You turn to the right and check out that crosswise hallway. You notice that the big classroom's door is open, but seemingly without any lights on. Maybe you should [[take a look|2fclassrooom1]]. The doors opposite the big classroom are professors' studies, but they're all closed and there are no lights on anywhere nearby.

You retreat from the flames, hoping that you'll find some better exit elsewhere. It sure is hot here! \nWiping sweat from your brow, you take a look around. You realize that the stairs are clear, but you can see flames reflected in the mirror on the landing. Surely that back entrance at the bottom of the stairs must be near the flames, if not actually on fire! Still, it might be [[worth a look|back stairs 1F]].\nYou turn to the right and check out that crosswise hallway. You notice that the big classroom's door is open, but seemingly without any lights on. Maybe you should [[take a look|2fclassrooom1]]. The doors opposite the big classroom are professors' studies, but they're all closed and there are no lights on anywhere nearby.

This hallway stretches out on the left and right. \nOn the [[left side|hallwayL]], the hallway ends soon with a large pane of glass that overlooks the front of the building; it is not blocked by metal bars or anything like that. \nOn the [[right|hallwayR]], the hallway is longer, with desks and fire hydrants along the wall.

You feel a tad safer now, even though you're [[higher off the ground|backhallway3]]. Fire is frightening!

Taking your hanky in hand as if it were a potholder, you push against the handbar more carefully. The door resists. \nYou push [[harder]].

You decide it's better for one person to make it out alive than for both of you two to die in a futile attempt to revive the instructor. You rush out of the classroom, disturbing an empty metal tin with your feet. You don't have time to examine the container; you leap over the flames and rush past the [[Language Center|welcome mat]] towards the window.

There's a [[side hallway|backhallway]] ahead and to the right, leading to classrooms. \nThere's a set of [[stairs|backstairs2F]] on the far end of the hall, opposite the classrooms hallway, leading both up and down. \n\nYou can see a [[fire extinguisher]] hanging on the wall, and several desks with chairs attached. The desk/chair things are flimsy plastic affairs.

As you cough and wince at your cuts, you are staring up at the broken window. You feel yourself losing consciousness. Thank goodness the fire and rescue trucks are on their way.\nJust before you feel yourself passing out, you see a sudden [[vision]].

You realize that nobody knows you're in the building, and that if the doors are still locked, they might have to be broken down before the firefighters can put the fire out. You put yourself at a safe distance from the doors and wait. Soon the sound of breaking glass can be heard, and you yell out immediately afterwards. \nThere is a sound of commotion. You can hear a fire hose blasting out the flames near the front stairs, and a brave firefighter dressed all in yellow rushes in, trying to find out who had called out. \nTuckered out, you let the firefighter carry you out the building to safety, and soon the fire is extinguished. The front stairs have fallen in, but you're safe, thank goodness. I'm glad about that!\nThe end.

From inside the back hall on the first floor, you can tell that the firefighters have done most of the necessary work. The front of the building is dripping wet. However, the trail of fire still leads down the hall towards the stairwell in the back right corner of the building, the one that was blocked on the third floor by a pile of burning textbooks. It appears that that fire has spread farther down as books have fallen down the stairs. You move closer and see that the line of gasoline leads up the stairs to the first landing in between the first and second stories. \nYou lead the way, Burton alert and ready for action. You can see a burning book just above, on the stairs above the landing. Looking up, you can see more of the books.\nYou can also see a pair of cardboard boxes resting by the railing just at the top of the staircase. Gazing upwards, you can see that there are more burning books just above the boxes, as if poised to drop down upon them.\nAnd just beyond them, in a pool of liquid that you presume to be gasoline as well, is a person you remember from your first year of school, a heavy, bearded scholar with a bald spot. A ferocious person. \nBut right now he is not fierce; he is frightened. He has fallen down, and his leg is bent into an unusual position. It looks broken. He cannot get out, and he knows it. And the spill leads from his own sodden backside to the cardboard boxes. He hardly sees you and Burton; his eyes are fixed on the textbooks. He flinches at every spark and leap of the flames. He dabs at the floor with his handkerchief, uselessly, and then wipes his forehead with the same cloth. \nIn the puddle, lazily dripping from its round hole, the gasoline can lies on its side. Gundersen is nervously drumming his fingers on the metallic surface. The rolling, rumbling sound is unnerving. \n\nThere doesn't seem to be much time left before this situation goes up in flames.\n[[Examine the cardboard boxes]]\n[[Go to Dr Gundersen]]

