The silence after the attack felt different.
It wasn't relief or safety,
It was awareness.
Arjun stood there, staring at the open doorway.
At the bodies inside.
At the one that had run.
His grip on the metal rod tightened.
"They didn't just attack," he said slowly. "They waited."
Meera didn't answer immediately.
She carefully stepped past him.
Over the broken bodies.
Into the room.
"Wait—what are you doing?" Arjun whispered.
"Checking," she replied.
"Checking what?!" he hissed.
But she was already inside.
Arjun hesitated.
Then followed.
Because being alone in that corridor suddenly felt worse.
The room smelled of iron.
Fresh blood.
Rotting flesh.
It hit him instantly, He tried not to react.
Tried not to breathe too deeply.
The room itself was small and simple.
A bed, A broken chair, A cupboard with its door hanging open.
Nothing unusual.
Except—
There was no sign of struggle.
Arjun frowned.
"They didn't break in."
Meera nodded slightly.
"They were already inside."
The realization crawled up his spine.
Cold.
Slow.
"They were waiting…" he muttered.
Meera crouched near one of the bodies.
Studying it with focus.
Arjun looked away.
"They sounded human," he said. "That voice—"
"They copied it," Meera said.
Arjun shook his head. "No… it wasn't copying. It had emotion. It sounded scared."
Meera finally looked at him.
"And you believed it."
He didn't answer.
Because that was the problem.
He had.
A faint sound echoed from outside the room making both of them freaze.
It wasn't footsteps.
Not exactly.
Something lighter.
Faster.
Moving across the corridor.
Meera stood instantly.
"Out," she said.
They stepped back into the corridor.
Silence again.
But now—
Arjun felt it.
They were being watched.
"Where did it go?" he asked.
Meera's eyes moved slowly across the hallway.
Door to door.
Shadow to shadow.
"It didn't leave," she said.
Arjun's stomach tightened.
"What do you mean?"
Before she could answer—
A sound came from above.
A soft knock.
Arjun looked up instinctively.
"There's another floor?"
"Roof access," Meera said.
Another knock.
This time—
Three taps.
Evenly spaced.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Arjun's breath slowed.
"That's not random."
"No," Meera said.
"It's not."
The knock came again.
Tap, Tap, Tap.
The exact same pattern.
Arjun swallowed.
"It's trying to get attention."
Meera didn't deny it.
"That's new," she said quietly.
Arjun looked at her.
"New?"
She nodded.
"They didn't do this before."
A pause.
Then—
The knock changed.
Tap.
…Tap tap.
Irregular.
Testing.
Learning.
Arjun felt something shift inside him.
Fear but something else too.
Understanding.
"It's experimenting," he said.
Meera glanced at him.
For a moment—
There was approval in her expression.
Then it disappeared.
"We move," she said.
"Up?" Arjun asked.
Meera hesitated.
Just for a second.
The knock came again.
Louder this time.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Arjun looked toward the stairs.
Then back at her.
"If it's learning… shouldn't we find out how far?"
Meera's eyes narrowed slightly.
"You want to go toward it?"
Arjun didn't answer immediately.
Because the truth was—
He didn't want to.
But something inside him needed to know.
"If we don't understand it…" he said slowly, "we won't survive it."
Silence.
The knock came again.
More impatient now.
Meera exhaled slowly.
Then—
She turned toward the stairs.
"Stay behind me," she said.
They moved carefully and quietly up the stairs.
Each step felt heavier than the last.
The air grew thicker.
Arjun's grip tightened again.
His senses were getting sharpened by every sound, every movement, every breath.
They reached the final landing.
A slightly rusted metal door stood in front of them. It was closed.
The knocking instantly stopped.
"That's not good," Arjun whispered.
"No," Meera agreed.
A silence and then—
A faint sound right behind the door.
Breathing.
Slowly and controlled.
Arjun's pulse spiked.
"It knows we're here."
Meera stepped closer.
Just enough to reach the door.
Her hand hovered near the handle.
She didn't touch it.
"Ready?" she asked.
Arjun nodded.
Even though he wasn't.
Meera slowly pushed the door open.
It creaked.
Cold air rushed in.
The rooftop was dark and empty or so it seemed.
They stepped out.
The city stretched around them silent, dead, no lights, no movement all it had was just darkness.
Then—
A sound behind them.
They turned.
The stair door slammed shut.
Arjun ran to it trying to pull but nothing happened.
"It's locked!" he said.
Meera didn't respond because she wasn't looking at the door, she was looking ahead.
Arjun followed her gaze and froze.
At the far end of the rooftop—
Something stood still watching them,
Observing.
Arjun's voice dropped to a whisper.
"What is that…?"
Meera didn't answer.
Because for the first time—
She didn't know.
And that…
Was far more dangerous.