text: [Themes: horror, zombie, thriller, horror, supernatural]
  
  Choose the Write Way is a creative writing club at the FSZD foreign language school. Our goal is to collaborate to create one choose your adventure story in one semester.
  
  Welcome, and enjoy our story!
  
  > begin the story!
  In a corner of a big busy city, there was a gloomy forest called the Dark Forest. There was no light, and the torches of all the people who went into the dark forest had been extinguished.
  
  Almost everyone was unaware of the forest because the people who had been there had disappeared without a sound. Only a few children were able to get out alive. But to most people, this was just a scary place heard in scary campfire stories.
  
  Inside the Dark Forest lived a being known only as the person in black. No one knew what he looked like. This person had great powers and could do many things that normal people could not.
  
  The person in black lived in an old haunted house. The house looked normal from the outside. It had a wooden door, wooden walls, and a wooden roof. But inside, there was a great danger. If someone dared to open it, the city would undergo something no one would be prepared for...
  
  > To Hugo's house!
  Hugo was an active boy. He always wanted to find something fun to do. Oppositely, Jared was careful and gentle. Despite their differences, however, they were good friends. One day, they were at Hugo's house. Hugo was bored, and suddenly thought of an adventurous idea – go exploring outside in the forest. Jared disagreed. He said, "I just want to stay here reading books!"
  
  "I have to say, you have a lot of interesting books, don't you?" Hugo said. "That's so boring! That's not what a boy should do! Come on, Jared. Let's go!"
  
  Jared ignored him and kept reading his Harry Potter book.
  
  "I'll give you another Harry Potter book if you come! Hugo shouted. But Jared kept reading his book. "I'll even give you some books from the series The Magic Tree House."
  
  "That works," said Jared.
  
  They went along the street and came across a forest. "So cool!" said Hugo.
  
  "Don't go in! There might be something dangerous inside," said Jared.
  
  "Come on, think about the books you'll get!"
  
  Jared sighed, but followed him. They entered the mysterious forest.
  
  > say "Who's ever been afraid of a little old forest?"
  As the two boys got deeper and deeper into the forest, things started getting creepier and creepier. They thought they heard strange sounds. As they looked up, they noticed the sky had already gotten a lot darker compared to when they had first gotten to the forest.
  
  The boys were frightened, but they didn't say anything. Even Hugo felt that the forest was much scarier than he thought. It was dark in some places, and then things got strangely quiet. The trees were tall. There was one tree that was much more majestic than the others. Under this one, they saw a mysterious person in black. They wanted to shout but found they couldn't say a word. They suddenly lost the ability to talk.
  
  "Run!" They both thought. However, they didn't know which way was out.
  
  After looking around, they turned back. The person in black disappeared in front of them, and in its place, an old, scary haunted house appeared.
  
  > say "What just happened?"
  In the place where the person in black was once standing was an old haunted house. Hugo, who was frightened a few moments ago, forgot about his fear when he caught a glimpse of the haunted house. He couldn't help himself from wanting to explore. He was a strong and energetic boy, so he went up to the door to try and open it. "I've gotta see what's inside!"
  
  "Don't open! There must be something dangerous inside!" Jared finally got the courage to speak again, and he used it to try and stop his friend.
  
  Hugo, of course, didn't listen. He pulled and pulled, but nothing happened. Hugo pulled one more time with all his strength, but still nothing happened.
  
  Hugo was tired. He fell to the ground and began to drink water. But when he drank his water, a few drops fell to the ground. The water drops turned to blood. The old haunted house began to suck up the blood. Some words appeared on the door:
  
  Hugo turned around lightning fast and dared Jared to open the door.
  
  > say "If you dare me...I guess I have to..."
  "Aren't you curious to see what's inside?" Hugo called to his friend.
  
  "Absolutely not. There's no way I'm even going close to that place. How did it know my name? How did the words get written? How are you not scared yet?!"
  
  "Look. You want those books, don't you? You won't get them unless you open the door."
  
