Randomness in SCP-3008! Chapter 3

Toki was the first to hear the noise outside, the laugh before the wheels. Toki perked up, following the noise with her eyes, and she stopped eating. Ress noticed Toki’s interest and then finally heard the noise, and he stopped eating too. Now the noise was much more audible. The laugh, the very recognizable laugh. Toki immediately recognized it, whispering to herself and thinking aloud.

Toki: “Is that Joki?”

	Toki darted outside, jumping over the counter and making it out of the store, where she saw him. Riding on a shopping cart, filled with something that Toki didn’t care to look at. All she could see was Joki, the tall, slender, Argentinian man who she had grown to love for 2 years. Toki immediately began running, barely taking time to announce her presence besides a simple yell of his name. Joki turned, startled, before he lost control of the cart, making a sharp turn before coming to a stop and tipping over, sending Joki to the floor on his stomach. He turned to see Toki, although Joki didn’t immediately recognize her as he had just fallen to the floor and Toki was basically a blur as she sprinted towards Joki. Toki arrived at Joki and practically dove onto him, ignoring the massive pain in her chest as she landed because of the overwhelming emotion she was feeling. She had met Joki! Joki now registered that who had just jumped on top of him was Toki, and pulled her in closer to him in a firm hug. Her black hair, deep brown eyes, her face, she was there, Joki could actually touch her. They just held, pulling each other closer, trying to just be as close as possible. Toki felt so much pain in her chest, but it did not matter to her. All that mattered was that Joki was here, and they were touching and holding each other and just enjoying each other, being with each other. Ress was slower to get out, only getting out when Toki had already collapsed onto Joki. Ress could recognize Joki’s afro underneath Toki and knew who it was, before he began to think again. How the hell was Joki here? How long had he been here? Wasn’t he in Argentina before this? Why did Joki never tell us he was here? Ress decided to let Toki and Joki have their moment, knowing he would react the same if he met his boyfriend for the first time, going back in to eat some of the fries as they stayed outside. Their touch, to them, was the best feeling on the planet. Knowing that they were both together now, with each other, was better than anything. Ress finished eating his fries, feeling full enough to go out now, his hunger was sated. Ress left the kitchen and hopped back over the counter, Joki and Toki had progressed from hugs to practically making out on the floor, which left Ress feeling a little awkward. Ress pulled out his phone, texting the group again.

Ress: “just found a mcdonalds and ate like all the fries, also jokis here what the fuck is this place”
Isaac: “lol joki ur fucking with us”
Ress: “ur starting to annoy me like im not lying to you fuck”
Shva: “thinkin about it and joki hasnt been here could be real”
Ress: “fuck ur right, how long has it been?”

It took everyone a second to look up Joki and his last post, but they got back to Ress.

Shva: “like a month”

Ress reacted with a bit of shock. Had they really just not noticed Joki being absent for a whole month? Ress began to think, only a few times had anyone really brought up Joki’s disappearance, mainly Toki. She must have been going insane, not knowing where Joki was, it would have been terrifying for Ress if he were to have gone through the same circumstance. Ress began typing.

Ress: “a month? holy shit how did we not notice he was gone”
Shva: “idk, just kinda didnt i guess lol, people go offline its normal”
Ress: “thats weird”
Shva: “not that weird but ok”

Ress, puzzled, closed his phone and put it up, not even wanting to think about the entire group forgetting about Joki. He looked back over at the two on the floor, who showed no signs of stopping yet. Ress averted his eyes and began looking around the area to pass the time. The front was still the aisles, which seemed to continue on infinitely, as everything else did, and to his right and left were the Great Plains, which also continued on infinitely. The only clearing was the one they were in, which was taken up by the McDonald’s and CVS booths. Ress had to step out to the side of the booths to see behind them, which just showed even more of the plains, it just continued forever. Ress walked back behind the booths and sat down, leaning against the pillar on the right side of the McDonald’s booth. Ress walked back to the McDonald’s and sat down in front of it, looking at his phone. It was 1:36 PM, and Ress wanted to leave soon so that they could continue along their path that they had been walking for hours. Ress looked back at Toki and Joki one more time. They had been going for quite a long time, and Ress felt it was time to go. Ress stood up and walked over to the couple to interrupt the session they were having. Ress stood above them and spoke.