Soon enough, you revive, your face and body splashed with water from fire fighters' hoses. They have not seen you; you're just in the crossfire, as it were.\nYou lie back, watching the conflagration with a feeling of weary fascination. Your mind wanders back to the line of fire that you sensed on the ground, which, you realize, must have followed the path led by Ms Brett's gasoline trail. \nThe can had been with her in the second story classroom, but the trail had not, apparently, come from there; it didn't reach all the way to the can. Maybe she just ran out of gas, and then moved away from the danger zone. But why would she have not been more careful overall? She'd been filthy, and ...\nAnd she had not smelled like gasoline!\nYou sit up painfully, startled. If she had led the trail of gasoline by herself, she would probably have spilled gasoline all over her hands and, most likely, her stockings too.\nWhere had the trail led, in the other direction? \nHad Ms. Brett tried to stop another arsonist? She seemed to have been caught in the smoke, that was obvious. \nWhat if you'd gotten it all wrong?\nWith a new sense of urgency, you stagger to your feet and head to the [[back entrance]], this time from the outside.

You have been asleep. But you're not in your bed. You don't even remember going to sleep. You feel like you're still half in some kind of murky dream.\n\nGradually you become aware of a dull roar from someplace not far away.\nYou shake your head, hoping to clear it, but the sound continues. A rumble with some high frequency pops. \nThen you smell the smoke.\n\nYour head aches. You reach up to touch the back of your hairline and feel a bump there. Your fingers come back sticky. You're hurt, and you cannot remember how it happened. \nYour night vision seems to kick in gradually; it's dark, probably night. \nYou realize that you are alone in a classroom on the third floor of the Humanities building at your university. You have to escape before the building either blows up, or burns down!\nWith a dizzying lurch, you drag yourself to your feet.\n\nYou are afraid, but you try to keep from panicking as you rush out of the door of Classroom 312. You run into the hallway. Your only thought is to make it out of the building alive!\nYou have to hurry!\n\nRun to the [[elevator|elevator3F]] and press the button to go down\nRun down the hallway in front of you to the [[main stairs]]\nRun to the right to the [[back stairs]]

You press your face against the glass of the door, obviously NOT one that is on fire, and try to see if the fire truck is here. \nYou can't see much, but evidently, the truck is indeed here. \nYou realize this when the glass door smashes open suddenly, destroyed by a firefighter's axe. \nSadly for you, the door was not all that is ruined.\nEven though you thought you had been rescued, it turns out that your life has been ended by the firefighters. And you were so close to safety, too!\nThe end.

You manage to bring Ms. Brett to her feet and she collapses against your back, her chin digging into your neck. Securing her as best you can, you stagger out of the classroom.\nOn your way out, you kick a metal container lying the the floor. \nIt is a tin of gasoline.\nGood Lord. What has Ms Brett done?\nYou are horrified, but you still feel morally obligated to save her life. \nAs rapidly as you can manage, you steer yourself and the teacher back out of the classroom, down the hallways and back to the front window. It's terribly difficult, but you thoughtfully get that welcome mat from the Language Center, as protection from the broken window. With one hand on Ms Brett's thigh and the other grasping the heavy mat, you leap across the burning hole in the stairwell floor and land hard. Somehow you both stay on the right side of the hole, sprawling on that strip of formica. You get the mat out from under yourself and put it over the gaping mouth of the window, and prepare to collect your former teacher. It's for the judge to decide what her fate will be after that. Right now it's up to [[the two of you]] to escape.

You walk up to the large picture window. You can see the big clock from here. The time reads 11:45. It's dark; nobody is out there, which is rather surprising considering that the smoke is visible from the window where you are. Your feet feel hot and you recall that the fire is just under the floor.\n[[Hit the window with your fist|fisthit]]\nGo back to the other end of the [[hallway |hallwayR]]

The smoke is making you a bit dizzy, but you manage to stick the landing. You resist the somewhat manic urge to do a flourish and bow to the gymnastics judges' panel. You carefully grip the edge of the window frame and look down to see what is beneath you. You can see some shrubbery, their image rather flickering in the firelight. There's a dark, lozenge-shaped area that might be the fire extinguisher you dropped. Beyond that, there's a large stone that you know has a sign on the other side of it, announcing the name of this building...or ex-building, more like. But that's yards away, and in between seems to be nothing but grass and dead autumn leaves from the oak standing nearby. \nYou freeze, terrified of the drop. At least it isn't a jump from the third floor! But you know, at this point, trapped on the ledgelike tiles, it's now or never. Taking another deep breath, you count to three and then force yourself to [[jump out as far as you can]], eyes on the items you saw below.

