Into the Backrooms

==Introduction==
> Foreword
Hi! The story you are about to read is this the first part of a Multi-Part Backrooms tale - Into The Backrooms, written by [REDACTED] . The story follows a person called Ethan Whitworth and his accidental adventure into the Backrooms. Comments or critiques can be sent here, on my message wall or in the Backrooms Discord, they are greatly appreciated! I hope you enjoy this :)
Signed,
TacticalTheory
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|-| Part 1 - The Strange Alleyway=
The air filled with the sound of thudding as Ethan Whitworth ran as fast as he could down the desolate street, being chased again. He thought he had finally found a place in the world, where he could stop running. How could he be so naive? Thinking that being a researcher in The Facility would mean a new start. A gang of people hell bent on bringing him back to The Facility are chasing him now. He could hear the muffled shouting and hurried footsteps of his pursuers right behind him, getting closer and closer. Ethan ran even faster.
He found himself running into a tight alleyway, having to dodge some misplaced plastic garbage cans, he almost lost balance and fell. Ethan quickly regained his footing and continued onwards, looks like all those years running has taught him a thing or two. He focused on the road ahead with the footsteps of his pursuers gaining closer still, although he couldn't see much in the alleyway, he noticed that it was becoming slightly darker. Maybe it was his imagination, but Ethan felt something was wrong, a feeling of dread, of fear. Were his attackers afraid of him? No, that wasn't it. As he was running, he looked around him, were the walls getting darker? Ethan shook off the thoughts and turned his head back in front, just as he did, he realised that he was running straight at a wall!
Ethan instinctively tilt his body back as he screeches to a stop. His face was barely an inch away from the brick wall upon him. With a sigh of relief, Ethan fell back and sat on the dirty alley floor. After a brief moment, he got back up and looked around. “Shit… Nowhere to go… It’s just a dead end! Damn it!”, he thought to himself. Just as he was looking for a way out. The familiar footsteps found him. Ethan had nowhere to run.
Quickly, several men in full tactical gear, brandishing pistols and rifles of every kind blocked the way Ethan came through. Ethan looked at them, slowly backing near the wall that he almost ran into. He heard a voice, “No more running. No more games. You have no way out this time, Ethan. Now, be a good boy and hand it over.” Ethan peered over the men surrounding him, they were now parting away to let another man through. This man was vastly different. He was dressed in a bright white suit, with a black tie and crimson shirt underneath - The director of The Facility, Obadias Preston.
“You know I can’t do that, Preston. This cannot fall into the wrong hands! Definitely not in the hands of the likes of you.” Ethan said. Obadias stared at him, “I don’t know what you’re getting at, but this has to stop. Right here. You are one of our most important assets. Your knowledge in Quantum Mechanics is invaluable, why throw away your prestige of working in The Facility? Just hand it back, and come with me. Now.” Obadias said as he held out an arm to Ethan. “Everyone is only an asset to you. My answer is still no.”, Ethan insisted. Obadias glared at Ethan and retracted his hand, “Very well, you leave me no choice. I was hoping you would come to your senses so I don’t have to bag you.”, Obadias turned to one of his men, “Restrain and bring him back. Quietly.” The man nodded and the group that was surrounding Ethan started closing in. Ethan was persistent, however, as the men were closing in, Ethan shoved them back with all his might. But alas, Ethan was just one man. After being shoved, the muscular man grinned and shoved Ethan back in full force. Ethan was pushed out of balance and sent straight on to the wall behind him.
Ethan closed his eyes, he had failed. He was going to be taken back to The Facility, who knows what they will do to him now? He braced for impact with the wall behind him. Fully expecting to hit a solid surface and blackout. Ethan instead felt that he phased through the wall and was falling. After a few seconds, “Smack!”, he landed face first onto solid ground. Ethan immediately sprung up, holding up his fists, ready to fight. But as he looked around him, he realised something - he wasn't in the alleyway anymore.
He looked around, he was definitely not in the alleyway. Somewhere entirely different. “Maybe I’m dreaming?”, Ethan thought as he tried to pinch himself. No, the area he is in was very real. Surrounding him is a medium sized room, with mono-yellow wallpaper and greyish moist carpet, lit by several fluorescent lights. The lights buzzed constantly, filling Ethan’s ears, the moist carpet oozed out liquid every step he took as he inspected the room. He decided to touch the carpet, getting some of the liquid on his hands, he sniffed it… It was definitely not water. Ethan made a point not to do that again. “Huh, at least there is a doorway leading out of this room. My god, where is that damned buzzing sound coming from?” He thought as he walked out of the room he just fell into.
Ethan exited the room, the sight shocked him. In front of him the extent of the mono-yellow rooms stretched as far as his eye can see, with random segments separating the rooms. Ethan began to run forwards, looking around frantically as he did. For hours and hours, passing room after room of the same yellow wallpapered rooms, Ethan looked back, he could no longer see the way he came from. He stood still, the vast entirety of this place surrounding him, the thought crossed his mind - “I am not getting out of here alive.” Ethan fell to his knees, his arms resting on his side lifelessly, “This is it. This place, wherever ‘here’ is, will be my end…”. He put his hand on his hoodie’s front pocket and felt, “At least this device will be safe from the hands of Obadias…, at least I did something good for once.” Ethan thought.
|-| Part 2 - Running For Dear Life=
Ethan buried his face in his hands, the emotions starting to overflow. He never thought things would end like this, he thought that he could have at least gone back to his friends and family to tell them that he’s okay. Safe to say, none of that is going to be possible.
