Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Static noises intensify before cutting to DrRETRO in her lab.

"Meow Mrrow! Meow meow meow meow... (Salutations to who's ever watching this broadcast! We have an important announcement to make...)"

The cat head meowed as she pulled out a big whiteboard with various doodles, calculations, and words on it. Next to her is Wallter, wearing a lab coat and goggles. He is holding a black marker and is writing "The H.E.B.W virus" on the board before looking at the camera.

"A new virus has been detected in the ROKEA area after a player has been caught violently scratching their face. The player has been quarantined in our lab and has been going through tests. However, research has been pulled to a halt as the player has passed a couple of hours ago." Wallter explained clearly, putting a picture of the sick player on the wall. The player's face and body had different bloody skin patches all over, and they seemed to be extremely skinny. Their eyes were a dilated red, and they seemed to be rotting in a few areas.

The worst part, however, seemed to be that their arms were mangled in a gruesome way. 

Wallter took the image and put inside a file, where it's neatly placed into a file cabinet. DrRETRO nodded in response,

"Meow meow meow meow. [Insert more meows] (The cause of this virus hasn't been discovered yet as we're still trying to do research on the matter. However, I had the courtesy of naming the virus, and it is currently known as the H.E.B.W virus. It doesn't really stand for anything, I just like placing random words together to see if it fits. But for now, we advise you all to stay safe inside your homes. Well, if your homes don't explode or get crushed by boulders but that's besides the point. If the virus ends up getting worse, we advise that you get yourself and your loved ones into the nearest bunker available.)" DDrRETRO said.

"If you do manage to get infected with the H.E.B.W virus, please contact us on this number," Wallter added, pointing at the phone number below. "One more thing before we end this, we should bring up the symptoms and stages we managed to record of the virus..."

"... Here they are:

Stage 1:

1. Skin irritation
2. Mild hallucinations
3. Slight weight loss
4. Pink eye or Glaucoma
5. Barely noticable scars and bruises on body
6. Unnatural aggressive and/or self destructive behavior
7. Full body aching

Stage 2

1. Noticable skin flakes and scars, especially on face
2. Continued mild hallucinations
3. Worsened weight loss
4. Constant skin itching and intensified skin irritation
5. Pink eye or Glaucoma
6. Continued aggressive and/or self destructive behavior (a little worse than before)
7. Teeth aches (As well as losing teeth)
8. Body heat gets hotter and aches more
9. Sickness, constant coughing and sneezing, no vomit... Yet

Stage 3

1. Skin begins to tear off itself, skin and flesh patches remain
2. Hallucinations reportedly get worse and clinical insanity risens
3. Continued weight loss
4. Skin itching worsens as well as skin irritation
5. Pink eye or Glaucoma goes away, but eyes remain red and slowly get dilated
6. Behavior worsens, interact with caution when approaching
7. Most teeth end up gone
8. Gum bleeding
9. Body heat stops getting hotter, but still aches more
10. Vomiting
11. Limbs begin getting mangled by itself

Stage 4

1. Continued tearing skin which leads to blood loss
2. Nearly clinically and psychologically insane and animalistic behavior in addition
3. Weight loss stops
4. Skin itching lessens, but everything is in pain
5. Red, dilated eyes
6. Same as before, but much worse
7. Teeth are gone
8. Gum bleeding still
9. Body heat and aching remain the same
10. Vomiting worsens
11. Limbs continue getting more mangled as time goes on
12. Rotting

... And that's where we're currently at. There could be more stages of the H.E.B.W virus, but this is where we're at as of now. This is Wallter and DrRETRO signing off."

"Meow! (And stay safe out there!)" DrRETRO said.

Static comes on, and the broadcast ends.

Chapter Text

A week has passed ever since DrRETRO and Wallter broadcasted the virus announcement, and things went downhill fast.

More people got infected, and the floors were quickly populated with infected people. The only place to go now was the abandoned bunker in the Mall floor, hidden away from the regular eye. This was where the survivors we're focusing on in this chapter live in for the time being: Split, Bive, Pilby, Mannequin Mark, and Wallter. Wallter had previously left the lab to look for more infected people, but ended up nearly getting infected himself. Luckily... Well, not so luckily for Wallter, he was saved by, who else? Mannequin Mark.

Now, it had been years since the divorce, but Wallter still felt extremely guilty. Mainly, he felt guilty because he emotionally devastated somebody he used to live over their preferred building materials. He hated himself so much after all of that that he isolated himself from everyone else. He stayed in the flatgrass floor, mainly focusing on himself and his hobbies. But he still missed his old love, Mark.

Getting back on track, Mannequin Mark saved Wallter. He did it out of pity for the most part, but he felt very salty, especially since he just rescued the man who asked for the damn divorce. But he still took Wallter with him to the bunker. He and the others had to take care of Wallter, who was injured after the attack and was scratched on the face.

"Are you sure he hasn't gotten infected...?" Bive asked, holding the bandages. Split was next to her, holding a medical kit, and Pilby held a cup of tea that was for Wallter. Mark hesitantly looked back from Wallter and at Bive.

"I heard y'all can't catch no infection from no scratchin', guessin' it's only if they go 'n bite ya or somethin'..." Mannequin Mark said. He held his hand out to Bive for the bandages, which she followed and handed them over. Mark grabbed Wallter's hand and gently wrapped his arm with the bandages, using scissors he had next to him to cut some off. Wallter looked at the bandages on his arm, slightly frowning, as Pilby set the tea on the nightstand. Everyone didn't move for a moment after that, watching Wallter drink the tea.

He gave the four a quick side eye, "Is there something wrong with me? What could be the reason of your staring?" Everyone looked at eachother for another moment. Split, Bive, and Pilby walked over to the other side of the room but Mannequin Mark still stood there, scoffing at his words. He looked away from the tall NPC, trying to forget what happened during their divorce.

The guilt ate up inside of Wallter, losing his appetite and putting his tea back onto the nightstand. He laid down on his bed, not breaking eye contact from Mannequin Mark, and covered himself with the blanket. Mannequin Mark hopped to the other side of the room after a while when he thought Wallter had fell asleep.

However, Wallter was just pretending. He just wanted some space to himself, especially away from Mark. He felt like he had just committed a sin just by divorcing the man he loved. He cried himself to sleep that night.

Chapter Text

Mannequin Mark hopped over to the others. Split was using the radio, trying to find a station that could broadcast the news since the power went out. Bive was frantically scribbling away in one of her notebooks, researching on a cure. She was clearly one step away from collapsing in pure paranoia. Pilby was coloring in a coloring book as a way to cope with the whole situation. A couple of turns on the knobs of the radio later, and Split was able to find the one station she was looking for. They and the others sat on the floor,  waiting for the news to come on.

Static could be heard on the radio as DrRETRO began speaking (or meowing.)

"Meow mrrow... (Salutations, anyone who's listening to this radio broadcast…)" DrRETRO meowed. Her voice had a somber tone, indicating that what she's about to say isn't good news at all.

"(It's been a week. And so far, a couple of dicoveries have been. For now, I'll be discussing two things, and cover the rest for tomorrow morning. First, we have discovered how quickly the H.E.B.W virus stages can last. They can last around weeks, days, hours even, if not treated fast enough. A patient that previous had stage 1 H.E.B.W virus currently has stage 3, and we fear that they're close to stage 4. Secondly, stage 5 has been discovered two days after the broadcast.

The symptoms of stage 5 are as followed:

Stage 5

1. Skin tearing off continues, bleeding worsens every minute
2. Clinically and psychologically insane at this point, hallucinations and animalistic behavior both get worse
3. Pain reportingly becomes "unnoticeable"
4. Eyes remain the same, only with slight bleeding
5. Constant attempts of suicide, behavior is worse than before
6. Gum bleeding continues
7. Remains the same
8. Vomiting up blood (and possibly small organs as well)
9. Limbs continue to get mangled, starting to effect the body's ribcage as well.
10. Rotting worsens
11. Struggles to breathe or consume

… It is currently unknown whether or not this is the last stage, but as of now, we advise that you still stay inside and stay safe-)"

A loud crash was heard. DrRETRO meowed in shock. There was silence for a moment, a sense of dread washed over not only DrRETRO, but the NPC's currently listening. Suddenly, gunshots were heard, and the broadcast abruptly ended.

Split quickly turned the radio off, feeling sick to her stomach. She and the others felt like they just witnessed something out of a horror movie. The rest of the evening consisted of the four reassuring eachother that "everything will be okay", mostly by Split, and trying to sleep. The bunker had three bunk beds, perfect for a group of five. But it still wasn't enough for the group to have a good night sleep. Mannequin Mark was the only person to notice Wallter's crying, but he didn't dare to get even an inch near that man. So, he covered his head with his pillow and fell asleep. The others couldn't.

Pilby was too scared and anxious that they spent the time hugging their knees and crying, hoping that this could all just be some weird dream of theirs and that they would wake up soon.

Bive ended up being too extremely paranoid to fall asleep, and drinking her homebrew coffee before and after dinner didn't help things. But that wasn't on her mind right now, it was to find the cure.

Split was also very paranoid and anxious, looking up at the ceiling on the floor. She covered herself with her blanket, anxiously awaiting for slumber. She felt some tears come down her cheek, but couldn't wipe them away. However, they noticed Bive shaking in bed, and that's what got the water works going. They were infatuated with her, and thinking about losing her to the virus broke them. They sighed.

Without a second thought, though very hesitantly, Split grabbed one of Bive's hands and caressed it with their thumb. Bive jumped a bit, bumping her head on the wood above her.

"Oh! Are you okay?" Split panicked, sitting up and facing Bive. Bive just nodded, groaning as she held her forehead. But something surprised Split…

Bive began laughing. She laughed while rubbing her forehead, her face became a dark red. Split blushed as well, her laugh was so cute and beautiful. It gave her butterflies. After calming herself down, Bive lightly smiled at Split, feeling very warm. They both thought that reaction was very funny, and both calmed down as a result. Even Pilby felt more calmer hearing the two laugh about their mistake.

"So sorry about that, Bivey, I just wanted to hold your hand since I was very anxious." Split said, clearing her voice. Bive smiled even more, there was just something about the nickname Bivey that always makes her so flustered. She crawled out of bed and onto the blanket Split was laying on, and then proceeded to hug her. Split reciprocated the hug, planting small kisses on Bive's forehead. The two noticed another set of arms hug both of them. Pilby wanted to join the hug. The three cuddled and fell asleep together.

However, at the middle of the night, something made Mannequin Mark wake up.

And he swore to himself that he was hearing something.

Chapter Text

"However, at the middle of the night, something made Mannequin Mark wake up.

And he swore to himself that he was hearing something."

Mannequin Mark sneakingly got out of the bunker, the fresh smell of blood hit him like a bullet train. It was odd since it was only him and the others in their group, but he was hearing some kind of creature eating something off in the distance. After walking to the middle of the mall, Mark looked up, and could tell he wasn't alone out here. Hopping up the escalator, he was hit with something gruesome:

A dead NPC.

Lying on the ground, the corpse's body was ripped open, so you could only imagine whatever creature was doing to the poor NPC. Mark stood still, only looking at the body, when he began to feel as if he was being watched. He hopped up the stairs and found a dagger on the floor, covered in blood.

His heart sank when he realized who the NPC dead on the floor was, and potentially who's blood was it.

The relationship with Poob and Pest was very obvious: Poob likes Pest platonically, but Pest outright hates Poob. Everyone knew that, even Poob themself is aware that Pest doesn't like them. But they don't mind nor care about that, they just want to be his friend. Pest could tell them to kill themself 20 times and it still wouldn't change the fact that Poob enjoys Pest's company.

But the whole virus outbreak changed this.

Before most of the bunkers became infested with the infected, Pest was lucky enough to find a secret bunker to (what he thought would be) himself. The bunker was hidden behind a wall in the subway, the entrance being a fake poster. It was a small bunker, but it helped Pest be alone and safe.

At least for two days.

One night, Pest was in their bunker preparing for bed when they heard scratching against the wall. They went silent as something, or someone, kept scratching against the wall. The chilling part was that that wasn't the only sound that could be heard. Agonizing sounds of bone cracks and crying in pain were heard as well. Pest, knowing that this person could be infected, quickly pushed a table in front of the entrance to prevent the person from coming in. Their heart was pounding out of their chest, an unusual reaction for them, and their breathe was sharp.

"Let me innn… I juz wanna party with uuu…” The person cried out in pain, holding their aching body as they coughed. Pest's eyes widened, that was Poob's voice. But it couldn't be. They couldn't have gotten this far into the H.E.B.W virus, especially since this was two days after the breakout was announced. Poob ripped the poster off, trying to get in. Pest couldnt run or hide, so they had to do the next best thing: Fight.

Pest grabbed a dagger and stabbed Poob in the eye, pushed them out of the way, and ran into the regretevator. A day had passed, and now he was taking refuge in theFun Flood at Squishies owned by Gregoriah, who was already just a mess at this point. All of his businesses had to be shut down, and he was losing money fast. At least he still has his squishy balls… Stop laughing at that.

Anyway, Gregoriah was happy enough to let Pest stay with him in Fun Flood at Squishies, as long as Pest paid him rent. The two couldn't really do much, since the place was inspected to have heavy levels of bacteria and possible viruses which lead to specifically this place getting shut down. And also because Pest just really didn't like play places, much to Gregoriah's dismay.

One night, Gregoriah managed to find a working radio in the control room, so they just chilled and listened to music while drink energy drinks with wine in them on top of the play place.

”Are you good at making money?” Gregoriah asked. Pest raised an eyebrow, wondering why he’d ask that. He simply shook his head and drank his drink. “Gah, I feel like I’m gonna go bankrupt. But I wanna keep running my silly businesses…”

”Put that in the vent channel,” Pest jokingly mumbled, beginning to feel very dreary. The two were about to go to bed, when the same thing happened yet again.

Poob had discovered them again.

"Pest!! Iz me! Stop running, I juz wanna party!!" Poob screamed, waving their arms around.

"Go to hell!" Pest screamed back, throwing a squish ball at Poob. Giggling hysterically, they began to try and climb the play place, putting Pest and Gregoriah in danger of getting infected. They both panicked, they're lives were at stake at this point. Especially Pest's. Gregoriah wished he had a portable button that could summon the void.

He looked at Pest, and gulped. "Pest, I'm gonna need you to run. Get out of here!" He demanded. Pest froze, not believing the words he was saying.

They shook their head, "What about you? You don't have any weapons!" In response, Gregoriah pulled out a bazooka. Pest was impressed, but had to run out of here and into the Regretevator quickly before Poob catches them off guard. So, they began running, pushing past Poob and running towards the Regretevator. Upon getting on top of the play place, Gregoriah aimed the bazooka at Poob. Unfortunately, the bazooka was aimed with squish balls.

Looking at Fun Floods at Squishies one more time, Pest had to watch in terror as Poob bit Gregoriah's hand, infecting him. The Regretevator doors closed, leaving Pest to himself again.

The rest of the week remained the same. All Pest could do is crash at random floors, hoping that nobody infects him. But there's always a way to everything, no matter how simple or complex it may seem. Poob kept finding him in someway or form. They couldn't leave him alone. They can't leave him alone. They just want to party. There seemed to be no stopping Poob, even if Pest tried the hardest he could.

But even if he did try, his fate still came to him today.

Arriving in the mall, he didn't know where to go. There presumably wasn't a bunker anywhere to be seen and the place seemed abandoned, per usual. But Pest decided it would be best if he stayed at the top floor. So, he packed into a random store. At this point, he hadn't slept in days, so he passed out on the counter.

An hour passed, and he heard somebody scream and fall somewhere. Grabbing the dagger he kept with him and previously stabbed Poob with, he left the store with precaution.

He looked at the bottom floor and low and behold, Poob was on the ground, possibly unconscious. It occured to Pest that Poob must've been trying to get on the top level, but fell down the escalator. He stood there and was sure that they died from the fall. A sense of relief brewed over him, but heard breathing behind him.

The body wasn't Poob.

Pest's heart pounded as he began running away. Poob chased after him, ready to "party." They both ran into the store Pest was staying in. Various dolls were inside, which seemed like perfect weapons at first. A couple of dolls thrown at Poob, however, still made Poob want to "party" with Pest. So that was a blow. Pest found a bat inside another store, and began swinging it at Poob.

"C'mon! Les partayyy!!" Poob shouted, coughing. They were crawling on their broken knees at this point, shaking. They didn't care, the only thing on their mind was partying, and getting Pest to party with them was their current goal at this point.

Pest, however, didn't want anything to do with the infected partying Noob, and he never did. He screamed at the top of his lungs: "Stay away from me! Stay away!" He kept swinging the bat to keep Poob away. Poob smiled even more, revealing their near-toothless, bleeding mouth.

"Pest, darling, light of my life?" Poob quoted, cornering Pest. But before they could finish the quote, they were hit in the head by Pest. But they still lunged at him, attacking and scratching his face. They both began fighting.

"Don't even think about making some fucking reference, you fuck face!" Pest screamed.

As a response, Poob grabbed the dagger from Pest's pocket and proceeded to stab him in the chest. Then waited until his last breathe to disembowel his body, eating his remains. This was the party Poob had in mind. They were losing too much weight because of starvation. They needed to feed. The pain was unbearable, but now, they were in a sense of euphoria. They were finally in peace.

Now, this was Poob's territory.

At least, that's what they thought for a while before Mannequin Mark came to intervene.