Ms. Brett. That's who it is. Your former instructor.\nThat's who it was, at any rate. You cannot imagine her living through the fall she took.\nFeeling obscurely guilty, you fade to black and relax just before the fire trucks arrive.\nYou're going to be okay. Too bad you can't say the same for your old teacher.\nThe end.

As you do, your foot slips on the floor. Someone has spilled some liquid. It's too bad the bathrooms are so far away, close to the fire; maybe they could have been of some use, if you'd have been able to reach them.\nYou reach out to the wooden door, and feel that it is not hot. You push the door open and enter the large classroom.\nYou can see the stage-like platform and desk against the wall closest the hallway, facing row after row of seats that fold up like in a movie theater. They are curved in towards the stage, obviously to take in the teacher's area and the glossy whiteboard behind the desk. \nThe seats are separated into three sections, with two aisles radiating from the central desk like spokes. \nNobody is visible in the first aisle, closest to you. But you cannot see well into the [[second aisle]].

You reach the landing for the second floor. The fire is building up higher. If you stay here, it'll surely reach you soon. But you're not a fool!\nYou go into the [[hallway|2F stairwell]] just outside the landing. \n

With a yelp of fear, you spring across the opening, imagining how it would feel to have those sharp tongues of flame lapping at your feet...but you are not burnt. You land, slipping on the floor, which seems slick with some liquid. \nYou scramble to your feet and face the window. You imagine that if you jump across the pit and then through the window, you just might make it out of this hellhole.\nAnd so you do. With a bravery you've never felt before, you leap across the fire-roaring hole, land on the strip of tiles, and leap again through that smashed window. As you do, you can feel those shards of glass clawing at your legs. It hurts like hell, but at least it wasn't as bad as if you'd jumped or climbed directly from the tiles. You had a bit of loft, you suppose.\nYou land hard on the grass, your palms driving into the soil. But you've made it. You laugh in amazement: you're alive! Painful, yes, but still alive. It feels good. You regard the [[broken window|you think you do.]], imagining a few drops of blood lingering on the pointed fragments.

You rush to the boxes. Your hands get close enough to feel if there's any heat coming from them. They seem cool enough.\nYou open the first box. It's empty.\nYou rip the second one open.\nIt contains two full containers of gasoline. What the hell!\nGlancing nervously above you, you can see the teetering pile of firey textbooks. Putting your back into it, you push the full box across the hallway, away from all the fire you can see. \nAs you are exerting all your strength, you hear a cracking sound, and then a sound as if there had been a paper avalanche. Back aching, you turn to see something that looks like a museum exhibit about kindling. A mound of burning paper consumes the empty cardboard box and the space where the full one was just moments ago. \nYou drop to the ground to rest for a while.\nYou turn your head and see that Mr Burton has pulled professor Gundersen to his feet, not too gently, and moved him down the hallway towards the front of the building. The fire spread from the burning books into the puddle where Gunderson had been sprawling. Burton and Gundersen are both out of range. Thank God for that.\nWhen you're ready, your faltering footsteps lead you to the security guard, who is safe and has handcuffed the villainous, vengeful former educator. May he have a really educational experience in jail, you think to yourself as you limp forward to get the firefighers' attention. \nCome to think of it, you've learned a lot tonight, yourself. And it's barely midnight, you realize, checking the clock outside. In a couple of hours, it'll be time for bed. \nThat sounds damn good.\nThe end.

You settle your stance once again, balancing the heavy extinguisher on your shoulder, which is getting sore. You wham it into the weaker part of the window even harder than before.\nThe good news is that the window pane drops out of the frame. It's all over the floor. And the FURTHER good news is that you manage to leap out of the way of the falling glass, instinctively, before that happens. \nThe bad news is, perhaps, that you lose your balance a bit when you hit the glass, and lose your grip on the extinguisher. It sails out the window into the night air, lost to you. A moment later you hear it crash against what sounds like shrubbery.\nBut you have leapt back and landed hard, and this time the floor shakes under your feet! You leap back again and watch in fascinated horror as the center of the hallway where you were just standing falls in onto the stairs leading to the second floor, both cutting off the stairs forever, and making the hallway impassable just in front of you. It seems very chancy to try and [[jump|window4]] to the narrow strip of floor just in front of the smashed window, but what the heck. It's a way out. Or ... maybe you should just move away from that jagged hole and the fiery hole beneath it, and try the other end of the [[hallway|backhallway2]]?

