The chamber shook with every beat of the monstrous heart. Its veins stretched into the floor, the walls, even the survivors themselves. The whispers grew deafening, a chorus of voices drilling into their skulls:
"Choose… choose… CHOOSE."
Sophie sobbed, the black veins crawling further up her neck. Her eyes flickered with shadows, as if something else was looking through her. "It already has me," she gasped, her voice trembling. "If I give in… maybe it will spare you."
Alex grabbed her shoulders, shaking his head violently. "No! That's what it wants—it doesn't want a sacrifice, it wants us to believe we chose. It feeds on that!" His voice cracked, equal parts anger and terror.
Leo clutched his throat where the tendril had gripped him. He could still feel it, pulsing under his skin. "Then what do we do? It's inside us already. Maybe the only way to end it… is to give it everything." His eyes were wild, teetering on the edge of madness.
The heart pulsed harder, spilling black ichor that pooled around their feet. Faces began to appear in the blood—passengers long devoured, their hollow eyes staring, mouths opening in silent screams. The weight of their suffering pressed on the survivors, suffocating.
Evelyn's lantern flickered desperately, the last fragile light. She raised it high and screamed into the chamber: "We will not feed you!" The flame flared brighter, a searing light cutting across the veins. The heart recoiled, screeching in a thousand voices.
But the reprieve was brief. The whispers surged back, louder, crueler:"Then we shall take what we want."
The veins shot out, faster than thought, wrapping around their arms, their necks, their chests. The survivors were dragged toward the beating core, their resistance crumbling as the train itself demanded not one—but all of them.
The heart throbbed, the chamber trembling on the brink of collapse. This was no longer about a single offering. It wanted to feast.
And the chapter closed as Sophie, half-consumed already, whispered one word—whether in warning or surrender, none could tell:
"Run."