Chapter 5: Not So Lazy River

Once I reached the last step, I noticed the room I had entered looked nearly identical to the shacks from the previous floor, but the wood felt soft beneath my feet. Another thing that got my attention was the sound of rushing water. It sounded like it was everywhere, causing me to rush towards the window of the shack.

Out the window, I saw an immediate issue at hand. This shack was floating above a river, I assume that there was some kind of support under the shack, holding it up. I was just confused though, what kind of madman would build a shack on flowing water?

Stagnant water was bad enough on wood, I can only imagine flowing water would tear through the wood in no time flat. Though, considering this shack is here and so am I, I was sure that I would be safe enough.

I look around the shack, noticing a familiar leather book once again. It was slightly hidden behind a rotting lump of wet clothes in the far corner of the room. If I hadn't looked at the room from this angle, I would have completely missed it.

Something on the spine of this book that was different from the previous floor was the text identical to the one from the second floor. 'There is freedom in death.' Such an ominous line feels out of place with the helpful information contained within these books.

'To whomever reads this, I'm sorry, I can't help you escape.

But I can help you survive.

I've left books on every floor I can get access to. This book is for Floor Five.'

The standard intro for these books. I've come to enjoy these intros, a sense of normalcy in this crazy place. I just walked down a set of stairs, that I can still see, that leads to a forest. Once I leave the building too, I won't see the stairs going up into the sky.

'In stark contrast to the previous floor, there isn't too much danger if you know how to swim. The fish that try to attack you are edible, even raw if you know how to prepare them. There are too many different unique types of fish here to bother giving them names.

One thing to keep in mind though, the larger the fins the fish have, the farther they can jump. If you fall out of a boat you may be lucky enough to start with, stay calm. The worst thing you can do is panic, the fish can sense your fear and will start to bite anything that is below the surface, and after falling out of the boat… that is all of you.

Sleeping on a boat is possible, but there are a few dangers in doing this. Sometimes there are splits in the river, and you'll have to try and paddle to one side. Hitting the walls is a bad idea, due to the fact that they are made of incredibly hard concrete.

Don't bother trying to climb the stunningly high walls, there are only more rivers on the other side. I regretfully inform you that this will be the final easy floor you will encounter. I can't say more than this, but please prepare, whether physically or mentally.

The last part contains a warning, this place hates letting people easily have information on other floors, so I will word this as vaguely as possible.

The next floor, bring -----. Bring as much ----- as you can carry while ------- up a lot of ------.

Good luck, you'll need it in the coming floors.'

Well, that's a big uh oh if I have ever seen it. I was wondering why the books didn't just have all of the information necessary for every floor in here, so I could prepare ahead. It isn't because the author of these wouldn't, it's because they couldn't.

I wiped my hands on my face in frustration. The hint given to me for the next floor only confused me more than helped me. What a nightmare this place was, based on the way everything was said though, I'm not getting out of here anytime soon.

I just have to start preparing for anything and everything. Any possibility, knowing that everything is designed to kill me. Not the worst thing ever, and by the sounds of it, I'll have plenty of time to think once I'm on the moving water.

I put the book in a slightly more visible area for the next person that comes down. I wasn't sure if this floor was like the first three, or like the previous one, so I figured I'd put it in the open just in case. Actually, the spine of the book didn't have that weird line on the previous floor.

It might just be a coincidence, or this might be an older or newer version of the guide books. It is impossible to really say with such a small sample size. What was the saying, once is chance, twice is coincidence, third time's a pattern?

If a non random floor has no weird phrase of the spine, then another random floor does, I'll look into it again. I'll also have to see if this floor is actually a random floor, or if I'm just a paranoid nutjob thinking to himself constantly.

I open the front door of the shack to see a relatively normal dock. The boards were spaced further apart than I would have liked for safe walking, and they were wet with an off white slime. Really, who was in charge of safety in this place? I chuckle to myself.

Attached to one of the posts was a thick rope. The thick rope was holding a small boat just barely wide enough for me, and an extra seat to put my bag. The inside of the boat was mostly clean, and there was a small paddle underneath the wooden seats.

