Entering the room with the wooden doors located on the end of a long mono-yellow hallway followed by buzzing sound of the fluorescent lights which were heavily affecting Thomas' mental state and draning his sanity, Thomas looked around the room and was shocked.
The room looked completely different then the hallway he came from.
The entire room was small, about 2x2x2 meters, forming a square covered in greenish-brown wallpaper, and in the middle of it was a wooden table with a piece of paper placed on it. Above the table, on the white ceiling was a small light bulb liting up the room but the buzzing sound was not as strong as in the yellow rooms, which helped a little to Thomas' tired mind.
Behind the table was a wooden chair and the entire room was bringing nostalgic feeling to Thomas' heart. Mainly the wallpaper.
It was quite similar to that his grandma had in her home where he spent almost half of his childhood. His grandma past away last year and it hit him a lot.
With a sad, nostalgic smile, Thomas walked inside the room and closed the door behind him.
With slow, cautious steps, he aproached the table and took the page of paper which was placed on it.
"Hi stranger... You are wondering about where are you and how did you get here right? Well, I'm here to tell you everything you need to know about this place but first, sit down and relax. You are probably pretty exhausted, right?"
Thomas smiled and cassualy wanted to place the paper on the table and sit down but hesitated.
He don't wanna lose the important info that might be on this paper just because of his carelessness. This place showed him too much of weird stuff already. Disappearing papers would be normal for him at this point.
So, while holding the paper in one hand, he grabed the chair and sat on it comfortably, placing his feet on the table.
Only then, he continued to read the info on the paper.
"Now when you are relaxed, we can continue. Let me introduce myself first... I'm a member of an organization called the Major Explorer Group or in short the M.E.G. and you, my dear wanderer, welcome in The Backrooms."
"Holly shit" Thomas spoke to himself with faced-palmed expresion as he repeats the name of this place in his head.
"So Mike was right... This place really exists. And this is probably the place where Jake disappeared thirty years ago. Ohhh my partner, I was stupid for not trusting you" he shook his head on his own actions and how stupid he was but thats not going to help him in this sittuation so he begin to reading the next info on the paper.
"In short, the M.E.G. is an organization who is studying the Backrooms and are providing the wanderers with protection and supplies in different levels of this mysterious place that can turn deadly if you pay no attention to your surroundings. I have a bad news, irrelevant news and good news for you. First, the bad news... The place where you are now is called the Manila room and it's located in the level 0 of the Backrooms. The Backrooms have many, MANY levels that you, as a wanderer may or may not visit. It's only up to you which way you go and how further. Except this room and no-cliping (which I describe later), there is nothing that can save you from the place you are currently in. It's called 'Level 0' because except the mono-yellow madness covering the walls and annyoing buzzing sound of the lights that is haunting you everywhere you go, there are not any 'real' supplies here and a big amount of people who went into level 0 were never seen again. Now the irrelevant news. Things from 'The Reality' like smart watches and other electronic stuff on you is going to be useless here. Time in each level is working different. While you can spent here three days, in other levels it can be a minute or a year. Other elctronic devices are going to look broken and starts glitching so you can threw them away, as I said. Or not and you may sell them. It's (again) only up to you. Everything is about your decisions. The electronics from Earth are mainly useless here but someone can find them usefull tho. You'll never know what type of person you can encounter. Only thing you should never throw or sell away is your phone and memories in it. It's the only thing that can keep your mind sane and a tight grip to reality can save your life multiple times when you don't have an Almond water, but again about that later in the explanation section. The good news? There is no entity here in level 0 and you can escape this Level easly and follow to Level 1! All you need to do is no-clip through any wall on the level 0. To learn how to no-clip, turn the page and look at the manual when you are done with this article. When you leave the level 0, try to find other documents scattered across The Backrooms that can inform you more about this place or, if you are brave enough, you can try and find one of our bases. But it's a challenge tho thanks to the entities in different levels. To inform you, level 1 is not as safe as the level 0 whose, except from driving you crazy with the constant buzz noice, is pretty safe. Level 1 have entities and other stranger things that hides in the shadows, waiting for you, so stack up yourself with every piece of bravery that was left in you and start your journey.
Now the explanations:
1. Almond water is the only substance that is drinkable here. It will quench your thirst and help your mind to not went complately crazy from the things you are going to see on your long way to freedom.
2. No-cliping is a method of transportation through the levels. With the knowledge of no-cliping, you don't need to wander around the hosstile levels for too long and if some entity, too strong for you to fight against appears, you can just no-clip to other level and effectively escape it. But this method is not much recomended because from too much no-cliping, you can glich into a certain levels and become part of it. Yeah I know, scary... so if you are not fully sure if your no-clip is going to be sucessfull, just hide and don't lure too much attention on yourself. It's always more safe than being stuck and become part of the level itself.
Next, don't stay too long dehydrated, hungry and without a sleep or you can actually turn into one of the creatures lurking through The Backrooms.
The entity's name is Wretch, which is a human entity who ignored their needs, forgot about them or just didn't had the necessary supplies to fulfill those needs.
These entities can be seen in Level 1, or other levels, with many more like Smilers, Skin-stealers, Haunds or Facelings.
