Game-Lock

Chapter 3: Into The Backrooms

Vera's Pov

I've had many nightmares in my life. Many of them were influenced by the games that I played, that was for sure. But seeing a black, stick figure with a scribbly head, no face, and line-like legs and hands — and seeing it in real life, that was worse than any nightmare I could ever have conjured up in my mind. Again, something I had seen before, time and again.

And I thought it was bad until it turned and saw us, letting out an ear-splitting screech—or noise that I practically ducked.

Then it started running towards us. I froze, my arms stiffened, and I gaped. I was dead. I was dead. I was dead. I was going to die. This was it.

My thoughts shattered as someone grabbed me and jerked me to the side. My legs began moving as the screams of the creature grew loud. I turned to look at who had grabbed me and was still holding on to me.

It was Austin. He had grabbed me with one hand, and on the other he had a hold of Blake's collar of his shirt, practically dragging him. Rey was in the front, looking left and right, and motioning us to follow him. He abruptly turned left, and we all followed him. He squeezed through a narrow gap in the wall. Austin shoved Blake through, and I gasped as he practically pushed me in. I started moving, my shoulder pressed against Austin.

"Keep moving," he spoke. "Just keep moving."

I stumbled onto the floor as soon as we were through the narrow gap. I got up and looked at the creature. It was staring at us, but it didn't try to follow. Even though it technically could.

Just like a game—it had its limitations.

Austin stood next to me, and I felt someone stand behind me. Probably Rey, as Blake stood next to Austin.

"What the hell is that?" Rey asked.

"The Stick-Man, the monster of the backrooms," I whispered.

"What does it do?"

"It just wants to kill us," I said. "That's its only goal."

"Well, it's not getting us that easily," Austin said.

I turned to look at Austin, who was frowning. Sweat drenched his forehead. He gave me a glance.

"Thanks for the save."

"Wouldn't have been right to leave you." Austin said. "Especially not over the fact that you seem to know about this...a lot more than I do."

"Do you game?"

"He does," Austin shoved Blake slightly.

"So what now?" Rey asked.

"We can't just stare at it the whole time. We're going to have to find the exit."

"How does one find an exit in the Backrooms?" Austin asked and glanced at me before turning to look at the monster still staring at us.

"There's no real solid strategy, just not to get too lost, not to bump into that thing, and to look for any kind of differences."

"Like a big arrow pointing the way?" Blake asked.

I stared at him, then looked to where he was pointing. I spotted a big arrow on the wall, pointing in a certain direction.

"What are the chances of us leaving this spot, and that thing will find us?" Austin asked me.

"Too big," I said. "The moment it no longer sees us, it'll wander."

"So — we run," Rey said.

"Wait, woah, you mentioned something about us falling to our death," Austin said.

"Look, that has been every ending to the backroom games — but that's not a guarantee here." I said. "Cause this is — this is — I don't know what this is."

"Ah huh," Austin muttered. Austin stared at Rey, who pulled his face.

"What do you think?"

"I am thinking that I need a refund for Game-Lock," Rey said.

"You're thinking we're in the game? Like some matrix kind of thing?"

"I think that is exactly what is going on," Rey said.

"Except this is a horror game," I said. "A HORROR game."

"Yeah, that doesn't bode too well for us."

"Do you know how often characters survive in horror games?" I asked.

"Austin?" Blake's voice broke though. It was low and cracked.

"It's ok buddy, we're gonna get out of this, we just ... we just need a plan."

"Right now? Find an exit and hope wherever that leads us doesn't get us plummeting to our death."

"I'll take that chance," Rey pointed to the hallway. "Wait, where'd it go?"

"Oh no," I whispered as the stickman creature was gone.

"Time to go," Austin said. "Follow the arrow, we shall."

I had no arguments there. And neither did I have any arguments about all of us sticking together. Unintentional teammates—I guess. I tried not to focus too much on the situation we were in. Or the fact that we were trapped in the actual backrooms with a stickman chasing us.

"Thalia," I whispered. "Thalia was going to play the game with me..."

"Thalia? A friend?" Austin asked.

"Yes, what if she's here?" I asked.

"You wanna go explore and look for her, be my guest," Rey said. "I am following that arrow.'

"We didn't hear anyone else fall," Austin said. "If we did, we absolutely would've tried to pick them up too..."

I looked around. Even if I wanted to try to look for her, there was no guarantee that she was here. And if she was here, that stickman was here too. I was no use if I died either.

"Let's go." I spoke.

We all walked past the arrow.

"Let's follow the general direction of the arrow until we find another one." I said.

"There!" Blake called out, pointing to another arrow in front of us, pointing to the left.

Then we heard the screech again.

"Run! Run! Don't look back!" Austin yelled.

This time, I didn't need any help. I just started running as fast as my legs could carry me. Rey was ahead of us again, looking left and right. I kept focusing on moving my legs. Rey suddenly shot to the right.

"DOOR!" Rey shouted, pointing to a bare brown door. He grabbed the golden knob and opened it. I ran inside and I could hear Austin and Blake right behind me. It was pitch black. Then the feeling of weightlessness wrapped around me again.

Suddenly, a gush of air swarmed around me, and I screamed. We were all free-falling, looking down upon a large city below us.

I guess I was right about the free-fall after all.