With no other choice, I load up the boat with my bag. I wasn't sure how to properly tie a knot that would stop a boat from floating away in moving water, so I carefully observed the one currently holding the boat in place. Unnervingly, it was a noose tightened around the post.

I loosened the knot and undid it. I already knew how to tie a noose, so I wasn't worried about paying attention to how it was tied anymore. I hopped carefully into the boat, placing the rope gently in the bottom. The boat was already moving down the flowing river before I had even fully sat down.

I sat with my back straight, observing the river flowing beneath my little boat. It was a pleasant sound as the tiny currents splashed up on the sides of what was just a glorified raft. Relaxing would be a good way to describe this feeling.

I was just holding the paddle on my lap, feeling that using it to go a bit faster would just be a waste of energy. I decided to look back to check how far I had gotten from the floating shack, only to not see it at all despite the straightness of the river.

A random floor. I'm not surprised, but the books have been mentioning less and less information about important things. The previous floor, the book didn't mention the cave at all, which probably almost cost me my life.

I guess in all fairness, I should have realized that on a floor filled with things called Shade Houndes, I could have expected that a dark place would be full of them. Then if we are going down that line of thought, I should have realized this was a random floor, because that is the norm, and the floor where it was an exception, the book mentioned it.

Ugh, I am in the wrong here. Look at me, the idiot who keeps making assumptions based on barely established facts. Laughing to myself like a maniac, I was beginning to feel better. I was getting stressed already for things I don't know about, and don't have to worry about.

I wanted to argue to myself that worrying now was the practical thing to do because it involved my life, the thing most important to me. I would have argued back though, saying that even though it feels like procrastinating, I would be better in the long run.

I am already as prepared as I can be. I had a decent weapon to defend myself, enough food and water to survive, and even a medical kit I hobbled together from random supplies. I was living the best life I could under the circumstances. Worrying about every single thing that put my life in danger was not only a waste of time, it was stressful.

Stress that was probably going to ease by the end of this floor. I was having a wonderful time just sitting in my little boat, listening to the water, and staring at the towering concrete walls to my left and right. The walls were perfectly flat, with not a single way to hold on to them.

How the author even knew what was on the other sides of these walls was impressive. Did they manage to climb the walls, or were they somehow able to communicate with other people? Questions I wasn't going to be able to answer sitting in a boat at the bottom of these walls.

The boat I was in suddenly shook as something impacted the bottom beneath where I was sitting. The rocking of the boat caught me off guard while I was trapped in my thoughts, but I managed to hold on to the sides of the boat and steady myself and the boat.

I grabbed my only defensive weapon from the side of my bag. The long ax was going to get some use on this floor it would seem. I looked on both sides of the boat for the fish that was probably attacking me. Hoping to get the first strike in, I was ready with an ax in my uninjured hand.

I saw a yellow fish beneath the water, it was probably the length of my entire arm, and it looked almost muscular. What a weird fish. I did notice that its tail fin was rather small for a fish of its size, which probably explains why it was struggling to keep up with the slow speed of my boat.

As it got closer, I raised the ax above my head, ready to swing down into the water. I was going to aim for the spine of the fish, hoping to paralyze it. The real challenge was going to be trying to hook it on the ax in a way I might be able to drag it onto the boat to bring with me.

I knew how to start a fire if I needed to, the problem was dry wood, and a place to do it without setting everything else around me on fire. Problems I would worry about after I got a fish. I knew I would have to cook it.

The fish neared the boat, chasing it down slowly. I heavily swung the ax down at the base of the fish's skull. Unable to see if I got a direct hit because of the splashing water from the ax, I could feel a limp weight on the end of my ax.

Mentally cheering, I turned the ax carefully so that the flow of the river wouldn't pull the paralyzed fish off the ax immediately. Using my free hand to balance the fish on the ax while laying down in the boat, hooking my heels under the seat on the other side.

I eventually managed to pull the fish into the boat, having pushed my bag as far to the end as I could so I could avoid getting fish stuff all over it. Unable to think of a better way to humanely kill the fish, I bash its skull where the brain should be with the back of the ax. Its skull caves in and the fish stops glaring at me with the hate of a thousand stars.

