Maybe this isn't a good idea, but considering Jack did save your life a couple times, it seems like a pretty shitty thing to do if you just left him.

With bat in hand, you head towards back to the corridor and call out to Jack.

"Hey Jack! Are you upstairs?" you say.
"Suzy? Yeah! I'm up here! Be careful though, there's still a bunch of weird shit going on."

Not terribly descriptive or encouraging. Weird shit could literally be anything, and in this case probably is.

You head towards the stairs and go up for the first time. As you going up, you have this fear that you're going to start sinking into them, that doesn't happen and when you arrive to the top, you find yourself exiting into a corridor that's laid out very much the same way as the first floor, the only difference is you're across from another set of stairs on the opposite side.

You look to your right and hear some noise causing you to ready your bat, though you soon see Jack exiting room of the side rooms.

"Suzy! I've been looking all over for you." He says approaching with an axe in hand.
"Hey! Keep your distance!" You shout and raise your bat
"What?" Jack asks as he stops in his tracks.
"Sorry, it's just, well there has been as you put it, a lot of weird shit going on and for all I know you're some horrible monster. Not to mention you're coming at me with an axe in hand, though I suppose given the shit I've already encountered, you probably wouldn't have bothered to even stop." You reply lowing the bat.
"Well, you probably were best to err on the side of caution. I've just spent what I believe to be an hour or two looking for you." Jack says.
"I was in your living room downstairs asleep on your couch. Right where you left me last night." You reply.
"Yeah, and you weren't there when I checked on you later this morning. I called out and looked in every room on the first floor. I heard your voice coming from the second floor so I went up there and that's when things started getting weird. (Sigh) and I thought this place was done with all that…should have known better I suppose…"

Jack trails off, but at this point you're demanding an answer.

"Jack, you've saved my life twice, but if I'm going to hang out with you, you better start explaining what the hell's going on with this place. I'm not sure what weirdness you've experienced up here, but what I just experienced downstairs was beyond weird, it was fucking terrifying." You exclaim.
"I know. I know. I should have told you about this place yesterday. Well let's head into this room and talk about it."

Jack heads into a room down the corridor and to the left. You follow and find that it's another living area furnished in a similar manner as the one downstairs. Jack was really like consistency. The pair of you sit and after you tell Jack what happened with you downstairs, Jack apologizes that you had to go through it and then tells you a little about what he knows of this place.

Jack goes on about how he bought this Gray Building years ago for cheap and figured it would also be good to store all his stuff along with being a place he could live and thus no longer living in his mom's basement.

He then mentions he went to check out the place after he bought it and right away he experienced weirdness. He said the first time he opened up the door to the place there was a jungle village inside. He mentions that upon entering the building seemed to whisk him away to this place and his surroundings completely changed.

"Curiosity got the better of me I guess. However it wasn't just a jungle. I found out later when cannibals were chasing me, that I was on an island made of Styrofoam and held together by hemp rope. Barely escaped." Jack says.
"What?! That's…incredibly random." You say.
"That was just the beginning. Of course any right thinking person, would have just written this place off, but I couldn't help but find it fascinating. Of course I found it less fascinating the second time I went in, when I was attacked by these shadow wolf things. Barely survived that too."
"Why the hell did you keep coming back here?"
"Well I actually stayed away after the second time. Though after a few months, I felt drawn to the place again. I can't explain it, but as it turned out third time was the charm, well maybe not entirely, but the place started to become more accommodating. In time, I started to encounter less dangerous shit and the place became more normal, well as normal as it could ever be I suppose. Still, I was never quite willing to go all in and actually live in this place until recently and that's only because of some positive weirdness that I experienced when in this building a few months ago."
"What happened?"
"Well I saw a glimpse of the future and in few days I believe this world as we know it is going to start resembling Road Warrior. Of course even without seeing the future I was listening in on some pretty scary radio broadcasts before the Ground Zero corporation started cracking down and scrambling the airwaves."
"Wait, you say you saw the future, like how exactly? In your head or what?"
"No, it was a portal or rather a small window that opened up on the third floor. Happened rather suddenly while I was up there deciding on where I should put more of my stuff a few weeks ago. I saw Security City get nuked. The town looks like it survived, but I saw that overrun by mad people, like rabid or something. Given how the people in town have been acting and the world situation lately, I'd say what I saw was on the mark. It was then, I decide that I might actually be safer in here."
"Doesn't seem like it, by the look of things." You say.
"No, apparently I was wrong about that. (Sigh) I dunno, I'm sorry I got you involved in all this."
"Well it's done now and it seems like I was fucked no matter what this week. So, is there anything we can do? I mean we can't really stay here I think you'd agree, but if the world is doomed like you're saying, where could we go?"
"Know where there is a fallout shelter?" Jack asks.
"Yes and no. My older brother made one a long time ago back home, unfortunately its entrance is a bit of a mystery now since he's dead."
"That would mean going back to town anyway and with the National Guard and the rabid there I imagine it's going to resemble a warzone."
"Well there has to be somewhere we can…is that snow?" you say noticing the hallway.