Ress: “Hey, gu-”

Ress was kicked in the leg by a startled Joki, who broke from Toki for a moment to analyze the person who had just talked to them. Ress yelled out in pain, backing up a bit and rubbing his leg where he had been attacked.

Ress: “Ow, no need to attack me, just trying-”
Joki: “Who are you? I don’t recognize you.”
Ress: “I’m Ress. From Randomness.”
Joki “Oh, okay. Why are you here?”
Toki: “He came here with me, we were meeting up at that Ikea, remember?”
Joki: “Oh yeah, I ‘member.”
Ress: “Why are you here?”
Joki: “Went to Ikea for a gift for Toki, now I’m here. Oh! Speaking of that gift…”

Joki hopped to his feet, walking back over to his overturned cart, picking through the contents of it before he found what he was wanting. He turned back to face Toki and handed her the gift, a purple throw blanket with some hexagonal designs on it, which were a darker purple than the purple outside it. It was simplistic but Joki figured that Toki would like it. Toki screamed, dropping the blanket on accident, and backed up slowly to Joki, who held her in an embrace. Ress looked where Toki was staring, and saw one of the Employees, just walking calmly and slowly towards the group. Ress’ heart started beating faster, his breathing got quicker, and he stood frozen for a moment. Joki finally looked over where the others were looking, before wheezing and starting to laugh.

Joki: “Jajajajaja, you’re a pussy, Ress!”

Joki seemed to ignore the fact that Toki was doing the same thing that he was doing, and how couldn’t Ress?  The Employees were terrifying the last time he saw them, so why wasn’t Joki reacting with any fear? Joki looked down at Toki, who was still staring at the Employee with wide eyes, and Joki could feel her heart beating fast and her quick breaths. Joki planted a kiss on the top of her head, whispering to her and rubbing her stomach.

Joki: “It’s okay, they don’t hurt you.”
Toki: “Yes, they do. Wondered why my shirt is literally covered in blood?”
Joki: “Oh, shit, what did you do?”
Toki: “Kinda...hit one of ‘em.”
Joki: “Jajaja, don’t do that next time, okay, please? I don’t like you getting hurt, y’know?”
Toki: “Okay, I won’t.”

Ress watched both the Employee and the couple, who had now turned to hug each other mutually again, standing this time. The Employee continued walking forward towards them, but didn’t seem intent on them, its head was looking forward and it wasn’t ‘looking’ at them as it walked.

Ress: “Uh, are we gonna like do anything about that or just kinda stand here?”
Joki: “Don’t need to do anything, dumbass. Unless you hit one of them they don’t do shit.”
Ress: “Wait… Toki did you hit one?”
Toki: “Yeah…”
Ress: “God, okay, why?”

Toki stuttered, trying to think of a reason that she could remember as to why she decided to hit the giant, imposing monster she saw standing there.

Toki: “Uh, I don’t know. I guess I was just like...mad?”
Ress: “Wow, okay, don’t do that, please?”

Toki nodded, going back to hugging Joki. Ress felt confused, how did Joki know that they didn’t hurt you? How long had Joki been here? How was Joki with them if he lived in Argentina? Ress shook his head, why was he even asking questions? They were in something that defied the laws of the universe and surrounded by monsters that shouldn’t be able to exist. Ress decided not to ask Joki these questions he had, as they would probably just confuse Ress even more than before he asked them, so he stayed silent while Toki and Joki hugged for another long while. Ress almost felt annoyed now, they had just been sitting at this McDonald’s and CVS booth for hours and Ress wanted to leave. He wanted to continue on the road they had been travelling for almost a day, and find more things, if more things even existed. Everything just seemed to loop up until this point, and this was practically the only landmark that Ress had seen yet. Ress was fully ready to leave now, and he spoke up to the couple.