Chapter Text

Mannequin Mark shivered upon recognizing the body. That was Pest, alright. His body was disemboweled, and a bloody mess of organs was left around. His hat was gone, and one of his horns was broken. This made Mark uneasy, but his attention was soon grabbed by something growling at him. He looked around but couldn't see who or what was making that noise. Mark nearly thought about skiddadling back to the bunker, when he noticed something in the corner of his eye. Poob was staring at him, not breaking eye contact.

It immediately became clear that they were infected, but it seemed that the virus has gotten worst. Poob turned their head upside down to look at Mark, as they began crawling at him. They lunged at him, stratching his arm. Mark quickly grabbed a dagger and threw it at them, but missed. So Mark hit Poob in the head with the bat that was next to Pest's body. Poob fell over and screamed in pain, letting Mark run for it. He hopped into a store to hide, hiding behind an inanimate mannequin in a dress. He stayed for a while, hoping Poob doesn't find him.

Poob felt extremely sick. They couldn't get up from the floor and just laid there, feeling like they're going to vomit at any time. Ultimately, they threw up blood and passed out on the top floor. Mark witnessed Poob throwing up and decided to end their misery. He picked them up and threw them off the railing, their body going "splat" when it hit the floor. Blood spewed every, and Mark stood in disbelief.

"I done killed 'em." Mark muttered to himself somberly. He quickly hopped back to the bunker, only to be met with the rest of the group outside of the bunker. They all looked at Poob's corpse in horror.

"Mark, what happened?!" Bive questioned, her worsened paranoia being heard in the tone of her shaky voice.

"So dang much, Bive." Mark responded, knowing what he had done didn't feel right. He and the others had to quickly dispose of both Poob and Pests' bodies. Split and Pilby both went back to the bunker as Pilby's request as Mark buried the bodies into the dirt of the tree in the middle of the mall.

Most of the day was spent in silence together and from eachother at the same time. Split, Pilby, and Bive stayed close together and went to go look for resources in different floors of the regretevator, making sure nobody gets sick. Mark and Wallter stayed inside the bunker, not making any contact with eachother. Mark had almost forgot how much he hated Wallter, the man he loved for six whole years, during his encounter with Poob. But deep inside, Mark began to yearn for his ex husband. His once true love. His enemy, his past lover. He had this gut feeling that he just wanted to love Wallter all over again. Back when Wallter barely knew him.

Much like Poob after cannibalizing their "best friend," both Mark and Wallter felt sick. But for different reasons.

Wallter felt sick because he was the one who asked for the divorce. Mark felt sick because he felt like was falling in love with the man who asked for the divorce, all over again. At dinner was when the tension died down, but the emotional and mental scars recieved from the result of Poob’s bloody murder were still intact. The five ate their soup at the dinner table together, while Split tried to make small talk.

"So…” Split said nervously, breaking the silence. The rest looked at her, making her more anxious than before. She cleared her throat after deciding which joke she'll tell."There's this guy I was friends with who caught a cold. It wasn't like what this virus was, I promise. So this guy who was my friend tried to cure his cold with music…” She began snickering a lot, putting her soup aside putting her head on the table because of how funny she thought this joke was gonna be despite the awkwardness.

"What happened next?" Bive asked, clasping her hands on the table and tilting her head. She seemed to be invested in whatever was going on with Split's friend. She secretly had one of her notebooks with her under the table, and wrote "music could potentially cure the virus if it could cure colds" in a list of "cures" she wrote in the notebook.

"Aw, c'mon now, Split! What done happened after that?" Mannequin Mark said, also quite invested in the story as Bive and the others who listened quietly.

Split finally calmed down to actually tell the punchline, "Okay, okay! So he tried music to cure his cold with music, but all he got was “snot-rockets!” The bunker was filled with her laughter, she seemed so proud of that joke.

This made the others start laughing along, especially Bive. Split really did know how to brighten up a dark scenario. To Bive, she was like a lantern in the night. And Bive shined only with the light Split gave her. The others felt the same, but not to the extent of Bive.

The rest of the night was the best part of the bad day everyone had. They had a couple of conversations about their day and the virus was barely brought up. It was still a huge problem, and it's making everybody extremely anxious, but everyone has promised eachother that everything will be okay if they just stick together.

Chapter Text

Two Spud Camp. Once a camp filled with excitement and the wonders of nature, now a long lost visual memory in the back of Spud!'s mind. He was the victim of Gnarpian experimentation, and it's left a permanent dent in not only his mental and physical health and appearance, but his life in general. So when the H.E.B.W Virus broke out, obviously he was in a panic getting to a place to stay. He couldn't bare going back to the camp. He lost so much there, especially his friend Sarah.

That's why he decided to venture off on his own.

After the announcement, Spud! already planned out which floor to go in. Despite the fact that they used to be a regular camp consoler who personally thrived at Two Stud Camp and no over place until the invasion, and the memory loss and constant headaches they suffer after the experiment, they had some knowledge on a couple of floors.

There was the cardboard room floor, but there was already someone inside. That player later got a nasty surprise when they opened the door and got infected by another player. So Spud! had to scratch that off the list.

The hotel floor seemed perfect, until the deadly neurotoxin didn't help much. It didn't effect Spud! too badly, since they have better health than others, but it smelled bad. So that was off the list.

The mannequin room was too creepy and every mannequin had the virus. The Omori floor was long gone. The shop space was nice. Spud! even got to meet Bive, Split, and Pilby there. However, there were infected people out there, and Spud! hated that.

It had only been a week, and Spud! had gone through almost every floor of the Regretevator. It seemed hopeless now.

But then there was the HC ice cream floor, which seemed to be an okay place to hide. Spud loves ice cream! But they don't love an infected Crem nearly attacking them before somebody shot them in the head.

"Spud!" Spud! shouted in shock, his eyes widening.  He looked around, then at Crem's body. It laid on the ground, a puddle of vanilla and strawberry ice cream stained the ground.

"Whoever you are, Spud… Thank you… Spud Spud…” He said as he backed up and ran into the regretevator.

"Don't mention it." Someone responded. Spud! looked next to him and saw a familiar face wielding a shotgun. It was that cashier from the Snackcore floor. He was covered in blood and wore a mask, which helped prevent him from getting infected molecules into his system. Cashier leaned against the wall as he looked at Spud!. Spud! sighed in relief, grateful that he's in the regretevator with someone who wasn't infected.

"Hello, Spud." He said nervously.

"My name isn't Spud." Cashier replied, looking away.

"Spud! Oh no, I just don't like talking much. Spud. Sorry if the way I talk creeps you out…" Spud! looked down in shame. Cashier noticed and walked semi closer to him.

"It's fine, I'm not much of a communicator myself. Especially at work." Cashier readjusted his hat when he said that, putting the shotgun he has in his backpack. "I'm Cashier, what about you?"

"Spud."

"Oh, so you just say your name? Is it like some kind of speech impediment?" Spud! shrugged in response.

"I'm not too… Spud… comfortable talking about it… Spud.”

”Oh, that's fine, I guess. So... This virus is pretty crazy, huh?" Spud! silently nodded, getting pretty overwhelmed with this conversation. He looked at the door, wondering when they're going to being at the next floor. Cashier rubbed his eyes and waited silently as well.

The floor they arrived at was one that Spud! nearly forgot about.

Bugbo.

The Bugbo floor seemed desolate and alone. The sky was grey which seemed odd since it was nearly 11:am, and the plant life seemed to be dead. There was a wooden crate filled with stones, so it's possible that someone or something was here collecting them. Upon further investigation, Spud! and Cashier realized that some of the stones had crimson on them. The sounds of wind, distant bug music to collect bug rock to playing in the background, and the two's heavy breathing were the only things heard. Immediately at that moment, rustling was heard in a tree nearby. Spud! quickly hid behind Cashier, who quickly grabbed his backpack and pulled his shotgun out, aiming it at the tree.

A man fell out of the tree, landing face flat onto the grass. He pulled himself up, revealing to be Gradient Joe. His clothes were dirty, and he seemed very injured and sick, scratching his face and arm. It became pretty obvious that Joe was infected. Cashier was close to pulling the trigger, but Joe noticed quickly and waved his arms and shook his head.

"Spud, I don't think he…” Spud! was immediately cut off by Cashier quickly hushing him.

"Stay quiet, Spud, this guy's infected." He whispered, looking at Spud!. He looked back at Gradient Joe, who was on his knees silently begging for mercy. Suddenly, he collapsed on the floor. His limbs began to break on their own, chilling bone cracks can be heard as Joe laid on the ground in agony. He managed to grab a marker from his front pocket on his shirt and write on the tree, "RUN."

Cashier and Spud! ran as fast as they could away from Gradient Joe, and ran until they stumbled upon a windmill. Cashier yawned, he felt extremely tired after running for so long. He hadn't slept in a while. He sat near the windmill, taking a break. He put the shotgun aside and buried his face into his arms. However, Spud! felt very suspicious about sleeping near a windmill. He stood next to Cashier and lightly poked him. Cashier raised his head up and groaned, "What?" He asked.

"Spud… We need to… Spud… get back to the regretevator.” Spud! said. "There are clearly, Spud, others here… Spud Spud…” They quickly noticed Cashier. His eyes were wide open and he held his gun at Spud!'s direction, looking up at them. They looked up and their face went pale.

"You can't leave now." An infected Bugbo said. "We need to collect more stones. Together." He was about to bite Spud!, but was quickly shot in the head. Cashier grabbed Spud! before running away from Bugbo, who fell to the ground dead immediately. He used his free hand to shoot anybody who was infected, including Gradient Joe, and successfully ran into the regretevator. He held Spud! in his arms, sitting down and crossing his legs. His belongings were next to both of them, and they both began to calm down from that experience.

"You okay?" Cashier asked. Spud! slightly nodded, putting their head on his chest. Cashier smiled and began falling asleep. Spud noticed and smiled too before going to sleep as well.

Chapter Text

"Stup1d 1nf3ct10n, n0w w3 g0tt4 m0v3 0utt4 th3 4p4rtm3nt!" Infected complained, putting his clothes into his luggage. He felt frustated, this entire virus was really bumming him out. Not only because of the H.E.B.W Virus taking over the Regretevator, but because he was sick with a virus himself. He's aware that's he's sick, but the parasitic virus makes wanting medical treatment nearly nonexistent. He wiped the pink and black-checkered ooze coming from his nose with a paper towel before continuing his packing.

Unpleasant, Infected's roommate, tried packing things from the house. It tried to pack things like a lamp, a couple of picture frames, Infected's computer, even a mattress. The items, however, can surprisingly fit inside Unpleasant's luggage. It was pretty strange to Infected, but he ignored it. He saw weirder things on Invader Zim.

"Are u redy?" Unpleasant asked. During its stay inside Infected's apartment, it had picken up some of his lingo. Infected had a mirror with little lights on and stared at it as he fixed some of his piercings. He put the mirror in Unpleasant's luggage, zipped it up, and nodded. "Y3s." He responded, standing up with his luggage with him. The two walked up the the regretevator and waited for it to open.

However, the two were met up with a weak Gnarpy. Xyr fur was all mutted and dirty, and xyr antenna drooped down to xyr face. Xe stood in the back of the door, looking away from the others because of how angry xe was. Infected and Unpleasant looked at eachother in confusion, and stayed still.

Gnarpy groaned, "Are you Gloopznortz just gonna ztand there? Or are you getting into this ztupid elevator?" Xe crossed xyr arms waiting for an answer.

"Ye@h, we going to another floor." Unpleasant said, flip flopping its way into the regretevator. Infected followed behind, standing next to his unpleasant roommate. The regretevator doors closed, leaving the three alone inside.

"S0 wut happ3ned 2 u?" Infected asked Gnarpy. Gnarpy gave him the side eye and scoffed, ignoring the question. Infected frowned, playing with the strands of his hair as he leaned against the wall. The regretevator was quiet for a moment, until Unpleasant broke the silence.

"Hai, s0 uh wassup?" It said, looking at Gnarpy. Xe, however, looked repulsed by Unpleasant. The colors of that thing weren't just horrendous, they were downright atrocious! Xe nearly gagged at the being, stucking xyr tounge out. "D1d I do sumthin wrong? Or are u just from Ohio?" Gnarpy felt extremely insulted by this "zeebloink" saying that in xyr face. 

Xe grabbed Unpleasant up, digging xyr claws into its… Skin? "You will regret ever zaying that to a Gnarpian co-leader! You ZIPGLORB!" Xe screamed at it, shaking it around. Unpleasant growled, then proceeded to front flip and "kick" xem in the face. A fight broke out while Infected watched in awe. It was like those videos where people get into school fights on RoTube, only it was happening in front of Infected's very own eyes! But the fight quickly ended when the regretevator doors opened. The lights suddenly go off and everything is dark for a second.

"Wut t4h [content deleted]???!!! 0_0" Infected said before the darkness went away. Upon the lights coming back, the three were found to be on a sled in the middle of a snowy slope. The strong wind hit them like a hurricane. "Uh 0h...!" Infected, Unpleasant, and Gnarpy scrambled to find a seat before the round begins. It seemed fun at first, until the realization of trees and rocks hitting a sled occured when Gnarpy's sled got hit with a tree, making xem spin around. The rest didn't fair well: Infected's sled got hit multiple times with trees and Unpleasant got thrown off its sled. At the end, Gnarpy and Infected were the winners.

Gnarpy bathed in xyr self-congratulations as xe cheered for xemself. Infected, on the other hand, jumped in excitement over winning. He had so much fun regardless of the amount of trees his sled hit. Yet, that wasn't the last surprise they would have. Upon jumping, Infected gazed over at Gnarpy and noticed something in front of xyr sled. He stopped and sneaked over to see what it was.

It was an NPC.

Infected looked in horror at the body. It was that Jeremy guy he's heard of before once. His body laid there, a neon pink pool of plasma stained the snow underneath their body. In a blink of an eye, Jeremy faded away. The pool of plasma remained. Gnarpy looked behind xem and saw the blood. Xyr jaw dropped in shock and disgust.

"Ugh! What fiend did my stupid zled hit?! GNARPLO!" Xe shouted, xyr voice echoing off into the distance. Xe and Infected decided to go run back up the slope to get to the Regretevator but the slope was too steep to climb up. In another turn of events, something appeared to be around them. Infected thought it was Unpleasant, Gnarpy thought it was another Gnarpian, but it was actually another player. They were throwing up near a rock.

"Ewww, th4t guy s33ms s1ck..." Infected said, covering his mouth. Gnarpy scoffed as a response and quickly ran up to them. Infected hid behind a tree and watched as Gnarpy tried to intervene with the player. Xe shook xyr hand at them furiously.

"Quit puking you zoink! That's gross!" Gnarpy yelled. The player turned around and grinned, blood and vomit poured down from their mouth and onto their lap and the snow as they showed their teethless mouth. "I don't know why you're looking at me like, zop that at once! If I had my zapper with me, I'd take care of you immediately, You glagzooble!"

The player just chuckled and scratched Gnarpy on the cheek. Gnarpy held xyr cheek in pain but grabbed the player by the head and bashed it into the rock they were previously throwing up next to. Infected covered his eyes. He was starting to regret going on the elevator. He knew that there would already be somebody infected with the H.E.B.W virus in the building, but he probably would've preferred that more than watching an alien cat bash someone's head in, getting covered in the player's blood and brain matter as xe murdered them in the distance. After a while, Gnarpy looked at the results: The head was completely gone now and was being held by the collar at this point.

Gnarpy spat on the body and threw it on the ground, watching it slide down like a sled.

Chapter Text

A day-ish had passed after a few things happened: Pest and Poobs' deaths, the "Bugbo floor incident", Unpleasant's dissapearence, and all those people getting infected in the past week. It was beginning to get tiring trying to avoid the infected. Some had began giving up and sacrificing themselves just so they could escape and join whatever world these infected beings could be. But there's no other world. They're just players and NPCs unfortunate enough to get sickened.

But a question remains:

"How did we get here?"

Bive asked that question to herself, gripping the pen in her hand as she stared at the collage of pages in her notebook that documented the virus. She felt more stressed than ever, she could feel the infection roaming around the mall. She wanted to isolate herself from the rest of the group, yearning for a better place. She sat down, put her head on the desk, grabbed her hair and clutched it tightly as she began to cry silently. Crying slowly became a meltdown as Bive finally let her feelings out. She didn't even notice the others behind her. She calmed herself down for a moment, wiping tears behind her glasses. She yelped when out of the blue, she felt someone's arms wrap around her body.

Bive looked up and sighed, "Sorry for my uh, sudden breakdown," she crossed her arms, letting Split hug her from behind. "Everything's just so overwhelming, and it's making me so crazy." She looked down, tears trickled down her cheeks as she put the pen on the desk. Split listened quietly, still hugging Bive. Split held her close, her scent of shampoo brushing her nose like a soft paintbrush. Bive's body was still a little wet since she just finished her shower, but it didn't bother either of them.

Split let go after a moment, walked over to the desk, and looked at the collage Bive made. Her smile lessened as she read the documents, but she regained it when she looked back at Bive. She kneeled down and put her hand on Bive's cheek, moving it to face her's. Bive put her hand on Split's wrist, closing her eyes as she let her caress her cheek.

