A piece of interactive fiction vs. role-playing game, where you get to suggest the next move and influence how the story progresses.
#26. Intruder alert
Wednesday, October 19, 2005 You decide to play it cool, and so you remain frozen in position. Your heart is racing. Trying to slow your breathing in order to try to calm yourself down, you keep the gun pointed at the intruder, hoping you can remain unseen in the shadows.Your brain is rapidly trying to think of possible scenarios. You decide that, until you can figure out who they are, you'll stay hidden. If they find you, perhaps you could play dead, but no sense in drawing any more attention to yourself just yet.
While you're thinking, the intruder has opened a box near the front of the container. The container's light is still switched off, so all you can see of the intruder is a silhouette. Whoever it is, they're wearing a motorcycle helmet, so it's impossible to recognise them. While they're leaning over into the box, you can only see their head, which makes identification impossible for the time being.
You struggle to think who it could be. The fact that they're looking for something in one of the boxes, and not searching for you, suggests that it's someone who has a key to this container.
They close the box they've been looking through and open the one next to it. "Aha!" you hear them say. At that, your eyes widen. That was a woman's voice! You stifle a cry of surprise and stare at her, agog. Is it Katy? Was she playing dumb? Is she really in on this?
She stands up, arching her back, and suddenly you can't believe you didn't realise she was a woman sooner. She takes off her gloves, and undoes her helmet. As she takes it off, brown hair cascades down her back, like a shampoo commercial. Cursing your stupidity, you squint at her silhouette. It's not Katy: her hair was shorter. Who on earth is it?
You really need to think faster, because while you're pondering, she's taken a briefcase out of the box and is walking out of the container, holding it and her helmet in one hand. As she reaches the entrance, she turns around and reaches up to slide the shutter down. Her face is suddenly illuminated by the light outside.
In the fraction of a second before the shutter closes, you realise you've seen her before. She was in that photo at Katy's house. She's Lena.
You struggle to your feet and leap towards the shutter. In the darkness, and in your excited state, you fumble for the opening mechanism. Finally you find it, and step out of the container, closing the shutter behind you.
You can see Lena about 50 yards away, astride a motorcycle, putting her helmet on. What are you going to do now?
well. you can't just chase after
her, don't forget about doug & his
knot. sounds like you've been
duped. stick around the container
and see what you can find out.
then, start looking for a
backdoor, i'd advise as little
contact with doug as possible,
since he's liable to have cops or
a knuckle sandwich awaiting you.
i've got a feeling this is more intricate than you'd have first thought. extortion, that's where
i'd play my cards. we know lena's
dad's a high powered attorney, and it seems common knowledge that he receives payoffs. Lena's probably
trying to cash-in on dad's funds.
but...
is this just premeditated from a
scene from some hollywood movie?
or is there more?
She's on her bike, so don't pursue and go back to the container to sniff about. Literally! Work out the type of shampoo she used to do her Timotei moment after the helmet removal in case you ever end up in someone's flat and don't know who lives there. There maybe clues in the bathroom.
Then check out the contents of the box, container to see what caused her "Aha" moment. Maybe it was even a single of Cry Wolf? More importantly, there might be a clue as to where to head next.
maybe you can grab a cab in time, and follow her, but she's on a bike and you're likely to lose her. maybe greg and lena are playing you, and they're both in on it, maybe lena broke free. did lena seem to have all her fingers?