(written by Rohit Malhotra)
The silence in the command bunker was no longer just silence—it felt like a warning.
Ronin sat rigidly before the main control console, his eyes fixed on the static crawling across the screen. The last transmission from the Northern Tower had come exactly 33 minutes ago, abruptly cut off after just two chilling words:
"They're here."
Since then, every attempt to reestablish contact had failed. Radio silence. No response. No trace. Nothing.
Behind him, Ruby paced restlessly, her boots tapping against the concrete floor in a frantic rhythm. The cold from the bunker's steel walls seemed to seep into her bones, but it wasn't the temperature that made her shiver—it was the fear of the unknown. The fear that they had just lost another team.
"Try it again," she said, softer this time, her voice lined with dread.
Ronin didn't respond immediately. His fingers danced over the keyboard, inputting override commands, bypassing firewalls, forcing the satellite uplinks to scan for even the faintest signal.
Still, the screen returned only static.
"They're gone," Diamond said from the far end of the room, seated with her back to the wall, rifle across her lap. Her tone was emotionless, but her eyes betrayed the truth—she was scared too.
"Gone like Sector Three?" Jimy asked, half hoping someone would tell him he was wrong.
"No," Ronin replied. "Sector Three left debris. Ashes. This… this is different. This feels like—"
"They erased it," Ruby whispered, finishing his sentence. "Like it never existed."
Outside, a faint rumble passed beneath the earth, followed by a low-frequency hum that made the light fixtures above them buzz faintly. The emergency lights, already dim, flickered as though something unseen had brushed against the bunker's systems.
Johny, who had been staring at the entrance like a guard dog waiting for a threat, turned toward the others. "Did anyone else feel that?"
"I did," Ruby confirmed. "A tremor, maybe. But it was... off. It didn't feel natural."
"Nothing about this is natural," Diamond muttered. "Nothing since that first ship fell out of the sky."
Ronin's eyes narrowed as he glanced at the static again. "It's not just interference. It's a frequency—something is jamming us. But not like human jamming. This feels... alive."
"What does that even mean?" Jimy said, his voice rising. "Frequencies can't be alive!"
"Tell that to the Tower team," Johny snapped.
Before anyone could answer, the screen blinked. Just once.
A ripple ran across the static like a wave.
Then—black.
The entire screen shut off, leaving the room illuminated only by the pulsing red hue of the emergency lighting.
Everyone froze.
Ronin stood slowly, eyes locked on the blank monitor. "That wasn't me."
Another tremor vibrated under their feet. This one stronger, more intentional, like something massive had shifted just below the surface.
Ruby stepped closer to Ronin, her voice barely above a whisper. "I think we're being watched."
Johny gave a nervous laugh. "That's the name of the damn mission, remember? Someone Is Watching? Well congratulations, they're watching for real now."
Then, suddenly, the bunker's intercom crackled.
A high-pitched noise pierced through, not quite a scream, not quite a mechanical glitch—something in between. It was a sound that didn't belong in their world. It felt like it reached inside their minds, trying to unwrap something hidden.
Johny covered his ears. "Make it stop!"
Ronin ran to the panel and pulled the main power switch down. The sound ceased instantly, as if it had never been there. But the damage was done—everyone stood still, pale, and breathless.
Then the monitor flickered again.
This time it came on.
No static. No feed.
Just text.
Big, bold, glitchy letters across the screen:
WE SEE YOU.
Silence gripped the room like a fist.
Diamond stood up slowly. "They're inside our system."
Ronin nodded. "Not just the system... They're already here."
Jimy's voice cracked. "Do you think they know where we are?"
Ruby didn't blink. "They've always known."
Another line appeared under the first:
YOU CAN'T HIDE.
The lights above them dimmed completely now, casting long shadows across the concrete floor. For a moment, nobody moved. Even breathing felt loud.
Then, footsteps.
Not human footsteps—these were soft, irregular, like something crawling... or gliding. Not from the entrance, but from the vent shaft above.
Johny aimed his gun upward instantly. "I swear to God if something drops out of that vent—"
"Don't shoot," Ronin snapped. "Not unless you see it."
"But it sees us," Ruby whispered.
Another tremor.
Then, without warning, the entire bunker lost power.
Total darkness.
No lights.
No screens.
No sound—except for one.
The hum. It had returned. This time louder. Closer. Not just heard, but felt in their bones.
And with it, the feeling… that something had entered the room.
Ronin reached for his flashlight and clicked it on.
The beam flickered, then stabilized.
But what it revealed made everyone take a step back.
On the far wall, written in something dark and smeared—maybe ash, maybe blood—was a symbol. A circle with a single eye in the center, and three jagged lines beneath it.
None of them had seen it before.
But they all understood what it meant.
It wasn't just a message.
It was a mark.
And they had just been claimed.
2025 Rohit Malhotra. All Rights Reserved.