Ress: “Uh...do you guys want to get going soon? I’m getting a little bored just kinda standing here, y’know?”
Joki: “You’re right, honestly. Let’s get going.”
Toki: “Okay…”

Joki broke from the hug, which Toki seemed a little distressed about, but she let him do it anyway. Joki picked his cart up and sat it back on its wheels, grabbing his things and putting them back into his cart. Ress looked at just what he was grabbing, and it was a major assortment of items. A very flashy looking pole made out of PVC pipe with a few long blades on the end attached by duct tape, a few tools like screwdrivers, hammers, and drills, a bunch of different sized planks of wood and metal that Joki had likely acquired by taking from furniture, rolls of duct tape, some canned peaches, and a few other items that Ress couldn’t see as they were obscured by the other items in the cart.

Ress: “Joki uh...why do you have so many things in that cart?”
Joki: “Oh, this is my Battlestation! It’s got everything I need and some extra shit, pretty epic in my opinion.”

Joki stood over his cart filled with items proudly, making sure to display the items in it to Toki and Ress. Toki let out a chuckle at the name of ‘the Battlestation’ that Joki had chosen and Ress just looked in confusion. How had Joki gotten this much stuff? Ress felt annoyed at himself for asking so many questions to himself in his head, but this whole situation was just perplexing to him. Ress walked back to the McDonald’s to get a little bit more food, eating some of the chicken that Toki had left over before exiting again. By the time he exited Joki had all his things packed together into his Battlestation and was ready to leave, and Toki didn’t have anything on her now that she realized she had dropped her juice bottle and backpack when she had gotten hit, so she was ready to leave. Ress joined Toki and Joki where they were stood, and spoke.

Ress: “Okay, so where are we going?”

Joki pointed to a pathway leading off to the left of where Ress had originally been going.

Ress: “Well I was going to the right of that, been going that way for like...a day? Yeah, about a day.”
Joki: “I’ve been going this way for a month, idiot. We should keep going my way.”
Ress: “A month?”
Joki: “Yeah, a month. Wait, just thought about this, how are you even here? Thought you lived in like Texas or something.”
Ress: “Yeah, I did. Uh, I mean we’re in an infinite Ikea, how is any of this possible anyway?”
Joki: “True…”
Ress: “Okay, so what way?”
Toki: “I think we should keep going the way we were going, I don’t know, just seems like a good idea to me.”
Joki: “Ress’ way it is.”

Joki pushed his cart forward with his foot, holding on to the back of it and putting his feet on the bar at the back to let him glide along the floor. Joki’s giggled to himself, he had found literal days of entertainment by just gliding through the Ikea alone, and now he had his friends, his girlfriend with him to share the stupid fun of riding this cart. Joki was going pretty quickly now since he was riding his cart, and Ress and Toki had to jog to keep up with Joki. Once he arrived to the turn he had to make, he rotated the cart using his hands to do a drift almost with the cart, however he had to push himself along the floor again to gain back momentum. Ress laughed at the drift that Joki did, surprised a bit by the fact that he was able to even do that in the first place as he hadn’t seen a cart drift on the floor ever. Toki watched, a giant smile on her face. Joki was just having fun, they were all having fun now. Toki realized that they really hadn’t had much fun at all before this, and now Toki in particular was ecstatic to be trapped in an Ikea with monsters that wanted to kill her, because she was trapped with Joki. Toki decided to hop onto Joki and ride along with him, which Toki was able to do successfully. Joki, the Cart Master, was able to keep control and keep moving forward, while Ress stayed following alongside them on foot. They were happy now, together, with no worries in sight.

They continued on this path for a while, probably 3 or 4 hours, Ress couldn’t tell. They were genuinely having a blast, just rambling on about the Ikea, about different things about themselves, about meeting each other in an infinite Ikea, about everything that had happened to them up to this point. It felt fantastic, just talking to each other, everyone together and bonding over this unfathomable experience they were having. Ress was out of breath, barely able to walk because of how long he had been jogging alongside Toki and Joki. They were just about to come to a stop to rest and sleep before they saw something far in the distance that only Toki noticed at first. Something large on the path they were walking, a big structure far away. The details weren’t clear due to the distance, but there was something there.

Toki: “Do you see that? Over there, there’s like a thing way ahead.”

Joki squinted, trying to spot it, and Ress did too, although he had no luck as his eyesight was not the best from a far distance. Joki was able to see it; however, with some effort.

