DSMP Backrooms AU

Chapter 24

Level 1: Habitable Zone and The Hub

They managed to survive Level 194 and now they found themselves in...

"Level One!"

Callahan's TTS spoke and they were smiling. "That's right Callahan. From here, it shouldn't be hard to get to the Hub!" Sam chuckled. "There isn't much that could go wrong."

But Sam was wrong.

The lights began to flicker before ultimately shutting off. Karl still lay in Sapnap's arms. He was alive and breathing but definitely not conscious. Ant felt Red's hand tense in his. "Wh-What's going on?!" Red asked. "It's a lights out period!" Sam seemed panicked, making Ant nervous. "How did we get here right as a power-out happened?!" Ant thought to himself, squeezing Red's hand with a white knuckled grip. Ant tried to make it come off as reassuring.

"What the fuck does that mean Sam?" Red spat out, matching Ant's grip. "It means that there will be entities to deal with!" Sam responded, grabbing a flashlight from his bag. "Just what we need!" Sapnap groaned, sarcasm lacing his words intricately. "How will we navigate the passageway in the dark?" Ant asked. "I have a flashlight with me." Sam said, powering it on.

Light filled their area, filling the corridor ahead of them with light. "Let's go." Sam began to lead the way. "How do we know this will lead to The Hub?" Red looked at Ant, despite not being able to see him in the dark. "Just trust me. It's a tried and true method, cutie." Ant chuckled, trying to ease Red's tension.

Red just nodded, not that Ant could see it. Ant just knew. He knew how his boyfriend would respond. How he knew, who knows, not Ant. He kept Red close and followed Sam like everyone else. Barely audible growling could be heard behind them. "Hound!" Wilbur warned and Sam flipped around so that they could see it. Sam tossed his trident, somehow hitting the entity in the head and piercing its skull. Sam walked over and ripped his trident out of its head before continuing on down the hall.

After a lot of lefts and rights and taking a door then the other, they finally found themselves in The Hub. They found everyone scattered around, even the other people from their expedition. Before Ant's eyes could adjust, someone yelled "Holy shit! Guys, is everything alright?" It was Tubbo. Sam just blindly nodded. "Yeah uhm..." Sam quickly cleared his throat. "Yeah yeah we're uh... we're fine... mostly."

"What happened to Karl?" Bad asked, walking over and checking Karl over. "Yeah, I think I did a pretty good job patching him up." Ant huffed, leading Bad and Sapnap over to the makeshift medic station. The raven carefully laid Karl on the ground. Ant and Bad worked together to check Karl over again to see if any of the stitches ripped open.

"Ant! What the heck happened to him?" Bad asked, distress burning his green gaze. Ant sighed and explained, "He... He got attacked by three hounds, killed all of them but the third clawed his arms up. I-" Ant felt tears forming. "I almost failed to save him Bad."

Bad just huffed, "Ant. Don't worry about almost failing. You saved him. He's alive because you were quick to action. You always are quick. That's what makes you a good medic." Bad took a breath in and back out before continuing. "You aren't afraid to get your hands bloody. You don't stop until your patient dies or you save them. You push your fear into your last priority. You have serious skills, Ant." Bad offered a genuine smile. Ant smiled back, "Thanks Bad... You're a really good friend." Ant didn't know what to say and he knew that Bad knew.

"You are too Ant." Bad chuckled. A soft groan escaped the brunet who lay on the ground. "Karl? Karl, can you hear us?" Bad asked. "Mmm huh? Yeah... yeah I-I can..." Karl put his hand to his head. "I hurt... s-so bad...".

"Yeah, I can imagine." Ant chuckled awkwardly. Bad began rummaging through a bag to see if he had anything that could help ease Karl's pain, low and behold, he didn't. The only thing that they figured could work was Almond Water, and so Ant grabbed a bottle of it and carefully sat Karl up against the wall. "Drink this." Ant prompted, handing the bottle to Karl, who took it.

Karl carefully brought the bottle to his lips and drank it down with a sigh. He pulled the empty bottle away with a slight pop. "I feel a little better..."