Survival: The Backrooms

Zach and Kevin

Zach sat alone on a bench outside the park. He checked his phone for the hundredth time. Still no new messages. He sighed and leaned back. Kevin was supposed to be here forever ago, but like always, he was late, and in turn, so was Zach. They were supposed to be headed to a campout somewhere in the mountains with their school, but it seemed like he would end up spending the night here. He pulled a snack from his backpack and checked his phone again.

Zach heard mechanical rumbling coming from around the corner. Zach looked up to see a few armored trucks rounding the street corner, followed by several soldiers on foot. They seemed to be guarding some of these vehicles that were carrying large boxes with labels like "food," "water," and just simply "supplies." 

Zach thought to himself in confusion. This city was relatively safe. What could cause the military to come all the way out here?

He watched the group turn a corner and slowly make their way down a dark alleyway until they were out of sight.

"Hey! Did you see that?" Yelled a voice from behind, making Zach jump. He turned to see Kevin approaching the bench. He had a small backpack on his shoulder. Way too small to carry enough clothes and things for the trip.

'What the heck, dude?" Zach said, angrily. "We were supposed to leave like, an hour ago. Where were you?"

"Woah," Kevin responded with a laugh. "You know how the old man is about me going anywhere. Plus I had to stop somewhere." He reached into his bag and dug around for a bit. "I got you a surprise!"

"This better be good for making me wait and not even responding to my-"

Kevin pulled a book out of his bag and set it on the bench next to Zach. Zach picked it up, excitement welling in him as he read the name of the book out loud. 

"Magical Girl in Another World 4!?" Zach yelled, beaming with excitement. 

"Yeah," Kevin said, "You've been talking about finishing the series but you never got the next book, so I just got it for you!"

Zach laughed for a second and then sighed. "Alright, you're forgiven."

He stood up to head to the bus station when the same mechanical rumbling came from around the corner again. Another fleet of men and armored vehicles came down the road. The men had serious looks on their faces, and Zach hadn't noticed before, but they were all carrying guns.

"Dude, I wonder what's happening?" Kevin said with a tone that Zach always hated. he already knew the next question. "Do you think we could go and check it out?"

"Absolutely not!" Zach said loudly. "We're already late for the trip and last time you wanted to just "check it out" we stayed overnight in jail! C'mon, we're going."

"We've got time! The bus doesn't leave for another thirty minutes or something!" Kevin looked at Zach with pleading eyes. Zach sighed. He must be the biggest pushover in the entire world and Kevin knew how to take advantage of that.

"Well..." Zach sighed. "Alright fine."

Kevin grabbed his hand and then ran off towards the alleyway.