Route 2.1 – Pet the cat

        You go closer to the velvet paw and to your astonishment it remains sitting. Smiling, you crouch down and start to scratch the animal behind the ear. It responds with a strong purr and seems to enjoy your petting. The cat closes its eyes and lies down on its back. As you gently run your fingers through its belly fur, you remember how much you like cats. You had one yourself when you were a child, but it passed away when you were just twelve. From then on, you always petted and fed the neighbour’s cats. Now your family has had a dog for quite a while, who unfortunately doesn’t like cats and always shoos them away as soon as they come near your house. But he fulfils his purpose as a house protector and you still like him very much. But still, you would be happy to have more contact with cats.

You lose yourself so much in stroking the velvet paw that you completely block out your surroundings. Suddenly, the orange-coloured ball of fur tenses up, puts its ears back and hisses. Its eyes grow wide and before you know it, it hastily stands up and flees back into the bushes. Frowning, you look after the animal and wonder what that was all about. Perhaps the cat has simply had enough of your petting and you have already met cats that had such a change of temper. Still, you have a bad feeling that something about this situation is not right and you slowly rise from your crouch. As you focus on your surroundings again, you notice footsteps behind you and hear someone breathing. So the cat had not hissed at you, but at someone or something behind you! Before you can look around you feel a sharp pain as a dull object hits your head. You sink to the ground and your eyes go black.

Slowly you regain consciousness. Dazed, you open your eyes, but your vision is too blurred to see anything. Then you feel a throbbing pain in your head begin to come to the fore and you squeeze your eyes shut tightly under the nasty pain. A very high-pitched noise rings in your ears, you notice an acrid smell that makes you taste iron. You also notice that you are freezing. But all you can do is wait a moment and hope that your condition improves. What has happened? Just as you are about to grab your head, you notice that you cannot move your hands. Something is holding them back. You move your shoulders and try to untie them, but when that doesn’t work, you come to a conclusion, worried. Am I… tied up? You blink a little until you can slowly see clearly again, and realise that you are in a dark room lit only by a very dim chroma lamp above you. The glow is so pale that it does not allow you to see much. You look down at yourself and notice that you are only dressed in a tattered olive green rag that reaches to your knees. This is clearly not your clothing, but it explains why you are cold. You see a dark stain on the rag and as you also feel some sticky spots on your face, you conclude that it must be blood from your head wound. What irritates you more, however, is the rope that is wrapped around your body, tying you to a chair, hands tied behind you. As you realise that you seem to be held captive, you feel cold sweat rising inside you and you get a very bad feeling. You remember only vaguely, but you are sure that until just now you were standing in the dark alley. The rest of your memory of the last few hours is very hazy. You remember feeling a dull thump on your head before you seem to have fainted. You feel the fear creeping up inside you, but force yourself to stay calm. You briefly consider screaming for help, but dismiss the thought immediately as it could also summon your captor. You have to free yourself somehow and get out of here.

You look around as best you can. In front of you, you see only a small staircase with a wooden door at the end – hopefully your exit. To your right you see a table with tools on it, but in your predicament you would not be able to reach any of them. So you turn to your left and the sight you see is one you will never forget.  Body parts soaked in blood lie on the floor and a large piece of flesh hangs from the ceiling of the dark room. You narrow your eyes and take a closer look. Startled, you recoil and rock your chair as you realise that these are human body parts. You can make out hands, arms, legs, severed fingers, even ears and a tongue. You look up at the suspended piece of flesh and notice an astonishing resemblance to a human torso. However, the head is missing. You open your eyes wide and want to scream, but no sound comes out of your mouth. The shock makes you feel nauseous and for a moment you think you are going to throw up. So that’s what you’ve been tasting all this time – blood. Human blood.

You turn away, but a low groan makes you turn your gaze back towards the gruesome scene. Behind the bleeding human body, you recognise the silhouette of a person huddled against the wall, trembling. You force yourself to look more closely again and can see, next to another seemingly lifeless body, a girl in a pink nightgown, her mouth and eyes blindfolded. Now and then a sob escapes her, telling you that she is crying. You notice fresh, deep wounds on her thighs and arms and some lacerations on her face suggest that she has been beaten. The poor girl… Who knows what she has already been through… You feel sympathy, but soon your own situation comes to the fore again. You absolutely have to get out of here before the murderer comes back. The fact that you are still alive, the many severed body parts and the tools on the table that remind you of instruments of torture do not bode well. Why did the murderer kidnap you and not kill you directly? You ask yourself that, but you are actually glad to be alive, even though the situation is anything but rosy. If I don’t get out of here, I might end up like that strung up piece of meat… A cold shiver runs down your spine and you try to suppress your fear so that you can think clearly. Then you notice an object stuck in the head of the dead body next to the girl. On closer inspection you recognise an axe. It might be your only chance to free yourself. But first you have to get to it. Resolutely, you tilt the chair back and forth. Your legs are also attached to the chair, but you think that if you manage to get up, you can still move somehow. You get a lot of momentum forward and manage to get on your feet. You almost lost your balance in your bent posture and fell over, but you still manage to balance yourself in time. Taking small steps and struggling with your balance, you tiptoe towards the dead body. Along the way, you sway back and forth, coming up against the hanging, blood-dripping human body, and then feel a cold, sticky liquid on your arm soaking the rag. You shudder, but try to ignore it and move on. Once you arrive at the corpse, you think about how best to get to the axe near the ground and decide, albeit reluctantly, to drop sideways onto the back of the dead body so that you can pull the tool out of the head with your hands. So you stand next to the corpse, turn to its legs and let yourself fall on it. Your fall happens silently and was cushioned by the deceased. You’re really lucky in misfortune – not only did you find a sharp axe here, but you also fell exactly as planned and can grab the tool. So the weapon that led to this person’s death could set you free. You shake the wooden handle and after a while you manage to pluck the blade out of the skull. With a lot of dexterity, you turn the axe over in your hands so that the sharp side is pointing at you and you start to move it up and down as best you can to cut the rope. A few times you accidentally cut yourself on it and each time you flinch under the sharp pain.

A few minutes later, you’ve actually made it and your upper body is freed. As soon as the rope falls, you point your arms forward and rub your bloody hands. But there is no time for pain sensation now and so you begin, this time more skillfully, to cut your legs loose. A little relieved that you are now free, you get up and remember the crying girl again. Every second you’re here increases the chances that your kidnapper will come back and who knows what they’ll do to you. You don’t want to die. Freeing the girl would take some time. But on the other hand, you feel pity and would not like to leave her to her fate here.