“What the hell is going on here?”

“Look, we don’t have time to –” Steven’s words are cut off by a mangled scream in the distance.

“Oh god. It’s here.” Meredith is backing up, eyes brimming with tears.

The humming grows closer.

“What’s here? Is this some stupid Alphi Kai bullshit?” Look, just because people thought it was funny when you’re in school doesn’t mean it’s funny now. You didn’t come back to be messed with. “I’m not in the mood for games.”

“These aren’t games. This is… well, I don’t know what this is.” Steven sighs, and for the first time, you notice the blood trickling down his forehead.

“G-ggg-gg-guys…” You turn to Meredith, confusion and horror on her face. “Where’s Jackie?”

“We need to keep moving, now.”

“Steven! We can’t leave Jackie!”

“It’s too late to save her.

“Go if you want,” Meredith says, “Real friends hang together.”

They turn to you expectantly.

A) Go and look for Jackie with Meredith.
B) Get out of here with Steven.

Head towards the voices.

“I’ll be right over,” you call out. As you follow the sound of the voice, your flashlight catches something shiny, just off the trail. It looks like a watch, dangling from the trees. You can’t be sure, not in the snow, but it seems like it’s still attached to a hand…

Someone grabs you by the shoulders! In your panic, you trip and fall to the ground.

“I can’t believe you made it this far!” You turn to see three people, roughly your age. They reach down and pick you up, introducing themselves as Steven, Meredith, and Jackie. Their eyes dart around the woods worriedly.

“Thank god I found you guys! Started to wonder if I was all alone out here.”

“You’re not.”

Sheesh. Warm welcome. “I think the ropes course is this way,” you say, “I feel like I have my bearings again.”

“You don’t want to go to the ropes course.”

A twig snaps behind you. In the distance, a low, grinding noise echoes through the trees.

“We need to go, now.”

Go where? You did just meet these people after all. And something about them makes you nervous — their darting eyes and shuffling feet putting you on edge.

A) “What the hell is going on here?”

B) “Alright, let’s go.”

Go right, up onto the ridge.

Maybe you can get a better view from the high ground. You should always take the high ground. You start hiking, the sharpened branches closing in around the trail.

It’s steep. You’re practically climbing, scrambling up roots and rocks. By the time you make it to the top it’s nearly nightfall, and you can hardly see the forest floor. A light snow begins to fall, further obscuring your vision.

You fumble for the flashlight on your phone when you hear:

“Hey! Is that you? Come over here. Quickly!”

It’s not a voice you recognize. Still, your only other option is to backtrack into the gorge.

A) Backtrack into the gorge

B) Head to the voices

Go left, into the gorge.

If you remember anything from your camping days, it’s that running water is always a good thing. You head down into the gorge.

It’s a difficult, steep trail, and it’s slow going. Before you even realize it, it’s nearly nightfall. You’re starting to panic, but you can hear the river in front of you. Surely the ropes course is near the river, down in the valley, right? You pull out your phone, the flashlight cutting weakly through the dark. The first small, creeping snowflakes begin to fall.

Now you hear something other than the river. A low, droning hum, an insectoid static. It must be the group, the far-off rumble of conversation and music.

So why does it sound like it’s behind you?

The river is getting louder now — it must be right in front of you. But your flashlight is more and more useless in the rapidly growing snowfall. A shadow flickers past a tree — just the storm, surely — and then another. The hum grows louder and louder, as if hundreds of teeth were grinding and gnashing in the dark. You’re speeding up, now, jogging, starting to sprint.

Your ankle catches, and you go flying.

Your phone skitters away, but you scramble to grab it. Because that wasn’t a root or a rock you tripped on. Something grabbed you. You shine a light back down the trail and stare in horror at an arm, a human arm, it’s skin and bone severed at the shoulder, it’s mangled hand stuck into the air. You scramble back and trip over a something else — a leg. To your right a sickening tuft of skin and hair, to your left, half a jawbone.

And all the while, the humming growing louder and louder, the teeth grinding and gnawing faster and faster, until, on the back of your neck, you feel the hot, wet breath seeping through them.

In the morning they’ll find parts of you in six different places, speared neatly on sharpened branches like ancient, primordial meathooks. Like you are being saved for later. Because, deep in the Glen, away from all the paths, the rest of you isn’t being saved at all.

Give it another shot, sport?

Credits

Find your own way to the course.

