Alright I blame @kel For the madness this might ensue.

The story begins.

"Dawn breaks and your eyes are blinded for a moment by the glare from the crack of light peeking through the panels across the window nearby. The room appears to be empty except for yourself and some discarded furnishings, most of the objects covered in a layer of dust. One can only surmise you had wandered in here in the dark of night for shelter but from what is something to ask one's self."

#PickYourOwnAdventure

"You choose to stay within the room. You can barely see outside of the sunbeam that falls at your feet, wait, no shoes? Hm, your feet appear to be quite dirty, scraped up even. You must have been running hard, your balls of your feet feel bruised up to hell.

You take a few moments longer to explore the room you found yourself in, lots of dust, discarded broken furniture, even a few bits of glass, but no weapon. But you did find a flashlight with half dead batteries."
2/
#PickYourOwnAdventure

"As you explore the room with the flashlight in hand, the light flickering in the shadowy spaces. You catch sight of movement in the back corner, but you aren't certain if it was a mouse, rat, or something worse. You turn to take a better look, but it was gone before you could get a better glimpse.

Closer to what appears to be a curtain, ratty and tattered with telltale signs of age clinging to it's hem, you pat at it, and strike something solid behind it! A door!"
3/
#PickYourOwnAdventure

"The door creaks as it opens, the curtain falls in your face a moment, startling you! The flashlight drops from your hand with a clatter as you struggle to get the curtain back from your face and the dust cleared from your sight and coughing out of your lungs! Moths burst out, fleeing the curtain!

A few minutes spent gathering your frazzled wits, but as you gain your breath back and sight clears, you see writing behind the door, on another wall. Bricks and mortar."
4/
#PickYourOwnAdventure

"The writing reads as follows, the handwriting a bit difficult to decipher at first."

"They come out at night."
"They hunt, and feed."
"Stay in after dusk."
"Or they will have a feast."

"Curiouser and curiouser. You can't remember the night before, but you know you ran for safety, you wouldn't be alive and breathing here if you hadn't, if these words are true."

"Surely you can't stay here all day, you must find food, and water soon. Your stomach grumbles."
5/
#PickYourOwnAdventure

"Well, that wasn't a working door, but there does appear to be a doorway not far, you can barely see it with the flashlight pointed that way on the floor. You reach to pick up the light, only to hear the floor creak, but not from your own footstep.

Alarmed, you dart for the broken couch, hiding behind it with the flashlight tucked beneath your jacket arm. That creak, again, louder, closer. You shouldn't dare to look, but the urge is very much there."
6/
#PickYourOwnAdventure #CoSoWriting

"Shhhh shhh, it's coming closer. You can hear the steps, heavy, slow. Whatever it is, it must be larger than you cause the creaks are almost wood panel breaking in volume.

You lean just a bit to peek around the arm of the broken couch, shadows playing across the floors and what appears to be a large....dark furred...broad chest. Your head ducks back before you could see it's head, but the heavy breathing tells you it's close enough to possibly smell you."
7/
#PickYourOwnAdventure #CoSoWriting

"Just. Stay. Put. Maybe it's like a dino from Jurassic Park! Right? You can hear it's breathing, deep, and the couch shifts with you behind it. Moving you with it! Whatever it is, it's a BIG boy. The floor creaks as it moves to check out the other end of the couch, not far from you. What to do, what to do! In a panic, you dive for a shadowed space near the broken wall heater halfway across the floor, and the remains of an armchair."
"It froze, sniffing."
8/ #PickYourOwnAdventure #CoSoWriting

(Coin Flip! Hubs picking last second to help break the tie! Run for it!)
"It's so nearby, good gods, is that the smell of a rotting banana? It's horrible! No, coffee grinds...wait, why are you smelling trash!?

You jump up and race for the doorway, the huge furry creature catching sight of you and darts after your heels! Wait, heels? The creature appears to be a very large, very fat looking rodent of some kind, but the teeth are HUGE!"

