Chapter 13: Technically It's the Beach Episode

At the bottom of the concrete staircase was a small hut with a wooden frame covered in thatched straw. I smelled the seawater immediately as I walked into the room lit up with a red glow from the setting sun.

There were open windows with no glass or shutters, I could see sand out both of them. The room itself was completely empty on the interior, so I went straight for the door. It easily pushed open with nothing actually holding it shut.

The view was beautiful and eerie at the same time. It was a pristine and clear beach, umbrellas and towels littering the shoreline. The large sun in the sky was just slightly above the horizon, I should probably go to sleep and explore once it was actually day again. Exploring in the dark has always been a poor choice.

I went back inside the hut and laid down to rest. I set up an empty bottle by the door that should tell me if the door opens while I'm sleeping, whether it's pushed or pulled. I hoped so at least, if the door was opened slowly, I wouldn't be able to hear anything.

My sleep was cut short by a gust of wind causing the bottle to fall over. I was on high alert regardless in case it wasn't just the wind. But with the wind howling through the little hut, I could only guess what had knocked the empty bottle over.

The sun was still in the same spot, and I was sure at least some time had passed. I had gotten enough sleep to at least explore the surrounding area, so that is what I did. I grabbed my gear and left the hut under the red glow of the sun that probably wouldn't set.

My boots sank into the fine sand beneath my feet. It was hard to walk like this, and while I was tempted to remove my boots and feel the sand on my feet, I knew better. I would be walking for quite a while, so walking barefoot, even on something that felt soft like sand, would rub my feet raw in time.

The white sand was so beautiful compared to the rest of the floors. That's not even mentioning the forest on my left and the small waves on my right. I was thinking of exploring the forest, but I could tell that just beyond the first row of trees was a second row that was even denser. Knowing how this place worked, even if I did get over, it would just be another beach on the other side anyways.

The sound of the water was calming. I felt extremely relaxed, but I needed to keep exploring for the way down. My supplies had been cut because of the previous floor, so I was hoping that I could find some here. Shouldn't be too bad, as long as nothing starts hunting me down.

Let's see the list; things that tried to kill me when I looked at them, things that held my eyes open to look at the monsters that would kill me if I looked at them. Then there were also some wolves, I disliked how they had swarmed at night, but it shouldn't get night here… right?

Did the fish from floor five even count as monsters, maybe more wildlife than anything. Then the things attracted by loud noises, the thing that followed me through the shadows in the city, the massive things in the water, then the worms that looked like brains. There were a decent amount of things here that straight up just tried to kill me on sight.

If I had to guess what kind of monster might lurk on this floor, it would be something that either hid in the forest or lurked in the water. As if to confirm my theory, I hear a tremendous noise from the water on my right. Very far into the distance I could see some small lines floating above the water.

No, not floating, it was that weird optical trick that made things appear above where they actually were on a large curved surface. I can't remember what it's called, but whatever was over there, was extremely far away, and large.

I saw massive tentacles rise out from the lines in the sky. I was no longer convinced it came from the water, I kept staring in horrid fascination. They kept reaching for the sky, farther and farther. The tentacles seemed to be endless. At this distance, they appeared to be black, but it was impossible to truly tell.

I managed to pull my gaze from them and turned around. I did a full spin and they were gone. Randomized to somewhere else, or gone for good. I had no way of knowing. At least it seemed like they weren't interested in anything other than the sky, and based on the size, they won't be going near the beach without me easily seeing them.

Walking around, I was looking for points of interest. Something pulled my attention almost immediately, it was another of the thatched straw huts. It looked identical to the one that I had come out of once I made it to this floor.

I opened the door quietly, and checked what was inside. After I had checked to see if any monsters were going to attack me, I entered the room. Nothing seemed too out of place, but it looked like someone had lived here at some point. There was a surfboard on the wall, along with some old and destroyed posters of people surfing some massive waves.

A small dresser and a mini fridge. I was hesitant to look in the mini fridge, as I already saw that there was some red liquid leaking out of the fridge. I slowly walked over to the fridge and opened it up. Inside there was a lot of rotting food, as the power had probably long gone out.

The red liquid was just some strawberries rotting on the bottom shelf. The top shelf was filled with bottles of 'Clear Water'. I grabbed a few bottles of water to refill the amount I had gone through. Unfortunately, there wasn't any food, but I was going to loot through the dresser.

If I had found some clothes to replace the set I had to leave behind, I was going to be extremely happy. Looking inside the dresser had only left me disappointed though, the clothes had gotten wet at some point and were starting to grow mold on them.

I closed the dresser and left the building. There wasn't anything of interest there even after I had looked around for a while longer. The sun being constantly above the horizon was beginning to fuck with me. I was constantly in a state of wanting to go to sleep, and it wasn't from a lack of sleep.

The sun that was almost setting was doing something in my brain that caused me to feel tired. I didn't understand it, but that had to be the case. Unless the floor itself was making me feel more tired, in which case I would understand why I was so tired.