Suddenly, Ethan heard something. He snapped back to his senses and listened closely… A faint but ominous growling sound was emanating behind Ethan. He slowly turned his head around, and he saw something. When Ethan was young, he never once believed in any mythology. That belief is going to be put to the test at this very moment. Ethan could see what seems to be the figure of another person behind the doorway he just passed a few moments ago. Except, were they even human? Ethan looked more closely, it had black messy hair and a body so skinny they should have died of malnutrition long ago. Worse yet, the skin of the creature is as black as charcoal. Ethan could also see sharp claws growing out of the fingertips of the creature. “Who are you!? St-stay back!”, Ethan said in a panicked voice. The creature looked straight at him, Ethan could see two white eyes on its face and knife-like teeth in the it’s mouth. The growling of the creature soon got louder and louder, until suddenly, it charged straight at Ethan on all fours!
The creature ran and pounced into the air ready to slash Ethan with its sharp claws. However, with Ethan’s quick reflexes, he was able to roll out of the way just as the creature landed. It slashed the carpeted floor where Ethan rolled away from, leaving four deep gashes on the floor. Ethan knew it was time to run. He immediately picked himself up and ran as fast as he could, the moist carpet floor under Ethan oozed out even more liquid as he ran frantically. He could hear the creature behind him, chasing him closely, growling menacingly as it did. Ethan had to try something, at this rate, the creature will catch up to him eventually. What follows would be even more unpleasant than being transported back to The Facility. “I can’t run forever, I have to think of something to throw it off my tail….Right, let me try THIS!” Ethan thought as he suddenly turned and ran sharply to the right, he could try to take advantage of the random layout of the rooms to confuse the creature!
As Ethan turned the corner, he peered behind him - the creature, not knowing that Ethan would suddenly change direction, charged straight into a wall. The creature’s head went straight through it with a sickening “Crack!”. It crashed with such force that its head was now stuck. Ethan stopped for a bit, he was amazed, how could it survive that? The creature must have some sort of injury by now, but Ethan could see the rage, the animosity, the hostility of the creature was still boiling out without end. The creature thrashed and shook its body violently, trying to free its head, it constantly shrieked and roared, even now the creature was still trying to slice Ethan with its claws. Seeing this, Ethan knew that he should keep running. Who knows if there are more of the creature or not, the sound it was making was definitely loud enough to hurt Ethan’s ears even from a few metres away. Ethan turned away and started running again, this time, however, he ran in all sorts of different directions, hoping that the creature would not find him again if it got free.
After a while, Ethan finally stopped. He probably was far enough from the creature for it to discover his location. Ethan bent his knees and placed his hands on them, breathing heavily, trying to catch his breath. “Hah…Huff…Looks like I shook it off. I did it? YES! I DID IT! THAT ACTUALLY WORKED!” Ethan thought as he smiled to himself, he had survived. He laid on his back on the moist carpet floor, that chase tired him immensely. Ethan stared at the featureless ceiling of the empty yellow wallpapered room he was in, the emptiness of this place soon surrounded him again. Besides the loud endless hum of the fluorescent lights, it was peaceful. Though the humming of the lights was obnoxious, Ethan was beginning to like it somehow. He felt the pocket of his hoodie again - good, the device was still there. Ethan continued to lay on the floor, once in his life, he felt like his worries had melted away, he was somewhat at ease. “Maybe I could survive this place after all…” Ethan thought. The moment didn’t last, though. As Ethan’s practical mind woke up again.
The thought occurred to him - he was going to need more than speed to survive, what was he going to do without water? Without food? Ethan didn’t realise how thirsty he had become after the adrenaline rush he got from running for his life. Ethan turned his head to the side, seeing the slightly murky colored liquid leaking steadily out of the carpet, was he desperate enough to even think to drink that? No, there must be some other way. Ethan sat back up, pondering what he should do next, he was definitely going to have to explore more of this place, if he was to have any hope of surviving long term. Then, he almost jumped when he was once again startled by a familiar sound…
“No… It can’t be…”, Ethan thought as he slowly looked back. The creature was right behind him, staring at him angrily! Ethan had no time to react as the creature pounced on him and pinned him on the ground, although the creature was more or less just skin and bones, the weight of it surprised Ethan. It roared at him and lunged its head forwards to deliver a deadly bite with it’s razor sharp teeth. Ethan managed to use both his hands to push on the creature’s neck, stopping it from getting too close to his face. Now, both Ethan and the creature were struggling, the creature constantly snapped its jaws at Ethan as it tried to lunge it’s head forward, its spit was going everywhere, splashing on Ethan’s face. Ethan tried with all his might to grab hold and push back the creature’s neck, its strength is overwhelming, he felt that his strength is slowly failing. In a few moments, Ethan’s life would end and his story would be finished, in a place where no one would find him. “So much for having hope…. This will definitely be my end, but I will not go down without a fight! Come on!” Ethan thought as he used the remainder of his strength to push the creature off his body. The creature landed away from him. Ethan was spent, his arms now dropped down beside him. Ethan took one last look at the charging creature before closing his eyes, waiting for his demise.
Suddenly, “Bang! Bang!”, two booming gunshots followed by a loud screech echoed in the room. Ethan opened his eyes slightly, his vision was blurry, he looked to the side, a black figure was now lying motionless on the carpet floor, a liquid seemed to leak out of the figure. He then looked up, another figure was standing before him, Ethan was too tired to process what he had seen. It seemed like a person, wearing a leather jacket, with rough jeans and a red scarf around their neck… Ethan wanted to speak, but instead, his vision slowly faded to black. Ethan had passed out on the floor.
TO BE CONTINUED!
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Category:Tales
zh:Into_The_Backrooms