Waterography (128 Charlotte Street)

This art piece looks so good you could lick it. You squash your face to the window. Water, you groan. I need water. Mary has followed you, but is fast losing her patience with your crazy behaviour.

“Are you turning into one of them?”

You swing around. An old man, dressed in torn clothes, speaks to you.

“No, not at all,” you say, jerking away from the glass. “I’m a student.”

“That says it all,” he says. “Look, kid, if you want to be a hero, stay here. If not, follow me. I’ve got ways to stay safe in this city. Places to keep me warm at night. You know what I’m saying? And I’m heading back to ’em.” He starts to head south on Charlotte Street, nearing George Street.

But wait, there’s more people streaming around you. Men and women, in their early twenties maybe, dressed in city chic, crying, running. They look healthy.

“And where are you going?” you call to them.

One girl stops mid-pavement. “My friends, our friends, they’re trapped by…monsters…in our building.” She looks at you as if you’re wearing your underpants over your clothes. “We’re going to help them, of course!”

You recognise the girl. “Hey, you were in my class,” you say. “Bioscience, last year, remember?”

A flicker of recognition. “Yes,” she says. “So, were you the morons that let this virus out? Because we’ve heard students leaked a flesh-eating virus! They did this to our city!”

You feel a pang of guilt. Sure, you had nothing to do with that, but should you help? Can you walk much farther? The scratch on your ankle is throbbing now.

The old man calls from the street corner. “Home, here I come!”

He knows his way around this city. What if he has a safe hiding place til this all blows over?

Do you:

Neville Bonner Building: Follow your guilt trip, and follow the group of interns on Charlotte Street to the Neville Bonner Building (84 William Street) to save face? Mary is still trailing you…Go South on Charlotte Street until you reach George Street. Turn left into George Street, and turn right at Alice Street. Walk several hundred metres until you reach William Street.

Or

Parliament House: Follow the old man to his safe hiding spot. He heads South on Charlotte Street. Follow him right into George Street, and across Alice Street to Parliament House. Whichever way you go, Mary’s not going to let you go so easily, and she’ll follow. She’ll also be safest there.