9/ #PickYourOwnAdventure #CoSoWriting

"Almost to the front door, you can feel the fresh air whistling through the crevices! Run, faster! The giant rat leaps to spring at your back! But it just barely misses you landing in your trial with a heavy thud of its body weight slamming into the old floor panels, dust kicking up as you slam the door open and bolt out into the street in terror!
No rat meat for you, but it's not eating you either so that's a win, right?"
10/
#PickYourOwnAdventure
#CoSoWriting

"It couldn't have been more than 10, 15 minutes tops dealing with that rodent tracking you in the house you woke up in. It's probably close to 2, maybe 3 pm in the afternoon? Least close as you can judge based on the height of the sun in the sky to horizon. It should be safe long enough for you to find more secure shelter, at least you hope anyhow. You start down the street, heading to the West. Most of the houses appear to be empty, lights on, but no one home."
11/
#PickYourOwnAdventure

"You stop in front of the house next door to the one you just fled from, it appears to be in good condition, no holes in the wall or any of that nonsense from the outside anyway. The curtains appear to be still as well, no movement from what you can see in the windows. It's a two story, so you might find some good hiding spaces inside.
The door opens soundlessly, not even a creak in the floorboards, but down the hall you spot a calendar that looks new!"
12/ #PickYourOwnAdventure #CoSoWriting

"You step closer down the hallway to check out the calendar. That's odd, you don't even remember the date it was the last time you were awake! But the printed date appears to be July 8th, 1954! How in blazes..
Something crashes in the other room, deeper into the house first floor. You stand still as a post, listening closely for a few moments....nothing, no movement, but nothing could have knocked something over, right?"
13/
#PickYourOwnAdventure #CoSoWriting

"Well a gust can't push things around that hard, it sounded pretty heavy, whatever it was that struck the floor. You head in and turn right, heading towards another room, appears to be a dining room. Fine china sitting in a cabinet, dust covered but still intact. But as you turn to examine the room, you notice a chair knocked over on its side, and a glass split on the persian dust covered rug. Wine? It smells like it, white wine maybe. Someone is here."
14/ #PickYourOwnAdventure #CoSoWriting

"You choose to duck back into the hall. Whatever tipped over that chair and dropped the wine glass must be aware that there's others running about for shelter. Maybe they'll let you stay if they don't notice you here?

You can hear a scuffle of worn shoes moving on the flooring in another room, not too far from you, probably in the living room. Hard to tell with the layout unknown. You could easily wait to see if they find you, but what if they are armed?"
15/
#CoSoWriting #PickYourOwnAdventure

"As you move down the hallway back to the entrance and head for the left hallway from the front door, hear you a clear audible *shnick-click*! A chill runs down your spine as you turn your head to see an old man with a farmers tan and a roughnecked flannel staring right back with a colt pistol raised, aimed at your chest!"
"WHOA WHOA! I'm not armed!" "Your hands thrust into the air with surprise and alarm!"
16/ #CoSoWriting #PickYourOwnAdventure

"I dunno why yer here kid, but thems nasty things out there when dark hits. Yer either here to steal my food 'n water, or to kill me, and I ain't going down without a fight." The old man clearly wants to stay safe as well, but he's uncertain of your intentions! Your hands still raised in the air, you step backwards to avoid crowding the old fella. He looks like he's worn out, scared like you. What do you tell him?
17/ #CoSoWriting #PickYourOwnAdventure

You put your hands out to the old man, making it clear that you are unarmed as you explain your situation. Waking up in an abandoned house, chased by a giant rat, and trying to find shelter before more find you at night fall. He squints at you for a few minutes after you finish your tale thus far before he lowers his colt and sets it on the record player counter nearby. "Yep, one of them lost kids. I getcha. Come on, Gonne hafta hunt tonight though." 18/
#CoSoWriting #PickYourOwnAdventure

Clearly, he doesn't want to hurt anyone, his colt looks a bit dusty even after he picked it up and held it at you like that. You could tell by the shake in his hands that he's not used to talking to anyone. How long had it been since the others vanished? "Oh, them kids, Pearl and I took in a few in the last few years to help out until they figure out where they going. Most drift through and stay for a night and head on off at dawn."
Hm, to where though?
19/ #CoSoWriting #PickYourOwnAdventure