either(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)>>\n\n\n[[Do nothing, because it's probably nothing|nothing1]]<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>\n[[Use your phone as a flashlight|flashlight1]]<<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>>[[Use a glowstick|use glowstick 1]]<<endif>>\n<<if $numLighter gte 1>>[[Use lighter|lighter 1]]<<endif>>\n

<<set $numPhoneCharge = $numPhoneCharge - 1>>\n<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n\nYou flick your phone on, and yep, the public safety officer is definitely dead. There's blood down his front, blood on the floor, blood on the comm console. You briefly wonder how many dollars of therapy this will cost your parents. Despite your disgust, you do notice something different about this body- it seems like the murderer moved him a little to get at the console. You can even see how the blood on the buttons was smeared. Did the killer have a burning desire to listen in on Public Safety's radio chatter? Wait, not just listen- the blood on the call button is streaked, too. So, either the killer was chatting it up with PS, or one of the officers found his dead buddy and put out a general call. You remember when this whole stupid fucking event started, when you called Public Safety and nobody answered, and can imagine the phone in this office ringing and ringing while this man bled out all over the electronics and you feel cold again. You don't want to be in here any longer.\n\n[[Check the front desk]]\n[[Go back to Dr. Flynn. You're done with this night.|Go back to Dr. Flynn]]

<<set $numPhoneCharge = $numPhoneCharge - 1>>\n<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n\nYou tap your iPhone's screen and begin swinging it around frantically, trying to take in as much as possible without wearing it down too much. \n\nThere's no blood on the desk, contrary to this night's grue norm. In lieu of the powerless computer, it looks like one of the officers started keeping a handwritten ledger of some kind on a sheet of notebook paper. You grab it to examine later. On one wall, you see six hooks. Five have nametags above them, which you don't take the time to read. Looking under the desk, you see some paperclips and crumbs, but no melted snow. Basically, everything looks in order, more or less. What a waste of time. \n\n[[see what the paper says]]

<<set $numPhoneCharge = $numPhoneCharge - 1>>\n<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n<<if $killer3 lte 7>>\n\nYou reach into your pocket, dredge up your phone, and tap it, surrounding yourself with the cool glow of Steve Jobs' famous progeny. Turns out you were suspicious of a little bendy tree whipped around by the wind.\n\nOh.\n\n'Fuck you' you say. The tree doesn't seem to care.\n\n[[enter the chapel bathroom]]\n\n<<else>>\n<<set $numKillerEncounters = $numKillerEncounters + 1>>\n<<if $numKillerEncounters is 2>>You feel queasy- some instinctual awareness that the person coming toward you is bad, bad, bad. A potent conclusion, utterly unreasoned, sends adrenaline sluicing through your system: this must be the murderer. They must be following you.<<endif>>\n\nYou reach into your pocket, dredge up your phone, and tap it, surrounding yourself with the cool glow of Steve Jobs' famous progeny. The figure-which you guess you didn't imagine-disappears into the dark. Or maybe it was always just a fleck of shadow on the edge of a deeper darkness. \n\n[[enter the chapel bathroom]]\n\n\n<<endif>>

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n\n<<if $killer10 lte 7>>\n\nYou're pretty sure it's nothing to be worried about, and as it turns out, you're right. A few minutes later, you hear the disjointed laughter of a drunk meeting another drunk in the snow. Idiots. If you had to take bets on the next fatalities, it would definitely be those guys. Who wanders around in a fucking snow storm anyway? Then you realize that's exactly what you're doing and that quiets down your inner monologue. \n\nAfter passing the drunks, you manage to reach the Public Safety building.\n\n\n[[Go to the Public Safety Building]]\n\n<<else>>\n<<set $numKillerEncounters = $numKillerEncounters + 1>>\nWhoever it is seems to follow you, shadowing your movements. It makes you pretty uncomfortable, to be honest. \n\n"Hey! What's going on!" you yell in their general direction. Whoever it is out there doesn't say anything back, but considering how loud the wind is, it's entirely possible they just didn't hear you. Hell, maybe they're yelling back, and you can't hear them.\n\n"You're gonna get hella frostbite if you stay out here!" you yell, and keep trekking toward Public Safety. \n\nThe PS building is a white farmhouse, quaint in comparison to the utilitarian architecture of the rest of your campus. You've always assumed that the college just acquired it as it expanded, and just repurposed it rather than ripping it down. Cheap bastards. \n\nYou walk up to the building's front door and try to yank it open, but unusually, it's locked. \n\n"Oh, what the fuck!" you grumble, pulling harder. You're about to start knocking aggressively when someone comes up behind you, tilts your chin back with one hand and slices you neck open with the knife the held in the other.\n\n\n[[credits]]\n\nYou encountered the murderer <<$numKillerEncounters>> <<if $numKillerEncounters is 1>>time<<else>>times<<endif>> during this playthrough.\n<<if visited ("put it together 3" or "put it together 2")>>You discovered that the killer's identity was former Public Safety officer Brian Carroll<<else>>You did not uncover the murderer's identity.<<endif>>\n<<if visited ("put it together 4" or "put it together")>>You realized that the murderer was trying to kill you because you knew he was tampering with the crime scenes to make them appear more like random acts of violence.<<else>>You did not find out why the murderer was tracking you.<<endif>>\n<<endif>>

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numLighter gte 1>> Remaining lighter uses: <<$numLighter>> <<endif>>\n<<set $numKillerEncounters = $numKillerEncounters + 1>>\nMan, fuck this. This is the opposite of what you should be doing anyway. This is worth negative amounts of your time.\n\nAs you leave the room, you glance down the hallway and notice someone standing on the far end. \n\n"Uh...hello?" you say, thinking it might be Dr. Flynn wandering around for some reason.\n\nThe person doesn't respond. You've had goosebumps since leaving your room, but you really feel them prickle now.\n\n"I need you to say something, or I'm getting out of here," you say, trying not to sound as scared as you are.\n\nThe person at the end of the hallway says nothing, but they start walking toward you.\n\n<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>\n[[Use your phone as a flashlight|flashlight 7]]\n<<endif>>\n\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>>\n[[Use a glowstick|glowstick 7]]\n<<endif>>\n\n<<if $numLighter gte 1>>\n[[Use the lighter|lighter 7]]\n<<endif>>\n\n[[try to run and hide]]

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numLighter gte 1>> Remaining lighter uses: <<$numLighter>> <<endif>>\n\n<<if $killer17 lte 7>>\nThe person was following because it's someone you know: Derick from Western Civ. He's so bundled up that you wouldn't recognize him, except that he's wearing his signature wolf-head had. You're impressed that its functions extend beyond 'looking stupid'. \n\n"Carly!" he says, "Hey Carly! Is that you!"\n\nNormally you'd enjoy a good flirt with him, but you're on a mission right now.\n\n<<if visited ("put it together 3")>>"Derick, listen- you should probably not be out right now. One of the Public Safety officers flipped out and he's killing people."<<endif>>\n<<if visited ("put it together 4")>>"Derick, listen- you should probably not be out right now. Someone with campus room keys is killing people, and I think he's following me."<<endif>>\nHe doesn't say anything for a few seconds, so you assume he's taking you seriously. \n\n"You aren't messing with me?" he asks in a last-ditch attempt to salvage the night. \n\n"Nope," you say.\n\n"Oh shit. Oh shit. Man, I'm going back to my dorm right now...thanks for warning me. Shit," he quickly disappears back into the darkness. You're a little offended that he doesn't man up and ask to escort you, but whatever. You're almost to the science building anyway. \n\n[[Check on Dr. Flynn|Check on Dr. Flynn 2]]\n<<else>>\n<<set $numKillerEncounters = $numKillerEncounters + 1>>\n<<if visited ("put it together 3")>>Brian Carroll, former Public Safety officer, jilted lover and now spree killer swings around behind you, grabs your chin, and slits your throat. \n\nIn a few days, Derick from your Western Civ class will find you as the snow beings to slough away. He'll remember this moment his entire life- he's never seen anyone who he wanted to fuck dead.<<endif>>\n\n<<if visited ("put it together 4")>>The person who has been shadowing you for most of the night finally accomplishes their goal of murdering you.\n\nIn a few days, Derick from your Western Civ class will find you as the snow beings to slough away. He'll remember this moment his entire life- he's never seen anyone who he wanted to fuck dead.\n\n[[credits]]\n\nYou encountered the murderer <<$numKillerEncounters>> <<if $numKillerEncounters is 1>>time<<else>>times<<endif>> during this playthrough.\n<<if visited ("put it together 3" or "put it together" or "put it together ish")>>You discovered that the killer's identity was former Public Safety officer Brian Carroll<<else>>You did not uncover the murderer's identity.<<endif>>\n<<if visited ("put it together 4" or "put it together 2")>>You realized that the murderer was trying to kill you because you knew he was tampering with the crime scenes to make them appear more like random acts of violence.<<else>>You did not find out why the murderer was tracking you.<<endif>>\n\n<<endif>>

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numLighter gte 1>> Remaining lighter uses: <<$numLighter>> <<endif>>\n\nYour first order of business is to make sure the leg is, in fact, attached to a body as dead as you imagine it to be.\n\nRounding the corner, there's no doubt that the leg belongs to a dead man.\n\n<<if visited ("Check on Dr. Flynn")>>At least Dr. Flynn and Nikki were heavily shadowed, but the dead Public Safety officer in front of you is splayed face up under an emergency light, covered swathes of his own blood. Lots of blood, presumably from his neck, which is divided roughly in half by a gaping wound. Above the cut, his eyes and mouth are open, not peaceful or contorted with cartoonish fear but utterly empty of life. It's like the movies but not enough like the movies- too damn real. You look away as your stomach decides if it's going to endure this sight or if it's going to expel your dinner in protest. After several long breaths, the queasiness in your stomach subsides a little.\n\n\n[[Investigate the body|check body solo]]\n[[Investigate the communications room|check comm room solo]]\n[[Investigate the front desk|check front desk solo]]\n[[Leave the PS building]]\n\n<<else>>\nThe dead Public Safety officer in front of you is splayed face up under an emergency light, covered in swathes of his own blood. Lots of blood, presumably from his neck, which is divided roughly in half by a gaping wound. Above the cut, his eyes and mouth are open, not peaceful or contorted with cartoonish fear but utterly empty of life. It's like the movies but not enough like the movies- too damn real. You look away as your stomach decides if it's going to endure this sight or if it's going to expel your dinner in protest. The stress and fear and disgust are too much, and you vomit. Your only consolation is that you manage to miss your shoes.\n\nAfter several breaths, the burning taste of bile fades a little.\n\n\n[[Investigate the body|check body solo]]\n[[Investigate the communications room|check comm room solo]]\n[[Investigate the front desk|check front desk solo]]\n[[Leave the PS building]]\n<<endif>>

Snow

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n\n<<if visited ("see who's in 2")>>You cross your arms and pick your cuticle- your default 'thinking very hard' posture- before saying, "I mean...I donno. But if he went through Public Safety, he probably has keys, so it might not be safe here. I don't know what you can do for us," you say, waving your hand a little to indicate the students, generally. \n\n"How bad is it out there?" Dr. Flynn asks.\n\n"Pretty bad," you say, "The snow's above my waist just on the ground- not counting drifts, I mean. It doesn't look like it's slowing down, either," you report. By the light of his computer screen, you can tell Dr. Flynn is really starting to worry. You think he's just realized that he can't leave and he can't help. \n\n"I think...I'll stay here," Dr. Flynn says, but he sounds like he isn't really sold on the decision, "I mean, I can't exactly get in my car and call it a day, right?"\n\nYou don't think this is a great idea. Whoever is responsible for all this killed some of the more hefty Public Safety officers, no problem, no question. But, are you really going to contradict your professor? No. Murder is no reason to upend the student/teacher dynamic you've respected your entire life. \n\nSo instead of saying, 'no, that's a stupid idea,' you say, "Okay. Sound's good."\n\nDr. Flynn seems to have convinced himself of his decision by now, because he says with a little more confidence, "You should probably go back to your dorm; lock yourself in, too. I'm not uh...technically allowed anywhere near the dorms, but do you want me to walk you back, just in case?"\n\n"No uh, that's okay. I'll be fine," you say, sounding a little more defensive than you mean to but damn, you may not be able to save the campus, but you can at least walk back to your dorm, right? \n\nYou leave his office, feeling ashamed to have even come here, even though you did do him the service of letting him know about the killer. \n\n"Good luck. Stay safe," he says. \n\n"You too," you say, and he locks his office door behind you. \n\nClass is going to be so awkward from here on out. \n\n[[Look around the science building]]\n[[Wait this out in your room]]\n[[Try to head into town|Head for town anyway]]\n<<if not visited ("Visit the chapel bathroom")>>[[Visit the chapel bathroom]]<<endif>>\n[[Investigate your dorm|investigate your dorm solo]]\n\n<<else>>\n\nYou think about this. What do you want him to do, anyway? Make things all better, because he's the adult on site? Unless the murderer is deathly allergic to good looks and sass, Dr. Flynn probably isn't any more capable of dealing with the situation than you are. \n\n"I guess...I dunno," you finally say, feeling all of 4 years old. But, Dr. Flynn is quiet too, like he doesn't know either, and that makes you feel a little better.\n\n"Well...how about this. You should probably go back to your room, lock yourself in, stay safe. I'll lock myself in here and keep trying to get in touch with PS and the police, okay?" he says. You nod. \n\n"And uh, I'm not technically allowed to be anywhere near the dorms or anything like that, but would you want me to walk you back, just in case?" he offers awkwardly.\n\n"No uh, that's okay. I'll be fine," you say, sounding a little more defensive than you mean to but damn, you may not be able to save the campus, but you can at least walk back to your dorm, right? \n\nYou leave his office, feeling ashamed to have even come here, even though you did do him the service of letting him know that there was some random killer on the loose. \n\n"Good luck. Stay safe," he says. \n\n"You too," you say, and he locks his office door behind you. \n\nGreat. \n\n[[Look around the science building]]\n[[Wait this out in your room]]\n[[Try to head into town|Head for town anyway]]\n<<if not visited ("Visit the chapel bathroom")>>[[Visit the chapel bathroom]]<<endif>>\n<<if visited ("Walk to public safety")>>[[Try public safety again|Head to Public Safety 2 solo]]<<else>>[[Walk to public safety]]<<endif>>\n[[Investigate your dorm|investigate your dorm solo]]\n<<endif>>

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numLighter gte 1>> Remaining lighter uses: <<$numLighter>> <<endif>>\n<<set $killer17 to either(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)>>\n\n<<if visited ("put it together 3")>> Oh hell. Dr. Flynn has got to know about this. This Brian Carroll just took out the entire Public Safety team -his former co-workers, his friends- for shits and giggles, basically. This crazy asshole won't hesitate to slit your rakish professor's throat. You aren't too interested in heading back out into the cold and leaving the semi-light of the Public Safety building behind, but you're a little crazed with worry for Dr. Flynn. \n\nAs you trudge through this snow, you notice a shadow at the edge of your vision, seemingly trying to sneak up behind you in the dark.\n\nBoy, is this ever getting old. \n\n[[Do nothing, because it's probably nothing|nothing 17]]\n<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>\n[[Use your phone as a flashlight|flashlight 17]] <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>>\n[[Use a glowstick|glowstick 17]]<<endif>>\n<<if $numLighter gte 1>>\n[[Use the lighter|lighter 17]]<<endif>>\n<<endif>>\n\n<<if visited ("put it together 4")>>\nOh shit. You realize that if the killer has been following you around, they probably trailed you to the science building and know Dr. Flynn is in- you might have inadvertently painted a target directly on your favorite professor. \n\nYour dorm is comfortable. Warm. Filled with your friends. If the lights were on, it would be the polar opposite of the wasteland outside. But you can't just leave Dr. Flynn in both the literal and metaphorical dark. You decide to head back out into the storm to warn the good doctor. \n\nAs you trudge through this snow, you notice a shadow at the edge of your vision, seemingly trying to sneak up behind you in the dark.\n\nBoy, is this ever getting old. \n\n[[Do nothing, because it's probably nothing|nothing 17]]\n<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>\n[[Use your phone as a flashlight|flashlight 17]] <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>>\n[[Use a glowstick|glowstick 17]]<<endif>>\n<<if $numLighter gte 1>>\n[[Use the lighter|lighter 17]]<<endif>>\n<<endif>>

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n\n"Can you hear me? It's Dr. Flynn from the phys-sci department. Are you okay?" Dr. Flynn says in the general direction of leg. No response. You pinch your lips together and look up at Dr. Flynn. He looks down at you, unhappy. Finally, both of you tip-toe forward and the rest of the body to come into view. \n\nThe Public Safety officer is certainly dead. His neck is a devastated crevice of blood and muscle, and there's blood beneath him, pooling, and blood splattered against the walls in elegant arcs. If your nose wasn't so stuffed up, it would probably smell immensely of blood. You gape, thinking, 'This is the second dead body I've seen today,' and hardly believing it. It's like a movie. \n\nYou hear Dr. Flynn say, "Oh hell!" but continue to stare into the gaping hole where the public safety officer's throat used to be. You're trying to decide what to do.\n\n\n[[Examine body]]\n[[Check the communications room]]\n[[Check the front desk]]\n[[Wait the night out here]]\n

<<if visited ("Leave the PS building")>>Finally, you come to your senses. This is pointless. Time to head back to your building. \n\nYou knock on Marisa's dor again.\n\nShe opens it, and looks relieved when she sees you. "Hey...I'm done. Can I stay with you?" She nods grimly, waving you in.<<else>>\n\nThen you come do your senses. Of course you're staying here. What sane person wouldn't stay in a warm, relatively safe dorm? \n\n"Yeah, I'm staying here," you say. Marisa looks relieved, "For a second, I thought you were seriously going to go back out there. But then I was like, 'no way she's that stupid,'" Marisa tells you, ushering you into her dorm room. <<endif>>\n\nYou sleep on Marisa's floor that night, cozied up in a pile of her heavily perfumed blankets. <<if visited ("leg solo")>>To the chagrin of Marisa's roommate, you also prop a chair under the handle. "Extra safety," you explain, but the other girl doesn't seem pleased.<<endif>>\n\nIt takes a long time, but eventually you do fall asleep. When the police knock on Marisa's door in the morning, you nearly piss yourself with fear. Then you hear that it's the police, the proper authorities finally come to set things right, and you almost cry. They take your statement, take Marisa's statement, and go about setting things right. <<if visited ("put it together 3")>>They arrest Brian Carroll, and whisk away his victims. You hate how it'll be his name that the school knows and remembers, but the dead will be little more than ignored plagues in a decade. Then you realize you know Brian's last name offhand but not Nikki's and you hate yourself a little.<<else>> The police's chief suspect is found dead, and no further arrests are made. The night's deaths open a wound on campus which can't seem to close without the balm of justice. Instead, it suppurates, and students begin leaving. The school hemorrhages money and applications and eventually, it closes. \n\nWhen you revisit it again years later on the recommendation of your psychologist, it sits empty and as ambiguous as an elipsis, but an ellipsis in a book you are no longer reading, at the end of a chapter you've mostly forgotten. You are completely alive and mostly well. Only the cold brings back the memories.\n<<endif>> \n\n<<if visited ("put it together 3" and "put it together 4")>>For some time, you are a bit of a celebrity on campus, despite your persistent attempts to hide. People keep asking you what it was like, wandering around campus, chased by a killer without realizing those might not be your favorite memories. At least Kayla and Marisa get it- they talk with you about anything and everything else, almost trying too hard to keep you distracted. They're good friends, but you need time and space almost as much as you need their help. \n\nBut you are young. You have the privilege of time.<<endif>>\n\n<<if visited ("put it together 3" and not "put it together 4")>>Brian never does say why he was following you across campus. You keep waiting for the police to uncover the reason, or wring the answer out of him, but it never comes. Brian remains as mute as snow while in custody, then manages to kill himself one night using a shiv. He leaves no note behind. \n\nYou decide you can't stay on that campus any longer. It is too haunted by that dead man's mysterious prerogative. Kayla and Marisa say that they'll miss you, but you think that's a bit of a lie. You know you've shut them out, been short with them, and that they've maintained their friendship out of obligation. They didn't want to abandon you, but they are more than happy to let you abandon them. \n\nIt's fine though, you tell yourself. Distance will do you good. Maybe your new school will be someplace warm.<<endif>>\n\n[[credits]]\n\nYou encountered the murderer <<$numKillerEncounters>> <<if $numKillerEncounters is 1>>time<<else>>times<<endif>> during this playthrough.\nYou survived the night. Congratulations!\n<<if visited ("put it together 3" or "put it together" or "put it together ish")>>You discovered that the killer's identity was former Public Safety officer Brian Carroll<<else>>You did not uncover the murderer's identity.<<endif>>\n<<if visited ("put it together 4" or "put it together 2")>>You realized that the murderer was trying to kill you because you knew he was tampering with the crime scenes to make them appear more like random acts of violence.<<else>>You did not find out why the murderer was tracking you.<<endif>>

