Karbu broke through the door.
Wood splintered.
The sound was deafening.
He stepped into the room and stood on his feet.
Nine feet tall.
Thin body.
Long, narrow legs and arms that seemed to have too many joints.
Sharp jaw.
Long, pointed teeth and fingers like knives.
Fully black eyes — dark as empty sockets.
Patches of hair grew on parts of his body.
Some of his skin looked burned.
Melted.
Wrong.
He swung the back of his hand and struck Lomro.
The force was inhuman.
Lomro flew out of the room like a doll.
His body hit the hallway wall with a sickening crack and he collapsed.
Unconscious.
Blood trickled from his mouth.
Inose scrambled under the table.
Her hands slipped on the floor.
Her breath came in short, panicked gasps.
Cult froze.
His eyes rolled back.
He fainted where he stood.
His body hit the floor with a dull thud.
Amili moved slowly.
Carefully.
Without a sound, she slipped out of the room.
Her heart was pounding so hard she thought it might burst.
She didn’t look back.
She couldn’t.
Karbu turned toward Blinc.
Slow.
Certain.
Its black eyes locked onto him.
Blinc stood in front of the door, a pillow clutched in his hands.
It was all he had.
A pillow against a monster.
His hands were shaking.
His legs were shaking.
But he didn’t run.
Karbu swung at him.
The massive hand cut through the air.
Blinc covered himself with the pillow.
The blow launched him backward.
He crashed through the doorway, hit the far wall, and fell.
Pain exploded through his body.
Then nothing.
Unconscious.
Zander lay on the bed, a blanket pulled over himself, trying to stay still.
Trying to be invisible.
His heart was beating so loud he was sure the creature could hear it.
Karbu turned slowly.
It sniffed the air.
Its head moved toward the bed.
It walked toward Zander.
Each step was deliberate.
Heavy.
The floor creaked under its weight.
It sniffed near the mattress.
Its breath was cold.
Wet.
It reached down.
Its long fingers wrapped around Zander’s neck.
The grip was like iron.
It lifted him into the air.
Zander thrashed, kicking, clawing, trying to break free.
The blanket tangled around him.
His vision blurred.
His lungs screamed for air.
Karbu opened its mouth wide.
Wider than any mouth should open.
Rows of teeth.
Darkness inside.
It began to close its jaws around Zander’s head.
Zander fainted.
His body went limp in the creature’s grip.
— The College.
Classroom.
They sat in the classroom.
The fluorescent lights buzzed overhead.
Charlie and Lara kept glancing at them from across the room.
Curiosity.
Suspicion.
“So, then what happened?” Charlie asked.
His voice had a mocking edge.
He didn’t believe them.
Not yet.
“We don’t remember anything after that.
Where that creature…” Amili began.
Her voice was distant.
She was still there, in that room, watching her friends fall one by one.
“Karbu,” Zander interrupted.
The word was sharp.
Bitter on his tongue.
“Okay.
Karbu.
Went,” Amili finished.
She looked exhausted.
They all did.
“Alright.
So all this is happening because of this C.D., right?” Charlie said.
He was trying to piece it together.
Trying to make it make sense.
“Yes,” Cult said.
His voice was small.
He was still shaking.
“Then just throw it away,” Lara said.
Simple.
Obvious.
Just get rid of it.
“Oh, Lara.
You’re so intelligent,” Charlie said.
His voice dripped with sarcasm.
Old habit.
Old comfort.
“Really?
Come here, my baby,” Lara said.
She grabbed him and started kissing him.
Right there.
In front of everyone.
Like the world wasn’t falling apart.
Everyone stared.
Zander’s face filled with open lust.
He didn’t even try to hide it.
Lomro made a twisted, disgusted face and looked away.
Inose closed her eyes.
Cult’s expression was distant, lost in thought.
Blinc looked out the window.
At the sky.
Searching for something.
“What fun they’re having doing that shit,” Amili said flatly.
No judgment.
Just exhaustion.
“Hey, guys.
Let’s go.
Otherwise we’re going to see a whole sex scene,” Lomro said.
He was already standing.
Everyone stood up to leave.
Chairs scraped against the floor.
Blinc remained seated.
Still staring out the window.
His eyes were fixed on something no one else could see.
The bell rang.
Sharp.
Loud.
“We have to go.
We’re already late,” Lara said.
She pulled away from Charlie.
Her lips were red.
“Hey, Blinc,” Zander called.
His voice was gentle now.
Concerned.
Blinc did not reply.
His gaze was fixed outside.
Unmoving.
In Blinc’s right eye, a blue spark flickered.
Small.
Bright.
Alive.
— One Hour Earlier.
Blinc’s Room.
Karbu held Zander by the throat.
Zander hung limp.
Unconscious.
His body swayed slightly.
Inose sat under the table, her chest heaving.
Her breath came in short, desperate bursts.
Her eyes rolled back.
She fainted.
Her body slumped against the table leg.
An axe slammed into the center of Karbu’s chest.
The blade buried deep.
A wet, tearing sound filled the room.
Karbu turned slowly.
No urgency.
No pain.
As if the axe was nothing more than a minor inconvenience.
Its black eyes found the source.
Blinc stood before him.
His eyes glowed blue.
Not human eyes anymore.
Something else.
Something ancient and powerful.
His hair floated upward, moving in an invisible wind.
Blue lightning crackled around his body.
The air smelled of ozone and power.
He wrenched the axe free from Karbu’s chest.
The blade made a sucking sound as it came out.
He brought it down again.
Cutting deep.
Black blood sprayed.
He pulled the blade out through the shoulder.
Bone cracked.
Karbu released Zander.
Zander’s body dropped to the floor.
Limp.
Still alive.