Screw waiting, you know your way The Glen like the back of your hand. You set off into the woods with a pep in your step.

It’s gotten dark since you left the dorm, as if the clouds were lower. Or maybe it’s the woods themselves. Even though the trees are stripped of their leaves, they block out everything — the sun, the wind, the sounds of campus. Your only companion is the soft crunch of leaves beneath your feet and the quiet, visible panting of your breath.

Before you is a fork in the road, and, for the first time, your memory fails you. Maybe you don’t remember how to get to the ropes course… To the left, the trail snakes down into a gorge, and you can hear the faintest sound of running water. To your right, the path shoots up along a ridge, curving away from campus.

A) Go left, into the gorge.

B) Go right, up onto the ridge.

Nature Walk & Ropes Course

“Careful,” the student says, smiling. “Rumor has it that The Butcher is back.” You smile at the old ghost story, a holdover from days spent hazing freshman every Halloween. It’s good to know the new students keep up traditions. No matter how long it’s been, some things never change.

Butcher or not, nothing beats an autumn walk in the woods. You thank the student and head down the old, familiar paths towards The Glen. You brush past the old, stone buildings you used to study in, each window black. For what feels like the first time, you see other people on campus, but they’re all at a distance, jackets pulled around their faces. No one turns towards you or acknowledges your presence, but you get the feeling that they’re watching you.

It’s a relief when you’re past the last building, it’s darkened windows behind you as you approach the path into the woods.

You look around for a group, but all you see is a note nailed to a tree. It reads:

“Dear Alumni, if you’re reading this, we’re already at the ropes course. If you know the Glen, feel free to find us. Otherwise, wait for the next Orientation Leader to arrive.”

So, what’ll it be?

A) Find your own way to the course.

B) Wait for an orientation leader.

Wear the Warmer, Winter Coat

A hand grips your shoulder!

You whip around. It’s just a student. She’s has a Reunion Orientation T-Shirt, holds a stack of pamphlets, and wears a flu mask.

“Sorry to scare you! I’m here to help you find all of the weekend’s activities. I’m sure you’re wondering where everyone is.” She hands you a pamphlet listing option for Reunion Activities. “Do any of these look like fun?”

A) Nature Walk & Ropes Course

B) Erich von Straussheim’s Thespian Hour

C) Frat House Pub Crawl

Grab the thinner, sexier jacket.

It’s fall! How cold could it really get? And besides, you haven’t seen anyone in years, and you want to make a good first impression. Back when you were a student, you used to have snowball fights in tank-tops, for chrissake. You grab the jacket, check your hair in the mirror, and bounce out of the dorm.

For reunion weekend, the campus sure seems empty. You look both ways, hoping to see someone else and get an idea of what to do.

A hand grips your shoulder!

You whip around. It’s just a student. She’s has a Reunion Orientation T-Shirt, holds a stack of pamphlets, and wears a flu mask.

A) Nature Walk & Ropes Course

B) Erich von Straussheim’s Thespian Hour

C) Frat House Pub Crawl

Stick with the warm, winter coat.

Based on the piles of blood-red leaves on the ground and the incessant, raging winds, winter is coming early this year. You grab the winter coat and head into the hallway.

For reunion weekend, the campus sure seems empty. You look both ways, hoping to see someone else and get an idea of what to do, but the only signs of life are slow, heavy footsteps somewhere down the hall. You head the other direction, passing aimlessly through halls and staircases, all the doors shut, no signs of life anywhere.

But still, the footsteps. They sound neither closer nor further away, but they still make you nervous. You reach the end of the hallway and realize, that you have nowhere else to turn. In front of you is a heavy metal door marked “Emergency Exit, Alarm WILL Sound.” Behind you, the slow, heavy pounding, echoing down the hall.

A) Confront the footsteps

BAB) Try the Emergency Exit

Go Explore Campus

Stay in and rest?! These are your old stomping grounds! You used to run these halls — eyes wide, cheeks flush, skin bathed in Keystone Light — and it’s high time you went out and explored them. You take off your boring tan traveling coat and throw on your better jacket. Your cool jacket. Then again, you can hear the wind howling outside, and it was a bit chilly walking in. Maybe you’ll need the winter coat. Then again, you’ll definitely need to look cool. Which do you grab on your way out the door?

A) Stick with the warm, winter coat.

B) Grab the thinner, sexier coat.

You Died!