DSMP Backrooms AU

Chapter 4

The Hub

Karl noted that Ant still seemed shaken up about the events in Level 5. I mean, who wouldn't be. He had to sew up someone's throat for fucks sake. It wasn't a pretty thing to watch either. Even remembering it made Karl feel like someone was poking around at his neck. An off putting feeling for sure, but one he'd grown to deal with. Dream was recovering well. The group had finished their goal and returned to Level 1 finding that the group had gone. Sapnap found a note detailing that they'd gone to The Hub after an encounter with some entities.

So Sam, Dream, Sapnap, Quackity, Karl, and Ant all went back out into the hell hole to transport themselves to The Hub. Once there, Karl realized how many people this group consisted of. It was somewhat alarming as he'd really only met and heard of a small handful. Those he'd gone on the expedition with, Bad, Tommy, a brunet named Tubbo. Just alone he felt that was a decent amount but he looked around now, seeing all the members. A tall brunet with a beanie, strumming a makeshift guitar and humming. A man with blond hair and crisp green eyes in dark green clothing, and a green and white striped hat. Across from the blond was a man with hair dyed pink and discolored eyes. If Karl looked further he could see a man with a half black, half white mask over the lower half of his face and one eye that was discolored. It made Karl wonder how many people here had eyes that turned red or purple or any of the other discolorations he saw. A girl with mostly brown hair with two bleach blonde streaks ran up to a reddish brunet who'd walked up, a silver streak in his hair with a black hat and jacket. "Fundy you're back!" she called, smiling. He chuckled and nodded, "I am!".

Karl felt a warm feeling in his stomach. These people seemed happy despite where they resided. Sam walked over to a man who had a slightly darker skin tone, a mask that wrapped around over his mouth and nose that covered all the way up his head. Only the top half of the mans face was fully visible, white hair stuck out from there. "Hey Ponk!" Sam sat down and the two started talking. Ponk asking what happened on the expedition and Sam explaining. "We'd gotten into a fight with a hound. It had attacked Dream but luckily we were all close by and got there in time."

The woman from before waved across the way to the guitar playing man. "Hi Wilbur! Good to know you got here safely!" She sounded very happy. Wilbur waved back, "You too Niki!" Wilbur had called. It took a moment before Karl realized that even more people started to emerge from various hallways. Dream walked over to where Wilbur and the other two men were, dropping an item from Level 5 to the pink haired man. "There you go fucko." Dream had chuckled. "You owe me one Techno.". Techno waved Dream off, "I know." Techno's voice was monotone but he was clearly amused.

A man with bright green eyes and sharper teeth and gold colored clothing with various shark like pendants and other charms hanging from his backpack. "Sam! Ponk! I'm here!" he'd called, running over. Sam looked up with a smile. Ponk spoke first "Foolish!". Foolish sat with them, catching them up on what he'd encountered. Karl sat down where Dream, Sapnap, George, and Quackity were after Sapnap had waved him over. "How many people are in this group?" Karl chuckled awkwardly. Right before an answer could be given, someone burst in and collapsed on the ground in a coughing fit. Bad was the first to be at the man's aide. "Skeppy, what's wrong?!" Bad asked and Antfrost ran over with his bag of medical supplies. Bad struggled to get Skeppy to drink some water but once the raven had caught his breath it was noticed he was bleeding from various injuries. "Run..." he muttered. Everyone around had gotten up from where they once were. "Run?" Ant questioned, looking at Bad. When Bad shrugged, indicating he had no idea what Skeppy had meant, Ant looked around only to get the same reaction. "I- had to- run-" Skeppy coughed, still struggling to breath. "Why what happened, Skeppy?" Bad asked, worry laced his voice. "So many entities... Chasing-" Skeppy gasped, clinging at his light blue hoodie. The blond man in the striped hat walked over, "Calm down mate, we can barely understand you." he'd said calmly. Wilbur grabbed the man's sleeve, "Phil I think he's too panicked. We need to give him some space." Wilbur said. Phil looked up at the brunet before standing. "I guess you're right.".

Everyone moved back to give Skeppy some space. It took him a bit but he eventually was able to talk about it. "I had to run. It felt like I was running forever. There were so many fucking entities chasing me. I almost died!" Skeppy explained, panic filling his voice. Bad and Ant had been taking care of his injuries. "So that explains how you got this hurt!" Bad vaguely gestured to Skeppy's arms, legs, and back. Dream was the first to speak up. "Was it all red and shit? Hospital or ER like with loud alarms?" Dream asked quickly. Skeppy's eyes widened. "Yeah! And the door that ended the hell said-"

"Exit? Was there an Exit sign?" Dream asked quickly, eyes sparking with intrigue. Skeppy nodded quickly. "Level !. It was Level !." Dream had a notebook in hand and he started reading.

"Level ! is one of the most dangerous oddball levels in the Backrooms and one of the most entity-infested levels. This level is also one of levels where you're not allowed to stay due to the amounts of entities that may chase you. Level ! consists of a long hallway, approximately ten kilometers in length, with architecture resembling a hospital. Flashing red lights are present at even intervals along the hallway, along with an audible emergency alarm noise. At random intervals, doors are present along the hallway, but all have been locked thus far."

Everyone listened closely as Dream went on. His voice loud so the gathered group of people could listen.

"Upon entry, one will immediately notice a horde of entities. , Skin-Stealers, , etcetera, heading directly for them, a long distance down the hallway. The apparent 'objective' is to escape the level as fast as one possibly can before it's too late. The only way one could escape is by running to the end of the ten kilometer-long hallway. One must run non-stop, avoiding various obstacles along the hallway, such as hospital beds, chairs, and even blocking the way. Along the hallway, there are various items that can be consumed to keep one running, such as energy bars and bottles of . If one manages to run past the ten kilometer mark, they will come upon an exit door at the end of the hallway. Entering it will lead to , with the Backrooms never sending them back here again. If the horde of entities catches them, however, the victim will be killed in a very painful and gruesome way."

Everyone was shocked by it, especially Skeppy and Karl, but for different reasons. Skeppy was shocked because it was the level he'd so narrowly survived. Karl was because he knew the Backrooms were dangerous but this. This was a whole new level, quite literally. Karl wondered how many levels there could possibly be? "Wait Skeppy, that means you were in The Hub before entering Level !. Why did you leave The Hub?" Wilbur was the one who spoke. "I've never been here until then." Skeppy sighed before adding, "And none of you guys were here yet.".

//AUTHORS NOTE//

//1: The explanation of Level ! is directly from the wiki. I had absolutely no idea how to paraphrase it and the reason Dream had that notebook gets further explained in Chapter 5. So it works that it is directly from the wiki! We actually have been writing a Backrooms Research notebook for the past few months. We do not endorse plagiarism and this chapter may get updated at a later date!

//2: These are very rough as we are figuring out things as we go instead of agreeing on everything at once cuz something is bound to be forgotten. Some things may seem rushed but consider that there's (at least to at most) 5 days to a month between each chapter, it may seem that way. So while it may seem like Karl has been there for a short amount of time, he's been here quite a while. Time doesn't tend to work consistently in the Backrooms from what we've researched.