TRACKS OF TERROR -- DAY 22: OVERGROWN GREENHOUSE -- SPRINTING INTO TROUBLE ======================================================================== Published: March 17, 2025 Author: Daniel Conderman Context: Recovered Conderman.Group interactive survival-horror serial Original URL: https://conderman.group/2025/03/day-22-overgrown-greenhouse-sprinting-into-trouble/ GAME/BLOG INTRODUCTION ---------------------- Welcome back, survivors, to Tracks of Terror: The Last Train to Save Your Butt. I'm Barnabas, trudging through a greenhouse car brimming with mutated flora. Yesterday we expected respite from cold labs and undead terrors, only to discover that vines and spores might be just as deadly. R.C. AND PENNY BOTH CHOOSE RUN ------------------------------ Staring at the snaking vines and hearing rustling deeper in the plants, R.C. and Penny call for everyone to run. R.C., still bandaged but fueled by adrenaline, forges through tangled roots. Penny weaves among toppled planters and slithering vines, touching as little mutated greenery as possible. I follow. My heart hammers as I sprint after them, but my battered body is screaming for a break. Halfway down the row of planters, the ground shifts under my feet. I misstep on a broken flowerpot. Snap--a thick vine coils around my ankle and slams me to the floor. BARNABAS IN A JAM ----------------- The vine tightens with a wet hiss from a spiky bud near its base. R.C. and Penny are ahead and have not realized I'm snagged. Other survivors scatter in confusion. I scrabble to free my leg, but the vine grips like an angry python. More vines slither closer, drawn by the commotion. A damaged overhead sprayer drips green fluid directly onto the vines. It might be accelerating their growth or fueling their aggression. THE SCENE: ESCAPE OR BE EATEN ----------------------------- The greenhouse is a humid nightmare. Shattered glass litters the floor, vines coil around anything they can catch, and an eerie wet hiss echoes all around. The others are forging a path to the next car, but with me pinned I risk becoming fertilizer. YOUR FIVE CHOICES ----------------- Fight -- Hack at the vine before more creepers latch on. Sneak -- Slip free slowly, hoping careful movement will not make the vine tighten. Run -- Yank loose and scramble after the others, risking torn flesh. Fix -- Shut off or redirect the overhead sprayer and perhaps weaken the vine. Help -- Call R.C., Penny, or another survivor back to cut you loose. CLIFFHANGER: WILL BARNABAS BREAK FREE? -------------------------------------- I'm pinned, the plant's grip tightening like a living vise. One wrong move and this greenhouse becomes my leafy tomb. Stay sharp, survivors. Even plants are deadly in EmergenTek's twisted world.