2:08 AM – DeepSignal Forum, Thread #578122: "WTF did I just watch?
🟢 Firewatch7: "Okay, this isn't fake. You can see the rain bending around him. Rewind to 0:39."
🔴 LucidMachina: "Bro, his veins were glowing. That's not a filter. That's a mutation."
🟣 sublime.decay: "Who is he? Where is this school?"
⚠️ [Deleted Account] replied: "We've found Subject 9."
View count: 9,401... 22,700... 56,000.
It went viral in under four hours.
3:12 AM – Jay's Room, New Arcadia Sector-5
The glow in his chest hadn't stopped Jay sat cross-legged on the floor, shirt soaked through with sweat, hoodie on the ground like shed skin.
The red veins that had first flickered during the rain had deepened not just light, but heat, threading across his ribs like molten wires.
His phone buzzed nonstop.
Texts. Pings. DMs.
He ignored them all.
Instead, he stared at the mirror in front of him not because he wanted to, but because he had to His reflection didn't move right anymore.
It blinked when he didn't. Tilted its head when he was still But what terrified him most was that he was starting to feel okay with it.
The voice whispered — faint, rhythmic.
"They're looking.
They're watching.
We are waking."
His heartbeat wasn't steady anymore It was layered like there was more than one pulse inside him now.
4:31 AM – Unknown Location, Arcadia Outskirts A metal door slid open with a hiss.
Inside the dim-lit chamber, six figures stood in silence around a central display the viral video on loop One of them, an older man in a long black coat, stepped forward.
"Pause. Zoom in."
The video halted on Jay's blurred outline. His glowing veins. The mark on his chest a spiral, just visible through his soaked hoodie.
The man pointed.
"There," he said. "Right there. Subject 9."
A woman beside him raised an eyebrow "After all these years... we thought he didn't survive."
The man didn't smile. Didn't blink.
He only said:
"Activate Watchpoint."
7:12 AM – Arcadia High, Sector-5
Jay stood in front of the mirror again fully dressed now Hoodie zipped high. Gloves on. Skin covered But he knew it was only a matter of time before someone looked too closely Or heard what he was beginning to hear.
Zeke had betrayed him.
And somehow, that hurt more than the fear Maybe because Zeke had seen him lose control… and didn't ask if he was okay He just hit upload.
Jay stepped into the hallway.
Even the sound of his footsteps felt louder now like the floor responded differently to him Was it his imagination?
He didn't think so.
Every person he passed in the apartment lobby looked at him a little too long Their eyes lingered with a strange mix of recognition and dread.
8:26 AM – Train to School
He sat in the corner of the magrail car, hoodie pulled low A girl across the aisle kept looking at her phone... then at him He caught a glimpse of her screen.
It was the video.
His blood froze.
He reached up, adjusting his hood instinctively — and for the first time, noticed something terrifying His reflection in the train window?
It was smiling.
He wasn't.
9:00 AM – Arcadia High Campus The entire school had stopped pretending People whispered louder Some stepped away as he passed One student even pointed a camera at him and didn't even bother to hide it Jay felt his heartbeat quicken.
The spiral on his chest — though hidden — began to itch.
No, not itch. Move.
Like it was coiling and shifting beneath his skin He marched into class.
Zeke was there. Face pale Fingers twitching over his phone.
Jay sat down next to him. Didn't speak.
Zeke turned slowly.
"I—I tried to delete it, bro. I didn't mean for it to—"
Jay didn't answer. Just whispered:
"They're coming."
Zeke swallowed. "Who?"
Jay turned his glowing eyes toward him.
"I don't know yet."
12:34 PM – Rooftop, Arcadia High
Jay leaned against the fence, wind pressing into his hoodie His mind was louder than it had ever been The voice was no longer a whisper.
It was instructions.
"Stay still.
Breathe slower.
Heat signature detected: 12 o'clock. Watch. Jay turned his gaze across the rooftops.And there almost invisible in the haze was a figure.Watching him through a scope.
Dressed in matte black.
Non-school-issued gear.
Not a student.
Not local police.
Someone was here for him.
Jay smiled bitterly.
They were fast.
But not faster than whatever was growing inside him He placed his palm on the rooftop tile The veins in his arm shimmered faintly, spidering outward.
Concrete cracked beneath his touch.
The voice hummed:
"You are stabilizing."
"Phase Two begins soon."
"They will try to claim you. But you are ours Jay whispered to the sky:
"Then let them try."
– To Be Continue...