Thank You for Volunteering

The power went out at exactly midnight. Every phone on the subway car lit up at once,

not with darkness, but with the same message: RUN. The train screeched

to a halt between stations. The lights flickered back on, revealing something

no one had noticed before: a second set of doors at the end of the car. Old.

Rusted. Breathing. A man laughed nervously. Then the doors knocked from the inside.

Phones buzzed again. A countdown began. 60… 59… Panic exploded. People screamed,

shoved, clawed for exits that wouldn’t open. The knocking became pounding.

The countdown kept falling. At 10, the doors burst open.