Chapter Four: The City That Watches
Sameer's legs carried him far from the university gates before he realized where he was. His lungs burned, his throat raw, yet he didn't dare stop.
When he finally slowed, he found himself in the middle of an empty street. The sunlight still poured down, warm and steady, yet he felt no comfort beneath it. If anything, it only made the emptiness sharper.
He bent forward, hands on his knees, sucking in breaths. His mind spun.
Candidate Nineteen… return to the core.
The words repeated endlessly in his head, like a broken record.
He straightened, glancing around. No people. No cars. No animals. Not even the rustle of wind.
And yet—he felt eyes on him.
The windows of nearby buildings seemed to gleam too brightly, like mirrors reflecting his every movement. Shop signs creaked faintly. A curtain in an upper apartment shifted ever so slightly, as though someone had just moved away from it.
Sameer swallowed hard.
"…Am I… being watched?" he whispered.
He shook the thought away. "No. No, I'm just… imagining things."
But the feeling wouldn't leave him.
He began to walk, more cautiously this time, his ears straining for any sound. His shoes echoed against the pavement, a lonely rhythm in the hollow city.
Halfway down the street, he noticed something odd.
A newspaper lay on the ground, its pages frozen mid-flutter as if glued in place. He crouched and picked it up.
The headline read:
"PROJECT SAQUE – Light Phase Enters Final Stage."
Sameer blinked. "What… the hell?"
The paper felt brittle, unreal, like it could crumble into dust at any second. Yet the words burned into his mind.
He folded it quickly and shoved it into his bag.
And then he froze.
At the end of the street, a figure stood.
Not the mannequin from before—this one was different. It looked human, wearing a plain white coat, its face hidden in shadow.
Sameer's chest tightened. He couldn't tell if it was friend… or another nightmare.
The figure lifted its head.
For a split second, Sameer swore he saw his father's face.
"…Dad?"
The figure didn't answer. Instead, it simply turned and began walking away—down an alley, slow and deliberate.
Sameer's body moved on its own, chasing after it. His heart screamed at him not to, but his soul ached with desperate hope.
Because if his family was here… maybe this nightmare wasn't endless.