Suzy’s Strange Saga
Really either choice seems pretty shitty, but if Jack feels that strongly about the jungle being worse, you guess you’ll take the snow (and probably freeze to death). You suppose the upside is that there are probably less deadly animals lurking about as there might be in a jungle.
“You better be right about this Jack.” You say,
You’re almost at the door when everything goes dark. You feel like those things are almost upon you and you can only hope they stop pursuing you when you go through the door.
With a boost of energy and a shove, you and Jack both tumble through the opening and into the snowy area. Snow gets all over you both and it’s at that point you notice there are also a lot of trees nearby, so it’s not just endless tundra, which is at least a good sign that you didn’t wind up Antarctica.
You also recover as quickly as you can, fearing that those creatures are still right behind you, but when you get up you find that not only are they not, but the Gray Building itself is gone. Nothing is behind you save for more snow and trees.
“Where the hell? Where did it go?” you say.
“It’s gone. We’re some place completely different and who knows where the hell that building is now. Shit…my head is still throbbing and all fucked up. I still don’t feel quite right. Just let me rest here a moment.” Jack says still sitting on the snowy ground.
You look up and while the clouds are covering the sun, it’s definitely still daytime wherever you are, but with the wind making the cold even worse, you’re going to have to find shelter pretty damn quick and you have no idea which way to go. For all you know you’re in the Canadian wilderness or some other godforsaken place.
“Goddamn, it’s cold.” You say.
“Yeah, we need to get going, even though I’m still feeling woozy. We need to keep an eye out for everything though. I guess we better pick a direction and hope we find friendly civilization.” Jack says and gets up.
As Jack gets up while you look around again and decide on a direction.
“Well at least you’ve still got your axe and I got a bat. This direction looks as good as any.” You say pointing to the right.
“I suppose so.” Jack replies.
You and Jack begin your trek through the snow…
The snow actually isn’t really that deep, but it’s deep enough that it’s not pleasant to walk through. The wind eventually dies down a bit which makes things a little better, but not by much. You and Jack are both very cold and periodically you’re rubbing your hands together and blowing on them in a futile effort to keep them warm.
“This is sucking so much, we’re going to freeze to death out here in the fucking forest.” You say suddenly stopping.
“Well maybe, but we gotta keep moving. We just gotta stay positive.”
“Yeah, well as you might already know, positive things haven’t been happening to me lately.” You respond.
“Trust me, you aren’t only one.” Jack replies.
“…I’m sorry, I’m just really cold, and as brave as I’m trying to be about all this, I feel like I’ve already been pushing my luck all this week and I feel like this is going to be it. Like my dumb luck has run out and I’m really fucking scared of dying.” You say trying to remain calm.
“I know.” Jack replies and puts his hand on your shoulder.
It isn’t much comfort, but if the end is coming soon, you could have worse company.
“Come on, you’re right, we need to keep moving.” You say and the pair of you continues on.
A few moments later, you feel like your fingers and toes have gone numb and you’re even starting to get a little sleepy. Day is starting to end and night will be beginning soon.
Just when you believe it’s starting to look even worse than ever, you and Jack notice some smoke rising in the distance up ahead, and as they say where there is smoke there is fire. (Hopefully)
You and Jack both quicken your pace as much as you can and eventually you reach the edge of the ground, which starts sloping downward from your location. In the short distance from that you see a small log cabin with smoke coming from it.
Salvation, but somehow you doubt if it’s going to be easy.
“You know there are going to be people living there.” You say.
“Yeah, but I mean come on, we’re freezing to death, surely they’ll help us. At best they’ll let us warm up before giving us directions to the next nearest town.”
“Jack, your optimism would actually be very charming if we weren’t in the situation we’re currently in.” you say.
“Well hopefully you’ll better appreciate it when we’re nice and warm. Come on.” Jack says.
You and Jack carefully make your way down the slope and soon you’re at the cabin. You see piles of logs stacked nearby, along with some barrels. The cabin doesn’t have any windows or at least none on the sides that you’ve seen.
“Okay, so how are we doing this?” you ask.
“Well I guess I’ll knock.” Jack says.
Jack bangs on the door a couple times.
“Hello? Anyone in there? We’re freezing and we need help. Hello?” he says.
There is no answer. You don’t even hear any noise.
“Maybe nobody is home after all.” You say.
“But there’s smoke coming from the chimney, obviously there’s probably a fire going on in there.” Jack replies.
“Well, maybe they’re out hunting or something and there’s a scared kid in there that was told not to open the door to strangers. See if the door is unlocked.” You say.
“Wait a minute, didn’t you just say there might be a scared kid in there?”
