text: [Themes: horror]
  
  You wake several times in the night to the howling of mutant dogs and noises caused by things you do not recognize off to the South. At one point you are sure you hear things entering the mall but luckily you camped out on the roof with the door barred so you are not disturbed yourself. By morning though you have remembered the last times you got this close to the skyscrapers and how you nearly didn't make it back each time.
  
  You look back over the view as you make your choice
  
  > keep going South, mutants move mostly by night and you know to be careful now
  You know how to avoid mutants and other dangers now so you decide that pushing on South is the best option. You carefully check everything on your way down to ensure that there are no surprises and head out into the morning sun.
  
  As you predicted, there are no mutants in sight, so you begin heading South again. The cars here begin to thin out, most people who lived in the towers used the underground tube system to get around. It only serviced the city centre so you have never had much chance to get down inside it but you are slowly getting closer to the area where a station might be, you know there will not be any trains running now though.
  
  As you reach the base of the first towers you notice that there must have been less action by the military here "Probably two scared of starting a domino affect" you think to yourself and you walk by the towers. Time, looting and infected have done a fair job of destroying the towers without the militaries' aid however and you can see smashed windows and doors on almost every building around you.
  
  You push further South and finally find yourself surrounded by ever larger sky-scrapers "Time to decide on my plan here" you think as you review your options.
  
  > search some of the Towers, no telling what you might find
  You pick a nearby tower almost at random, just like the others around you it has what looks like 40 floors and the front door is smashed in. the looters must have gotten here first.
  
  You start giving the floors a cursory glance as you pass but you know from experience that it is likely that the lowest floors were raided first. It is around floor twenty that things appear to change and your glances down the corridors start showing closed doors. You push on and finally around floor 30 you start seeing less signs of destruction so head down some of the corridors looking for a likely door to break in.
  
  You pause at apartment 307 "Good a number as any" you think as you size up the door, ready to try and kick it in. You brace yourself, preparing to just and kick the lock as hard as you can when you notice something about it and pause. Looking closer you realize that the lock has clearly been forced open before and the door shut again after, an oddly polite thing for a thief to do. you check the apartments either side and find exactly the same thing.
  
  > just leave quietly, it's a little weird and you don't trust it
  It is just a little too strange for you and you decide that it might be better to leave this apartment tower alone for now. You jog back to the stairs quietly and begin heading down again. As you get to the floor below you notice a couple of the doors opening and see a shambler stepping out of it "They can't work doors!" you think to yourself as you begin leaping down each flight of stairs to get away from the strange tower as fast as possible. Each floor shows the same thing as you see shamblers coming out of doors and heading towards the stairs, they must have all moved at the same time as the lower you get, the closer they are to the staircases.
  
  At floor twenty you have to use your bat to knock several out of your way but your break through and there does not seem to be any more shamblers below you so you run the rest of the way down and out into the street "What the hell was that?" you think "Shamblers using doors and playing happy families?" You shake your head and plan your next move.
  
  > keep going South, aim right for the city's heart
  There is no point wasting your time here so you set out once more for the city centre, watching the buildings grow taller until it seems more like you are an ant in a giant forest. You can't imagine working or living here although you heard that people could spend entire lives in the labyrinth of towers. They had apartments, offices, schools, shopping malls and even hospitals in these towers so it was understandable never needing to leave the giant concrete forests confines. Maybe they had as strong a feeling of displacement when they ventured out into the open sky as you do coming into their confines.
  
  Your thoughts are interrupted suddenly when you see a single shambler wandering slowly down the street. You hide behind a parked van and wait for it to pass before hitting it cleanly on the back of the head with your bat, dropping it instantly "One less infected to worry about" you think as you make sure it is dead and move on South.
  
  You begin noticing more and more of them though as you head further South, usually on cross streets or entrances to buildings, the only direction that seems clear is due South.
  
  > This is pretty suspicious, head back North
  Things feel like you are being herded South and you don't really want to find out why so you turn and begin back North, however you soon find that a lot of the shamblers you had noticed before, and many you hadn't, were blocking your way North again. They are still scattered apart but you'd have to fight through at least a dozen to get though no matter which route or side of the road you took.
  
  > Shamblers are not smart enough to be suspicious, keep going for a bit
  You head South but at a slower pace, keeping an eye on the shamblers you pass, finding that no matter how far you go, there are none on the road ahead of you. You start passing groups of them and panic a few times when you pass especially large groups and even a mutant but none ever make a move to intercept you.
  
