The tunnel beneath her feet shivered violently, almost like the Heart itself was waking up.Evelyn stumbled forward, lantern shaking in her grip. The flesh around her walls pulsed, tightening and loosening as if it were breathing—thinking.
The shadow-Evelyn slithered along the walls, limbs snapping, cracking, jerking in impossible directions.The mirror-Evelyn floated just ahead, fog swirling, eyes glowing white, perfectly calm… as if she were expecting Evelyn.
The voices inside the flesh grew louder, not screaming now, but murmuring.Whispering her name.Listing everything she had feared, forgotten, or regretted.
Evelyn staggered, clutching her chest.Her pulse throbbed violently.She realized something horrifying: the Heart wasn't just alive.It remembered her.
Every misstep, every fear, every doubt—it had memorized.Every memory she tried to bury, every secret she thought safe—was stored here in the living meat surrounding her.
Ahead, the tunnel widened.The walls became smooth, almost mirror-like, reflecting her flickering lantern light.But when she looked closer… the reflections weren't hers.They were all the faces of everyone the Heart had consumed, distorted, screaming silently, reaching for her.
The floor rippled under her feet, and from it, shadows began to rise.Not her shadow.Not the mirror.But twisted fragments of everyone she'd seen die in the train: passengers, staff, friends she had only glimpsed in passing.
They advanced, silent, relentless.Hands clawing, mouths opening wide, eyes empty.
The shadow-Evelyn hissed from the ceiling:"They are all inside you. You cannot outrun them."
The mirror-Evelyn glided forward, fog swirling like smoke, voice echoing inside her skull:"And the Heart remembers everything. Even you."
Evelyn tried to swing her lantern, but the walls pulsed, bending light and sound, swallowing the flame.Her heartbeat became deafening.Her pulse accelerated—and she felt the Heart react.
The walls bulged outward, as if the Heart was stretching its core, reaching into her mind.The memories began seeping into her.Not as visions—but as feelings.Fear, despair, grief, anger, regret.All mashed together, crashing through her thoughts.
Her knees buckled.The creatures—mirror and shadow—moved closer, calm, patient predators.The absorbed faces of the dead floated in the pulsing walls, mouths whispering:"You cannot hide… you belong here… you are ours…"
Evelyn gritted her teeth, forcing herself to stand.She gripped the lantern tighter.Even as the flesh around her stretched and pulsed, even as the memories crashed through her mind… she whispered:
"I… will… not… belong to you."
The Heart's pulse thundered like a drum, shaking the entire tunnel.The mirror-Evelyn's eyes flared.The shadow-Evelyn's jaw split impossibly wide.
And deep inside…Evelyn felt the true core of the Heart stir.It was massive.Older than the train.Alive.And it was looking at her.
The whispers around her swelled into one voice:"Welcome… to the center of everything you've feared."