You sit down in your seat, reading a book. In twenty minutes, the room explodes and that's the end of your story. Ha ha ha, you idiot.

Despite your feelings about your former instructor, you decide to do what you can to save her life. Hurt feelings can be put aside: this is a human life in jeopardy, and you must do your best.\n"Ms. Brett? Can you hear me?"\nYou stoop beside the woman and shake her shoulder. She moans, clearly more asleep than awake. You call her again and she opens her eyes. It seems to take a moment for her to focus.\n"Oh...it's you. What are you doing in here at night?"\n"I'm saving your neck," you answer, annoyed. "I'd ask you the same question, Ma'am, but right now we'd better get moving. Time for questions after class."\nMs. Brett regards you, but seems to be losing concentration, and soon her head slumps to the side, eyes closed.\nYou can try to [[wake her]], or just [[grab her up]] as best you can.

You don't think it's wise to stay in this burning building any longer than you have already. You take a deep breath, trying to judge the distance rightly, and leap as high as you can over that burning hole, all the while training your eyes on the [[strip of tiled floor]] just under the shattered picture window. \n

You can feel the heat rising up the stairwell as you go down to the landing. With trepidation, you turn to face the first floor's back hallway, and it is quite a sight. The floor itself seems to be on fire! What's more, it seems to be following a pattern, as if someone had written on it with a pen of fire. The line of fire goes from the far end of this hallway--near the far stairs--over to the bottom of the stairs where you're standing, and down the hall to your right, where it seems to be more widespread; as you know, the whole stairway down there is on fire.\nThe back entrance is here, but a bright line of fire stands between you and the doors, which do not appear to be locked, but then again, there is never a chain closing that door. It's hard to tell if you will be able to [[open it]], and it might not be worth your while. Perhaps you'd be better off heading back [[upstairs]].

As you cautiously approach the big classroom's near doors (there is another set of doors farther down the hall), you look into the crack of the door. The lights are on there, somehow. You move [[closer]].\n\n

As you approach, the motion sensor activates. The body you saw before is still leaning against the glass door, and you can see now that it is one of the campus security people; you've nodded in greeting to them time and time again.\nYou rush over to them, wincing at the sight of their head wound.\nBurton wakes up and looks up at you, at first in fear, but soon in relief, as he understand you want to help. \n"Hey, are you okay? You got hit on the head."\nBurton is woozy as he tries to stand; you assist him. "Hey, thanks, what the hell is going on? Someone clobbered me in the head from behind. I'm supposed to be guarding this place, and I wake up and the building's on fire? Not cool."\n"Was it Ms Brett?"\n"Man, I don't know, I didn't see whoever it was, you know? Anyway, I don't really know the instructors' names. But I had just been talking with that professor who left the school a couple of years ago. You know?"\n"I have no idea," you say. "What did they look like?"\n"It was sort of a middle aged guy, not too big, he had been let go after a sort of scandal some time in the past five years. I heard some nasty old stories about 'im." \nYour eyes light up. Doctor Gundersen? \n"He was carrying some big ol' boxes with him, they seemed hard to carry. I could hear 'em slopping around inside the boxes, like they were full of paint or bleach or something. Couldn't make out what he was doing here at night."\nYou think you've basically figured out what happened. Gundersen had been fired in disgrace a few years earlier after some shocking stories came out from a number of students who complained about some very unprofessional behavior. He'd always been kind of a trouble maker before, anyway, starting rows in the faculty meetings. You remember how Ms Brett had often been engaged in shouting matches with him during those confrontations. \n"I think those boxes had cans of gasoline in them, Mr. Burton. I saw the gasoline trail just inside there. Can you come with me? I want to see where the trail leads...maybe Dr Gundersen is still there."\n"I'm ready, yeah, I can do this. I've got something to help us out." He hefts his nightstick and uses it to push the glass door open. "Let's be careful." [[You cautiously enter the hallway together.]]

