DSMP Backrooms AU

Chapter 6

The Hub

Karl pushed himself to follow Dream. The blond man walked off, far into The Hub. Dream hadn't noticed Karl's presence as he sat. The blond pulled a pocket knife out and held it tight in his hand, putting it to his right cheek and slicing it wide open. As blood poured quickly from the injury, he pulled a cloth out and held it to the opening. The cloth soaked the blood up until it was dripping, to which Dream tossed it. The rag made a sick sound as it hit the ground. Karl's stomach twisted, clenched, and turned. Karl snuck away as quietly as he could and as soon as he knew he was out of Dream's earshot, he ran back. Running until he was within the group's area. "Bad! Ant! Dream's lost it! He sliced his cheek open with a pocket knife!" Karl said to them quickly. Bad and Ant got up and grabbed medical supplies "Lead us to him!" Ant ordered. Karl started running and then followed. Dream lay on the ground, chuckling to himself, blood pooling around the right side of his face. The blond seemed dazed and out of it. Bad and Antfrost rushed to Dream's aid, quickly working together as a pair.

Karl felt like he should move and help them but he just couldn't. It was almost as if he was stuck in place. By the time Karl could move, they'd already stitched Dream's cheek up and were cleaning the area. Neither of them looked too pleased with Dream at that moment. "Dream, why did you do this?" Bad asked. "Had to make it complete!" Dream laughed out.

"You're insane." Antfrost was the one to comment this time. Karl couldn't help but agree. What Dream did was madness. He already had one side of his face stitched up and now had the other to make it "complete". What did Dream mean by complete? What was complete? This was a down right fucked up situation. Antfrost had it right. What Dream did was just fucking insane!

Dream kept laughing. "What do you mean... 'complete'?" Bad asked, just to be ignored. Bad and Ant exchanged a glance before looking at Karl. Karl could read their gazes. 'Almond Water' Karl thought with a nod before turning and sprinting off. He'd gotten good at running in his time here. He'd done it enough to. He quickly got to the main group's location and grabbed a few bottles of Almond Water and some normal water just in case. He turned and bolted back in the direction he'd come from. He usually would've felt a tight grip on his lungs but he didn't. He'd gotten so used to running through various levels and avoiding entities while doing so. He'd spent weeks here. He'd had to know how to safely run from whatever hellspawns lay in wait around each corner. He'd gotten used to seeing entities die. Death became an everyday knowledge. He'd learned quickly that he could die and would die here. He'd learned that people die everyday in the Backrooms. He'd killed. He had blood on his hands here. But that wasn't such a nauseating feeling anymore. When he first killed something, he felt a sinking feeling of guilt. But he realized it was either kill or be killed in the Backrooms. It was either him or the entity and it sure as fuck wasn't going to be him.

Karl got back to the three men. They'd finally gotten Dream to stop laughing but as Karl had handed the bottles to Ant and Bad. Dream chuckled, gaining three stares. "You seriously need to relax." Bad groaned, forcing Dream to drink the Almond Water. "You are drinking this whether you like it or not." Antfrost chimed in. Karl just stood there, he didn't know what to do. His mind raced with so many fucking thoughts. He knew that what Dream was irrational, crazy, psychotic even. Karl didn't know how to feel about it. Karl just shook his head, feeling dizzy. "God damn." Karl heard Ant mutter. Karl walked over and put a hand on Ant's shoulder. "I'll be alright. Dream's just going-" Karl started but got cut off by Dream. "Don't. No. Do not talk about me like I'm not here!" Dream groaned, chuckling. "You aren't here. Not fucking mentally at least!" Ant seethed. "Just leave him." A voice caught everyone off guard. Karl didn't recognize the voice. Standing there was Wilbur. His expression showed he was joking, but his voice showed otherwise. "Wilbur? What are you doing here?" Bad asked, eyes wide. "I noticed Karl running this way. I wanted to see what the hell was going on." Wilbur shrugged, "So, what happened to the green fuck this time?"

"Sliced his own cheek open, to what Karl told us." Ant responded. Karl couldn't help but think about it. Not the 'Dream slicing his cheek open' thing, but how well Ant and Bad worked together. They switched between who was saying what without so much as a thought. It's like their brains were in sync. It was impressive to Karl. He'd never known that was something that was even possible! But here it was, in a perfect show.