#8

You reaches up and takes the rope on the attic door. As You's about to pull it down, however, something curious happens. The childish babbling above seems to stop for a second, as if listening. You considers shouting something up there during this time, but You remembers again the horror stories Susie once told You. You suddenly becomes afraid again, but pulls down anyway.

Something lunges out of the darkness and begins to attack Your face.

You screams and runs away, into the kitchen. The attic slams upward behind You as You tries to escape. Whatever is attacking You, it seems to be swatting You forcefully; You feels a trickle of blood down Your face. You also realizes that Your attacker has claws...

Then You remembers that You has the knives in Your pockets. You takes one out and wildly swing at the air; You's basically blind. Whatever it is, though, is dodging Your attacks. You ducks under a nearby table and hope it can't follow You. However, it seems to rather small and has now latched onto Your head. You screams again when the claws cut deep into Your right cheek. You stabs the air again, and this time Your knife finds it mark.

You opens Your eyes when the thing stops moving. You rubs Your hand across the cuts briefly, and gasps when You sees that You's lost quite a bit of blood. Then You looks down at the attacker.

It appears to be a rather massive bat. You's seen bats before, of course; they've flown over the fields at night, and You watched them sometimes. You doesn't know how big bats are supposed to get, but this one is larger than Your head. Similarly, its color seems strange. You knows that there are black bats and brown bats, and this one is brown, but it's a sickly brown. In fact, it seems to be the same color as the fuel. Which, ultimately, might explain the fuel-smell coming from the attic.

You wonders what this could all mean, but only briefly. You remembers Susie warning You about different diseases, including rabies. Rabid animals will apparently foam at the mouth. You inspects the dog-like head (which could be anomalous) of the deceased animal, but no foam can be seen. You'll just have to hope that it wasn't rabid. You'll also take a look at your wounds in just a second.

As You walks to the bathroom to look at Yourself in the mirror, You thinks about how You knows that bats aren't supposed to make the sounds they're making now.

You looks in the mirror. The cuts are bad looking, yes, but not very deep; at least, they feel deeper than they really are. Your whole face is doing the “red-hot throbbing” thing. You considers the fact that You'll have to clean those wounds before they get infected, even when not having to worry about rabies.

That's when a fuelbulb goes on in Your head. Your parents once told You that there's a river not far to the north from Your house. Since You's been traveling north and hasn't crossed it yet, it must be further north still. You could go to it and wash up there. Plus, having water would be nice in general; You's getting pretty thirsty.

You exits the house and start walking north. You doesn't have to walk far, thankfully; You can hear the sound of the water moving over stone. Sure enough, just a few dozen yards from the house, the trees part to reveal the current of a stream. You kneels beside it and washes Your face. You also makes sure to take a drink or two, or twelve. You didn't realize how thirsty You was until now. You wishes You had a vessel to carry some of the water with You, but You didn't see anything in the house. You'll have to deal with walking to the river for now.

It dawns on You that it's unlikely that this house was what Susie wanted You to find. Instead, You probably has to travel further down the path. But here, You has access to a river. You could travel much further if You had a boat...

You looks back at the house. There is a garage, one that You explored—but there was nothing inside in terms of vehicles. Unless...

You walks to the house and goes down into the basement. You checked this out, too—and found that some broken entertainment bits and mechanical chunks were scattered around. Mostly worthless by themselves, but You can improvise. Sorting through the pile of old parts reveals a couple of things: a car battery, an old motor, and a can of waterproof caulk. You looks at the parts and Your mind starts working...even as you glance at the pile of entertainment devices.

Two catch Your eye, but for different reasons. The first is a slightly damaged foosball table. You can use that. The other, though, brings back some nostalgia. It's a classic Game Boy.

You remembers these things well from when he was a kid. It was a present Your parents scrounged for over a couple of years to get; You nearly cried when You got it. You had a good collection of games back in the day; though that's in terms of quality, rather in amount, though such a thing never mattered much to You. You lost Yours long ago, so this is quite the happy discovery! And, You's in luck. Not only do the fuel-tubules on it appear to be intact (that was a big problem with the original model), but there's a game in it too!

Unfortunately, You does not seem to recognize this game. It also seems to have suffered some damage at some point, leaving the name of the licensing company smudged away! A pity. Though You seems to remember that said company's name begins with a letter that wasn't "N". What a curious thing this parallel universe has generated.

You nevertheless puts the game in Your pocket. It could be useful later down the road. Or, if this all works, down the river.

You begins to work on Your plan to start a new career in maritime adventure.