Chapter 12: After the Darkness
The silence was overwhelming.
Aarav woke up buried under a thin layer of snow and debris. The research station had almost completely collapsed. Only broken walls and twisted metal remained. The cold was intense, but strangely, the unnatural chill — the creature's chill — was gone.
He sat up slowly, coughing, his body aching from the impact.
"Karan!" Aarav shouted, his voice hoarse.
For a moment, there was no answer. Then he heard a weak cough nearby. Aarav stumbled toward the sound and found Karan half-buried under a fallen beam. His face was pale, but he was alive.
"You okay?" Aarav asked, helping him up.
"I think so," Karan rasped. "Is it... is it gone?"
Aarav looked around. The oppressive, terrifying presence that had haunted them was no longer there. The creature, or whatever it was, had been trapped beneath the ruins — or destroyed.
"For now," Aarav said. "But we need to get out of here before the cold finishes what it started."
They gathered what little they could — an emergency flare gun, a satellite beacon, some medical supplies — and set off into the endless, white wilderness, hoping for rescue... and hoping the nightmare was truly over.
But as they moved through the snow, neither could shake the feeling that something... was still watching.