Death Wish: 5K

You've landed in the middle of a battlefield after Janine's wish was granted. Soldiers in Abel township uniforms are fighting... something. Janine tries to pass over the coin, but it's vanished. It seems to teleport itself back to Skipton Tor after each wish. It's a long run to get there, but Alice knows a route!

The fighting is still thick. The people the soldiers are fighting look human but seems twisted – quick but uncoordinated. Sam says that the legends about the coin mentioned wishes not turning out how they were supposed to. Maybe the coin twists the wish. Alice suggests that maybe the world isn't changed, it's just moving whoever is around when the wish gets made into a parallel dimension. Sam worries about your Abel Township, and Alice says that he really is like her Sam, and that's what got him killed.

Alice tells the story of how her Sam died. She was exploring an abandoned ArkTech laboratory and got trapped by the security system. With no runners around, Sam said he'd be there soon and they'd be home before dark. Alice shoots a mutant that tries to attack you. On an abandoned van, you see an ArkTech logo. It looks like Van Ark was involved again. Some of the soldiers are carrying geiger counters and Janine thinks the problem may be caused by radiation. Suddenly a group of mutants are destroyed by an energy beam from above. It's made a gap in the mutant horde. Run!

Alice continues her story. There were haemovores in the lab and they got Sam. That night, he was at the gates of Abel trying to lure her out. Alice staked him herself. There's a massive tremor and you see an enormous tripod creature moving, using that energy beam to kill mutants and soldiers alike. You need to run!

You're outpacing the mutants, despite them often having more legs. A tripod has stopped at the edge of the forest, and you can see that it has a cockpit. Alice says she saw a TED talk by Van Ark pre-apocalypse, and he talked about using a nuclear blast to signal to aliens. Could that be what happened? The tripods are setting the forest on fire so you need to go!

The smoke is dissipating but you still have a long way to go. You and Alice must get to the coin so you can make another wish. The mutants are running from the fire too, and it looks like the tripods are using the fires to herd them into another area before vaporising them. Other tripods are terraforming the land around them, and they're heading towards Skipton Tor! If they destroy the tower, the coin goes with it. You hear Jeep engines nearby. Maybe you can commandeer a vehicle to get you there faster.

A solider ushers you along to the evacuation. Both Sam and Janine recognise her as a runner, albeit in rather different contexts. She tells you that New Canton was overrun years ago. She uses a geiger counter to scan you, and then refuses you entry because you're contaminated. Janine knocks the soldier out and gets Alice in the Jeep, then drives off, leaving you behind. She intends to set the world back to how she knows it! Get after them!

You can see the Jeep, but you're attacked by mutants, one of which bites Sam. The wound is bleeding badly. Sam tells you to keep running and he'll keep up as long as he can.

Sam's wound is getting worse, and the tripods are close by. One of them blows up the Jeep. Alice gets out, but Janine doesn't. The mutants and tripods are after Alice. You need to get to her!

You've made it to the Tor, but Sam is in bad shape, and Alice's leg is broken. The coin is on the altar and you climb down to grab it. Alice asks to make the final wish, and wishes that the coin had never existed. You're suddenly outside Abel, on a lovely summer's day, and Sam seems to be in perfect health again. Maybe you can even save the doctor and her team from the zombies!

You see the doctor trading with people. You can probably get the zombies away if you use a McShell manoeuvre!

You've made it! That survivor group seems fine too, although there's more of them than you remember. And they seem to be setting up... picnic tables? None of them are armed either! You're approached by Alice, but she doesn't recognise you and has no idea about any apocalypse. Maybe you fixed the entire world and there are no more zombies! Alice asks if you're there to meet Professor Van Ark, the head of research. He's headed over to the Tor because he'd said there was a ring or something there that he could use. Sam asks what Alice's company does and she tells you they make vitamins and have a new fungal-derived supplement which they're in the process of getting approved. It looks like you might not be finished just yet...