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The ceiling glitched when two men fell through. Luckily it was Ewron who fell first, then Multi. In a different scenario, the scientist would have been crushed to death.
The bang of the fall echoed in the long, wide hallways. It was dramatic enough that Ewron made an awful moan when he struck to the ground. He thought he had broken his back for a second there.
“ Multi. Where the actual fuck are we...? ” Ewron, with all his limbs spread out like a star, tried to inspect the area with an upside down vision. He had no interest in sitting up yet.
On the other hand, the scientist quickly got on his feet. “ Oh not this. Kurwa! ”
The walls of the location were a faded shade of yellow, covered with rotting stains from unknown liquids, and hard carpet floors covered the ground. Multi's fingertips followed the patterns on the wall like trying to read braille.
Walking from one wall to another, he nervously tried to seek a weak spot, a hidden switch, anything that could help them glitch back into reality; no outcome delivered. He looked around, then at the person he was stuck with, his brows furrowed up.
“ Well, might as well just kill ourselves, Ewron. We're in the fucking backrooms. ”
Before this phenomenon happened, they were fighting about some bullshit in the reactor. Conversation turned to screaming, screaming turned into pushing, pushing turned to fighting, they caved into the ground and that was how they ended up there.
Judging by Ewron's face, Multi couldn't believe how this moron didn't take this situation they found themselves in as serious.
“ I haven't watched the movie. ” He shrugged dumbfounded as he got up and brushed leftover dust off of his assassin attire.
“ Of course you didn't. I'm surprised you could even fit through that portal. How could the atoms have aligned perfectly with your mass? ”
“ I could ask the same question to myself! ”
He ironically smiled like in colgate commercials.
“ Not so loud! They might hear us. ”
Ewron's face pouted slightly with confusion and rolled his eyes. He wondered who 'they' might be. “ Okay so.. should we explore? ”
Multi dragged Ewron by his hoodie collar when he tried to walk away. “ No, lift me up. ”
“ What? ”
Multi pointed up with a glimmer of hope stuck to his tounge. “ Lift me up. The ceiling portal-thing we fell through might still be working! ”
“ So what? You'll escape and you'll be free again, building a fucking chemical weapon, big ass missile— ” He couldn't help but to gesticulate rapidly, as if he was storytelling and whatnot. “—and I'll be stuck here cuz' you won't be able to pull me up, cuz' the rope will fucking snap, huh? Right!? Let's go team Multi! That nuclear weapon won't be built by itself right? Because I need power yes, yes! ” He clapped his hands with an ironic grin.
“ Just fucking do it, you dick! This is a serious matter, we might get out! ”
The red panda crossed his arms proudly, giving a one-eye glance to Multi. “ Uh-uh. You said it yourself. No screaming. ”
What a ragebaiter! And a hyporite. Actually, both of them were hypocrites. There was no point in outscreaming eachother.
Multi rubbed his eyes. “ Yeah, yeah, broke the first rule of Fight Club or whatever. Just lift me up. ”
“ All-righto! ” Ewron automatically gave a thumbs up, acting like he had already forgot what he was howling about the moment before.
The most unskilfull scene was about to unfold. Even though Ewron had a good grip, Multi wasn't the lightest person on earth after all. They tried piggyback, fell, said it was gay, tried again. “ Put me down, it's useless. ”
Another technique worked when Ewron created a step with his hands to push the scientist up. But when Multi reached the ceiling with his hands, nothing happened. Just a regular barrier. No glitch, no portal. All of this just for Multi to get dizzy.
They stood there for a second, trying to make up their minds about this.
“ I'm sure this is a dream, ” Ewron paused. “ or the feds' idea! Cucurucho might have— ow! ” He felt a hard pinch in his arm. “ What was that for? ”
“ Testing if we're in a dream, moron. ” The scientist checked his inventory, nothing but trash. “ Shit, swore I had warpstones just now. I think I left them in the reactor. You have one? ”
“ Nope. “
They looked at eachother, claiming “ We're fucked. ” at the same time.
