The door slammed shut behind them with a hollow clang, sealing them inside. Evelyn instantly noticed the difference—this carriage wasn't just dark, it breathed. The walls seemed to expand and contract, like lungs pulling in damp, rancid air.
The floor was slick. At first, she thought it was wet stone—but then she realized it wasn't stone at all. Beneath the thin layer of black ooze, countless human faces pressed up, mouths open in eternal screams, eyes wide with anguish. Their skin shifted and wriggled as if still alive, begging for release.
Sophie stumbled backward, clutching her chest. "God… they're—alive—"
"No," Evelyn whispered, staring in horror. "They're trapped."
The lantern light made the walls ripple. From the shadows, twisted silhouettes clawed forward—half-formed people with shredded bodies, their faces fractured like broken masks. Their mouths moved, but no sound came. Instead, their voices rang directly inside the survivors' minds.
"Every sin… every shame… every desire you hide… belongs to us now."
The words hit Evelyn like knives. Her breath caught, heat prickling beneath her skin. She heard the whisper of her own darkest thoughts—moments she had buried deep, memories she never wanted spoken aloud.
Beside her, Sophie screamed. Her own shadow peeled from her feet, stretching across the floor before solidifying into a grinning version of herself. It pinned her down, whispering all her secrets—the jealousies, the betrayals, the hunger she had buried away. Sophie thrashed, sobbing as the shadow traced her face with inhuman intimacy.
Alex roared, swinging at the shadows, but the carriage answered with cruelty. A pool of thick, black liquid rose from the floor, forming a twisted reflection of him. It smiled wider and wider until its face split open, showing rows of jagged teeth. Hands burst from the liquid, dragging at his arms and legs, trying to pull him down into the writhing pool.
Evelyn's lantern flickered. She felt her own voice whispering inside her head, soft and venomous: "You've longed for more, haven't you? To give in. To stop resisting. To join us."
Her knees buckled. The heat inside her chest throbbed, spreading through her veins like poison. She could see herself in the reflection of the wall—eyes glazed, lips curved in a strange, unfamiliar smile.
"No…" she hissed, clutching the lantern tighter. "You're not me. You're not real."
The lantern flared, a sharp beam of light cutting through the nearest shadow. It screamed, dissolving into ash. Evelyn stumbled forward, seizing Sophie's hand, dragging her free of her torment. Leo rushed to Alex, pulling him just enough for Evelyn's light to burn back the pool's grip.
But the carriage fought back harder. The walls split open, black blood pouring out. Hands—dozens of them—reached from the screaming faces in the floor, clawing at ankles, tearing at flesh.
Evelyn lifted the lantern high, its glow almost blinding. "Keep moving! Don't listen to them!" she shouted, forcing herself through the storm of voices and hands.
Ahead, a sigil glowed faintly on the far wall—a jagged circle of light, an exit. But surrounding it were dozens of shattered souls, their broken forms writhing in unison, whispering the final threat:
"You may escape this room… but you will never escape us."
The friends lunged forward. Evelyn slammed her palm against the sigil. Light erupted, tearing through the carriage, shredding the broken souls into dust.
The screams stopped. The hands retreated. The walls stilled.
But even in silence, Evelyn could still hear it—those whispers, like hooks lodged in her mind. The train hadn't let go. It never would.