Part 17: Chapter 6-2

Oh hey, an update. So when we last left off, Paloma had escaped from the cell Chuckles carelessly tossed her in with the aid of her neighbor Walter Sullivan, emerging in the hallway outside.



And he’s about as helpful and optimistic as ever.



Well, the ladder out is right here. Let’s just take it, shall we?



Curses. Chuckles had the foresight to relock the bomb shelter.



To the right of there is a first aid box. If this has another poisonous snake inside…



Luckily, no snakes. There’s a first aid kit.



Some colored disinfectant spray. Well, I’m sure that will come in handy if I get a cut and want to make certain it’s colored mauve.



And a box of drugs which is sadly empty. Boo.



Down the hallway are a couple of doors. All are locked, but this one has another of those low peephole openings.



And it’s Vickie, taking a nap.

“McPherson, do you hear me? It’s me, Paloma Hernandez! McPherson, wake up!”



And she does, very reluctantly.



You…er, were shot with an arrow. I don’t even see any wound. I mean, the same attack killed Sheriff Kate. Granted, it got her in the chest and you were only nicked, but…oh, whatever.



Now we have dialogue choices. Hooray.

“We have to get out of here, McPherson…we have to try to escape!”



Screenshots can’t really convey it, but Vickie sounds very drunk. Given it’s her, she might very well be for all I know.

“I noticed a digital locking system…we have to input a code, but what is it?”



“Do you remember the numbers?”



If Chuckles didn’t think to take that from you, I don’t even know.



Annnnnnd he didn’t. Didn’t even remove the battery and stow it in a truck like he did with Paloma.

“I don’t want to open the hatch.”

What? Why? Leaving would be a good idea. Staying here would be a bad idea. What?



“Am I on that list?”





Yeah, she’s still drunk.

“Do you know what the killer intends to do?”

Just a hunch, but I think he plans to kill you.



Thank you, Vickie.



And so she does. Going back to Gary…



Helpful.



But now we have things to talk about. We’ll start with drugs.

“I found an empty box of amphetamines in the medicine cabinet. I guess the killer uses it to drug his victims…”

Or he just likes to get hopped up on speed and giggle at his Veronica Lake movies.



“It made me think my mother was an apartment. What was that all about?”

“Do you have any pills left? My friend might need them. The killer drugged her with tranquilizers.”



Listen buddy, you’re in there and I’m out here. You are in no position to negotiate.

“Who’s Susan?”





Fortunately, we already grabbed that back in Paloma’s cell. It was an invisible pixel stuck in a wall.

“I have that ring you talked about. Take it and give me the amphetamines.”



“That’s not your name on the ring. It says John.”



“The killer uses a digital locking system to lock the doors…have you ever seen him punching in the numbers from your cell?”







Oh bleeding hell.





Argh. So based on those vague-ass clues, we’ll try and unlock Vickie’s cell. Grabbing the ring the first time you’re in Paloma’s cell saves you having to do this dopey puzzle a second time, as there’s no other reason to go back in there.

The answer is a cypher. Matching numbers 1 through 9 to the alphabet, we get A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I. Then start over, 1-9 for J-K-L-M-N-O-P-Q-R and 1-8 for S-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z (Yeah, it doesn’t quite match up because this game hates you). Spelling out Vickie’s password of “Stanton” gives us 1215265. You can do the same for Paloma’s password of “Martin” to get hers, 419295, if you needed to get back in there.



And that gets us in. Chat with Vickie.

“McPherson, wake up! I gotta talk to you! I found you a little upper. Take this.”

And that wakes Vickie out of her stupor. Now…

“It’s up to you now! I don’t want to die in here!”

Way to hold up under pressure.



“There’s a man locked up in the other cell. He was the one who gave me the amphetamines. He says he knew one of the victims – Susan. He might be able to help us. It’s just that…he seems pretty disturbed.”

I would have gone with “Whiny”, but that works too.





And…now we’re back to controlling Vickie while Paloma idles around. Some stuff to take in here, such as this gingerbread.



Well, you’re locked up in some serial killer’s Saw ripoff death house. I don’t think you get to wait for room service.



I…don’t know? We’ll take it anyway. Thanks, Chuckles.



Yes, and given what we’ve seen, Chuckles will snipe the lot of them with his fucking Legend of Zelda magic bow and arrow.



“We’re going to have to improvise…stay on your toes, stay alive.”



“For now, I know his name. But not his face.”

I halfway suspect it’s Gary and he just kind of took his mask and trenchcoat off before scooting into the cell to fuck with you.

“Doesn’t make any difference. We need to concentrate on surviving, not on whether or not he’s got a mustache.”



“The fact that he’s not shut up in here with us is not a good sign. As long as I haven’t seen a body, there’s hope he’s still alive. I’m not so sure about Garris, though. I have a hard time believing he could have avoided falling into the killer’s clutches.”

Nice, Vickie. He didn’t just save your dumb ass from a lethal snakebite or anything.


“The sicko out there, has he talked about his plans?”

Wait, Chuckles or Gary? Be more specific.





And now we can head outside. Paloma wanders off to the exit ladder that she made such a fuss about not wanting to escape through.



The switch to open the hatch is right here.



But first, back over here is an item cabinet. All of Paloma’s stuff has magically been thrown into it, and I’ll be taking it all before I go.



And that colored disinfectant spray she had can be used on the three cameras Chuckles has in the hallways.



I kind of fail to see the point as he’s clearly already recording that you’ve escaped and are doing this, but eh.



Oh, now you want to escape. Make up your mind.

“I think you’d better stay here…bar the doors. I’ll come back to get you.”



“I’m going to see if there is a way out. And there’s a computer in the lab. I might be able to make contact with the outside world.”



…with what? Unless you plan to drag the cot out of your cell and throw that in front of the one door that leads into the hallway.

“Good. I’ll be back. Leave the porch light on.”



And climbing up takes us back outside. Will more bullshit await us? Yes.