The Backrooms: Zeta Code

Chapter 1: Where am I?

When I woke up, I was looking at a gas station, lit up and in the snow. I got up, feeling cold, and looked around. What level was I in? I turned my head and saw Kash lying down in the snow as well. I looked for the others, but I didn't see anyone. I found my pack and radio closeby, and turned the radio on, hoping for a signal. It was static for a bit, but it eventually cleared up, and I was able to see my location, as well as flip to other locations. "Hello? Can anyone hear me?" I asked into the radio.

"Columbus? Oh, thank god you're safe," Axel's voice rang out from the radio. "Where are you?" I asked him. "I'm in some sort of museum. Listen, who is with you right now?" "Kash. Why?" I heard Axel sigh over the radio. "Ky and one of the soldiers are with me now. I was able to contact Jay, so only the two soldiers are left. Since they didn't have a radio with them, we have to just assume they're dead." I turned the radio off and walked back to Kash. Seeing that she was still asleep, I was able to drag her into the gas station store to get out of the snow.

I ransacked the store for supplies, taking some gas-station sandwiches and a few bottle of Almond Water. While I was stuffing the last of the bottles into my bag, Kash woke up and asked, "Where am I?" I explained the situation to her, and she started to take stuff from the store as well, stuffing it into her own bag which she still wore while she was asleep. After getting as much as we could, I turned on the radio and described the area I was in to Axel. "Can you tell me what level I'm on?" I asked him. He hesitated, before saying, "I'm not sure." "What? What do you mean, not sure?" "We're not in the first cluster anymore, I'm afraid. The hole brought us to cluster two, which is completely unexplored."

My heart sank. Cluster two? I had no idea what he was talking about, and I hated that. "Well, how can we get to you?" I asked impatiently. "These radios have a special function where they can give you the fastest and safest route to whoever you want as long as the other person also has a radio." I found the button labeled 'LOCATION' and pressed it. The screen changed so that I could choose who to go to, and I chose the frequency under "last contacted". It gave me directions, with an arrow pointing to the back wall of the store, and I assumed that it meant to No-Clip into the wall.

Kash jumped in first, and then me. Although I have No-Clipped before, thus time it felt different, more alien than the other times I did it. When I landed, I came face to face with Kash, and saw that we were in a very tight corridor.