At this point Jack stands up and you do too, both with your weapons ready as you approach the hallway where white flakes are falling from the ceiling and snow is starting to fill up the hallway. Jack looks to the left and right and then speaks.

"Well I don't see anything else out of the ordinary except the snow, but I think we better get the hell out of here and take our chances with the outside world, whatever might happen to it." Jack exclaims.
"Don't need to tell me twice." You say and the pair of you run as quickly as you can back down to the first floor.

When you get to the first floor, you and Jack make your turn towards the large front room and that's when reality starts warping and you're getting disoriented again.

"Shit…" Jack says tripping over. You go to help Jack up and that's when you see them again. Those tentacle things coming at you down the hallway, which is once again increasingly being enveloped in darkness. There's no magical bald guy around this time to save you either.

'Oh fuck, we need to move!" You say and start running towards the front room. Jack follows along.

When you get the front room the lights flicker. Junk is still scattered all over the place and there is also no front door now, but TWO open doors.

"What the fuck?" Jack exclaims and then the lighting gets even dimmer and soon you'll be left completely in the dark save for the illumination coming from the open doors.

At glance, one door is leading to what looks to be a tropical area since you're seeing vines, trees and such. The other door is leading to a snowy area and you can even feel the cold air whipping in from that one.

And those creatures are still in pursuit behind you with darkness ever encroaching. You're starting to hear them now in your head, howling, chattering, gibbering. It's madness and you need to leave now.

"Shit, my head…" Jack says staggering.
"Come on! This way!" you say and start heading towards the jungle.
"Wait! That's a fucking jungle, and I know nothing ever good comes from entering one! Remember my first trip here?" Jack says.
"Well, it's either that or the fucking artic and we're not exactly dressed for that!" you say.
"I'd rather take my chances with snow than a jungle."

"It's pointlessss….death…isssss everywhere…embrace madnessss and ssssave yourself… embrace usssssss…" a voice in your head suddenly interjects this is followed by hideous mocking laughter.

Maybe you're getting resilient or something because you manage to keep it together. Jack isn't looking as great though which is odd since you figured he'd be used to something like this. He's having a hard time standing up and you're having a hard time keeping him from falling.

Either way, you're making the decision on which way to go.

The snow

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.

Next day…

FRIDAY


You wake up feeling slightly colder than you did last night, though it's probably because the fire has died down a little and Jack is no longer spooning you. A quick look around though shows that he's still here. He notices that you're up.