<<set $numLighter = $numLighter - 1>>\n<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numLighter gte 1>> Remaining lighter uses: <<$numLighter>> <<endif>>\n<<if $killer11 lte 7>>\n\nYou flick your lighter on. The person approaches you, and you see it's some girl. She's wearing tights and Uggs, plus some flimsy looking peacoat with a streak of vomit down the front. She has this hollow look, like she's beyond fear. \n\n"I...I...I'm not okay. I'm not okay," she slurs. You can't tell if she's so incoherent because of the weather or because she's so drunk.\n\n"What's up?" you ask. \n\n"I'm cold," she says. "I'm really really fuckin cold."\n\n'No shit' you think, but you ask her, "Where do you live?"\n\n"In...in...I donno...I donno...I donno I'm not okay," now she starts crying. \n\n"Uh...well, you gotta get inside," you tell her. "See that building over there?" you point at an academic building nearby, "You should go in there and wait, okay? Don't try to go out again."\n\n"I gotta go back to my dorm," she insists. \n\n"No," you tell her as firmly as possible, "Go to the academic building and stay there until it's light out. Then you'll be able to see your building." \n\nShe looks at you for a moment, still crying, then stumbles toward the academic building. You turn around and keep heading toward Public Safety, wondering if her drunken mind will take your order to stay put as gospel or if she'll just wander around the campus until she dies of exposure. \n\nNo, that's a horrible thought. You're sure she'll be fine.\n\n[[Investigate the Public Safety building|Investigate PS solo]]\n\n<<else>>\n<<set $numKillerEncounters = $numKillerEncounters + 1>>\n<<if $numKillerEncounters is 2>>You feel queasy- some instinctual awareness that the person coming toward you is bad, bad, bad. A potent conclusion, utterly unreasoned, sends adrenaline sluicing through your system: this must be the murderer. They must be following you.<<endif>>\n\nYou flick your lighter on, and whoever it was backs off.\n\n[[Investigate the Public Safety building|Investigate PS solo]]\n\n<<endif>>

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numLighter gte 1>> Remaining lighter uses: <<$numLighter>> <<endif>>\n\n<<if visitedTag("outside")>>\nDespite your cautious approach, you still trip up the Public Safety building's stairs- the snow is so deep that you can't even see the steps, so you catch only the very edge of a step with one toe.\n\n<<if visited("Go to the Public Safety Building")>>When you do make it to the front door, you give it a cursory turn before, affirm that it's still locked, then look in the window again. \n\nThe leg is still there. Great.\n\nYou look around, hoping for a little advice from...anywhere. Ordinarily, you couldn't be paid enough to damage school property, because you'll lose your not-too-shabby scholarship if you receive disciplinary action. But, in order to get in the building, you're definitely going to need to break the window and fiddle with the door's lock. Not to mention you're basically breaking into what looks to be a crime scene. \n\nWhatever. You're committed now. You slam a gloved hand into the glass, wincing as your knuckles connect. The pane shatters, and you look around gain, half expecting some PS officer to run up and slap handcuffs on you or whatever they do to serious offenders. Nothing happens. You carefully undo the lock on the front door and let yourself into the Public Safety building.<<else>>\n\nA repurposed farm house, acquired as the campus expanded, serves as Public Safety's HQ. The little white structure seems completely inadequate against the storm, or really any problem more serious than a few tipsy students pouring detergent into the campus fountain.\n\nYou slog up to the false homestead and try to open the door, but it's locked. "Oh, what the fuck!" you grumble into the wind, shaking the knob violently, as though that will help. "Are you kidding me!?" \n\n"Hey! Hey! Is anyone in there?! Hello!?" you shout, slamming your fist into the door. No answer. You figure that most of the P.S. officers are out and about, trying to contain the madness that springs up around campus when students have an idle moment, but at least one of them should be there minding the phones or issuing parking passes or whatever. Something is up. \n\nYou peer into one of the windows which flank the door. Like the rest of the campus, Public Safety HQ is dark, but you can see an emergency light in what used to be a living room, maybe. You can't see much of the room, but you can see a trousered leg poking out from behind a doorframe, like a lazy snake. The wall hides the rest of their body, but you are reasonably sure that whoever owns that leg is dead.\n\nThere's no guarantee that the rest of the Public Safety officers are dead. There's no reason to believe that there's nobody in charge on campus. But, looking at that leg brazenly lying there, you think, 'Oh God, we're really on our own now, aren't we?'\n\nYou look around, hoping for a little advice from...anywhere. Ordinarily, you couldn't be paid enough to damage school property, because you'll lose your not-too-shabby scholarship if you receive disciplinary action. But, in order to get in the building, you're definitely going to need to break the window and fiddle with the door's lock. Not to mention you're basically breaking into what looks to be a crime scene. \n\nWhatever. You're committed now. You slam a gloved hand into the glass, wincing as your knuckles connect. The pane shatters, and you look around gain, half expecting some PS officer to run up and slap handcuffs on you or whatever they do to serious offenders. Nothing happens. You carefully undo the lock on the front door and let yourself into the Public Safety building.<<endif>>\n<<else>>\nYou look around, hoping for a little advice from...anywhere. Ordinarily, you wouldn't blatently destroy school property, but in order to get in the building, you're definitely going to need to break the window and fiddle with the door's lock. The idea doesn't sit well with you, but if the person laying there is still alive, they may need help. Plus, YOU need help.\n\nYou take a few long, prepatory breaths before slamming a gloved hand into the glass. The pane shatters, and you look around again, half expecting some PS officer to run up and ask what the hell you think you're doing. Nothing happens. You carefully undo the lock on the front door and let yourself into the Public Safety building.<<endif>>\n\n[[examine the leg|leg solo]]

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numLighter gte 1>> Remaining lighter uses: <<$numLighter>> <<endif>>\n\n<<if $killer2 gte 8>>\n<<set $numKillerEncounters = $numKillerEncounters + 1>>\nYou turn away from whoever it is. They've got their prerogative, you've got yours. You aren't in the mood to make friends tonight anyway. \n\nAt your back, you hear the sound of footsteps in the snow, suddenly close- the wind must have masked their approach. You start to turn, but someone puts their hand on your chin and draws a knife across your neck. \n\nYou bleed out in the snow, and are quickly covered by the advancing blizzard. You are one of the last bodies found.\n\n[[credits]]\n\nYou encountered the murderer <<$numKillerEncounters>> <<if $numKillerEncounters is 1>>time<<else>>times<<endif>> during this playthrough.\n<<if visitedTag("identity")>>You discovered that the killer's identity was former Public Safety officer Brian Carroll<<else>>You did not uncover the murderer's identity.<<endif>>\n<<if visitedTag("stalk")>>You realized that the murderer was trying to kill you because you knew he was tampering with the crime scenes to make them appear more like random acts of violence.<<else>>You did not find out why the murderer was tracking you.<<endif>>\n\n<<else>>\n\nWhoever it is keeps walking, on their own miserable errand. You keep walking, too.\n\nAfter about a mile of laborious walking, you realize you've made a terrible mistake. \n\nThe first eddies of doubt came when a turn in the road put black trees between you and the limp lights on campus. You persisted though, refusing to be dissuaded by something as immaterial as an unpleasant visual. However, the ache in your legs was very material then, and it is unignorable now. You aren't necessarily out of shape, but this hike would be a workout for anyone. The cold grinds you, and your weariness slows you. You keep glancing ahead, hoping for some encouraging glimmer of the town's streetlights, or even the black angles of a farmhouse set back from the road, but you don't see anything. You don't realize that you haven't even gone that far. \n\nYour pace slows, and the cold penetrates your skin, your bones. You tire. \n\nYou stop to rest; hunch against a telephone pole in the snow, and you do not get up. Even when you eventually call 911 for help, you are too disoriented to describe where you are, and what kind of help you need. Even though the operator is able to trace your call, the weather prevents them from sending anyone to get you. \n\nYou die alone in the cold. \n\n[[credits]]\n\nYou encountered the murderer <<$numKillerEncounters>> <<if $numKillerEncounters is 1>>time<<else>>times<<endif>> during this playthrough.\n<<if visitedTag("identity")>>You discovered that the killer's identity was former Public Safety officer Brian Carroll<<else>>You did not uncover the murderer's identity.<<endif>>\n<<if visitedTag("stalk")>>You realized that the murderer was trying to kill you because you knew he was tampering with the crime scenes to make them appear more like random acts of violence.<<else>>You did not find out why the murderer was tracking you.<<endif>>\n\n<<endif>>

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n\nUgh, so annoying. She always leaves clothes lying around everywhere. You honestly don't remember the last time you saw her doing laundry. Or anything school-related. It seems like she's always either on the phone with her boyfriend or actually with him. That's probably where she is now- alternating between sex and cuddling at the upperclassman's apartment across campus. Whatever. At least it’s quiet in the room when she’s gone. Still fucking messy though.\n\n\n<<if not visited ("Look out the window")>>[[Look out the window]]<<endif>>\n<<if not visited ("Look at your desk")>>[[Look at your desk]]<<endif>>\n<<if not visited ("Look in your minifridge")>>[[Look in your minifridge]]<<endif>>\n[[Try to find your key]]

<<set $numPhoneCharge = $numPhoneCharge - 1>>\n<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n<<if $matches is 3>>\nYou swing your phone around the room. It looks like there's some kind of experiment set up, but you have no fucking clue what it is. There's nothing useful on the students' desks, but you check the podium at the front of the classroom and find a lighter tucked in the back- and not some dinky little cigarette thing, either. No, this is one of those long ones with a trigger and everything. It feels a little light, like there isn't much fuel left, but even so, this is easily the best moment of your night. You stare reverently at it, feel a bit weird about that, then head back out into the hallway.\n\n[[Science building hallway]]\n\n<<else>>\nLooks like some poor bros were taking an exam in here relatively recently. Nothing's set up, there's "1 hour, 30 min, 15 min," written on the board one after another. You look around, but all you find is a #2 pencil. \n<<if not visited ("Check room 1")>>[[Try Room 1|Check room 1]]<<endif>>\n<<if not visited ("Check room 2")>>[[Try Room 2|Check room 2]]<<endif>>\n<<if not visited ("Check room 4")>>[[Try Room 4|Check room 4]]<<endif>>\n[[Forget it]]\n\n<<endif>>

<<set $numPhoneCharge = $numPhoneCharge - 1>>\n<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n<<if $matches is 2>>\nYou swing your phone around the room. It looks like there's some kind of experiment set up, but you have no fucking clue what it is. There's nothing useful on the students' desks, but you check the podium at the front of the classroom and find a lighter tucked in the back- and not some dinky little cigarette thing, either. No, this is one of those long ones with a trigger and everything. It feels a little light, like there isn't much fuel left, but even so, this is easily the best moment of your night. You stare reverently at it, feel a bit weird about that, then head back out into the hallway.\n\n[[Science building hallway]]\n\n<<else>>\nYou were actually in this room a few days ago, for your gen.ed. biology class. At the time, you dissected a rat with a few of your classmates, and you've tried very hard to forget the experience. Given your circumstances, you aren't happy to be reminded of that vivisected white rat, prone on a shining metal platter. A female rat. One of your lab partners stuck a pipette down her throat and reinflated her lungs, and you watched them swell with false life.\n\nYeah, time to get out of here. There's nothing useful anyway.\n<<if not visited ("Check room 1")>>[[Try Room 1|Check room 1]]<<endif>>\n<<if not visited ("Check room 3")>>[[Try Room 3|Check room 3]]<<endif>>\n<<if not visited ("Check room 4")>>[[Try Room 4|Check room 4]]<<endif>>\n[[Forget it]]\n\n<<endif>>

<<set $numPhoneCharge = $numPhoneCharge - 1>>\n<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n<<if $matches is 4>>\nYou swing your phone around the room. It looks like there's some kind of experiment set up, but you have no clue what it is. There's nothing useful on the students' desks, but you check the podium at the front of the classroom and find a lighter tucked in the back- and not some dinky little cigarette thing, either. No, this is one of those long ones with a trigger and everything. It feels a little light, like there isn't much fuel left, but even so, this is easily the best moment of your night. You stare reverently at it, feel a bit weird about that, then head back out into the hallway.\n\n[[Science building hallway]]\n\n<<else>>\nMan, there's nothing in here. What a waste of time.\n<<if not visited ("Check room 1")>>[[Try Room 1|Check room 1]]<<endif>>\n<<if not visited ("Check room 2")>>[[Try Room 2|Check room 2]]<<endif>>\n<<if not visited ("Check room 3")>>[[Try Room 3|Check room 3]]\n[[Forget it]]<<endif>>\n<<endif>>

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numLighter gte 1>> Remaining lighter uses: <<$numLighter>> <<endif>>\n<<if $killer11 lte 7>>\nThe footsteps stop, then reverse. Maybe they mistook you for someone else in the dark. Pretty embarrassing for them, you guess.\n\n[[Check the science building|enter science building track 2]]\n<<else>>\n<<set $numKillerEncounters = $numKillerEncounters + 1>>\nYou try to pick up your pace and get to the science building a little more quickly, but the person behind you is stronger and longer-legged than you are. Your adrenaline is no match for their viciousness, and you are killed. \n\n[[credits]]\n\nYou encountered the murderer <<$numKillerEncounters>> <<if $numKillerEncounters is 1>>time<<else>>times<<endif>> during this playthrough.\n<<if visited ("put it together 3" or "put it together" or "put it together ish")>>You discovered that the killer's identity was former Public Safety officer Brian Carroll<<else>>You did not uncover the murderer's identity.<<endif>>\n<<if visited ("put it together 4" or "put it together 2")>>You realized that the murderer was trying to kill you because you knew he was tampering with the crime scenes to make them appear more like random acts of violence.<<else>>You did not find out why the murderer was tracking you.<<endif>>\n\n<<endif>>

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numLighter gte 1>> Remaining lighter uses: <<$numLighter>> <<endif>>\n\nYou cup your hands around the tiny flame; put it as close to your legs as possible, trying to warm your blood without catching your pants on fire. It works, a little. You keep moving. When you feel yourself really lagging, really getting buried by the freezing temperatures, you stop, drink in the little heat your lighter provides, and keep moving. Your delirious brain keeps remembering a joke you saw online, "Light a man on fire and he'll be warm the rest of his life." The words slosh through your brain until they become a nonsensical mantra. \n\nYou smell the house before you see it. Rather, you smell the smoke pouring out of the house's chimney. You stagger on, following the scent until you see a prick of light so small and wavering it could almost be a hallucination. \n\nBut it isn't. It's a candle as seen through a window. You found the house with the chimney, and you are almost too delirious to feel happy about it. Almost. \n\nThe homeowners don't let you inside at first- who can blame them? It's almost 3 in the morning when you bang on their door. When you try to yell for help you, realized how immobile your lips ware, and the words come out slurred and wrong. \n\nBut they let you in eventually, and when they see the waxy cast of your skin, they feel bad for not doing it sooner. \n\nMr. and Mrs. Zuckier help you soak your fingers and toes in lukewarm - not hot - water. They give you warm, dry clothes to wear. It helps, but not enough. You lose 4 of your toes and one of your fingertips to frostbite. Your checks redden, swell and blister, looking like burned things before finally healing. \n\nBut you survive. \n\n<<if visited ("put it together 3" or "put it together 4")>>The college survives, too. While you recover in the hospital, officers uncover bodies and evidence. They would make arrests. Students would make their peace. Marisa and Kayla come and visit you, and you mend.\n\nIn time, the snow begins to melt.\n\n[[credits]]\n\nYou encountered the murderer <<$numKillerEncounters>> times during this playthrough.\nYou survived the night. Congratulations!\n<<if visited ("put it together 3" or "put it together 2")>>You discovered that the killer's identity was former Public Safety officer Brian Carroll<<else>>You did not uncover the murderer's identity.<<endif>>\n<<if visited ("put it together 4" or "put it together")>>You realized that the murderer was trying to kill you because you knew he was tampering with the crime scenes to make them appear more like random acts of violence.<<else>>You did not find out why the murderer was tracking you.<<endif>>\n<<else>>\nThe college suffers though. No leads, damaged evidence, not testimony. The police don't know what to tell the students, the administrators. After you recover, you transfer. Kayla and Marisa do too, but to different schools. \n\nAdmissions drop, rumors spread, and in under a decade, your school is an urban legend- a hulking, empty place tending toward ruin which feels cold, even in summer.\n\n[[credits]]\n\nYou encountered the murderer <<$numKillerEncounters>> <<if $numKillerEncounters is 1>>time<<else>>times<<endif>> during this playthrough.\nYou survived the night. Congratulations!\n<<if visited ("put it together 3" or "put it together" or "put it together ish")>>You discovered that the killer's identity was former Public Safety officer Brian Carroll<<else>>You did not uncover the murderer's identity.<<endif>>\n<<if visited ("put it together 4" or "put it together 2")>>You realized that the murderer was trying to kill you because you knew he was tampering with the crime scenes to make them appear more like random acts of violence.<<else>>You did not find out why the murderer was tracking you.<<endif>>\n\n<<endif>>

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numLighter gte 1>> Remaining lighter uses: <<$numLighter>> <<endif>>\n\nHoly hell. You bet that's who's been doing this. Brian fucking Carroll. He was probably stalking Nikki, and he killed her because she rejected him AND cost him his job. <<if visited("check body solo" and "check comm room solo")>>It makes sense. There wasn't any melted snow near the body in the hall because, according to this paper, Brian spent most of the evening cooling his heels at the desk. He probably lured the PS officers in one by one using the walkie, picked them off, and then he more or less had the run of the campus.<<endif>>\n<<if visited("check body solo") and not visited ("check comm room solo")>>It makes sense. There wasn't any melted snow near the body in the hall because, according to this paper, Brian spent most of the evening cooling his heels at the desk.<<endif>>\n<<if visited("check comm room solo") and not visited ("check body solo")>>It makes sense. Brian probably lured the PS officers in one by one using the walkie, picked them off, and then he more or less had the run of the campus.<<endif>>\n\n<<if not visitedTag("stalk")>>You're pretty sure he's the person who's been on your heels the whole damn night. Why he's been trying to kill you specifically is completely beyond you.<<else>>He was probably following you all night, after you realized he tried to mess with the evidence.<<endif>>\n\n<<if visitedTag("tell")>>Holy hell though, PS officers are pretty much a step below God on this campus. They've got keys to everything and the university-given right to demand entry into any dorm. Shit. Even if someone is behind a locked door tonight, they aren't necessarily safe.\n\n[[Tell your hallmates what you've found out|tell hallmates solo]]\n<<if visited("stay here" and not visited "Check on Dr. Flynn")>>[[Warn Dr. Flynn]]<<endif>>\n[[Call the police again and wait here]]\n<<else>>\nThere's no way you're going back out there and taking the chance of running into him again. You've seen what he can do. Hell, you are standing mere feet away from evidence of what he can do. He's clearly gone full psycho on this campus, and there's no way you're going to take the chance of running into him again. \n\n[[Call the police again and wait here]]\n<<endif>>

<<set $visited_Marisa = "yes">>\n<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n\nYou amble down the deserted hallway to room 120, where Marisa lives and give the door a quick rap. Trisha, Marisa's roommate, opens it and, without saying a word to you, goes back into the room to get Marisa. \n\nWhen Marisa appears, she doesn't look too happy to see you. You're a little hurt by this, because usually Marisa reserves her temper for Kayla. \n\n"What's up?" you say, trying to diffuse the unanticipated tension. \n\n"Working on a paper. It's due on Friday. I know we probably won't have class, but...my computer's basically out of batteries," she says, almost calmly, but can hear little touches of frustration frosting the edge of her collected tone.\n\n"Bummer dude. I'd offer you mine, but I've already worn it out. Sorry," you say sincerely. \n\n"Actually...I know the answer is probably no, but do you think you'll be going out tonight, sometime? There's some spare laptops in the science building that we've been using for labs. If I give you my building pass, could you sign one out for me? Just use my name." \n\nYou think about it. You probably won't be heading over to the science building any time soon, but you can practically taste Marisa's desperation.\n\n\n[[Take the pass.]]\n[[Don't take the pass.]]