You move further into the classroom. \nIt chills you to see that there is a pair of feet sticking out from the aisleway! They aren't moving. The feet are stockinged and are wearing flat shoes. The white stockings are smudged with dark grime, as if the wearer had been gardening. You move still [[closer|brett]].

As you rush back to the stairwell, there's a deep rumbling sound, and you see a hole suddenly appearing in the middle of the hall. Alarmed, you leap across the hole, landing just next to your teacher, and turn around, astonished at the space where the hall had just been a moment earlier; it's now all collapsed. Only a strip of tiles remains outside the window. To get out, you'll have to jump across the hole, and then through the shattered window. It's damned dangerous, especially with [[the two of you]]. Maybe you'd be better off just [[going it solo|get out of there]].

You feel yourself leaning against the welcome mat, pulling it forward, feel the grain of the fibers clinging to your jeans. You fall headfirst, and the mat falls with you. \nWith a crash, you land right in the brambles; luckily, your eyes were tightly shut. You're scratched up badly, but you didn't land on your neck, thanks to the bushes. You get away from there, crawling gingerly but rapidly from the scene. And then you look back at the window.\nMs. Brett fell off your shoulders, landing to the left side of the window frame, never even touching the welcome mat, which you can still make out lying against the branches of the shrubbery. \nAh, it was not a nice end. Arsonist though she was, your instructor's end was horrible. Still worse to you is the look of her face, raised to the sky. Her hair was aflame. \nThe sirens sound. You allow yourself the luxury of passing out. \nYou lived.\n[[I'm glad about that.]]\n

Burning Questions

As soon as you get to the opening of the back stairs, you can see that it's no good. The ceiling has fallen down and there's a pile of burning textbooks blocking the entire stairway. You'd better go back to the [[elevator|elevator3F]], or try the [[main stairs]].

Your foot strikes something light and made of metal. It gives out a hollow sound. \nGadzooks, it's a can of gasoline! Could Ms. Brett have caused this fire on purpose? What a lousy specimen she is!\nDisgusted, you kick the can away from you and dash back out of the classroom. If this is what she wanted, she can burn along with the building!\nYou head back down the hallway, past the Language Center's [[welcome mat]], to that window again. You take the fire extinguisher and break the window with it. The window breaks into fearful shards, but there's enough room to [[get out]].

The fire is simply raging too hard for you to really get to the chairperson's office. You don't see any signs of life down there, anyway. As you gaze down the hall, you hear a huge crash and the whole stair area opposite the hall from the chair's office collapses. Thank goodness you didn't go there! It would have been a big mistake.\nBut so could waiting here. [[Better head back|open-air square]]!

But as you bend your knees for a final huge leap, you hear a frightened whimper from Ms. Brett, and you feel your center of gravity changing. She's sliding off your shoulders to the left!\nAnd it's too late...you're jumping even as you realize she's starting to fall. It hampers your jump, but ...\nWell, you make it out the window. [[Alone]].

Taking your heart in your hands, you leap over the line of fire. You're right up against the doors, but not yet touching them. They are glass, with a frame of metal, and there is a [[pushbar]] that is also made of metal.

You feel little sympathy for Ms. Brett, who failed you a year ago, even though your translation final was, admittedly, not very good. You have walked up to her feet, but now you back up a bit. You can hear her moaning. "Help..."\nDecide to [[help Ms. Brett|a life in trouble]]\nDecide to [[abandon Ms. Brett]]

You leap back over the fire, singeing yourself a bit on the flames, but still, alive and not badly hurt. Skirting against the walls, you avoid the line of fire that leads towards the front of the building, past the [[chairperson's office]]. \nYou reach the open square at the center of your building. It is not lit, aside from the fire. The familiar pond is there, but the water is still. The pump must be disconnected. You see the handle-less [[faucet]] against one wall, with an assortment of mops, brooms, and a mop bucket. \nNearby are several stone benches and a few round glass tables with umbrellas, circled with heavy metal chairs. \nThe sound of fire is getting louder. \nPerhaps you can [[wait this out safely]] at the center of the square, as far from the fire as you can get. Then again, maybe not.

