I came to in what looked to be a college dorm room. In front of me there was a mirror with a platform below it covered in various odds and ends. I turned, and looked around the room. There were two beds, separated by a pair of desks that had been maneuvered to block as much of the sight line between them as possible. Random posters and pictures were pinned on the bulletin boards above them. On one of the beds, a kid of around 18ish sat staring wide eyed at me. He spoke.

"Bro, you okay? You went off into space for a bit there. You like, were kinda freaking me out." I looked closer at him. He had brown shaggy hair, wrapped into a small rat tail on the back of his head. He was also wearing a Suns out Guns out tank top, and had cut most of the sides off of it, until all that was left was the bottom band of the shirt holding the front and back together. It looked like someone had taken literally every stereotype possible for a gym bro and thrown them together for a while, then mixed in some parts of a yoga instructor and aged them all down.

"I think I'm okay.... Where am I exactly?" I asked.

"That rager you went to last night must have really scrambled your eggs amigo. I warned you about putting those toxins into your body, but you never listened did you? You are in our dorm bro. Our casa away from home."

"And who are you?"

"Wow, it must be worse than I thought. Bro it's Stanley. Your roommate? I'm not qualified for this, you need a hospital."

All of a sudden, a radio broadcast comes on. Wait a radio? What college student keeps a radio around? At the same time my UI popped up in front of me.

Backstory: You are a struggling philosophy student at St. John's University named Greg Erving. You have known your roommate Stanley, a business major, for the two years you've been at the university. The town nearby, Stagtail, is a town with a population of around 10,000 people. Stagtail and it's surrounding landmass will be the scenario bounds. The news broadcast currently occurring will provide further details about the scenario dangers.

As an advantage for your student backstory, you are provided this information. Stanley is an AI guided NPC, that started with high regard for what you say. He will be willing to back you up on most disagreements and will follow your lead during the scenario once it officially begins.

"Breaking News. We have just recieved word that the recent expedition returning from the Arctic Circle has gone horribly wrong. The plane, upon reaching land crashed into a cornfield. Medics rushed the pilot and the two crew members to a hospital at the nearby town of Stagtail. Wait..... We have gotten a report that upon the arrival at the hospital, the ambulance was found empty except for splashes of blood. There have been no signs of the medics.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

The radio continued its updates throughout the day. Stanley had come and gone, and started to look a little concerned to see me glued to the radio whenever he walked in. According to the reports, the crew members had been infested with some sort of parasite that had the ability to shift its hosts body as needed. Normally, the parasite operated its body in as close to the original form as possible, but when eating or under threat it was able to drastically change forms, modifying features and appearances through rapid cell growth. This gave it the ability to disguise itself as other people, and also cause body modifications on the level of the Resident Evil T virus. Oh, and the parasites? They can be spread by the original parasite, which meant there were likely more than just the 3 I would have to deal with.

Scenario Start: Good Luck Contestant

Stanley burst through the door, slamming it behind him. "Holy shit dude. There's a girl getting eaten out there. I must be hallucinating... or it's a prank. Are you punking me bro? Not cool if you are." He said.

"This isn't a prank. This is actually happening. The news has been talking about these things all day. National guardsmen have been called to our location, and police were mobilized. We need to go before it decides it would be easier to kill us as well and eat us as well. Where is it?"

"The monster? Out by the front entrance."

"Then we go out the back. Grab whatever food and water we have, throw it in a backpack and let's get going."

"Where?!?"

"I don't know, but anywhere is probably better than here!"

We exited the building to the sounds of screams and gunfire. I stopped and peaked around the corner of the wall of the building to see if it was safe. A large amalgamation of flesh and bone lumbered towards a group of three cops shooting at it. While the bullets didn't seem to be doing much, they were having no problems staying out of reach of the.... whatever it was by backing away slowly. It seemed like they were going to be fine, and eventually the monster would get worn down and destroyed. Nothing could hold up forever right? Sensing this, one of the cops began shifting, reaching out a hand that had grown a spike of bone and thrusting it through each of the other two cop's backs.

The fake cop looked around to see if anyone had noticed, shifted its arm back to normal and then turned and ran as the abomination began consuming the bodies. The fake caught up with a group of civilians and began directing people, easily decieving them. I couldn't risk myself or Stanley going to help them. Who know how many were shapeshifters at this point? I turned back to Stanley, and we walked away from the university, keeping our eyes out for other people. We needed to find a secure location before we could do anything else, as well as some way to try to vet people who were infected or consumed by the parasite, but it could wait until we found a safehouse.