he door opened to absolute chaos. Reality itself seemed broken. The floor rippled like liquid, the walls pulsed and bled, and the ceiling was a black void dotted with screaming faces. Every surface moved as if alive, breathing, writhing, and twisting to trap them.
Evelyn's stomach turned. "This… this isn't even a train anymore."
Shadows flickered and merged into monstrous forms—limbs too long, faces fused together, mouths screaming endlessly. Their whispers were everywhere, echoing inside her skull:
"You cannot leave. You will be one of us… forever."
The friends clung together, moving cautiously. Every step made the floor ripple beneath them like it was trying to swallow them whole. Pools of black liquid hissed when touched, and shapes writhed inside—half-flesh, half-shadow, reaching out with fingers tipped in bone.
Suddenly, Sophie screamed. A mass of writhing arms shot up from the floor, wrapping around her legs. Evelyn grabbed her and yanked, but the creature's grip was like iron. The arms tightened, pulling her toward a pit filled with faces screaming silently. Blood slicked the floor, and the smell of iron was overpowering.
Evelyn's heart raced. She slammed the lantern against the mass, the glow burning into it. The arms recoiled with a screech that sounded like grinding metal and flesh tearing. Sophie collapsed into her arms, sobbing.
Alex stared ahead, frozen in terror. His own body began to twist, bones cracking unnaturally. Shadows crawled over his skin, forming grotesque patterns, trying to consume him from within. Evelyn screamed, pulling him back.
"This carriage… it doesn't just scare us," she shouted. "It changes us! It feeds on fear and desire and flesh itself!"
The floor split, revealing a massive maw lined with jagged teeth, exhaling black smoke that burned their lungs. Evelyn grabbed Leo's hand and leapt, landing hard on the other side. The others followed. The maw snapped shut behind them, missing by inches.
Every shadow now had a form: faceless creatures with sharp claws, skeletal wings, mouths dripping black ichor, all converging. The train groaned, a deafening sound that rattled their bones.
Evelyn spotted the exit—a glowing sigil on the far wall—but the path was swarming with the damned. She clenched her teeth. "No choice. We fight or we die here."
Using the lantern's light, she struck at the nearest shadow, burning it to ash. One by one, they hacked, pushed, and fought through the horrors, each second a battle for sanity. The carriage shrieked, twisting, pulsing, bending space as if the world itself wanted them gone.
Finally, battered, bloodied, trembling, they reached the sigil. Evelyn slammed her hand against it. Light exploded, burning through the darkness, obliterating the damned. The screaming faces dissolved into nothingness.
They collapsed, gasping. Every limb shook, every breath burned. Evelyn's chest heaved. Her eyes met her friends'.
"We… survived," she whispered, though her voice was barely more than a rasp. "But we… are not the same."
The door ahead glimmered faintly. Behind it, a faint whisper promised even greater horrors:
"The final carriages await. The Midnight Train will claim what you cannot fight… and what you fear to face most of all."
Evelyn tightened her fingers on the railing. One step at a time. One carriage at a time. She had no choice but to go forward, deeper into the nightmare.