Elated, you approach the area near the entrance, which is much safer than it had been several minutes earlier. You can still not see too well due to the smoke that remains. You can [[go to the door]] to see better, or head back to the center of the [[open-air square|safetysquare]].\n

You figure you can get out safely enough if you're careful...and that includes covering up those shards of glass along the bottom of the busted window with that thick welcome mat. Good thinking!\nWith the broken glass covered up, you feel a bit safer. However, you might be able to make a better landing, farther from the building, if you back up first. Peering downwards, and aware of the fire behind you, you see some bushes just under the window, and grass beyond that. Not too bad. \nYou leap the gap, get a running start, and do an impressive double jump: from the edge of the burning hole to the strip of tiles by the window, and from there far out over the bushes to the grass beyond. \nYou [[collide with the ground]].

You rush to Dr Gundersen's side, careful to avoid stepping in the puddle of gas too much. \n"Dr Gundersen? Are you okay?"\nGundersen is weeping in frustration and fear. Maybe in guilt, too. He hardly responds, his eyes still staring at the percarious pile of books.\nSo this is what a yen for revenge has led him, a former educator. He doesn't really deserve the finest treatment, but exactly what happens is for a jury to decide. You're sure you don't want anyone blaming you for whatever happens.\nYou prepare yourself as best you can for a heavy lift, taking the man under his arms to a wobbly standing position. You lean him on your shoulders and back and lurch down the hallway towards the front of the building, where the water is. You don't see Burton.\nBut soon enough, you hear him. How many times have you heard the line?: "Oh, nooooooo!" Well, one more now than before. An explosion rips through the hallway, scorching the nefarious professor's behind slightly, but you both are uninjured otherwise. But Burton...well, it's a damn shame. \nYou move closer and closer to the front of the building, and start to yell for help. Once you seem to be out of danger from the fire, you leave Gundersen there and move with more agility to the window at the front of the building, which is shattered, and wave your arms.\nThey finally hear you. \nYou relax at long last, and fall into blackness for at least the third time today.\nOverall, you'd say you'd done pretty well. \nI'm proud of you, myself.\nNow get some first aid, and some rest.\n\nThe end.

The stairs lead upstairs and down, but if you want to get out of here, [[down|back stairs 1F]] would probably be a better idea.

You come to the foot of the aisle and can see the person lying there. It is Ms. Brett, the lecturer who teaches classes on translation. She seems to be only half conscious and has a hand pressed to her forehead. She's [[not one of your favorite people|diss brett]], but still, she's [[a life in trouble]].

This small carpet has tassels on both short ends. The letters HHU are woven into the fabric in white and blue. It is fairly thick and has a rubber mat underneath the cloth, for the purpose of avoiding slippage. At the moment, you have no special reason to pick it up. Anyhow, it looks fairly heavy, really, and you don't have time to cart stuff around for no reason.

You wait, but there are no lights. The elevator doesn't seem to be working, and you can't stand to wait any more. You get moving.\nRun to the [[main stairs]]\nRun to the [[back stairs]]\nReturn to the [[classroom|class 2nd time]]

Nervous but needing to do something a bit dangerous, you decide to take the fire extinguisher off its hook and carry it with you. But where will you go? Back to the [[window|window2]], or to the end of the [[hallway|backhallway]]...the one with the classrooms to one side and the stairs on the other?

You land badly. Good thing the acrobatic judges were only imaginary. You land on your shoulder, thank goodness it wasn't your neck. But you bang up your head and a wave of dizziness descends over you. You can hear that other voice still ringing out as your own yell stops suddenly. Then the same voice calls out three more time, growing weaker each time.\n\n"HELP! Help! Help...."\n\nThere is nothing you can do for whoever was calling out. It's probably too late already. You never realized that you weren't alone in that building. \n\nFeeling obscurely guilty, you stumble to your feet and move away from the remains of the Humanities building as the wall you just jumped through crashes to the ground where you were just lying. One one hand, today must be your lucky day. On the other hand, it was awful.\nHuddled in a crouch on the sidewalk, you hear sirens approaching, their wailing sound blending with your memory of the screams from the building. The world turns red, then blue, then it flashes both colors, but then all colors fade away and you pass out.\nBut you're alive, you think to yourself just before the darkness drawstrings you in. At least you survived your second day. \nThe End.

Reaching the line of fire in the hallway, you prepare to toss the water onto the flames. As you do, you smell the odor of gasoline, which you had failed to notice before, probably because you were too frightened. \nYou fling the contents of the bucket on the fire, where the water clears a space several feet wide. You've put part of the fire out!\nEncouraged, you repeat this process for the whole first floor hallway, working until you're panting and sweaty, but you feel good about having helped the situation. You're starting to throw the second bucket of water onto the stairs when you hear sirens wailing from far away, and then drawing nearer. [[Help is on the way]]!

