Disaster Report Diaries (Raw Danger!) Part Seventeen

This is my exploration of the Disaster Report series where I will chronicle my playthrough like a text-based Let’s Play. Now let’s continue Raw Danger!...

It was the 25th of December at 20:15 (30 hours since Mayor Goldstein’s reception) when we arrived in the Hillside District, Del Ray High School Area. I could hear a helicopter, but not see one. Well, I could see one, but it had crashed into the deep water which was now about a metre and a half deep.

We hopped on the Air Mattress and rowed over to a hidden corner where a landslide had knocked down a fence. Finding a Cloth Jacket, I tried to give it to who the menu was now calling Sierra Young despite that name having not come up since just before Amber Brazil was arrested. It was a relief to finally get a name, I won’t lie, even if Ivan still didn’t know it.

However, she didn’t want the jacket, so I popped it on, as well as a Cloth Mask that I found next to it. We then rowed over to one of the entrances and went into the school. We rowed to a staircase and Sierra told me to go on ahead. I saw Paige Meyer and Emily Rose before Sierra caught up with me, then we warmed up in the classroom the students had just left. We then exited through the window and went across to the gym.

Doctor Spritz was on the stage when we joined him, and he urged us to hurry up, as Apolon might find us. I put together the memory fragments of how to destroy Echidna with electricity, but as I told Spritz, he started having a coughing fit. In moments, he was dead, his dying words asking me to take the container to the substation in Central District and save the people.

I wondered what I had done, and what my research had wrought, then went outside to check on the container. I snagged a Heat Pad from a recycling bin, then went to the raft that Spritz had seemingly set up. Sierra wanted to come with me, she had a letter from David Brazil which said that he regretted being a part of the Echidna research, without actually naming it, and that he was taking a stand. Also, it called her by her name, Sierra, so that was finally revealed. So, I agreed to let her come along, rather than let her guilt me into allowing her.

As we got into the raft, the container began floating away! I immediately started the outboard engine and took off after it, but it somehow managed to match our speed…

It was the 26th of December at 10:14 (44 hours since Mayor Goldstein’s reception) when we reached the Central Geo District Area, and the container of Echidna finally snagged on something. Yes, 14 hours since we had arrived at the school, and even being generous it was almost certainly over 10 hours since we left. The water was being rocked by the freezing wind which had brought the snow, and with it finally secured, I realised that I needed something to tie it to the raft. The roaring snow made it difficult to see, but we made our way through the flooded streets, so high with water that I could have reached from the boat to touch the tops of lampposts.

A lit survival point caught my eye at the top of some stairs. I imagined that, without the water, they would have been great for those boxing movie montage moments since there were so many of them. I “docked” the raft and debarked, looking around for a rope or even some twine. I warmed up three times while I was on land, and found Chicken Broth, Vegetable Stew, two First Aid Kits, two Heating Pads and a Propane Tank, which I left alone. There was also a Riding Jacket, Hunting Boots, Wool Cap, and Large Backpack which I equipped, as well as a Sea Gull Compass and Helicopter Compass. I finally noticed the nearby flagpole and upon inspecting it, grabbed the City Flag that was attached.

Returning to the raft, we returned to the canister and used the flag to tie the canister to us, then took off. It was a good thing, too, as buildings began topping over right behind us! It may have only been one, but when you’re scared for your life and attached to a deadly virus, you don’t stop to count. The tunnel just past the stairs led to our final destination, but before we reached it more buildings collapsed, and a helicopter flew overhead, shining a spotlight down on us. It had to pull up, however, when water breached a wall higher than the tall office buildings and bore down on us, but we managed to outpace it and reach the tunnel.

It was the 26th of December at 16:21 (50 hours since Mayor Goldstein’s reception) when we reached the Del Ray Station Area and the electric substation. Sierra stayed by the boat to keep an eye on it, while I hooked up the canister to some cables. Unfortunately, the power was out at the substation, so I went looking for a switch. I warmed up at a survival point inside one of the outbuildings, then consumed a Hot Chocolate I’d picked up from the floor. I flicked the power on, then exited the building only for a pylon to drop down and almost squish me!

Since I had learned to run horizontally to something falling vertically, it missed me but did knock me to the ground. Back at the container, I was about to destroy Echidna when a helicopter landed close by! Two people in hazmat suits approached and I told them that I was not going to destroy Echidna. Figuring it to be a lie, one of them sarcastically told me they weren’t going to kill me.