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numLighter gte 1>> Remaining lighter uses: <<$numLighter>> <<endif>>\n\nYou sprint down the hallway and knock on <<if not visitedTag("both")>>Marisa's<<else>>Kayla's<<endif>> door, trying to dial back your enthusiasm so you don't sound like you're trying to break in. But, you're pretty sure you've figured something out, and you want to share.\n\nMarisa opens the door, looking startled. She'll probably be pissed that you made so much noise without being in mortal danger, but this is important. \n\n<<if visitedTag("identity")>>"I know why's he's after me!" you almost shout. \n\n"What.." Marisa starts, but you keep talking.\n\n"Fucking Brian! Look, okay, he definitely wanted to kill Nikki, right? So he kills Vicky and Nicole, probably while they're passed out drunk or some shit, and stakes out her room. Then he kills her, goes back to their room to...I don't know, clean himself up or something, but then he sees ME go in, and come out, and lock the door behind me. Plus, I tried Vicky and Nicole's door right after, so I knew that was locked, too."\n\n"Why the hell does that even matter?" Marisa says, "Look you really..."\n\n"No no, fucking listen I'm getting there," you keep going, practically blathering now, "See, I think he was going to try to make it look like some rando did all the murders- that some dude just wandered on campus and took out whoever happened to have their doors open. And the fucking windows- he propped open the windows too, to screw with the evidence and the time of death shit."\n\nNow Marisa is just staring at you. You take that as permission to continue. \n\n"Maybe he was trying to take the whole school down with him after they fired him- really fuck things up, you know? Give the place a bad reputation. Maybe he thought that would actually throw the police off his trail. Who knows, right?" You feel exhilarated, like you just decoded the fucking Rosetta's stone. Even Marisa looks impressed. \n\n"Yeah..." she says, nodding, "Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. <<if visited ("Finally get back to your friends.")>>Can I round everyone up in the hallway now? Safer in numbers and all that.<<else>>So do you think we should maybe round everyone up in the hallway? If Brian's got key's, nobody's going to be safe in their rooms.<<endif>>"\n\n"Yeah," you say, coming down from your investigative high. Maybe you are some kind of detective-savant- there's still a hell of a lot of people who are dead. More than you ever thought would die on your campus. You and Marisa start making your way down the hallway, greeting scared faces with not-so-great news: No, the police aren't here yet. Yes, know who did it. Please come out in the hallway- we'll all be safer. \n\nKayla stands with you and Marisa, her bony arms wrapped tightly around her torso. She still looks terrified, but at least she isn't cowering in a corner. Everyone crowds to the back of the hallway, as far away from Nikki's room as possible. It's like the world's most depressing sleepover. You sit with Kayla and Marisa, sharing Kayla's huge quilt. Everyone stares fixedly at the end of the dark hallway, hoping not to see Brian's tall, slender figure in the gloom. As the night rolls on, a few of the more brave or more weary fall asleep, but most keep staring, making nervous quiet chatter as muted morning sunlight starts to creep in through the windows.\n\nIt takes a long time for the police to arrive. In your opinion anyway. They said they did the best they could. Sure.\n\n[[credits]]\n<<else>>\n"I know why's he's after me!" you almost shout. \n\n"What.." Marisa starts, but you keep talking.\n\n"The fucking murderer! So, he kills Vicky and Nicole, probably while they're passed out drunk or some shit, and stakes out her room. Then he kills her, goes back to their room to...I don't know, clean himself up or something, but then he sees ME go in, and come out, and lock the door behind me. Plus, I tried Vicky and Nicole's door right after, so I knew that was locked, too."\n\n"Why the hell does that even matter?" Marisa says, "Look you really..."\n\n"No no, fucking listen I'm getting there," you continue, practically blathering now, "See, I think he was going to try to make it look like some rando did all the murders- that some dude just wandered on campus and took out whoever happened to have their doors open. And the fucking windows- he propped open the windows too, to screw with the evidence and the time of death shit."\n\n"I mean...that's not a bad theory and all...but who the hell would do that?" \n\nOkay, well, the identity is kind of important, but you have motive down, so that's at LEAST half credit. Probably more. \n\n"That I don't know. But whoever he was, I know why he was following me. Come on, that's kind of big news."\n\n"Yep, great. So, that means you're absolutely not going to wander around campus anymore, right?"\n\n"Well...I mean maybe," you say, looking at the floor.\n\n\n[[Go back to your room and wait this out]]\n[[Ask to hang out with Marisa for the night]]\n<<if visited("stay here") and not visited ("Check on Dr. Flynn")>>[[Warn Dr. Flynn]]<<endif>>\n<<if not visitedTag("identity")>>[[Try Public Safety again|Head to Public Safety 2 solo]]<<endif>>\n<<endif>>\n

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numLighter gte 1>>Remaining lighter uses: <<$numLighter>><<endif>>\n\nYou back out of the door, staring fixedly at Nikki, feeling the chill air slam against your face. As you leave, you turn the little tab on the inside of the door, locking it. You're in the hallway now, in that tepid light, and you let the door fall closed, sealing her in. \n<<set $numPhoneCharge = $numPhoneCharge - 1>>\nYou reach in your hoodie's pouch<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>>, nails clacking against glowsticks,<<endif>> and pull out your cell. You call 911, and you tell them that you're at the college and your RA is dead. They don't seem to question this. Maybe it's your tone. They take your name and information down, but tell you that it's going to be awhile, sorry. The roads are terrible. Even emergency crews can't do much; they've been trying to help people without heat get to someplace warm most of the day, but at this point, it's just too bad out there. You tell them "Oh." The lady on the line does seem really sorry about this, and she promises that she'll get someone over there as soon as possible. "Yeah," you say. The phone call is over quickly, and you're still in that hallway, alone, facing Nikki's door.\n\nThe next call is Public Safety, because you figure that they will at least be on campus and closer than the emergency services people. That's their job. You've got the Public Safety programmed on your phone like they told you to do in orientation, and the line rings and rings but nobody picks up. You try again, but the phone just rings. Your eyes start burning with frustrated tears and you almost smash your own cell in aggravation. \n\nThen, your shock sharpens into fear.\n\nYou look up the hallway, down the hallway. Empty. Someone murdered her; murdered Nikki. You walk across the hall, impulsively pull on the door to room 116, looking for help or better yet, some sign that you're dreaming.\n\nLocked, no answer. \n\nSomeone murdered Nikki. And you're scared, so scared, because they might murder you, too.\n\n[[Snow]]

It takes many hours of nervous conversation, but the police to come, eventually. The whole of your hallway stands to greet them, like they're royalty. Well, not royalty exactly- authority. Saving authority. \n\n<<if visited ("put it together" or "put it together ish")>>You watch sleepily as Dr. Flynn explains the situation, gesturing frequently back toward you. The police not and take notes: Brian Carroll, former public safety officer, murdered his former sweetheart and a whole bunch of other people- a spree killer, one of the criminal justice majors whispers. Maybe. No word as to why he followed you though. You don't think you'll ever know. You look at Dr. Flynn and your friends and think that maybe, you'll learn not to care. \n\nThe police arrest Brian Carroll in the science building, and the reporters decide that Dr. Flynn is the hero for their story. They pester him for interviews, and when you see him in class, he looks tired. He still jokes, but he seems a little slower, a little more careful. You can't blame him. \n\nAs for you, you spent a lot of time in your room, either thinking very hard or trying not to think at all. Nikki's parents come and empty her room. You wonder how long it will take for them to move a new RA in. Marisa thinks before the end of the semester, but she's a cynic. Kayla doesn't ever want to talk about it. You can't blame her. Neither do you.\n\nYou just want the snow to melt.<<else>>\nYou watch sleepily as Dr. Flynn explains the situation to the police. So many dead- why couldn't they come sooner? He sounds accusing. You don't blame him. \n\nThe reporters come, but there is no hero for this story. Only sensation. The cop's prime suspect is discovered dead in the snow. They think he died the night of the murders, but they can't be sure when- the snowstorm was hard on evidence. \n\nDuring one of many sleepless nights, you realize you can't stay on this campus any longer. It's too much. You decide to transfer. \n\nYou aren't the only one. Students leave. Admissions drop. The school closes. Dr. Flynn has to find a new job. \n\nThere will be no spring thaw for the school. All that's left for you is to go south for the winter.<<endif>>\n\n[[credits]]\n\nYou encountered the murderer <<$numKillerEncounters>> <<if $numKillerEncounters is 1>>time<<else>>times<<endif>> during this playthrough.\nYou survived the night. Congratulations!\n<<if visited ("put it together 3" or "put it together 2")>>You discovered that the killer's identity was former Public Safety officer Brian Carroll<<else>>You did not uncover the murderer's identity.<<endif>>\n<<if visited ("put it together 4" or "put it together")>>You realized that the murderer was trying to kill you because you knew he was tampering with the crime scenes to make them appear more like random acts of violence.<<else>>You did not find out why the murderer was tracking you.<<endif>>\n

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n\nYou push aside your cheap Ikea curtain and bring your nose close to the cold glass. You try to estimate how much snow there is out there, but there's no light to see your preferred unit of measure- the benches lining the quad. Though, now that you think about it, you probably wouldn't be able to see the benches anyway; they were nearly covered a few hours ago, and it hasn’t stopped snowing since then. Before the power gave out, you saw reports of a solid three days and nights of blizzard conditions. Sometimes, you can hear the wind scrape against the exterior of the building, and the lonely, creaking noise gives you the chills. You're glad that the backup generators keep the heat on at least. You spend a few moments thinking about how different your campus looks covered in snow, and how empty it seems on this frigid, lightless night, but eventually your face gets cold and you back away.\n\n<<if not visited ("Look at the pile of crap on your roommate's side")>>[[Look at the pile of crap on your roommate's side]]<<endif>>\n<<if not visited ("Look at your desk")>>[[Look at your desk]]<<endif>>\n<<if not visited ("Look in your minifridge")>>[[Look in your minifridge]]<<endif>>\n[[Try to find your key]]

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numLighter gte 1>> Remaining lighter uses: <<$numLighter>> <<endif>>\n\nYou head back out to the hallway, standing uncomfortably close to the dead officer so you can read the ledger. Your nose is pretty clogged from being out in the cold, but you are pretty sure you can smell the blood anyway, just a little. Damn, you hope this is worth it.\n\nThe paper is, indeed, a ledger. It starts in a firm hand: "7:23 am - Power lost on main campus," the same handwriting continued with several incident reports from around campus, starting with "10:47 am - Noise complaint for DuBois Tower B, room 403. Residents Alan Mercer, Chris Attano, Ben Krowshaw and George Free found intoxicated. Issued warning." Not even before noon- people on your campus go hard. Things just got worse from there. The drunks got drunker, the parties more intense, and there didn't seem too much the public safety officers could do. At 2:40, the officer wrote that there was a likely case of alcohol poisoning in Terrace Hall D, room 506, but ambulances couldn't reach the campus because of harsh weather conditions. Holy shit, you had no idea things were that bad outside your honors dorm cloister. At 4:12 pm, there was a non-incident related note, \n\n"Brian called in for emergency assistance. Desk duty ONLY, no key permissions. Patrol schedule for duration of the storm: \nDesk Duty - Carroll\nComm Duty - rotating\nTowers - Stevens\nTerrance - Jones\nBenedict Hall - Korenic\nDenvers Hall - Putbrese\nGarreth Hall - Soloman"\n\nFrom there on, the incident reports continue in different handwriting -Brian's, you guess- but the last entry is from a little after 7pm. You frown at the paper. 7pm seems pretty early for people to abruptly shape up on campus- actually, if you had to guess, you'd say that's when things started really ramping up. Maybe they just got busy, but whoever started the log seemed pretty adamant that Brian Carroll stay put and finish it. \n\nWait. Brian Carroll. You know that name. You fucking remember that guy. He was fired pretty recently, on the allegation that he was harassing some student. You can't quite picture his face, but you know he was the youngest PS officer- a local who started working for the college right out of high school. According to rumor, he just wouldn't leave on of the girls alone, and they sacked him. It couldn't have been anything too serious if they brought him back in to pinch hit, but still...if that creep was wandering around on campus...\n\n[[put it together|put it together 3]]

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n\nYou head back into the pool of light surrounding the body. Dr. Flynn is on his cell phone, using some harsh language, so you don't bother him with your clue, if it could even be called that. The paper starts in a firm hand: "7:23 am - Power lost on main campus," the same handwriting continued with several incident reports from around campus, starting with "10:47 am - Noise complaint for DuBois Tower B, room 403. Residents Alan Mercer, Chris Attano, Ben Krowshaw and George Free found intoxicated. Issued warning." Fuck, not even before noon- people on your campus go hard. Things just got worse from there. The drunks got drunker, the parties more intense, and there didn't seem too much the public safety officers could do. At 2:40, the officer wrote that there was a likely case of alcohol poisoning in Terrace Hall D, room 506, but ambulances couldn't reach the campus because of harsh weather conditions. Holy shit, you had no idea things were that bad outside your honors dorm cloister. At 4:12 pm, there was a non-incident related note, \n\n"Brian called in for emergency assistance. Desk duty ONLY, no key permissions. Patrol schedule for duration of the storm: \nDesk Duty - Carroll\nComm Duty - rotating\nTowers - Stevens\nTerrance - Jones\nBenedict Hall - Korenic\nDenvers Hall - Putbrese\nGarreth Hall - Soloman"\n\nFrom there on, the incident reports continue in different handwriting -Brian's, you guess- but the last entry is from a little after 7pm. You frown at the paper. 7pm seems pretty early for people to abruptly shape up on campus- actually, if you had to guess, you'd say that's when things started really ramping up. Maybe they just got busy, but whoever started the log seemed pretty adamant that Brian Carroll stay put and finish it. \n\nWait. Brian Carroll. You know that name. You fucking remember that guy. He was fired pretty recently, on the allegation that he was harassing some student. You can't quite picture his face, but you know he was the youngest PS officer- a local who started working for the college right out of high school. According to rumor, he just wouldn't leave on of the girls alone, and they sacked him. It couldn't have been anything too serious if they brought him back in to pinch hit, but still...if that creep was wandering around on campus...\n\n<<if visited ("put it together 2")>>[[put it together]]<<else>>[[put it together|put it together ish]]<<endif>>\n

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numLighter gte 1>> Remaining lighter uses: <<$numLighter>> <<endif>>\n\nYou walk slowly toward Kayla's room, and overhear her describing her deep emotional commitment to Justin from her statistics class who, as far as you know, she has never spoken with.\n\n"Hey guys," you say, leaning around the doorframe. \n\n<<if visited ("Visit Kayla in room 114")>>Kayla rockets to her feet, still bedecked in glowsticks. You see that she's even tempted Marisa to wear a few.<<else>>\nKayla rockets to her feet. She's wearing at least half her weight in glowsticks, and apparently foisted a few on Marisa as well. 'Boy, those might have come in handy,' you think, a little wistful.<<endif>>\n\n"Caaarly!!" Kayla shouts, "We tried knocking on your door. Where've you been! Outside? Jeez! Is it cold?" \n\nMarisa is frowning though, "Are you okay?" she asks. You must look pretty rough for her to notice that even in this low light. \n\n"No," you say, adding as calmly as possible, "Nikki's dead.<<if visited ("Check on Dr. Flynn")>>And Dr. Flynn. <<endif>><<if visited ("Investigate PS solo")>>And probably all of Public Safety too.<<endif>> So you know..." \n\nYour friends stare at you. Comprehension seems sloe to get to their eyes, but when it does, it's comingled with horror.\n\n"No way," Marisa says. Kayla seems paralyzed. \n\n"I'm serious. I've been trying to...not get killed...all night," you say. \n\n"You called the police, right?" Marisa says, probably sounding more in control than she actually is. \n\n"Yeah. They said they couldn't do anything until the storm dies down," you say.\n\n"Why didn't you tell us?" Kayla says. She sounds like she's about to cry.\n\n"I mean...it wouldn't have done any good. You would have just worried and honestly, I think it was safer for you guys to be hanging out, rather than in your rooms or whatever. But I mean, I guess I should have said something earlier. I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking straight," you say, looking at the ground. \n\n"What should we do?" Marisa asks. Now Kayla is sitting on the edge of her bed, staring into space. She looks broken.\n\n"I came back to look through stuff again. Maybe see if I can get some more information," you say, gesturing at Nikki's door. \n\nMarisa looks you straight in the eye and says, "That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. You're not a cop. You should lock yourself in your room and wait until the actual cops get here."\n\nNow you're getting a little pissed. This is the kind of reaction that makes you not want to tell your friends important things. \n\n"Look, we're on our own tonight. We need to look out for ourselves. If we don't know what's going on, we can't do that. <<if not visitedTag("deadflynn" and "pssolo")>>We don't even know if this is an isolated incident or what.<<endif>> <<if visited ("put it together 3")>>Plus, the guy who I think is doing this has a set of keys. Locking myself in my room won't do me any good.<<endif>> \n\n"That's the worst excuse I've ever heard," Marisa says, kind of getting in your face, "You've got to think about this. This is, like, life or death, okay? Stop screwing around and wait this out. We'll just hang out here until the police can get here." \n\n"No," you say flatly. "At least, not until I poke around a little more." \n\nMarisa glares at you, and she almost looks hateful as she does it.\n\n"Fine," she finally says, "If you don't get killed, Kayla and I will be right here." \n\nThen, she slams Kayla's door. Up and down the hallway, people poke their heads out of their dorm rooms to see what happened. That's not embarrassing at all. \n\n[[Check Nikki's room again]]