I decided I would wait to gut the fish, but I did need to drain the blood. I'm not really sure of the best way to do this to be honest. I've watched a lot of youtube videos where they show the gutting and bleeding of large fish, but in practice, I've never done it before.

I stared at the large yellow fish, unsure of what to really do with it. I don't have a knife to really do any accurate cutting with, so I was going to have to get creative. If I ruined the fish, so be it. I'll just cut off the parts that are ruined and eat the good bits still.

I place the neck of the fish on the edge of the boat, with the majority of the fish still hanging inside the boat. I hold the handle of the ax right near the head, to give myself the most precision I could. I was going to treat this ax as a kitchen cleaver.

I inspect the fish, wondering if the 'throat' of the fish has a major artery like humans do. I lift the gills and check inside as much as I can. I noticed that there was a large red line right at the base of the gills. A memory coming back to me tells me that cutting right below the gills would be one of the best ways to let it bleed. I didn't have any ice to put the fish on, but the river was colder than the air.

My eyes wander over to the rope used to dock the boat. I grab the rope and tie a lattice on the fish. I make sure the fish is nice and secure, then I bring the ax down on the pulsing artery. Bashing its skull in did not kill the fish like I had thought, but the fish didn't even struggle at all, meaning that it had done something.

I let the fish slide into the water, trailing behind the boat as a rope connected it to the side. I was a bit worried about other fish eating it before I did, but if they ate the fish in the water, and not me, I'll be happy with just that. As long as they didn't destroy the rope I needed for docking, I wasn't hopeful enough to think that I would be able to get another rope so easily.

Either way, the fish was chilling in the water while it was bleeding, and I was left with nothing to do as the boat went down the river. I was thankful for the low action, low effort floor, but I was honestly kind of bored.

My life was suddenly full of action, constant things I needed to do just to survive. I wonder if floor two would have been a good place to stop and rest, but then I remembered the rare Blinder that could cause issues if I was near the exit.

That was so incredibly bright, but it was a good experience in the end. It forced me to think on my toes, not always expect everything to go to plan. I think the greatest reality check was the previous floor though.

The reminder that I could die. My first major injury while down here. I checked on the hand, and the swelling had gone down, and the color was starting to return to normal. If it was a nasty infection in there, I would know by now, but it was starting its long journey of the healing process.

I opened my lazy eyes to see that there was a split in the river, I had to choose left or right. I don't think either mattered, with it being a random floor. Random floors really are something interesting though, I wonder how they work?

While taking the right path, I continue to think while making sure to paddle while avoiding my meal floating behind me. Is there some kind of automated way to tell what I am looking at, or is it some kind of powerful being.

In the end, I shouldn't care. I'll never know the answer, nor will I ever need to know. I'm going to make my way out of this place one way or another. No matter how long it takes, I will get out of here, even if I die trying.

After rounding the corner safely, I noticed a structure built up with concrete supports and metal walls. It looked more like a fortress than a building. It had a dock, so I was going to explore it, but I would make sure to bring my weapon. I don't know what could be in there, or if it was a danger to me.

I drag the fish back into the boat, its body seized by rigor mortis. It was exceedingly difficult to lift it into the boat when it was stiff like this. I barely managed to get the rope untied before I was at the dock.

I tied a tight knot in the rope, that wasn't a noose. I tossed the rope around a post that was on the dock. I miss the first try, but manage to hit the second throw. The slow pace of the boat really helped to give me time to mess things up.

I decided to leave the fish in the boat, but I brought up my back while brandishing the ax, ready for combat. I went into the building, noticing that there were a few things hastily thrown all about, a chair knocked over, paper on the ground with illegible words scribbled on them. A half decayed corpse hanging dearly onto a leather book.

I walked over and poked the corpse with my weapon, just to make a hundred percent sure that it wasn't going to attack me. I was beginning to think my nose was broken when I realized the smell of the corpse didn't seem as bad as it should.

I grab the book, and brush the dead material off the book. A familiar set of words was on the spine, but it was partially scratched out. 'There is freedom TRUTH in death.' I was oddly perplexed, did this person try and reason that the spine of the book was correct and kill themselves?