  "Not happening."
  
  "I'll even add another Harry Potter book on."
  
  There was one thing Jared loved most, and it was reading. He only had a few of the Harry Potter books. He wanted to finish reading them all. So he took a deep breath and told himself, "It's okay. It's okay. Come on, Jared! You can do it!" He walked very slowly towards the door. He was walking so slow that Hugo wasn't even sure he was moving.
  
  "C'mon already! Hurry up before it gets too late."
  
  Jared got to the door. He carefully grasped the brass of the doorknob and turned. The black haunted house door opened almost without a sound. Suddenly, Hugo and Jared heard a loud noise. So they covered their ears.
  
  There was a loud, shrieking voice coming out of the door.
  
  "The leader is calling us...The leader is calling us..."
  
  Suddenly, a group of dark shapes rushed out of the door. At first, they looked like people. But as soon as Jared and Hugo both recognized what they were, they screamed, "Zombies! Ahhh!"
  
  > The boys made a run for it.
  The boys both ran quickly. But, suddenly, Hugo decided he wanted to fight the zombies. He turned around and ran towards them. Jared kept running and shouting, "Hugo! Quickly!"
  
  Hugo didn't answer. He was too busy fighting the zombies.
  
  Jared didn't look back. He didn't notice Hugo wasn't running with him. He kept running.
  
  > say "Hey, where'd Hugo go?"
  "Hugo! Where should we go? What should I do to get rid of them?" Jared was frightened. But he got no reply. "Hugo? Are...you there?"
  
  He turned around but didn't see anyone. "And where did the zombies go?"
  
  He felt better knowing the zombies had let up, but quickly realized it wasn't the right time to feel relieved.
  
  "No way! He must have been caught by the zombies!" Jared shouted to himself. "This isn't good. What if his parents ask me where he is? I'll have to tell them that he was caught. They won't believe it! They'll think I'm joking."
  
  Jared thought and thought about what to do, and despite the fear he felt, made up his mind. "Alright. I'm going back to find him."
  
  On his way back to the forest, he told himself to be brave, "After all, I'm only going to look for him because he promised to give me books to read!"
  
  Suddenly, Jared heard a voice.
  
  "Get away, zombie!"
  
  "It must be Hugo!" he thought and began to run faster. He saw Hugo kicking, hitting, and even biting the zombies. He was cursing at them out loud. But none of it worked.
  
  The next moment, the man in black appeared in front of Jared.
  
  "Ah! Hugo, Run!" cried Jared. As he sprinted he continued to call out Hugo's name. In the rush of the moment, Hugo was nowhere to be found once again.
  
  Jared tried to think of where to go to next.
  
  > Jared ran home.
  "Okay, then. I'll just go back home. Nothing is going to happen. Nothing!" Jared said as he sighed. He ran through the empty street – or so he thought it was empty. There were no people walking around, but the streets were full of zombies walking everywhere. Some of the zombies had already poured out onto the streets from the forest. If there were any people, they were all dead, laying on the ground.
  
  Jared started to run faster and faster out of fear. "I hope this is only a dream! Hugo is strong. There's no way he got caught by them." The loud noise made all the zombies look up to see what it was. When they saw Jared, they all started to run after him.
  
  "I know I'll just wake up tomorrow morning in my bed. No stupid zombies or strange man dressed in black!"
  
  Jared ran without hesitation or looking back. He knew if he stopped for even one second, he could be ripped into pieces by the red-eyed zombies. Even with him running his fastest, the distance between him and the zombies was getting shorter and shorter.
  
  One finally reached him. With only one tug on his shirt from the zombie, Jared lost his balance. At that moment, he knew he shouldn't have agreed to go with Hugo to the forest.
  
  He fell onto the ground. Within seconds, zombies swarmed him and crawled all over him.
  
  "Mom! Dad! No!"
  
  These were the last words he let out while he was still breathing. From a house nearby, the person in black watched through a window, and gave out a long sigh.