You pant in exertion and let the heavy extinguisher fall to the floor at your feet. You feel as if your attempt was a waste of time. Staring towards the window, you're astounded to see the floor where you were just standing collapse. You have had a lucky escape! Well, there's not much to do aside from heading to the back of this [[hallway|hallwayR]] up ahead, or [[lay down and die]].

You grab up that welcome mat and take it with you. For all you know, it could come in handy. Then you return to the window. You drop the welcome mat at your feet and break the window open with the fire extinguisher. It's badly shattered and there are sharp shards of glass sticking up at the bottom. You try to even them out with the fire extinguisher, but then there's a huge crash and the floor behind you breaks down, leaving a gaping, firey hole in its place. You're stuck periously on a thin strip of tiles just under the window. The welcome [[mat]] has somehow remained there. \nYou can try to [[jump out the window|get out]] now, try to jump [[back to the other side of the hole]], or just cry and cry and cry.

Despite it all, she's a human being. It's not for you to judge her. You're furious, but still...you refuse to leave her.\nSo you both rush, as best you can, down towards that plate glass window. It's incredibly hard, but you manage to grab both the welcome mat from the Language Center, and the damned heavy extinguisher. You plop the wicked teacher down on the floor by the stairwell and move to the window.\nA few bashes and the glass explodes outwards, a large fragment barely missing your shoulder. The lower frame of the window is jagged, but you place the heavy mat over the shards and hope that it'll protect you. \nNow it's time to grab Ms. Brett and [[get the hell out]].

You reach out with your hands, ready to shove against the pushbar. Yowtch!! It is burning hot. You'd better get your [[handkerchief]] or something before trying that again.

With a huge effort, you force Ms. Brett to a standing position, and drape her body across your back. Piggyback time! It's not ideal by any means, but it seems the best you can do. You try your best to make sure she'll stay on your back, take a step or two backwards, and throw your combined weight over the gaping hole of fire. \nYour hands land right on the window sill, which is protected by the welcome mat you laid there, thank God. You've always liked your fingers, after all.\nWith one more jump, you'll be out of there. [[Heave, ho!]]

You move nervously away from the stairwell, keeping your eyes and ears open. The hallway seems to be growing longer and longer, the more you move forward. \nOnce you trip over a small [[rug]] that serves as a welcome mat before the Language Center entrance. Just to check, you pull on the door's handle. The Center is locked. Cursing to yourself softly, you regain your footing and move to the farthest reach of the hall. The [[stairs|backstairs2F]], leading both upwards and down, are to your left, and some classrooms are located along the back wall of the building in a [[crosswise hallway|backhallway2]]. \nThe sound of burning is softer here, and the smoke is less noticeable, but from what you can guess, it won't be too long before this area will be very hazardous too. You'd better keep moving and find a way out.

"Ms. Brett! Come on, now! We've got to get moving!"\nYou plead for the teacher to rise and come with you, but there's little reaction to your shouting. \nOutside the classroom door, you can see that the flames have reached the hallway. If you don't [[get out of there]] now, you might not make it out at all. Even now, it's chancy. But you still feel a [[pang of guilt]].

You move over to the faucet on the wall, struck by an idea. You seize the mop bucket and dash over to the koi pond and [[fill the bucket]] with water.

You decide that you couldn't live with yourself if you let a helpless person perish like that, so you chafe her wrists and even slap her face, always calling out to her.\n\nAnd in time, she does wake up, albeit in a drowsy way. She may have breathed in a bunch of smoke.\nAs you hoist her to her feet and half-carry, half-lead her to the hallway, you almost trip over an empty can on the floor.\n"Whoops, my fault," Ms. Brett murmurs distractedly. "I forgot to toss that can out."\n"Never mind, let's just keep moving," you say, kicking the can out of the way. \nAs you move past, you realize that you've seen that logo before: the logo on the tin you just kicked.\nIt is a can that used to hold gasoline.\n[[Take Ms. Brett out with you|the two of you]]\nDecide to [[leave Ms. Brett to her fate]]

You stop in your tracks and stare into Ms. Brett's eyes.\n"You didn't... start this fire on purpose, did you?" you demand, aghast.\nMs. Brett raises her eyes to yours for a moment, and then they slide guiltily away from your gaze. It's as much as an admission of guilt, to you.\nMs. Brett tried to burn down the building. Hell, she may still have been successful. This story [[isn't over yet]]. \nOr perhaps you decide to go it solo; the story may be over for this wretch. But![[Not for you, at least|get out of there]].

