Backrooms - Tesha and MaKaya's Adventure

Level 2: Pipe Dreams

As they looked around, Tesha's face paled. She whispered, "oh Party Creator's no..." as her eyes became watery.

"Oh that's a shit ton of pipes." MaKaya said, her voice echoing down the narrow corridor. She turned around when she heard whimpering and- "oh shit! Are you alright???" She sat down beside Tesha, rubbing her back and whispering sweet nothings into her ear.

Tesha finally calmed down, wiping the tears from her eyes and sweat from her forehead. "I'm fine, thanks..."

"Yeah, but what was that about...?" MaKaya was happy that Tsesha was finally expressing herself, but she wasn't expecting that as soon as they entered the Level.

"This... this is the last place I wanted to end up..."

"Anna!" MaKaya suddenly called, but the Shadow did not appear. She muttered, "dammit... this must be one of the inaccessible places to her."

"She can't not come here, it's just highly against her interest to, as it poses some sort of threat to her safety." Tesha explained as they got back to their feet. "We need to get out of here now."

MaKaya nodded, deciding not to go against the eagerness and seriousness in her friend's voice. "Before we go, we're friends, right? Best friends?"

"Yes...?" Tesha's confusion was clear in her voice.

MaKaya gave a soft smile. "Even if you decide not to come with me, I want you to keep my gun. Consider it a gift, from me to you." She pulled it out of its place in her gun harness on her hip and handed it to Tesha. "Also, don't tell anyone." She winked as she pulled another one out of her backpack. "But I always have extras." It was pre-loaded as she cocked the gun. "Now, come on!"

They began their long journey into the tunnels of pipes, occasionally, the had to walk single-file, but they stayed side-by-side most of their time in the Level.

I still can't believe she did that... Yeah, hi, it's me, Tesha. Let me tell you what happened;

"So... how did you get that key?" I asked, having not spotted it the entire run.

"It was hanging from the ceiling, I managed to grab it." She gave me one of her award-winning grins.

I smirked back. "Lossing..."

"Yeah?"

"Thanks..."

"Huh?" She looked at me in confusion.

"For coming here. I've never met someone as unique as you before."

She giggled. "You're welcome! I'm happy I met you." She looked up at me with another smile.

"Most people are very petty." I commented.

"That's the one thing I hate about humanity. Things would be just so much easier if we helped each other."

"You're quite the role model."

"I know."

"Help!" A male shout came from behind us, causing our blood to run cold. It came again, but closer, "HElp!"

I gulped, "Lossing..." she looked at me with terror in her eyes.

"Skin-Stealer." She whispered with a small nod.

We both bolted, it was very close by now.

BANG!

I flinched hard, covering my ears as I whipped around, Lossing had shot at it before catching up.

"Sorry, you go, I'll catch up."

"What?!" I just about screamed. "No! We can get out together!"

"We can't and you know it." Her voice had become surprisingly stern, it sent a shiver down my spine.
"Loss-"

"Tesha, please."

"No." I said demandingly, almost stomping my foot in anger. I held my ears as she turned around, shooting it in the head again, causing it to collapse.

"That won't hold it down forever."

I exhaled sharply. "Stop trying to play hero damnit."

She smirked up at me, "this place is going to kill us if we don't get out of here, how do we do that?"

Of course, the temperature decided now was the right time to rise, we both broke out in sweat from both running and the pipes.

Her smirk remained, seeming to be able to think clearly with this unbearable heat... somehow. "A fire exit and an office-styled elevator."

"Yeah... Level 4, the elevator, is our safest bet, but we need to go for whatever exit we find."

"Wow..." She chuckled, "you really don't like this Level."

"No, no I don't."

She suddenly spun around, butting the thing in the face with the hilt of her gun, knocking it down and shooting it in the face for the third time now.

"How did you- I didn't even-"

"My back became chilly." She commented.

I sighed as it cooled down a bit anyways. "Why aren't you coming???"

"It's faster than both of us, it's only going to let one of us leave here alive."

"How do you know that???" I questioned her knowledge.

She looked down at the skin it was using as a disguise. Does she recognize it?

"It's acting like a bad lion, or a Skinwalker."

"A what???"

"They act very similar in nature, now go."

It was then that I remembered what she said about some guy she has a crush on. "What about Liam, that dude you have a crush on?"

She chuckled at my lack of remembering specifics. "He's a Shadow, he can come here whenever he wants."

"How do you know this stuff???"

"Well..." BANG! "Fucking stay down already." She glared at the Skin-Stealer. "I'm going to run out of this magazine eventually, you need to go, I can hold my ground."

"No. You're being so stubborn right now!" I stamped my foot in frustration.

She suddenly froze, her eyes going wide as saucers. She whispered, "run."

"What?"

BANG!

"RUN!" She screamed at me, we both ran down the corridor as its piercing screams echoed around us, I flinched hard. I looked over my shoulder, my ears were so overwhelmed that the sound of the gunshots going off were completely muted to me. I hadn't noticed that she stopped until a few moments later. I drew my pocket knife and went to help her as she shot over and over again, as if it was a semi-automatic. I dunno, maybe it was. She gave me one final look; 'Run, I'll be fine and we'll escape together.' Her face and body was already bloody and scratched from getting burns from the hot pipes around us and the things attacks. I went against my better judgment, and left her to die.

I later came back and grabbed her bag, which it left behind for some reason. Bullet shells were all over the place, I chuckled to myself as I grabbed her bag, of course she didn't go down without a fight. Obviously she didn't survive the thing, but she was so damn determined to keep me safe. She sacrificed herself for me... stupidly. I made my way back to Level 0...