The Nightmare City

Ethan's body jerked as he woke.

Not in Maya's house.

Not on her couch.

He was somewhere else.

The air was thick. Heavy. Wrong.

His lungs burned as he gasped in, his hands pressing against the ground—not a floor, not a bed.

Cold asphalt.

Ethan blinked fast, his head pounding.

He was in the middle of a street.

Only… it wasn't New York.

Not really.

The buildings loomed too high, too close together. The windows stretched too tall, like screaming mouths.

The sky was black, with something shifting behind it—like something watching from behind a thin sheet of fabric.

And the worst part?

The street moved.

The pavement breathed beneath his hands, like a pulse, slow and steady.

Ethan scrambled back, heart hammering.

Then—a voice.

"Ethan?"

His head snapped up.

Maya stood a few feet away, wide-eyed, just as lost as he was.

Her breath hitched as she took in the city around them.

"What the hell is this?" she whispered.

Ethan swallowed hard. "I think… we made it."

Maya's hands curled into fists. She looked down.

DON'T FORGET. FIND US.

The words were still written on her arm.

She let out a shaky breath. "Okay. We're still here. We still remember."

Ethan nodded. He checked his own arm—his message was still there too.

They hadn't been wiped. Not yet.

That meant… there was still a chance.

A cold wind ripped through the streets.

Ethan shivered. His hoodie felt too thin, like the cold was sinking through his skin.

Maya wrapped her arms around herself. "Where do we even start?"

Ethan clenched his jaw.

They had to find Jax.

Lucy.

Reed.

Before this place took them for good.

He looked around, searching for anything familiar. Any sign of where they were.

Then—his stomach dropped.

His breath caught.

He grabbed Maya's arm. "Look."

She followed his gaze.

Her eyes widened.

A street sign.

The metal was twisted, rusted, almost unreadable.

But the words were still there.

FULTON STREET.

Maya let out a shaky laugh. "No way."

Ethan stared at it, cold dread creeping up his spine.

It was the same street.

The one from the nightmares.

They had been waking up here for days.

Only this time…

They weren't going to wake up.

A deep rumbling echoed through the streets.

Ethan and Maya froze.

The ground shuddered beneath their feet, like something huge was moving below them.

Then—the buildings groaned.

A low, sickening creak as the walls shifted.

Maya grabbed Ethan's sleeve. "Ethan. The city is moving."

He could feel it.

The way the buildings leaned inward, the way the streets stretched and twisted when he wasn't looking directly at them.

The city wasn't just a place.

It was a thing.

And it knew they were here.

Ethan's pulse spiked. "We can't stay in one spot."

Maya nodded fast. "We need to move. Now."

They took off, running down the cracked pavement.

The city shifted around them, streets twisting in directions they didn't remember.

Fulton Street had been familiar. But now—the roads led somewhere else.

Maya looked over her shoulder. "Do you hear that?"

Ethan did.

A low, deep hum.

Faint at first. But growing louder.

It came from everywhere.

From the buildings. The streets. The air itself.

The nightmare was waking up.

And they had to find their friends before it found them first.

They ran for what felt like hours.

The streets were endless. Twisting. Wrong.

But then—Ethan saw something.

A flicker of light in the distance.

Not streetlights.

Something else.

A sign, glowing in the dark.

He grabbed Maya's wrist. "There."

She followed his gaze.

The sign hung from a shattered diner window. Half the letters were missing, but Ethan could still make them out.

JAX'S DINER.

His stomach turned.

No way.

Maya exhaled. "You think—?"

Ethan's jaw clenched. "Only one way to find out."

They pushed forward, stepping through the shattered glass door.

The inside was dim, bathed in flickering neon.

Booths lined the walls, seats torn, stuffing spilling out.

The smell of something rotten filled the air.

Ethan scanned the room. "Jax?"

Silence.

Then—a scrape.

Behind the counter.

A shadow shifted.

Maya grabbed his sleeve. "Ethan—"

Ethan took a step forward.

His heart pounded.

The shadow moved again.

And then—

A figure lurched into the light.

Ethan's breath caught.

It was Jax.

Or at least—what was left of him.