THE FOLLOWING TAKES PLACE SOME TIME AFTER THE EVENTS OF THE PREVIOUS FILE. IT IS STILL DAYLIGHT. DUE TO THE LENGTH OF THE FOOTAGE CONTAINED, THE RECORDED TRANSCRIPT WILL BE SPLIT INTO MULTIPLE FILES.

  --File 063: Into the Valley of Death--

  When the video begins, it becomes abundantly clear that everyone is beyond exhausted. The camera is immediately pointing to a crater in the ground some distance from the cabin; grass, dirt, and debris are everywhere, and there is a writhing mass of maggots at the center of it all. Blaine is the one recording, as per usual.

  Emma: "I thought I'd be a lot happier to be free of that thing."

  The camera turns to show a pale and drawn Emma staring into the hole with an unreadable expression. There is clear exhaustion in her face.

  Blaine: "It's not over until it's over."

  There's a general consensus. The camera pans across everyone: Anders and Bartosz are standing like grim gargoyles on either side of Alex, who, while he seems much more lively than before, also seems to have withdrawn. It is unclear what was said between files, but whatever it was, it wasn't enough to free him of his guilt.

  Blaine: "We're at a crossroads. Where do we go from here?"

  Emma: "Where else? Exactly where the game told us to go. Thank God you've got a camera, or we'd have been screwed two ways from Tuesday."

  Anders: "Let's pretend I've already forgotten. Where do we go?"

  Emma: "For starters, we get the absolute pleasure of drinking from the lake."

  Dramatically, Blaine turns to take in the lake, which is only a short walk from the cabin. The water is deceptively calm, far too clear for a lake of its caliber and size, and reflects the sky with dazzling perfection.

  Bartosz: "If that's not a portal to hell, then my fuckin' name's 'Steve'."

  Blaine: "Who wants the honors?"

  Emma: "Bad news. We all have to drink it."

  Anders: "You sure?"

  Emma: "Highly. In the game, Grantham's mother made him drink it, along with her."

  Bartosz: "How do we know this wasn't performative?"

  Emma: "I checked that fireplace to heaven and back, and I found a switch... but nothing happened when I pressed it. Not a single thing."

  Alex: "I'll start."

  Without any preamble, Alex tiredly walks to the lake. It is easy to forget everything Alex has seen and been through over the last three days, much less what he has remembered. Still, he walks up to the lake, cups his hands, and drinks from the water.

  A moment later, he gags, stumbles back and shakes his head, looking disgusted.

  Emma: "What?! What is it?"

  Alex: "Tastes like fucking hell. It's awful."

  Anders: "Don't sell it to us or anything..."

  Alex: "You couldn't sell that if you wanted to. It's like- it's like..."

  Blaine: "What?"

  Alex: "Like I drank a cup of blood. My mouth feels like it's full of blood."

  As one, the others- Blaine included- lean toward him, as if subconsciously wanting to make sure his mouth isn't. He notices, rolls his eyes, and opens his mouth wide. There is no blood.

  With a deep sigh, Emma strides toward the lake as well, cupping her hands and likewise taking as good a drink as she can get. Similarly, she gags, and Blaine steadies her as she retches.

  Emma: "That's foul."

  Bartosz: "All right, move over."

  Bartosz and Anders both step up and mimic Emma and Alex. Anders swears and leans on his knees, grunting; Bartosz valiantly screws up his face, turns slightly green, and says nothing.

  Last, Blaine hands the camera to Emma, who accepts it gingerly, and walks up to the edge. He drinks, pauses, and he looks up, face falling.

  Emma: "What?"

  Blaine: "I... taste nothing."

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Silence falls on the group. Blaine looks down at his hands, then wordlessly gets up and reaches for the camera. As it swaps hands once more, it briefly captures Bartosz giving Anders a blatantly "loud" look. When Emma speaks, it's loud, as if to drown out a voice that isn't speaking.

  Emma: "All right, everyone back in the house. The fireplace should open up, now."

  Sure enough, Emma marches up to the fireplace, reaches upward toward the flue, and there's an audible *click* that sounds before the grating of a heavy door falling fills the air. The back of the fireplace falls out, and everyone exchanges grim expressions.

  Alex: "Anyone else getting the feeling like... we're stuck in a rollercoaster, headed toward a track that's been cut off?"

  Anders: "Hurtling towards something we can't escape? Yeah."

  Bartosz: "I'll go first. I can't stand this kind of fuckin' around to buy time. If we're gonna die, let's go fuckin' die."

  Bartosz shoulders his way in through the opening, and after a moment, Alex follows. Emma glances at Blaine before ducking in after him, but as Blaine is about to step in himself, Anders catches him by the shoulder. His expression is pained.

  Blaine: "...Yeah?"

  Anders: "You know I have faith in you, right?"

  Blaine: "...Don't worry about it, Anders."