“Yeah and if there is, he’s still going to be scared whether we’re inside or outside. We need to get in there Jack, we can deal with the consequences later!” you exclaim.
Jack exhales.
“Well okay…” Jack says as he goes for the handle.
Surprisingly it opens and when Jack peers into the dimly lit cabin, he sees absolutely no one inside.
“This place is empty.” Jack says.
“Good, now let’s get to that damn fire!” you say and push past Jack.
You warm up by the fireplace while Jack shuts the door and locks it with a large piece of wood across it. He soon joins and sits down right next to you.
“Oh, sorry.” Jack says when he thinks he’s too close to you, but you stop him from moving over.
“Jack, I think we’re at that point in our relationship that under normal circumstances, we’d probably be dating already. You’re fine, in fact why don’t you just hold me. I could use the extra warmth.”
Jack complies with your request and you’re feeling a little warmer already. As you still trying to enjoy the warmth, Jack is still looking around the room a bit from his position.
“This is strange.” Jack mentions.
“Really? I thought this was probably the least strange thing we’ve done since we met.”
“No, I mean this cabin, something seems very, I dunno, medieval.”
“Well it is a log cabin in the middle of the woods, it isn’t like it’s going to have the amenities of the modern world.”
“Yeah, but have you noticed the decorations? A shield and a sword are hanging over on that wall along with a small banner of some sort. Over there in that corner is a set of spears. There also a lot of furs just laying around.”
“Maybe the guy that lives here is a historical buff on top of being a hunter. You know, trying to live the way they did back in the old days.”
“Yeah, well I’ve never seen something like that either. Look.”
“What? That’s just a deer’s head…oh what the hell? That’s fucking hideous looking.” You say just noticing the head of some very furry creature with far too many teeth mounted on the wall.
It doesn’t look like anything you’ve ever seen on those nature or animal shows. You shiver a bit looking at the damn thing causing Jack to give you a bit of a squeeze.
“Ugh, I don’t want to look at that thing. What is it?” you say.
“That’s what I’m saying, I dunno. I mean a lot of this shit looks familiar, but seeing something like makes me less sure.”
“What are you saying?”
“I dunno. I mean I’m wondering if we’re even on our world.”
In all the worrying about freezing to death, you suppose it never occurred that might not actually be on Earth.
“You think the Gray Building sent us to a different dimension or something?”
“I have no idea, but with that thing it’s not out of the realm of possibility. I mean you told me yourself you experienced reality weirdness when you were speaking with that bald guy.”
“Yeah, that’s true…shit. We might be in some real trouble.”
“Well, in the chance that we are on another world, I’d say we can at least look on the bright side that we aren’t going to get nuked any time soon.”
“Heh, always looking on the bright side.”
“Did it charm you this time?”
“A little bit.” You say with a smile.
After warming up completely, you and Jack explore the cabin a little more in detail, which doesn’t take too long considering it’s not excessively big. Some of that exploration includes raiding the foodstuff stored in the cabinets and the actual stew that’s in the hanging pot over the fire. All you find to drink is water and some sort of sweet alcohol. Jack says that’s probably mead.
One of the more important things you find is a small pouch of coins. A few are gold, some are silver and a lot of them are copper. You also find a few books, but they’re in some sort of language you don’t understand.
The last thing you discover is a trap door near the bed to a small root cellar where there is more food and water stored. Looks like you might be okay if you have to stay here awhile at least.
The only short term major concern is a toilet at which point Jack points that while it’s possible there is an outhouse you missed somewhere in the area, you both might have to be roughing that in the cold air of nature. You’re not looking forward to either possibility.
You remark about how this place reminds you of something from a video game you played on your computer, which only cements Jack’s view that you’re possibly not on your world any longer, or at best you’ve been transported back in time on earth to who knows where. That thing’s head on the wall seems to favor the former though.
Eventually though as the night moves on, you start to get tired again, but this time you’re not in danger of dying of hypothermia. It’s soon pointed out that there is only one bed.
“Well I guess I’ll let you take the bed.” Jack says.
“Actually I want to sleep by the fire, I’m just going to grab some more of those furs to sleep on. You can take the bed, or if you really want to, sleep with me by the fire.” You say.
“Well that’s no choice at all, of course I’m going to sleep with you by the fire.” Jack says.
“Fine with me, as long as you know I’m just using you for your warm body.” You reply with a smile.
“Well, just respect me in the morning.” Jack smiles back.
“Um, speaking of that. Do you think we should be worried that the owner will be coming back at some point?”
“Probably, but if someone comes knocking on the door, it isn’t like we’re weaponless.”
“True, okay let’s try to get some rest and figure out what we’re going to do tomorrow.”