  You might have turned back but soon after choosing to go South you began to see the ever-growing horde behind you and realized that doing anything but keeping on South was out of the question. Clearly something wanted you to keep going that way and was not leaving you a choice in the matter.
  
  After several hours the sun begins to set and you see a building up ahead with lights still turned on "Something still has power?" You think to yourself and stumble to a halt when something answers back inside your mind. "Well of course, it is much more comfortable here with the light on!" The voice says.
  
  You stand still for a moment as you look around for the source of the voice but simply see more shamblers. You then hear laughter in your mind and the voice continues "Oh dear me, I am sorry I didn't realize how little you knew, I mean I knew you were fresh but you actually looked around! ah dear me, anyway, I digress. I am inside the building ahead and talking to you via something you can think of as telepathy one of the nice side affects of being a herald or harbinger as some call us. We have a safe community here where you will be more than welcome so long as you follow the law, and that law is whatever we say goes." You hear a second voice join in "Well not quite, we do have simply rules and laws but essentially our word is law here, the rules are easy though, don't kill anything that is or used to be sentient and don't cause trouble for us. If you want in you simply have to answer a couple of questions and agree to live by our rules. You will have food, water and entertainment here and you will be safe from others too."
  
  You pause for a few moments to think this strange development over but you can actually feel their minds waiting for you to answer so try to buy yourself a moment "What are the questions I must answer" You think as hard as you can at the minds and feel them recoil slightly. "Honestly now, use your inside voice!" You hear immediately after "We are inside your head so try not to shout, it is rather uncomfortable. "Sorry" you think, trying to make your thoughts softer and less directed. "Ah, better, you learn quickly at least" one of the minds responds "The questions are simple. First, how did you find us, second, do you kill and eat humans?"
  
  You pause for a moment and try and work out what to do, you are a Harbinger after all so you DO kill and eat humans, your entire reason for wanting to find survivors was to kill and eat them but do you really want to tell these harbingers that?
  
  Tell them the truth, they are the same as you afterall
  
  Lie to them, can't show all your cards right away.
  
  > tell them the truth, they are the same as you after all
  You consider lying but what is the point, they are harbingers like you.
  
  "I had no idea about you or any of this, I was literally just exploring here when the infected forced me this way. As for the humans, yes I have eaten them, that's what harbingers do after all."
  
  There is silence for a time before an answer finally comes. "Well that is very interesting, and actually the truth which we didn't initially expect. We shall let you join us, do understand though that you will still be under some suspicion for a time."
  
  You nod, that's pretty much what you expected "Sounds about what I expected so I'll accept those terms." You say as you walk closer.
  
  A different voice joins in the conversation now "As you get closer you will see a large underground entrance, then one building past that on the right you will see a metal door set back inside an entrance way, that's the way you need to take in. If you see anything strange, do not attack it, they are semi-autonomous but still under our control and will not attack unless provoked."
  
  You shrug to yourself "not as if anything could really surprise me anymore" you think as you see the underground entrance and head one building past it. You see what looks like a normal skyscraper lobby and almost wonder if you had gone too far when you see what looks more like a huge metal slab than a door part way into a side corridor. "Huge defensive door but tucked where people walking by won't easily see it, smart."
  
  As you get closer it swings open to reveal a huge monstrosity holding it. The roof here must be over 10 feet high and the thing is still hunched against the ceiling to be able to fit and its bulk blocks most of the corridors width, like a human mutated to be the biggest, most muscular abomination you could imagine. "Gorram-it, I take it back, I can still be surprised, you're like some monster from mythology aren't you?" You mutter as you decide about what to do. Surprisingly the thing growls at you in response. "Oh, and you seem to understand me, that's a bit worrying too." You say.
  
  You carefully edge past the thing as it makes no move to attack and you notice that the door is several inches thick of metal, and that the thing easily pulls it shut behind you even though it's not on hinges. "Seems those muscles aren't for show either, I can see why I wouldn't want to pick a fight with you" you tell the monster which seems to take it as a compliment and grins at you, which is a truly horrifying sight.
  
  > Further down the rabbit hole
  You head down the corridor ahead and past several smaller doors, opened by other strange mutated humans. You make note that the walls and ceiling here are re-enforced, probably after knocking down walls to make the tunnel. You start hearing cheering up ahead as you come into a small lobby area.
  
