Chapter 437

The darkness came slow, like a tide creeping up from the edges of the world. At first, it was just a stain on the horizon. A thin, ink-like smear stretching across the sky, barely noticeable. People didn't notice it at first. Or if they did, they shrugged it off.

Tom had been walking down the street when he first saw it. The sky above the city had darkened, but not like a storm was coming. It was something else. A slow pull, like the earth itself was getting pulled under by some unseen hand.

He felt it on his skin, a cold chill, but it wasn't the kind of cold that made you shiver. It settled inside, a dull ache that started at the base of his spine and spread out, spreading like cancer.

He turned to his friend Mark, who was walking beside him. "You see that?"

Mark looked up, but his eyes were tired. He hadn't slept well the night before. "What? The clouds?"

Tom nodded. "Yeah, the clouds. They're... wrong. Something's not right."

Mark squinted, then shrugged. "It's just a storm. It'll pass."

They kept walking, but Tom couldn't shake the feeling gnawing at him. It felt like the whole world was holding its breath, waiting for something, for the end, maybe. He didn't know why it felt that way, but it did. His skin crawled with it.

By the time they reached the corner, the sky was dark—so dark it felt like nightfall, but it was still early afternoon. The streets were empty, which wasn't unusual for this part of town. The city had been emptying out for weeks. People were leaving, disappearing, moving away from the places where the darkness was thickest.

Mark stopped walking. "Tom, do you hear that?"

Tom looked around. The street was silent, too silent. No cars, no distant chatter, nothing. "I don't hear anything."

But then he did hear something. It was like a low hum, a vibration in the air, deep and unsettling. It made his teeth ache.

"That's not... normal," Tom said, his voice barely above a whisper. He could feel the blood draining from his face.

Mark turned to him, his face pale. "Tom... it's here. Isn't it?"

Tom didn't answer. He couldn't. The darkness had reached them. It was moving now, faster than before. It was spreading, like oil on water, consuming everything in its path. And the worst part? People weren't even fighting it. They were just disappearing.

Tom could see the first person go. A woman across the street, standing in front of a storefront, looking up at the sky. She didn't even scream when it started. The darkness poured over her like liquid, covering her body in a thick, viscous sheet. Her arms and legs jerked, like she was trapped in something alive, and then she collapsed to the ground.

No one ran. No one even moved.

Tom grabbed Mark's arm. "We need to get out of here. Now."

Mark didn't say anything. He just nodded, his face blank, his eyes empty. He didn't care anymore. The light in him had already gone out, swallowed up by the growing darkness.

They turned and ran, but it was too late. The darkness was everywhere now, stretching across the streets, creeping into every building, crawling under every door. Tom's heart hammered in his chest as they raced through the empty streets, the hum in the air growing louder.

"I don't want to die," Mark muttered.

"Neither do I," Tom said. But as he spoke, he saw the first shadow slip past them, too fast to catch, but he saw it. It was creeping around the corners of the buildings, latching onto the walls like something sentient.

"Where do we go?" Mark asked, his voice hollow.

Tom didn't have an answer. He didn't know anymore. His world was collapsing. They all were. The darkness wasn't something they could outrun. It was a part of them now, it was inside them. Every step they took, the darkness got closer.

Tom could see the faces now. The faces of people who had already disappeared. Their eyes were empty, staring at him from the cracks in the walls, from the windows, from the ground itself. It was like they had never been human. Like they were ghosts, hollow shells.

"What the hell is happening?" Mark whispered.

Tom couldn't answer. His legs were tired, his breath coming in short, ragged bursts. The world around him was dissolving. The buildings, the streets, the people—everything was fading. The ground beneath his feet cracked open, like the earth itself was splitting, and the darkness flooded through the gaps.

They reached a park, but the trees were gone. The benches had turned to ash. Only the darkness remained, moving, swirling, growing.

Mark grabbed Tom's arm. "We can't stop it, can we?"

"No," Tom replied. His voice was rough. He couldn't even recognize it. His throat felt raw, like he had been screaming for hours. But there was no sound. The world was silent, except for the hum, the buzzing sound of the darkness closing in. It was suffocating.

Then they saw it. A figure, standing in the middle of the park. A woman, her hair black as night, her face pale. She was smiling, but it wasn't a smile. It was something else—something wrong. She stepped forward, her feet not touching the ground.

Mark flinched. "Who the hell is that?"

"I don't know," Tom said. His heart was hammering. He could feel the pull of the darkness behind him. It was coming for them both.

The woman's lips moved. She didn't speak; she just mouthed the words. Tom couldn't hear them, but he could see them in his mind. You're already gone.

Mark's face twisted in terror. "No... no! We're not gone!"

Tom's legs gave out. He collapsed to his knees, the weight of it all crushing him. The woman's form shifted, her body melting into the blackness around her. She was part of it now. She had always been part of it.

"You can't stop it," she said, though her voice didn't come from her mouth. It was everywhere, in the air, in the ground, in his mind.

Tom tried to stand, but his legs wouldn't move. The darkness was swallowing him whole, and there was no escape. It was in his mouth, his lungs, his heart.

Mark stumbled back, his eyes wide with panic. "Help me! Please!"

But it was too late. There was no one left to help. Tom could feel the darkness closing in, and he knew that Mark would be the next to vanish. He reached out, but there was nothing to hold on to.

Mark's eyes met his one last time, wide with fear. "Tom, don't let it take me—"

But the darkness had already taken him. He was gone, dissolved into the void, his body disappearing as if it had never existed at all.

Tom was alone.

The earth was silent now. The hum, the vibration, had stopped. There was nothing left. Nothing but the growing blackness, pulling him deeper, dragging him under.

He couldn't scream. He couldn't cry. The world was gone. Everyone was gone. He was the last, and there was no place left to hide.

The woman's face appeared again, flickering in the edges of his vision. She smiled at him.

"You should have known," she said, her voice a thousand whispers in the dark.

And then, without warning, he too was gone.