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n\nYou pad down a hallway, sticking close to the walls as though you're on some kind of covert mission. The light shows around the edges of the door to office number 234. You're familiar with the occupant...oh are you. Everyone knows Dr. Flynn, otherwise known as Dr. Fineman. Publicly, you always profess to be immune to his charms, but honestly, Flynn is smart, funny, and, of course, extremely hot. You may be able to fool the world, but you can't fool yourself: you have a huge crush on Dr. Fineman er...Dr. Flynn. \n\nAs you get a little closer, you try to walk a little louder, attempting to telegraph your approach for the good professor- you don't want to spook the man when you knock on his door. \n\nEven so, when you give his door a modest, one-knuckle rap, you hear a faint gasp. "Dr. Flynn?" you say, your voice at least an octave and a half above usual. \n\nDr. Flynn opens his door, looking surprised but still very attractive. "Carly?" he says, and you hope that the question in his voice is because he's wondering why you're here, not because he's searching for your name. \n\n"Uh, hey Dr. Flynn. What are you doing here?" you stammer out. Immediately you regret not starting off the conversation with the news of brutal murder. It's going to be awkward shoehorning that in now. \n\n"I came by to get some grading done and managed to get snowed in. Better believe I'm taking comp time after this." He rolls his eyes and runs a hand through his perfect hair, "What are you doing here anyway?" \n\nPerfect! An in to mention the murder!\n\n"Well actually...my RA is dead. I've been trying to find somebody to help for...like...awhile now," you say, trying to sound credible. \n\nDr. Flynn's already large baby blues widen, "What?" \n\n<<if visited ("Go to the Public Safety Building")>> "Yeah...also the Public Safety guys...I'm pretty sure they're dead too, actually. I swung by there..." you taper off, not sure where to go from there.\n\n"You're..." Dr. Flynn starts. You can tell he really wants to say 'fucking' but is holding off. Consummate professional, that guy. How could you not love him? He eventually settles on, "You're kidding me." \n\n"I wish I were," you intone seriously, because you've heard that in TV shows so many times it seemed like the only right thing to say.\n<<endif>>\n"You called the cops right?" Dr. Flynn manages.\n\n"Well yeah. But with the snow, they won't be able to get here until morning," you flap a mittened hand toward the building's entrance, "The guy who did it is still out there, I guess. I've been trying to find someone to help." \n\nDr. Flynn runs his hand through his hair again. Twice.\n\n"No shit?" he finally says.\n\n"No shit," you say, and you really, really hope he believes you. \n\n"Well...what do you want me to do?"\n\n\n[[Ask him to come back with you to the dorm to uh...look for clues|join party]]\n[[Ask him to come to the Public Safety building with you]]\n[[Tell him he should probably stay here and lock his door. For safety.|stay here]]\n\n

<<set $ChaseResult to either(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)>>\n<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numLighter gte 1>> Remaining lighter uses: <<$numLighter>> <<endif>>\n\nOutside in the snowdrifts, escape would be impossible- the going would be too slow. Be here, you can take off running. \n\nAnd oh, do you run. \n\nYou sprint down the hallway, away from the figure and towards the stairwell. You hear the person's footsteps behind you, and that only makes you run faster, cranking your adrenaline up to primal levels. At the end of the hall, you swerve right, up a stairwell to the second floor. \n\nRun. Run and hide. Those two imperatives blare through your mind as your belabored conscious mind tries to think of just where to go. Where won't be locked. \n\nLadies' room, you think and that's where you go, practically dive-rolling into the last stall. You lock the stall shut behind you, tuck yourself on top of the toilet seat and wait in the darkness. \n\n<<if $ChaseResult gte 4>>\nThat waiting is the worst. You try to control your breathing, try to convince yourself that the modest rhythm of your inhalation can't be as loud as it seems. After your sprint, your lungs want to work like bellows, noisily siphoning air in, but you keep breathing shallowly, quietly. \n\nYour pursuer's footsteps are in the hallway now. You can hear them, echoing and heavy, and you actually pee just a little. You hear him open a door, a classroom you guess. Then another door, a little closer. Door after door.\n\nSuddenly, the door to the women's bathroom is opened, and you don't want to jump but you do, just a little. 'Oh God,' you think, 'Did he hear that?' You watch a flashlight beam ooze along the tiles- off-white and cream, which you never noticed until just now- and then the beam is cut off by the door closing. His footsteps keep down the hallway, and another door - to the men's bathroom, maybe? - is opened. \n\nYou want to cry, but don't. You wait, perfectly still and quiet, as the footsteps recede down the hallway, as other doors are opened and closed. Eventually, the sounds fade to nothing and you know that you have to move, to get out of there in case he comes back for a more thorough search, but it takes a huge effort for you to finally stand, leave your stall and finally, leave the bathroom. \n\nYou need to get out of this building. Now. \n\n[[Visit the chapel bathroom]]\n<<if visited ("Walk to public safety")>>[[Try public safety again|Head to Public Safety 2 solo]]\n<<else>>[[Walk to public safety]]\n[[Wait this out in your room]]\n[[Head to town for help|Head for town anyway]]\n[[Investigate your dorm|investigate your dorm solo]]\n\n<<else>>\nThat waiting is the worst. You try to control your breathing, try to convince yourself that the modest rhythm of your inhalation can't be as loud as it seems. After your sprint, your lungs want to work like bellows, noisily siphoning air in, but you keep breathing shallowly, quietly. \n\nYour pursuer's footsteps are in the hallway now. You can hear them, echoing and heavy, and you actually pee just a little. You hear him open a door, a classroom you guess. Then another door, a little closer. Door after door.\n\nSuddenly, the door to the women's bathroom is opened, and you don't want to jump but you do, just a little. 'Oh God,' you think, 'Did he hear that?' You watch a flashlight beam ooze along the tiles- off-white and cream, which you never noticed until just now- and cringe as footsteps follow the light in. \n\nOh God. He's here. He's here. \n\nTo the far right, you hear him kick open a stall. Then another - the one right next to yours. In seconds, just seconds, he'll kick open your door, find you, and kill you.\n\nThe waiting is the worst.\n \n\n[[credits]]\n\nYou encountered the murderer <<$numKillerEncounters>> <<if $numKillerEncounters is 1>>time<<else>>times<<endif>> during this playthrough.\n<<if visitedTag("identity")>>You discovered that the killer's identity was former Public Safety officer Brian Carroll<<else>>You did not uncover the murderer's identity.<<endif>>\n<<if visitedTag("stalk")>>You realized that the murderer was trying to kill you because you knew he was tampering with the crime scenes to make them appear more like random acts of violence.<<else>>You did not find out why the murderer was tracking you.<<endif>>\n\n<<endif>>\n

<<set $numPhoneCharge = $numPhoneCharge - 1>>\n<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numLighter gte 1>> Remaining lighter uses: <<$numLighter>> <<endif>>\n\nYou manage to flop your cell phone into your hand and, with a cold-stiffened thumb, manage to encourage it to shed a little light on the situation. \n\n<<if $killer2 gte 8>>\n<<set $numKillerEncounters = $numKillerEncounters + 1>>\n<<if $numKillerEncounters is 2>>You feel queasy- some instinctual awareness that the person coming toward you is bad, bad, bad. A potent conclusion, utterly unreasoned, sends adrenaline sluicing through your system: this must be the murderer. They must be following you.<<endif>>\nThe noise you heard- or probably heard- seems to cease. Super. You keep trudging along, eyes mostly closed against the bitter elements.\n\n<<else>>\n\nBy the light of your cell, you see another girl trudging through the snow. At least, you think it's another girl- they're wearing too many layers to tell for sure. You think the look up at you, maybe surprised by the sudden colorful lights, but she doesn't acknowledge you. She just keeps slogging through this dreadful night, perhaps too cold and miserable to make friends. 'Same' you think as you keep trudging along, eyes mostly closed against the bitter elements.\n\n<<endif>>\n\nAfter about a mile of laborious walking, you realize you've made a terrible mistake. \n\nThe first eddies of doubt came when a turn in the road put black trees between you and the limp lights on campus. You persisted though, refusing to be dissuaded by something as immaterial as an unpleasant visual. However, the ache in your legs was very material then, and it is unignorable now. You aren't necessarily out of shape, but this hike would be a workout for anyone. The cold grinds you, and your weariness slows you. You keep peeping ahead, hoping for some encouraging glimmer of the town's streetlights, or even the black angles of a farmhouse set back from the road, but you don't see anything. You don't realize that you haven't even gone that far. \n\nYour pace slows, and the cold penetrates your skin, your bones. You tire. \n\n<<if $numLighter gte 5>>[[Use lighter to keep warm]]<<else>>\n\nYou stop to rest; hunch against a telephone pole in the snow, and you do not get up. Even when you eventually call 911 for help, you are too disoriented to describe where you are, and what kind of help you need. Even though the operator is able to trace your call, the weather prevents them from sending anyone to get you. \n\nYou die in the cold, amid a delirium which convinces you that your cell phone is emitting heat as well as light. \n\n[[credits]]\n\nYou encountered the murderer <<$numKillerEncounters>> times during this playthrough.\n<<if visited ("put it together 3" or "put it together")>>You discovered that the killer's identity was former Public Safety officer Brian Carroll<<else>>You did not uncover the murderer's identity.<<endif>>\n<<if visited ("put it together 4" or "put it together")>>You realized that the murderer was trying to kill you because you knew he was tampering with the crime scenes to make them appear more like random acts of violence.<<else>>You did not find out why the murderer was tracking you.<<endif>>\n\n<<endif>>

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numLighter gte 1>> Remaining lighter uses: <<$numLighter>> <<endif>>\n\nYeah, it is more than necessary that Kayla and Marisa hear about this. You set off across campus, plowing through the snow and starting to sweat with exertion. You remember reading somewhere that that's a really bad thing, but you don't really care at the moment. You've got to warn your friends.\n\n<<set $killer14 to either(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)>>\n\n[[Do nothing, because it's probably nothing|nothing 14]]\n<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>\n[[Use your phone as a flashlight|flashlight 14]] <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>>\n[[Use a glowstick|glowstick 14]]<<endif>>\n<<if $numLighter gte 1>>\n[[Use the lighter|lighter 14]]<<endif>>

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n\nConsidering the circumstances, you couldn't care less about getting a computer for Marisa. <<if visited ("Tell Marisa")>> Actually, she probably couldn't care less, either.<<endif>> But, there is a small chance that there may be someone helpful there<<if visited ("visited_PS")>> especially since PS is apparently out of the equation<<endif>>. Plus, the building requires a pass to enter after hours, so unless the murderer is a STEM major, you'll be safe there. Maybe. Safer and more comfortable than you are now, at least.\n\nYou clumsily swipe Marisa's card at a side door and wedge yourself into the building. The wind helpfully slams the door behind you, sending painfully loud echoes through the empty building. \n\nWell actually, not totally empty. Down the hallway, you see a blue light coming from beneath one of the doors, so faint you think you imagined it at first. But no, it's the genuine article. Someone's in here with you. \n\n[[See who's in]]

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numLighter gte 1>> Remaining lighter uses: <<$numLighter>> <<endif>>\n\nYep, you are MORE than done with this horror show. Time to find someplace else to be.\n\n<<if not visited("Visit the chapel bathroom")>>[[Visit the chapel bathroom]]<<endif>>\n<<if $numPass is 1>><<if not visited("Go to the science building")>>[[Go to the science building|science building track 2]]<<endif>><<endif>>\n<<if not visitedTag("offer")"[[Wait this out in your room]]<<else>>[[Return to Marisa|Ask to hang out with Marisa for the night]]<<endif>>\n[[Try to get to town|Head for town anyway]]\n<<if not visited ("investigate your dorm solo")>>[[Investigate your dorm|investigate your dorm solo]]<<endif>>

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numLighter gte 1>> Remaining lighter uses: <<$numLighter>> <<endif>>\n\nUgh. This is not something that you want to do. Not at all. Eventually, you compromise with yourself and decide to only look at the peripherals of the body, which aren't too traumatizing. You notice that there's water around the Public Safety officer's boots- probably melted snow, but that's about it. You would have thought the killer would track some snow near his victim - but it seems fairly dry. Unless the melted snow got mixed in with the blood. For some reason, this thought makes you gag. Okay. Time to move on.\n\n\n<<if not visited("check comm room solo")>>[[Investigate the communications room|check comm room solo]]<<endif>>\n<<if not visited("check front desk solo")>>[[Investigate the front desk|check front desk solo]]<<endif>>\n<<if visitedTag("readoption")>>[[Step out into the hall and read the note|read note]]<<endif>>\n[[Leave the PS building]]

Thank you very much for playing 'Snow.' I hope you enjoyed the game!\n\nSpecial thanks to my play testers:\n\nLogan 'Anime Guy,' co-host of the Marble Operator podcast\nAbby, co-host of Marble Operator podcast and friend\nRand al'Thor, host of Marble Operator and Friday Night Trivia\nUser 'Morgan_R' on the Twine forums\nUser 'bawpie' on the Twine forums\nMy dad (I took some of the curses ut I swear)\n\n\nAbout the author:\nErica Szalkowski hopes to write scripts for video games someday. Until then, she'll keep inflicting other kinds of interactive fiction on the internet. \n\nYou can reach her via email: [email protected]\nFind her on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/pub/erica-szalkowski/25/44b/a/\nOr Facebook: www.facebook.com/Conspicuous.Designs

You walk back to Dr. Flynn. He standing near the body, but not looking at it.\n\n"The police say they still won't be able to get here until the morning. My tax dollars at work," he says. \n\n<<if visited ("Check the communications room")>>"There's another body in the communications room," you say. You didn't think Dr. Flynn's doe-eyes could get any wider, but they do. \n\n"Seriously?" he asks.\n\nYou nod. \n\n"Shit," he moans. You know the feeling.<<endif>>\n\n"So...what's the plan?" you ask.\n\nDr. Flynn scoffs, "Stay here, I guess? The police said they'd come here first. I don't know- this kind of thing really isn't in the employee handbook." \n\n<<if visited ("Check the communications room")>>You get the sense that you're missing something- like there's a bigger picture here than some random dead Public Safety officers and your unfortunate RA, but what it might be you couldn't even guess.<<endif>>\n\n<<if visited ("Tell Kayla" or "Tell Marisa")>>"Well...I should probably tell my friends Public Safety isn't going to be any help tonight," you say. "Plus...I mean I have no idea what whoever did this wants, but if they stole keys off of any of these guys, they can pretty much waltz into whatever room they want. I just wanna let them know to...keep a weather eye out, I guess."\n\n"You can't just call them?" Dr. Flynn asks, looking out one dark window.\n\n"Nope. <<if visited ("Tell Kayla")>>Kayla's cell is already dead. Knowing Marisa, she probably burned hers out, too.<<else>> They've probably been playing on their phones since the power went out.<<endif>>" Sometimes you hate your friends a little.\n\n"Well...I guess it would be pretty terrible of me to let you walk there alone. I mean, clearly, this isn't the safest night to be wandering around alone," Dr. Flynn says.\n\nYou smile at him- he is truly worthy of the Fineman name, "Thanks," you say, beaming.\n\n"Yeah...let's go then," he responds, hurriedly walking past the dead Public Safety officer.\n\n[[visit your dorm]]\n\n<<else>>\nYeah, you think staying here doesn't sound half bad. The police will be here in the morning, and Dr. Flynn's here to protect you, or whatever. \n\n"Sounds good," you say. \n\nHe nods, and looks at his phone, "So, it's about 3 am. Sunrise will probably be at...what 6:40 ish?" he sighs, and slumps against the wall, "Kind of makes you wish you had a pack of cards, right?" \n\n[[snowmelt|snowmelt2]]\n<<endif>>

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>><<endif>>\n\nYou decide you might as well poke around the science building a little before heading out again. Hell, there may even be something to bolster your dwindling light supply. There are four main classrooms on the first floor- you figure that you can check through those, maybe. If they're a wash, you aren't eager to waste time or light on the rest of the building. \n\n<<set $matches to either(1, 2, 3, 4)>>\n\n[[Check room 1]]\n[[Check room 2]]\n[[Check room 3]]\n[[Check room 4]]

Erica Szalkowski\n\nPlease note that this story contains strong language, and is not intended for younger players.\n\nIf you find any errors in this this game, please contact me via [email protected]

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numLighter gte 1>> Remaining lighter uses: <<$numLighter>> <<endif>>\n<<set $killer18 to either(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)>>\nAs you are not-quite-dashing through the snow, you hear, over the sound of the wind, the crunching footsteps of someone approaching you from behind.\n\n[[Do nothing, because it's probably nothing|nothing 18]]\n\n<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>\n[[Use your phone as a flashlight|flashlight 18]] <<endif>>\n\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>>\n[[Use a glowstick|glowstick 18]]<<endif>>\n\n<<if $numLighter gte 1>>\n[[Use the lighter|lighter 18]]<<endif>>

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n\n\n<<if visited ("Visit Kayla in room 114")>> Kayla throws her door open again. She's still wearing loops of glowsticks, and looks like a too-thin Christmas tree. It isn't endearing now. It's unforgivably tone deaf and she doesn't even fucking know it.\n\n"Sup?!" she asks gleefully, but she quickly pulls a frown. Even she can tell you're upset. <<else>> Kayla throws open her door, beaming. Figuratively and literally- she's completely decked out in glowsticks for some reason. It isn't endearing. It isn't funny. It's so stupid. Why didn't she sense it; that Nikki was dead practically right across the hall? How did she not just...know? Murder shouldn't happen quietly, unmarked, with your idiot friend yards away prancing around in damn glowsticks.\n\n"Hey uh...you okay?" she asks. She's about as perceptive as camera with the lens cap on, but even she can see that you're upset. <<endif>>\n\n"Nikki's dead," you pronounce, "Someone killed her." \n\nKayla gapes dumbly at you, "Did...you call the police?" she manages. \n\n"Yeah. They can't come right now though, because of the storm. I called Public Safety too, but they didn't pick up. I guess I can try again later." \n\nShe keeps staring, "I guess I should...like...lock my door then, huh?" \n\n"Probably," you say. \n\nKayla doesn't reply right away, but she doesn't close the door either. A thought is boiling behind her eyes, "Kinda wish I hadn't used my cell up. Coulda called my parents," she says finally.\n\n"You'd just freak 'em out. Tell 'em later," you say, but you both know she's not interested in giving them a news update. She wants to hear, and to say, "I love you," just in case.\n\n"Yeah," she says, but she's starting to look sick, "Uhm...yeah.." and she retreats back into her room. You wonder if she's going to have a panic attack or something, alone in there, with nothing but a half a ton of glowsticks to distract herself from her worries.\n\n[[Tell Marisa]]\n[[Wait this out in your room]]\n[[Leave the dorm to tell public safety|Walk to public safety]]\n[[Try to hike into town]]\n<<if $numPass is 1>>\n[[Go to the science building]]<<endif>>

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numLighter gte 1>>Remaining lighter uses: <<$numLighter>><<endif>>\n\nHow will you survive?\n\n[[Tell Kayla what happened|Tell Kayla]]\n[[Tell Marisa what happened|Tell Marisa]]\n[[Wait this out in your room]]\n[[Walk to public safety]]\n[[Try to hike into town]]\n<<if $numPass is 1>>\n[[Go to the science building]]\n<<endif>>

<<silently>>\n<<set $visited_Kayla = "no">>\n<<set $visited_Marisa = "no">>\n<<set $visited_RA = "no">>\n<<set $Gone_Outside1 = "no">>\n<<set $visited_PS = "no">>\n<<set $numPass to 0>>\n<<set $numGlowsticks = 0>>\n<<set $numPhoneCharge = 6>>\n<<set $numKillerEncounters to 0>>\n<<set $visited_Kayla2 = "no">>\n<<set $visited_Marisa2 = "no">>\n<<set $visited_PS = "no">>\n<<endsilently>>\n\n\nYou are Carly Hallahan, and you are extremely disappointed that you woke up at 11:45pm. You had hoped that your late evening nap would turn into a full night's sleep, but your internal clock had other ideas. The blizzard knocked out the power out in your dorm room, so there isn't much else to do besides sleep or burn the remains of your iPhone's battery checking Tumblr. After failing to will yourself asleep again, you finally leave the warmth of your comforter. You guess that you could see what your friends down the hall are up to. Or you could just continue to bum around. Whatever.\n\n[[Look at the pile of crap on your roommate's side]]\n[[Look out the window]]\n[[Look at your desk]]\n[[Look in your minifridge]]\n[[Try to find your key]]

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numLighter gte 1>> Remaining lighter uses: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n\n<<if visited ("Check Room 116")>>Okay. Honestly, enough of this. Marisa was right. You can't do anything more here. You close the door to room 116 and walk back towards the end of the hallway. Marisa answers it, wearing a 'scared but stern' expression, like something out of a movie. \n\n"Okay, let's tell everyone," you say.<<else>>\n"Okay, let's tell everyone," you say.<<endif>>\n\nThe visits take on a pattern. <<if visited ("Investigate PS solo")>>You describe what you've seen. The bodies. Public Safety empty of help.<<endif>><<if visited ("Check on Dr. Flynn")>> Your professor dead, his throat slit.<<endif>> Your hallmates freak out, but they listen to you and come out into the hall anyway. Well, they're probably listening to Marisa, because she's all kinds of authoritative, but whatever. As long as they're out in the hallway, under the emergency lights, they'll probably be safe. \n\n<<if visited ("put it together 3">>You and the rest of your hallmates form a drift of young women and blankets, anxiously waiting to see if Brian would come to kill them. \n\nHe doesn't.<<else>>\nYou and the rest of your hallmates form a drift of young women and blankets, anxiously waiting for the murderer to materialize in the dim light.\n\nHe doesn't.<<endif>>\n\nBut eventually, the police do. \n\nMarisa makes a big show of pointing the cops in your direction, letting THEM know that YOU know what happened. That's a bit of an overstatement, but you do your best. <<if visited ("put it together 3")>>You tell them that you found Nikki's body and that, in the process of trying to survive the night, discovered that Brian Carroll was probably responsible for her death. Out of the corner of your eye, you see Marisa nodding approvingly. You want to tell the police that you are pretty sure that Brian was following you, but you think that might sound a little paranoid and you don't want to seem weird in front of your hallmates. Well, weirder- you did just find a bunch of bodies. But this night probably made everyone weird.<<else>>You tell them that you found Nikki's body, but leave out how desperate you felt when they couldn't come and help right away. How fear sent you running scared into the snow. How you're still scared, because you don't know who did these things.\n\nYou don't say that, but you think they guessed it by your expression, because the officers sound kind of apologetic when they take your information.<<endif>>\n\n<<if visited ("put it together 3" and "Check on Dr. Flynn")>>Brian Carroll is arrested. This should be good news, but it doesn't shift your weighty memory of finding Dr. Flynn dead. Your small campus mourns him, mourns Nikki, mourns the other dead more than they celebrate Brian's capture. Brian may be a proper boogieman, but it's Dr. Flynn that haunts you. Did you cause his death, inadvertently? Could you have saved him? Brian Carroll apparently speaks to no one. Why he killed Dr. Flynn- and why he followed you so doggedly throughout the night- remains a mystery. \n\nMarisa tells you that it's irrational to blame yourself for Dr. Flynn's death. Kayla keeps trying to distract you, bothering you to torrent Game of Thrones with her. Neither approach helps. What you need is time and quiet. Some distance.\n\nYou need the snow to melt.<<endif>>\n\n<<if visited ("put it together 3" and not visited "Check on Dr. Flynn")>>Brian Carroll is arrested. Your small campus reels to find itself so sodden with death. Students and teachers seemed offended that something like this could happen on their neat liberal arts campus, where the quad is trimmed and fertilized in summer and the walkways are salted in winter. \n\nNot that night, you think- there were no shoveled sidewalks or neatly plowed parking lots that night. That night, everything was buried in a violent chill. Things were buried, or else changed dramatically by the dark. It was not your civilized campus that night. It was Brian Carroll's campus, with all his strange passions and violence. \n\nBefore the campus fully surfaces from beneath the blazing white drifts, you decide to transfer. Kayla and Marisa protest, and they almost convince you to stay, but then when you try to sleep at night, the darkness is too similar to that night.\n\nNope, sorry guys. It's too much for you. \n\nThe college understands. Your new college also understands. Your psychologist understands. Your parents understand.\n\nYou're sick of understanding. You want the nights to stop being cold and dark. You want the snow to melt.<<endif>>\n\n[[credits]]\n\nYou encountered the murderer <<$numKillerEncounters>> <<if $numKillerEncounters is 1>>time<<else>>times<<endif>> during this playthrough.\nYou survived the night. Congratulations!\n<<if visited ("put it together 3" or "put it together" or "put it together ish")>>You discovered that the killer's identity was former Public Safety officer Brian Carroll<<else>>You did not uncover the murderer's identity.<<endif>>\n<<if visited ("put it together 4" or "put it together 2")>>You realized that the murderer was trying to kill you because you knew he was tampering with the crime scenes to make them appear more like random acts of violence.<<else>>You did not find out why the murderer was tracking you.<<endif>>

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n\nMan, why does the power have to be out. You can't see shit in Room 4.\n\n<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>[[Use phone to see|Phone Room 4]]<<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>>[[Use glowstick to see|Glowstick room 4]]<<endif>>\n[[Forget it]]

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n\nYou head into Room 1, and of course, it's dark as hell in there. Great.\n\n<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>[[Use phone to see|Phone Room 1]]<<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>>[[Use glowstick to see|Glowstick Room 1]]<<endif>>\n[[Forget it]]

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n\nRoom 3 is as dark as the interior of Satan's asshole, just like the rest of this Godforsaken campus.\n\n<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>[[Use phone to see|Phone Room 3]]<<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>>[[Use glowstick to see|Glowstick room 3]]<<endif>>\n[[Forget it]]

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n\nYou head into Room 2, and it's pitch fucking black in there.\n\n<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>[[Use phone to see|Phone Room 2]]<<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>>[[Use glowstick to see|Glowstick Room 2]]<<endif>>\n[[Forget it]]

<<set $numLighter to 8>>\n<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numLighter gte 1>> Remaining lighter uses: <<$numLighter>> <<endif>>\n<<set $numKillerEncounters = $numKillerEncounters + 1>>\nAs you leave the room, you glance down the hallway and notice someone standing on the far end. \n\n"Uh...hello?" you say, thinking it might be Dr. Flynn wandering around for some reason.\n\nThe person doesn't respond. You've had goosebumps since leaving your room, but you really feel them prickle now.\n\n"I need you to say something, or I'm getting out of here," you say, trying not to sound as scared as you are.\n\nThe person at the end of the hallway says nothing, but they start walking toward you.\n\n<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>\n[[Use your phone as a flashlight|flashlight 7]]<<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>>[[Use a glowstick|glowstick 7]]<<endif>>\n<<if $numLighter gte 1>>[[Use the lighter|lighter 7]]<<endif>>\n[[try to run and hide]]\n

<<set $numGlowsticks = $numGlowsticks - 1>>\n<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n<<if $killer3 lte 7>>\n\nYou reach into your pocket, pull out a glowstick, and crack it open. Turns out you were suspicious of a little bendy tree whipped around by the wind.\n\nOh.\n\n'Fuck you' you say. The tree doesn't seem to care.\n\n[[enter the chapel bathroom]]\n\n<<else>>\n<<set $numKillerEncounters = $numKillerEncounters + 1>>\n<<if $numKillerEncounters is 2>>You feel queasy- some instinctual awareness that the person coming toward you is bad, bad, bad. A potent conclusion, utterly unreasoned, sends adrenaline sluicing through your system: this must be the murderer. They must be following you.<<endif>>\n\nYou reach into your pocket, pull out a glowstick, and crack it open. The figure recedes into the darkness, leaving you to continue your belabored journey into the chapel. \n\n[[enter the chapel bathroom]]\n\n\n<<endif>>

<<set $numGlowsticks = $numGlowsticks - 1>>\n<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n\nYou flick your phone on, and yep, the public safety officer is definitely dead. There's blood down his front, blood on the floor, blood on the comm console. You briefly wonder how many dollars of therapy this will cost your parents. Despite your disgust, you do notice something different about this body- it seems like the murderer moved him a little to get at the console. You can even see how the blood on the buttons was smeared. Did the killer have a burning desire to listen in on Public Safety's radio chatter? Wait, not just listen- the blood on the call button is streaked, too. So, either the killer was chatting it up with PS, or one of the officers found his dead buddy and put out a general call. You remember when this whole stupid fucking event started, when you called public safety and nobody answered, and can imagine the phone in this office ringing and ringing while this man bled out all over the electronics and you feel cold again. You don't want to be in here any longer.\n\n[[Check the front desk]]\n[[Go back to Dr. Flynn. You're done with this night.|Go back to Dr. Flynn]]\n

<<set $numGlowsticks = $numGlowsticks - 1>>\n<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n\nYou crack a glowstick begin swinging it around frantically, trying to take in as much as possible without wearing it down too much. \n\nThere's no blood on the desk, contrary to this night's grue norm. In lieu of the powerless computer, it looks like one of the officers started keeping a handwritten ledger of some kind on a sheet of notebook paper. You grab it to examine later. On one wall, you see six hooks. Five have nametags above them, which you don't take the time to read. Looking under the desk, you see some paperclips and crumbs, but no melted snow. Basically, everything looks in order, more or less. What a waste of time. \n\n[[see what the paper says]]

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>><<endif>>\n\nYour RA, Nikki, is a nice enough girl, you guess. A little over-enthusiastic about hall programs and that shit, but you can't blame her too much. You think her pay scale or magical RA kudos are tied to the number of people she gets to come to those things.\n\nLike most RA's, Nikki has an open-door policy, so rather than knock, you push the door open, saying "Hey Nikki!" as you enter her dorm. The flaccid illumination from the hallway presses in with you, but it takes your eyes a few seconds to adjust and to see that Nikki is dead.\n\nShe's pressed up against the back wall of her room, almost perfectly centered beneath an open window which permits billows of snow and freezing air. Nikki's head is tilted forward, and her chin is on her chest, nestled in sopping shadows. Blood. \n\n"Nikki?" you say, and your voice is thin and impotent. \n\n[[Now...]]

You're only halfway to the Public Safety office. Great. \n\nAs you are wading through the blizzard, you hear faint sounds of someone else pulling themselves through the snow. You tense up. Is this the guy? Some random asshole with a death wish? \n\n<<set $killer10 to either(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)>>\n\n\n[[Do nothing, because it's probably nothing|nothing 10]]\n<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>[[Use your phone as a flashlight|flashlight 10]] <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>>[[Use a glowstick|glowstick 10]]<<endif>>

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n\n<<if visited ("Go to the Public Safety Building")>>\nYou rub the back of your head, considering. "Yeah well...I guess...we could go to public safety again? Like I said, things seemed pretty off there but maybe...I don't know one of the other officers came back or something."\n\n"Yeah," Dr. Flynn says. You can tell he's a bit suspicious about your, 'everyone in public safety is dead' theory and wants to see for himself. Now that you think about it, you aren't even sure that guy was dead. You just saw a leg, really. Maybe the guy was just passed out drunk; hell, he wouldn't be the first PS officer to drink on the job. And even if he was out of commission, you might have been a little hasty in writing off the entire Public Safety team. \n\n"Yeah, let's do that," he says, grabbing his coat.\n\n[[Head To Public Safety|Head to Public Safety 1]]\n<<else>>\n"Well...I guess we could go to Public Safety? I mean, honestly I should have probably gone there first, but they didn't pick up," you report, a little sheepish.\n\n"They didn't?" he asked. "Hang on." Rotating around in his chair, Dr. Flynn grabs his cell phone and starts a call, waits, and lowers the phone again. "Yeah, nothing doing. Weird," he says, shrugging. "Guess we'll have to see what's up," he says grabbing his coat.\n\nYou smile. You've got the hottest prof on campus to protect you, and you're about to get a crack squad of PS officers to take care of the whole 'murderer loose on campus' issue. Hell, everything is coming up Carly. \n\n[[Head To Public Safety|Head to Public Safety 2]]\n<<endif>>

You continue to stare at the body, processing, letting Dr. Flynn's curses fade into the back of your awareness. The body is like a black hole, syphoning your attention away from everything else. \n\nThe dead officer is a big guy who you've seen around campus before. Tall and fat. Strong. The cut is across the front of his throat, across his jugular. No, don't look too long at that. By his head, you see a pattern of dark spots on the floor, heading toward the even darker second story of the house. Footprints? Maybe. You notice that he doesn't have a key ring on him, though, and you remember that these guys usually carry a hugely overburdened metal loop at their belt. At the officer's feet, there's a pool of water where snow probably melted off his boots. No other puddles though, which is weird because you thought the killer would probably have snow on his boots as well. Hell, everyone on this campus probably has snow compounded in their asshole by now. You try thinking this last sentence to mute your disgust a little, but it doesn't work. Looking at the body is still pretty horrible, and you think you're done with that now. \n\n[[Check the communications room]]\n[[Check the front desk]]

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n\nYou cower in the bathroom for a few minutes, trying to husband a little body heat for the journey. Eventually, with great labor and regret, you leave your couch, your bathroom, your chapel. The cold bites all the harder in the wake of your respite, and the snow seems deeper-more stubborn. You curl into yourself as much as possible, drawing your shoulders toward your ears and bending at the waist. \n\nAs you're sort of the opposite of dashing through the snow, you notice dark figure walking toward you. Damn, what is it with people tonight?\n\n<<set $killer4 to either(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)>>\n\n[[Do nothing, because it's probably nothing|nothing 4]]\n<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>[[Use your phone as a flashlight|flashlight 4]]<<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>>[[Use a glowstick|glowstick 4]]<<endif>>\n<<if $numLighter gte 1>>[[Use lighter|lighter 4]]<<endif>>\n

<<set $numLighter = $numLighter - 1>>\n<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numLighter gte 1>> Remaining lighter uses: <<$numLighter>> <<endif>>\n<<if $killer17 lte 7>>\nYou turn on your light and realize that the person was following because they know you. It's Derick from Western Civ. He's so bundled up that you wouldn't recognize him, except that he's wearing his signature wolf-head hat. You're impressed that its functions extend beyond 'looking stupid'. \n\n"Carly!" he says, "Hey Carly! Is that you?"\n\nNormally you'd enjoy a good flirt with him, but you're on a mission right now.\n\n<<if visited ("put it together 3" and not visited "put it together 4")>>"Derick, listen- you should probably not be out right now. One of the Public Safety officers flipped out and he's killing people."<<endif>>\n<<if visited ("put it together 4" and not visited "put it together 3")>>"Derick, listen- you should probably not be out right now. Someone with campus room keys is killing people, and I think he's, like, following me."<<endif>>\nHe doesn't say anything for a few seconds, so you assume he's taking you seriously.\n\n"You aren't messing with me?" he asks in a last-ditch attempt to salvage the night. \n\n"Nope," you say.\n\n"Oh shit. Oh shit. Man, I'm going back to my dorm right now...thanks for warning me. Shit," he quickly disappears back into the darkness. You're a little offended that he doesn't man up and ask to escort you, but whatever. You're almost to the science building anyway. \n\n[[Check on Dr. Flynn|Check on Dr. Flynn 2]]\n<<else>>\n<<set $numKillerEncounters = $numKillerEncounters + 1>><<if num $numKillerEncounters is 2>>You feel queasy- some instinctual awareness that the person coming toward you is bad, bad, bad. A potent conclusion, utterly unreasoned, sends adrenaline sluicing through your system: this must be the murderer. They must be following you.<<endif>>\n\nWhoever it was shrinks back into the darkness. \n\n'Yeah, you better run asshole,' you think, trying to sound brave to yourself. \n\n[[Check on Dr. Flynn|Check on Dr. Flynn 2]]\n<<endif>>

<<set $numLighter = $numPhoneLighter - 1>>\n<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numLighter gte 1>> Remaining lighter uses: <<$numLighter>> <<endif>>\n\nYou flick on your lighter and yes, they're dead. In the low light it's hard to see anything more than dark pools which suggest blood- something you're grateful for. <<if visited ("leg solo")>>At least they aren't practically sitting in a spotlight, like the public safety officer.<<endif>>Vicky's closer to the window, and you can see that she's got little accumulations of snow settling along her body. Nicole is swaddled in her blanket, a yoga-panted leg hanging off her bed. <<if visited ("leg solo") and ("Check on Dr. Flynn")>>You'd bet good money that both their throats are cut, but there's no way you're going to get close enough to check. Trying to keep the bodies out of your line of sight, you look around.<<else>> "Guys?" you say, just in case the dark, penny-scented shadows covering their blankets are just spilled wine cooler or something. No response. Of course there's no response. You bite your lip, trying to decide if there's anything worth seeing here. Well, you've come this far. You decide to look around, trying to keep the bodies out of your line of sight.<<endif>>\n\nYou have a hard time concentrating on the scene; the presence of your dead hallmates is pervasive and distracting. The cheap carpet near their door might be a little damp, but it's hard to tell in the light- hell, it could just be from snow that blew over and melted from the warm air coming in under the door. The window though- that bothers you. And you know the door was locked when you checked earlier. Did they unlock it after you came by, and get killed then? And what the hell was up with their fucking window? Nikki's was open too...what the hell was this all about?\n\n[[Go back to the hallway|put it together 4]]\n

<<set $numGlowsticks = $numGlowsticks - 1>>\n<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n<<if $matches is 2>>\nYou swing your phone around the room. It looks like there's some kind of experiment set up, but you have no fucking clue what it is. There's nothing useful on the students' desks, but you check the podium at the front of the classroom and find a lighter tucked in the back- and not some dinky little cigarette thing, either. No, this is one of those long ones with a trigger and everything. It feels a little light, like there isn't much fuel left, but even so, this is easily the best moment of your night. You stare reverently at it, feel a bit weird about that, then head back out into the hallway.\n\n[[Science building hallway]]\n\n<<else>>\nYou were actually in this room a few days ago, for your gen.ed. biology class. At the time, you dissected a rat with a few of your classmates, and you've tried very hard to forget the experience. Given your circumstances, you aren't happy to be reminded of that vivisected white rat, prone on a shining metal platter. A female rat. One of your lab partners stuck a pipette down her throat and reinflated her lungs, and you watched them swell with false life.\n\nYeah, time to get out of here. There's nothing useful anyway.\n<<if not visited ("Check room 1")>>[[Try Room 1|Check room 1]]<<endif>>\n<<if not visited ("Check room 3")>>[[Try Room 3|Check room 3]]\n[[Forget it]]<<endif>>\n<<if not visited ("Check room 4")>>[[Try Room 4|Check room 4]]<<endif>>\n[[Forget it]]\n\n<<endif>>

<<set $numGlowsticks = $numGlowsticks - 1>>\n<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n<<if $matches is 1>>\nYou swing your phone around the room. It looks like there's some kind of experiment set up, but you have no fucking clue what it is. There's nothing useful on the students' desks, but you check the podium at the front of the classroom and find a lighter tucked in the back- and not some dinky little cigarette thing, either. No, this is one of those long ones with a trigger and everything. It feels a little light, like there isn't much fuel left, but even so, this is easily the best moment of your night. You stare reverently at it, feel a bit weird about that, then head back out into the hallway.\n\n[[Science building hallway]]\n\n<<else>>\nYou poke around, but there doesn't seem to be much going on in here- no experiments or anything set up. Great.\n<<if not visited ("Check room 2")>>[[Try Room 2|Check room 2]]\n[[Forget it]]<<endif>>\n<<if not visited ("Check room 3")>>[[Try Room 3|Check room 3]]\n[[Forget it]]<<endif>>\n<<if not visited ("Check room 4")>>[[Try Room 4|Check room 4]]<<endif>>\n[[Forget it]]\n\n<<endif>>

<<set $numFlashlight = $numFlashlight - 1>>\n<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numLighter gte 1>> Remaining lighter uses: <<$numLighter>> <<endif>>\n<<if $killer11 lte 7>>\nYou turn on your phone, and the footsteps stop, then reverse. Maybe they mistook you for someone else in the dark. Pretty embarrassing for them, you guess.\n\n[[Check the science building|enter science building track 2]]\n<<else>>\n<<set $numKillerEncounters = $numKillerEncounters + 1>>\n<<if $numKillerEncounters is 2>>You feel queasy- some instinctual awareness that the person coming toward you is bad, bad, bad. A potent conclusion, utterly unreasoned, sends adrenaline sluicing through your system: this must be the murderer. They must be following you.<<endif>>\nYou turn on your phone, and the footsteps stop, then reverse. Maybe they just got you confused with someone else in the dark, but that seems too innocent for this night.\n\n[[Check the science building|enter science building track 2]]\n<<endif>>

<<set $numPhoneCharge = $numPhoneCharge - 1>>\n<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n<<if $killer10 lte 7>>\n\nYou manage to jam your hand in your pocket, wrap your stiff fingers around your cell phone and tap it so it luminesces.\n\n"HEYYY NICE NIGHT AMIRIGHT!!!" a shadowy figure slurs. Oh. A drunk, wandering around a night, making stupid decisions. Boy, you NEVER see that on college campuses. \n\n"Fuck you!" you try to yell back, not in the mood for the asshole's drunken shenanigans, but the harsh wind blows your words back down your throat, along with a bitter helping of snow and ice. Coughing, you vaguely wonder if that's some kind of hubris thing, but quickly stop caring. Public safety is only a few yards away anyway.\n\n\n[[Go to the Public Safety Building]]\n\n<<else>>\n\nSuspiciously, the figure backs off. Whatever. You aren't going to worry about some random weirdo stalking you. You're almost at Public Safety anyway.\n\n[[Go to the Public Safety Building]]\n\n<<endif>>

You step back out into the hallway, carefully closing the door behind you.\n\n"They're dead, right?" Kayla says, her voice cracking. \n\n"Yeah," you say, but before anyone can ask any follow-up questions you say, "I gotta check something."\n\nYou walk across the hall to Nikki's room. You really don't want to check her door. You feel like coming back to her room, her body is like dividing by zero- like it will only make an incredibly shitty situation even worse somehow. Maybe it's some kind of folk wisdom- 'see the same murder victim twice and you'll have 11 years of bad luck.' But that's silly; that's superstation. You aren't going to go back in anyway; you just want to check something.\n\nTrembling a little, you push down on the door handle as your hallmates chatter nervously, wondering what you're up to. Incredibly, the door handle turns, and the door starts to open. You snap it shut immediately, before you can see anything. \n\n[[put it together|put it together 2]]

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n\nYou and Dr. Flynn head back across campus toward Public Safety. When you finally arrive, the building is still dark, and the drifting snow has scoured your footsteps. Dr. Flynn bangs impotently on the door and you slog up to the window. The leg you saw is still there. \n\n"Dr. Flynn," you shout over the window, "Look at this," \n\nHe walks up next to you and leans in close to the window. "Fuck," he concludes, barely louder than the wind. For several moments you both stand there, considering the leg. \n\n"So...this is kind of an emergency, right?" you finally say. \n\n"Yeah," Dr. Flynn agrees. He gives the window a critical look, "Okay, I'm going to break this window and unlock that door." He then looks at you, as though waiting for you to tell him not to. Honestly, it seems like a reasonable plan to you, so you don't say anything. You watch him take off his jacket and wrap it around his fist, and think you hear him sigh before he winds up and slams his slim professor's arm into the window. The brittle glass shatters and you jump at the sound. Dr. Flynn bites his lip and reaches around the door, groping for the lock. Finally he removes his arm and tugs at the door, kicking just enough snow out of the way to winch it open a few degrees. You slip inside and Dr. Flynn follows, allowing the door to snap closed behind him. It's much warmer and moderately quieter in here, but you don't feel too great about the situation. That leg is laying there, raining on your 'not in the blizzard anymore' parade. \n\n[[Examine Leg]]

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n\nYou're cold sure, and tired, but as you approach the white farmhouse your cheap-ass school converted into PS headquarters, you feel good. Well, 'good' is probably an overstatement, but better than you've felt all night, for sure. You’ve got an adult with you. The cavalry. \n\nDr. Flynn stamps up to slouching building and pulls mightily at the door, which doesn't open. He glances back at you as though he expect some insight.\n\n"Should be open, right?" you say, "PS is always open." \n\nHe pulls again. Still no luck. \n\nAs he begins pounding on the door, you shift off to the side and glance in the window. Public Safety is mostly dark, but there are a few scattered emergency lights. Underneath one of them, you can see a man's leg, flat against the floor like a slug. Whoever it's attached to is concealed by a wall, so they could be just fine. Maybe just passed out, or taking a nap or something. Could be, but probably not. Whatever optimism you had escapes you like a breath.\n\n"Dr. Flynn," you say, and your voice sounds reedy and strange, "Can you look at this?"\n\nHe walks up next to you and leans in close to the window. "Fuck," he concludes, barely louder than the wind. For several moments you both stand there, considering the leg. \n\n"So...this is kind of an emergency, right?" you finally say. \n\n"Yeah," Dr. Flynn agrees. He gives the window a critical look, "Okay, I'm going to break this window and unlock that door." He then looks at you, as though waiting for you to tell him not to. Honestly, it seems like a reasonable plan to you, so you don't say anything. You watch him take off his jacket and wrap it around his fist. He must be cold as hell, but he hesitates anyway. "It would be nice if we had a rock or something," he says, looking around as though the snow will part and reveal one. "Yeah," you agree, shivering. You think you hear him sigh before he winds up and slams his slim professor's arm into the window. The brittle glass shatters and you jump at the sound. Dr. Flynn bites his lip and reaches around the door, groping for the lock. Finally he removes his arm and tugs open the door, kicking just enough snow out of the way to winch it open a few degrees. You slip inside and Dr. Flynn follows, allowing the door to snap closed behind him. It's much warmer and moderately quieter in here, but you don't feel too great about the situation. That leg laying there is raining on your 'not in the blizzard anymore' parade.\n \n\n[[Examine Leg]]\n

You and Dr. Flynn spent the entire night in Public Safety, in too-close proximity to the dead officer under the emergency light. You make stilted conversation about the campus, the snow, the superiority of cats over dogs- anything but the situation at hand. \n\nEventually, the sky beyond the windows lightens, not blue but at least to grey. The snow is falling still, and you think it's like the end of the world.\n\nWhen the police come, they do visit Public Safety first, and take your statement and Dr. Flynn's statement before sending you both on your separate ways. When you part on Public Safety's porch, Dr. Flynn tells you, 'Good luck.' You aren't sure how to take that.\n\nThe police never do find a culprit. Their lead suspect was found dead in a snowdrift- the victim of exposure. Most people think he was trying to get back into town to tell someone about what was happening. A few people think it was suicide by snowdrift. \n\nThe school was the murderer's last victim. You transfer, trying to escape that haunted place, and you aren't the only one. Kayla and Marisa leave, too. Admissions drop. Rumors flourish. Eventually, the college shuts down, and simply molders, waiting for someone to care about it enough to revitalize it or demolish it.\n\nBut for now it merely stands, as mute and empty as the apathy that sustains it.\n\n[[credits]]\n\nYou encountered the murderer <<$numKillerEncounters>> <<if $numKillerEncounters is 1>>time<<else>>times<<endif>> during this playthrough.\nYou survived the night. Congratulations!\n<<if visited ("put it together 3" or "put it together" or "put it together ish")>>You discovered that the killer's identity was former Public Safety officer Brian Carroll<<else>>You did not uncover the murderer's identity.<<endif>>\n<<if visited ("put it together 4" or "put it together 2")>>You realized that the murderer was trying to kill you because you knew he was tampering with the crime scenes to make them appear more like random acts of violence.<<else>>You did not find out why the murderer was tracking you.<<endif>>

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numLighter gte 1>> Remaining lighter uses: <<$numLighter>> <<endif>>\n<<if $killer4 lte 7>>\n\nYou squint through the darkness and think you see your roommate- or at least her signature, incredibly pick coat- but it's impossible to tell for sure in the dark. Whoever it is moves off, and you keep going as well.\n\n[[Go to the science building]]\n\n<<else>>\n<<set $numKillerEncounters = $numKillerEncounters + 1>>\nThere's certainly a person coming toward you, and you don't like it. Something primal in you screams, 'get out of here!' and you try to, you really do, but how far can you run in snow waist-deep? You take a few, floundering steps before your pursuer catches you by the chin and slits your throat.\n\n[[credits]]\n\nYou encountered the murderer <<$numKillerEncounters>> <<if $numKillerEncounters is 1>>time<<else>>times<<endif>> during this playthrough.\n<<if visited ("put it together 3" or "put it together" or "put it together ish")>>You discovered that the killer's identity was former Public Safety officer Brian Carroll<<else>>You did not uncover the murderer's identity.<<endif>>\n<<if visited ("put it together 4" or "put it together 2")>>You realized that the murderer was trying to kill you because you knew he was tampering with the crime scenes to make them appear more like random acts of violence.<<else>>You did not find out why the murderer was tracking you.<<endif>>\n\n<<endif>>

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n\n<<if $killer1 lte 7>>\nYou're pretty sure it's nothing to be worried about, and as it turns out, you're right. A few minutes later, you hear the disjointed laughter of a drunk meeting another drunk in the snow. Idiots. If you had to take bets on the next fatalities, it would definitely be those guys. Who wanders around in a fucking snow storm anyway? Then you realize that's exactly what you're doing and that quiets down your inner monologue of critique. \n\nAfter passing the drunks, you manage to reach the Public Safety building. \n\n[[Go to the Public Safety Building]]\n\n<<else>>\n<<set $numKillerEncounters = $numKillerEncounters + 1>>\nWhoever it is seems to follow you, shadowing your movements. It's making you pretty uncomfortable, to be honest. \n\n"Hey! What's going on!" you yell in their general direction. Whoever it is out there doesn't say anything back, but considering how loud the wind is, it's entirely possible they just didn't hear you. Hell, maybe they're yelling back, and you can't hear them.\n\n"You're gonna get hella frostbite if you stay out here!" you yell, and keep trekking toward Public Safety. \n\nThe PS building is a white farmhouse, quaint in comparison to the utilitarian architecture of the rest of your campus. You've always assumed that the college just acquired it as it expanded, and just repurposed it rather than ripping it down. Cheap bastards. \n\nYou walk up to the building's front door and try to yank it open, but unusually, it's locked. \n\n"Oh, what the fuck!" you grumble, pulling harder. You're about to start knocking aggressively when someone comes up behind you, tilts your chin back with one hand and slices you neck open with the knife the held in the other.\n\n[[credits]]\n\nYou encountered the murderer <<$numKillerEncounters>> <<if $numKillerEncounters is 1>>time<<else>>times<<endif>> during this playthrough.\n<<if visitedTag("identity")>>You discovered that the killer's identity was former Public Safety officer Brian Carroll<<else>>You did not uncover the murderer's identity.<<endif>>\n<<if visitedTag("stalk")>>You realized that the murderer was trying to kill you because you knew he was tampering with the crime scenes to make them appear more like random acts of violence.<<else>>You did not find out why the murderer was tracking you.<<endif>>\n\n<<endif>>

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n\n<<if $killer3 lte 7>>\n\nWhoever it was staggers away. Or at least, you think it was a 'they.' It's next to fucking impossible to see with all this snow flying in your face. Maybe it was always just a fleck of shadow on the edge of a deeper darkness. \n\n[[enter the chapel bathroom]]\n\n<<else>>\n<<set $numKillerEncounters = $numKillerEncounters + 1>>\nYou opt to do nothing, and turn away from the encroaching figure. Probably just some other idiot staggering around in the snow. \n\nAs you suffer through the cold, you hear a rush of footsteps intermingle with the constant screams of the blizzard. You turn toward the noise, see only darkness, and suddenly, you are another dead body in the snow. \n\n[[credits]]\n\nYou encountered the murderer <<$numKillerEncounters>> <<if $numKillerEncounters is 1>>time<<else>>times<<endif>> during this playthrough.\n<<if visited ("put it together 3" or "put it together" or "put it together ish")>>You discovered that the killer's identity was former Public Safety officer Brian Carroll<<else>>You did not uncover the murderer's identity.<<endif>>\n<<if visited ("put it together 4" or "put it together 2")>>You realized that the murderer was trying to kill you because you knew he was tampering with the crime scenes to make them appear more like random acts of violence.<<else>>You did not find out why the murderer was tracking you.<<endif>>\n\n<<endif>>

<<set $numGlowsticks = $numGlowsticks - 1>>\n<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n<<if $matches is 3>>\nYou swing your phone around the room. It looks like there's some kind of experiment set up, but you have no fucking clue what it is. There's nothing useful on the students' desks, but you check the podium at the front of the classroom and find a lighter tucked in the back- and not some dinky little cigarette thing, either. No, this is one of those long ones with a trigger and everything. It feels a little light, like there isn't much fuel left, but even so, this is easily the best moment of your night. You stare reverently at it, feel a bit weird about that, then head back out into the hallway.\n\n[[Science building hallway]]\n\n<<else>>\nLooks like some poor bros were taking an exam in here relatively recently. Nothing's set up, there's "1 hour, 30 min, 15 min," written on the board one after another. You look around, but all you find is a #2 pencil. \n<<if not visited ("Check room 1")>>[[Try Room 1|Check room 1]]<<endif>>\n<<if not visited ("Check room 2")>>[[Try Room 2|Check room 2]]<<endif>>\n<<if not visited ("Check room 4")>>[[Try Room 4|Check room 4]]<<endif>>\n[[Forget it]]\n\n<<endif>>

<body> \n<h1{\n color:white;\n\np{font-family: sans-serif}\n\nbody {background-color:black}\n\n#sidebar li{color: #black;}\n#sidebar li{font-family:"nothing you could do"; !important}\n\na.internalLink:hover,a.externalLink:hover,a.back:hover { color:orange; }\n\na:link { color:white; }\n

<<set $numGlowsticks = $numGlowsticks - 1>>\n<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n<<if $matches is 4>>\nYou swing your phone around the room. It looks like there's some kind of experiment set up, but you have no clue what it is. There's nothing useful on the students' desks, but you check the podium at the front of the classroom and find a lighter tucked in the back- and not some dinky little cigarette thing, either. No, this is one of those long ones with a trigger and everything. It feels a little light, like there isn't much fuel left, but even so, this is easily the best moment of your night. You stare reverently at it, feel a bit weird about that, then head back out into the hallway.\n\n[[Science building hallway]]\n\n<<else>>\nMan, there's nothing in here. What a waste of time.\n<<if not visited ("Check room 1")>>[[Try Room 1|Check room 1]]<<endif>>\n<<if not visited ("Check room 2")>>[[Try Room 2|Check room 2]]<<endif>>\n<<if not visited ("Check room 3")>>[[Try Room 3|Check room 3]]\n[[Forget it]]<<endif>>\n[[Forget it]]

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n\nIn the dark you can hardly see the jumble of book, notes, and some lewd drawings your friend Kayla gave to you as a joke. You remind yourself, with an air of superiority, that it's not as bad as your rommate's mess, but your mom would think that you're basically living in squalor. Her standards are way too high, but you resolve to tidy up once the lights come back on, or at least before your parents visit again.\n\n<<if not visited ("Look at the pile of crap on your roommate's side")>>[[Look at the pile of crap on your roommate's side]]<<endif>>\n<<if not visited ("Look out the window")>>[[Look out the window]]<<endif>>\n<<if not visited ("Look in your minifridge")>>[[Look in your minifridge]]<<endif>>\n[[Try to find your key]]

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numLighter gte 1>> Remaining lighter uses: <<$numLighter>> <<endif>>\n\nYou know you locked it on your way out, but just for synchronicity’s sake, you bat the handle on Nikki's door anyway. To your surprise, it folds down under your hand- the door's unlocked. \n\n'The Hell?' you think, pushing the door open an inch before snapping it shut again. You know -KNOW- you locked it. \n\nIf that's unlocked...you cross the hallway to room 116 and try the drunk girls' door. Now, it opens too. 'What...?' you think, pushing the door all the way open.\n\nNatalie and Vicky's room is dark, of course, but also strangely and thoroughly cold. Their window is open, and piles of snow and ice have started to form in the far side of the room. You recoil from the unexpected chill. No sane person would leave their window wide open on a night like this. Then you see the person shaped lumps in Natalie and Vicky's beds and think 'Them, too. I bet they're dead, too.'\n\n<<if visited ("Finally get back to your friends.")>>[[Gather everyone up and spend the night in the hallway]]<<else>>[[Go back to Marisa and Kayla and call it a night|Go back to Kayla and Marisa]]<<endif>>\n<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>\n[[Check out the room using your phone|flashlight 15]] <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>>\n[[Check out the room using a glowstick|glowstick 15]]<<endif>>\n<<if $numLighter gte 1>>\n[[Check out the room using the lighter|lighter 15]]<<endif>>

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numLighter gte 1>> Remaining lighter uses: <<$numLighter>> <<endif>>\n\nEarlier this year, you went to PS's communications hub with Kayla when she had to identify someone she saw stealing chemicals from a supply closet. 'Hub' is probably a generous word for small room. You remember it had a half dozen or so TV monitors, streaming footage from the security cameras around campus, plus walkie-talkie so the person on duty could communicate with the officers who were on duty. \n\nNow, all this technology is dark. You can't see much, but you do see a vaguely person-shaped figure slumped over the console.\n\n"Uh...hey?" you say, without much conviction as your stomach seems to condense. Given the pattern you've been seeing, you're about 110% sure this guy is dead, too.\n\nIf you want to see anything else, you'll have to shed a little light on the situation. \n\n<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>[[Use your phone as a flashlight|flashlight 12]]<<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>>[[Use a glowstick|glowstick 12]]<<endif>>\n<<if $numLighter gte 1>>[[Use the lighter|lighter 12]]<<endif>>\n\n<<if not visited("check body solo")>>[[Investigate the body|check body solo]]<<endif>>\n<<if not visited("check front desk solo")>>[[Investigate the front desk|check front desk solo]]<<endif>>\n<<if visitedTag("readoption")>>[[Step out into the hall and read the note|read note]]<<endif>>\n[[Leave the PS building]]\n

You walk back over to Kayla's room and rap on the door.\n\n"Hey guys- it's me."\n\nMarisa opens the door, still looking pissed.\n\n"Can I come in? I'm done." \n\nMarisa nods, moving aside just enough to let you through, then snapping the door shut in your wake. She props on of Kayla's chairs beneath the handle. <<if visited ("put it together 3")>>Not a bad plan. <<else>>Extra insurance, you guess. <<endif>>\n\nUsually the three of you always have so much to say, especially Kayla, but tonight, things are more than just subdued; they're icy, like the weather has frosted over your conversation. <<if not visitedTag("Tell")>>You feel bad about keeping your friends in the dark, but honestly, they're behaving so immaturely now, you doubt they could have processed the news of Nikki's death. Hell, they're lucky to be alive, with their attitudes. Especially Kayla.<<endif>> \n\nYou're safe though, the three of you, cloistered behind drywall and cheap doors. You keep each other awake with smattered conversation, eat your way through a bag of Kayla's fruit and nut mix. \n\nYou keep waiting until the sun rises. \n\n<<if visited ("identity")>>The police arrest Brian Carroll first. Then, they remove his victims, plucking them from dark corners and thick drifts of snow. It's a slow process you imagine, all that bagging and tagging, then dragging the whole mess through the snow. Slow, cold work.<<else>>The police never do find the murderer, but they do find his victims. Their preferred suspect died of exposure, and the snow blasted away any hints of guilt or innocence from him. The others are, for the most part, similarly ravaged.<<endif>>\n\nThe hordes of reporters who come call it a slaying. Their reports sound like urban legends; urban legends with authentic sources, told by witnesses with real names.\n\nNames like Carly Hallahan. You find your name paired with phrases like, 'grisly discovery,' 'night of terror,' or 'fight for survival.' You want to tell them that if you used trite phrases like that in one of your essays, you'd get marked down. \n\nYou don't feel safe on the campus anymore, though. Even when the snow starts to melt, and classes finally resume, you remember walking alone through that storm. \n\nYou don't go out at night anymore. Your psychologist says that's natural, expected even. That doesn't make you feel better.\n\nSoon, you'll transfer. Marisa and Kayla will miss you, and you'll miss them, but you can't stay there any longer, casually walking the same grounds where you were hunted. Everyone will be very understanding when you leave. The registrar at your new school is generous with the number of transfer credits they accept. \n\nBut miles can't distance you from memories. You sleep with the night on, but many nights, you still dream of the darkness.\n\nAnd of the snow.\n\n[[credits]]\n\nYou encountered the murderer <<$numKillerEncounters>> <<if $numKillerEncounters is 1>>time<<else>>times<<endif>> during this playthrough.\nYou survived the night. Congratulations!\n<<if visitedTag("identity")>>You discovered that the killer's identity was former Public Safety officer Brian Carroll<<else>>You did not uncover the murderer's identity.<<endif>>\n<<if visitedTag("stalk")>>You realized that the murderer was trying to kill you because you knew he was tampering with the crime scenes to make them appear more like random acts of violence.<<else>>You did not find out why the murderer was tracking you.<<endif>>\n

