Tony and the Mysterious Farm – Part 3

Tony couldn’t breathe.

Inside the glowing chamber stood a bicycle.

Not just any bicycle.

His bicycle.

The same blue frame. The same scratch on the handlebars from when he had fallen last summer. Even the loose reflector that clicked when he rode too fast.

Tony’s voice barely worked.

“That’s… that’s mine.”

The soft light pulsed along the chamber walls, revealing more of the impossible scene. The bike hovered slightly above the floor, suspended in midair as if held by invisible hands.

Mr. Eduardo did not look surprised.

He simply watched Tony.

“It shouldn’t be here,” Tony whispered. “I left it outside.”

“Yes,” Mr. Eduardo said quietly. “You did.”

Tony slowly circled the floating bike, his footsteps echoing through the round metal tunnel behind them. A strange chill filled the room, prickling across his skin.

Then he noticed something worse.

Behind the bicycle were more shapes.

Dozens of them.

As the glow brightened, Tony’s stomach dropped.

More bikes.

Different colors. Different sizes. Some old, some new. All hovering silently in the air like a frozen swarm.

Tony turned, fear rising fast.

“Whose are those?”

Mr. Eduardo’s expression hardened.

“They belong,” he said, “to those who found the farm.”

A heavy silence filled the chamber.

Tony’s pulse thundered.

“Found the farm?” he repeated.

Before Mr. Eduardo could answer, a deep vibration rippled through the floor. The metal walls hummed with a low, unsettling resonance.

Tony stiffened.

From somewhere far down the black cylindrical tunnel came a sound.

Not footsteps.

Not a voice.

But a slow, metallic dragging.

Tony’s eyes widened. “What is that?”

Mr. Eduardo’s calm demeanor vanished.

For the first time, he looked afraid.

“It knows you’re here.”

The dragging sound grew louder.

Closer.

And in the reflection of the chamber’s curved wall, Tony saw something move in the darkness of the tunnel —

Something large.

Something that did not walk.