lay on the cold metal floor, lungs burning. My ears rang from the adrenaline spike, but the whisper still threaded through the noise.
"Don't… look…"
It wasn't coming from the grate anymore.
Lena sat up fast, scanning the shadows. Her eyes were wide—not with fear, but with the kind of alertness that said something is here with us.
I swallowed. "Where—"
The whisper came again, right at my ear.
I flinched so hard I nearly fell backward, twisting toward the sound.
Nothing.
Then—footsteps. Slow, deliberate, circling us. But there was no shape, no shadow, just the faint distortion of air, like heat shimmer.
Lena stood, spear in hand. "Stay close to me."
I did, but my head kept wanting to turn toward the sound. Something deep inside—some wrong, instinctual itch—wanted me to look.
The shimmer stopped moving.
I heard the whisper again, softer now, almost coaxing.
"Look at me."
My chest tightened. My body shifted on its own, like a puppet being tugged by invisible strings.
Lena's voice cut through, sharp. "Don't!"
She stepped between me and the shimmer, and for a moment the air warped violently, as if something invisible had collided with her. The temperature dropped so fast my breath turned white.
The distortion moved again, faster now, circling both of us.
Then—pressure. A heavy, crushing weight settled against my mind, not my body. Images flashed—faces melting into each other, eyes staring, unblinking. I saw the faces from the shaft, but they weren't in the walls anymore—they were inside me.
My knees buckled.
Lena grabbed my collar and yanked me upright. "Keep moving!"
We stumbled forward into a long corridor lined with tall, narrow windows. Beyond them was nothing—just blackness, endless and cold. The glass wasn't reflective, but as we passed each window, I could feel something behind it. Watching.
Halfway down the corridor, one of the windows cracked.
Just a hairline fracture at first, then a web of them spreading outward in silence.
From the black beyond, pale fingers pressed against the glass. They were thin, too thin, each joint bending backward slightly. The cracks deepened under their touch.
Lena didn't hesitate. She shoved me ahead, running full speed. "Don't slow down!"
I didn't. The cracks chased us, shattering window after window in a chain reaction. But instead of glass falling inward, the blackness poured out like smoke—only it was thick, clinging to the floor and walls like oil.
The whisper became a chorus.
"Look."
"Look."
"Look."
It was everywhere now, inside my skull, under my skin. My vision blurred, the corridor stretching longer with each step, as if we weren't moving at all.
Lena stopped abruptly and slammed her spear into the wall. The metal screeched—and then the panel gave way, revealing a narrow maintenance hatch.
"In!" she ordered.
I dove through without thinking. She followed, sealing the hatch behind us just as the blackness surged past on the other side.
The maintenance shaft was barely wide enough for us to crawl, the air stale and choking with dust.
Lena's breathing was rough, but her hands didn't shake. She looked at me in the dim light. "Rule number one here," she said, voice low. "If it tells you not to look—don't. If it tells you to look—don't. Either way, you lose."
I nodded, swallowing hard. "What was that?"
Her eyes didn't waver. "Something that doesn't need eyes to see you."
Before I could ask more, the metal beneath us flexed.
A sound rose from below—a long, scraping drag, like claws over steel.
The whisper returned, louder now.
"You can't run."
The shaft buckled.
Lena's gaze snapped upward. "Climb."
We moved, scrambling up the narrow ladder bolted to the wall. The metal groaned under us, but the sound below was getting closer—no footsteps, no rush—just that dragging, patient scrape, as if it knew we'd tire before it did.
Halfway up, the ladder shuddered. Something was pulling at it from below.
Lena climbed faster. I tried to match her, but the rungs were slick with condensation, my burned arm throbbing with every pull.
Then a hand—pale, thin, jointed wrong—wrapped around my ankle.
The whisper was in my head again, sharp and sudden.
"Look."
Every muscle in my body wanted to obey.