Waiting for a Train

A text adventure by John Holdun

Begin

You're waiting for a train. An empty tunnel stretches into the darkness to the left and right.

You're still waiting for a train, but now you're also covered in rat guts. That tunnel stretches into the darkness to the left and right.

The turnstiles lead back outside.

Inky blackness.

Inky blackness. And now you know there's a dead rat over there too.

Enter the void

Disregard the void

It might never arrive.

Wait longer

Look around

Wait longer

Look around

It might never arrive. Maybe you should just leave.

Stay here

You punch straight through the rat's guts and find yourself back in the tunnel, fairly unharmed!

You still can't see anything but the station.

You can't see anything but the far-off light of the station. You know from experience that there is the mutilated corpse of a dead rat here.

You can't see anything but the far-off light of the station. It sounds like there is a rat at your feet.

Familiar. Bright. Empty.

Return to the station

Cute little fella. Probably.

Pet the rat

Disregard the rat

Gross. Glad that whole thing didn't pose much of a problem.

Back

This rat was less friendly than it seemed. Also much larger. It swallows you whole and now you're swimming in its guts.

From the inside, this rat doesn't look all that dangerous.

In fact, its skin looks pretty thin.

Punch the rat in the guts

You offer the rat some of your food. It sinks its teeth into the aluminum with shocking ease and skitters away into the train station. Alone on the street again.

You're still out here on the street. The entrance to the station descends beside you.

It's a little darker out than it was when you entered the train station. How long has it been?

You look around. The entrance to the station descends beside you.

It's a little darker out than it was when you entered the train station. How long has it been? The rat guts on your clothes start drying as you look around.

The entrance to the station continues to descend beside you.

There is an enormous rat here. It's looking at you.

There are a number of shops on this street and on the streets ahead and behind you.

Stay here

Enter the can shop

Enter the food shop

Enter the sundries shop

Enter the supply shop

Streets ahead.

Head that way

Don't head that way

You feel a vague sense of dread when you look this way. Some thought idles in your memory, and while you can't identify it, you know what it is telling you.

Don't head this way.

You feel a specific sense of dread when you look this way. This is where you came from.

Go home.

Don't head this way.

The rat is huge--almost as big as you, and you're pretty big. It looks hungry and the way it eyes you is a little worrisome.

Give the rat some tuna

Give the rat some beans

Give the rat some corn

Attack the rat

At least, you think you're pretty big. There's been no one around for comparison for a very long time.

A block from the station there is a park. It's cute. You've come a long way from the other street.

The grass is dead. The trees are charred.

Check it out anyway

Stay here

Ah, yes. That place. Where the station was.

Return

Stay here

This place was probably pretty once. You can't quite remember. Not much to see, but something tells you you shouldn't venture much deeper anyway. Best to get back to the street.

There was a fire—that much is obvious even without wracking your brain. You remember a time before the fire, and you remember the fire starting, and…

Get back to the street

You remember voices. You barely remember what "voices" means, but there were voices. They were people you knew, trying to help you understand what was happening, trying to keep you safe.

Your friends.

Your family.

Head back

The distance back looks farther than you walked to get here. How could that be?

Hurry back to the street

You try to punch the rat, but it's quicker than it looks. It bites your hand clean off. In another few bites, all your limbs are gone. The rat finishes you off more slowly.

The end.

This is darling. The shelves are stocked full with goods. Too bad there is no one here. The street looms behind you, beckoning you out into the open.

Aisles and aisles of canned food.

Take some tuna

Take some beans

Take some corn

You vaguely remember seeing another face some time ago. How long has it been? Years?

Back

You left the door open. Why would you close it? Who will stop you?

Go outside

You start heading back in the direction you came from, so long ago, before you were waiting for the train. This all seems so familiar again. How did you forget?

You take off in a sprint, passing empty craters and blackened husks that used to be trees. You run so far and so fast that things start looking unfamiliar again, but in a different way—even before, long ago, these things were unfamiliar. You never went this far.

You turn back, walking slowly, out of breath.

One of these craters used to be your home.

You remember the voices again