Joki: “Oh yeah, what is that?”
Toki: “ I dunno, something big obviously.”

Ress continued to try and find it, and just couldn’t. Everything blurred after about 100 feet ahead, and the structure was maybe a mile ahead. Joki rode faster now, and Ress followed behind with major effort from his lungs and his legs, his tiredness now coming to him in a wave that he hadn’t noticed before. The details came in now more clearly, large towers on the sides of a big wall made of beds and tables, a big door made of wood beams and ropes, light coming from the towers. Ress could see it now, and it made him walk faster, gave him more of a reason to keep walking than just because the others were walking. There were people, and a giant settlement, a place that looked safe from anything that could or could not attack. As they got closer, the finer details came into view. The screws and tape holding the wall together, the rope that looked worn and minorly torn from use, the stand of the floodlights and the cables running off of them, and the sound of people inside.

???: “That’s really funny, mate, it’ll be funnier when you fucking die later ‘cause you decide to go out and talk to one of those fuckers.”
???: “I’m serious, they really do just want to help us, we should give them a chance.”
Toki: “Can you hear them?”
???: “You really have gone insane, fuck me.”
Ress: “It’s kinda hard to-”
???: ”Guys, wait, I think I hear someone outside, everyone shut up.”

Both groups went silent for a moment, until someone spoke from the other side of the wall.

???: “Hello? Anyone there?”

Ress deliberated with himself for a moment before he spoke up to the other people

Ress: “Yeah, we’re here!”
???: “Oh shit, how many of you? Are you from Restrooms because we don’t want you here anymore, we told you that!”
Ress: “Uhm.. no? We’re not from Restrooms or whatever!”
???: “Uh, okay, one second!”

The voice from over the wall could be heard scuffling from the other side of the wall, and soon the voice was above them on the top of the wall.

???: “Okay, there’s 3 of you. Don’t recognize any of you, what is that in your cart? You here to trade?”
Joki: “This is my Battlestation, not for sale!”
???: “Okay, why are you here then?”
Ress: “Just was like walking and we found this place.”

Ress observed as the person on top tilted their head, before almost having a realization that Ress could see, his hold on his weapon loosened and he got less visibly less tense.

???: “Ress? Are you Ress?”

Ress suddenly had almost a flash of memories flooding back through his head, and he shook his head, the images and data that was going through his head now firmly cemented back in his memory.

Ress: “Holy shit, Jamie?”
Jamie: “Yeah, Jamie.”
Ress: “What the fuck is this place?”
Jamie: “My home, built it myself.”

Another voice called from behind the wall, but now Ress could recognize who it came from.

Marcus: “No you didn’t! I did most of the building!”

Jamie disregarded it, instead motioning behind him to someone. Afterward, the gate, which was revealed to be a drawbridge door, came to a fall on the floor with an echoing thud. The inside was expansive, and had what seemed like different sectors, all surrounding an interior McDonald’s, as indicated by the sign above it from the ceiling reading “McDonald’s”. To the right side of the McDonald’s was a large house, which was made with a mishmash of different woods and metal beams to support the structure. Ress couldn’t see the inside, but figured that was where they slept. To the left of the central McDonald’s was a longer across building with a flat roof, unlike the triangular shaped roof of the house on the right. Ress couldn’t tell what was inside this long building, but it looked almost like a warehouse so Ress figured it was there to store things. Closest to them was a set of tables that were probably used for eating the food from the McDonald’s or from elsewhere if that McDonald’s had already ran out of food. On the opposite was another wall of similar size and shape, with the two towers and floodlights in the towers. Ress looked at the people around him. Jamie was up at the top of the wall still, getting ready to come down, and Frankie was to Ress’ left, who was gripping a rope that was attatched to the door. Next to Frankie was another person who walked over to the group, who were making their way into the settlement now. Ress did not recognize the person, and he didn’t recognize a lot of the people over to the right by the house, although he figured he had seen them before by some 6th sense that he had and couldn’t understand. The person he didn’t know spoke to him.