"I know everything is extremely stressful, with the virus and trying to survive in this world. But by the end of this, we'll be okay." Split whispered, letting this moment sink in. She herself felt anxious and stressed about the situation, but her main priority has always been Bive's safety and well-being. Bive cried again, only this time because of Split's words. Split wiped her tears away with her fingers. "C'mon, the emotional rollercoaster will end soon." Split joked as she wiped the tears away.

Bive chuckled and sighed again. "I love you so much..." She uttered.

"Hmph?" Split hummed before putting their hands down. Bive's face was dusted with red out of embarrassment. She looked away and hugged Split. Split blushed as well, reciprocating the hug. They kissed Bive's forehead as the two hugged. Pilby hugged them as well, along with Mannequin Mark and Wallter.

Bive was touched. It was kind of comforting to know that she wasn't alone in this mess, especially after all the pressure she went through to find a cure for all of this. But her friends would never leave her. They're in this mess together at the end of the day, and that was fine.

After the group hug, Split helped Bive up and allowed her to go rest for a while. Bive wanted to say something, but she didn't want to argue with them. She never wanted to. They tucked her in her bed and smiled.

"I love you, Bivey." Split whispered to themself. They stood up and walked other to the other side of the room, where they put some essentials into a bag. Mannequin Mark stood besides Bive. Oh, how he wanted something like her and Split's soon-to-be relationship. His heart ached and he hopped over to Split to help, only to be stopped by Wallter.

He hesitantly put a hand on Mark's shoulder. "You seemed to be focusing heavily on Bive's slumbering state, do you possibly have anything on your mind?" Wallter asked. Mark got annoyed. Why would he care so much about him, if he presumably hated him. He felt sick to his core, he was the one who started all of this unnecessary tension between the two of them. He felt like he should've cared more. He never even gave him flowers.

He snapped back to reality for but a fleeting moment. "Well, bless your heart. I reckon I just wanted to see how Bive was sleepin', darlin'... I mean, Wallter." Mark replied, crossing his arms. He was lying. He knew that. He was truly thinking about Wallter. He went and spoiled it all the moment he said I love you to that man. Wallter frowned, but still kept his hand on his shoulder. But something was off, he couldn't believe his ears. He just heard Mark call him darling. It made him blush, as much as he didn't want to.

It was like he was going to fall in love all over again.

"Wallter?" Mark said, grabbing Wallter's attention. He let go of his shoulder and put his hands on his hips. Wallter sighed. "Yer face is redder than a ripe tomato." Mark chuckled at his own joke. Wallyer couldn't help but notice how nice his laugh was. He had heard him laugh before, but not as clear as this laugh.

"Ah, please don't take notice to that..." Wallter said. "... Any who, we need to get prepared."

"For what we doin'?" Mark raised an eye brow. Wallter played with the small strings of his scarf.

"We need to retrieve more resources. We appear to be running out of things such as water and clean clothing." That last part didn't make any sense to Mark, since the five barely change their clothing, especially Bive. But he didn't have the energy to argue with Wallter. So, he just shrugged.

"When we fixin' to get t' that one floor we always go t'?" Mark asked.

"We'll be getting on the Regretevator in just about two hours, or perhaps when Bive is well rested." Wallter responded, walking away. He looked back at Mark, crossing his arms. "Now get well dressed and prepared, we have a long day today."

Mark watched as Wallter walked away, feeling his heart ache more. He hopped over to Pilby, who was packing some coloring books into the bag as a way to pass time in the Regretevator. They looked on their bed to see if they left their markers and crayons there, to no avail.

"Lookin' for yer drawin' tools, huh?" Mark asked as he stopped hopping. Pilby looked at him and pouted a little bit.

"Yeah, I don't know where I left em'." They responded.

"I reckon Bive gone an' took 'em," Mark said. Pilby tilted their head in confusion. They walked other to Bive's desk, and their drawing supplies were right there. After retrieving their stuff and putting it in the bag, Pilby sat on their bed and hugged their knees with their upper arms. Mark sat next to them. "Ya got any notion on how to make yourself feel better, by chance?"

"Huh? Why would you ask me that?" Pilby confusingly asked. They bit their nails as Mark looked over at Wallter, who was helping Split put the bag somewhere safe. He sighed and turned back to Pilby.

"I'm jes' missin' mah love so much, an' Ah want these feelin's to, I dunno, disappear?" He shrugged. Pilby frowned, they didn't have a good answer to that. They asked Split something similar to that question before. But it was with humor instead of romance. Romance in general never really felt necessary to them. They like everyone regardless of gender, but romance was icky. 

"I'm sorry Mark, but I can't help you with that." Pilby said. "I don't like dating stuff... Honk..."

"Is it 'cause of the age regressin' thang ya do?"

Despite being an ageless adult, their sadness made them begin age regressing as one of their coping mechanisms. It's not something that they like doing that much, but it was something that can be pretty fun sometimes and gave Pilby comfort. But with that, Pilby considered themself too immature to get into a relationship.

Pilby nodded, "Kinda, but that's not the main reason why. I also just don't like getting romantic." Mark couldn't argue with that. He had forgotten that Pilby age regressed and was possibly aromantic, but remembering it know made Mark feel like he should've asked Split in the first place. Regardless, he put an arm around Pilby.

"Shoot, that ain't no nevermind to me, sugah. You do what ya gotta do with yer life, ya hear?" Mark said. Pilby smiled and nodded. "Well, I reckon I'll just go n' seek Split's counsel next time. Hope I didn't stir up any unease for ya, now."

"It's fine, you really didn't." Pilby responded. They yawned, getting ready to take a quick nap before they and the other head to the Shop Space floor. Mark jumped off the bed, allowing Pilby to rest their head on the pillow. He looked at Wallter and he slightly smiled. Wallter looked back at him, anxiously smiling back. Maybe things won't get so bad.

At least, that's what Mark hoped for today.

The group stood inside the Regretevator. Pilby was with Split, sitting down as they talked and colored together. Bive was drawing in a notebook, mostly drawing things related to the virus and her and Split together. Mannequin Mark was standing around while Wallter looked at some old piano sheets he had inside a binder. He really missed his piano. They all waited for the Regretevator to reach the Shop Soace floor, when the power suddenly went off.

"Woah! What the-" Wallter was cut off by everyone screaming. Pilby held Split as they began crying, and Bive nearly passed out. "Does anyone have hands on the bag we have with us?" Wallter calmly asked. Mark slid the bag to Wallter's feed. He picked it up and looked for a flashlight. When Wallter turned the flashlight on, the sound of sighs of relief washed the inside of the regretevator like an ocean. Wallter, Bive, and Mark went to the back of the Regretevator where Split and Pilby were and sat next to them. They went quiet, wondering what was going on.

"Gee, I guess we're bunched together!" Split whispered to Bive, who laughed hysterically  at their joke, scaring the others besides Split.

"Well bless mah soul, Bive! Don't startle us like that!" Mark yelled as Bive continued laughing. Split put her their on Bive's mouth quickly. She shut up after that, only because of Split's gesture. Split chuckled awkwardly. They let go after that and gulped. The Regretevator was quiet yet again. Seconds seemed like hours. Until the doors opened. Bive, Mark, Pilby, Split, and Wallter all held each other in fear, slowly standing up to see what could be in this particular floor.

A dark room with four red lights was already eerie enough, but the weirdest thing was in the middle: A large cake with two sets of balloons. There was writing on the walls saying 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY ...' over and over. The smell of fresh blood reeked. Everyone stayed inside the Regretevator. Except for Mark, who began hopping towards the cake. Wallter immediately grabbed his hand in desperation.

"Mark, what are you doing!?" Wallter whisper-shouted. Mark pulled away pretty easily and scowled, backing away from him.

"Investigatin'!" He whispered back before hopping into the floor. Bive lead the others behind her and entered the floor as well. They had to cover their noses because of how repugnant the blood smell was. Bive heard before that in this floor, a strange entity that was known for copying players' avatars would be seen as a cake topper for the cake. However, there was no entity on the top of the cake. She backed away slowly, accidentally stepping on a piece of glass. Luckily, Bive had a pair of boots on. Otherwise, she would've stabbed her foot. She realized this was apart of a broken picture frame. There was no picture seen, but there was a pile of rubble discovered. She kneeled down and hesitantly scrounged through the rubble, hurting her hands in the process.

Pilby watched her go through the rubble as they held Split's hand. She looked behind her and saw what was going on. She let go of Pilby's hand and kneeled down, with Pilby kneeling as well. In the corner of Split's eye, she noticed something with funky colors in the rubble. The two noticed as well and Pilby carefully grabbed it.

"A VHS tape?" Split asked.

"Must be the product of the clowns trying to bring the old days back by putting these things around the world, where some unfortunate being could possibly stumble upon this and go through those nostalgic trips, which I theorize could potentially make people overdose on these tapes!" Bive rambled anxiously, fidgeting with her sleeves. She bared her teeth, thinking about the scenario that could happen. Split noticed and crawled over to Bive. She nudged her slightly and grabbed one hand. The other hand was on Bive's lap as she felt butterflies in her stomach from Split holding her hand.

"Or maybe, this is just some tape." Split said. She felt like she should've worded it more to be more reassuring, but Bive calmed down before she could say anything else. Pilby handed the tape other to Split, who helped Bive up and went to Mark and Wallter who were examining the cake.

"Y' reckon this is chocolate or vanilla?" Mannequin Mark asked, his hand on his chin. Wallter looked at him with bewilderment and shook his head.

"I'm pretty sure this contains blood in it," He said. "My best guess is that there remains a dead body inside." He clasped his hands together and turned to look at Split who presented the tape in her hands. He picked it up and began examining that. It was a VHS tape with rainbow colors on it. It seemed to be new, which was pretty odd since nobody that Wallter knew used these anymore unless it's for nostalgia reasons. The tape had 'WATCH BE4 ITS 2 LATE' written on it in red sharpie.

The moment just got weirder, But the weirdness doesn't stop there.

The Regretevator doors shut, trapping the others in. The lights suddenly turn on and a hand popped out of the top of the cake. Pilby shrieked and hugged Split, burying their face into her body. Everyone else hide behind Wallter who pointed the flashlight at the cake. A person climbed its way onto the top of the cake, getting itself entirely covered in cake.

It shouted at the top of its lungs, "It's my birthday!" The others screamed and Wallter threw the flashlight, hitting the person on the head. It fell off the cake and onto its head. Wallter walked slowly towards the cake. But when he looked at the body, it looked at him in a neck breakingly fast pace. Wallter jumped and backed away. The person got up and felt its back. Blood was visibly shown on its hand, and it didn't seem happy about that. Wallter looked at his right and saw a door. That's when he got an idea. He ran and opened the door, the person slamming its head into the door. He ran into the door and gestured to the others to get in. The others followed, and Wallter closed the door.

The only thing found in this room was a TV and a VHS player. Wallter wondered how old this floor was. And so did the others. But Wallter walked over and put the VHS tape into the player.

"Ooo, a movie! Hope we got any popcorn, y'all." Mark whispered as he hopped over.

Wallter pressed play.

And the tape began playing.

A player held the camera. Blood poured down her face like a reddened waterfall and she visibly shook as she stared into the camera. Her breath was sharp and she had to take a few deep breaths before she could say something.

"I don't know if anybody uses VHS tapes and recorders anymore but if anybody finds this tape, you need to run." The player said in-between breathes, looking around to see if anyone was nearby. "We discovered the patient who just escaped yesterday. They took out multiple staff. There's bodies everywhere. That thing attacked me! You need to kill that monster with fire!" She was screaming at this point. She genuinely seemed scared and traumatized by the attacks caused by this specific patient.

"DrRETRO nearly died, but we're afraid that she got infected. Hope seems to be fading away. We need to find the cure now." Just after saying that, glass breaking was heard nearby. The player gasped. Static came on screen for a moment before cutting to her sitting down with her hand on her mouth. She turned the camera around, revealing the patient crawling on all fours. They sniffed around, looking for fresh blood to taste. The player turned the camera to herself, crying as she hid from the infected patient. She gasped when she heard them snarl. They looked over at the corner the player was hiding in and crawled over there. She put the camera on the ground, picked up a gun that was next to her, and aimed it at them.

"Go to hell." The player whispered, pulling the trigger. The static cut off, and the tape ended.

Chapter Text

The room was hit with an agonizing silence; This seemed so off to everyone, including Wallter who was initially apart of the studies of the virus. He recognized the infected patient in the video but he never realized that the virus could get this bad. This person seemed to be far into another stage. Wallter knew what he had to do.

He got up,grabbed the tape out of the recorder, and bolted out the room. He found a crowbar leaning against a wall and used it to try and pull the regretevator doors open. The others followed behind, wondering what he was planning to do. Wallter used all the strength he had in him and in a quick moment, he managed to successfully pull the doors open. But inside the regretevator was quite simultaneously a wonderful and unfortunate surprise for the five: Infected and Gnarpy.

"Oh 3m g33! H1, guys!" Infected said, waving at them. He pulled Split, Pilby, Bive, and Mark into a group hug. He seemed genuinely excited to see some of his best friends during this time. He missed going to see them all the time. The others all awkwardly smiled, hoping this hug doesn't get them sick with the virus Infected had. Wallter walked into the regretevator as well, clasping his hands together. Gnarpy stood there with xyr arms crossed, staring at the wall next to xem.

"Greetings Infected, Gnarpy," Wallter slightly bowed to the two. Infected let go of the other four and hugged him as well. Wallter hesitantly reciprocated the hug, patting him on the back. Wallter quickly pushed him away and looked at the regretevator buttons, "Now, all we need to do is go to the lab, and then we'll see if this is a new stage or not. We're going to need to warn the others."
He took a look at the buttons, then remembered that there was way too many floors to remember which was which. Wallter's memory was slightly fuzzy so he couldn't really tell.

"Ztep azide, Glorbknob," Gnarpy pushed him aside and looked at the buttons. "Let a profezzional button masher decide which floor that lab iz." Xe pressed a random button and stepped back.

Wallter stood next to Infected, who tried to wipe his nose with his arm but was wearing a mask. A dose of anxiety bloomed inside of Wallter, hoping the button Gnarpy pushed was the right one. He looked own, fidgeting with his hands as they waited. Minutes felt like hours and the anxiety kept growing as time passed on. Mannequin Mark realized how Wallter was feeling, and hesitated to ask what was wrong. Thankfully for him, Pilby spoke up about it.

"Are you okay, Wallter?" They asked, tilting their head. Wallter gave a weak smile and put his hand on their shoulder.

"I'm okay, my insectoid companion," Wallter whispered, crouching down to focus on Pilby. "I'm just a bit nervous, that's all." He patted Pilby and smiled a bit more. Pilby smiled too and hugged him. He reciprocated the hug, shedding a small tear.

Mark wished Wallter could do the same thing to him. This whole "missing your ex" was beginning to get annoying to him. He crossed his arms and faked a smile.

"Gettin' a lotta hugs today, huh?" He sarcastically asked. Wallter scoffed as he held Pilby close.

"Yes, but that's not my intention. None of what's going on is," He responded. His annoyed expression turned into a more ambivalent one as he turned back to Pilby. He wiped the tear on his cheek away and let go, standing back up.

"Uh, can I hold your hand?" Pilby asked anxiously. Wallter nodded and held Pilby's hand as they continued to wait. Finally, the regretevator had arrived at their destination. However, a blast of disinfection spray spread through as the doors opened. Everyone began coughing and covering their mouths. A person wearing a biohazard suit rushed to the regretevator and quickly got angry.

"What are you doing here!?" He shouted. "Do you not know that this is a prohibited floor?" Wallter's eyes widened as everyone else, including Pilby, backed up to the back of the regretevator. Wallter looked back cautiously and turned to the person.

He raised his hands slightly, "Now, now. I have a lot of reasons as to why we're here, if you can just let me explain. You see-" He was quickly cut off by the person shushing him. 

"Do you not understand that this is a breeding ground for these infected people!?" He said, pointing at Wallter's face. "You guys need to get the fuck out of here, or you're gonna risk getting infected!" Suddenly, Mark hopped over to him and Wallter before Wallter could say anything.

"Well, I'll have ya know that we're suppose' to be heading to DrRETRO's lab!" Mark yelled at the person's face.

"Mark, what are you-" Wallter was cut off again by Mark.

"Do not make this worse, like what you always do," Mark said before looking back at the person. He was crossing his arms at this point, staring directly at the Mannequin now. Mark stared back furiously before continuing.

"We was originally 'bout to head on over to the Shop Space to get us some more supplies but that dang regretevator done took us straight to this floor where we coulda been attacked by that there fleshcousin fella! Then we watched some tape that got Wallter haulin' ass back to the regratevator to get us to DrRETRO's lab and see if there's gonna be a new phase of this dang virus or not. But then he had the smarts to let that alien cat thingy hit the dang button that takes us where we need to go, and now we're here in... Lord knows what floor this is."

The person's eyes widened after Mark explained all of that in an angry tone. Mark looked back at Wallter, lowering his eyebrows and growling at him. Wallter felt a block of shame crush his spirits and well-being, he backed away slowly. The person wiped the black substance that was on his glasses before tucking them in the front pocket of his biohazard suit. He put his hands on his hips and sighed.

"This is the 3008 floor, also known as the ROKEA floor." He said somberly and not making any eye contact with Mark or Wallter. "You should've known this by now when there are guides to this hellhole in most floors and when those announcements were made." He sighed yet again. Wallter crossed his arms.

"Well then, sir, I guess we should go now." Wallter said. "I'm terribly sorry for making you upset, we just need to go to DrRETRO's lab to find out what was going on in this tape." He held the tape out to the person.