  Anders: "I'm serious, kid. I was there. I know you ain't capable of what Jakub thinks- you just gotta understand, the man's been living a life of nonstop paranoia that got him ostracized for the past fifteen years."

  Blaine: "I know, Jim."

  There is a long silence in which neither says anything. A gruff shout from the fireplace calls out to them, and Anders drops his hand, seemingly unhappy with the turnout from this conversation. He gestures forward, and Blaine enters into the secret entrance. Anders follows last.

  The space beyond is filthy. There is so much dust, it seems as if no one has stepped there in centuries, let alone even within the last fifteen years. Torches on the walls have sprung to life, however, lighting the dim space in a way that allows for still-too-little visibility.

  A set of stairs stretches downward in a spiral; darkness is all that is visible, even from the camera.

  Bartosz: "And away we go."

  Without hesitation, Bartosz steps onto the first staircase... and instantly disappears.

  Everyone starts shouting all at once; Anders darts toward the top of the staircase, waving a hand through the shadows, but there is nothing there. It is as if Bartosz never existed.

  Emma: "Bartosz!"

  Anders: "JAKUB!"

  Alex: "Oi- hey! Do you guys hear anything?!"

  They all immediately quiet down, but there is nothing apart from the heavy stillness of a deep silence.

  Blaine: "Where the fuck did he go?"

  Alex: "It's got to be the stairs."

  Emma: "That didn't exactly happen in the game!"

  Anders: "Guess it's happening now."

  Blaine: "So, what do we suggest here?"

  Alex: "You got any ideas? You're supposed to be the brother they've been waiting for."

  Blaine seems to consider Alex for a second, but the hysterical edge to his voice seems to suggest that Alex is mostly joking.

  Blaine: "You gotta do better than that, man, I thought you turned on me again."

  Alex: "Sorry. The insane part of me wants to joke around, and the sane part of me wants to scream."

  Emma: "That sounds almost like the best idea anyone's had in ages."

  Alex: "What, joking around?"

  Emma: "No."

  Anders: "Dammit, he's not coming back."

  The others look and seem to realize that Anders is distraught. He is pacing back and forth, clearly too cautious to take a step onto the staircase, but too agitated to be able to stand still.

  Blaine: "Hey, Jim, he's going to be fine."

  Anders: "You don't get it. Do you now how many of us there are left?! So many of us killed off because of this insanity. I can't lose any more of my old colleagues, can't bury another friend. We need to find that motherfucking asshole!"

  Alex: "Anders, we will-"

  Anders: "No. I'm going to find him."

  And then he steps on the first step and vanishes.

  The others appear stunned.

  Emma: "That seemed- did he seem okay?"

  Blaine: "I think... it's as simple as he said. They've... buried a lot of people. Seen a lot of death. The only ones who have ever believed their side of things is probably the people within their group, but as each one dies off... who the hell are they going to talk to?"

  Alex: "He lost his cool. I don't think they've been able to contact anyone else, either, so in this case..."

  Emma: "They've only got each other for any kind of normalcy..."

  Blaine: "It could be all that, or it could also be that there's some crazy shit in the air making it really hard to think straight."

  Alex: "That is also entirely possible. My head's starting to hurt."

  Emma: "Okay- let's try going together?"

  Blaine: "Yeah. Yeah, all right. As one, together, at the same time, we move onto that top step."

  Emma: "Here- Blaine, you take my left hand, and Alex, you take my right. Maybe if we're touching, we'll be okay."

  Alex: "I've got a bad feeling about thi-"

  Blaine: "Dude, shut up! Rule of thumb: Every time someone says that in a horror movie, some insane shit happens."

  Emma: "Stop procrastinating. Come on."

  Together, the three of them line up just above the first step on the staircase. There is a collective breath together, then they all silent nod in each others' directions. Then, as one, all three step onto the first step...

  And then darkness slams into them all. The camera goes pitch black, and the sound of wind buffeting the mic can be heard; in the background, Emma lets out a shrill shriek of fear.

  When vision comes back to the camera, their surroundings have changed. Gone is the stone entrance of the fireplace's secret opening, and now, they are standing in a dimly lit tunnel, just before a cave entrance.

  Alex is gone. All that remains is Emma and Blaine.

  Blaine twists around. The space behind him is just a single cave; there is no immediately visible exit from this space. There is a hole in the roof of the little cave, but when Blaine shines a light up through it, they only catch the barest hint of the shape of steps beyond- otherwise, it is just endless, fathomless pitch blackness. The cave stretching away from them opens out into a yawning, black void.

  Emma: "Where... where do you think Alex is?"

  Blaine: "I'm afraid to try to guess."

  Emma: "What do we do... now?"

  Blaine: "Go forward and hope we run into everyone safe and sound."

  There is a heavy silence that follows this that suggests that no one really believes anything to be that easy.

  The first file ending is here.

  --PAUSE TRANSMISSION--

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