No-Clipped

Chapter 14: The Electrical Station

"'It sure will'? What the heck is that supposed to mean?" I say, my voice slightly annoyed. She stretches and gathers her backpack, sliding it over her shoulders as I do the same with mine.

     "I mean, I've been in this level before. And it sucks."

     My eyes lit up. "You have?! So you know where the exit is?"

     "Nope." She replies, with an eyebrow raised. "You really don't know anything, do you?"

     "You suck." I mutter.

     "Backrooms levels are infinite in size, genius. You don't just pop up in the same space every time, you wind up somewhere completely random. It's impossible to have every level memorized."

     We walked around the electrical station for around half an hour. This one seemed more...strange. There was no pattern whatsoever, unlike the other levels. Everything was completely random. The surrounding sounds of machinery whirring and whistling was messing with my ears. My surroundings almost reminded me of a prison, as if it were a prison for entities. We reached a short hallway, where the ceiling lowered slightly and Michelle had to crouch down in order to walk through. However, I didn't have to. I squint slightly, as I notice a large blob on the wall beside me. Only a few inches was between me and the wall, so it was difficult to avoid. I look to my side and slowly reach out out of curiosity, but as soon as I tap it lightly with the tip of my finger I let out a loud grunt in pain as my flesh reddens and flakes off. Michelle turns around and panics before pulling a small piece of fabric out of her backpack and wrapping it tightly around my finger, squeezing my forearm as she pulls me out of the hallway.

     "Idiot." She says as she removes the cloth from my throbbing finger. The layers of skin on my index finger had burnt off completely, and I let out short groans in agony as I held back screams. The surrounding heat from the machinery made the burning only so much worse. Michelle reached into my orange backpack and pulled out my green bottle of almond water, pouring it onto my finger. I let out a quiet scream as she did so, but slowly the pain eased and as messed up as my finger appeared, it felt completely fine.

     "What is wrong with you?!" She rolled her eyes. "You can't just touch everything you see, especially if it's in the backrooms and ESPECIALLY if it's a random blob of black sludge!"

     "...Sorry?"

     Michelle took a deep breath. "It's fine. But next time you do something freaking stupid I won't think twice before leaving you here to get out yourself. Got it?"

     I nod nervously and look down at my finger, almost gaging. I quickly rewrapped it with the cloth and stood up.

     We walked more for a while, and I was surprised at how much this level was able to provide. On a nearby table there were a few flashlights which we managed to fit in our backpack along with a small hawkbill blade and a mason jar filled with purple jelly Michelle claimed to be a product created by death moths. Suddenly we paused, as we heard a faint rumbling noise coming from a machine a little ways ahead of us. It sounded a little off, but then again the other machines had been making similar noises all day long. As we walked the rumbling got more aggressive. I looked around trying to figure out what could be making those sounds. I felt the ground shake slightly beneath our feet too. That's when my eyes trailed ahead to a small metal furnace. I squinted my eyes, the orange glow of the furnace filling the room. The rumbling got more and more loud and shaky by the second.

"Wyatt, run." Michelle said quietly after a few minutes of staring at the machine.

"Why-?"

"I said run, idiot!" She snapped and turned around, but when I turned around to run after her it was too late. The furnace blew, and my ears rang uncontrollably to the high frequency as we yelled out in pain and fell onto our stomachs with our hands on our heads. Pieces of the machine flew around the room, bouncing off the walls, floors, and other machinery. Then, the world went black.