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numLighter gte 1>> Remaining lighter uses: <<$numLighter>> <<endif>>\n\nIt's dark as hell out by the desk. Boy, the school spared every expense when they decided to refurbish this building. You can't see much, but at least you can tell there isn't dead guy there, thank goodness. But, if you want to investigate properly, you'll need a little more light.\n\n<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>[[Use your phone as a flashlight|flashlight 13]]\n<<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>>[[Use a glowstick|glowstick 13]]\n<<endif>>\n<<if $numLighter gte 1>>[[Use the lighter|lighter 13]]<<endif>>\n\n<<if not visited ("check body solo")>>[[Investigate the body|check body solo]]<<endif>>\n<<if not visited ("check comm room solo")>>[[Investigate the front desk|check comm room solo]]<<endif>>\n<<if visitedTag("readoption")>>[[Step out into the hall and read the note|read note]]<<endif>>\n[[Leave the PS building]]\n

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n\nYou lick your teeth, considering. \n\n"Well uh...seeing as you are probably the only person with any uh...authority? on campus at the moment, I was kind of hoping you'd maybe come with me back to the dorm and help me like, look for clues?" you immediately feel stupid. That probably sounded like some kind of weak come-on. You start to back-pedal, "I mean, I know I'm not qualified to do anything like that, but I was thinking that I might be able to figure out who did it, and then put the word out to be on the lookout for the guy. I'm not trying to be like, a sleuth or anything." \n\nOh damn, this is going so badly. \n\nDr. Flynn looks at you, and you can almost hear the gears clicking together, tabulating the weight of his moral obligation to help his students versus the likelihood that those same students would sue him for sexual harassment if they saw him wandering around their dorm. \n\n"Yeah uh...okay," he finally says. You manage to refrain from heaving a too-loud sigh of relief. He grabs his coat and throws it on casually. Damn. You saw a 'hot guys x coats' gifset and he could have easily been on it. You're beginning to understand why characters in horror movies are always boning each other even though there's some murderer running around. Fear is giving you one hell of a ladyboner for Dr. Flynn. \n\nUh...anyway...\n\n[[visit your dorm]]

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n\nNot much left here.Between the weather and the power outages, none of the maintenance or kitchen atff could make it to campus for the past few days. All the snack machines in the dorm are empty, and you're down to instant coffee and Ramen. Your roommate has some jello shots in the fridge, but nothing else- further confirmation that her priorities are absolutely beyond reproach. Dumb bitch. If you get desperate enough, you'll certainly start downing those things for nourishment, but you leave them alone for now. You're just a freshmen, and under your parent's watchful eyes, you never had the chance to try alcohol. You're perfectly content to wait until you're 21, and honestly, you're drunk enough on your newfound college freedoms. Naps all day, every day, baby.\n\n<<if not visited ("Look at the pile of crap on your roommate's side")>>[[Look at the pile of crap on your roommate's side]]<<endif>>\n<<if not visited ("Look out the window")>>[[Look out the window]]<<endif>>\n<<if not visited ("Look at your desk")>>[[Look at your desk]]<<endif>>\n[[Try to find your key]]

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numLighter gte 1>> Remaining lighter uses: <<$numLighter>> <<endif>>\n\n"Dr. Flynn, I think I know who did this," you say. Dr. Flynn blinks at you, his cell phone pressed against his head.\n\n"Sorry," you say, but you look down at your paper and continue anyway, "This guy. Brian Carroll. He used to work here, but they fired him for stalking a student or something like that. They brought him back in though, for the storm, because they were so short-staffed. He probably lives within, like, sledding distance of the school." \n\nDr. Flynn blinks at you again, "That's uh...kind of circumstantial." \n\n"No, it makes a lot of sense. I bet Nikki -my RA- was the girl he was hung up on."<<if visited ("Check the communications room")>>You continue, "I bet he lured the PS guys on patrol back here one by one using the comm system, and took them out.<<endif>><<if visited ("Examine body")>>Hell, there's no water by this guy," you say, pointing at the dead man on the floor, "If someone had come in from outside and killed him, there would be melted snow, right? But Brian was just cooling his heels at the desk, according to this," you say, brandishing your schedule.<<endif>>"Between getting fired and getting rejected, I bet he just snapped or whatever. Decided to go on a rampage."\n\n"If it were just Nikki...but I mean..." Dr. Flynn says, trailing off as he glances down at the corpse before snapping his gaze back at you, "All these people, you know?"\n\n"I think...I think he wanted to really, really get back at the school," you say, slowly. "Look, this is a lot of speculation but...I know he set it up so it looked like the girls across the hall from Nikki just left their door open- if they had actually done that, anyone could have gotten them, right? Not just a PS officer with keys, or the authority to compel them to open their door." Dr. Flynn looks skeptical, but you feel like you're on a roll.\n\n"And I'm the only one who knew that. He saw me try their door -he was right there- and realized that I'd be able to testify that they were safe or something. So he came after me. I bet he was trying to set it up to look like someone came in from off-campus and did this, to really piss on the school's reputation. Hell, if he was nuts enough, he might even kill himself to seal the deal. Or maybe he was just going to make sure there were no records of him being called in, and then he could just leave. Either way, I bet he was trying to get revenge on Nikki for not liking him and the school for firing him." \n\nAs you stand there, letting your accusation fill the quiet office, you start to sweat a little. Not that you don't think your conclusion isn't spot on, but because you're worried your monologue was entirely unconvincing.\n\n<<if visited ("put it together 2" and "Check the communications room" and "Examine body")>>\n"Actually," Dr. Flynn says slowly, "That sounds...like a pretty solid conclusion. Good job." He looks down at the body. You look at it, too. The blood is congealing into these little, slimy islands. Any elation you felt from solving the mystery is blown out of you.<<else>>\n\nDr. Flynn picks a corner of the room and stares at it rather than looking into your eyes, "I mean, it's not a bad theory..." he says diplomatically. "I mean, I wouldn't be alone with the guy in a dark alley tonight..."<<endif>>\n\n"I guess...we should wait here for the police. At least there's light here, you know?" Dr. Flynn says, looking nervous. \n\n<<if visited ("Tell Kayla" or "Tell Marisa")>>"Uh, no?" you say. "If there's some psycho PS guy on the loose, I want tell me friends. I mean, he could literally unlock their doors and kill them in their sleep. Or I mean, even knock on their door and say, 'Public Safety, open up!' and I bet they would." You offer the note to Dr. Flynn, "Would you mind hanging on to this and giving it to the police when they get here? I don't want to risk it getting wet or whatever." \n\nDr. Flynn gives you a wide-eyed look, like you just announced with the deepest sincerity that you were the queen of England. Then his face softens and he gives you a bit of a half-smile, and you are immediately reminded of why you have a crush on him. "Well, I guess I'll come with you. Maybe Brian will be less inclined to tangle with two people, right?" \n\n"Uh...thanks..." you say, taken aback by the gesture. He probably just wants to avoid the bad press he'd get if you were murdered on the way back to your dorm, but you'd like to think he actually cares about you.\n\n"Let's go then," he says, hurriedly walking past the dead public safety officer. \n\n[[visit your dorm]]\n\n<<else>>\n\n"Yeah. You say," and suddenly, you feel more tired than you've ever felt before. \n\n[[snowmelt]]\n<<endif>>\n\n\n\n

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n\n"Nah," you say, a little regretfully, "I'll probably just be going back to sleep soon anyway." \n\n"Word...actually..." she looks down at herself, as if only just realizing that she's glowing like a radium watch, "I should have probably budgeted these out a little more. Like, what if the power is still out tomorrow? I'll be boned." \n\nYou nod sympathetically. Kayla makes mistakes like this all the time.\n\n"Yeah, but they'll probably get it figured out before then," you say. "I mean, it's already been out for, what, a day and a half?" \n\nHer eyes bug a little, " I just thought- we’ve got emergency power; what about people in apartments and houses and stuff? That must suck! I mean, I was out their earlier, you know, to see how deep the snow was? It was so cold. It's definitely NOT safe." \n\n"It's pretty rural around here- lots of people have fireplaces and stuff. I mean, I'm sure it sucks, but people aren't stupid. They'll figure something out," you say. Kayla nods, instantly placated. \n\n"Well, I'm gonna go see what else is going down, and then I'm gonna head back to bed. Talk to you later." \n\n"Yeah! See yah! Maybe we can build a fort or borrow some cafeteria trays and go sledding tomorrow or something," she says enthusiastically. \n\n"Uh...maybe ask someone else. Its way too cold out there for me," you say.\n\n"Oh man, you're so lame. See yah!" she says, fake-pouting before closing her door, leaving you alone in the hallway.\n\n\n<<if not visited ("Visit Marisa in room 120")>>[[Visit Marisa in room 120]] <<endif>>\n<<if not visited ("Visit Kayla in room 114")>>[[Visit Kayla in room 114]] <<endif>>\n<<if not visited ("Check with your RA in room 115")>> [[Check with your RA in room 115]]<<endif>>

<<set $numGlowsticks = $numGlowsticks + 5>>\n<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>><<endif>>\n\n"Oh fuck yes," you say, earnestly. You don't have a good justification for your enthusiasm, but who the hell needs a reason when it comes to glowsticks? Kayla hands you 5 of them, and you shove them in your hoodie's pouch. \n\n"Awesome. Thanks. Why did you even have these?" you ask. \n\nKayla shrugs, still grinning. "What you been up to?" she asks, "I've been playing my DS for like, ever basically." \n\nYou shrug back at her. "Sleeping. Did you try to go out there?"\n\n"Yeah, but it was just like, miserable. With the wind and everything? I had about a million layers on, too. Maybe tomorrow it'll be better...I really want to play in the snow, but I don't even think it's safe now. For serious." She delivers this last pronouncement with as much gravity as a glowstick-strewn undergrad can impart. \n\n"Yeah...well, anywho, I was just seeing what people were up to. I'll probably head back to my room and try and get some sleep or whatever. Thanks for the glowsticks though," you say, giving Kayla a little wave. \n\n"Yeah! See yah! Maybe we can build a fort or borrow some cafeteria trays and go sledding tomorrow or something," she says enthusiastically. Personally, you'd prefer to stay under your comforter with a mug of cocoa until the spring thaw, but you nod to humor her. \n\n"Yessss!" she hisses, "See ya!" She closes her door, leaving you alone in the hallway.\n\n\n<<if not visited ("Visit Marisa in room 120")>>[[Visit Marisa in room 120]] <<endif>>\n<<if not visited ("Visit Kayla in room 114")>>[[Visit Kayla in room 114]] <<endif>>\n<<if not visited ("Check with your RA in room 115")>> [[Check with your RA in room 115]]<<endif>>

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n\n"Sorry dude," you say. "It's pretty awful out there. <<if visited ("Visit Kayla in room 114")>> Even Kayla won't stay out there.<<endif>> With all that snow though, I bet school will be closed for like, a week at least. You shouldn't worry too much about it." \n\n"Yeah, probably," she says dismissively, as though she's sure you're full of crap and everyone will be plowed out by morning. "Listen, I'm going to get back to work, but I'll talk to you later." \n\n"Yeah, see you," you say, and the door is closed almost as soon as you are done speaking. You admire her commitment to academics or whatever, but damn, she can be a little bitchy when she's stressed. And she's stressed an awful fucking lot. \n\n<<if not visited ("Visit Marisa in room 120")>>[[Visit Marisa in room 120]] <<endif>>\n<<if not visited ("Visit Kayla in room 114")>>[[Visit Kayla in room 114]] <<endif>>\n<<if not visited ("Check with your RA in room 115")>> [[Check with your RA in room 115]]<<endif>>

<<set $visited_Kayla = "yes">>\n<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n\n\nYou knock on the door to room 114. Kayla's roommate left about a month in, so she's one of the few lucky freshman with more than 3 square feet to her name. \n\nKayla throws open her door, beaming. Figuratively and literally- she's completely decked out with glowsticks for some reason. Their low light really hollows out the spaces beneath her eyes and collar bones. You realize how much weight she's lost since the beginning of the school year and vaguely wonder how, but sidestep the thought and give her a huge smile. Hell, it's hard not to smile at someone who looks like they could out-glow a rave.\n\n"Hey!" she practically shouts.\n\n"Hey," you say, "Got enough glowsticks?"\n\n"Ah ha, no way. Actually, I had a lot more, but I gave a bunch of 'em away to the other girls on the floor. You want some??"\n\n\n[[Hell yeah.]]\n[[No thanks.]]

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numLighter gte 1>> Remaining lighter uses: <<$numLighter>> <<endif>>\n\nYou slip into the chapel, dragging what seems like half a ski slope into the vestibule with you. You only manage to close the door behind you by throwing your entire body against it. Damn wind.\n\nThe church is silent, half lit, and warm. You move across it softly, carefully, as though you're interrupting the quiet and feel a little bad about it. You don't feel compelled to make amends with a higher power, even though you could, potentially, die tonight. Now that you think about it, it's hard to imagine actually dying, here, on this campus you know so well. You guess that, deep down, you don't believe it- that you could die tonight, or ever. Even now, despite being in mortal peril, your own death seems incomprehensible, and you feel like you've spent the evening avoiding a murderer, not murder. Maybe you should think about all this- how even if you make it through the night, you'll die anyway, eventually. What does that mean, to die? You wonder if you should think about it, really try to understand it.\n\nNope. Too tired. No philosophizing for you tonight. No praying, no asking the big questions. Not a great time. \n\nIt is, however, an amazing time to cross the sanctuary, find the ladies room, and lock yourself in. \n\nAn 'Exit' sign casts the small space in a red light. The first time you came here to cry, you thought the color was a little intimidating, like the set of a low budget horror flick. Familiarity eventually made the color benign, and now, despite your situation, curling up on that old but comfy couch is as natural as laying in your own bed, regardless of the mood lighting. \n\n[[Wait out the night on the couch]]\n[[Hang out for a bit, then head back to your room to wait this out|Wait this out in your room]]\n[[Investigate your dorm|investigate your dorm solo]]\n<<if visited ("Go to the Public Safety Building")>>[[Try Public Safety Again|Head to Public Safety 2 solo]]<<else>>[[Try Public Safety|Interrupt again 2]]<<endif>>\n<<if not visited ("Go to the science building")>><<if $numPass is 1>>[[Take a breather, then go to the science building]]<<endif>><<endif>>

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numLighter gte 1>> Remaining lighter uses: <<$numLighter>> <<endif>>\n\n<<if not visited("put it together 4")>>Your return to your Wing B is less than triumphant. Even if it's brighter than the snowy night outside, the atmosphere is funeral. On other floors, people are sitting in the hallways and chatting, openly partying, or maybe trying to get some sleep despite their roommates. Wing B is quiet though; almost silent. You think you hear crying, and you guess its Kayla. She never was good under stress. You imagine she's be having rolling panic attacks all night, you she had no right to them. You were the one in danger, after all. You were the one being hunted. \n\nWhatever. Things are too twisted as they are. You don't want to add 'resentment of good friends' to the list of things wrong with tonight. You walk up to her room a bang on the door, "Kayla! Hey Kayla! It's me. Listen, I need to talk to you. I know who the murderer is." You hear her gasp a few times, trying to control her panicked weeping, before she opens the door. She looks wraithlike, completely broken by fear.\n\n"It's Brian Carroll," you say. She doesn't look like she heard or understood you, "He used to work for public safety. Anyway, don't open your door for anyone, okay? Even if they say they're public safety. And you should probably, like, barricade it or something. Hold on though, okay? I'm going to tell Marisa, too. She might want to talk to you."\n\n"Okay," she whispers, shrinking into the darkness of her dormroom.\n\nWhen you shout for Marisa, she opens her door almost immediately. She looks a little worn too, but apparently still has her full cognitive functions. Good for her." When you tell her what you learned at the Public Safety building, she gapes. \n\n"Brian? They let that creep back on campus? Nikki told me all about him. He was a total freak show. I'm not surprised at all," she claims. 'Sure Marisa' you think. \n\n"So should we all like, block our doors or something? He's got keys, so we can't just lock ourselves in," you say, looking down the hallway.\n\n"Actually," Marisa says, "we should get everyone to spend the night out in the hallway together. He won't try to get us all, right?" \n\nYou have to admit her reasoning is pretty good. If everyone sticks together in the hallway, you'll certainly get through the night, which honestly, is basically what you want out of life right now.\n\n[[Gather everyone up and spend the night in the hallway]]\n[[Do a little more investigating before gathering everyone up|Check Room 116]]\n<<else>>\n<<if visitedTag("both")>>You walk up to Kayla's door and pound on her door, "Guys, guys! It's me. Listen, I need to talk to you. I know who the murderer is," Marisa answers, scowling.\n\n"It's Brian Carroll," you say. Her eyes widen with the news, "He used to work for public safety, remember?"\n\n"They let that creep back on campus? Nikki told me all about him. He was a total freak show. I'm not surprised at all," she claims. 'Sure Marisa' you think. \n\n"So should we all like, block our doors or something? He's got keys, so we can't just lock ourselves in," you say, looking down the hallway.\n\n"Actually," Marisa says, "we should get everyone to spend the night out in the hallway together. He won't try to get us all, right?" \n\nYou have to admit her reasoning is pretty good. If everyone sticks together in the hallway, you'll certainly get through the night, which honestly, is basically what you want out of life right now.\n\n[[Gather everyone up and spend the night in the hallway]]<<else>>\nYou walk up to Kayla's door and give a few loud knocks. "Kayla! Hey Kayla! It's me. Listen, I need to talk to you. I know who the murderer is." You hear her gasp a few times, trying to control her panicked weeping, before she opens the door. She looks wraithlike, completely broken by fear.\n\n"It's Brian Carroll," you say. She doesn't look like she heard or understood you, "He used to work for public safety. Anyway, don't open your door for anyone, okay? Even if they say they're public safety. And you should probably, like, barricade it or something. Hold on though, okay? I'm going to tell Marisa, too. She might want to talk to you."\n\n"Okay," she whispers, shrinking into the darkness of her dormroom.\n\nWhen you shout for Marisa, she opens her door almost immediately. She looks a little worn too, but apparently still has her full cognitive functions. Good for her." When you tell her what you learned at the Public Safety building, she gapes. \n\n"Brian? They let that creep back on campus? Nikki told me all about him. He was a total freak show. I'm not surprised at all," she claims. 'Sure Marisa' you think. \n\n"So should we all like, block our doors or something? He's got keys, so we can't just lock ourselves in," you say, looking down the hallway.\n\n"Actually," Marisa says, "we should get everyone to spend the night out in the hallway together. He won't try to get us all, right?" \n\nYou have to admit her reasoning is pretty good. If everyone sticks together in the hallway, you'll certainly get through the night, which honestly, is basically what you want out of life right now.\n\n[[Gather everyone up and spend the night in the hallway]]\n\n<<endif>> <<endif>>

