CHAPTER 4 — "The Underground City That Officially Doesn't Exist"
The train doors closed by themselves.
Hiss...
No conductor.
No passengers.
No destination displayed.
Only silence.
Ethan stared at the envelope lying on the control panel.
His hands trembled as he opened it.
Inside was a single handwritten note.
If you're reading this, they failed to stop you.
Do NOT leave this train until it reaches the last station.
No matter who gets on.
No signature.
Just a symbol.
The same symbol engraved inside the vault.
The train lurched forward.
Within seconds, it disappeared into darkness beneath the city.
The old janitor sat across from Ethan without saying a word.
For nearly twenty minutes...
Neither of them spoke.
Then—
The train slowed.
The doors slid open.
A little girl, no older than six, stepped inside carrying a worn teddy bear.
She smiled at Ethan.
"Hi."
"My daddy says you've been gone for eight years."
Ethan frowned.
"What?"
"I'm eight."
The girl giggled.
"Not anymore."
Before Ethan could ask another question...
The doors closed.
The girl walked to the next car...
And vanished.
Completely vanished.
There was nowhere she could have gone.
The old janitor's face turned white.
"You talked to her?"
"Yes."
He whispered,
"Nobody gets on this train."
Ethan's heartbeat quickened.
"Then who was she?"
The janitor didn't answer.
Instead, he looked out the window.
The tunnel walls had changed.
Concrete was gone.
Now they were passing enormous steel doors.
Each one carried a family name.
PARKER.
WILSON.
BENNETT.
REYNOLDS.
Hundreds of names.
Thousands.
Entire bloodlines.
Hidden underground.
The train finally came to a stop.
A voice echoed through the speakers.
Welcome home... Mr. Carter.
The doors opened.
Ethan stepped onto the platform...
And froze.
An entire city stretched before him.
Not abandoned.
Alive.
Children ran through narrow streets.
Markets bustled with people.
Doctors worked in clinics.
Teachers stood in classrooms.
Generators hummed beneath old brick buildings.
It looked like an entire American town...
Buried beneath the earth.
Thousands of people turned to look at Ethan.
Then, one by one...
They began to clap.
An elderly woman burst into tears.
A man removed his hat.
Someone whispered,
"He finally came back."
Another said,
"The heir has returned."
Ethan looked around, confused.
"They think they know me."
The janitor nodded.
"They do."
A tall woman in a gray coat stepped forward.
She couldn't stop crying.
Without saying a word...
She gently touched Ethan's face.
"I've waited eight years to meet you."
"Who are you?"
She smiled through her tears.
"I was your mother's best friend."
"I held you the day you were born."
Ethan's voice cracked.
"Where's my father?"
The woman's smile disappeared.
"He was here."
"Until three nights ago."
She handed Ethan a small metal key.
"They took him."
"Who?"
She looked toward the ceiling...
Toward the world above.
"Blackstone found us."
The crowd suddenly fell silent.
A deafening alarm echoed through the underground city.
WARNING!
SURFACE BREACH DETECTED!
ALL CITIZENS SEEK SHELTER IMMEDIATELY!
Children screamed.
Lights began flashing red.
The massive steel entrance at the end of the station shook violently.
BOOM!
Another explosion.
Dust rained from the ceiling.
Then a deep metallic voice echoed through loudspeakers.
"We know Ethan Carter is inside."
"Surrender the boy..."
"...or everyone in this city dies."
The crowd instinctively moved in front of Ethan, forming a human shield.
No one ran.
No one begged.
An old man quietly smiled.
"If this is the day we die..."
"...then we die protecting the last Carter."
Ethan tightened his grip on the metal key.
It suddenly clicked open.
Inside was something no one expected.
Not another key.
Not a map.
A tiny USB drive.
Attached to it was a faded label.
BLACKSTONE PROJECT: SUBJECT E-01
Ethan stared at the code.
His name was Ethan.
His first initial...
E.
The woman's face turned ghost white.
"Oh no..."
"They weren't protecting you from Blackstone."
She looked straight into Ethan's eyes.
"They created you."
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END OF CHAPTER 4
➡️ Chapter 5: Ethan watches the files inside the USB drive—and discovers classified laboratory footage proving he wasn't born in a hospital. He was the only child to survive a secret experiment that Blackstone has spent eight years trying to erase forever.
