text: [Themes: modern]
  
  > Continue
  Wow. Man does your head hurt.
  
  That was some party. When was it? But you didn't even drink this time. You kept telling them you had to drive home.
  
  You slowly open your eyes are realize that you're in a car. Why are you in a car? Well, it's your car, that you are sure of. You can smell the McDonald's fries from a few days ago. Your head still hurts.
  
  As you start to look around, you realize that you are cold. You reach up and feel a bump on your forehead. You glare at the steering wheel, apparently the cause of your bump and the throbbing headache.
  
  You try to shake your head to clear out the cobwebs, but that only makes your head hurt more, so you quickly close your eyes. With your eyes close, you grab your own arms, shivering, as you realize that you are only wearing a thin tee shirt. Now what? You keep your eyes closed and think back to last night...
  
  There was a party. It was at that new guy's house. You just went and hung out. You didn't drink or do anything. You know you left late, but everyone turned down your offers to drive them home. You remember leaving, saying you had to get over the mountain pass before the snowstorm hit. Snowstorm?!?
  
  Opening your eyes again and looking out the window you could see it: nothing but snow. It was dark and dreary and clearly still snowing. The sky was grey and the snow was grey. You could see lumps and bumps on the ground that must be bushes and things, but it was hard to tell the difference between the sky and the ground. Looking out the other windows revealed the same scene. Looking out the back window was more of the same. You couldn't even tell if you were still on the road, in a parking lot, in a ditch, or in the middle of a field. It was all just grey. Grey and cold, you realized, as a shiver went up your back. You had on jeans and sneakers last night, and you still have them on. You were not planning on getting out in this snow.
  
  In fact, at home you had prepared for the storm. You had plenty of supplies stocked up from before the party. You made sure the generator was full of gas and that there was plenty of oil and wood to keep the house warm. Of course, none of that did you any good now, while you were in the car. Perhaps you could slowly drive and find your way home?
  
  You reached out to turn the key to start the car and realized that it would not turn. It was already in the "run" position. Uh oh. That's not a good start. You turned the key in reverse to "off," then paused, before turning it to try and start the engine. When you turned the key nothing happened. No lights turned on. No little "dinging" noises. Nothing. It looks like this car is not going to be going anywhere right now. You're going to have to find your way on your own-- either that or find a way to get the car started.
  
  You felt another shiver run through your body as you realized that you had better find a way to get things going quickly, or you were going to freeze to death. You remember stories of people being stranded in the snowy passes, but they always ended with the people being found. And most of the stories seemed to have a part about people drinking their own pee. Looking down, you really hoped that it was not going to come to that any time soon.
  
  But now you had to make a decision. You needed to do something...or did you?
  
  > By Ogre11
  Wow. Man does your head hurt.
  
  That was some party. When was it? But you didn't even drink this time. You kept telling them you had to drive home.
  
  You slowly open your eyes are realize that you're in a car. Why are you in a car? Well, it's your car, that you are sure of. You can smell the McDonald's fries from a few days ago. Your head still hurts.
  
  As you start to look around, you realize that you are cold. You reach up and feel a bump on your forehead. You glare at the steering wheel, apparently the cause of your bump and the throbbing headache.
  
  You try to shake your head to clear out the cobwebs, but that only makes your head hurt more, so you quickly close your eyes. With your eyes close, you grab your own arms, shivering, as you realize that you are only wearing a thin tee shirt. Now what? You keep your eyes closed and think back to last night...
  
  There was a party. It was at that new guy's house. You just went and hung out. You didn't drink or do anything. You know you left late, but everyone turned down your offers to drive them home. You remember leaving, saying you had to get over the mountain pass before the snowstorm hit. Snowstorm?!?
  
  Opening your eyes again and looking out the window you could see it: nothing but snow. It was dark and dreary and clearly still snowing. The sky was grey and the snow was grey. You could see lumps and bumps on the ground that must be bushes and things, but it was hard to tell the difference between the sky and the ground. Looking out the other windows revealed the same scene. Looking out the back window was more of the same. You couldn't even tell if you were still on the road, in a parking lot, in a ditch, or in the middle of a field. It was all just grey. Grey and cold, you realized, as a shiver went up your back. You had on jeans and sneakers last night, and you still have them on. You were not planning on getting out in this snow.
  
