Chapter 34 - The Man Who Died Twice
Nobody spoke.
The screen remained black, but the words were still burned into my mind.
ADRIAN VALE — STATUS: ACTIVE.
I turned toward my mother.
“Where is he?”
“I don't know.”
“You knew he was alive.”
“I suspected.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Everyone in this family suspects things.”
Dad grabbed my shoulder.
“Listen to me.”
I pulled away.
“No.”
“You don't understand.”
“I understand perfectly.”
“No, you don't.”
His voice cracked.
“Adrian isn't the man you think he was.”
“Neither are you.”
He flinched.
That hurt him.
Good.
I needed someone to hurt besides me.
Ethan stepped between us.
“We can have this fight later.”
“No,” I said. “We can't.”
He looked at me.
“Why not?”
“Because this is exactly what Carter wants.”
That silenced everyone.
Leah nodded slowly.
“The system uses emotional destabilization.”
“To separate us.”
“To make individual decisions easier to influence.”
I looked at the cameras.
“Then we're going to do the opposite.”
Dad frowned.
“What?”
“We stay together.”
Diane laughed softly from somewhere behind the wall.
“You won't.”
A door opened.
She stood there alone.
No weapon.
No file.
Just an expression I couldn't read.
Dad raised his gun.
“Where is Noah?”
“Still with Elias.”
“Why are you helping him?”
Diane looked at me.
“I'm not.”
“Then why aren't you stopping him?”
“Because I stopped believing we were the good guys a long time ago.”
She reached into her jacket.
Dad raised his weapon higher.
She pulled out a key.
Not a weapon.
A keycard.
She held it up.
“There is a vault under this facility.”
Leah stared at it.
“I thought Carter's primary archive was destroyed.”
“It wasn't.”
“What is inside?”
Diane looked at me.
“The original recordings.”
My heart pounded.
“Of what?”
“Of your birth.”
Mom sat down.
Diane continued.
“And Adrian's final decision.”
Dad went still.
“Diane.”
“I won't keep protecting you.”
She tossed the keycard to me.
I caught it.
“Why?”
She looked away.
“Because your father saved my life once.”
Dad frowned.
“I don't remember.”
“You weren't supposed to.”
She walked toward the corridor.
“Come with me.”
Dad stopped her.
“How do we know it's not a trap?”
“You don't.”
She looked at me.
“But you know what your daughter needs.”
Dad lowered his weapon.
Diane opened the vault door.
Inside was a room filled with old film reels, hard drives, medical files and paper records.
One box sat alone on the floor.
My name was written across it.
Not Subject 14.
My name.
The name my parents gave me.
I knelt.
The box contained a red hospital bracelet.
A photograph.
A cassette tape.
And a letter.
I unfolded it.
The handwriting was unfamiliar.
Until I reached the final line.
Love, Dad.
My hands shook.
Adrian.
I looked at Mom.
“Did you know about this?”
“No.”
“You're lying.”
“I swear.”
I put the cassette into an old player.
Static.
Then Adrian's voice.
“If you're hearing this, Elena didn't keep her promise.”
Mom began sobbing.
Adrian continued.
“I don't blame her.”
A pause.
“She believed hiding the truth would keep our children safe.”
I stared at the recorder.
“Our children.”
He said it like he had two children.
Because he had.
“I was told C-00 was defective.”
The tape crackled.
“That was a lie.”
I closed my eyes.
“Elias wasn't defective.”
“No.”
Adrian's voice hardened.
“He was the most successful subject they ever created.”
Leah whispered, “Then why did he rebel?”
Adrian answered as though he had heard her.
“Because I taught him to.”
The room went silent.
I looked at the others.
Adrian continued.
“The Carter system doesn't create obedience. It creates dependence.”
“What does that mean?” Ethan asked.
Nobody answered.
The tape did.
“A conditioned subject doesn't obey commands because he's forced.”
“He obeys because the command becomes emotionally necessary.”
My scar burned.
Adrian's voice softened.
“That is why Subject 14 is different.”
I leaned closer.
“She has a natural resistance to emotional conditioning.”
Mom whispered, “I know.”
“But resistance isn't enough.”
The tape ended.
One final click.
Then another recording began automatically.
A hospital room.
My mother's voice.
A baby crying.
Then Adrian.
“Which one?”
A Carter doctor replied.
“C-00.”
Adrian asked, “And the other?”
“She remains unconditioned.”
“Then take the boy.”
Mom screamed on the recording.
“Elias!”
My entire body shook.
Dad's voice appeared.
“Do it.”
I turned toward him.
“You took my brother.”
He closed his eyes.
“I thought it would save you.”
“You gave him to them.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
He didn't answer.
Elias's voice came through the speakers.
“Because your father was told I would die anyway.”
Everyone turned.
He stood in the doorway.
Noah was beside him.
Alive.
Terrified.
Ethan rushed forward.
“Noah!”
Noah ran into his arms.
I nearly collapsed with relief.
I grabbed my son and held him so tightly he gasped.
“Mom.”
“I'm here.”
Elias watched us.
“You see?”
I looked at him.
“What?”
“He still chooses you.”
I stared.
“What did you do to him?”
“Nothing.”
“Then why did you take him?”
“Because I needed to know something.”
“What?”
Elias looked at my scar.
“Whether you would come for him.”
I stood.
“You could have called.”
“You wouldn't have believed me.”
“Try me.”
He smiled sadly.
“You did.”
Then the facility shook.
Dust fell from the ceiling.
Diane looked at the monitors.
“Someone has entered the upper levels.”
Dad raised his weapon.
“How many?”
Diane checked.
“Too many.”
Leah looked at me.
“Carter knew we'd come here.”
A red countdown appeared.
00:09:59.
Elias looked at it.
“No.”
“What?”
“They aren't coming for the archive.”
He stared at Noah.
“They're coming to collect the original.”
I tightened my grip on my son.
“Who?”
May you like
Elias looked at me.
“You.”