???: “Oi, who are you, and your friends?”
Ress: “Uhm, we just came here from a while away, who are you?”
???: Name’s Ethan, met these blokes a few months ago, we’ve just been living here since then.
Frankie: “Yeah, he’s pretty nice, don’t let his Aussie accent intimidate you.”
Ethan: “Yeah, mate, it’s alright, not gonna hurt ya.”
Joki: “Ress do you know these guys? Sounds like you do.”
Ress: “Uh, yeah, most of them anyway, met them a while ago from another Discord server.”
Joki: “Jajaja, another Discord server, it’s like we’re all drawn together by the power of the Discord.”
Toki: “Yeah, this is crazy. How did you guys get this set up?”

Jamie had made it down now, and some of the people from the house were looking now, and Ress remembered one of them as Bailey, things were just coming onto him so quickly and Ress was so confused at his own brain. Had he forgotten all of them? When was the last time he had talked to them? Ress’ train of thought was interrupted by Jamie, who spoke to Toki now.

Jamie: “We just kinda did, thought this place looked nice to set up camp at and it just grew.”
Frankie: “Started as just me, Jamie, Bailey, Marcus, and Soph, now it’s almost everyone and a couple new people.”
Ress: “You mean like, everyone from the Autist Archive?”
Frankie: “Except for that furry, but everyone else, yeah.”
Joki: “What the fuck’s the Autist Archive?”
Ress: “The name of that server I was in a long while ago.”
Frankie: “Are these your friends?”
Ress: “Yeah, I’ve known them for a while too.”
Frankie: “Alright, so, it’s just about 3am so we’ll be laying down soon, if you guys want to join us.”
Ress: “Alright, yeah that sounds good.”
Joki: “Wait what do you mean 3am? It’s like only 12 right now.”
Frankie: “TImezones, buddy. Lights always go off at the same time for everyone just different timezones depending on where you came from and what your phones set to. Where did you guys all come from?”
Ress: “Uh, me and Toki came from Texas and Joki came from Argentina.”
Frankie: “How long have you all been here?”
Ress: “Me and Toki have been here like 2 days or so and Joki-”
Joki: “I’ve been here like a month!”
Frankie: “Alright, I’m gonna go now, but it was good talking to you three.”

Frankie walked off towards the house, as did Ethan. Jamie followed them too.
Jamie: “There’s infinite McDonald’s inside that thing if you want to some food, the stock replenishes after like a few hours so help yourself, guys.”

Joki walked over to the McDonald’s, rolling his Battlestation up to it and hopping inside to go eat. Ress didn’t feel hungry, only exhausted, and walked over to the house, while Toki followed Joki inside the McDonald’s, although Ress didn’t figure Toki was all too hungry and probably just wanted to spend time with Joki in the privacy of the McDonald’s. Ress walked into the house, which was relatively barren inside. Just the same material as the outside, with no wall decorations, and a bunch of beds lining the bottom floor. On both sides of the house’s interior was a second floor with a ladder leading up to it. Inside, at least 5 people were already sleeping on the beds on the bottom floor, he could recognize Marcus and Bailey sleeping but not the other three that he could see. Ress climbed up the ladder on the left side, leading to the second story, where no one was sleeping. He could also see from this new perspective that there was one person sleeping on the other side of the house on the second story, which Ress didn’t recognize either. Ress laid down pretty quickly on one of the beds closest to him, which felt way more comfortable than the bed he had laid on previously, as did the pillow. Frankie followed Ress up and laid down on a bed nearby. Frankie decided to speak to Ress.

Frankie: “You alright, Ress?”
Ress: “Yeah, just a bit confused, things here don’t make sense.”
Frankie: “Haha, yeah I got over that a while ago.”
Ress: “This is so fucked, dude, how does this even work? How do we get out? Wha-”
Frankie: “Calm down, dude, it’s okay. It’s fucked up but I’ve been fine so far, you’ll be okay, alright?”
Ress: “Okay… thank you. I appreciate it.”
Frankie: “No problem, goodnight dude.”
Ress: “Good night.”

Ress felt calmer now, his worries laid to rest as he, too, laid to rest.