A scream of pain tore from Karbu.
The first sound of suffering it had made.
Red steam rose from its body.
Blinc raised the axe high above his head.
Blue lightning coiled around the blade.
He brought it down on the creature’s head with all his strength.
Karbu’s body dissolved into fog.
Black mist that swirled and faded.
Vanished.
Like it had never been there.
Blinc’s eyes faded back to normal.
The blue drained away.
His hair fell back to its usual length.
The lightning arou nd him flickered and died.
Blinc collapsed.
His body hit the floor.
Unconscious.
Spent.
The College.
Everyone stood around, worried.
Their faces were pale.
Their eyes were wide.
“Hey!
Blinc!
Wake up!” Lomro shouted.
He was standing over Blinc’s body.
Desperation in his voice.
Blinc’s eyes moved.
Slowly.
He looked up.
He was lying on the floor.
His body ached.
His head throbbed.
Lomro had one foot planted on his chest and held a stool in his hands, ready to swing it down.
He stopped when he saw Blinc’s eyes open.
Relief flooded his face.
“What are you doing?” Blinc said calmly.
Too calmly.
Like waking up from a nap.
“Hey, Lomro, hit him on the head!
A little damage might bring his brain back to its senses,” Zander called from outside the room.
He was peeking through the doorway.
Safe distance.
“But why are you outside the room?” Lomro shouted, annoyed.
His grip tightened on the stool.
“You don’t know.
He has such a powerful punch,” Zander said.
Fear and respect mixed in his voice.
“Hey, Blinc.
What happened to you?” Amili asked.
She knelt beside him.
Her voice was soft.
Worried.
Her hand touched his forehead.
Blinc thought for a moment.
His mind was fog.
Fragments.
Flashes of blue light.
He shook his head.
No.
He didn’t know.
He couldn’t remember.
“Let me guess.
You didn’t take your hallucination pills, right?” Zander asked.
His voice was gentle now.
He knew the answer.
“Yeah.
But only today and last night,” Blinc said.
He got to his feet.
His legs wobbled.
Amili steadied him.
“Let’s go.
We have to throw away this disk,” Cult said.
His voice was urgent.
Scared.
He wanted it gone.
All of it.
— The Road Outside the College.
Near a Dustbin.
Cult stood still, staring at the C.D.
without blinking.
It sat in his palm.
Small.
Innocent.
Deadly.
“Hey!
What the hell are you thinking?” Lomro said from behind him.
His voice was sharp.
Nervous.
“Nothing.
I’m just thinking about what a strange thing it is.
But in that moment, I wasn’t scared.
I wanted to see more.
But I also wanted to escape,” Cult said.
His voice was distant.
Haunted.
He couldn’t look away from the disc.
“Just throw it,” Blinc said.
His voice was tired.
Done.
“Yes!
But what an emotional speech!
My eyes are filling with tears,” Zander said.
His voice was bright.
Too bright.
Covering fear with humor.
Cult threw the C.D.
into the dustbin.
It landed among the trash.
Banana peels.
Old newspapers.
Coffee cups.
Gone.
Buried.
They walked away together, moving along the footpath.
Their steps were slow.
Heavy.
Like they were carrying something invisible.
“Blinc!
I wasn’t scared when that Karbu screamed at us,” Zander said.
His voice was defiant.
Proud.
“Liar,” Blinc said.
A small smile touched his lips.
The first smile in days.
“No!
No!
I just thought about a Bhojpuri song lyric for a second,” Zander said.
He was grinning now.
The tension breaking.
“That cringe song you heard in Kalam Uncle’s supermarket?” Blinc asked.
His eyebrow raised.
“Yes!” Zander laughed.
A real laugh.
It felt strange.
Good.
“I still can’t understand a single word of it,” Blinc said.
“I can’t either!
But there is one word I understand.
Karbu.” Zander’s smile faded slightly.
“Karbu?
That sounds even weirder,” Blinc said.
“Yes!
Karbu sounds weirder.
That word came into my head when he—or she—screamed at us,” Zander said.
He was serious now.
Thoughtful.
“He didn’t have a reproductive part.
No penis, no vagina,” Blinc said.
Deadpan.
“And not even a bum,” Zander added.
Just as deadpan.
They reached Blinc’s house.
The familiar walls.
The familiar door.
It felt different now.
Everything did.
“Hey.
I think you all should stay here tonight.
So everyone come back later,” Blinc said.
His voice was quiet.
But there was fear in it.
He didn’t want to be alone.
— Night.
Blinc’s House.
The doorbell rang.
The sound cut through the silence like a knife.
Blinc walked to the door.
His footsteps were slow.
Heavy.
He opened it.
No one was there.
The porch was empty.
The street was dark.
He looked outside.
Nothing.
Just a bike passing by on the street in front of his house.
The rider didn’t look at him.
The sound of the bicycle faded into the night.
He noticed something at his feet.
Slowly, he looked down.
His heart stopped.
Blinc froze in shock.
His blood turned to ice.
He couldn’t move.
He couldn’t breathe.
He called everyone to the door.
His voice was strange.
Hollow.
Scared.
They gathered around.
Their faces pale.
Their eyes wide.
They looked down together.
There, on the doorstep, lay the C.D.
Clean.
Untouched.
Waiting.
— To be continued…
— Author’s Note Dear Reader, This chapter marks the first time Blinc transforms.
He doesn’t understand it yet.
He doesn’t control it.
But something inside him has woken up — something connected to the prisoner in the violet cage.
Every time the Karbu attack, the power surfaces.
Every time the power surfaces, Blinc loses a piece of himself.
The C.D.
came back.
It will always come back.
Some things don’t want to be thrown away.
Thank you for reading.