I decided that the next hut I stopped in, I would try and sleep. I knew that getting some rest was going to be good for me in the long run, even if the floor was trying to get me to sleep more for some reason. I just wandered along the beach for a while. There wasn't much to do other than enjoy the scenery.

Admittedly, the scenery was quite nice to look at. The clear blue water was pleasant, despite the strong smell of salt coming from the water. I was thankful that this floor had already contained bottles of water. If I had to make another distillation setup I was going to go crazy.

I think I was lucky that my previous one even worked as well as it did. It was probably most of the reason I got so sick, other than hanging out in the water while making that boat for so long on floor ten. The setup itself would be so much harder on this floor as well, due to the fact that there isn't any way to hold the steam for it to cool down.

I wandered around enough and had finally come up on another thatched straw hut. I was feeling extremely tired after walking so far from the previous hut. I was hoping it would be a similar distance from the first to the second, but it felt like it was double the distance.

Once I had entered the hut, I noticed the wear on my boots immediately. The large rubber treads had worn down my almost half already. That wasn't a natural amount of wear and tear. This floor was going to ruin my boots, but if I didn't wear them, I can only imagine what it would do to my bare skin.

I took them off and let my feet rest while I was inside the hut. It had been ages since I had taken the boots off completely. I knew that wasn't good, but sometimes I just needed to sleep with my boots on in case there was a monster that was going to attack me while I was sleeping. The more I traveled this floor though, the less I worried about monsters.

I had a good feeling that other than that massive squid or octopus, there wasn't anything other than me on this floor. I was learning to trust that feeling deep down in me, it was deeper than a thought, more like a gut feeling, instinct even.

I relaxed in the small hut. It looked nearly identical to the other hut I found, surfboard and posters included. There wasn't a bed anywhere, but the floor was relatively soft as far as flooring went, so sleeping on it wasn't an issue. I've learned to sleep on the concrete that the stairs between floors offered me, as I know that is pretty much where the only safety I have is.

…

After a good long sleep, I felt a lot better, and noticed that my leg muscles hurt. In itself it wasn't odd, but it was odd that it happened on this floor, I was moving fairly slow, and taking plenty of proper breaks. I didn't understand why they would be hurting now of all times and not on the previous floor.

I made sure to stretch them really well to prevent tearing and cramps, but it seemed really odd to me. My legs had become extremely muscular in the past months. All I really did was walk around and climb stairs day in and day out.

I wonder if the sand itself had something to do with it. With the wear and tear it was providing to my boots, I can only assume that it must be doing something worthy of noticing. I walked out of the door after gathering all my stuff.

The sand outside the door seemed like normal white sand, but I grabbed onto it with my bare hands to see if I noticed anything odd about it. It was heavy, very heavy. It felt like I was holding some sort of dense metal in my hand, but there were only grains of sand.

Perhaps… this wasn't 'normal' sand. It might be ground up metal dust. If so, breathing any of it in was way worse for me than just normal sand. It could lead to some dangerous types of poisoning if I wasn't careful.

If the sand was metal… what was the water? Did it contain chemicals powerful enough to make metal erode into a beach? I had so many questions, but I was scared of the answer. With the sun being locked in its position still, even after a long sleep, I can only assume that the tide shouldn't change.

But wait, if the sun was locked in its current position, wouldn't it heat up that side of the planet significantly and cool down the rest. Was I sitting on a thin strip of land that was still habitable? That could both be good and bad, but I needed to get off this floor as fast as I could.

The strain from wandering around this heavier sand, and the rate my boots were deteriorating was dangerous. I absolutely couldn't take them off now that I suspected the sand was metal. If any wounds or sores developed, I could get very sick.

An unfortunate thing, I also hadn't found the guide book for this floor yet, so I probably won't. That kind of put a damper on this floor. I would love to know the secrets of this floor, but if I'm not lucky enough to find it, then I'll just get by without it.

Another tentacle creature rose to the sky in the distance as I took a break on one of the beach chairs. I decided to watch it for a while to see what it was going to do. The creature kept extending to the sky. How in the world was this creature extending so high while keeping the limbs straight?

How much of this creature was in the water? Was this creature surviving over in the zone that was superheated by the sun? It had to have been with how far away it was. The creature kept extending upwards, no matter how long I watched, it kept reaching.

Eventually, the creature started to tip over, but it wasn't towards me. It was falling parallel with the horizon. Wait… couldn't this be pretty bad. What if a creature of that size crashed down in the water. Wouldn't it create a tsunami?

I tried to randomize it, but it wouldn't disappear. No matter how many times I looked away, it stayed there in the distance, falling what seemed slow, but if I could see such fast movement when it was so incredibly far away, I knew it probably wasn't just falling, it was intentionally doing this.

It was trying to wash me off the beach. Was it doing this intentionally, or was this something that the creature did naturally and its why this place was put into the floors. Either way, I had to think of something, and fast. In all my panic to randomize, the hut behind me had already disappeared.

I decided to continue along the beach in search of an exit or even just a hut. The huts were fairly tall, so if the wave wasn't all that big, I could just wait it out on top of one of them. I saw as the tip of the creature's tentacles finally hit the water.

