Tenebrous Echos

You’ve always been a little strange. Touched, your parents said to you at the time. Cursed is the more appropriate word for it. Ever since you can remember, you've seen them. Just at the edge of your vision. Shadows - not unlike the spirits or "ghosts" that you see on those popular ghost hunting shows. The murky things that always appear in photos - just blurry enough to convince the skeptics that it's simply a camera trick.

You know better, you know they're there. Always there. Watching, maybe. Sometimes it simply seems as if they're living their lives - inscrutable as their motives may be. Other times, well, you know they can see you. Know what they want to do. It's always on your mind, keeping you on edge. Sometimes you lash out, seem like a "problem".

Your parents, bless them, made the mistake of trying to help you. Contacting doctors, thinking that the problem was you and not the world. Eventually, a van showed up at your house. The men inside came in, they grabbed you - injected you with something. The world went dark. That was ten days ago. And you're not the only one. There are others - from all around the world. Transported in secret to The Facility - as you've come to know it. By day, you're in a padded cell. To prevent you from "hurting yourself" - as if you would ever. You're not self-destructive, are you?

By night, the experiments began. Not to you, per se. You were wired up to some strange machinery, along with the others. The adhesive they used to attach the wires was a little itchy, and smells of sulfur - but they didn't harm you. You were hooked up to a grand machine, each of you positioned in a circle around what looked like a gate in the floor. Electrodes from your arms and legs fed to the gaping maw in the ground. They didn't explain what they were doing, but soon you were able to figure it out.

Five days ago the portal opened. Day never returned. The machine roared to life and unleashed a deafening roar - followed by silence. For the first few minutes the "scientists" were shocked. The instrument readings were baffling, apparently. But soon, they appeared - and they were angry. You remember the sight of Dr. Leonard (the short  squirrel-looking man with the thick wire-rimmed glasses) as his heart burst from his chest, held in the claw of the thing. Inky blackness dripping from its talons, as black veins ran across the still-beating mass.

You weren't restrained - so you all ran. And Ran. The facility was huge, though you'd only seen a part of it. You found a room with bright lights, and snacks. They seem to be repelled by the light (or the snacks? Probably the light) - but the lights are beginning to falter and flicker. You can hear the sounds of exploding light bulbs down the halls. You're running out of time. You need to get out of there. Now. Get outside, maybe get back home. All you know is you can't stay here.

Areas of Note: Supply Room, Corridor 17-B, Lab Wing aka "Rat Maze", Parking Garage, Long Winding Road

Goal: Escape the facility and make your way home, if home even still exists.