Tape B

The contents of tape B are played in episode 2, starting at 5:03.

## Summary

The trapped man explains his plan of escaping the town. He reveals that he had several such attempts fail already, and describes in detail how they failed, or at least some of them.

This tape also introduces his idea of a supernatural, malignant force that intentionally thwarts each of his escape attempts. He explains in detail how he arrived at this conclusion.

## Notable facts

* The trapped man mentions the observed activity of the creature in town down to exact numbers of minutes before and after sunrise. This suggests that he had an exact method of timekeeping when making those observations.
* Also, his observations and number of attempted escapes suggest that he has spent at least several days in the town.
* He rules the road to downtown out as a possibility for escape, referring to "the problem with the road", as if this is already known to the listener. However, he did not mention this problem in tape A. The only mentioning of the road in tape A is when he explains that he sees the trail through the hilly forest as a shortcut, which is likely not what he means by "the problem with the road". Some time after 11:18, there is also a distorted passage in which he might have referred to exactly that problem with the road.
* The trapped man uses the term "breaker question", which is also used by Jac in the same episode that this tape was played in.
* In this tape, the trapped man mentions having cut his arm while busting a window with his elbow, leading to a bleeding wound that he treated with fabric torn from his shirt.

## Observations and speculations

* The facts that the trapped man has gathered about the thing from the woods suggest that he is a keen observer.
* The methodical approach of the trapped man, and his application of reason again puts weight on the assumption that he is an intelligent person.
* His referring to the unknown territory beyond the lake as an "unknown quantity" appears like a rather unusual choice of words, possibly hinting at his background.
* His refusal to take a boat as a means of escape might hint at risk aversion.
* When he discusses the supernatural element, it appears that he does not normally believe in supernatural entities, but is open to it based on what he experienced in the town.
* When the trapped man describes the tension he feels when intending to leave the town, he uses the analogy of entering a room where two people just had a fight. In that analogy, he points out that it is "not a mystical thing", as the effect can be observed via natural means, for example body language. However, the town does not have a correlate to body language or other ways of subliminal signaling, which *does* make it a "mystical thing" when applied to the town. Still, he claims, "it is not just a nerve thing", apparently ruling out the possibility of the experienced tension originating from his own mind. Effectively, he claims that the malignant force of the town can read his mind and preemptively react to his intentions.
* The "evidence" that he presents in favor of his supernatural theory can actually be explained naturally quite easily. Fog and rain may occur quite often in a lake town embedded in hills. And despite his insisting on being clear on directions, he might still simply have gotten lost in the fog, considering that he frequently suffers from enormous stress and sleep deprivation in his situation. For the same reason, he might have forgotten to pack the first aid kit, or it might have fallen out of his backpack while climbing through the window. The unlocked school with the well-stocked refrigerators might again have been a coincidence. The inside of the fridges might still have been cold because the power just went out the day before, or the power goes off and on at random times due to a problem with the town's electrical infrastructure. The way he puts it, all of this sounds very improbable. But when considering his desperate psychological state, this might be counted in as a possibility. In all of his reported failed escape attempts, he was met with a natural occurrence, panicked and finally decided on his own to abort the attempt.
* Therefore, something might have happened to him that Jac warns about in episode 2: He might have jumped at conclusions too early, and thereby risked "going crazy". Maybe he tried to support a certain narrative with his arguments.

## Timeline within the episode

He first lists the obstacles:
1. The thing from the woods. He mentions several assumptions, listed under "Observations and speculations" on the article about the thing. He concludes that his only option is to avoid the creature.
2. Getting back to the freeway. The town is surrounded on three sides by "these hilly forests, with its remaining side being bordered by a giant lake". He excludes the idea of obtaining a boat and trying to escape on the lake, as what lies beyond the lake is unknown territory to him, not covered by his map. He refers to his not knowing what lies beyond the lake as "an unknown quantity". He rather wants to follow the saying "choose the devil that you know", trying to escape on land. As the only road that leads out of town does not appear as a viable option to him, he wants to go through the woods the same way that he initially came to downtown.
3. He mentions the third obstacle later, see time code 9:26.

