Chapter 8: Broadcast of the Dead
The city did not collapse.
It reorganized.
That was worse.
Cars were parked neatly along the roads.
Traffic lights functioning.
Shops open.
Doors unlocked.
But no one screaming anymore.
Because screaming phase
Now—
Synchronization.
Army trucks blocked Sector 9.
Men in combat gear.
Masks.
Thermal scanners.
"Shoot on sight if eyes are black," the commander ordered.
A soldier swallowed.
"What about civilians?"
The commander looked at the silent crowd across the barricade.
Men. Women. Children.
All standing calmly.
Staring.
"Those aren't civilians."
Every possessed person blinked at the exact same time.
The sound—
Like thousands of eyelids snapping shut together.
Then opening.
Their mouths opened.
Not screaming.
Not chanting.
Broadcasting.
Every electronic device within 4 kilometers turned on.
Phones.
TVs.
Car dashboards.
Smartwatches.
Hospital monitors.
All showing one image.
Arjun.
Floating mid-air above the rooftop.
Chest split open.
Darkness pouring like liquid smoke.
His eyes black voids.
But he was conscious.
Tears falling upward.
He could see everything.
He could feel them.
Inside him.
Using him.
The massive entity's voice vibrated through speakers across the city:
"Witness your consequences."
First Demonstration
The crowd in Sector 9 did not charge.
They walked.
Slow.
Coordinated.
Military opened fire.
Bullets tore through flesh.
Bodies dropped.
But didn't bleed normally.
Instead—
From each wound—
More shadow poured out.
It didn't die with the host.
It spread.
One soldier screamed as black smoke forced into his nostrils.
He clawed at his face.
His helmet cracked from inside.
His jaw dislocated.
Then snapped back into place.
He stood up.
Turned toward his squad.
And fired at them calmly.
One by one.
Precise headshots.
No hesitation.
Rooftop – Inside Arjun
He was trapped inside his own skull.
He could see through every possessed eye.
Thousands of perspectives at once.
Pain.Bones breaking.Skin tearing.People begging.
And beneath it—
Pleasure.
The entity feeding.
"You wanted to stop accidents," the entity whispered inside him.
"So we removed unpredictability."
Arjun screamed mentally.
"You're killing everyone!"
"No," it corrected.
"We're removing weak structure."
Hospital – 8:29 AM
The maternity ward from earlier.
All newborns were silent.
Too silent.
A doctor slowly approached one crib.
The baby's chest moved unnaturally.
Like something crawling beneath the skin.
Suddenly—
Every infant sat upright at the same time.
Heads too heavy for their necks.
Eyes pitch black.
Their tiny hands stretched outward.
Skin tearing.
Underneath—
Not muscle.
Not bone.
But thin jointed limbs.
Like something unfinished wearing a child.
The doctor tried to run.
The hallway lights shattered.
Darkness flooded the corridor.
When lights flickered back—
Nothing remained.
No blood.
No bodies.
Just empty cribs gently rocking.
Government Emergency Council – 8:42 AM
Underground bunker.
Screens showing chaos.
Death toll rising.
One scientist shaking uncontrollably:
"It's not viral."
"It's dimensional."
Silence.
"What does that mean?"
He swallowed.
"It means something is overlapping our reality."
"And that something is organizing."
As if responding—
All screens switched to Arjun again.
This time—
He looked directly into the camera.
And spoke.
But it wasn't him.
"Phase Two."
Structural Collapse
Buildings did not explode.
They bent.
Glass towers slightly tilting inward.
Shadows along walls thickening like tar.
Elevators stopping mid-floor.
Inside one elevator—
A family of four.
Father pressing emergency button.
No response.
Lights flicker.
Their reflections in the mirror behind them—
Did not match.
The reflection father slowly turned its head first.
Smiled.
Then stepped out of the mirror.
Physical.
The real father turned—
Too late.
The reflection pressed his fingers into the man's chest.
Skin dented.
Bones cracked inward like soft clay.
The children screamed.
The mother clawed at the mirror.
Her reflection grabbed her wrists from inside.
Pulled.
Her arms stretched unnaturally long before ripping free from her shoulders.
Blood painted the elevator walls.
Then silence.
Camera inside elevator feed cut.
Inside the Grey World
Arjun fell to his knees in the endless void.
"You said I was planted."
The massive face-entity shifted.
"Yes."
"By who?"
Silence.
For the first time—
The entity hesitated.
Behind it—
Something moved.
Bigger.
Darker.
Not humanoid.
A shape without structure.
The army of shadows parted.
Arjun felt cold deeper than death.
"You are not the first bridge," a new voice echoed.
It didn't come from the entity.
It came from behind reality itself.
The massive face-entity lowered its head.
Almost respectfully.
Arjun's breath stopped.
"There's something above you."
The entity responded calmly:
"We are consequences."
"That," it said softly,
"Is intention."
9:03 AM – Worldwide Glitch
The outbreak was no longer contained.
Satellite feeds distorted.
Other cities reporting shadows behaving abnormally.
Not full possession yet.
But stretching.
Testing.
The bridge was amplifying.
And Arjun's body—
Now levitating higher.
Above helicopter level.
Military choppers circled him.
"Take the shot!"
Sniper locked target.
Bullet fired.
It passed through his skull.
Like smoke.
His head slowly turned toward the helicopter.
The pilot's shadow crawled up the windshield.
Wrapped around his throat.
The helicopter spiraled downward.
Exploded into a crowded intersection.
Fire.
Screams.
Burning flesh.
Smoke mixing with shadow.
Feeding it.
Final Scene – 9:17 AM
Across the city—
Every possessed individual stopped moving.
Looked up.
At Arjun.
At the sky.
Clouds twisting unnaturally.
Like something pushing from above.
The air pressure dropped.
Birds fell dead mid-flight.
Glass across the city cracked simultaneously.
And from the cracks—
Thin black veins spread across windows.
Across screens.
Across mirrors.
Arjun finally forced one word out from inside:
"Run."
A single tear fell from his hollow eye socket.
And when it hit the rooftop—
The concrete dissolved.
As if reality itself had begun rotting.