You and Jack lay down several furs on the floor and settle in to sleep. Despite this situation not exactly being the best, you both at least enjoy the closeness of each other.
“You better be right about this Jack.” You say,
You’re almost at the door when everything goes dark. You feel like those things are almost upon you and you can only hope they stop pursuing you when you go through the door.
With a boost of energy and a shove, you and Jack both tumble through the opening and into the snowy area. Snow gets all over you both and it’s at that point you notice there are also a lot of trees nearby, so it’s not just endless tundra, which is at least a good sign that you didn’t wind up Antarctica.
You also recover as quickly as you can, fearing that those creatures are still right behind you, but when you get up you find that not only are they not, but the Gray Building itself is gone. Nothing is behind you save for more snow and trees.
“Where the hell? Where did it go?” you say.
“It’s gone. We’re some place completely different and who knows where the hell that building is now. Shit…my head is still throbbing and all fucked up. I still don’t feel quite right. Just let me rest here a moment.” Jack says still sitting on the snowy ground.
You look up and while the clouds are covering the sun, it’s definitely still daytime wherever you are, but with the wind making the cold even worse, you’re going to have to find shelter pretty damn quick and you have no idea which way to go. For all you know you’re in the Canadian wilderness or some other godforsaken place.
“Goddamn, it’s cold.” You say.
“Yeah, we need to get going, even though I’m still feeling woozy. We need to keep an eye out for everything though. I guess we better pick a direction and hope we find friendly civilization.” Jack says and gets up.
As Jack gets up while you look around again and decide on a direction.
“Well at least you’ve still got your axe and I got a bat. This direction looks as good as any.” You say pointing to the right.
“I suppose so.” Jack replies.
You and Jack begin your trek through the snow…
The snow actually isn’t really that deep, but it’s deep enough that it’s not pleasant to walk through. The wind eventually dies down a bit which makes things a little better, but not by much. You and Jack are both very cold and periodically you’re rubbing your hands together and blowing on them in a futile effort to keep them warm.
“This is sucking so much, we’re going to freeze to death out here in the fucking forest.” You say suddenly stopping.
“Well maybe, but we gotta keep moving. We just gotta stay positive.”
“Yeah, well as you might already know, positive things haven’t been happening to me lately.” You respond.
“Trust me, you aren’t only one.” Jack replies.
“…I’m sorry, I’m just really cold, and as brave as I’m trying to be about all this, I feel like I’ve already been pushing my luck all this week and I feel like this is going to be it. Like my dumb luck has run out and I’m really fucking scared of dying.” You say trying to remain calm.
“I know.” Jack replies and puts his hand on your shoulder.
It isn’t much comfort, but if the end is coming soon, you could have worse company.
“Come on, you’re right, we need to keep moving.” You say and the pair of you continues on.
A few moments later, you feel like your fingers and toes have gone numb and you’re even starting to get a little sleepy. Day is starting to end and night will be beginning soon.
Just when you believe it’s starting to look even worse than ever, you and Jack notice some smoke rising in the distance up ahead, and as they say where there is smoke there is fire. (Hopefully)
You and Jack both quicken your pace as much as you can and eventually you reach the edge of the ground, which starts sloping downward from your location. In the short distance from that you see a small log cabin with smoke coming from it.
Salvation, but somehow you doubt if it’s going to be easy.
“You know there are going to be people living there.” You say.
“Yeah, but I mean come on, we’re freezing to death, surely they’ll help us. At best they’ll let us warm up before giving us directions to the next nearest town.”
“Jack, your optimism would actually be very charming if we weren’t in the situation we’re currently in.” you say.
“Well hopefully you’ll better appreciate it when we’re nice and warm. Come on.” Jack says.
You and Jack carefully make your way down the slope and soon you’re at the cabin. You see piles of logs stacked nearby, along with some barrels. The cabin doesn’t have any windows or at least none on the sides that you’ve seen.
“Okay, so how are we doing this?” you ask.
“Well I guess I’ll knock.” Jack says.
Jack bangs on the door a couple times.
“Hello? Anyone in there? We’re freezing and we need help. Hello?” he says.
There is no answer. You don’t even hear any noise.
“Maybe nobody is home after all.” You say.
“But there’s smoke coming from the chimney, obviously there’s probably a fire going on in there.” Jack replies.
“Well, maybe they’re out hunting or something and there’s a scared kid in there that was told not to open the door to strangers. See if the door is unlocked.” You say.
“Wait a minute, didn’t you just say there might be a scared kid in there?”
“Yeah and if there is, he’s still going to be scared whether we’re inside or outside. We need to get in there Jack, we can deal with the consequences later!” you exclaim.
Jack exhales.
