UNDERWANDERERField archive
Case file P-008PhenomenaLevel 0.1Low

Footstep Echo

Footsteps that follow you a few meters back and stop two steps late. In Level 0.1 you never see anything.

Testimony

“I could hear steps behind me, always at the same distance. I stopped and two more sounded, no fewer. I looked and there was nothing.”

The footstep echo is a sound phenomenon of the degraded zone of Level 0.1, with no creature behind it. While you walk, a second set of footsteps follows you.

How to recognize it

  • It sounds 6 to 10 meters away, always from behind.
  • It arrives half a step late relative to yours.
  • It sounds like the steps of any survivor on carpet, with a slightly lower pitch.
  • If you stop, it takes two more steps and goes quiet.
  • Nothing can be seen. Ever.

The most reliable way to check is to stop. If the echo goes on for two steps and fades, it is the echo. If it doesn’t fade, it isn’t, and you had better not look back.

Where it appears

Only in Level 0.1. In the Null Zones it does not sound, because nothing leaves a trace there, and the crossed-out eye seen in the Graffiti at the edge warns of this. The floor note “steps that aren’t yours” is written in the rooms where the echo is most frequent. Among the Floor Notes it is one of the most quoted.

Effect

It does no harm. As long as your sanity holds, it does not affect it. What it wears down is certainty. The more you walk, the more you wonder whether the one following you is another survivor, or the one who waits turned into sound.

How to survive

  1. Don’t run. The echo speeds up with you.
  2. Stop once and count. Two steps, then silence.
  3. Carry on without telling your group what you heard, or turn it into proof for the rest.
  4. If the hum drops at the same time, there is something else.

What people say

The echo is the trace of someone who passed through before you, some say. Others say it is a warning that you are already in a null zone.

Sub-entries

P-021 · PhenomenaFootsteps and FootwearThe carpet keeps the shape of whatever each wanderer wears on their feet. Whoever passed before you leaves a trace, and so do you.P-020 · PhenomenaFootsteps on CarpetIn Level 0 the sound you hear most is your own feet, a dull thud, a rub and no silence.P-024 · PhenomenaSound That TravelsHow sound arrives in Level 0, muffled by partitions, never bending around corners and leaving no trace of what falls very far away.

Mentioned in

S-012 · SublevelsLevel 0.1: danger zoneA degraded layer of Level 0: mold on the walls, red light and a loop of corridors with warnings from other survivors.E-008 · EntitiesProwlerA silhouette that goes back and forth along the same stretch of corridor. It doesn’t chase you, but if it sees you on its patrol it lunges at you.E-002 · EntitiesHow Creatures SoundAlmost no creature in Level 0 makes a noise, so silence is the warning, and what makes no sound is usually what is closest.P-028 · PhenomenaFluorescent HumThe sound of the place is a low electrical hum that never quite goes quiet and, now and then, something being dragged far away.P-009 · PhenomenaHow It All Fits TogetherThree levels joined by pits, stairs and doors to nowhere, and sublevels that have no door and are reached by mistake.E-018 · EntitiesSkinstealer in Level 0: Movement and ScareHow the Skinstealer moves through the corridors of Level 0. It appears far off, stalks you, reveals itself and runs at you, stopping at a meter and a half.E-004 · EntitiesThe One Who Waits at the DoorA figure with its back turned under the exit sign. When you get within twelve meters it is gone and the door is still shut.S-014 · SublevelsLooping CorridorsFour identical stretches close a ring around a block. If you go straight, you end up where you were.S-026 · SublevelsNull ZonesIn certain dark rooms of Level 0.1, nothing leaves a trace, neither your footsteps nor those of whatever is following you. A sign warns you.