By the time school ended, the sun was hanging low, painting everything in gold and amber. Dikshant's class, just a turn away in the building, had ended a little later. I waved to him as he sprinted toward me, half his uniform untucked, a goofy smile on his face.
We all boarded the metro together - a rare thing, all of us heading in the same direction. The train hummed as it pulled out of the station, a familiar background noise. Inside, people were either glued to their phones or talking in low voices. I found a seat by the window.
The city slid by outside - office towers, parks, flyovers, construction sites.
I should've been relaxing, but my mind kept replaying the notebook panic. What if they found mistakes? Would they call me back tomorrow?
Instinctively, I reached for my phone to distract myself.
And that's when it started.
The sky outside flickered - day to night to day to night - so fast it hurt to watch. I blinked, rubbed my eyes, but it kept happening.
Around me, others started noticing too. Conversations died mid-sentence. Phones were pulled out. Nervous glances bounced around the coach.
I glanced at my phone's lock screen.
The date - 30th April - flickered... and then 30th January stared back at me.
Then April again. Then January. Over and over.
Something was wrong. Very wrong.
The metro shuddered. Not like a regular jolt from the tracks - this was different. The whole train tilted. My stomach lurched as the floor shifted under my feet. People screamed.
The train was no longer horizontal. It was standing vertical. Like someone had grabbed it by the nose and propped it up.
I looked ahead - and saw another metro train ahead of us, also standing vertically. But it was... damaged.
Huge gouges and slices ran through its metal body, like it had been shredded by blades larger than a house.
The blood froze in my veins.
And then - they appeared.
From the right side of the track, marching in slow, deliberate steps, came towering figures - robotic knights, twice the height of a man, their armor gleaming under the flickering sky. Each carried a weapon - massive spears that looked sharp enough to skewer a car.
They didn't speak. They didn't hesitate.
Their spear tips split apart, spinning into savage, whirling blades.
And they drove them straight into the back of our metro.
The sound was something out of a nightmare - a high-pitched, metallic shriek that seemed to tear at the air itself.
Screams erupted around me as the spinning blades chewed through the rear coaches.
I clutched Dikshant's arm.
"We have to move! Now!"
He nodded, face pale but determined.
The robotic knights advanced without mercy, their blades devouring metal, glass, and flesh alike.
The horror was inescapable.
I shoved through the panicking crowd, heart hammering against my ribs. I could hear Aman shouting something a few coaches down, and Naina's panicked voice calling names.
"Here! This door!" Aanchal screamed, kicking at the emergency latch.
Together, we forced the door open, a gust of dusty wind hitting us in the face.
Below was the metro bridge's concrete side ledge - narrow, crumbling, three stories high.
One slip, and you were dead.
But staying was death, too.
I jumped.
The landing rattled my bones, but I was alive. I turned just in time to see Aman land beside me, rolling on his side. Naina and Aanchal followed, pulling Dikshant down after them.
Behind us, the others - maybe ten, maybe fifteen - followed suit, desperate, terrified. We didn't know their names. They were just "the others" now.