Sunday, July 16, 2023

The Backrooms: Excerpts from Chapters 3 & 4

 


(First half is from Chapter 3)


“So, this must be the place Reyna ended up once she escaped the Backrooms.”



“Yes, it is,” Father Patrick replied. “The weapons and survival kit we have given you should last you a while but if you run out of supplies mostly water and food, don’t drink any water within the Backrooms, find the wooden crates, and carefully open them. They should have almond water inside,” he said. 

“Hmm, okay so we will do our best not to die.” Jane joked. Father Patrick gave them a hug and his blessings. He gave Jane a handheld tracker. “This will help you find Talia,” he paused and walked to one of the men in the suites and walked back. He showed Jane and MK a round mini disc, the size of a dime.

 “MK, you do not have a tracker under your skin like Jane, which is required by the organization, but this will do. Put it into your pocket of your pants and when you return, you will have a tracker installed under your skin, if you wish it.” MK nodded and took the tracker from him; put it into her jean pocket. She looked at Jane. Jane slapped her jacket on, checked her holster and MK put on her flannel and did the same. “So, should we go in?” she said, with a nervous smile. 

“Not yet,” said the priest. They formed a circle including the men in suits. They recited the Lord’s Prayer. “Amen,” they all voiced in unison. 

“I don’t want to lose you both, please be careful and may God bless you and guide you home,” he said, and Jane and MK walked through the door while the men and woman in the white suits, monitored the surrounding area. 



Chapter 4: The Labyrinth

 

An energy burst swooped through Jane and MK as they fell onto the dingy yellow carpeted floor. Jane quickly jumped up onto her feet, grabbed her crossbow from the backpack and held it tightly in her hands as she looked around vigilantly. MK stood up, “Damn that was a drop,” she said, feeling a bit dizzy. “Shh, keep your voice to a whisper, remember that even though it seems like this place is empty, it’s not.”

“Okay,” MK mouthed. The sound of the florescent lights sounded above like bees in a hive. “They are kinda loud but not that bad,” MK pointed at them, Jane nodded. “Father Patrick gave me these,” Jane handed MK earplugs. “This will muffle out the buzzing a bit. They are comfy but useful and they are also ear-coms,” said Jane. They both put earplugs in their ears. “I don’t hear the buzzing as much now, though I’m sure it will get louder as we move onward.” MK tested the ear-coms, by tapping on the bud of the device. “Can you hear me?” Jane nodded. Jane took out the tracker that Father Patrick gave her. The tracker is the size of a flip-phone from the 2000’s. It has a silver cross embedded at the center. “Nothing,” Jane whispered. “The girl would’ve popped up on the tracker if she was close, but nothing yet.” A worried look shadowed her face.

 “Don’t worry Jane, we’ll find her and maybe some of the others that may have disappeared.”

“Maybe but our first priority is Talia, that’s who we are here for.” They proceeded onward, stopping to look around, taking in the sights. MK gulped. “So, I wonder if they can see us through the bodycam?” asked MK.

“I think so but not sure. They can see what we can see but he didn’t say anything about the bodycams receiving sound. I believe that it does but for how long the devices will work, I don’t know,” said Jane as she looked around at the grotesque yellow wallpaper, dingy carpet and the florescent lights that flicker above. “There’s a smell here,” MK noted.

 “Yeah, I noticed it too,” Jane responded. They walked on for what seemed like hours. “Maybe we should rest,” MK suggested. Jane saw a brown dirty couch and a table, just sitting there in the middle of a room. “What the Hell?” she mouthed. She pointed at the couch; MK looked.  They walked over to it and Jane inspected the room. 


“It seems okay, other than the couch being dirty and smelly,” she said as her nose wrinkled in disgust. She sat down, resting her backpack next to her feet and setting the crossbow down on the table. MK set her backpack down too. They sat in silence for a moment, listening. They are not sure if they will come across any of the infamous creatures of the Backrooms, but they have remained conscientious of their surroundings. Jane opened her backpack and took out a water bottle, MK did the same. They took out energy bars and started eating.

 “They could’ve given us sandwiches, but they chose energy bars. Guess they are trying to get us used to them. I wonder how long we’ve been here. It doesn’t seem like we’ve been here long,” said MK and took a sip from her water bottle.

“I don’t know, time moves differently in this place, and we might’ve been in here for a week or more now.” At a distance they can hear indiscernible sounds that are hard to interpret. Jane stopped chewing, took out one of her earplugs and listened. Their eyes shot open. Jane gulped.

 “I know that whatever that was is far away from us, but we’re bound to cross paths,” said MK. Jane sighed and continued eating the bar. She noticed a medium-sized clock hanging on the wall. It showed 10:10. “I wonder what time of the day that was,” she said.

 “What time of the day was what?” Jane stared at the clock. “I wonder what time of the day it was when the dimensions merged, and everything stopped unbeknownst to many who were working and living in the Backrooms. According to what I’ve read, the first victims of the creatures that begun to filter through were the ones that were in a cafeteria.” Jane took out the map from her backpack. “Where did you get that?”

“Father Patrick put it into the backpack. He wasn’t sure if it would be helpful because the map is going by the first model of the Backrooms.” She unfolded the map. “According to this, the cafeteria is another three miles away from here and in that direction is the library. However, the Backrooms tend to change.” Jane marked the spot with a marker.


These are only excerpts from the book. If you'd like to read more please visit the link and download or purchase the paperback. Most of the books I write are easy read, young adult books. In the Phoenix Files, Jane is a lesbian and I know that nowadays, it can be an 'issue' for some parents but I usually keep my books clean so I just wanted to bring it to the reader's attention. I focus on the growth of the characters as the story progresses. 

Lost in the Backrooms

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