The quiet hum of the bus engine filled the air as Subey sat in his seat, staring blankly out the window. He had thought the nightmare was over—the nightmare that had followed him from that first ride. But the sensation never quite left him. He could still feel the eerie weight of it, like something was always lurking just beneath the surface, waiting to pull him back in.
He hadn't planned on riding the bus again. Not after everything that happened. But here he was. Drawn to it, as if something inside him knew he had unfinished business with this cursed vehicle.
The doors closed with a faint hiss, and Subey tensed. He knew he wasn't alone. The bus had already started its journey, but something wasn't right. The passengers were still, unnervingly still, like lifeless mannequins. Their eyes, vacant and unblinking, were trained on him, watching him without saying a word.
He shifted in his seat, trying to shake the dread creeping up his spine, but it was no use. Something was different this time.
A figure moved into his peripheral vision. A woman, young, with wide, terrified eyes—caroline.
Here Caroline is a imagined key character to be along with Subey.
He remembered her from the first ride, or at least, the twisted version of her that had been trapped on the bus with him. Her gaze met his, and for a brief moment, Subey thought he saw recognition in her eyes. But there was no time to speak. The air felt thick, charged with an unnatural force.
"I didn't think I'd see you again," Caroline whispered, her voice trembling.
Subey nodded, his throat tight. "Neither did I."
The bus continued its journey, but the road outside had changed. The familiar city streets were gone, replaced by dark, winding paths that led to nowhere. The night stretched on forever, and the silence inside the bus was suffocating.
Caroline looked around, her face pale. "It's happening again, isn't it?"
Subey didn't have to ask what she meant. The bus, the passengers, the driver—it was all the same. The feeling of being trapped, of something watching them, was undeniable.
A voice, cold and mechanical, crackled through the intercom. "We're not going anywhere. Not this time."
Caroline's eyes widened. "That voice… It's the same as before."
Subey's fists clenched. He stood up, the pressure in the air thickening with every step. "Who's doing this? What do you want from us?"
But there was no answer.
Instead, the bus lurched violently, throwing both of them off balance. The lights flickered, casting long, grotesque shadows on the walls of the bus. The passengers, if they could still be called that, began to stir. Their eyes shifted, their bodies jerking into unnatural, rigid positions as though they were being controlled by some unseen force.
Caroline grabbed Subey's arm. "We need to get off. Now."
But as she spoke, the exit doors slammed shut, trapping them inside. The temperature dropped, and the faint smell of something rotting filled the air.
"They won't let us go," a voice croaked from the back of the bus. Subey turned to see one of the passengers—an older man, his face gaunt and pale. His skin seemed to be decaying, his eyes hollow. "Once you're on, you're part of it. Part of the curse."
The bus began to speed up, faster and faster, until the windows blurred with the wind. The city outside disappeared entirely, leaving only darkness. The hum of the engine grew louder, almost deafening.
"Why are you here?" Subey shouted, his voice rising in panic. "What do you want with us?"
The man's lips curled into a twisted grin. "To show you what we've seen. To make you part of the ride."
Suddenly, the driver's voice echoed through the bus, deep and distorted. "You can't escape, Subey. Caroline. You're part of the cycle now."
A cold, metallic laugh filled the air, followed by the sound of something scratching against the windows—something large, something dark.
Caroline's grip tightened on Subey's arm. "It's coming," she whispered.
Subey turned to look out the window, his heart hammering in his chest. There, in the distance, looming in the shadows, was a massive figure—its eyes glowing in the dark, watching them. It was closer than he expected. A monstrous shape, made of shifting darkness, its form ever-changing, never quite solid.
Before he could react, the figure vanished, only to appear right outside the window, its face pressed against the glass. Its eyes locked onto his, cold and predatory.
"Don't look at it," Caroline warned, pulling him back. "It sees you."
But it was too late.
The bus jerked again, and everything around them began to warp. The walls of the bus stretched, distorting, bending in ways that defied physics. The air grew thick with a palpable sense of doom, and the walls closed in, as if the bus itself were alive, hungry.
"You can't leave," the driver's voice intoned, echoing from every corner of the bus. "You're part of it now. And we never leave."
Caroline backed into Subey, her breath coming in shallow gasps. "What is it? What's happening to us?"
"I don't know," Subey muttered, his mind racing for a way out. But every time he tried to move, the space around him shifted. The door, the exit, it was never where it should be. The bus wasn't just a vehicle. It was a trap. A nightmare.
The lights flickered one last time, and for a moment, the bus seemed to pause in mid-air, suspended in an infinite void. Then, the sound of footsteps echoed down the aisle. The passengers, now twisted and hollow-eyed, began to rise, moving toward them with unnatural speed.
"They're coming for us,"Caroline. whispered, her voice breaking. "We have to fight. Or we'll become like them."
Subey turned to her, his eyes wide with fear and determination. "We won't become like them."
But the bus was already pulling them deeper into the darkness, and the last thing Subey saw was the glowing eyes of the creature outside, waiting for....