"Wait, this tape?" The person said, grabbing the tape out of Wallter's hands. He closely examined the tape and put his hand on his mouth. "Oh, this tape. We've been looking for it since yesterday! Where did you get it?"

"Oh? Bive found it in the pile of rubble at one of the birthday floors." Wallter responsed and pointed at Bive. She looked down and waved hello. The person quickly and cautiously removed one side of the caution tape out that was blocking the regretevator doors and gestured everyone to follow him quietly. He lead the others to an area of the ROKEA that had a VHS recorder there.

"So, what's up with the tape? Is it that important?" Bive asked while holding a notebook, ready to take some notes. "Is the patient in the video the first person to get infected with this virus? Are they related to the virus?" The person groaned and ignored her, putting the tape inside and pressing play.

After the tape ended, and everyone that did watch the tape before had that queasy feeling go away, the person took the tape out and handed it back to Wallter.

"So, you're Wallter? Right?" He asked him. Wallter nodded in slight confusion. The person remembered his previous studies on the virus before his sudden absence. "Why did you end up leaving the lab in the first place? That was when that goddamn patient attacked everyone and possibly infected DrRETRO."

Wallter gulped and looked down in shame. "I was told to go look for more infected people to take the lab in case if anyone was at or almost at stage five, but I got attacked by one. Then Mark over here saved me, and I'm still quite surprised with that, despite everything I put us through." Mark felt chills down his wooden spine when he heard that last sentence. He wished he could've regretted saving him. But he didn't.

The person listened carefully and understood what he was talking about. He was at least glad that Wallter managed to flee before that patient escaped. But he still felt a bit betrayed by his absence.

"Alright, I get it," The person said. "I guess if it's safe, then we could go to the lab together." He smiled as he stood up. Wallter gave a weak smile in return, gesturing everyone to follow behind.

"Before we head there, we never caught your name. Do you mind sharing who you are?" He calmly asked the person. He sighed, this time more happily, and unzipped the hood of his suit.

"Clover?!" Wallter exclaimed in surprise.

"Is korn in the house? Because that was a twist!" Pilby joked. Split snickered, knowing that was a joke that she let them steal.

Chapter Text

"How- when did you end up here, my friend?" Wallter asked Clover.

Clover zipped his hood up, "I was here since yesterday, me and a few other workers been looking for that tape." He began walking, and gestured everyone else to follow him. Everyone quickly ran back to the Regretevator.

Except Gnarpy.

Xe couldn't stand being in that elevator after so long, so xe hid under the bed and stayed until the coast was clear. However, what xe didn't know was that xe put xyr hand on some grey mold that was next to xem under the bed.

Gnarpy gagged, "Gross! What Zeebnib put this mold under the bed?!" Xe scrubbed it off on the bedsheets before crossing xyr arms and going to sleep vampire-style.

The regretevator doors opened to DrRETRO's lab. At long last, Wallter had returned. He quickly hopped onto the marble floors and greeted with every scientists that was apart of the H.E.B.W virus research.

"It's so nice to see you, Mx. Wallter," A mannequin wearing a scientist coat said as he shook Wallter's hand. Wallter's happy expression dulled down, and held his hand out to Clover. Clover handed the tape over to Wallter, who then handed it to Sam. The other scientists gathered around in joy as Sam presented the tape to them.

"Split, do you know what's happening?" Pilby asked Split. She shook her head and turned to Bive who hid behind her. She awkardly smiled before looking at Wallter and the scientists and researchers who were explaining the tape and all the research done during his absence.

"So, do you know who the woman was in the tape?" Wallter asked.

"That's Mae," Mannequin Sam answered. "She came to the hospital at first to get her sister checked out, then she sorta just joined the research project. We're not sure where she went, but she left a file of information about the virus in DrRETRO's office before one of the patients tried to escape and attacked some of us." He then put the file with the information inside onto the table. Wallter grabbed it and opened it, looking through the contents.

There was nearly everything Wallter knew about the virus in these documents containing the info: the symptoms and stages, the patients that were tested and experimented on, the logistics of the research, basically everything Wallter had knew and experienced through the time he worked there before nearly getting infected and living with Mannequin Mark and the others.

However, something was off.

Wallter had read everything documenting the virus and the research done,

Except for the last document.

"Stage 6?" Wallter read the title. Everyone in the regretevator gasped. "But it's only been days since stage 5 was discovered and announced!" He read the document carefully to the others both near him and in the regretevator...

"Stage 6:

1. Flesh begins to fall apart
2. Behavior has gotten worse to the point of "becoming a vicious, suicidal predator"
3. Pain remains as painful as ever
4. Internal bleeding in eyes begins to spread to the already rotting and decaying brain
5. Gum bleeding continues
6. Body heat becomes colder
7. Vomiting up entire organs
8. Body begins to deform so awfully to the point that it becomes akin to "the Rake" but somehow worse in a lot of ways (limbs, for example, become much longer due to the grey mold spreading to the broken bones)
9. Rotting worsens
10. Struggles to breath become worse
11. Starvation and dehydration due to the inability to consume food or liquids
12. Slowly beginning to die"

... Wallter finished and raised his head, looking as if doomsday was ahead of him. He began shaking as he stared at the document.

"How has it been this quick to discover it? How… how long has it took for Mae to discover it?” He questioned, his voice trembling with paranoia. Mannequin Sam looked down and crossed his arms.

"DrRETRO didn't recognize it, but the patient she was experimenting on was extremely close to stage 6. Mae and a few others wrote down the noticable changes in the patient's appearance and behaviors. It wasn't until Mae shot them in that tape when the rest of us discovered they were at that stage." He said, looking at a framed picture of her which was among tons of pictures of other scientists and patients on the wall. These were the ones the lab lost during research to multiple things, such as failed experiments and the virus taking them early.

Mannequin Sam didn't make any mention of it and continued, "We found the body of the patient and found how much longer the limbs were, and when me and three other scientists took DrRETRO to her office to have her rest on her chair, the file was discovered in one of the cabinets. So, we read through them and we're currently experimenting on the body while DrRETRO is being taken care of."

Wallter understood everything Mannequin Sam said to him in response and calmed down a bit.

But Mannequin Sam wasn't finished, "That wasn't the last thing we discovered today. Another certain patient had died during the attack, and we found that he was also in stage 6 before his death." Wallter's eyes widened.

"Which one?" He asked.

"The one in the first cage in the back of the patient room." Mannequin Sam said. Wallter sighed.

"Is it okay if I bring the others in the regretevator with me to see the patient?" He asked. Mannequin Sam nodded. "Nobody touch anything, including you, Bive." Everyone in the regretevator followed Wallter as he walked to another room in the lab. This room was where the patients, dead or alive, stayed while they get tested. Everyone kept quiet as they passed through the cages.

The cage in the far back of the room was covered with a blanket.

Upon taking the blanket and putting it on the cage above it revealed someone covered in another blanket.

Wallter carefully removed the blanket and...

Mannequin Mark gasped.

"Lampert! My boy" Mark shouted, running to Lambert's body. Mannequin Sam wasn't lying when he said that the "certain patient" was in stage 6 of the H.E.B.W virus. Lampert's body was stretched and broken, and some of his skin and flesh was on the ground. Blood pooled everywhere, and got onto Mark's hands as he held him close. Wallter placed a hand on his shoulder and tried to pull him away, but Mark slapped his hand.

"Mark, my friend! The body could infect you! Don't you see the grey mold around it?" Wallter said. Mark ignored that, he buried his head into Lampert's body and sobbed his heart out.

"Wallter, I loved him like my own boy! And now he's done gone!" He shouted at him as he cried. He suddenly stopped and looked at Lampert's face. His eyes were two x's, which felt like they mocked Mark as his crying went silent.

"Lampert, I'm real sorry. This is all my fault. I shouldn't have gone and left you in that damn Rokea."

Chapter Text

Lampert wandered through the isolated ROKEA, calling for Mannequin Mark.

"Mark! Where did you go? You forgot me!" He shouted as he ran through the area. He stopped once he saw a worker stocking plants and ran to him.

"Eh... Excuse me? Have you seen a Mannequin walk around here? He left me here."

"Nope, sorry." The worker responded as he put the last plant on the shelf and grabbed the box near his feet. "But mannequins are for sale for the low price of $700.50 if you want a new one."

Lampert sighed and look down at his feet. "No thanks, I just want Mannequin Mark to take me back home..." He walked away and kept searching. It took him hours, and he was slowly beginning to give up.

He found a bedroom and decided to take a break there. He unplugged the floor lamp and stuck his tail into the outlet, just as the lights went out.

Months passed by at this point, and nobody came to pick Lampert up. He slowly got used to it. Sure, it wasn't like his actual home where his friends and family were. But he's made friend here. Albeit, they don't usually think he's just Lampert. Often, he's treated like every other lamp there. He ignored it though, as he continuously waited for anyone to come looking for him.

On one particular day though, he met up with one old friend.

Wallter walked through the brick area, admiring the kinds of bricks there. He found a couple and shoved them into the shopping cart he was carrying. ROKEA was one of his best places to get his bricks and other wall materials. It was certainly better alone, even if he kinda missed his silly quarrels with Mannequin Mark. But he knew that it was one of the reasons he divorced him.

Lampert was just standing in the same bedroom as before, the one he's been in for months, when he noticed Wallter walking by.

He waved his arms around, "Wallter! Over here!" He smiled as he shouted. Wallter's thoughts were interrupted when he heard Lampert's voice and looked over. He spotted him and smiled. He left his cart and walked over to Lampert. The two hugged.

"It's so nice to see you, my bright friend!" Wallter said as he hugged him.

"It's so nice to see you, too!" Lampert said. Wallter let go and put his hands on his hips.

"How did you end up here?"

Lampert frowned. "Mark left me here. I don't know why." He quickly noticed Wallter get angry. Wallter crossed his arms and sighed. "Of course he would." He thought to himself as he looked away. The two went quiet. It got slightly awkward after Lampert admitted what happened.

"Er, if you see him, can you..."

"Talk to him about leaving you here? Of course..."

Wallter began to walk away, when Lampert grabbed his hand. "Hey, it was nice meeting you again."

Wallter looked back and smiled at him, "It was nice getting to see you again after quite a while. Hopefully Mark comes to get you again." He let Lampert let go off his hand and walked back to his cart to continue his shopping. Lampert watched as he was left alone, and got sad. He wished Wallter would've brought him along. He sighed and played with his tail as he watched him walk beside him.

A while later, two NPCs walked passed him. One got an idea. They stopped walking and nudged the other to look at Lampert.

"I just got the best idea ever," EmoTeenager said, pointing at him. "We should totally spray that lamp with water."

Emerson groaned and crossed his arms, "Emo, are you trying to kill yourself? You could get fucking electrocuted."

"So? It would be so funny if we just sprayed it and it just sets the place on fire."

"Why do I even hang out with you?" EmoTeenager ignored his question and pulled out a spray bottle from their backpack. They snuck over to where Lampert was standing, and when he wasn't looking, they sprayed him with water. Lampert quickly looked at them, beginning to sparkle with electricity.

"Hey now," He said. It was clear that he was being ignored as EmoTeenager kept spraying him with water. "This is dangerous, please stop doing that."

"Sure, dude." EmoTeenager said, continuously spraying Lampert with water.

Lampert got stern, "You're gonna stop doing that." He placed his arms on his hips.

"Pshh, or what? You're just some dumb lamp. Shouldn't you be on fire at this point?" They said, not stopping.

"You know that wetting fabrics can cause mold to form, right?"

After a while of getting completely wet with water, EmoTeenager was pulled away by Emerson.

"Dude, someone's gonna catch us, let's go." He said, pulling EmoTeenager by the arm. He pulled them away from Lampert and ran away as fast as he could. Lampert stood there, covered head to toe with water. He sighed and grabbed the blanket off the bed, drying himself with it. He was glad his tail wasn't plugged in, otherwise he would be on fire. He sighed and went to sleep, covering himself with the blanket.

In the morning, he felt weird.

Lampert woke up with something controlling the inside of his lampshade. He looked into a mirror and realized he wasn't shining like he used to. He also noticed he had bruises, scars, and skin flakes all over his body. He began to itch himself, it was extremely painful. He dropped to his knees as he itched himself like crazy. What was going on with his body? He ran away from the mirror and kept running. He didn't know where he was going, and quickly bumped into a player. He fell on the ground, still itching himself.

"Blegh," They said, pulling out a spray bottle. Lampert immediately widened his eyes with terrified familiarity at the bottle and growled. Before the player could spray it at him, Lampert lunged at them, knocking the bottle out of their hand and staring them down on the floor.

"Get off of me!" They cried out. Lampert's lampshade fell off his head.

Their eyes widened when they looked at him now.

His head was now a misshapen ball of grey mold. He snarled at them, revealing their teeth.

"Please, don't hurt me." The player said, audibly crying. Lampert raised his head.

And before he knew it, he bit straight into their neck.

They let a loud cry, which echoed through the ROKEA.

Chapter Text

"This is all jus' a bad nightmare I'm havin'" Mannequin Mark said, still holding onto Lampert. He held his face and sighed. "Please wake up..."

Wallter sighed and pulled him away, letting Lampert's body drop to the ground. "We need to go, I'm sorry Mark..." He said as he held onto him. Mark, however, struggled in his grasp. Wallter tried to ignore his struggling and pulled him out of the cage. He shushed him as he and the others left and walked back to the lab.

"Let m' go!" Mark cried out. "Gah! It's like you never cared for em'!"

Wallter stopped walking and stood there, still holding Mark. He looked at him angerly and sighed.

"But you probably never cared about me, my... Aquantaince." He said, continuing walking out of the patient room and into the lab. Mark's heart sank after hearing that; He just went silent as Wallter carried him before putting him down on the cold, hard floor of the lab. Clover was sitting down with their hands on the table, their head resting on it. When Wallter called their name, they quietly looked up and stood from the chair they were sitting on.

"So, are you back on the team?" Clover asked, holding his hand out. Wallter slightly cringed, crossing his arms. He had to think this out: All that time spent researching the virus and taking care of all those infected people, all that time he was nearly killed, all that would've gone down the drain if he didn't come back. But Wallter knew that Mark, Split, Bive, and Pilby kept him safe for such a small time. He felt so lonely without Mark. But he hated being reminded of his actions. But Wallter also has the lab.

It made him nearly break down.

He wanted to just let his emotions all out.

But he couldn't.

He sighed and held his hands, "I'm quite sorry, Clover, I need to run errands first. But I promise I'll be back, okay?" He felt an overwhelming urge to just end it all right there, but he kept his calm composure and smiled. Clover nodded and smiled.

"Oh, that's fine. Just come back by tomorrow." They said, holding his hand out again. Wallter shook their hand and sighed in relief.

"Alright, thank you for helping me get back here." Wallter responded, grabbing something from his pocket. It was a wrapped up piece of paper. "Bive wanted me to give this to you, in case if the clowns try and get the true cures."

"Oh! Was she being serious when she wrote it?" Clover chuckled and took the paper. Bive got a little iffy about that comment.

"Of course I was! You never know who's out to get you," Bive said, her hands on her hips. "Heh, alright. Whatever you say then." Clover responded, handing the note to someone else. Bive shrugged it off, believing him to give it to someone so they could research on it.

In actually, they probably just shredded it.

Back inside the Regretevator, Mark and Wallter avoided eye contact for the remainer of the ride while Infected plays around with the others. He found a box of cards near the patient room. Luckily, they didn't find any grey mold on either the box nor the cards.

Infected places a card on the floor, "4ny0ne g0t a gr33n?" Pilby places a green card, while Split grabs one off the pile of cards placed in the middle. Bive was too busy writing in her notebook to notice that it was her turn until Split gently nudged her shoulder. She quickly put the notebook down. "Which color?" She asked.

"Green." Split told her. Bive sighed and grabbed a green card off the pile. Everyone playing seemed to be enjoying the game, but Infected quickly noticed something was off: Gnarpy wasn't here.

His eyes widened, "Hey, Wh3re d1d Gn4rpy g0?" He asked. Everyone looked up from their cards, then at eachother.

"That's what I've been thinking before we got to the lab." Bive said.

"Same here." Pilby added, placing a blue card. "Anyone got a blue?" Everyone except Infected placed a blue card. Infected stopped playing and stood up. He seemed to be the only one who was worried about where Gnarpy went. He didn't even like xem.

"Guys! We need to find xem-" Infected said, but was suddenly cut off by the elevator stopping.

The elevator doors opened to the Shop Space floor. However, the place seemed more isolated than before. The inside, atleast. A couple of products were on the ground, some shelves were knocked down, and there was no sign of Enphoso anywhere. Everyone went inside the Shop Space cautiously.

Bive held her notebook and pen and wrote what was right in front of them as she walked around, "What could've happened? Could it be infected people?" She suddenly got more anxious as she wrote. "Could it be clowns?... Could it be infected clowns coming to kill us!? Could this be where they're hiding!?" She slid onto the floor, clutching the notebook close to her. She cradled herself onto the floor, hyperventilating. In about a second, Split came over to Bive in a hurry to see if she was okay. Bive looked at her and hugged her, grasping the back of her shirt.

"Split, the clown government must've set this up to get us infected, or worse!" Bive whisper-shouted, beginning to sob. Split hugged her back, rubbing her back and calming her down. Bive cried silently into her shirt. This must've been the second time she had broke down, except this was more of a mix between a breakdown and a panic attack.