“Well okay…” Jack says as he goes for the handle.
Surprisingly it opens and when Jack peers into the dimly lit cabin, he sees absolutely no one inside.
“This place is empty.” Jack says.
“Good, now let’s get to that damn fire!” you say and push past Jack.
You warm up by the fireplace while Jack shuts the door and locks it with a large piece of wood across it. He soon joins and sits down right next to you.
“Oh, sorry.” Jack says when he thinks he’s too close to you, but you stop him from moving over.
“Jack, I think we’re at that point in our relationship that under normal circumstances, we’d probably be dating already. You’re fine, in fact why don’t you just hold me. I could use the extra warmth.”
Jack complies with your request and you’re feeling a little warmer already. As you still trying to enjoy the warmth, Jack is still looking around the room a bit from his position.
“This is strange.” Jack mentions.
“Really? I thought this was probably the least strange thing we’ve done since we met.”
“No, I mean this cabin, something seems very, I dunno, medieval.”
“Well it is a log cabin in the middle of the woods, it isn’t like it’s going to have the amenities of the modern world.”
“Yeah, but have you noticed the decorations? A shield and a sword are hanging over on that wall along with a small banner of some sort. Over there in that corner is a set of spears. There also a lot of furs just laying around.”
“Maybe the guy that lives here is a historical buff on top of being a hunter. You know, trying to live the way they did back in the old days.”
“Yeah, well I’ve never seen something like that either. Look.”
“What? That’s just a deer’s head…oh what the hell? That’s fucking hideous looking.” You say just noticing the head of some very furry creature with far too many teeth mounted on the wall.
It doesn’t look like anything you’ve ever seen on those nature or animal shows. You shiver a bit looking at the damn thing causing Jack to give you a bit of a squeeze.
“Ugh, I don’t want to look at that thing. What is it?” you say.
“That’s what I’m saying, I dunno. I mean a lot of this shit looks familiar, but seeing something like makes me less sure.”
“What are you saying?”
“I dunno. I mean I’m wondering if we’re even on our world.”
In all the worrying about freezing to death, you suppose it never occurred that might not actually be on Earth.
“You think the Gray Building sent us to a different dimension or something?”
“I have no idea, but with that thing it’s not out of the realm of possibility. I mean you told me yourself you experienced reality weirdness when you were speaking with that bald guy.”
“Yeah, that’s true…shit. We might be in some real trouble.”
“Well, in the chance that we are on another world, I’d say we can at least look on the bright side that we aren’t going to get nuked any time soon.”
“Heh, always looking on the bright side.”
“Did it charm you this time?”
“A little bit.” You say with a smile.
After warming up completely, you and Jack explore the cabin a little more in detail, which doesn’t take too long considering it’s not excessively big. Some of that exploration includes raiding the foodstuff stored in the cabinets and the actual stew that’s in the hanging pot over the fire. All you find to drink is water and some sort of sweet alcohol. Jack says that’s probably mead.
One of the more important things you find is a small pouch of coins. A few are gold, some are silver and a lot of them are copper. You also find a few books, but they’re in some sort of language you don’t understand.
The last thing you discover is a trap door near the bed to a small root cellar where there is more food and water stored. Looks like you might be okay if you have to stay here awhile at least.
The only short term major concern is a toilet at which point Jack points that while it’s possible there is an outhouse you missed somewhere in the area, you both might have to be roughing that in the cold air of nature. You’re not looking forward to either possibility.
You remark about how this place reminds you of something from a video game you played on your computer, which only cements Jack’s view that you’re possibly not on your world any longer, or at best you’ve been transported back in time on earth to who knows where. That thing’s head on the wall seems to favor the former though.
Eventually though as the night moves on, you start to get tired again, but this time you’re not in danger of dying of hypothermia. It’s soon pointed out that there is only one bed.
“Well I guess I’ll let you take the bed.” Jack says.
“Actually I want to sleep by the fire, I’m just going to grab some more of those furs to sleep on. You can take the bed, or if you really want to, sleep with me by the fire.” You say.
“Well that’s no choice at all, of course I’m going to sleep with you by the fire.” Jack says.
“Fine with me, as long as you know I’m just using you for your warm body.” You reply with a smile.
“Well, just respect me in the morning.” Jack smiles back.
“Um, speaking of that. Do you think we should be worried that the owner will be coming back at some point?”
“Probably, but if someone comes knocking on the door, it isn’t like we’re weaponless.”
“True, okay let’s try to get some rest and figure out what we’re going to do tomorrow.”
You and Jack lay down several furs on the floor and settle in to sleep. Despite this situation not exactly being the best, you both at least enjoy the closeness of each other.