“I'm never getting out of here with that thing lurking around. I need to stay put until morning,” you say to yourself, hugging yourself into an even tighter ball in the shadows of the desk. The bird is making quite a raucous around the offices looking for you. You hear various items clattering onto the desks and floor. You don't know what office it's in and you don't care, as long as it's not yours. You make yourself comfortable for a long night, or as comfortable as hiding under a desk can be.

Nearly three hours pass, the bird is still in the offices. Your legs, arms, and back are cramping up, but you don't dare stretch them out to expose yourself if it walks past the doorway. Not only that, you're starving. All that adrenaline pumping through your body earlier has depleted you and your stomach is making quite an honest effort to let you know about it. You decide to quietly edge out from under the desk in order to search for sustenance. You start with the desk.

You open each drawer quietly. Nothing but files, paper, pens, and more files. “I thought everybody had a snack drawer,” you say to yourself. No food here. Maybe you'll have better luck in another office. You crawl over to the door and look right then left. You see pens drop to the floor near the door from the second office to the end. It's making quite a mess. You take the opportunity to move to the office next door and resume your search for food. After going through most of the drawers, you nearly yell “Bingo!”, but stop yourself. This office has a stash of small bags of pretzels, chips, popcorn, and other snack food. Perfect.

You huddle under the desk to open up the pretzels. As you open it, the air releases in a very audible 'pop' sound. You freeze, but it doesn't do you any good. The bird walks over to the doorway to the office and cranes its long slender neck to spot you under the desk from just inside the doorway. Panicked, you rush out from underneath the desk, throwing the pretzels at the bird, and throw your whole body weight into it as you move through the doorway. Unfortunately, you underestimate your opponent and the bird pushes back, knocking you back into the office onto the floor. As you scramble to get back to your feet, a large clawed foot impacts your chest and thrusts you violently into the office wall. A large clock is released from the wall by the impact and finds a new home on your head.

You sink back into the wall and watch everything fade to black as the bird ruffles your hair for a moment, then loses interest and goes back to raiding the offices. “I could have timed that better...,” you mutter almost incoherently and then pass out.

THE END

(This doesn't have to be the end. Try the story again from the beginning, or go back one step to alter your choice!)