The red panda stayed optimistic while yanked and dragged multi by his lab coat. “ Well in that case, we ARE exploring! C'mon! ”
From corridor to corridor, room to room, Multi explained the whole lore of the Backrooms movie to Ewron. Everything about Clark and still-lifes. “ As I said, this universe is like an MRI, it copies the real world poorly, and it's going to improve with time,– ”
“ Do you think we'll find our clones here? ”
“ Still-lifes. ” Multi shook his head and sighed. “ My previous clone was a disaster, we don't need another, another me. “
“ I deduct mine will look like a fox. I'm not a fox! Will it be skinnier than me?! ” Ewron was all over the place, left to right, it was like Multi could hear him from every possible direction every other second. “ I don't want him to be prettier! What if he escapes and gets married to somebody on the island?! Nexe? Katie if she gets a divorce? YOUR CLONE? ” He acted like such a kid with unlimited energy. Multi was clearly irritated.
“ I don't care what your still-life looks like, Ewron. I doubt everything you said..“
The sound of unfamiliar footsteps from a distance shook them up in a sweat. It didn't sound human.
“.. or not. We should get going. ” The scientist hurried them both to go the other way.. but it was already there. Leaning over their heads.
Multi's pupils shrinked and he caught his breath automatically. He stood on guard, staring at the creature before them. He shielded Ewron away with his hand.
The creature stood three blocks taller than them. Its' uneven shoulders leaned forward, as if it was inspecting the guests of this realm. Everything in this creature was disturbing, they couldn't tell if that was a copy of a real person or an enderman. Or both?
It wasn't anything they could have seen in The Nether or The End. Its' jaw unhinged, proposing a possible threat.
The air felt heavy and the buzz from the lights above was ear deafening. Ewron had his diamond sword pointed up, to look rather intimidating than scared the fuck out. Everyone within five miles of this place could hear how his heart was about rip off or jump out, and it kept running in a marathon.
What felt like forever, with one sudden movement, Multi reached into his pocket and threw something at the creature. It crashed on its' face and a burning screech of pain hurt Multi's ears.
The creature ran off.
“ Thank God I always carry acid around. ” He couldn't believe he said that without any air in his lungs left. He breathed in after what felt like eternity while holding his hand onto his labcoat, tight around the heart area. “ What the fuck was that?! It was trying to give me a heart stroke! ”
“ Dude, he was huge! Oh my god. ” Ewron's hands were shaking as he put the sword down. “ Why did it look like Ash?! Was he here before? You- you said something about copies of the visitors! Didn't you? Holy fuck! ”
They decided It would have been better to ask the real ashswagg when they get out.. if they get out.
Before moving forward, Multi noticed that some of the acid he threw was burning the carpets.. and the skin on his hand. It didn't hurt that much.
“ You're such a gentleman though. So manly of you to protect me. ” Ewron laughed as he ruffled Multi's dreads with his fist. The other suprisingly didn't flinch.
Another long and wide corridor around the corner. Ewron excitedly ran off further. “ Hey, A vending machine! Finally something good! ”
He slipped a few coins from his pocket in and the machine buzzed, which could have raised a concern that it's not working. “ Elektryka prąd nie tyka! ” He hit the metal of the machine out of spite for the can of coke to come out. He happily took the drink, it had no label on it, just a can in a faded shade of red.
Multi caught up to him. “ I wouldn't drink that if I were you... ”
“ Still better than drinking uranium. ” He cracked the metal can open and chugged a half.
“ Fair enough. How do you feel? ”
Ewron stopped for a second to feel like a real critic. “ I don't feel anything. ” He responded nonchalantly. “ It's actually pretty sweet, I should sell this in Żabka, this shit will make tons of money! Try it! ”
“ No thanks.. Effects can vary from person to person. ” Multi dragged him by the hand further into the labyrinth and added “ And no one buys your shit anyway. ” under his breath.
The time spent felt like hours, Multi felt like he studied every single corner and still haven't found the exist. He planned strategies, memorised room patterns, how often they repeat or don't, drew a map in his notebook but still no success. He felt as if his brain was freebleeding, like going through a withdrawal, away from the uranium-injected air he knew.
All of this while Ewron was messing around and looking excited as if he was exploring a new biome. Another room was filled with old, wooden furniture. Desks, chairs, even a bed.