  In fact, at home you had prepared for the storm. You had plenty of supplies stocked up from before the party. You made sure the generator was full of gas and that there was plenty of oil and wood to keep the house warm. Of course, none of that did you any good now, while you were in the car. Perhaps you could slowly drive and find your way home?
  
  You reached out to turn the key to start the car and realized that it would not turn. It was already in the "run" position. Uh oh. That's not a good start. You turned the key in reverse to "off," then paused, before turning it to try and start the engine. When you turned the key nothing happened. No lights turned on. No little "dinging" noises. Nothing. It looks like this car is not going to be going anywhere right now. You're going to have to find your way on your own-- either that or find a way to get the car started.
  
  You felt another shiver run through your body as you realized that you had better find a way to get things going quickly, or you were going to freeze to death. You remember stories of people being stranded in the snowy passes, but they always ended with the people being found. And most of the stories seemed to have a part about people drinking their own pee. Looking down, you really hoped that it was not going to come to that any time soon.
  
  But now you had to make a decision. You needed to do something...or did you?[Themes: edutainment, western, historical, serious, true story]
  
  You are an immigrant travelling along the Oregon Trail to California, joining the thousands of settlers who are crossing America to the rich fertile lands of Oregon and California. Three months of journeying alone finds you in Fort Bridger, the last outpost on the Oregon Trail until you come to California. An explorer named Lansford Hastings recommends that settlers travelling to California leave the Oregon Trail here and follow a route known as Hasting's Cut-Off, a shortcut across the Salt Lake Desert and Sierra Nevada Mountains that will save hundreds of miles of travelling.
  
  Jim Bridger, a legendary explorer and owner of the trading post Fort Bridger, also recommends the route to the last party of settlers to arrive before you: a group of eighty-seven people led by two brothers called George and Jacob Donner. Hastings left Fort Bridger a week ago, escorting another party through Hastings Cut-Off and though you are disappointed to have missed him you decide to join the Donner Party who are also taking the route.
  
  It will prove to be the worst decision of your life.
  
  On the last day of July the Donner Party leaves Fort Bridger and you leave with them, driving your wagon piled high with provisions. You travel over the hills and valleys of the Wasatch Mountains until after a week a letter is discovered tied to a sage bush at the mouth of a canyon. It is from Hastings and advises against going down the canyon as it is rocky and might damage the wagons. He suggests that any immigrants following should send some people on fast horses to catch up with him so he can give specific directions about the route ahead.
  
  Three men: James Reed (a man with a strong personality and one of the most respected members of the party), Charles Stanton (Another strong personality in the party who is travelling to California on his own initiative) and William Pike (An engineer and one of the cleverest men in the group) are chosen to perform the dangerous task of travelling across unfamiliar country to try and catch up with Hastings. You can either volunteer to accompany them or remain camped with the Donner Party.
  
  What do you do?
  
  [Author's Note: In this story-game you become a member of the Donner Party. The Donner Party were a group of about 90 men, women and children who tried traveling to their new homes in California by an unfamiliar route across the Salt Lake Desert of Utah and the Sierra Nevada Mountains but met with enough misfortunes and suffering to kill half the group and leave the remainder scarred for the rest of their lives...]
  
  > ride ahead
  Riding hard for three days with your companions you cover a great deal of distance before finally catching up with Hastings and a large wagon party of a few hundred settlers on the shores of the great Salt Lake. By the time the four of you catch up with him you are all exhausted and your horses are close to collapse. Lansford Hastings is a strong-jawed man with a rapidly receding hairline and despite his note he is surprised to see you.
  