 8:15 - 9:11
* He does not know what building he will hide out in. It needs to be as close to the edge of the woods as possible, to minimize night travel. But it also needs to be far away enough from the woods so the creature does not see him enter the building.
 9:11 - 9:26
 9:26 - 11:18
He assumes that if he were to figure it out, that might drive him insane. "That could be a breaker question." Note that he mentions the term "breaker question" here, a term which Jac also used in episode 2 when talking to Lena.
He takes solace in the fact that he does not know what it is, but he knows "that it is".
 11:18 - 18:29
"But whenever I try and leave the town, it's a completely different experience. The first day that I was ready to leave, my plan at that point was just to make my way down the road that leads out of town. Obviously, this was before I knew [distorted]. So daybreak came, and as soon as I stepped out the door, I felt a raindrop hit my head. The further away I got from the bowling alley, the harder the rain came down. Towards the edge of the town, it was coming down so hard that I decided to go inside one of the buildings and try and wait it out. So I go up to a door, and of course it's locked. But I bust open a window with my elbow, and I managed to cut my arm. But I wasn't going to let that stop me, so I could get inside. And I go through my pack to pull out the first aid kit, and, surprise surprise, the first aid kit isn't there. Now I know that I packed it. I double checked everything twice before I left. But all the same, it wasn't in here."
"Again, I wasn't going to let this stop me, so I tear off part of my shirt and use that to bandage up my arm. And I wait around for the rain. I sat in that building for hours, but the rain never stopped."
"Eventually, it was late enough where I didn't think that I was going to make it past the woods by night. And at that point, that was the only requirement that I had for this trip. So I left and started head back towards the bowling alley. I figured I would just try again tomorrow."
"Wouldn't you know it, as soon as I start walking back towards the bowling alley, the rain starts to let up. And when I got back to the doors of it, the rain had practically stopped."
"That night, the thing from the woods was outside the bowling alley the entire night. I can hear it sniffing around and grunting. I can hear the click of its limbs, and of course its occasional scream."
"And I thought that was it. I thought I was done for. I thought that it could smell the blood from my cut, and that it was gonna come inside, and then that was gonna be it. But it never came inside the bowling alley."
"As far as I'm aware, it's never tried to enter the bowling alley. It's only ever been around outside of it."
"Finally, the morning came, and the thing left. But needless to say, I didn't get a lot of sleep that night."
"But when dawn broke, I decided that even if it was gonna rain again, this next day I wasn't gonna let that stop me. I decided that if the rain came [...] I would rather have it sweep me away into oblivion than to stay stuck in this town."
"So I step out the door again, and it wasn't raining. But it must have been a byproduct of a ll the rain, the fog in the town was so thick that I couldn't see more than two feet in front of me. And I got maybe about midway into the town when I heard something in the fog [distorted]. And I didn't know, I don't know why I hadn't thought about it before, but hearing that noise gave me the sudden realization that if the thing was awake in the woods during the day, then maybe the fog would serve as adequate cover for it as well. And I got just absolutely terrified. I could feel the thing nearby, and I just started scanning around wildly, hoping [...] to get a glimpse of it. I just didn't want it to sneak up on me. But it was pointless, you know. Like I said, I couldn't see more than two feet in front of me. And I really debated on heading back to the bowling alley. And I sat there for a while before I decided that I was gonna keep continuing anyways."
"So I slowly continued down the route. And eventually, I got to the last turn I had to take before I got to the road. And when I turned it, instead of seeing the road that leads out of town, I saw the front of the bowling alley."
After that, he confirms that he knew he was going the right way. He concludes, "it didn't matter where I was going, the town took me right back to the bowling alley". As it was to late again, he decided to abort this escape attempt again.
The thing from the woods was back that night again, outside the door to the bowling alley. This time, it was screaming all night long, which made him "go mad in there", feeling tortured. He even suggests having contemplated suicide that night.
 18:29 - 19:11
 19:11 - 20:51
The tape ends with him repeating the phrase "I'm going to get out of here" several times, in a mantra-like fashion, until it cuts off mid sentence.

## Distorted passages

* 7:38
* 10:08
* 11:53
* 12:54
* 15:29
* 19:45