Ress awoke quickly because of a loud thud that shook the house and his bed. The thud was followed by a scream from someone outside. Ress started noticing some more noises coming from outside, the yells of people to others, loud stomps and clattering wood and metal. More thuds came echoing through the house, and the house violently shook before the cracking of wood was heard downstairs and the vibrations settled, the house returned to normal. Ress got out of bed, confused as to what was happening outside. The yells outside were louder now, and Ress could hear what they were saying now, as opposed to muffled yells.

???: “Leave the store immediately, the store is closed.”
Frankie: “Shut up! I’m gonna fucking kill you!”

Ress got on the ladder and started climbing down, looking around. Everything was normal, except for one part. Right underneath where Ress had been was a body that he couldn’t identify, the face was too mangled to be seen. He appeared to have broken through the wall of the house, indicated by the broken hole in the wall right next to where he had fallen. His face was bloodridden, and his head looked flat, and his chest seemed indented too. The shattered boards of wood around him were coated with blood too, and the gore from his head spattered across the floor behind him. Ress turned his head, almost gagging at the sight. What the fuck was happening?

Suddenly the door of the house opened, and the area outside was almost pitch black, with the light emanating from the house’s lamps being the only thing Ress could use to see outside. The person who entered, who Ress could tell was Frankie, was holding a polearm weapon similar to the one Joki had, however it looked a bit cleaner and more well put together than his.

Frankie: “Holy shit why are you still in here? Get out, the whole place is fu-”

Frankie was hit from behind by something Ress couldn’t see, and Frankie flew into Ress, knocking him over and making him fall on his back. Ress looked as Frankie tumbled on the floor behind him, before Ress looked ahead and saw an Employee walking forward, determined on reaching Frankie. Frankie’s polearm weapon he had been holding had clattered next to Ress, and as the Employee walked past Ress knew he had to take action. Ress grabbed the polearm and stood up, waiting for him to be behind the Employee before he struck with the blade on the end, awkwardly stabbing through its chest. The creature slowly dropped to the floor, and brought the polearm to the floor with it. Frankie shook his head and stood up slowly, holding his head in pain. Ress walked over to Frankie.

Ress: “Are you okay?”
Frankie: “Yeah...yeah. Thank you.”

Frankie grabbed the polearm weapon out of the Employee and started to walk out, but was stopped when one of the Employees walked in again. Frankie backed up and attempted to stab the Employee, but the polearm was hit out of his hand upward, stabbing into the ceiling. Frankie kept backing up, looking around for some way to get out. His hopes of running past the Employee was smashed when three more walked into the house, blocking off the exit as they converged on Frankie and Ress and trying to corner them. Ress saw an opportunity, the ladder to his right, and jumped onto it, pulling himself up as quickly as he could. Frankie followed behind Ress, but his foot slipped as he tried to climb up, and his leg was grabbed by one of the Employees. He let out a yelp and was dragged into the mob of Employees. By the time Ress made it to the top, Frankie had already been pummeled into the floor, the Employees relentless in their assault on his body, his screams muffled by the bodies of the Employees. Ress stood in shock for a moment before he decided to get the fuck out, dropping down from the platform on the opposite side next to the door before he ran outside.

Ress could barely see anything outside, and pulled out his phone to turn the flashlight on. In his vision was multiple dead bodies laid out on the floor, bits of blood or body parts laid out everywhere he could see. Farther away from the house was the wall he had came in from, which was completely overturned and destroyed, wood and metal splayed around its ruins. Many Employees surrounded this overturned wall, too many for Ress to even consider walking over to it. He scanned the area, trying to just find someone who was still alive and there who could help him, but no one was there. He could see nothing but dead bodies, destroyed items, and Employees. The wall on the other side was still standing, and Ress figured that he had to go that way to escape whatever hell he was in now. Everything felt unreal, the bodies, the Employees, everything felt fake. Ress started walking over to the wall, looking around the place with his phone. Everything was basically in ruins, destroyed overnight. Ress heard footsteps behind him, and before he was able to turn around and face whoever it was behind him, he felt a hard slam into his back, and his feet left the floor. He careened upward, his phone flying out of his hand and the light from the flashlight spiraling in the air. He watched himself fly over the wall as indicated by the floodlights, and he continued to fly forward before he felt himself crash onto something that he couldn’t see, his body crumpled onto the surface he landed on.

And everything went black.