Split calmly shushed her and held her tight. "There aren't any infected clowns here, Bivey. It's gonna be fine. Just focus on me, okay?" Her voice was like soft velvet, it eased Bive from her panic episode. Bive took a moment to breathe deeply to ease herself, still holding onto Split.

"I love you so much." She mumbled to her, burying her face into Split's body.

Split chuckled a little and smooched Bive's forehead, "I love you, too."

Meanwhile Wallter, Mark, Pilby, and Infected inspected the area. Wallter noticed that some of the products on the ground had blood and grey mold. Cautiously with a napkin, he picked up a box and looked at it. It was crushed heavily, but Wallter could recognize that this was a box of spaghetti. Spaghetti fell out of the box and onto the floor when Wallter picked it up. Pilby and Infected saw that the glass on the fridges that contained the cold stuff were all broken. Some had blood and brain matter, while others had grey mold on it.

"Golly, I'm scared," Pilby muttered. Infected looked at them, then noticed that they weren't wearing any shoes. He didn't want them to step on the glass, especially the ones with the mold. So, he took off one of his shoes and handed one to them.

Pilby took the shoe, confused with what Infected was doing. "What do I need one of your shoes for?" They asked.

"S0 you don't st3p on 4ny gl4ss." Infected replied. Pilby looked at the shoe, and was pretty sure that it wouldn't be their size. It was too small. They didn't want to come of as mean, so they tried to put it on. Turns out that they were right, the shoe could barely fit. They frowned and handed the shoe back to Infected.

Suddenly, something knocked on the door. Mark hopped over and looked to see who it was.

"Mark!" Enphoso shouted. He was standing outside, injured and frowning. Despite his expression, he was pretty happy to see other NPCs after spending his day trying to fight off infected players and NPCs. "I would say let me in, but an infected might come inside! You need to get back inside before they find me here!" Enphoso suddenly looked behind himself and saw a few more infected people lurking behind the shadows. He gasped before launching himself into the air and landing on top of them, crushing them. Mark was shocked, but kept calm. He hopped over to Wallter to warn him.

"Wallter! Brick boy!" Mark shouted at him, waving his arms around.

Wallter groaned, "You don't need to scream, what is it that you require?" He crossed his arms. He was pretty irritated by Mark's shouting. They had this conversation about him shouting when they're nearly a feet apart countless times, and it seemed like Mark never listened.

Mark, however, ignored the first thing he said and told him; "We gotta get outta here! There's a buncha infected people out there!" He pointed at the door. But as soon as he pointed, something began to crawl towards the door. Wallter gasped and ran over to the door. He grabbed the cashier register, opened the door, and threw it at the infected person's head. It groaned, holding its head in pain. Wallter shut the door closed and ran to the back of the store. Mark followed him. Pilby noticed them going and got paranoid.

The infected person shook its head and grabbed the cashier register. It then threw it at the door, shattering the glass. Pilby screamed, but Infected covered their mouth and dragged them with him to the back. They both sat in a corner. Bive and Split immediately knew what's up and ran to the same corner. The infected used a shelf to steady itself up, and spotted the four grouped together in that corner. It used the shelf to help walk towards them. Infected got up and ran across the shop, grabbing a bloody glass off the floor and pointing it at the infected person.

"D13! X(" He shouted at it, stabbing it in the eye with the glass. The infected person shrieked and covered their face, walking backwards. Infected wasn't done, however, as he kicked it in the shin and began to stomp on its leg. The two got into a fight, as the infected person pulled his ankle and made him trip. Wallter soon had to stop the fight and ran to the middle of the store where Infected and the infected person were fighting.

He pulled the infected person off of Infected, "Run, go! Get the others inside the elevator!" Wallter held the infected person in his arms.

"Wallter, are ya crazy!? That thang could bite you!" Mark cried out.

"Mark, I'm going to take care of it, just go." Wallter responded, throwing the infected person onto the ground. He grabbed a broken piece of glass, and with both hands, was ready to put this creature out of its misery, when all of a sudden...

...

Chomp.

"Wallter!"

The infected person bit Wallter's arm. It sucked on his blood for a moment before Wallter could stab it in the neck. He stabbed its neck until it coughed up blood and died. Wallter weakingly stood up, holding his arm in pain. He began running towards the elevator, before tripping and falling to the ground.

Everything started to get blurry as Wallter passed out from the bite.

"Split! Help em!" Mark cried, grasping Split's shirt. They quickly ran and grabbed Wallter, carrying him into the regretevator. Mark grabbed a box of matches on the ground. He sighed, swiping down on the sandpaper side of the matchbook. He stared at the fire for a moment,

"Sorry, Enphoso."

He threw the match into the store and watched it burst into flames as the regretevator doors closed.

Chapter Text

"It'll be alright, Wallter," Mannequin Mark said, rubbing Wallter's forehead. Wallter laid down on the floor as he ached; he seemed to have gotten ill pretty quickly, but he didn't show any signs of stage one of the virus. Still, he felt like his blood was liquidating inside of his skin. "Just stay brave."

"I'm trying to be." Wallter muttered, holding his face. He managed to pick himself up, but only slightly. He leaned against the wall

Everyone was still in the regretevator. Infected had left to the Happy Home Party, and it was just Mark, Wallter, and the other three now. Pilby was in a corner with Split comforting both them and Bive. Mark looked over and frowned. Everyone was in such a terrible state. It made him guilty.

Mark suddenly realized something: This whole virus seemed to be against him. He isn't infected yet, but the H.E.B.W virus was taking out all of the people he loved. Lampert was patient zero, there were a couple of infected mannequin Mark saw, and now it seems as Wallter had contracted the virus. There was something off about this coincidence that Mark began to fell this empty pit in his wooden heart.

He didn't even notice the flow of tears fall from his eyes to the floor as he watched over Wallter. He waited for the regretevator to stop at the mall just so he could go rest in bed. In about a couple of minutes, the regretevator doors opened to the SharkCo Mall. Mark helped Wallter up and lended him to Split, who held his hand to help him walk to the bunker with them. The five had a silent walk there, the smell of Poob and Pest's corpses hitting them like a shovel in the face. They tried to ignore it, but Split had to clench her nose because of the stench.

"We're gonna have to get rid of the bodies." She said, shivering because of the memory of Poob's corpse relapsing in her head. Bive nodded as she wrote in her notebook.

"I have a couple of ideas on how..." Bive muttered. Split looked at her confused before looking over at the entrance of the bunker. Upon arrival, Mark opened the door and climbed down first. Everyone followed him, entering the bunker.

"Okay Wallter, some of my family members recently mailed us stuff to survive here. And my nana got us this medicine for skin diseases." Split said as she presented the ointment to Wallter who laid in his bed. The bottle was orange with a blue cap. She took the cap off and grabbed a nearby cloth. "Now, remove your scarf, I don't wanna miss any place."

"Err uh, Split?" Mark said as Wallter took his scarf off. Split looked at him with a small "hm?" noise coming from her mouth. "Can I apply the ointmen' to em'? I mean, I applied sunscreen to em' before." Wallter shook his head, but Split thought for a moment.

"I guess if you really want to. I don't wanna touch infected skin, could give me a rash!" Split chuckled before realizing how dumb her joke was. She shrugged it off despite being a bit disappointed in herself and handed the oilment and cloth to Mark. Wallter couldn't argue with her because as soon as she got up and walked away, Mark began applying the oilment to his skin. Wallter winced, the oilment felt cold on his skin and it stung pretty badly. But he stayed strong for Mark. That's when he began thinking about stuff.

He thought about it, and realized that he had the right to divorce Mark. Mark never liked the things he liked: He never loved concrete, and he always hated gray stuff. That was unforgivable to Wallter. He never even liked using wood to build. What made him think marrying someone made of wood would be different?

Well, maybe it's because he loved that "someone made of wood." Even if he didn't, there was no way their marriage would last six years before Wallter divorced Mark.

Wallter had this feeling of anger bubble up inside of him, but he needed to stay calm. He needed to stay calm for Mark. For the others. For their safety. He didn't want to end up like Poob. He was frightened that he'd end up hurting someone like, if he knew, Poob did.

Wallter snapped out of his thoughts when he felt Mark rub the arm with the bite mark on it with the ointment. It hurt like hell. Wallter bared his teath in pain, shutting his eyes.

The night ended up being fairly normal. After he finished putting the ointment on Wallter, Mark cooked a can of beans and rice for dinner. Bive decided to give Split a few empty notebooks she had laying around as a gift. They both drew pictures with Pilby before dinner and put them on the wall, creating a collage of drawings. Wallter had lost his appetite after getting bitten, so he just slept while everyone else had their dinner.

As the moon shined above, everyone besides Wallter got ready for bed. Split wrote in one of the notebooks after putting on her pajamas. She had been gifted them from her mother after she found out about her successful gameshow and comedy career. They were a light orange dress adorned with small bananas. Split is extremely grateful for the pajamas and hasn't slept without them since.

Bive didn't have much clothes other than a few t-shirts and her signature detective coat, but Split was grateful enough to gift her some of her own. Though, Bive thought she looked a bit silly wearing an oversized shirt with a banana on it. But it smelled like Split, so it wasn't a problem. She laid on the bottom bunk of her bed and watched Split write.

"So, uh, what are you writing about?" Bive asked, grabbing the blanket and laying it over herself. Split looked at her and smiled.

"Oh, just journaling about my day and writing something for my family. Also wrote some jokes if you want to hear some." Split responded, holding the notebook in her hands. Bive yawned, which was admittingly very adorable to her.

"Maybe in the morning during breakfast?" Bive said, laying her head down on the pillow under her. Split chuckled.

"Sounds good." She said, crawling towards her. She smooched Bive's cheek before before feeling her hair. "Goodnight, Bivey."

Bive held Split's hand on her shirt and smiled at her, "Goodnight, Splitsy." She blushed before going to sleep. Split internally squealed when she heard Bive's nickname for her. She wrote in her book: "And now Bivey called me Splitsy! I love her so much. ♡"

Bivey woke up as if she had a strange nightmare that had her thinking "What in the developers' names was that?". She carefully crawled out of bed, wishing the bed above was higher. She cautiously watched Split sleeping. She felt butterflies flutter around in her stomach, but thinking about that made her queasy. Nonetheless, she felt so warm watching her hopefully-now lover sleep. Bive noticed the book Split was writing in and decided to take a quick look. It felt weird reading something that was probably so personal but in Bive's opinion, "if the clowns can create such strange moving pictures that destroy any realism that it could be going for to mind control everyone into joining them," then she could take just one peep into Split's notebook.

She opened the book to the second page and read the writing in her head:

"Hello! It's me. I know I don't write much to you guys anymore, and I'm peely sorry for that, but I just want to say that I'm still okay. Even after everything these past couple of days, I'm still pretty healthy. I've been living in a bunker with a few of friends, one of which I'm planning to ask out on a date. Other than that, I'm writing this to say that I miss you all. Mama, Pops, any of my siblings, if you find this, I love you all. Including you, Nan. I hope you're doing good. I miss you a lot and hopefully I can get out of here to see you all again. Stay safe out there! Have a banan-astic day! Haha!

Love, Split ♡"

After finishing reading, Bive was left speechless. But in a good way. Split must love her family so much. Her words and the way she writes all feel so endearing and genuine. And the heart at the end of her name was just one of the most adorable things ever. Bive was just obsessed with her. She looked at and admired the letter for almost thirty minutes before frowning in realization.

She quietly placed the notebook back to where it was and walked out of the room. She found the stairs and climbed it until she reached the door. It was locked, so Bive had to go back to find the key. After that, she ran to the middle of the mall with a trash bag in her hand. She then picked up the shovel on the ground, dug up the dirt from the tree, and found Pest and Poob's bodies. They hadn't fully decomposed yet, still having skin and flesh on their bones. But Bive picked a few bones from each body that didn't contain any of that stuff and put them inside the bag. She then used the shovel to scoop off some of the flesh into the same bag.

"Can't believe I'm, or any of the people at that lab, are doing this for research." Bive thought to herself as she closed the bag and dragged it to the regretevator. She threw it inside, pressed the button that leads the regretevator to DrRETRO's lab, and quickly ran back to the bunker. But not before burying the bodies again with dirt. She had made enough time to get back to her bed.

Chapter Text

"Can't believe I'm, or any of the people at that lab, are doing this for research."

...

Back when the group was in DrRETRO's lab, Bive decided to start sneaking around to find any secrets the lab may have. She managed to "borrow" a bunch of files, papers, and staff members' phone numbers before anyone would notice and put them all inside of her coat. During the attack in the Shop Space, Bive had accidentally dropped and lost a bunch of the stuff she took. All that stuff later got burned in the fire Mannequin Mark started.

Bive secretly read through the files and papers to herself, and had been calling someone behind the group's back. The person she was calling was someone by the name of Mach.

She was someone who used to work for DrRETRO, but left to find infected players, much like Wallter. Mach claimed that she was infected by a friend of her's but was cured after cooking and eating a piece of their leg after they died. She also told Bive that she drank their blood which made her feel better. Mach said that "while the cure isn't discovered yet, the cannibalism and blood drinking might be apart of it."

She ordered Bive to go research this cure by digging up pieces of Pest and Poobs' corpses and sending them inside the regretevator. Mach also told her to get "a jug of fresh blood." She didn't mention what kind, so Bive assumed that it could be anyone's blood.

But Bive wasn't concerned about that now, as she continued reading the documents she had for the rest of the night.

Split woke up and stretched. She felt a lot more calm now that she was in the bunker. She yawned as she crawled over to Bive to wake her up.

"Hey Bivey, wake up!" Split said, shaking her. Bive quickly got up, rubbing her eyes behind her glasses. She had fallen asleep exactly ten minutes before Split woke up. She readjusted her glasses and smiled at her.

"Good morning, Splitsy! I, uh, today is a beautiful morn- morning, isn't it?" Bive awkwardly chuckled, holding the blanket close to her. She tried to hide the documents and files under that blanket, and it seemed to be working.

Split chuckled as well, "Hopefully! I'll go wake up Pilby, Mark, and Wallter," She got up, but Bive grabbed her hand.

"I'll come with you! I-I mean, if you want me to?" She said, blushing as she held Split's hand. Her hands were really soft. Split sighed happily, nodded, and helped Bive out of bed. "I can go, uh, wake up Mark." Bive put a hand on her shoulder and rubbed it, looking over at Mark sleeping on the top of his and Bive's bunk bed.

"That's fine." Split said, walking to Pilby and gently shaking them awake. Pilby woke up feeling a little miserable, but it wasn't out of the blue for them. They've been depressed for years. They rubbed their eyeballs and yawned.

"Morning, Split." They said as they got out of bed. "Do you think Sundae or mama got either of my letters to them?"

Split thought for a second before she replied, "You just sent them yesterday, Pilby! Just wait for a while, they'll be sure to reply to em' in lickity-split." She wrapped an arm around Pilby. Pilby sighed and looked at Bive who shook Wallter awake.

"Shoot! You couldn't have woke me up in a less aggressive manner?" Mark shouted, holding his head because he hit it when he woke up. "You could've knocked the wood outta me!" He groaned before he climbed down the ladder. Bive followed him, jumping off on the last step. She, Mark, and the others look over at Wallter who slept in the opposite direction of them.

"Should we...?" Pilby asked, grasping their hands together.

"Of course, Wallter gotta rise on up!" Mark laughed to himself before hopping over to Wallter.

Wallter was sleeping on his side, hugging his pillow. He seemed to have gotten worse: his skin had small scars and bruises all over, and ooze was coming out of one eye. He was also chewing on the pillow he was sleeping with. Mark hopped on top of him and began jumping on him. Wallter groaned as he woke up. He then grabbed Mark by the stand and threw him onto the floor. Split ran over to see if he was okay while Bive and Pilby cautiously walked over to them. Wallter ignored the others and sluggishly sat up on his bed. He itched a bit of his skin as Split helped Mark up.

"Morning." Wallter said, as he scratched himself. He tried to get up from bed, but sat back down weakly. He sighed.

"Good morning," Split said. She focused on Walter as he sat there on his bed. "I think you should just rest, you are still very ill." She grabbed the ointment from before and handed it to him. Wallter carefully opened the cap, the aroma hitting him with an instant. Mannequin Mark wanted to help but Wallter pushed him away. He wanted to do it by himself this time.

Bive watched Wallter apply the ointment on his damaged skin when an idea popped up in her head. She could use Wallter's blood to fill up a jug. It was a crazy idea, but Bive couldn't risk hurting the others. Because unlike Wallter, they were perfectly healthy. Bive rubbed her hands together as Wallter continued applying the ointment.

Split felt very anxious, and seeing Bive smirk to herself while rubbing her hands wasn't helping. "What could she be thinking about?" Split thought to herself. She crossed her arms and frowned at Bive, before Mark spoke.


"Split, How 'bout I fix up some breakfast?" Mark asked. Split lost track of her thoughts and looked at him. She began thinking about the rations left in the bunker. They planned to go out to get supplies each Sunday, Monday, and Saturday, but they would come back with some or even most stuff missing because the regretevator often stops at random floors.

And the group were beginning to run low on floor tickets, so they were often forced to hide from infected people. They were lucky that they, except Wallted, haven't gotten infected yet.

Split thought about this and sighed. "I'm not sure if we even have any food left." She replied. Split went to the pantry in the kitchen, where most of the food was, and opened the doors. There was some stuff, but half required milk. And Bive was lactose intolerant. Luckily, Split did find a big bag of charcoal in the back. She thought for a moment and had an idea.

