Unknown Subterranean
The subway train suddenly stopped inside a dark tunnel, causing the passengers to be jolted from their tired state. The fluorescent lights went out, and the darkness quickly overtook the car. The passengers began to feel uneasy and started to whisper amongst themselves. They tried to use their phones to light up the darkness outside, but it was useless. The only sound that could be heard was the distant water dripping from the tunnel walls. The air became thick and oppressive, and it felt like the darkness was suffocating them. Suddenly, a scratching sound, like something clawing at the train’s exterior, could be heard. It broke the silence, and the passengers were left wondering about the source and intentions of the unknown entity.
As panic began to seed itself within the confines of the subway car, the scratching intensified as though responding to the rising fear. Passengers huddled together, seeking solace in the closeness of strangers while casting nervous glances toward the darkened subway doors. The scratching seemed to move, encircling them like a predator stalking its prey, a sound growing in enthusiasm and desperation. A chilling thought crept into each mind: what dire thing could exist in the impenetrable depths of the city’s veins?
Then, just as suddenly as it began, the scratching ceased, leaving a void where the terror had been, a silence that was almost more fearsome than the sound itself. A child’s whimper cut through the car; it was a momentary distraction, a fleeting tether back to reality until a soft, indistinct whisper seemed to seep through the walls. It was language, but not one recognised by any of the passengers. Whispers swelled as if from a chorus of unseen entities, their words unintelligible, their message clear: they were not alone.
As they descended deeper into the tunnel, a chilling realisation dawned on them. They weren’t just in the city’s heart anymore – they had ventured into uncharted and unknown territory. Trapped inside a paralysed subway car in complete darkness, they were at the mercy of a mysterious and ancient force that had been disturbed by their arrival. Who knew what lurked within the shadows, hungry and ready to prey upon them?
The low whispers that filled the subway car grew louder until they reached a deafening level and caused the vehicle’s metal to vibrate. Suddenly, the whispers stopped, and a single, heavy thud could be heard on the roof. As the sound moved towards the back of the car slowly and purposefully, the passengers’ hearts raced with fear. The flickering lights struggled to fight against the darkness, and for a fleeting moment, a distorted smudge on the windows became visible – a handprint or perhaps something far more sinister.
In that instant, the car lurched forward as the power groaned back to life, the train resuming its path toward civilisation, toward light. Yet, with the return to normalcy came relief and a deep, gnawing dread. For as the passengers exchanged glances, they wordlessly acknowledged the new, unspoken terror that clung to each of them like the chill of the tunnel air: the space inside the car was somehow… smaller as if the dimensions had been subtly altered, and worse, there was one more among their number – an extra shadow that loomed in the corner of their eyes, present yet indefinable, a silent, unwanted traveller from the abyss.
As the train emerged back into the glow of the station, the passengers disembarked with haste, not daring to speak of the shape that had not left with them, which remained seated, benign at a glance but radiating an aura of malice. One by one, they vanished into the safety of the light, all except one, a solitary figure who paused to cast a backward glance. What they saw – or thought they saw – in the last row made their blood run cold: a knowing smile from a face that couldn’t possibly be human, and eyes – too many eyes – reflecting a lust for the terror it had fed upon, and an eagerness for the night to come, when the subway would once again slip into the darkness, its unwitting passengers in tow.