Smilers always hides in shadows and their bodies are made from a material which can't be really seen in a light. Run for your life if you found one and stay in the light spots, mainly in darker levels. Something is preventing them from running into a light spots so they will ignore you if you are not paying attention to them and of course... if you are standing in light spots. How would you know if the entity in front of you is a smiler you ask? Well, you will know,... trust me.
S-S or Skin-Stealers are dangerous entities who look like a naked humanoid but every time, you would have this weird feeling that something is off if you encounter them. Mainly, when they strats to talk to you (if they are full). They will try to hold you close to them by pretending they are human so when they become hungry, they can kill you quickly. In this state, they tends to look 'helpfull and harmfull' and even tries to give you some supplies which they 'find' but actualy, they are the remnants of the previous explorers they killed and consumed, so be aware of that.
Or, when they starts to feel their hunger coming back and they see you, they will stalk you and when you don't look or become careless, they will stun you and take you to the place where they lives for later 'snack time'.
If you hear phrases that don't have any meaning, comming from a dark room or suspecious looking area, leave the area immediately and pray the S-S didn't heard you or saw you because if this happenes, they are hungry and are trying to lure victims. In this state, they are extremely hosstile and can hunt you down in seconds.
Others are Haunds and in short, they looks like a humanoid dogs with ugly faces and few strands of hair on the sides of their head. All you have to do if you encounter some is to stare at them. Flashlight will be a great help in this matter. They become scared and won't attack unless you stay on same spot for too long, you turn your back towards them or you provoke them.
If encountered, back away while looking at it or if you are confident enought to kill it, then kill it.
Another entities are Facelings. They looks like humans, wear clothes and have other, most of the times, usefull stuff with them that can give you for something in return. The only thing is, that their face is gone, literally speaking. It may become disturbing at first but you will get used to it after some time cuz you would be seeing them quite frequently. They are pretty harmless and won't attack you (mainly in Level 1 but they can be harmfull in other levels) unless you provoke them or attack first.
To continue, Level 1 will give you a feeling of a werehouse or an empty parking lot.
On your way through the level, you will encounter a supply crates which contains a valuable supplies, usefull or useless stuff or something dangerous may be in them as well.
Caution is required if approached but it's highly adviced to search the crates for supplies. You can find food, almond water, medical supies and other usefull stuff there which can be pretty usefull in other levels. But, you can also find junk, animals (mainly dead ones) and other useless stuff there like a human hair or animal fur or motor parts which are pretty popular for some reason.
And the last thing you can find there are traps. Devices made by unkown origin that are made to harm or kill the wanderers here. Some entities can be hidden in the crates too but it's a rare occasion and yes you heard right. You are not here alone and you are deffinitely not the last person who got here. There are hundredes of wanderers out there looking for a way out or just wandering around. Some can be friendly and some not so be carefull on your way.
The closest M.E.G. base you can find is right in level 1 called Alpha or you can find some outposts there too. Because of the constant contribution of the supplies, people formed camps and bases there.
So, this is all for now. I'm waiting for you in Level 1, good luck stranger and see you soon."
'PS: Take a rest in the Manila room, you'll need it. It's safe don't worry, just close the door before you will go to sleep.'
"M.E.G."
After reading the message written on the page, Thomas turned the page and saw a step-by-step manual about how he can no-clip to other levels, few sketches of some weird looking creatures and a photo of a big parking lot with lots of pillars which, from bottom to the half, were covered in black and yellow stripes.
Under the picture was written 'Picture of Level 1'.
"This looks stupid" he shook his head at the no-clip techniques which looked like the man was performing some weird dance moves. Placing the paper on the table next to his foots he pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from his pocket. Seeing that he only have three last cigarettes in his pack, a wave of uneasy feelings flew through his body as he lit up the cigarette and tried to forget about it.
...
After a minute of smoking in a dead silence while letting the door open so the smoke can leave the Manila room, he got up from the chair and started pulling out all the things he had in his pockets.
The place into which was escaping the smokke looked completely different that the place Thomas came from. Each time he closed and re-open the door, the hallways changed and it gave Thomas a really bad feeling but thanks to the Manila room, he was holding pretty well.
When he was done, the items on the table were present in front of him:
1x Colt M1911 with five rounds in the magazine but the gun was apparently broken when he flew through the portal and canot be used without a Repair Kit.
1x pack of cigarettes (with only three cigarettes in it)
1x Lighter (half empty)
1x Wallet with some money in it
1x Set of keys
1x Chocolatte Protein bar
1x Police badge
1x Flashlight (with almost empty batteries)
1x Black Spray-paint (half empty)
...
Looking at the items he have, placed on the table, Thomas started thinking about who he can survive in this hell with just this.
Taking the protein bar he didn't ate for his breakfast and just placed it into his leather jacket for later, he opened it and eat it in seconds. It was his favourite and the hunger he felt before slightly subdued.
"Now what" he spoke to himself and packed all that stuff back into his pockets.
"I should probably take a rest. In the worst case, something will eat me haha" he tried to make himself laugh a little to change the mood as he placed the paper from M.E.G. on the chair near him and lay down on the table, setting an alarm for 01.00 P.M. on his phone and falling asleep right after.