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numLighter gte 1>> Remaining lighter uses: <<$numLighter>> <<endif>>\n\nYou step back out into the hallway, carefully closing the door behind you.\n\n"They're dead, right?" Kayla says, her voice cracking. \n\n"Yeah," you say, and the group of girls, plus Dr. Flynn, dissolves into chaos. A few people start crying, and Kayla and Marisa run up to you, asking if you are okay and if there's anything they can do. You shake your head, but feel like you're going to cry, too. \n\n"Let's just..." Dr. Flynn says, trying to make an administrative decision on the fly, "Let's just wait here, okay? Just wait here until the police come in the morning. That way we'll be able to keep tabs on everyone." \n\nYou nod, and wave Kayla and Marisa over to a corner at the end of the hallway. The other girls follow, forming their own little comfortable groups. Dr. Flynn sits apart, his wrists draped over his bony knees. He looks a bit shell-shocked, but then again, most everyone does. \n\n[[snowmelt|snowmelt whatever]]

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>><<endif>>\n<<if $numLighter gte 1>> Remaining lighter uses: <<$numLighter>> <<endif>>\n\nOne of the things about a college campus is that there aren't many places to have an honest, unchecked breakdown. Dorm rooms have roommates, bathrooms are communal, and classrooms can be invaded by a night class or club at any moment. Finding a private place for a good cry is difficult, but you've got a key slice of real estate under your belt: the chapel bathroom. And you are long overdue for a proper freak out.\n\nThe chapel is almost always unlocked to cater to the needs of religious students and the bathrooms are warm and oddly spacious; there's even a couch in the vestibule of the woman's room. You've spent more than one night sobbing into that beaten piece of furniture, carefully locked away from the scrutiny of roommates, housemates or RAs. RAs...\n\nThat's where you head now; pulling yourself through the wind and snow and that bitter, bitter cold. As you wade, you happen to glance to your left and see a dark shape flanking you.\n\n\n<<set $killer3 to either(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)>>\n\n[[Do nothing, because it's probably nothing|nothing 3]]\n<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>[[Use your phone as a flashlight|flashlight 3]]<<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>>[[Use a glowstick|glowstick 3]]<<endif>>\n<<if $numLighter gte 1>>[[Use a glowstick|lighter 3]]<<endif>>

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n\nBefore you can go hassle your hall mates, you decide to find your room key. Locking yourself out of your room would be a huge bummer on a good day, but considering how bad the blizzard is, Public Safety probably wouldn't have the ability- or inclination- to unlock your room tonight. You flip over a few pairs of sweatpants and a copy of 'A Storm of Swords' before finding your keychain. While you're thinking about it, you grab your iPhone too. The thing is only at 6% battery, and it seems like every time you use it, it sheds a percent of battery life. Old ass model. You make a mental note to beg your parents for a new one as you clamber over your roommate's mess and practically tumble into the hallway.\n\nYour hall, or 'Floor 2, Wing B' is lit by weak emergency lights, which make the whole setting look even more like an insane asylum than usual. Most people seem like they're asleep, though it's hard to tell without the usual dorm signs of life, like TVs blaring or pot smoke wafting from beneath an insufficiently sealed doorjambs. You're friends are probably awake, the freaks. While you're out and about, you can ask the RA if she knows how long this storm is supposed to last. She probably has a police radio or something. A direct line to the National Weather Service. RAs may have a shitty job, but they do have some crazy-cool privileges. \n \n\n[[Visit Kayla in room 114]]\n[[Visit Marisa in room 120]]\n[[Check with your RA in room 115]]

<<set $numPass to 1>>\n<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n\n\n"Yeah- no promises.<<if visited ("Visit Kayla in room 114")>> Kayla says it's pretty gross out there.<<endif>> But, you never know," you say reluctantly.\n\nMarisa gives you a tight smile, "Thanks. Listen, I'm going to get back to work, but I'll talk to you later, okay?"\n\n"Yeah, see you," you say, and the door is closed almost as soon as you are done speaking. You have to admire her commitment to academics or whatever, though. She takes college hella serious.\n\n<<if not visited ("Visit Marisa in room 120")>>[[Visit Marisa in room 120]] <<endif>>\n<<if not visited ("Visit Kayla in room 114")>>[[Visit Kayla in room 114]] <<endif>>\n<<if not visited ("Check with your RA in room 115")>> [[Check with your RA in room 115]]<<endif>>

<<set $numGlowsticks = $numGlowsticks - 1>>\n<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n<<if $killer10 lte 7>>\n\nYou reach into your pocket and awkwardly winch a glowstick out. Despite your thick gloves, you manage to crack it, starting a chemical reaction which begins throwing neon-orange light across your immediate surroundings.\n\n"WHOOOOO GLOWSTICKS! YEAH!" someone screams. Oh. A drunk, wandering around a night, making stupid decisions. Boy, you NEVER see that on college campuses. \n\n"Fuck you!" you try to yell back, not in the mood for the asshole's drunken shenanigans, but the harsh wind blows your words back down your throat, along with a bitter helping of snow and ice. Coughing and wincing, you vaguely wonder if that's some kind 'pride cometh before the fall' type thing, but quickly stop caring. Public safety is only a few yards away anyway.\n\n\n[[Go to the Public Safety Building]]\n\n<<else>>\n\nSuspiciously, the figure backs off. Whatever. You aren't going to worry about some random weirdo stalking you. You're almost at Public Safety anyway.\n\n[[Go to the Public Safety Building]]\n\n<<endif>>\n

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>You dial the police department again, and tell them where you are and what you know. The woman on the line doesn't seem to know what to do with you. She tells you to stay put and lock the doors, but hell, you were going to do that already. For all your fear and effort, you're still cowering in the dark, caged by the blizzard.<<endif>>\n<<if $numPhoneCharge lt 1>>You go into the comm room, unhappily reach around the dead Public Safety officer and call the police again. The woman on the line doesn't seem to know what to do with you. She tells you to stay put and lock the doors, but hell, you were going to do that already. For all your fear and effort, you're still cowering in the dark, caged by the blizzard.<<endif>>\nYou know who the culprit is. You guess that's worth it. It doesn't feel like a victory, but then again, what does at 3 in the morning?\n\n<<if not visited ("put it together 4")>>Eventually, the sun comes up, and the police come along with it. They seem a little spooked that you spent the night in the PS building next to a couple of dead bodies. You tell them that you are reasonably sure that Brian Carroll was following you for most of the night, and that you weren't going to risk bumping into him again. The police officers cast sidelong glances at one another when they hear this. One tries to ask you, in a roundabout, gentle way, if you plan on seeking psychological help after all this. You say no because you're pissed at them for being late and skeptical of your story, but you're actually thinking 'maybe.' Whatever. You don't feel like deciding right now.<<else>>\n\nEventually, the sun comes up, and the police come with it. When they find you at Public Safety, you explain what happened to you, how it was Brian Carroll following you this whole, long night because you knew he was trying to tamper with evidence. The officers nod approvingly at you, but you don't really want their affirmation. You want sleep.<<endif>>\n\nThey let you leave, finally, let you go back to your dorm which seems so strange now. By the mealy, snow clotted light of morning you lay down in your own bed and sleep, a knot of slowly warming flesh and bone beneath a House Targaryen fleece blanket. \n\nThe papers and police may call you a hero- and brave investigator. You don't agree. You think that if you were truly brave, you wouldn't fear your own memories.\n\n\n[[credits]]\n\nYou encountered the murderer <<$numKillerEncounters>> <<if $numKillerEncounters is 1>>time<<else>>times<<endif>> during this playthrough.\nYou survived the night. Congratulations!\n<<if visited ("put it together 3" or "put it together" or "put it together ish")>>You discovered that the killer's identity was former Public Safety officer Brian Carroll<<else>>You did not uncover the murderer's identity.<<endif>>\n<<if visited ("put it together 4" or "put it together 2")>>You realized that the murderer was trying to kill you because you knew he was tampering with the crime scenes to make them appear more like random acts of violence.<<else>>You did not find out why the murderer was tracking you.<<endif>>

<<set $numGlowsticks = $numGlowsticks - 1>>\n<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numLighter gte 1>> Remaining lighter uses: <<$numLighter>> <<endif>>\n\nYou reach into your pocket and awkwardly winch a glowstick out. With heavily mittened hands, you manage to crack it, starting a chemical reaction which begins throwing neon-orange light across your immediate surroundings. \n\n<<if $killer2 gte 8>>\n<<set $numKillerEncounters = $numKillerEncounters + 1>>\n<<if $numKillerEncounters is 2>>You feel queasy- some instinctual awareness that the person coming toward you is bad, bad, bad. A potent conclusion, utterly unreasoned, sends adrenaline sluicing through your system: this must be the murderer. They must be following you.<<endif>>\n\nThe noise you heard- or probably heard- seems to cease. Super. You keep trudging along, eyes mostly closed against the bitter elements.\n\n<<else>>\n\nBy the light of your rave-stick, you see another girl trudging through the snow. At least, you think it's another girl- they're wearing too many layers to tell for sure. You think the look up at you, maybe surprised by the sudden colorful lights, but she doesn't acknowledge you. She just keeps slogging through this dreadful night, perhaps too cold and miserable to make friends. 'Same' you think as you keep trudging along, eyes mostly closed against the bitter elements.\n\n<<endif>>\n\nAfter about a mile of laborious walking, you realize you've made a terrible mistake. \n\nThe first eddies of doubt came when a turn in the road put black trees between you and the limp lights on campus. You persisted though, refusing to be dissuaded by something as immaterial as an unpleasant visual. However, the ache in your legs was very material then, and it is unignorable now. You aren't necessarily out of shape, but this hike would be a workout for anyone. The cold grinds you, and your weariness slows you. You keep glancing ahead, hoping for some encouraging glimmer of the town's streetlights, or even the black angles of a farmhouse set back from the road, but you don't see anything. You don't realize that you haven't even gone that far. \n\nYour pace slows, and the cold penetrates your skin, your bones. You tire. \n\n<<if $numLighter gte 5>>[[Use lighter to keep warm]]<<else>>\n\nYou stop to rest; hunch against a telephone pole in the snow, and you do not get up. Even when you eventually call 911 for help, you are too disoriented to describe where you are, and what kind of help you need. Even though the operator is able to trace your call, the weather prevents them from sending anyone to get you. \n\nYou die alone in the cold, amid a delirium which convinces you that your little orange glowstick is emitting heat as well as light. \n\n[[credits]]\n\nYou encountered the murderer <<$numKillerEncounters>> times during this playthrough.\n<<if visited ("put it together 3" or "put it together" or "put it together ish")>>You discovered that the killer's identity was former Public Safety officer Brian Carroll<<else>>You did not uncover the murderer's identity.<<endif>>\n<<if visited ("put it together 4" or "put it together 2")>>You realized that the murderer was trying to kill you because you knew he was tampering with the crime scenes to make them appear more like random acts of violence.<<else>>You did not find out why the murderer was tracking you.<<endif>>\n\n<<endif>>

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numLighter gte 1>> Remaining lighter uses: <<$numLighter>> <<endif>>\n\nNatalie and Vicky are dead, too. \n\nYou always kind of hated them because they were so noisy, but they didn't deserve this. Who the hell does? There isn't much light, but it looks as though they were killed in their sleep, throats cut like the rest of them. The room is frigid, and snow has poured in through an open window, coating most of Natalie's things. Tears pluck up in your eyes, and you aren't sure what you're crying for. Maybe yourself, maybe for Natalie and Vicky, maybe even for this whole damn school. You feel a bass beat thudding through the floor, and you almost want to shout, "Hey man, show a little respect." \n\nDamn. If you want to see what's happened here, you'll need a little light. Well, 'want' is a strong word but...\n\n<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>[[Use your phone as a flashlight|flashlight 8]]\n<<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>>[[Use a glowstick|glowstick 8]]\n<<endif>>\n<<if $numLighter gte 1>>[[Use the lighter|lighter 8]]\n<<endif>>\n\n[[Return to your hallmates]]\n\n

"Dr. Flynn, I think I know who did this," you say. Dr. Flynn blinks at you, his cell phone pressed against his head.\n\n"Sorry," you say, but you look down at your paper and continue anyway, "This guy. Brian Carroll. He used to work here, but they fired him for stalking a student or something like that. They brought him back in though, for the storm, because they were so short-staffed. He probably lives within, like, sledding distance of the school." \n\nDr. Flynn blinks at you again, "That's uh...kind of circumstantial." \n\n"No, it makes a lot of sense. I bet Nikki -my RA- was the girl he was hung up on."<<if visited ("Check the communications room")>>You continue, "I bet he lured the PS guys on patrol back here one by one using the comm system, and took them out.<<endif>><<if visited ("Examine body")>>Hell, there's no water by this guy," you say, pointing at the dead man on the floor, "If someone had come in from outside and killed him, there would be melted snow, right? But Brian was just cooling his heels at the desk, according to this," you say, brandishing your schedule.<<endif>>"Between getting fired and getting rejected, I bet he just snapped or whatever. Decided to go on a rampage."\n\n"I guess that makes sense," Dr. Flynn says slowly. <<if $numKillerEncounters gte 2>>"But didn't you say the killer was uh...following you?"\n\n"He definitely was. I almost died, like, eight times," you say. \n\nDr. Flynn looks a little uncomfortable. He says "Yeah," but with absolutely 0 percent conviction.\n\n"I'm not joking. Someone has been creeping on me all night. I'm pretty sure it's the guy who did this. Brian," you say, pointing at the corpse in front of you.\n\n"Listen, Carly, I'm just thinking that maybe seeing your RA dead might have put you on edge. Maybe Brian is our guy, but he wouldn't have a reason to follow you." \n\nYou must have looked like you were about to argue about it, because Dr. Flynn quickly continues, "It's no good speculating anyway. We should just wait here. The police said they'd meet us here when the storm lets up a little."<<else>>"Well, the police will be happy to know we've done about half of their job. We should wait and give them the news when they show up."<<endif>>\n\n<<if visited ("Tell Kayla" or "Tell Marisa")>>"Uh, no?" you say. "If there's some psycho PS guy on the loose, I want tell me friends. I mean, he could literally unlock their doors and kill them in their sleep. Or I mean, even knock on their door and say, 'Public Safety, open up!' and I bet they would." You offer the note to Dr. Flynn, "Would you mind hanging on to this and giving it to the police when they get here? I don't want to risk it getting wet or whatever." \n\nDr. Flynn gives you a wide-eyed look, like you just announced with the deepest sincerity that you were the queen of England. Then his face softens and he gives you a bit of a half-smile, and you are immediately reminded of why you have a crush on him. "Well, I guess I'll come with you. Maybe Brian will be less inclined to tangle with two people, right?" \n\n"Uh...thanks..." you say, taken aback by the gesture. He probably just wants to avoid the bad press he'd get if you were murdered on the way back to your dorm, but you'd like to think he actually cares about you.\n\n"Let's go then," he says, hurriedly walking past the dead public safety officer. \n\n[[visit your dorm]]\n\n<<else>>\n\n"Yeah. You say," and suddenly, you feel more tired than you've ever felt before. \n\n[[snowmelt]]\n<<endif>>

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numLighter gte 1>>Remaining lighter uses: <<$numLighter>><<endif>>\n\nThe cops can't penetrate the weather, but Public Safety officers stay on campus, so they should be around to help. Even if they can't find or arrest whoever's responsible for murdering Nikki, they could send out a mass text alerting students to the potential threat. You don't know why they didn't pick up the phone, but you think that getting them to fire up the emergancy alert system would be worth a trek across campus.\n\n<<if not visitedTag("outside")>> You go back into your room and begin throwing on as many layers as humanly possible. You vaguely remember reading somewhere that having on too many layers could cause you to sweat, and then the sweat would freeze, but that scenario presumes a temperature where overdressing is possible. You don't know the exact temperature outside, but you'd guess way into the negatives, even before windchill. \n\nAfter you're done, you can scarcely bend your knees and elbows, but you're fairly confident that you won't freeze to death. You waddle awkwardly to the ground floor of your dorm and head outside.\n\nHoly fuck it is cold as shit out here holy hell. \n\nSnow and ice blast the exposed skin around your face with staggering ferocity, and the cold seeps under your skin even though you're wearing half your closet.<<endif>> There's easily three and a half feet of snow on the ground, probably more. Between your defensive squint and the persistent dark, you can hardly see. Maybe hiking all the way into town isn't a great idea, but you think you can manage lurching across campus. \n\nAs you wade through the blizzard, you hear faint sounds of someone else pulling themselves through the snow. You tense up. Who is this the guy?<<set $killer1 to either(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)>>\n\n[[Do nothing, because it's probably nothing|nothing 2]]\n<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>[[Use your phone as a flashlight|flashlight 2]]<<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>>[[Use a glowstick|use glowstick 2]]<<endif>>\n<<if $numLighter gte 1>>[[Use the lighter|lighter 2]]<<endif>>

A little before dawn, the police come. They take your statement apologetically, then they let you leave. School is cancelled, of course, so you just head back to your room and sleep. You guess Dr. Flynn gets home too, somehow.\n\nThe police arrest Brian Carroll in the science building and spirit his victims away in bags. Despite the snow, officers are quickly outnumbered by reporters though. Many of them want to talk to you; to make you the hero of this whole sad story.\n\nYou don't feel like a hero though. All you did was survive. What's heroic about that? That shouldn't be special or hard on a fucking college campus. No, you don't think this story has a hero. Just a villain. Just Brian Carroll. \n\nYou spend a lot of time in your room the next few days. The lights come back on, but you don't bother plugging in your computer. What's it going to have to offer, anyway? More interview requests? More praise you don't think you deserve? Marisa and Kayla keep knocking on your door, trying to pry you away from your thoughts, but you keep your door locked. You sleep with the light on and don't feel embarrassed about it. \n\nThough, looking out your window, you start to notice something: the reporters begin leaving. Your peers start venturing outside, cutting thin trails through the drifts. Kayla updates her Facebook status, announcing that she's captured a shiny Pokémon and she's pretty pleased about it. Deprived of an analog audience, Marisa bitches about her still-uncompleted paper online.\n\nAnd everywhere, the snow begins to melt.\n\n[[credits]]\n\nYou encountered the murderer <<$numKillerEncounters>> <<if $numKillerEncounters is 1>>time<<else>>times<<endif>> during this playthrough.\nYou survived the night. Congratulations!\n<<if visited ("put it together 3" or "put it together" or "put it together ish")>>You discovered that the killer's identity was former Public Safety officer Brian Carroll<<else>>You did not uncover the murderer's identity.<<endif>>\n<<if visited ("put it together 4" or "put it together 2")>>You realized that the murderer was trying to kill you because you knew he was tampering with the crime scenes to make them appear more like random acts of violence.<<else>>You did not find out why the murderer was tracking you.<<endif>>\n

<<if $numPhoneCharge gte 1>>Remaining phone charge: <<$numPhoneCharge>> <<endif>>\n<<if $numGlowsticks gte 1>> Remaining glowsticks: <<$numGlowsticks>> <<endif>>\n\nYou are so, so tired, and this couch is just so damn soft. It's warm in here, too. Probably safe. Quiet. You've had enough of dodging and weaving through the snow, wondering if you are going to make it through all this. Honestly, it isn't even your problem- whether or not there's a murderer on campus. People are paid to deal with that shit. People who aren't you. \n\nYou're done.\n\nYou curl up in a ball and sleep. \n\nIt is still snowing in the morning. The dead are everywhere, hidden behind doors and under drifts of snow, but you don't know about that. Nobody does, until the police finally arrive and start looking. There are at least 10 dead, but they'll find more before long. \n\nNo culprit, though.\n\nYou transfer schools. Your friends transfer. Admissions drop. The college closes, eventually. \n\nBut you survived.\n\nYou won.\n\n[[credits]]\n\nYou encountered the murderer <<$numKillerEncounters>> <<if $numKillerEncounters is 1>>time<<else>>times<<endif>> during this playthrough.\nYou survived the night. Congratulations!\n<<if visited ("put it together 3" or "put it together 2")>>You discovered that the killer's identity was former Public Safety officer Brian Carroll<<else>>You did not uncover the murderer's identity.<<endif>>\n<<if visited ("put it together 4" or "put it together")>>You realized that the murderer was trying to kill you because you knew he was tampering with the crime scenes to make them appear more like random acts of violence.<<else>>You did not find out why the murderer was tracking you.<<endif>>