The survivors staggered through the next door into a chamber that smelled of iron, blood, and decay. The walls were pulsing skin, alive and breathing, veins writhing beneath the surface like snakes.
As soon as they stepped in, the floor shifted beneath them—soft, wet, almost like walking on living tissue. Every step made a squelching sound, echoing through the room. The walls groaned as if the entire carriage were a single, massive organism, alive and hungry.
From the walls, pieces of flesh detached—twisting, crawling, forming grotesque figures:
Skinned arms reaching for Alex, trying to pull him into the walls.
Faces of victims they'd never known forming in the walls, whispering:"Join us… feel what we feel… become us…"
Flesh tendrils wrapping around Sophie's legs, squeezing, forcing memories of shame and fear to erupt in her mind.
Evelyn screamed, swinging her lantern. Light cut through some of the flesh tendrils, searing them instantly, but the walls simply regenerated faster, each pulse stronger and more aggressive.
The Conductor appeared above them, floating, a grotesque mix of charred skin, shadow, and molten veins. "You've survived fire, shadows, screams, mirrors… but can you survive yourselves?"
Leo staggered back as a wall of skin twisted into a perfect double of him, grinning with sharp teeth. It whispered:"You are nothing… you are mine… become fleshless, empty…"
Sophie's tendrils coiled tighter. Pain exploded in her mind, visions of herself decomposing, melting into the carriage itself.
Evelyn held the lantern high, screaming: "We are alive! We are still human!" The light flared, burning the crawling flesh around them, halting the regeneration for a brief moment.
Step by agonizing step, they forced themselves forward. Every pulse of the carriage twisted, bending reality, threatening to swallow them entirely. Flesh melded with shadows, mirrors reflected the grotesque versions of themselves, and whispers clawed at their minds.
Finally, a glowing sigil appeared on a section of the wall that had hardened into a doorway. They lunged for it, dragging each other free, leaving the living walls behind—but the pulse of the carriage echoed in their bones, a reminder that the train's horrors were never-ending.
From the far end, the Conductor's voice echoed:"Survive this… and you may yet reach the edge of despair. But deeper horrors await… and nothing will save you."
The survivors collapsed through the doorway, limping, bleeding, shaking—but alive… for now.