Somewhere far out of the range of the tunnels, in a building where the walls did not ring and the silence was not oppressive—but choreographed—he watched.
The suited man sat alone.
The surveillance monitors glowed in front of him, showing each corner of the structure: the gassed corridor, the sealed room, the broken symbol on the corpse. But the vent cam was the one he was currently focusing on the most—two shadows stumbling around blindly through a shaft designed to fall if the wrong route was taken.
One wrong turn. One too-hearty gasp. One too-slow moment.
And the vent would shut like a coffin.
He leaned forward and whispered into the mic, his voice dripping with a sick pleasure.
"𝑺𝒆𝒆 𝒊𝒇 𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝑨𝒗𝒂."
He pressed a button.
Down below, a fan in the air duct roared to life.
....
𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐅𝐓:
The metal groaned beneath them.
Ava felt it first—air stirring. A vibration under her palms. Then the sound: a mechanical shriek, growing louder. Behind them.
"What is it?" she whispered.
Rohit halted, throwing the phone's fading light behind.
His face lost color. "A fan. Industrial. Traveling fast."
"Go!" Ava screamed.
They crawled harder, harder than they thought possible.
The shaft narrowed, metal biting into their knees. The light wavered. Died. Total darkness.
Only the howl growing behind them.
Then—light.
A grate before them. Barely visible.
But it was shut.
"No—no, no, no—" Ava cried, striking her fists against it.
Rohit reached her side, pulled a tool from his boot, started working the bolts. His hands trembled, wet with sweat and blood. The roar was a shriek now, machinery ready to consume.
𝗖𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗸. 𝗢𝗻𝗲 𝗯𝗼𝗹𝘁 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲.
𝗦𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗰𝗵. 𝗧𝘄𝗼.
𝗖𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸
The fan was seconds away.
Ava looked back—and saw the shadow again.
Only this time it wasn't crawling.
It was standing in the vent.
Watching.
Smiling.
"Rohit!" she screamed.
He kicked the grate open. Pulled her through.
They fell.
Down. Into complete darkness.
And the shaft behind them caved in—trapping them inside from whatever had been in there.
...
𝐔𝐧𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 – 𝐁𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲:
They fell onto cold stone.
Ava groaned, dazed, bruised, but alive. Rohit coughed next to her, ribs aching.
But then…
Light.
Soft. Flickering. Like candles.
Dozens of them.
As their eyes adjusted, Ava realized they were not alone.
The room was circular. Stone. Old-looking, like a converted old well sanctuary. Symbols covered the walls, written in something too dark to be paint.
And in the center—a chair.
High-backed. Wooden. Bolted to the floor.
Rohit got up first, limping. "Where the hell are we now?"
Ava's eyes fell on the shape beside the chair.
A mannequin?
No.
𝗔 𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗽𝘀𝗲.
𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝘂𝗽. 𝗠𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗵 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱 𝘀𝗵𝘂𝘁.
But this one was 𝙣𝙚𝙬 .
And in its hand—it was holding something.
A 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙗𝙤𝙤𝙠 .
Ava stepped closer, heart pounding, and ripped it out.
The front cover was scratched, worn. But the name was clear.
"𝗗𝗿. 𝗞𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗻 𝗠𝗲𝗵𝘁𝗮"
Her uncle.
She opened it with shaking hands. Inside—sketches. Maps. Notes written in a hasty, irregular handwriting.
"𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘴. 𝘐𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘦𝘹𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥."
"𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘴. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴."
"𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘷𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘱."
"𝘛𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘈𝘷𝘢 𝘐 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥."
She dropped the book.
Tears burned her eyes.
Rohit stooped silently and picked it up. "He knew," he said. "He knew about all of this."
Ava looked around at the symbols, at the stitched mouth of the corpse, and the cold creeping into her bones.
"Then why didn't he prevent it?"
Rohit's eyes met hers.
"Because I believe he attempted to."
A sound came from upstairs.
Not footsteps.
Not machinery.
𝗔 𝗹𝘂𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗯𝘆.
Sung slow. Brokenly.
𝗜𝗻 𝗔𝘃𝗮'𝘀 𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝘃𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲.
.....
𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐀𝐯𝐚'𝐬 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐬—𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠?
𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫… 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐀𝐯𝐚 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞?
𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐧𝐬, 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞—𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦?
𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲'𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦?
.......
𝑬𝑵𝑱𝑶𝒀𝑰𝑵𝑮 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑺𝑻𝑶𝑹𝒀? 𝑲𝑰𝑵𝑫𝑳𝒀 𝑫𝑶 𝑺𝑶𝑴𝑬 𝑹𝑨𝑻𝑰𝑵𝑮. 𝑰𝑻 𝑯𝑬𝑳𝑷𝑺 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑺𝑻𝑶𝑹𝒀 𝑻𝑶 𝑮𝑹𝑶𝑾...!
𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙙𝙤 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨 𝙨𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙄 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨.