The first thing Veer felt was pain.
The wound in his side throbbed, sending sharp pulses through his ribs. His throat was dry, his mind a blur—but when his vision cleared, he remembered.
The woman. The corpses. The hallucination of Avni.
And then, the truth.
His jaw clenched. The whispers, the moving bodies, the eerie visions—it wasn't a curse. It was something real.
"Veer," Karan's voice snapped him back. "Can you move?"
Veer exhaled sharply, nodding. "Yeah. I'm fine."
Liar.
But now wasn't the time to focus on himself.
Because this place—it wasn't just abandoned.
It was a prison.
And they weren't alone.
---
The First Discovery
"We need to keep moving." Rudra wiped blood off his arm, his knife still clutched in his grip. "Whatever the hell happened here, someone didn't want us finding out."
Zayan had been crouched near the remains of the burnt coffins, running a gloved hand over the blackened wood. "The bodies weren't actually… dead. At least, not in the way we thought."
Veer frowned. "What do you mean?"
Zayan pulled out a small syringe he had retrieved from inside one of the corpses' pockets. The liquid inside was clear but had an unnatural sheen under the dim light.
"I think they were drugged," Zayan muttered. "Paralysis. Controlled breathing. Their nervous systems were still active. That's why they moved like that."
Karan's expression darkened. "So the whole 'undead' thing—"
"A trick. A chemical-induced state."
Veer exhaled. So it was science. Not the supernatural. That was almost a relief—except it meant something much, much worse.
Someone had done this.
Deliberately.
"Then that woman," Veer muttered, pushing himself to his feet. "She wasn't a ghost. She was part of it."
"Which means she's still here," Rudra said grimly.
Zayan stood, tucking the syringe into his pocket. "We need to find the source of this. If they were using drugs to manipulate these people, there's a lab. A base. Something deeper inside."
"Then let's find it."
---
The Hidden Door
The group moved carefully through the orphanage, their boots silent against the rotting wooden floors.
The deeper they went, the worse the smell got. A mixture of decay, antiseptic, and something metallic.
Then, they heard it.
A muffled sound.
Karan lifted a fist, signaling them to stop. They listened.
And then—
A child's sob.
Veer's entire body went cold.
They weren't alone.
Karan moved first, following the sound down a narrow corridor. At the end of the hall, a rusted metal door stood slightly ajar. The sobbing was coming from behind it.
Zayan pressed his back against the wall and peered inside. His breath hitched.
"Shit," he muttered. "It's full of them."
Veer and Rudra moved in to look.
What they saw—
Made their stomachs turn.
---
The Children in the Cages
Dozens of children.
Some young, some barely teenagers. All trapped inside metal cages, their bodies thin, their eyes hollow.
The room was cold. Too cold. Like a freezer.
Veer felt rage rise up in his chest. "What the fuck is this place?"
One of the kids—a little girl, no older than seven—lifted her head weakly. Her lips trembled.
"They make us sleep," she whispered. "They make us see things."
Zayan cursed under his breath. "That confirms it. They've been drugging them."
Veer knelt beside the cages, his voice firm but gentle. "Do you know who's doing this?"
The girl nodded slowly.
"The man in the coat. And the lady with the black eyes."
Veer's fingers curled into fists. "She's real."
Karan pulled out a crowbar, jamming it between the locks. "Let's get them out of here."
One by one, the locks snapped.
Some of the children flinched at the noise, their bodies conditioned for punishment. But when the doors swung open, they didn't hesitate.
They staggered out, clinging to one another, some breaking into quiet sobs.
Veer scanned the room. "Where the hell did they even come from? These aren't just missing kids from around here."
"They're not," Rudra said, his voice grim. "I recognize one of them. This kid—he went missing three years ago. In another state."
Zayan's expression hardened. "Human trafficking."
The realization hit like a bullet.
This wasn't just torture. It was a system.
And the people running it—they weren't done.
---
The Lab of Nightmares
"There's a staircase leading down," Karan pointed. "That has to be where they make the drugs."
Veer turned to Zayan. "You stay with the kids. If anyone tries to take them, kill them."
Zayan nodded, pulling out his gun.
The rest of them moved downward.
The staircase led to an underground facility. The air grew colder, and the metallic stench of chemicals got stronger.
Then—
They found it.
The lab.
And inside—
A man in a white coat.
He was tall, his hair slicked back, his face sharp and intelligent. He barely glanced at them as they entered, instead focusing on a set of vials in front of him.
"You're ruining years of work," he said calmly.
Veer lifted his gun. "And you're ruining lives."
The man sighed, turning to face them.
"Dr. Ashwin Varma," he introduced himself, like he was at a fucking conference. "You must be the ones who made it this far. Congratulations."
Veer's patience snapped. He grabbed the man by the collar and slammed him against the metal table. "Who is she?" he growled. "The woman."
Dr. Varma smirked. "Which one?"
Karan pressed his knife against the doctor's throat. "The one with black eyes. The one making the kids see things."
The doctor chuckled. "Ah. You mean Madam Reva."
The name sent a chill down Veer's spine.
Varma leaned in, voice soft. "You'll wish you never heard that name."
BANG.
A shot rang out.
Veer spun—just in time to see Rudra collapse.
At the entrance—
A woman.
Tall. Beautiful. Dressed in black.
And her eyes—
Pure, inky black.
Madam Reva smiled.
"Hello, boys," she whispered. And the lights went out.