Multi slumped onto the matress, defeated and exhausted from all the walking; ready to become one with the cushions. “ This is pointless. Wake me up when we die, tell Nacho I loved him. ”
“ Found the exit! ”
“ WHAT? ” Multi tumbled out of the matress and recovered from it quickly. “ WH- HOW...? ”
He saw Ewron sticking his arm out through the wall.“ Easy, smelled the exit. But like I said, fuck around and find out! ”
The smile on Ewron's face was just as clear as the sunniest day of the month. Like nothing ever happened to them for the past hours. His scream of victory rasped when he left Multi's sight.
Multi was stunned. His mind ran wild with questions while his body couldn't react; react to the fact that the most stupid person he knew found the exist of the most unexitable location ever before him.
Still wide-eyed, he followed Ewron through the wall. Once his eyes focused, the men were back in the reactor. Oh, how the scientist missed home. He somehow felt his blood stabilizing in his body once he stepped out of that place.
Weird that the exit was located in the reactor. Perhaps Ewron was right about the backrooms being Cucurucho's project?.. Or The Regime's since Ashswagg's copy was there? Was it to mess with with the polish cave? It made no sense. They had to block that entrance nonetheless, or at least mark it.
The scientist heard Ewron yelling “ KATIEEEE!!! ”while running up to the group.
“ Where were you guys?! We were calling you for hours! ” Nexe chimed in when Ewron and Katie had their little girly chant moment.
“ Adventures! Ah, sorry we're late for the movie night.. I'll make it up to you! Wait for me, I'll bring you something. ” He said with a mischevious grin, already planning his 'gifts'.
Graf and Katie had already set up a few chairs, beanbags and a projector in front of the smoothest wall of the cave. Nexe already decided to press play a shitty horror movie on.
Meanwhile Multi slouched in a blue beanbag next to Graf.
Graf turned his head away from the movie to the scientist. “ Where actually were you? ”
“ Places. We were going places. ” Multi was blankly staring at the cave's dark ceiling. If he was an animated character, he would have those spiral eyes like in cartoons. Just letting the familiar darkness consume him. Such an emo.
“ Oh so—The backrooms? ” Graf had his arms crossed. “ Yeah, been there a week ago. ”
“ What? “ Multi shot his head up. Why didn't Graf mention anything about it before?
“ Yeah, I basically speedran the whole place up. When I got out I spawned at the other side of the island, I had to walk all the way back here since my warpstone magically vanished. ”
So the dissapearance of any teleportation methods wasn't random. It was on purpose. “ That place is insane.. I had to be stuck with Ewron all that time. ”
They both turned their heads around to see Ewron hopping back and fourth through the wall, bringing a bunch of chairs with his typical smile.
Katie and Nexe seemed amused by the theft, cheering him up. Meanwhile Multi couldn't help but to sigh and facepalm. He was so done with their bullshit. He turned to Graf, his eyelids felt heavier than ever.
“ We'll discuss it tomorrow. ”
The next day Multi borrowed Graf's tape to mark the area of the portal. Eventually when Ewron caught Multi's eye from around the corner od the cave, Multi had an unexplainable urge to come up.
“I just wanted to, uhm, apologize for being such a dick back there and express my gratitude for, you know, getting us out or something. ” Gods aren't supposed to be acting like this, surely. He spat out the last part like it hurt his teeth.
Ewron's eyes dilated instantly like a switch. “ AWHHHHHHH REALLY??? YOU MEAN IT?!! ”
Fuck, so loud. Multi almost flinched from the noise, already regretting ever saying anything. “ Yeah. ”
“ AWHHHH YOUNG MICHAŁ THE THIRD!! YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO!! ” Someone turn that noise generator off.
“ Now you're making me take that back. ”
Ewron of course ignored whatever Multi said as his ego spiked. “ YOU'RE THE SWEETEST EVER MULTAS! I'M GONNA DIE OUT OF SWEETNESS !! ”
“ of diabetes I'd say.. ” Hardly had he turned around to leave when Ewron caught him by the hand and lifted him for a hug. God, can this guy ever act normally?
“ Ej! Degeneracie pierdolony! No, no, no, Put me down, you know my motion sickness-thing or something! Don't you fucking dare to spin m– yeah right. ”
No words. Ewron disregarded Multi's demands and still did what he wanted, cheering happily with ' YOU'RE THE BEST COMPANION EVER!!! ' stuck on loop.
“ No seriously! Put me down! I feel sick— ” And with that, his server crashed completely. Ewron was left dumbstruck without the weight in his arms.