  "Nearly there!" you hear the first voice saying "There are doors and corridors off this room but you need the blue one marked 'Balcony'."
  
  Then the minds in your head vanish. You have some suspicions now about a trap, but why let you pass all the abominations which could easily kill you in the tight confines of the corridor only to try and kill you now?
  
  You head through the arch and up the stairs and walk right out into what looks like an old circular arena, lit from above with a large pit in the middle, walled by concrete topped with glass and steel. Crowds of humans line the glass, looking down and cheering like they are at a concert.
  
  "Welcome to the New City Arena!" you hear thundering above you, and looking up you see the suspended PA system as the announcer continues "The Lords have told me that we have a special guest here today, as so we are putting on a special show for you all!" place your bets and give a cheer for your competitors!" The crowd goes wild as you see giant metal doors in the pit opening.
  
  You catch sight of a section sticking out of the balcony and immediately guess the identity of two cloaked figures sitting on it as the harbingers. One of them waves you over and you move through the crowd until you reach their little dais, sticking out over the crowd below. There are humans near them so you walk the last few feet quickly and find an empty seat for you beside them.
  
  "Welcome to our little community!" The nearest one begins "This is obviously our arena where we get our entertainment. Obviously living areas and all that are down other tunnels and in other buildings but we thought we would greet you in proper fashion today!" He indicates the pit and you see a pack of mutant dogs walk out into the large open space, on the other side you see a much large group of infected, shamblers and fast types enter.
  
  The Harbinger continues "As you see, we have brought back the coliseum, we have infected fight for our entertainment, and occasionally humans who break the laws here, a small group tried to rebel against us a while back, we gave them weapons and sent them in against Nate, who you met at the front door, he is one of our sentinels. It turned Nate into a crowd favorite and he ensured that the peace was kept, no-one has tried real insubordination since then!"
  
  You think for a moment before replying as you watch the infected standing still as the humans shout to make bets based off numbers displayed on a big screen on one wall "S Harbingers really can control the infected, I had heard rumors but never put much by them. And the humans, don't you eat them? That's how we get stronger isn't it?"
  
  You can almost feel the disapproval of the men beside you "Not at all, Eating humans has no effect on your abilities at all. Only your mind and training does. We could easily train you to become stronger and control infected yourself eventually but eating humans and seeing them as prey only serves to taint your aura, others like us would then kill you on sight."
  
  You take a few moments to process the new information. The old rumors were true, harbingers could control infected with their minds, amongst other tricks and talents judging by these two. You have a lot to learn from them in times to come.
  
  > Life as a trainee harbinger in the city
  The brutal fight below ends and people collect their winnings or pay up their losses and look to the Lords sitting beside you expectantly. One of them stands and waves an arm out over the crowd "Our new guest has agreed to join our little comunity and train under us so do make him feel welcome!" the crowd gives a small cheer before he continues "So to celebrate we give you tonights second event! Nate himself is going to demonstrate his abilities once more against a squad of the fasted infected we could gather!" The crowd ooos and aaahhs and begins placing bets, you notice though that none of the bets are against Nate, just about how fast he will win.
  
  "Is he really that strong, and can you afford to waste so many fast types?" You ask, somewhat taken aback when twenty walk into the ring to face off against Nate. The Lords chuckle as they respond "We can actively control a couple of thousand infected each but there are literally tens of thousands in the city centre alone, we will not be running out. the losers also make up our personal food stores. As for Nate, well just watch.
  
  You see the battle begin and Nate moves with an incredible speed for something of his size, his backhanded swing sending two infected crashing into heaps against a wall, his next swing crushes two more. none of them get up again. THe rest of them swarm him and you see them taking bites out of him. One even manages to rip out a tendon but just as you are about to comment you watch the wound heal up again "It can regenerate?" you say with obvious surprise. "Oh yes" they reply "Mutant type humans all have abilities far beyond the norm. Nate is both incredibly strong and is able to regenerate wounds nearly instantly so long as he feeds regularly."
  
  You watch the rest of the games quietly thinking over your new position. You are a prisoner in a way forced to live by their rules, but you will learn and become stronger than you originally thought possible at the same time...
  
  > The weeks to come
  You have found the Trainee ending. Once more, this shall expand greatly to include events currently seen in other paths but with the changes that come from your involvement or lack thereof. I sadly simply couldn't finish this path in time for the competition.