The Backrooms: Descent into Madness

Chapter XVI - The Abberation.

I dropped the corpse and backed away quickly, as bile and vomit rose in my throat. The corpse had a texture like a rotten apple, its eyes were shrunken and red, why hadn't it fallen? Only the Train betrayed the gravity of the Void, I had to obey it, so why not this grotesque corpse wearing a tattered dress? Maybe only living things are subject to that law. I peeled my eyes away from the corpse and walked into the halls of Level ! waiting for the Sprinter that was surely to chase me to appear. They know our deal.

Eventually, the lights shut out and the familiar red exit signs appeared. A dull thrumming resounded in my chest as I remembered the nightmare of the last time I was here. I heard the static chuckle behind me and wheeled around to face it. Before me was a blurry white face, too close for comfort. "Back," I spoke. The smiler retreated out of my proximity and stared at me, seemingly waiting for my next command. "Can you speak?" I asked. The smiler simply stared. "Take me to Level 1, after that... leave." The smiler raised a clawed arm out of the darkness and slashed a hole into the air itself. The hole widened until I could step through it, and on the other side was Level 1. When I turned back around, the hole and the Smiler were gone. I sighed and pulled out my CPS, locking onto the Base and continuing the long haul.

I wandered for hours and hours, following the line with focus and caution. Graffiti covered the walls for some reason, displaying odd symbols and strange language. My Smiler flesh had retreated to its normal size, but I knew now how to expand if I needed to. I was fascinated by the ability of the Smiler to simply cut a portal in space like it was nothing. Is that how they get around? At one point I stopped and looked at my hands, thinking about what the Smiler did to make the portal appear. I slashed my claws through the air and just as simply the portal appeared along my fingertips. A portal to the void. I backed away and the portal disappeared. It bent to my will with mere thoughts. I repeated the words "Level 0" in my head over and over again as I slashed once more. Beholden to me was a golden portal that shone an eerie light into the halls of Level 0. Finally, I looked at my CPS and thought about the coordinates of the base, slashing through the air one final time. Through the hole was a familiar hallway, the one that let me into the open chamber of my temporary home. The base. I stalked through the hole and took a deep breath. I shakily pulled out a cigarette and lit it in my mouth, readying myself to face the most terrifying entity in the complex. Humans.

I slinked into the primary chamber, where all eyes turned towards the entrance. Two men with rifles attacked me from both sides of the entrance. I disarmed one using my tongue, pulling the rifle into my arms, and knocked the other one out with the buttock before dropping the rifle and throwing a punch to the first guard's temple. I kept walking as the men crumpled to the floor, out cold. The armed men in the crowd did not approach.

I entered the primary tent, where a large round table was set surrounded by chairs. Upon each chair sat people in suits with well-kept appearances. On the far side of the table was The Second, and to his right was Judy. Her eyes were wild and fearful. I said nothing as The Second's eyes slowly analyzed me. "Judy claims you killed Doc. Is this true?" He paid no regard to my breach of the lockdown that was obviously set up in response to Judy's claims. "No, a Howler did. Judy assumed I killed him when an anomaly occurred in Level 0. She then shot me five times following an attempted suicide." I spoke calmly with irritated eyes. I then pulled my turtleneck upwards to reveal the red scars and blemishes that the bullets had run through me. "The remaining bullets that did not scar went through my Smiler flesh and recovered." I followed up after revealing the two bullet scars. The Second looked at Judy with a steady gaze. "Is this true?" Her eyes went mad with rage. "Are you seriously questioning me over him?!" she yelled. The Second's eyebrows knitted together in irritation. "Watch. Your. Tone." Judy shrunk in fear. "I have no quarrels with Judy, and I care not of her punishment or lack thereof," I said with grim eyes focused on The Second. He looked back, interested. "I am leaving the MEG. There is no place for me here." I said calmly. There was a murmuring at the table before The Second held up his hand and silence followed. "Then what do you propose?" He asked calmly. "An agreement, I am leaving, yes, it is true. But I propose an alliance between us." I said allowing the static I held back to enter my voice. The white of my remaining eye turned black and mirrored my red smiler eye. My teeth began to glow blood red. Judy looked on in horror, and the Second looked on in intrigue. "Go on?" He said in a highly interested voice. My arm morphed into a blade and I sliced a hole into the air beside me, revealing the offices of some unknown Level. The portal did not close. "I will save those who become trapped or lost. I will bring them to the MEG. You will help them from there." I said, my eyes glowing like brazen torches. The Second scrunched his eyebrows once more, "And why leave the MEG?" I paused for a moment. "Because I don't belong here anymore. I'm changed. I am not a human anymore. I'm not a... I don't belong to the Frontrooms anymore. I belong out there." I gestured to the offices through the doorway. "Out there is my home now, I walk with them." The lights beyond the hole went out and a thousand smiling faces looked through it in the dark office. "I cannot speak for them, they seem to hold a deep resentment towards humans, but as for myself?" I said turning to look at the hole. "I walk the line." I then stepped into the shadows beyond the portal, allowing the static to whip around me, as the hole closed in the tent beyond.

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Hey! Liminal here! Thanks so much for reading this far and being interested in my story! This is the Official end of Part One, but stay tuned because this has all been just One Arc of many to come! Special thanks again to _pepperleaf for being an amazing editor and friend! And thanks to you, reader, for staying hooked on my bullshit!
                                           — Sincerely, Liminal.

END OF PART ONE