Children

Testimony

“Minutes go by with nothing, until the first one comes out at the far end of the corridor and you know more are coming. Don’t stare at them, fine, but don’t lose sight of them either.”

The Children, the young faceling, move in a pack. They alternate a phase of calm and a phase of stalking, and when they reach you, they stun you. Survivors call them children because they are short, though the face is the faceling face, the one that shouldn’t be there.

How to recognize them

Small silhouettes at the far end of the corridor that stop the moment you look at them. When you look away, they are already closer. Before the pack arrives you can often see small footprints or a loose toy on the carpet.

The cycle

Phase	Duration	What they do
Calm	90 to 180 seconds	prowl far away
Stalking	60 to 90 seconds	advance and freeze if you look at them
Retreat	variable	they leave and the calm returns

The pack grows to eight members. During the stalking phase they move at 4.2 meters per second if you turn your back.

The rule of the gaze

You look at them: they stay still.
You turn your back: they advance.

It is the same logic as the Grille, but in a group, and with eight in the pack you can’t watch all of them at once.

What they do when they arrive

The contact does not wound. The grab stuns for seven seconds, which is enough for the rest of the pack to close in. Some say that if your hands are empty, they try to take something from you.

How to survive

If you see one, there are more. Find a wall at your back.
Watch the nearest one and let your group watch the flanks.
Don’t run backward, or they catch you.
Fall back toward where you’ve already been, not toward the unknown.

What people say

A warning repeats on the floor notes: “don’t stare at them.” Survivors can’t agree on whether it means that looking too long draws them in or that looking is the only thing that holds them back (see floor notes).

How they close in

Their way of hemming in someone who walks takes two forms, which the archive has recorded separately in stalking along routes and ambush and peeking.

Sub-entries

E-011 · EntitiesChildren: Stalking Along RoutesHow the pack of children hems you in. One takes your back, the others look for other ways to wait for you, and they only run if you can’t see them.E-012 · EntitiesChildren: Ambush and PeekingAccounts of children that don’t follow you. They wait for you around a corner of your route, lean out half a body, and jump when you pass within two meters.

Mentioned in

L-001 · LevelsLevel 0: yellow officesEndless offices of damp carpet and humming fluorescents. Every wanderer wakes here, and nobody leaves by the way they came in.E-026 · EntitiesWatcherAn adult sitting in an office chair, back turned, who slowly turns their head to follow you. It does nothing else.P-017 · PhenomenaThe Wanderer’s GlossaryThe words wanderers repeat until they stop explaining them, with the entry where each one is told.E-020 · EntitiesSmilerA figure of smoke with two eyes and a smile, at the far end of the corridor. It only advances when nobody is looking, and nobody has seen how.E-005 · EntitiesAdult FacelingThe adult faceling, an office worker standing motionless at their post, watching. Its only trace is a floor note.E-002 · EntitiesHow Creatures SoundAlmost no creature in Level 0 makes a noise, so silence is the warning, and what makes no sound is usually what is closest.O-017 · ObjectsFloor NotesPapers on the carpet, sometimes pinned. A sentence from someone who had time to write before disappearing.E-006 · EntitiesAdult Faceling: How It BehavesThey work, they stare, and if you hurt one, they all come. The four phases of adult faceling behavior.E-024 · EntitiesField Guide: CreaturesHow to recognize each Level 0 creature, what it does if it reaches you, and what to do before you find out.E-007 · EntitiesLurkerThe toughest of the legacy records, with fifty resistance in the reports. Its name suggests stalking and nobody has seen it.E-025 · EntitiesTraces and Visible SignsFootprints and dust. What each creature lets you see before it arrives, and what an attentive wanderer learns to read in the carpet.