The Backrooms

Habitable Zone

To Skylar and Kaleb's surprise, the fall did not hurt. That's if you could even call it falling, they both blacked out and then awoke completely unharmed in this new place. She looked around to find they were in some warehouse. There was a low hanging fog permeating the place with no known source currently. To her delight, the lights in here didn't flicker.

''What is the weird place we're in? How did we just go from there to here through some weird hole and be fine with not even a single scratch?'' Kaleb pondered, this whole experience was bizarre and they still had no idea where they were.

''Let's not think about that too hard, i don't think we will have any answers anytime soon.'' Skylar replied. There was a crate on the floor not far from them. ''Hey look at that Kaleb, it's a crate. We should check it out.

Kaleb walked over to it. It was relatively big and the lid was placed loosely on top. ''I'll open it in case something bad is in it. Stay there a second.'' He went to open it but Skylar grabbed his hand and stopped him.

''Oh come on, I'm a big girl I'll be fine.'' She pushed the lid off and inside was some bottles of almond water, granola bars and other packaged food similar, a first aid kit and to their surprise a backpack was in there too so they would have a place to carry their belongings. There were also a few random things like crayons and used needles but they left them inside the crate.

''Wow we lucked out with this!'' Skylar exclaimed as she grabbed a bottle of almond water. She hadn't realised how thirsty she was until the water touched her lips. Kaleb looked at the bars in his hands and his stomach rumbled in response. He opened one for himself and passed the other to Skylar who nodded in thanks after she finished her water. They finished their drinks and snacks and put the rest in the backpack along with first aid kit. Kaleb offered to carry the backpack but not without Skylar saying she could carry it herself but he ended up winning that argument.

They walked further into the warehouse until they saw a group of people. They were all wearing this uniform so Skylar and Kaleb went running over to them.

''Hey we need help. Where are we?'' Skylar panted as she reached them. The group looked over the pair of them before one member spoke up.

''Are you two new here?'' he asked.

''Yes we are'', Kaleb responded. ''Do you know where we are?''

''Well currently you're in what we call level 1, it's nicknamed the habitable zone as there's plentiful supplies here. You may have seen crates around the place. These crates contain lots of things that will help you along your journey in here.''

''What was the place we were in before?'' Skylar asked. ''It had yellow walls and the lights kept flickering and there was this constant buzzing that gets really annoying after a while.''

''Ah, that would be level 0 aka the lobby. That place is where all wanderers begin at. You're in the backrooms. If you'd like I can give you a quick overview of what the backrooms are and things to look out for?'' the stranger told them calmly. It seemed like he had been here a long time.

''Yes please.'' Skylar and Kaleb both replied at the same time.

''Okay well first, I'm Alex and we're part of M.E.G which stands for major explorer group. We go out and explore the backrooms so we can gather more information about various levels and entities.'' Skylar's face went pale at the sound of entities. Kaleb noticed and reached for her hand. Alex carried on, ''In the backrooms there are various levels which all have their own properties. We have a system at ranking these based on safety, security and entity count. Some levels are highly dangerous and we do not recommend entering as death is the most likely outcome. Levels usually lead to multiple different levels like where we are now can lead to level 2 or level 19.''

Skylar and Kaleb were listening carefully and taking in every drop of information they could.

''Now that you have a basic understanding of the levels I'll get onto the entities which stay here. Some of the most common you will come across are skin stealers, hounds and smilers. When you see them you'll know what they are. We recommend avoiding contact with any entity at all costs. Some will only attack if provoked while others wont stop chasing you until you are dead. Ah I almost forgot, make sure you always have almond water on you as that is going to be your best friend here. It will help you keep your sanity and it can also help speed up recovery of any injuries you may obtain. There are different coloured bottles that almond water come in and each have their own unique properties. We can provide you with a list of these to help you along with a basic pamphlet about some levels and entities.'' Another member of M.E.G pulled out the pamphlet and handed it to Kaleb.

''Thank you so much for helping. I just have one more question. Is there a way to leave?'' Skylar asked a little worriedly.

''Sorry but as of right now there is no specific way to leave. There are reports of wanderers no clipping from levels and ending up back at home and there's also reports of wanderers passing out before waking up back on earth but as of right now we don't have a verified way to leave.''

Skylar couldn't help but show the disappointment on her face at those words. No way out. It kept repeating in her head louder and louder until Kaleb put his hand on her shoulder, breaking her out of her trance.

''Are you okay?'' Kaleb asked her. He had a concerned look on his face as his looked down at her.

''Y-yeah I'm okay Kaleb.'' she shuddered under his touch and he pulled her closer.

''We need to get going now. I wish you kids the best of luck here. I hope to see you again.'' Alex gave them a salute and then he left with the rest of M.E.G.

''So what now Kaleb? Should we collect some almond water and food and then try get out of here?''

''Yeah, I think that would be best. At least then we won't starve or dehydrate.''

They both walked around opening crates and filling the backpack until it could physically hold no more. They walked around a bit more until they came across a long hallway.

Kaleb looked at Skylar, ''Should we?'' he nodded towards the hallway.

''Yeah, maybe it'll take us to a new level. Let's go.'' Skylar went first this time and Kaleb followed close behind.

They continued walking until the hallway started to change and its appearance took that of some sort of maintenance hall.

''I guess this is level two then.'' Skylar muttered to herself