The elevator doors opened, and Hero dashed for it, Kel still in his arms. The entity tried to run towards them, but by the time it had reached them, the elevator doors had closed.

"Kel, we made it." Hero said softly.

"We did..." Kel replied shakily.

Ding.

The elevator doors opened yet again. They were met with their friends, who were talking to a man in a vest.

"Kel! Hero! You're here!" Mari exclaimed.

"What happened to Kel?!" Basil asked upon seeing Kel's bleeding side.

"He was attacked by an entity." Hero replied.

"Yikes. That looks bad. Follow me, I'll lead you to an outpost that can help out. My friend works there!" the man in the vest said.

"...and who are you?"

"Chuck. I'm part of a Backrooms research organization."

"Nice to meet you, Chuck."

Everyone follows after Chuck.

After a bit, they find themselves in another of the concrete rooms, but several tents have been set up inside of it. A girl who couldn't be older than 16 approaches Chuck. She had wavy black hair and bright green eyes.

"Chuck! You're here!" she exclaimed.

"Yes, Bailey. I've guided you here because this group has an injured member. Could you bring Gale over here to help him?" Chuck asked.

"Yes, of course!"

The girl turned. "Gale! We need you!"

Then, a boy, who looked to be about a year or two older than Bailey approached them. His hair was blonde and neatly pushed out of his face.

"Is there something wrong?" he asked.

"Yes." Chuck said.

"My brother got injured, can you help him?" Hero asked.

Gale inspects the wound on Kel's side. "That looks bad. We'll patch it up, but he should probably stay with us until he can be healed fully."

Hero nods, and Gale guides him to a tent which has a mattress in it. Hero gently lays Kel down on the mattress, to which Gale begins his work. He patches up the wound to where it doesn't bleed anymore.

It was only a few seconds before Kel was out cold and snoring.

All of a sudden, the lights began to flicker.

Flick.

Flick.

Flick.

"What's happening?!" asked Basil, clearly in distress.

Gale didn't look concerned at all, and placed Kel's hand in Sunny's, who was the closest.

"A transition to another level is happening. If you want to travel as a group, you'll hold on to him." Gale said.

"But what about what you said about him needing rest?" Sunny asked.

"Just don't let him put too much pressure on his legs or arms and he'll be fine."

And then, the lights turned off.

"Are we supposed to wait for the lights to turn back on?" Aubrey asked.

"Wait, what happened to Gale? Or Bailey? Or Chuck?" Hero asked.

"...they don't seem to be here..."

~~~~~
WHERE IS EVERYONE AT THE END OF THIS CHAPTER?

Mari: ???

Sunny: ???

Basil: ???

Kel: ???

Hero: ???

Aubrey: ???