"Do we have a grill here?" Split asked. Mark looked up and got confused.

"No? I don't think so." He said.

"Shoot." Split looked down, when another idea came to her. She put the bag down and walked to the door. She opened the door to the stairs that lead them up to the front door.

"Uh, Split?" Bive looked at Split, crossing her arms. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to find a grill around here." Split said before climbing the stairs. Bive began to feel distress after watching her go. She bit her fingernails as she stood there. Mark hopped up the stairs and followed Split, leaving the three of them alone. Bive's thoughts went on a mental rollercoaster as she looked around: She looked at Pilby and thought of the cure which was the clown militia experimenting on you. She looked at the stairs and analyzed the rust on the handles, thinking about the cure which was just old rust. She looked at Wallter, but didn't think about a cure she had. Instead, Bive remembered what she was supposed to be doing.

She took the time to think of how to get Wallter's blood without them noticing.

A little while later, Split and Mark returned with faces of defeat. Bive rushed over to Split instantly.

"What happened? Did you guys not find a grill?" She asked. Split nodded and looked down in shame. She slightly perked up when she noticed Pilby.
"Well, I guess we can just get one from somewhere. I know a guy." Bive's mood shifted when she heard Split say that. She began feeling extremely upset because of the last time the group went to get supplies. She didn't want Split to get infected like Wallter. She never wanted Split to go. Bive ran over to the kitchen to find other stuff inside the pantry. There wasn't much food that could be considered breakfast. Some were more dinner meals while others were just snacks. She grabbed a couple of box and placed them on the counter.

"Why not some pancakes?" Bive asked Split, holding the pancake mix to her face.

Split frowned a little, "Bive, pancakes have milk in them. We don't have any milk, and you're lactose intolerant." Bive frowned and looked through the pantry. She sighed when she realized that they're gonna have to go get breakfast food. Split hummed and walked out of the kitchen. Bive followed her, beginning to shake more. She didn't know why, but this wasn't good. That's when she looked at Wallter, who fell back to sleep.

She couldn't take it anymore, she needs his blood.


Bive looked at Split, "Uhm, Split? Maybe I should take care of Wallter while you guys go get stuff." She said. Split thought for a second before she could answer.

"I guess so," Split responded. She felt pretty stressed, but she just hugged Bive and kissed her cheek. Bive's face went read.

Mark got jealous, but he just smiled fakingly and waited for Split and Pilby to get ready. The three then left, leaving Bive in charge of caring for Wallter.

That's when Mach called up again.

Chapter Text

"One second, Wallter! I, er, have a call." Bive excused herself and ran into the bathroom. She dusted her coat, answered the call, and put her phone to her ear to hear Mach. "Hello?"

"Bive! Good to hear from you. Are you alone?" Mach said on the phone. On the other line, she was walking around the WHEEL OF stage with her phone on her ear. She was swinging her large hammer around and was covered in blood.

Bive leaned against the bathroom wall looking into the mirror. "Well, I'm home with Wallter. The others just left minutes ago." She said as she twirled a strand of her hair with her finger.

"That's perfect!" Mach said. She picked up a decapitated head on the ground and hit it with her hammer. Besides just that head, there were a couple of dead bodies around the floor. But Mach couldn't care less, they added to her body count. She at least had something to do now that she was the only one alive there. "You said he was infected, right?"

"Oh, yes. He's still in stage 1, I'm guessing the process is going pretty slow." Bive replied. She looked around for a moment before opening a cabinet. She looked inside for a moment, waiting for Mach to say something.

"Good, I'll help you get his blood. Just follow my directions and you should have a gallon of blood in no time." Mach said. Bive nervously nodded before leaving the bathroom. She walked up to Wallter who was still asleep and stared at him.

She checked his temperature before going back to Mach on the phone, "Okay, uh, what do I need to do first?" She began whispering at this point as she didn't want to wake Wallter up. She was awfully anxious about this, she needed to get a cure but she didn't think that she'd actually go this far.

"Well, since he's made of concrete, try using a hammer if you have one laying around." Bive thought for a second when Mach said that and realized that Mannequin Mark usually leaves his hammer on his bunk bed. She climbed the stairs to the bunk bed and threw off the pillows. Mark's hammer was underneath the pillows and Bive grabbed them without a second thought. She jumped off the last step and paced towards Wallter.

"Okay, I got one.” Bive stared at the hammer, and then at Wallter. She almost dropped the hammer because of how shaky she was. She nonetheless eagerly waited for the next step.

"Great! Now, if you can, try to bash Wallter on any part and use the bleeding part to fill a jug." Mach began chuckling to herself as she thought of what would actually happen. She grabbed a chair and sat on it. "Wait, you do have a jug, right?"

"Yes, I do." Bive said, holding an empty milk jug.

"I think I'm ready."

She cautiously put the milk jug on the floor, the hammer in her hand shaking. And with two hands, Bive aimed the hammer at Wallter. She closed her eyes before...

BANG!

She struck Wallter's arm. Wallter lunged forward, screaming in pain. Bive covered her ears and backed away slightly. He looked at her and scowled, holding his now-bleeding arm.

"What is wrong with you? Why would you commit such an act?!" Wallter shouted at Bive. She quickly used the hammer and hit Wallter in the head, knocking him out cold. She then proceeded to break Wallter's arm by beating it senselessly with the hammer. Blood poured out of the wounds, filling the jug slightly.

This wasn't enough.

Bive continued to mutilate Wallter's body to fill the jug. She couldn't bare killing him and putting him out of his misery, so she pulled out a stolen syringe and extracted more blood. At the end, the jug was now halfway full. She checked his heartbeat: It was still beating, albeit irregularly and slower. Mach listened to the whole thing nonchalantly. Her mind was more focused on someone else.

Bive carefully placed a blanket over Wallter and looked at the jug. She picked it up and examined it. She herself was now covered in the blood of Wallter. What was she going to tell the others?

She sighed, "The jug is half full now." She went to the kitchen to clean the jug and the hammer.

"Good job." Mach said. She chewed on her nails as she thought of what to say next. "Well, I guess since you went through all that trouble, that should be enough." Bive was immediately flabbergasted and dropped the hammer. She didn't think this was right. Mach specifically asked for a full jug.

"No, No! I, I got this! I can get even more blood! Wait just a minute." Bive then put Mach on hold and ran into the kitchen. She put the jug on the table, grabbed a knife, and then proceeded to do the unspeakable.

Bive watched the bloop seep through the cuts of her wrists. She had to shake them to get the blood inside of the jug. It was barely enough, but Bive would have to kill herself in order to get more blood. So she was now left with a jug full of blood, a mutilated Wallter, and a bunch of cuts on her wrists. She was officially done. Bive cleaned up after herself by washing the floors and the items used to hurt herself and Wallter. The only thing left to do was deliver the blood and do something with her coat, which was covered in both her and Wallter's blood.

Bive grabbed the jug and a bag and left the bunker. She shoveled the corpses of Pest and Poob inside the bag and put Mach off hold. "Alright Mach, I filled the jug even more and now the lab can get the resources needed for the research to the cure!" She smiled as she dragged the bag into the regretevator and placed the jug on the regretevator floor. She pushed a button that sends to DrRETRO's lab and quickly escaped out of there. 

However, Mach suddenly hang up on Bive. Bive sighed, thinking that her efforts were probably fruitless. She trudged back to the bunker and disposed of her coat into the trashcan outside. Bive took a long shower, but that's when she noticed something was off about her body: Her skin/hair itched and ached when the water touched it and her right eye began hurting. She sat in the tub and went into a fetal position, itching herself like crazy. 

It seems that the virus has got to her when Wallter's blood got all over her.

Speaking of Wallter, after he was knocked out and mutilated by Bive, he had began dreaming.

He dreamt that he was in a black void with a spotlight shining upon him. His body is weak, and he notices a ring in his hands. He looks at a curtain which reveals Mannequin Mark behind it. The curtain closes again, this time revealing Mark as an infected, mutilated mess. His organs were everywhere, and he just stared at Wallter with his only eye.

"I love you." Infected Mark said before acid was dropped onto him. He let a blood-curling scream as he melted away. Wallter watched and tried to help, but dropped to the floor. He got onto his knees as tears began forming. But he couldn't cry. A large shadowy figure with a terrifying face placed a hand on Wallter's shoulder.

"He doesn't love you. He never loved you. You don't deserve a man who probably wants you dead. It's all his fault. Kill him. Kill him. Kill him." The figure began repeating the last part, its voice getting more deeper and distorted as loud screaming rang in Wallter's ears. He covered his ears, wanting it to all be over. He found a knife and a dislocated hand on the ground. The hand began floating and picked up the knife. The words "Do it" and "Don't do it" popped up.

Wallter was about to choose the second option, but it disappeared.

Wallter stopped dreaming before the hand would stab him. But he didn't wake up yet.

The bunker was now filled with silence.

Bive laid on her bed, struggling to come to terms that she had just sacrificed her health to find the cure. And Wallter was still knocked out.

It was only until the others arrived that Wallter woke up.

And they brought company with them this time.

Chapter Text

"Bivey, Wallter, we're home!" Split shouted as she opened the door. Wallter didn't reply, but he wasn't "asleep" anymore. Bive quickly got up and ran towards Split, hugging her tightly. Bive had been crying, but she didn't anyone to notice. She covered her right eye with her hand and waved at Split and the others, when she noticed a familiar friend next to Pilby.

"Oh! Infected! You guys brought him here?" Bive asked crossing her arms. Infected was being carried by Mannequin Mark and Pilby by his arms. His left leg was just broken and limp.

"Yes, he wanted to come with us after a bad experience he had." Split answered. She quickly noticed that something was off. The smell of blood hit her and she could tell it was coming from the bunker. "Uh, Bive? Where's your coat?"

"Oh, uh, I just wanted to change into something more comfortable." Bive grinned. She coughed into her mouth but acted like everything was normal. She helped Infected into their bedroom and let him sit on the bottom bunk of her and Mark's bed. She sat next to Bive and gave her a reassuring smile. But Split still felt that something was terribly wrong.

Bive still tried to keep cool. "So Infected, tell me what happened." She said. Infected then told Bive the whole story of what happened.

Infected crawled into of the tent he had been living in. It had gotten pretty cold and dark out on the Happy Home Party floor where Infected left after yesterday. Infected only had a sleeping bag and a drawing tablet found in the rubbles of the happy home inside of the tent. Infected couldn't find food anywhere, but he was too tired to go anywhere at this point. He decided to try and rest so he could go to some store tomorrow.

But Infected couldn't fall asleep. He laid inside of his sleeping bag, but couldn't rest. He managed to sit up and ended up going on the drawing tablet. He started making a little animation...

Teh epic adventures of Infected!

The animation was basically a retelling of what happened to Infected but in his perspective. He spent nearly two hours working on the animation.

That's when he heard a noise outside.

Infected left the tent to discover what it was. He found a flashlight on the grass and picked it up. The light flickered often but worked fine. Infected wandered around the floor to see if anyone was there. There were some corpses laying around, though a few were from the boulder that hit the home nearly years ago. Infected was about to give up, thinking it was just some animal, when something called his name.

"Infect... ted..." Something groaned behind him. It was dark outside, so when Infected turned around, he saw nothing.

That was when he shined the flashlight.

Unpleasant's body was wrapped around a tree. Its blood poured down the oak and its body was stretched across the tree. Organs layed besides the tree and on the branches.

Unpleasant coughed. "Infected... Ugh"

"Unple4sant!" Infected shouted in shock. He slowly backed away and covered his mouth. He felt even more sick than before just by looking at the state Unpleasant was in. Unpleasant kept coughing up some substance as it stayed there.

"Wh4t happ3ned 2 y0u?"

"Ohio... Rizzler... Run now." The true monster said, sliding down the tree. It unwrapped its body to reveal itself. It was a stage 6 infected robloxian, whose body stretched longer than Unpleasant's life expectancy. Its red eyes pierced through Infected's soul as it reached out to him. Infected froze in place.

"OH G0D!" Infected screamed before running away. He ran as fast as he could as the robloxian chased after him. He tripped on a rock and sprained his ankle, but threw the rock at its face and ran towards the Regretevator. However, the robloxian grabbed his foot. Infected screamed as it broke his left leg. He almost got infected (pun not intended) but the robloxian began choking. It was beginning to suffocate from the struggle to breathe in oxygen, letting Infected get the chance to run for it. He hopped over to the regretevator, pressed a random button, and watched the robloxian slowly die from lack of oxygen as the doors closed.

"And then we found him sleeping outside of the Glorp n' Go and took him in." Pilby added as Infected finished telling the story.

Bive listened carefully, "Well, at least we're here to help." She gave Infected a thumbs up and smiled. Infected smiled and Pilby helped him up.

"So what should we do now?" Pilby asked carrying Infected. Mark thought of something and remembered that smell from earlier. His heart sank when he thought something awful must've happened inside of the bunker. It must be something that happened to Wallter.

He gasped and hopped out of the room. Bive ran after him, not wanting to find out the truth.

Mark hopped as far as he could. Bive lunged at him, the two tumbling towards Wallter's bed. Bive held Mark in her arms, detaining him and preventing him from taking the sheet off Wallter.

Mark, however, used his stand to pull the blanket off.

His eyes widened when he saw Wallter's body.

"No, Brick boy..." Mark whispered covering his mouth. He slowly backed away, speechless and shocked at the sight he was seeing. His wooden heart pounded as he looked at the bloody corpse of his ex husband. The world seemed to spiral in his eyes as he took a long stare at his body. Mark felt chills down his spine when he looked at Wallter's eyes that stared at him. He flinched when Wallter opened his mouth to speak.

"Mark..." Wallter cried in agony. Mark felt tears in his eyes.

"Who did this t' ya?" Mark asked. Wallter stared at Bive and pointed at her. Bive's eyes widened and, in nearly a second, ran for the door. She opened it and left the bunker. Split ran after her, but stopped in her tracks when she saw Wallter sit up. She gasped when Wallter looked at her.

"I'm sorry." Wallter whispered. He covered his mouth and coughed. He looked down at the floor. Split went to go find Bive and Mark hugged Wallter as he cried. Suddenly, Wallter could feel the urge to just end Mark. He remembered the dream he had. This voice in his head began to repeat those words it said in the dream.

"He doesn't love you. He never loved you. You don't deserve a man who probably wants you dead. It's all his fault. Kill him."

Wallter couldn't take it anymore.

He grabbed Mark's helmet. He shushed him before attempting to break his neck, when he heard someone scream. Mark pushed himself away and looked behind him, seeing Pilby and Infected watching the whole thing. Tears ran down Pilby's cheeks as they looked at Wallter who realized what he was just doing.

"I. I." Wallter tried to say something but couldn't. He sighed and tried to walk away from Mark. But Mark kept following him. The two got into an argument.

.

"What were ya tryin' to do!?" Mark shouted as he followed Wallter.

"I was trying to take your life!" Wallter shouted back at Mark.

"Why would you try n' do such a thing!?"

"Because I just don't know if I should be around you anymore! Can't you see? We should've never married eachother. You never loved me. You never cared about the things I like. You always get angry whenever I try to defend the delicacies of concrete and grey stuff! You never even gave me flowers in the six godforsaken years we've been married for. You don't deserve to with someone like me. And now, I feel as if you don't deserve to live and breathe the same air as everyone else. I'm sorry, Mark. But you need to go."

Mark screamed as Wallter pounced on him, choking him with both hands. He looked up and saw Pilby holding both Infected and his hammer. Mark held his hand out for the hammer. Pilby handed it to him, and was splattered in blood as Mark stroke Wallter in the head with said hammer. Mark bashed Wallter's head in and killed him in a span of minutes. He took a moment to catch his breath, dropping the hammer.

He hugged Pilby and Infected and began sobbing a lot. He had just murdered the one he loved. He was a monster. He wondered why Wallter ever loved him. Now Mark had just ended the life of someone who was important to him. The man he loved was now gone, all thanks to him. He let go and hopped out of the bunker, leaving Infected and Pilby alone.

... "Wait, h0w did W4llter g3t 1nf3ct3d anyway?" Infected asked Pilby. Pilby took a moment to sob before they could answer.

"Mark mentioned that the concrete was like some shell for his flesh and stuff..." Pilby muttered. They wiped their nose before saying anything else. "I'm gonna go see where their going. Stay here."

"Alright..." Infected stayed put inside of the bunker as Pilby left.

Chapter Text

Bive ran into the Regretevator. But Split managed to get in at the last moment. She hugged Bive as she sobbed. She held her as close as possible before pulling her away.

"Why, why did you try and kill Wallter?" She asked, grasping Bive by the arms. Bive was crying too much to answer. She could feel the disease around the regretevator, as well as the virus inside of her body. She was genuinely freaking out. Bive couldn't move, Split's grasp was too tight. All Bive could do is cry as she tried to explain what she did.

"The... The cure..." Bive managed to utter. "What?" Split let go after hearing Bive utter that. Bive crossed her arms and began to cough due to the sore throat she got from crying so much. She took a few deep breathes before she could fully explain.

"I'm working on the cure. So I took some files and papers from DrRETRO's lab and I called this woman named Mach. She told me to go dig up the bodies in the tree and carry the parts to DrRETRO's lab. And she also told me to go deliver blood. I had to beat Wallter with a hammer just to fill up a jug and send it to DrRETRO's lab. I'm so sorry Split."