  While Charles Stanton and William Pike rest their horses you and James Reed trade your horses for two fresh ones from some of the settlers with Hastings and ride with him to the summit of a nearby mountain where Hastings explains the best direction to travel across the Canyon's wooded slopes and promises to continue leaving messages. Reed is keen to ride ahead and get back to the Donner Party to get them moving along this but both Pike and Stanton's horses are tired. Reed proposes to split up: he'll ride ahead back to the Party while Stanton and Pike follow behind.
  
  What do you do?
  
  > ride ahead with Reed
  It took three days to reach Stanton but by riding with incredible speed and determination it takes just one for you and James Reed to return to the Donner Party. There Reed boastfully describes meeting with Lansford Hastings and how they worked out the route the Donner Party should take. Unfortunately it turns out to be a not very good route and you have to cut a road through the thick trees that line the Canyon's sides and haul the wagons up some steep inclines to make it. Charles Stanton and William Pike become lost on their return journey and arrive twelve days after you, extremely hungry and very relieved to re-discover the Party. The jubilation of their safe return and finally reaching the Salt Lake Desert is marred by a tragedy that happens the next day.
  
  > The first death...
  Just outside Fort Bridger a young man called Luke Halloran joined your group: dying of tuberculosis he was taken in by George and Jacob Donner and allowed to ride in their wagon. On the shores of the Salt Lake he collapses and dies suddenly of his illness. There was nothing anyone could have done but his death casts a bleak mood of the Party. He is buried the next day on the shores of Salt Lake next to the grave of another settler who died on his way to California.
  
  Pressing on you enter the Salt Desert in September, a place of skin-blistering heat and dry humidity. The wagons struggle to cross the Desert, the cattle pulling them consume enormous amounts of water as they struggle to pull the wagons. James Reed is forced to abandon two of his wagons and George Donner and another settler, a fierce man called Louis Keseberg, both have to abandon one of their wagons. The whole wagon train becomes strung out over many miles and the cattle herds with the wagons become separated, many of them dying. Somehow you manage to keep your wagon moving and your cattle alive but the experience is nightmarish.
  
  Finally you and your companions make it across the Desert and camp at a spring for several days which are spent rounding up lost cattle, recovering things from the abandoned wagons and it is not until nearly the middle of September that the Party is ready to continue. The crossing through the Desert killed many cattle and also cost the Party many supplies. Most of the settlers, especially James Reed, are now concerned they might not have enough food to make it all the way to California.
  
  A plan is soon made: Charles Stanton and another settler called William McCutchen (a giant of a man who is travelling to California with his wife and baby daughter) volunteer to go ahead on fast horses to Fort Sutter, the first trading post in California, collect fresh supplies and bring them back to the Party. Moving fast they could be back in as little as a month. If you want you can ride ahead with them to California or you can remain travelling with the Donner Party.
  
  What do you do?
  
  > stay with the Donner Party
  After Charles Stanton and William McCutchen leave things get no better. Though you are out of the Desert Indians now begin to steal horses from the Party at night and tempers become very short. Arguments begin to break out between the settlers as food becomes scarce and hunger begins to set in. The situation inevitably culminates in violence in October when two wagons become stuck while climbing a difficult hill.
  
  Your wagon becomes stuck in the rocks while climbing the hill, forcing James Reed's wagon and another belonging to Franklin Graves (a friendly man travelling with his wife, seven children and son-in-law) to collide. Reed loses his temper and snarls "Move you damn fool, you have no business being in my way!" "Shut your mouth trash or I'll shut it for you" barks back John Snyder, a hot-tempered driver working for Graves.
  
  At this Reed completely loses his temper and springing from his wagon he strides across towards Snyder who drops to the ground to meet him. You are startled to see a long-bladed butcher's knife gleaming in Reed's hand and there is murder in his eyes.
  
  What do you do?
  
  > rush forward to intervene
  You drop from your wagon and race forward as Reed plunges his blade deep into Snyder's chest. Snyder staggers backwards clutching his wound and falls to the ground. As you run up Reed whirls and slashes his knife across your throat, opening a savage wound. You step back and clutch your throat, stunned. Immediately Reed drops the knife and looks horrified. "My God, what have I done?" he cries but it is too late. The world turns black and you collapse lifeless to the ground.