A third person left the helicopter, also in a hazmat suit. It was Apolon! Or, as the citizens of Geo City knew him, Mayor Goldstein, the Hero of Del Ray! He felt betrayed since he funded the research and even got rid of Spritz when he questioned the project. While I had several options, including leaving with Goldstein and the Echidna (giving me Ending Type 5-B), I told him that he couldn’t have it.

Goldstein told me that I would have to die, so I asked what he was planning on doing, and he told me that he was going to spread it throughout the city. I wasn’t quite certain what the point of that would be, since if the evacuation was successful there were maybe hundreds of people left, at the most. He went on, explaining that it was a revenge plot, as he had grown up in Cascade Village, and had watched many die from a disease, so the government had razed the village in case it became an epidemic.

I reiterated that he couldn’t have the container, so he shot me and told one of his men to throw me into the water. Despite the pain of being shot, the shock of the cold water gave me a burst of adrenaline! I fought against the current and grabbed onto a rail, pulling myself over to land. I fell to the ground, but I had to pull that switch! I managed to drag myself back to the container and used some cover to wait for Goldstein to turn his back. I quickly pulled the lever, detonating the container!

Goldstein swore at me and got back into his helicopter, flying off. Sierra ran over to find me dead, my blood soaked into the snow around me… An epilogue from Sierra Young explained events, though not why she was looking for Ivan in the first place instead of her boyfriend, and it also said that Amber “witnessed the power of Echidna” instead of David. I received Ending Type 5-A, which stated that I had travelled seven miles and warmed up 17 times across 1:20:39, with my Pedometer Compass saying over 27,756.

But this saga still wasn’t done! In fact, Joshua Harwell’s trials hadn’t finished, as we checked back in with him an hour before Ivan’s death. It was the 26th of December at 15:16 (49 hours since Mayor Goldstein’s reception), and he was standing with Steph and her father, about to get on the helicopter in the Del Ray Station Area. He thanked me for helping Steph, but she collapsed and he got her aboard the chopper.

Before I could take a step, the ground fell away beneath the helicopter, but the rotors were going, so it stayed aloft unlike the one back at the circus tent. It flew off and I started running for it, as the water was rising rapidly. I made it into the shopping mall which was part of the station for some reason, and legged it up a few escalators, managing to outpace the water and the collapsing floors. It barely registered as I went, but I kept seeing spots of blood every now and then.

All of a sudden, a large ship smashed through the windows and destroyed some of the floor that I was just about to run across! I continued up the next escalator and around beneath the boat, then had to jump onto it! A Santa sled almost took me out, then the entire ship began sliding back out to sea, but I made it to the top floor.

The only way out was via a covered bridge connecting two buildings, so I started running — and kept running as the damn thing fell apart and it became an uphill sprint! Benches, plants, and bouncy Geo balls slid down, trying to knock me into the water, but I reached the top and finally got outside to the roof. Steph’s dad’s helicopter didn’t offer to pluck me from the corner of the roof, however. I had to climb the media tower in front of me — but there was a trail of a lot of blood…

I cautiously followed it to some stairs and at the top was a man in a black suit. Unbeknownst to Joshua, it was Jaden Bradford. He gave me a Data Disc containing information on how to destroy a deadly virus and said that I would be a hero. I agreed to take it, because it seemed the alternative would be to carry the dying man up even more stairs, and he said that he would rest there a little. From the way he was holding his midsection, and the amount of blood on the rooftop and back down all those escalators, he wasn’t going to make it.

I warmed up and set off up the tower stairs. Some communication dishes tore off in the wind and almost hit me, but I reached the top of the stairs and found a ladder in front of me. This wasn’t going to be the only one…

As I climbed, the floors kept falling away beneath me, so I couldn’t stop to take a breath. After the fourth ladder, I did quickly grab a Media Tower Compass, but then I resumed my hurried state. However, after the fifth ladder, the tower itself began to topple! It was another uphill sprint as I struggled to reach the mast in the centre. Upon grabbing it, the helicopter rose into view and Steph threw down a ladder for me. I was saved.

After an epilogue which summarised events, I received Ending Type 6-A. Since this was the end of the game, it said the total play time was 8:33:17, I had warmed up 65 times, and had travelled 36 miles. My Pedometer Compass had said over 29,300, before I lost sight of it while running up to the mast.

But wouldn’t you know it? That’s not all that Del Ray city had to offer. If you get Joshua’s 1-B ending, it alters the ending…