"Well good morning sunshine." He says sitting at a table with a candle burning.
"What time is it?" you ask, not thinking.
"Your guess is as good as mine, but I'd say it's still morning, maybe the afternoon. In any case it's daytime the last time I looked outside."
"Oh right. No modern luxuries. Is that one of those books we found yesterday?" you ask.
"Oh yeah. I was trying to read or at least understand any of it."
"You a linguist?"
"Eh, not really. I mean I have studied a few languages from time to time for my own reasons and in a couple cases thanks to the Gray Building weirdness I had to learn some new ones, but it isn't like I had any formal training on the matter."
"You understand any of it?"
"Not excessively so, but I only really started. I get the impression whoever lives here is a fur trader. Some of this book isn't doesn't really consist of words as it's a list of numerical symbols and totals. Fortunately those are universal. It would also explain the large amounts of furs piled up and this…" Jack says picking up the pouch of coins. "…I would imagine is their life savings."
"So you still think we're in a different world?"
"I dunno. As I mentioned I've looked outside while you were asleep, and wandered the area a bit. Not too far, but I didn't see anything out of the ordinary save for trees, snow and a few white rabbits bouncing around. I mean that ugly head on the wall is the only thing I've seen so far that's out of the ordinary. I will say that the presence of books at least shows writing and probably literature exists. The coins imply some sort of economy system. So civilization here exists, but of course who knows what said civilization is like."
"You said you thought it was a medieval one."
"Yeah, and I'm still holding on to that belief, of course it's possible that maybe we're just in a less advanced area. For all we know there are people whizzing around in jetpacks elsewhere." Jack says and then snaps his fingers. "Oh I did see an outhouse. It's not excessively far; we just never saw it yesterday due to the direction we came from. Well that and paying more attention to wanting to get into this cabin. You'll happy to know it's not even a disgusting diarrhea sprayed mess or overly foul smelling. The cold climate probably helps on that aspect. There's even a roll of paper in there. Um, it's not exactly the softest stuff though, and you'll have to clean your hands in the snow."
"Lovely. Definitely not looking forward to the experience. So you see anything else of note on your outdoor adventures?"
"I noticed foot prints going from this cabin and heading towards the east. I imagine they're from the boots of the person who lives here. I've seen the same foot prints all over this immediate area, but those were going somewhere with a purpose rather than milling about taking care of every day chores around here I imagine."
"Wow, you're tracker too huh? You really do know a little bit of everything." You say.
"I wouldn't say I'm a tracker, I'm just sort of making guesses in the scheme of things. I just saw the prints in the snow and made the conclusion."
"You think the person living here is coming back?" you ask.
"I dunno. I mean it's possible, but I'm wondering if this place was abandoned. Seems like the door would have been locked. Of course the door can only be barred from the inside, so maybe that's unavoidable and there generally aren't many people wandering around here to worry about locks. Still, it seems like they would have hidden their pouch of coins better or even taken them with them.

You nod and there is a silent pause in the conversation.

You look back at the fire and Jack goes back to looking at the book. Probably the pair of you are wondering what the hell you're going to do now. At least you are. Jack seems like he's trying his hardest to make sense of everything and that's certainly a good thing. You can't help but think maybe you're not pulling your weight as much as you can though, it's just you don't know what you're supposed to be doing. It isn't like you've ever been in a situation like this before.

So far you've just been trying to make the concentrated effort of not falling apart and giving in to despair because you get the impression no matter what happens, from here on out your life is going to be very different.

"I know how to sew." You suddenly blurt out.
"What?" Jack responds.
"I know how to sew, I mean I haven't done it ever since my mother died, but you never forget something like that completely I suppose. My mother was the one who taught me, which is why I just sort of lost interest in it when she died." You say.
"Well that's an interesting little fact you never told me about yourself when you were talking about your family before. What made you bring it up?"
"Our situation I suppose. I mean I suppose at some point we're going to need new clothes. I've never sewn furs together, but I suppose I'll figure it out. I guess I just want to let you know I'm not completely useless and I will be contributing to our survival out here. I mean I'll chop wood and learn to hunt and whatever else we need to do together."
"Suzy, you're stressing about this too much. I mean yes, this situation isn't the best, but trust me I'm just as worried if I'M going to be useful at all in this situation. I mean it's only thanks to all the past weirdness I had to deal with due to that Gray Building that I even have some of the basic knowledge I have of various things and a good portion of that probably isn't even going to be useful here."

Jack gets up and goes over to sit with you and he takes your hand.

