As the archive extracted, Elias noticed something odd. The file sizes were fluctuating in the explorer window, pulsing like a heartbeat. When he launched the executable, the familiar splash screen of the mansion appeared, but the colors were wrong. The vibrant purples and oranges had been drained into a sickly, bruised grey.

The monitors went black. In the silence of the room, the low-bitrate breathing continued, but it wasn't coming from the speakers anymore. It was coming from right behind his chair.

He moved Jules toward the door, but it wouldn't open. Instead, a text box appeared at the bottom of the screen, the font jagged and red:

Suddenly, the screen flickered. The "rar" file on his desktop hadn't just unpacked the game; it had unpacked something else . His webcam light clicked on. On the monitor, Jules turned around and pointed toward the back of the room—the room Elias was sitting in.

"Version 1.1.5: Added 'The Guest' mechanic. System restart required to finalize possession."

He selected Jules, his go-to character, but her sprite was different. She wasn't holding her shotgun; she was looking directly at the screen, her pixelated eyes wide and unblinking.