Done. You're dead. I hope you're happy with your decision.

You strike the window with your hand, but the only effects are a dull noise and a pain in your hand. You try again with your elbow, but no joy. You'd better go over to the [[stairwell|hallwayR]].

The door opens a couple of inches, then stops. A motion detector must have noticed your efforts, because a light comes on in the doorway outside. \nTo your shock, there is someone's body blocking the exit from outside! You could not see them before. \nWell, it's too much for you to handle, picturing yourself shoving an inert body with all your might. Even if the door were cool, it would still be rather horrible.\nYou look at the body again. The person is facing away from you, half seated and half lying on the cement. As the flames reach higher from inside, you can see that there is a bloody wound on his head, visible through the person's short hair. You cannot tell if the body is dead or alive. \nThe fire is getting closer. You had better not stick around, since there's no way you can see to get out from here. Maybe you should try again to jump back over the flames and try the side corridor. As you know, there is an [[open-air square]] inside the outer four walls of the building, with a koi pond and benches. But it's not clear if you can reach it. Or you could head back [[upstairs]].

Taking a deep breath, you jump as high as you can, trying to make it intact through the window. \nUnfortunately, those shards of glass are just too sharp and hazardous. You cut your legs up pretty bad on the way out, and land in the sharp thorny bushes under the window. \nPainful and bleeding, you creep across the ground, whimpering, dragging your legs against the dirt, rubbing the soil into your lacerations.\nIt's not a nice feeling, and you'll have a nasty period of recovery, but at least you're out. \nAs you lie there gazing at the flames, you hear sirens approaching. You also hear a thin voice calling out for help...at least, [[you think you do.]]

You let loose a wild yell of fear and bravado, hurtling through the air as if in slow motion. You can hear your the crackling flames, the sound of what might be a collapsing wall, and ... what is that? Your scream sounds as if it's in harmony. It startles you even as you fall, and you forget that you're about to [[collide with the ground]].

The bucket's heavier than you thought. You fall off the stone bridge into the water, banging yourself up. However, now you're wet and still moderately uninjured. Maybe the water will keep you a bit safer. You resist the urge to snicker at your mishap as you refill the bucket and head back to the [[hallway|1f gasoline]].

When you get to the main stairs, you see a cloud of black smoke rising before you. Moving cautiously closer, you see flames leaping up the stairs! \nGood grief, this will never do!\nHowever, though you are frightened of the fire, you see that it is still on the stairs below the second floor. You could try to run down to the [[second floor|2Fmainstairs]] and take your chances there, or go back to the [[back stairs]].

Not daring to head down any of the halls, you feel safer in the dead center of the square. There's no ceiling here, so there's nothing that is likely to fall down upon you, and the water might provide some protection, as well. You take a seat on one of the cold stone benches, feeling the chilly seat soothing your legs where you got burned.\nYou feel safer. You gaze up at the stars until the smoke is too thick to see through. \nYou eventually hear sirens approaching. You also hear a voice calling from somewhere above you, but you don't know who it is. \nYou survive and are not hurt, but you still feel bad about the guard who was killed by a falling wall outside the back doors. And you find out later on whose voice you heard calling... and wonder if you could have saved them.\nBut still, you saved yourself. You'll be okay.\nThe end

You take a deep breath, settle your feet, and smash the window with the fire extinguisher as hard as you can. There's a huge cracking sound and a triangular part of the window falls in; you jump back and are not cut, but you can feel the floor getting still hotter. If you're going to break this window and jump, you'd better do it soon as possible. \n\nBut can you be fast enough before the floor collapses on you?\n\nRun back to the [[stairwell]], or hit the window with the [[extinguisher|window3]] once more.

Gray Manichean

A head of wavy blond hair appears at the windowsill, haunted, frightened eyes burning into yours. Hands appear, trying to grasp the edge of the window, but the broken glass cuts into the woman's hands.\nShe gives a scream of pain, startled, and backs up. Then in an instant, the face is gone, and you realize that she must have fallen through that firey hole. \n[[Good Lord]].\n