"When it's all said and done. We're both a pair of basement dwellers and neither one of us was truly prepared for this, but we're still going to get through it. I mean I like to think I'm a survivor on some level. And you, well I think you've more than proven to be one. I know you think it's all just been luck or coincidence in that regard, but hell, maybe there's a reason. Maybe there's a reason for all this."
"You think so? You believe that all this is part of some plan?"
"I dunno. Maybe it's just a bunch of shit that happened. Still doesn't mean we aren't going to get through this."

You look into Jack's eyes and you take the initiative and kiss him full on the mouth. He reciprocates your affection, but you're getting the strong impression that you might be the experienced one here.

And then something urgent breaks up the moment.

"Damn it." You say.
"What? Did I do something wrong?" Jack asks.
"No. That thing that I wasn't looking forward to has finally arrived."
"Wha…Oh. That. Um, well did you want me to come with you?"
"You're going to watch me go to the bathroom? Freak."
"No! I meant did you want me to come with you to show you the way or extra protection."
"I know what you meant, just joking. Yeah, I suppose you should come with me so you can at least show me where it is. Knowing me, I'd end up getting lost on the way there. Well alright come on, let's go get this over with." You say getting up.

Remembering how cold it is out there, you grab a couple of the furs to wrap around you so you're at least better protected this time. You go to grab your bat, but then you think if you shouldn't take one of those spears instead.

You take the bat

You've never used a spear before, so you aren't even sure if you'd use something like that effectively. Better to stick with something you're used to.

Jack puts on one of the furs as well and grabs his axe and the pair of you are out the door. The sun shines down and you feel the cold wind blow.

"Shit, even with these furs on I forgot how cold it was." You say.
"We'll get another big fire started when we get back." Jack says.
"I'll look forward to it, so which way?"
"Oh to the left and then past some trees, it's not hard to find."

You and Jack make your way to the infamous outhouse. You both look around periodically, but see nothing dangerous.

Eventually you get to your goal and it looks exactly like you thought it would.

"Well this is it." You say.
"I'll be out here. Keeping a look out." Jack responds.

You enter the outhouse and endure the unavoidable. Thankfully Jack makes no attempt to speak to you while you're inside.

Eventually you come out and start putting your hands in the snow. Jack watches you and then goes back to looking around.

"Well, wasn't as bad as I thought, I'm still missing modern plumbing though. Wish we had soap too." You say.
"I guess if you want to sanitize your hands even more I suppose you could pour some of that mead we have at the cabin on them."
"Will that work?"
"It's got alcohol in it, I assume it can't hurt. You ready to go?"
"Yeah, you see anything out here?"
"Nah, just a few more of those white rabbits I always see hopping around."

As you and Jack make your way back to the cabin, you and he speak on if either one of you knows anything about hunting. You of course know nothing, Jack says he's not much better, though he thinks maybe you both could start making simple traps or something, especially given that there are obviously rabbits around here to be caught.

"Wish we had the Internet so we could at least look all this shit up. God, I really miss the Internet…I think this is the longest I've been without it and I suppose those days are over as well." You say as you approach the cabin.
"Oh, you don't know. We're still just stuck out here in the wilderness, like I said, maybe there is Internet and hover cars somewhere else."
"Love that optimism Jack…" you say chuckling and heading towards the door.
"Hey Suzy, wait is that blood in the snow?"

You and Jack both stop a few feet away from the cabin, you're still closest to the door, which suddenly swings open.

Before you, you see a man with a good amount of facial hair and wearing several furs and clothing much more suited for this sort of weather.

He's not completely standing upright, but is in a somewhat stooped position as if wounded which judging from the blood in the snow is probably the case. While it's difficult to tell his facial expression due to the hair, his eyes are wide as if he's surprised, desperate or possibly even afraid. Maybe a mixture of all three.

The major thing you see however is the crossbow he's holding and pointing at you and Jack.

The man shouts something at you in a language you don't understand and before you can duck or get out of the way he fires a bolt and at this range his aim is still sound. You feel the piecing object go into your heart and you fall to the ground.

Jack screams your name and attacks the man who is desperately attempting to reload his crossbow.

You however never know if Jack avenges your death.