The Sniper
April 7th, 2010
You’re now chatting with a random stranger. Say hi!
Stranger: You wake up in a grimy hotel room. The room is completely dark. What do you do?
You: leave
You: or break out the shotgun i keep in hammerspace
Stranger: You pull back the covers and pull open the door. It’s night time, the parking lot is full of abandoned and smashed cars. You mysteriously find a shotgun in your grip.
You: time to kill some zombies/general bad guys
You: can i have a sniper rifle instead though
Stranger: You double take at the weapon in your hand as it’s actually a sniper rifle. You whirl around to find anything to shoot. Unfortunately you don’t see any signs of anyone at all.
You: shit. night vision googles?
Stranger: You creep around the motel. It comes back to you now. You are wearing a suit for a stealth assassinator. You pull down your night vision goggles. The world is portreyed green to you through the goggles. There doesn’t seem to be anyone outside the motel.
You: so i go investigate elswhere. (you should write a book)
Stranger: You start heading down the hallway as quietly as you can. As you progress you hear a steady banging against something. Bang. Bang. Bang. Follow the sound?
You: yeah
Stranger: You follow the sound to a door that looks mysteriously jammed shut. The banging seems to be coming from the other side of this door. There’s a couch stood upright in front of the door that props it shut. The door is halfway breaking in half from some soft of force that was pressing from the other side. What do you do?
You: try to find a way to get in
Stranger: You grab the couch and start to swivel it out of the way. The banging gets louder as you move the couch away. It starts to get frantic and stops as you throw the couch away from the door. You hear heavy breathing on the other side of the door. Do you open it?
You: yes
Stranger: You open the door. A deranged looking man slumps on the floor. His jaw is askew, his skin ripping as it tries to follow the line of his broken face. He wheezes at you, his eye sockets are empty. Your heart falls into your stomach as you see the figures in the darkness behind him, a rotting stench rises to fill your nostrils. He lunges at you with a rotting arm, his neck lashing to take a bite at you.
Stranger: They all moan behind him. All surging towards you.
You: shoot as fast as i can
Stranger: You shoot a round of your sniper rifle right through the man’s stomach. He slumps to the side but you have to fumble with the gun to reload as it’s a sniper rifle and only shoots one round at a time.
You: its times like this when one needs a gatling gun
You: or a tommy gun 1930s style
Stranger: “If only I had a gattling gun. Or a tommy gun 1930s style” You mutter as you clench a round of empty sniper rifle ammo between your teeth. The mob snarls at you and lunges forward at you. One grabs your leg and attempts to gnaw at it.
You: pull it away a kick
Stranger: You throw a kick at the rotting face of the little girl. She gags and more of the swarm jumps upon you and attemps to pin you down.
You: try to get up and run.
You: i’m probably gonna die by now though.
Stranger: You flail your limbs violently and manage to slide out of the grips of rotting hands. Your feet hit the ground running, you don’t dare to look behind you but you can hear the deranged screaming that chases you.
You: just keep going and try to get out of the motel
Stranger: You weave through the parking lot of broken cars, you can go left or right down the road. You seem to be in the middle of a big city. You can see skyscrapers off in the distance to your left. To your right you can see the ocean miles away.
You: go left
Stranger: You race into the city, the monsters are still in pursuit behind you. They are so fast, you feel the slimy arms of one as they try to grapple you as you run. You see a car that looks in ok shape and an open man hole.
You: get in the car
You: and hope it start
You: s
Stranger: You dive into the car, managing to throw the creature off of your back. You slam the door shut and they swarm around the car. Their fists dent the car from the outside. You feel for any sign of keys in the car but find none. You spot the exposed wires underneath the steering wheel.
You: Hotwire it
Stranger: You fiddle with the wires and the car miraculously comes to life. You jump as a fist is thrust through the back window of the car.
You: gun it
Stranger: Your foot slams hard down on the petal, mowing through squishy corpses. You can hear the garbling of the zombie who is now stuck in your back window. You can hear a loud snap behind you. Whirling around, you can see that the arm has detached from the body and now lies motionless in your back seat.
You: once agian, keep going
Stranger: You drive down the road. You seem to be in the middle of a giant city. There are many buildings on either side of you. It becomes difficult to navigate through the streets as there are so many wrecked cars. You see an entrance to a skyskraper, a grocery store, and a mall a little bit down the road.
You: go to the store
Stranger: You get out of the car and find you couldn’t have driven much further anyway. The road is completely blocked with debris. You move to the entrance of the store to find the overhead speaker outside is still playing pleasant music.
You: that’s not creepy at all
Stranger: You enter the store to find carts strewn across the store. A corpse lies face down in the corner of the store. The shelves are full of food but from the smell you can tell it’s rotting.
You: how long has the city been like this
Stranger: You wonder how long the city is like this, why can’t you remember? You try to search through your leather suit to try and find clues. You take off your gloves and find a wedding ring on your left ring finger. But there are no documents on your person.
You: thy’re probably dead anyway
Stranger: You note that your spouse is most likely dead. But you wonder if anyone else is left alive. Looking again at the corpse you realize that he or she is wearing a police uniform.
You: i wonder if any police are alive. explore aroung the store
Stranger: You wander the store and find that the section of the store labelled ‘canned food’ has empty shelves. You manage to find two candy bars that fell beneath the shelves. Do you want them?
You: if they aren’t rotten too
You: you never know
Stranger: You check the candy bars. They are twix bars. You open one and take a whiff. It seems to be okay.
You: i love twix. but i save some for latter
Stranger: Candy bar x 2 has entered your Inv
Stranger: As you put the candy bars in your coat pocket you hear one of the carts behind you crash.
You: turn around and aproach a little
Stranger: You whirl around, stepping towards where you heard the noise. You don’t see anything.
You: take an even closer look
Stranger: You continue to search, cautiously moving towards the front of the store. You suddenly realize something is hiding behind the store counter. You spotted something move behind the counter
You: peek over it a littel
You: littel
You: little
You: sorry
Stranger: You lean over the side of the counter and a woman lunges out at you with a yell.
You: jump back and try to punch
You: her
Stranger: You are startled and jump back, throwing a fist at her as she lunges at you. You hit her in the shoulder but you notice she is wielding a pistol.
You: get behind something so i dont get shot
You: something solid
Stranger: You dive behind one of the metal isles used for frozen food. You gag as you smell the rotting meat behind you. The room is silent, however. You didn’t hear a shot.
You: peek out and see what shes doing
Stranger: You peek your head out behind the isle. She stands with sturdy footing, pointing the pistol in your direction. She is absurdly dirty, wearing a brown leather trench coat. However she looks very much alive. “Who are you!” She yells.
You: Jasmine. who are you.
Stranger: “Jasmine, who are you!” You shout back at her. Surprisingly, she lowers her gun. “My name is Meghann. Are you a bandit?”
You: no. i’m just trying to figure out what the hell is going on
Stranger: Meghann’s laugh was cynical. She thrust her gun in her belt. “Yea. Who isn’t. I thought this building might have some food left, it’s been a week or so since I’ve been able to find anything to eat.”
You: thats just great. have you looked anywhere else
Stranger: Thanks for playing. I have to take off.
You: who are you for real, sir or madame
Stranger: I’m just experimenting. Everybody makes their own story
You: that’s a good story.
You: my name is really jasmine by the way
Stranger: My name is Corinne
You: do you have a facebook. anyone who can come up with that is awesome
Stranger: Aw, thank you. Have a good day ok?
Your conversational partner has disconnected.
Submitted by Natasha from USA

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