Twenty-One

The snake slithers towards me, smashing any buildings blocking its path. Eventually, it reaches me, yet I continue to look away, defiant. It stares at me a while before, bored, it leaves, crashing its way back towards the farm. Triumphant, I look to leave the overpass, but find myself stranded, every way up destroyed by the snake’s journey. And so, I stay up there, forever.

Restart?

Twenty-Three

The vision is still there, in the back of my mind. I can’t escape it, haunting the edges of my psyche. I hit someone, rip them to shreds in my mind, the visions echo laughs with each tear. I feel myself despising it, but I can’t lose it. The streets run red with each face I see, only for the red to turn clear and black with rain instead. It needs me to complete itself, so I scream a little louder, but it still holds on. I lose myself forever in the city, goodbye.

Restart?

Twenty-Two

The old man and his friends throw me from their home and kick me senseless. I lie there awhile, the pain overcoming me for a few hours. After a while I decide to (6) Stagger off before they come back to finish me off? Or (14) Confront my attackers?

Nineteen

I grab my vision and the rats fall in line. I execute them one by one with what little ceremony I can muster in the cramped pipes of the sewers. Then, I continue on, down the pipes, until I spill out of a sewer grate and into the sluggish river below. The people on the walkway above laugh and, in rage, I try to shout at them, but my mouth will not obey me. Instead, it turns on me, curling backwards and eating me whole.

Restart?

Twenty

I eat the flesh, and it comes straight back up, covering my shoes in nasty yellow bile. The old man smiles as he puts a pistol to my temple and -

Restart?

Eighteen

The snake comes towards the overpass, and I jump onto its back. We rise, higher and higher, until we reach where the rain comes from. It is warm, the people are friendly, and the snake is a good friend of the rainmakers. They give us a house to stay in and cloud food to eat. I am content and the natives say they cannot return me to the surface below. The snake lives in the attic and we play bridge together sometimes. We never do leave again.

Restart?

Sixteen

They all smile at me, proud that I would accept such a challenge. They take me out onto the street and gather a crowd for the initiation. I feel their pride rush over me. Something hard strikes me in the back, and I sink to my knees, crimson mixing with the falling rain.

Restart?

Seventeen

I wander with the man a while, following seemingly spontaneous marks on every other wall, until we reach a house surrounded by dead leaves. We enter and I am instantly taken in by the dead body hanging from the ceiling. They grab my arm and stare deep into my eyes before offering me pieces of the body’s rotting flesh. These people are all around me and I – (20) Play along with them? (22) Refuse them outright?

Fifteen

The city is drenched by the rain, and I can’t find the gate. The ground fills me with momentary fear, and right now I can’t bear to get any closer to it. What should I do? I can - (4) Ask for directions? Or (6) Wander around a little more?

Fourteen

I stagger to my feet before throwing open the hideout door. Within I am confronted by the sight of my attacker’s as they rip chunks from the hanging corpse. The old man turns to me with a bloody smile before pulling a pistol, firing a shot straight into my chest. I feel my back hit the ground and then hands pull me further into the house.

Restart?

Thirteen

The snake’s hiss reaches me on the overpass and the rain stops. It looks good now; the fear reaches further into my heart. I can hear the snake curl around the overpass, tighter and tighter, and it cracks slightly under the strain. Its eyes watch me, and I stand forever, under their gaze. I still stand there, and the world moves round us both, a constant rhythm that keeps in its centre our perfect stillness.

Restart?

Eleven

The snake lunges, stretching an impossible distance, only to rip the flesh off my face and swallow it. As my body sinks to the ground, I find myself looking from the snakes’ eyes. I flex my new form, one large muscle, and accidently destroy an abandoned opera house. I pull back to the farm before setting off into the countryside, free (somewhat).

Restart?

Twelve

They swarm closer, digging their way under my flesh to wriggle around the inside of me. They work their way up through my cu[prick]nt and into me proper. The vision watches on and the rats devour endlessly, a timeless cycle of teeth, tail, and hair.

Restart?

Ten

I walk the streets humble in my service to the great cause, I recruit so many new members that soon we block the roads, seize the stations, own the city. I take a post at the new camp in the old central plaza that once held statues to the dead. I process the many new arrivals. I am happy, I never need to leave the city again.

Restart?

Eight

People take great efforts to avoid me, walking in widening circles to stay away. That is, all but one old man. He offers me a pamphlet, promising me that all I need will be provided by him and his friends. Do I – (3) Take the pamphlet and go with the kindly man? (17) Refuse the pamphlet but still go with the man? (5) Take the pamphlet and run? (6) Ignore the nasty old man and purposefully stride away?

Nine

I crawl down the drain, the worm of my vision just ahead of me. I follow it for what feels like miles, kilometres of endless drainage pipes stretch in front of me, snaking around bends, my goal just ahead of me. Rats rip at my shins, they grab at my clothes. Do I – (12) Fight them off? Or (19) Continue after my vision?

Seven

I find myself on and overpass that overlooks the whole city. The rain still racks it and the countryside beyond. In the distance I can faintly make out the shape of a gigantic snake, seemingly wrapping itself in tighter and tighter circles around the outer limits of a farm. It turns to look at me. Do I – (11) Stare back, defiant? (18) Stare back, with interest? (13) Look away, afraid? (21) Look away, defiant?

Six

I wander deeper into the city, stumbling around the cast offs of old drunks and the moulted carapaces of their insectoid pursuers. The walls loom ever higher, forming gothic architecture of innumerable and unbending angles. I start to run, but what way? Either – (2) Right? or (7) Left?

Five

I see the man smile as I run with his pamphlet. The streets narrow as I make my way through them, dodging between buildings. A falling printing press tumbles from a balcony and I just manage to avoid it. The further I run, the more posters seem to materialise on the walls and new billboards rise around me. A van drives by blaring slogans, I smile at the sound, love swelling in my chest. The city sighs and its breath rips the pamphlet from my hands. (15) The world snaps back and I find myself right where I began.

Four

 I ask the nearest person the way to the gate and they helpfully direct me there. I reach it and turn, wistfully looking back down the city’s streets and terraces, before heading out into the countryside to find whatever lies out there.

Restart?