The impact looked like one of the nuclear explosion tests you would see on the internet from time to time. I could see the shockwave approaching, it was leaving a noticeable ripple in the water. This was going to suck, I can't outrun a shockwave, but I can prepare. I threw off my bag and grabbed the medical kit.

I grabbed the cotton strips and tore a few small enough to stuff in my ears. Earplugs, and then I was going to cover my ears with my hands and pray. With such a long distance from there to here, the power will diminish, but I can't be too sure. I wish I had more options to protect my ears.

Fuck it, I was going to hide in the dense forest as well. The ripple in the water was getting smaller, but it still wasn't small enough for my liking, and it was rapidly approaching. I barely made it into the forest when the wave hit me. It shook the ground beneath my feet with an earth shattering roar.

I barely managed to stray on my feet. After the initial shock of the loudest noise I'd ever heard, all I could hear was ringing. I knew it was going to be bad, but I was hoping it wasn't permanent hearing loss. I needed to be able to hear to move through these floors. There's no way I would be able to get through if I had been deafened.

I checked to see if there was a second shockwave and there wasn't. I took the cotton shirt out of my ears, checking for blood just in case my eardrums ruptured, but other than just general dirt from lack of being able to clean, there was no blood.

I sighed a breath of relief, the ringing was already starting to fade, and I could even hear it when I snapped my fingers, so there was no major damage. Just some ringing from the loud noise. I probably had tinnitus now, but that's a small price to pay for not having complete hearing loss.

Now for the next issue, I could see the wave of water coming over the horizon. It was imposing, and a simple shack had no way of protecting me from a massive wave. I needed to find an exit, and fast. I had another idea in case I didn't find one soon, but it was literally going to be a last ditch effort.

I walked along the coastline, keeping a constant eye on the approaching wave, and I had yet to even find a hut, let alone an exit to the floor. I was beginning to worry, so I started to properly plan out my backup plan. I really didn't want to do this, but if it was going to save my life, what choice did I have?

None, there wasn't a choice. There was no hut and if I didn't start now, I would die anyways, backup plan or not. I walked into the forest, and as I had predicted, far enough in there was a layer of trees that I couldn't get between and couldn't even see past.

I got out my ax and tested the hardness of the tree layer. My ax had easily sunk into the wood of the tree wall. I had hope now. So I got to work; I would cut foot holds into the wall with my ax while I leaned on the nearby previous layer of trees. The trees got taller the closer they were to the wall, so I could get pretty high up.

By the time I could clearly see the height of the wave, I was already well above it. I kept going up though. I was against a wall and if the trees didn't move from the wave, the splash zone was going to be much higher from the force of the water behind it.

I had climbed a massive distance above the wave by the time it landed on the beach. The wave itself was only four or five meters tall, but that was scary enough considering I had no idea what the water was and didn't have time to throw things in it to test.

The water impacted with the wall of trees and splashed up just like I had predicted. My arms and legs were sore, but I was safe. I could use the foot holds I created on my way up to easily climb down. I was probably about seventy meters above the ground. The trees were so much taller than I had realized.

It took a long time for the water to recede and clear off the sand, but it eventually did and I climbed down from the tree wall. I had managed to survive, by the skin of my teeth, but surviving is surviving. I can't complain about the results.

Randomizing as soon as I left the trees saw the sand dry up, like there was never any water there to begin with. I was thankful, and now that there was no immediate danger, I was able to finally test the water.

I saw tentacles rise out of the water again, and I very nearly had a heart attack. I randomized as fast as I could and they disappeared. It was relieving to me that they were gone. As long as I caught them in the act before they started their fall, I could just get rid of them.

I honestly would have loved to know that it would try and kill me before I sat on a beach chair and watched it like an idiot. Live and learn I guess. I hated this place more and more with every floor I passed through.

I tossed a plastic beach chair into the water. As I watched the chair sink into the water, I was extremely thankful that I had chosen to stay out of it. The chair wasn't sinking into the water because of the depth. I just threw it into the shallows. The plastic is actually melting.

I wanted nothing to do with this beach anymore.

I was always told that every beach is fun and you'll have a great time every time you go. I was skeptical, and even if I returned to the real world at some point, I don't think I would be able to look at a beach the same way.

I just kept on wandering, hoping that I would eventually find some clothing in one of the huts. I found a few more huts over the coming days, and some of it fit. So I now had another spare set of clothes to take with me.

I found some edible food as well. Dehydrated fruit that was tucked away in a sealed container. I was also stocked up on plenty of water. I had finally regained all of the supplies I lost after ditching them on the previous floor.

Thankfully, it wasn't long after that I found exactly what I was looking for. Even from outside the hut I could see the glow of a sign, but what confused me was that it wasn't green. The exit sign above the door glowed a dark red, almost like blood.

I was nervous as I approached the door. What did the red mean?

With no answer to my question, I opened the pitch black wooden door, and saw a familiar concrete staircase that went down. It was the stairs I was looking for… but why was it red?

With no way to answer my question, I had no choice but to prepare myself for anything. It was time to go to the next floor.