I check the corpse before opening the book. I was curious if this fool was willing to believe the book so thoroughly that he killed himself in hopes of escape. I didn't think death was the solution to anything, not these days. Problems could be sorted out, and it isn't like it is impossible to survive in this place, so why not push on? I decided to open the book.

'It's impossible. Every time I try, it's pointless. I've tried everything, and every time I nearly die. I lose sight of the goal, I lose sight of everything all the way down there. It's so hard to focus, my thoughts aren't my own. The voices are so loud, there's no way to escape it.

If there is freedom in death, then so be it.

But not before I write this down. Floor Eleven. Prepare. Prepare to ignore your own thoughts. The voices are too loud to ignore, and you can't cover your ears. Trust your instincts. The worms are violent, but not without reason.

This place… THIS HELL, it only erases notes that are left behind, but if I hold this book in my dying breath, everyone can see the truth.

I'm not strong enough, the thoughts were too much, so I came back. I ran through buildings, I ran through the offices, I ran through an ignorant city, I ran through the chairs, not caring for the creatures lured by sound, I ran down the stairs. I made it back home… to where I belonged.

If anyone finds this, please leave this book with my corpse. I will keep it safe until the next comes through. Let me carry this burden of my failure. If you make it to The Hub, tell them of my story. I know it isn't a great one, or detailed, but let them know how I saved your life.'

I was dumbfounded.

He killed himself in the hope that he could save someone else's life. Someone he would never meet. I placed the book carefully back in the man's embrace. He clung to that book while he died, and if his corpse protects the information in that book, then who am I to stop him?

I'm sure he tried everything he could to get past the eleventh floor. Eleven. This was only floor five, I had a ways to go it would seem. This journey was only getting started, and I was dreading every second of it. I thought this with a large grin on my face.

The Hub was also something he mentioned. Does that mean other people?

I set my bag in a corner far from the corpse. There was a stone stove with a place for wood. I was going to cook my fish here. I didn't have anything to season it with, but food was food, no matter how bland and disgusting.

I went to grab my fish from the boat, remembering I had to gut it. I set it on the edge of the dock and ran my ax along the kin of the stomach, cutting it open. I removed all of the guts that seemed rather small for a fish of its size, then washed the inside as much as I could while making sure I never lost grip of the fish.

I hauled it inside with extreme difficulty. I set it on the stove and got to work. There was no normal wood here, only chairs and a table. I use my ax to create some wood shavings, then I use a shoelace I had collected to make a loosely strung bow using the back of the chair. I dug out a small divot in the seat of the chair, placing the rounded leg of the chair in.

I started to spin the leg, wood on wood. Until eventually it was hot enough from the friction to start a small ember. I worked my way up from ember, to shavings, to small legs, to the whole chair. Eventually, I had a roaring fire in the wood stove and the fish that was on top was beginning to sizzle.

The smell was beautiful. An aroma I had been missing for a while now. Fresh food. The fish was perhaps one of the best smelling things of my entire life, not ruined at all by the smell of the corpse on the other side of the room.

I ate as much fish as I could fit in my stomach, which was admittedly, not that much. After nearly starving myself for a while, I guess my stomach must have shrunk. Oh well, I got a delicious meal out of the oddly muscular fish.

I slept there for the night, then got back in my boat and kept floating down the river. There wasn't really much else to think about on this floor. I had learned many things, things to come and things to prepare myself for.

And hope. There were perhaps other living people down here. Somewhere in this hell place, there were others like me that had trudged on, perhaps even the author of those books was still down in The Hub, hopefully willing to give advice on how to escape this place.

I had no reason to trust the deranged words in a book held by a dying man, but I had no reason not to either. If anything he said of the coming floors was true, I would believe him on floor eleven.

So I kept on my journey down the river. Stopping by some small islands, bridges, and some supported shacks on the water. Some had bottled water, and some had rations, but all had looked to be looted of useful gear already.

Eventually, I found an exit. The only issue was the stairs went down for a while, but then went back up where the next floor usually began.

The book at the start probably meant to bring water. I would need lots if it was all stairs.