Bive took a moment to breathe before looking at Split. Her face showed pure shock as she stared blankly at her. Split couldn't believe it. The woman she loved was now someone who robbed the grave of not only one of her best friends but that best friend's friend as well, as well as the one who could've killed one of the people in their group. All just to find a cure. Or at least according to this Mach lady. Bive did all of this just to find the cure to end this pandemic. But at what cost? Now Wallter is probably in the bunker in his bed dead. And the others must be so traumatized.

And Bive couldn't try and hide it anymore.

Split backed away. Bive felt this sense of guilt rise up inside of her but when she tried to talk to her again, the regretevator doors opened.

Miché leaped across the KRUMBL KUBE floor from one of the pedestals and into the Regretevator. He dusted himself off as he walked to the back and looked around the regretevator. He spotted Split and Bive who were both standing across the regretevator. He didn’t take much notice to the fact Split was in a distressed mood and Bive shaking more than usual and pulled out a small mirror to do his blush.

Split looked at him before looking at Bive. She still was in shock of what she did, and didn’t say anything as Bive pressed the button to DrRETRO’s lab. Bive regretted everything at this point but she couldn’t do anything at this point. She watched the doors closed and dropped to her knees. She just waited for the regretevator to arrive at the lab. But then, she noticed something standing in front of her. She looked at what was standing and shrieked a little.

It was a black figure that had long hair that reached down to their knees. They wore a lab coat, rain boots, a sun hat, and grey sunglasses. They crouched down and removed their sunglasses to look at Bive more clearly.

"Who are you!? Are you a government spy? A clown in disguise? The people who voice over those weird commercials about medication to trick the elderly that dying can happen multiple times in the afterlife!?" Bive shouted, trying to look away from the figure. They put their hands on her shoulder and made her stay still.

"No. I'm a lab accident much like you." The figure said. "I say you and Split need to form a suicide pact. If the cure ends up being fake, and you've been infected, ending it all is the only way to get away from this nightmare fest. There is no hope left."

Bive shook her head as she listened. She couldn't just throw her life away just because of some figure. It must all be in her imagination. She couldn't even fathom hearing the idea of ending it all with someone she could've gotten together with and married. She loved Split, and she wanted the virus to be over, but she didn't want to end it all with her. Especially since she believed the cure would be real.

The figure hugged her as she pondered. She noticed this and hugged back, burying her face into the back of their shirt. She closed her eyes for a moment as she hugged them. But when she opened her eyes after hearing the regretevator doors open, the figure was gone. The whole time, Split heard her scream so she went to check on her. She ended up hugging Bive, remembering how much she loves her. After letting Bive go, Miché suddenly screamed when he looked inside of the lab.

Blood and body parts were everywhere. A bunch of corpses laid around the lab floors as Mach poured blood onto the floor. She looked at the regretevator and noticed Miché.

Mach was also infected, but she infected herself using a syringe with the H.E.B.W virus in it. She had cut off most of her face and her clothes were tattered heavily. She continued to pour blood and gestured Miché to come in. He jumped onto the table and hissed at her.

“Why did you bring me here!?” He yelled at Mach. He raised his claw at her, ready to strike her face. But Mach rolled her eyes.

”You know why.” Mach held a syringe directly at Miché’s throat as she got prepared to stab him with it. But she dropped it and wiped some blood off her chin. “Maybe if you weren’t such a menace to society and actually cared about whether or not I’d almost die from nearly getting bitten by an infected, then you would’ve been spared liked your robot friend.” 

Miché got a bit pissy when Mach said that. "Oh come on! You were busy smacking people with your dumb hammer and you've barely made any progress on the virus." Miché went up to Mach’s face scowling at her.

"Besides, you only spared prototype because he promised not to report you for hitting people! You're the problem here, not me. At least I actually do my job entertaining people. I heard you quit two days after getting your job. Do you see how you're actively ruining people's lives?"

Mach held the jug full of blood and scowled back at him. She raised it at him and prepared herself. "Not really, but I do know that I'm going to ruin your life." Mach then dumped blood onto Miché, who screamed as it poured all over him. He nearly puked when he looked at the blood on his hands. His ears began ringing as Mach laughed at him. He didn't even care what he did next.

Miché lunged at Mach, scratching her face. He attacked her senselessly. The two began to fight. Mach injected Miché with the same syringe she used to inject herself with, but Miché plunged it into her left eye. He kicked her off of him and grabbed a flask. Upon getting up, she got the flask smashed into her face. She kicked Miché in the crotch as retaliation and grabbed a test tube, throwing it at his face. Despite the pain from the glass in their faces, both Mach and Miché stood up. Miché painfully removed one of the glass off his face and pinned Mach to the ground, pointing it at her neck.

"Any last words, you sick fuck?" He asked as he pointed the glass closer and closer, nearly touching Mach's neck. She chuckled for a while before answering.

"Well, there is a bomb somewhere. Thought if I were to accuse you of murder that I'd also throw in a little treat as well." Mach said before cackling. Her laughter was cut short as Miché used the glass to slit her throat. The sounds of her gagging as blood began bubbling up into her mouth sent chills down his spine, but he had to leave quick once the bomb exploded. He curb stomped Mach’s head before running into the regretevator.

Split and Bive had all the color sucked out of them, shocked at what happened. Miché couldn’t bother and just pressed a random button. He looked at the pocket mirror, now cracked from falling out of his hands during the fight, and tossed it behind him. The mirror shattered completely.

Bive realized that the blood poured onto Miché would’ve infected him. She then realized that almost everyone was probably not immune to the virus. She shuddered when she remembered that she herself had the virus. She held her body as she waited for Miché’s next stop. Split couldn’t help but feel guilty and ashamed for getting scared of her, but she had the right to. Bive could’ve murdered Walter. But Split loved Bive a lot. She couldn’t tell how she should feel now, especially after the fight between Miché and Mach. Everything just kept getting worse. Split prayed that she’d someday escape the regretevator and see her family again.

The regretevator doors opened to the Toolbox Speedway floor, its iconic music that plays during races there blasting through the area. Miché walked to the entrance of the floor, but looked back at the two women standing in the back.

”Well, I’ll be giving my final encore.” He said, bowing down like an actor at the end of a musical. He blowed kisses before exiting the regretevator.

”Wait, where are you going? You’re infected, right? Shouldn’t you get to a hospital?” Bive asked, walking towards the Jester. Outside, Miché pulled out one of those comedic fake guns that shoot out a flag.

”Oh, that’s the point.” Miché said before leaving. The music eerily slowed down before a sound of a gun went off, followed by gagging and eventually something or someone collapsing onto the ground. Bive hesitated to take a peek and pressed another random button. She could only imagine what happened to him.

The regretevator then went silent as a mouse as they waited for their next stop. Split sighed before covering her face. She couldn’t take it anymore, she just wanted to see her family. She really began missing them more and more as time went by for the last week and a few days. She just wanted to hug her parents and play around with her siblings and cousins. She wanted to do the things she loved with the people most close to her. She wanted to bring Bive to meet her family and her getting to know about her life outside of the regretevator. Her heart stung as she went through old memories of her and her family together. She began crying.

Bive noticed quickly and walked up to her, grabbing her hand and stroking it softly with her thumb. “I’m sorry I put you through all of that today.” She said. Split looked down at her, tears running down her cheeks as she panted. She put her hand on her head and felt Bive’s tangled, matted hair.

"It's fine, but that's not why I'm crying." Split said as she and Bive held eachother close. "I miss my family, that's all." She sighed before crying again, this time silently. Bive couldn't relate considering she never really had a family, but she still empathized with Split. She wrapped her arms around her waist, pulling ber into a hug. Split hugged back and sobbed into Bive's shoulder.

The regretevator doors opened to the Fishy Aquarium floor. Something didn't seem off this time. There was nothing but the usual calming aura of the aquarium. Split grabbed Bive's hand and lead her inside.

"I remember one time me and my family went to an aquarium." Split said as she recounted that time. "But we got kicked out because Nan kept trying to eat the fish there." She laughed at that part. It wasn't funny back then, but talking about it now made Split lose it in a good way. There was just something about the aquarium that made her feel so nostalgic. She was around three or four years old when she went there for the first time but seeing all the colorful fish and other aquatic creatures was mesmerizing. And it still was.

Bive laughed as well, she felt less anxious after hearing that one of Split's siblings would try and do that. She had never went to an aquarium before but just from looking around and seeing how estatic Split was, she got pretty excited to see her excited about the place. The two watched the sea creatures swimming around the ocean viewing area, cuddling eachother. It was just the two of them and the sea now. It was the most peaceful moment both Split and Bive had in a while.

"Uh, Splitsy?" Bive whispered. Split went "hm?", wondering what she wanted to say. "This reminds me of this song I know of." She remembered listening to a lot of Mitski before the pandemic. It was probably one of the only artists Bive listened to that wasn't on the radio. She decided to sing a little bit of one of her songs to Split.

"Ooh, which one?" Split asked, grinning at her. Bive cleared her throat before she could sing the song she had in her mind.

"My baby, my baby, you're my baby, say it to me" Bive sang the lyrics she could remember. She held Split tight as she sang. Split listened with her before joining in during the chorus. They both quietly sang the song to eachother as they watched the sea critters swim around. It was a magical time. They almost forgot that they were even in a virus outbreak. But it was nice just to have a peaceful moment, especially after the stuff they went through in the past few days.

Chapter Text

Back inside the Sharkco Mall just after Bive and Split went inside the regretevator, Pilby and Mannequin Mark watched the doors closed before they could enter. Mark dropped to his knee. He was covered in infected brain matter and blood, the same stuff from his ex husband. He realized how easy concrete could break if you hit it hard enough. Just like how he unknowingly broke Wallter. Mark hopped back to the bunker without saying a word. Pilby stood there, waiting for Split and Bive to return. They sat down on the ground, wanting to be with their mama again.

Mark went inside the bunker with a grim expression on his face. Infected was staring at Wallter's corpse on the ground, checking if he was still alive. He looked up at Mark who hopped over to the body. He couldn't bare to look at the mess he caused. Infected could tell that he was in a lot of pain emotionally and mentally now. But Mark then grabbed the blanket off Wallter's bed and placed it over his body, more of his blood staining it. Mark hopped to the bathroom but looked at Infected before he went inside.

He told Infected, "I'm gonna be in here for a while. Look after Pilby for me until I get out or if Split and Bive come back." Mark went inside the bathroom and closed the door.

Infected left the bunker to get Pilby inside. They were still on the ground crying. Infected sat next to them and patted their back.

"Wut'5 wr0ng?" Infected asked them. Pilby stopped crying and flinched when he patted their back.

"D'ohhh... I just miss my mama." Pilby responded, crossing their bottom set of arms and fiddling with their bow tie. Infected nodded. He thought of how much he missed his cat Poptart. To him, missing Poptart was like how they missed their mom. He hugged Pilby, trying not to get them infected with his virus. Pilby cried into his shoulder quietly. They didn't want to hug him back because of how sick he was, but they appreciated the hug.

Meanwhile with Mark, he was sitting inside the shower. He thought taking a bath would take his mind off of him, as well as the blood, but the shower wouldn't turn on. He turned the knob that turned the hot water on, but almost no water came out. Only a few droplets came out. He turned the cold water on, but it was the same as the hot water knob. Mark sat inside the shower and buried his face in his arms. He sat in there for a couple minutes before Infected knocked on the door.

"H4i, ar3 u d0ne cry1ng iN th3rE?" Infected asked, knocking on the bathroom door. Mark sighed, hopped out of the shower, and left the bathroom. He didn't say a word and went to bed while Infected used the bathroom.

Now that it had been nearly three hours since Bive and Split left, Mark was beginning to get worried. He thought about calling Split, but she left her banana phone on the table. So Mark decided to try and call Bive. But then he remembered that she didn't have one. Mark couldn't think of anything else to do. He couldn't go to the regretevator now, he had to look after Infected and Pilby so they didn't infected. Pun not intended. He also had to do something with Wallter's body. Mark then had an idea. He thought of earlier when he just killed Wallter. He thought about doing a proper funeral for him.

Mark looked at the time and did some analyzing by memory: The group woke up at around 8AM, he and the others beside Bive and Wallter left to go shopping at 9AM, They arrived back home with Infected at 12PM, There was the whole "killing Wallter and Split and Bive leaving" thing at 1PM, and now it was 4PM. He thought of the time spent because he wanted the funeral to be when it was dark. Mark also thought about when he should bury the body. But just when he went to see Wallter, his body was gone. And so was Infected. Pilby was sitting on their bed, holding a coloring book.

"Pilby? Have ya seen that boy anywhere?" Mark asked them.

"He left and took Wallter with him." Pilby answered.

"What!?" Mark immediately hopped off to find Infected. Infected was burying Wallter into the same spot where Pest and Poob were infected. He had picked up the radio the group had that hadn't been used in days to see if there was any news. He tuned the radio to a channel with the news and listened as he buried the body.

"Hello, this is Clover speaking." Clover said on the radio. "It appears that 97% of the people inside of the Regretevator are all either infected or dead. I fear that the end may be near soon. We are currently planning a escape route out of this place. Please stay safe out there." The news heard from the radio had shivers crawl down both Infected and Mark's spines. Mark had been standing behind Infected the whole time. Now he was just speechless. The whole Regretevator was inevitably going to be no more. And all everyone could do was wait for the escape route and leave. Mark just wanted things back to normal.

But that doesn't seem to be happening any time soon.

Infected stared at Wallter's body. A lot of it was poking out of the dirt. Mark sighed, picked up the shovel, and buried it properly. He thought of what to say now that the body was buried. He decided to just wing it.

"Well, Wallter used to be my husband. And even though he divorced me, I can't help but miss em'. If you hear me up there, I'm sorry I never got ya flowers. I had my head up my ass, thinkin' wood will always be superior to concrete. But now that you're gone, I realized that maybe concrete ain't so bad after all. I love ya, brick boy. Rest in peace."

Mark placed his hat onto the dirt and backed away, tears forming in his eyes and dripping down his cheeks. Infected looked down with Mark, mourning the loss of Wallter. Pilby watched the two stand in front of the tree and joined them. They nearly cried when Mark broke down. The three all joined together to grief this loss.

Meanwhile, at the fishy aquarium, Bive and Split were going back into the regretevator. Bive began feeling more weak as she stood next to Split, holding the railing to keep her balance. She was beginning to remember how sick she was at this point. She was getting worse, beginning to cough and sneeze a lot. Split covered her mouth when Bive did that, feeling extremely worried for her. But Bive tried to make it seem like everything was normal. She even tried not to mind when she nearly collapsed onto the floor. Split ran to her, holding her up. She couldn't even care that she was risking her life, she had to help Bive.

Bive thought about something and waited for the two to get to the Sharkco Mall. 

Upon arriving to the mall, Split and Bive saw a glimpse of Mark, Pilby, and Infected walking back to the bunker. Pilby looked and ran towards Split, hugging her. The others looked in surprise and hopped over to them.

"Where were ya?" Mark asked. Bive wanted to say something, and so did Split. But both didn't want to say something about the fight and Miché presumably taking his own life at the Toolbox Speedway floor.

Split hesitated, so Bive spoke up. "That's not important." She left the regretevator and walked back to the bunker. In secret, as she was walking, the thoughts about what she had done and experienced as a result made a comeback. The guilt kept killing her. She  couldn't take feeling so guilty about what she did anymore. As soon as she got inside the bunker, Bive grabbed a knife from the kitchen. She was planning to do something horrible with this knife to herself and Split. But she couldn't let anyone know that. She placed the knife under her bed and took a nap.

Everyone else went inside the bunker. Mark told Split about the regretevator being doomed and the funeral he had for Wallter while Pilby and Infected did some coloring together. The group had soup together and went to sleep.

Meanwhile, in the FNARB floor, EmoTeenager was busy trying to make a cure. They were forced to make it with Emerson for the damage they've caused to Lampert that day. But for the past week and a couple days, their efforts on making a cure that worked were fruitless. They either had no effect or killed the patient they were testing on. Reddy had been shut off by Emerson so it couldn't interrupt their studies. At this point,  after listening to the news from Clover on the radio, EmoTeenager was close to giving up.

When Emerson left the floor for a monent, they wrote a note for him, saying the following:

"I'm making that 97% into a 98%. I'm sorry man. I just can't anymore. Good luck on the cure."

EmoTeenager later took a syringe, drained a previous cure that killed a patient before, and was close to injecting it in their neck when they heard some animatronic movement. They dropped the syringe and saw Reddy peaking its head out of the door.

EmoTeenager backed away from it, "What are you- I thought Emerson shut you off!" They said, shaking. Reddy then picked the needle off the ground and disposed it into the trash.

"Guests are to not u-u-use any type of drugs inside Redball l-l-locations!" Reddy said before walking away. EmoTeenager was extremely confused. They pinched themself to see if they were dreaming. They really weren't. Unfortunately for Emerson and Reddy, there were other failed cures. And EmoTeenager was later found to have committed suicide.

Chapter Text

Bive woke up feeling worse than before. When she sat up, she noticed that a bunch of her hair had fallen off while she was sleeping. She was covered in a pool of blood and she felt much more skinnier than before. Somehow she hadn't lost that much of her sanity. But that wasn't saying a lot, she hadn't felt sane in years. Bive crawled out of bed and used the guard rails to steady herself up. She immediately felt the urge to puke. Pilby woke up to her running into the bathroom and vomiting. They got out of bed and woke Split up by shaking her gently.

She walked to the bathroom and knocked on the door. "Bivey? Are you okay in there?" Split asked. Bive picked herself up slightly and looked at the door. She spat into the toilet and wiped her mouth with a towel, the taste of vomit still in her mouth.

"The circus industry must've put something in my homemade coffee!" Bive said before grabbing another towel and wrapping it around her neck. It was something she would say genuinely, but this time she was lying. She didn't want Split to be afraid. She wanted her to be calm before she could do what she thought she needed to do. Bive bit her lip as Split looked at her worried. Bive herself was already worried; this could be the end of the world as we speak. Not the real world outside of the regretevator, but the world formed inside of the regretevator itself.

Split watched Bive stumble a bit as she exited the bathroom, the smell of vomit made Split sick to her stomach. Bive snuggled herself close to Split, who hesitatantly pushed her away. She didn't want to push her, lord knows Bive just wanted to be closer. But Split didn't want to get infected.

Bive coughed into the towel before looking at Split, sad that she'd probably never get to love her more closely. "Do... You want to maybe talk outside of the bunker?" She asked. Split initially shook her head, she knew Bive needed to rest. She's infected. But Split wanted to be with her a lot more. She felt pressured by both decisions, and she needed a moment to think.

"Now Bive, ya gotta get yourself some rest." Mannequin Mark scolded. He crossed his arms when he said that. But Split shook her head. "Only if it's important, than we can talk." She said, staring at Bive. Bive smiled weakingly before Split helped her out of the bunker.

The two stood outside of the bunker, looking at the sunrise on the top floor of the mall. Split and Bive both watched as the sun rose. It was nice to watch, but Bive just wanted to get this over with. She grabbed Split's hand and held it tightly and close to her. Split looked at her, a loving glow shining her eyes. Seeing that look on her face when Bive was about to take something away from her made her heart ache.

Bive cleared her throat before she spoke to Split. "Split, darling, light of my life. I just want to say this before our inevitable demise. The moment I've laid eyes on you for the first time, my worries went away for the quickest moment. I thought it was something with the clown government, or with the people who wrap those candy hearts. But all this time, it was because I had fallen for you. And even though I've been infected, I feel like one kiss would make things less painful. So please, kiss me. Kiss me knowing that we'd be together forever. Even if we die." Bive finished off her speech with a small kiss on Split's hand.

Split blushed, she never had a kiss before. And it would be possible that this could be her only kiss. So, Split put her hands on Bive's cheeks and bowed down slightly to kiss her. Their lips locked and they began kissing. Split's lips felt so soft in comparison to Bive, who's lips were hairy of course. Bive wanted to cherish this moment for a while before she could do it. After a couple minutes of them kissing, Bive reached into her pocket and pulled out the knife. She clutched it as Split pulled away from her.

Her eyes widened when it happened.

Split gasped and looked down. Blood seeped through the stab wound on the side of her body, staining her shirt. She was hyperventilating when she put her hand on the wound, feeling how deep she had been stabbed. She looked at Bive, now grinning to an extend with the knife in her hand. Split backed away from her, using the railing to keep her balance. Bive pointed the knife to her chest with both hands. 

"Split, honey, don't be so scared." She said. She slowly brought the knife closer to herself. Split was now in tears. She snatched the knife and threatingly held it over the railing. Bive grabbed her arm, giving it a squeeze. "Please give me the knife back. Please. if we both die, we'll be out of here in no time."

Split didn't want to hear it. She didn't want to die. She dropped the knife, hearing it fall and drop onto the ground from the height above. Bive watched it fall, her mind racing with what she was planning to do now that the knife was on the first floor. She ran down the escalator, nearly falling and breaking her bones multiple times. She picked up the knife and was about to go back and finish the job when Mannequin Mark caught her.

"Bive! What r' ya doin!?" Mark yelled. Bive looked back at him, her left foot on the first step of the escalator. She coughed and hunched over, feeling her bones ache as she stood. She didn't want the extreme pain of her limbs contorting from the virus. She tried to run into the regretevator, but fell over as her leg began to break itself. Bive managed to stab it off and hopped over to the regretevator. She held the knife tight with both of her hands.

Unfortunately, Bive tripped again. And the knife landed in her forehead. Mark hopped over to her, blood pooling out of Bive's head. Split weakingly walked down the escalator before running towards Bive. She turned her body over and gasped when she saw the knife in her head. Split began to cry harder than she was before, holding Bive close. She was in utter despair. She didn't get to protect her enough. She wished Mark was the one to stay with Wallter, not Bive. Split felt like a failure as a leader. She sobbed as the memories of her and Bive together flowed in her head. Split grabbed the knife out of Bive's forehead, and met her fate by taking her life with the knife.

Mark watched as Split stabbed herself and dropping to the floor with the knife in her heart. He stared at the two dead bodies on the ground. He couldn't help but stare, he didn't know what to say at this point. He had just witness three deaths of the people in their group in the span of two days. Now he was left with two people: Infected and Pilby. It was now his duty to take care of them until the escape route is built. He had no other choice but to wait for the escape route while hoping that he and the others stay alive.

He sighed, did the Sign of the cross gesture, and picked up the bodies to carry them over to their graves.

Infected and Pilby stood behind Mark as he buried Split and Bive into the dirt. Pilby was crying, now they've lost the closest thing to a mother figure since their own mama. They couldn't even think straight anymore. They already missed them both dearly. Infected wasn't any better. was shocked and sad. He hadn't seen the suicides of either Bive or Split, but just from the looks of the blood seeping from Bive's forehead and Split's chest and stomach had traumatized him. They were both now terrified that they'd die as well.

Mark patted the dirt with the shovel before putting it on the ground besides them. He looked at Pilby, still crying, and sighed.

"Pilby, do ya have anythin' to say bout' Split and Bive?" Mark asked. Pilby thought for a moment and shook their head. They actually had a few things to say, like how close they were with Split and how she was always looking out for them. But just talking about her and Bive would make their own heart ache. Infected, however, did want to say something.

He walked to their graves and sniffled before giving a speech. (And this time, I won't be using the typing quirk)

"I never really talked to Bive before. She's just too weird and creepy. But I guess she was a nice person who genuinely wanted to help us. And Split always has been one of my best friends. She was always the funniest person and she knows some cool doctors! But most importantly, I'm gonna miss you guys! I hope you guys have fun in the afterlife, maybe you guys can have awesome parties up there. I'll miss you."

"That was darn beautiful, Infected." Mark said, wiping a tear away. He looked at the small graveyard that was built there. He reached behind himself, grabbed a bouquet of roses that he found in one of the abandoned stores in the mall, and plucked a couple of them. He placed them on all of the graves made for the five people who had passed away here. He crossed his arms and looked down, ready to give a speech.

"A lot of what Infected has said is true. Bive was always such a sketchy and weird ol' gal, but her heart was in the right place. Even when she was talkin' about them placebo effects and people in the walls, she seemed like a sweet woman. It was a darn shame that she had a little screws lost in her noggin. But she must've meant well. As for Split? She was the funniest around! She was like a light in a world full of darkness... And it just pains me to see both of em' pass away. I hope them and brick boy are happy up there. May they all rest n'peace."

Infected and Pilby then took turns tossing roses onto their graves before giving each other a hug. Mark looked at the time on his watch, it was only twelve P.M. He and the others went back into the bunker, where they spent the rest of the day watching the TV and listening to the radio, waiting for the news of the escape route.

But nothing came for now. So, the remaining members of the group stayed up for almost the whole night together to mourn their recent losses: Unpleasant, Wallter, and now Split and Bive. They shared memories about them and gave each other their condolences. They decided to stick together. Because even if they were to die,

they'd still have each other.

Chapter Text

Mannequin Mark groaned as he sat up on his bed. Infected was still sleeping while Pilby was sitting on the ground, looking at the radio. The radio was on, playing some kind of lullaby as they colored in a coloring book. Mark smiled as he watched them from the top of his bunk bed before heading down. He climbed down the ladder just as Infected was waking up.

"Hey buddy, whadder' ya colorin'?" Mark asked, crouching down to see what Pilby was coloring. They handed the coloring book to him, showing him the page they were coloring. The page was a kitty cat with a bunch of butterflies and caterpillars. The cat was colored in an assortment of yellows and oranges while one of the caterpillars was colored exactly like Pilby. The page next to it was two kittens playing with each other. And you could guess who's color palletes Pilby used for them. You guessed it, Split and Bive.

Mark felt an empty pit when he looked at the pictures, remembering what they all have lost. But he needed to be strong for the sake of Pilby and Infected. He smiled and quietly admired it with Pilby. "It looks very nice." He said as he looked at the coloring. Pilby was a great artist. Infected then took the radio and shifted through the stations. Mark looked at him with a worried face before Infected put the news channel on.

The first thing heard was some form of heavy machinery before Clover spoke.

"Hello to everyone in the regretevator who's still alive and not infected." He said as he presumably shifted some papers in his hands. He took a deep sigh, his voice and breathe were shaky.

"I'm afraid that DrRETRO has recently passed away. We found out in her notebook that the cure most likely doesn't exist. She wrote that Lampert had half of his diet consist of grey stuff, which would fuse with the mold inside of Lampert after getting sprayed with water. This whole virus was concieved from two harmful substances. And there are no healthy alternatives to help exterminate the virus. So, if we can't get rid of the virus, who's going to live in here now? That's why I'm making an announcement. Throughout the regretevator, toxic fumes will spread using the large smoke machine created by one of DrRETRO's closest friends. We've also contacted MR, who will take car of anyone whoever survives the fumes. Take the rest of today to say your final goodbyes to anyone, to go through the memories made here in this place once called home, and to prepare for your demise. Godspeed to anyone, and have a goodnight. This is our final curtain call."

Clover wrapped it up by going near the smoke machine, which began to let the toxic fumes out. Loud coughing and gagging was heard until the radio shut off.

After that depressing announcement, a loud siren emitted throughout the regretevator. Including the sharkco mall. Everyone in the bunker screamed, Pilby had their ears covered by Mark. His heart raced as he thought about what to do. He looked at the coloring book. He wasn't ready to accept his fate. He picked up Pilby and grabbed Infected's hand, leading them out of the bunker and into the regretevator. Infected was confused and scared, but he couldn't say anything as Mark carried a quietly sobbing Pilby. Mark pressed a button and watched the regretevator doors close.

Besides Mark and the others, the news was practically effecting everyone.

Spud! listened to it as he hid under the bed in the DREAMWORLD floor. He got very nervous and hoped that the fumes wouldn't kill him. Considering his health, he hoped it would at least just smell bad.

Gnarpy, now well into stage 6 of the H.E.B.W virus and slowly dying, heard it on the ROKEA PA system before xyr body went cold. And the part where Clover said Godspeed was the last thing xe heard before closing xyr eyes and never waking up again.

The Fleshcousins that were living in the happy birthday floor didn't care. They were too busy watching creepy stuff from YouTube on the TV while spouting gibberish to each other as if they were a reaction channel.

And every player alive was in a state of panic and fear, trying desperately to stop DrRETRO's team from doing something so disastrous. But Clover was in charge, he made this decision. And it was final. There would be no stopping it. And now everyone had to accept that they would be dying soon. Everyone would be dead.

And the regretevator would no longer be a home to many. 

But only a faint memory would be left.

The regretevator doors opened to Emerson and Reddy in the FNARB office, holding each other close, as Prototype was sitting on the other side. He had been hiding in the FNARB floor after getting confronted by Mach. The three looked at Mark, Pilby and Infected. Emerson sighed and gestered them to come sit with them. The other three joined in, sitting next to them. Mark looked at the time on his watch.

"Ay, how long till' that machine comes n' kills us all?" He asked Emerson.

"I have no clue." Emerson responded, looking at the floor. He blamed it all on himself. He should've pulled EmoTeenager out of the way before they sprayed Lampert with that bottle. He should've done anything to prevent this from happening. And yet, he couldn't. His mind raced as tears dripped from his eyes and down his puffy cheeks. He held himself tight as he thought about what they had done. He sighed before he could say anything else.

"It was our fault." Emerson said. Everyone looked at him with confused looks on their faces. Mark crawled over to him to hear what he was talking about. "Emo and I provoked that Lamp guy, and now we're all going to die." Emerson began to choke on his own cries as he thought of what he and Emo did that day. He knew it was a bad idea to let Emo spray him, but he didn't know it would turn out this way.

Still, Mark looked at him with empathy in his eyes. He gently rubbed his back, letting Emerson cry a bit more. "C'mon, don't say that." He said. "It probably ain't your fault..." Emerson shook his head when he heard Mark say that.

"But we did this, Mark." Emerson cried. He sniffled before looking down. "We did this!" He cried even louder this time. Mark held his arms out. Emerson looked and hugged him without even questioning it. He made a decision. He was going to have to accept his fate.  He couldn't stop it. Nobody could. He just waited for the time to come with everyone else.

Hours passed, and Emerson was ready to leave this planet and head to the afterlife. He waited for the regretevator doors to open to reveal a big smoke machine to take everyone in the office out. He picked himself up and stood in front of the door. Pilby stood up, grabbing his wrist.

"Why are you standing?" Pilby asked. Emerson didn't give an answer. He just stared at the doors. Pilby frowned even more when they realized what he might be thinking about. They put their head on his arm, remembering all the memories they had. They then remembered the note they wrote to their mama the night before.

"Dear mama, It's me! I'm just writing this because I miss you so much. I just lost two of my best friends, and I'm really scared. I hope I get out of this mess and go back home to ya! :o) 

- Love, Pilby."

Emerson looked behind him, seeing everyone look defeated. He turned around and pulled everyone into a group hug. If he was going to die, he wanted to die with someone close. And Reddy was the closest thing to him after Emo took their life. But now Emerson could die with a whole group of people, some of which he knew personally. He no longer felt the need to be connected to this reality anymore. He shut his eyes and waited for that all-too familiar *ding* from the regretevator.

...

Chapter Text

*Ding*

The regretevator doors opened. However, there wasn't any smoke. Nor was there any scent of toxic fumes. Instead, there was this awfully weird aura that indicated that a greater danger was there. Pilby looked behind them and screamed. Everyone else reacted the same way to see who it was.

It was MR?!

MR was standing in the regretevator. It wore a head mirror and nothing else. It just stood there before saying something in a deep, yet weirdly calming tone: "Come with me. I know I may not look like a helpful person. I'm aware that I've caused some damage and trauma. But I am here to rescue you. To turn your lives back to normal. I have a simple way. Just come into the elevator. If not, I will do so myself." Everyone looked confused, why would MR help them after literally killing people in the past. But before someone could question it, MR already put everyone inside in a blink of an eye.

Mark tried to speak, and so did everyone else. But they couldn't. MR turned around and cleared its throat, white smoke formed inside the regretevator. It stared blankly at a wall for a second.

"Now that you're all in the regretevator, I will help get you all out. I will simply press the secret button, the button that you were all blind to witness. The button that was invisible to your senses because of the regretevator's founder not wanting any of you to find the truth. I will press it, and you will be at the lobby. Just escape through the doors, and you'll all be free."

MR then jumped at the elevator buttons, hitting a seemingly invisible one. The white smoke kept filling up the room, until there was nothing but a pure white.

After 15 minutes, the regretevator doors opened to the lobby. MR escorted everyone else out. "You see that door over there? Go through, and you will be free of the virus. Free of the trauma you have suffered from for over a week. You'll all be happy once you leave. Once and for all." Mark looked back at it, nodding his head and quietly thanking it. He opened the doors, another pure white hitting his eyes. He looked at Pilby, then Infected. He held both of their hands tightly and went outside of the doors. There, they would experience the joy of the outside world again.

At least, that's what everyone in the FNARB office would've imagined happening.

Prototype was now in Reddy's arms, tired and fallen ill from the toxicity. Everyone else had dropped dead. He had always been scared of dying, and now it would be happening in his very own eyes. He looked up at Reddy, who dazily watched the rest of them die. It could've shown remorse or terror, but it was an animatronic. It could only show a neutral expression.

Prototype coughed before getting into his last conversation with someone.

"Reddy? Do you think we all did good for the regretevator?"

Reddy didn't respond at first. It went "KZRRT", but that was basically it. Prototype could feel his circuits get colder.

He coughed again. "Reddy?"

"Welcome to... KZZRRT… Red… ball…"

"Oh, it's no use. We're both going to die... I thought it would all work out at the end. I wanted to keep breathing the same air as my friends, I wanted to do everything that I've ever wanted to do inside of the regretevator. I just... wanted everyone and everything to be okay at the end. I didn't want things to end up like this. I, I just want to be with Miché again.”

Prototype violently coughed a few times.

"I'm scared."

"No need to be afraid at... Red ball facilities..."

"Can you sing a song for me? Me and Miché used to sing karaoke before..."

Unfortunately, that was when Prototype had his last breathe. He passed away shortly after. Reddy looked down, seeing the robot's body lay in its arms. It weakingly held him like a toddler and began a small somber song.

"Thank you... I'll say goodbye soon...

Though it's the end of the world...

Don't blame yourself... Now..."

Then Reddy closed its eyes. Forever.

Perhaps someone can help rebuild the regretevator, and start a new. But that would be in the near future. For now,

The regretevator was no more.

Only a faint memory.

Once a place considered home.

Now washed away like a deadly shore.