The screech of the door on rusty hinges had been a scream in the blackness. Ava kept the feeble beam of light firm, its pale light cutting a line into the darkness past the corridor.
The cold of an odd draft rolled out, thick with the reek of damp stone and lost metal.
Behind her, Rohit checked the magazine of his gun—stolen from Malik's emergency stock.
Anaya beside Subject 09—Ayesha now—had remained silent since letting slip her name. Her name still hung in the air like dust, troubling and sacred.
Malik at the doorway, arms crossed. "Whatever is down there hasn't seen the light in years."
"Good," Ava said. "Neither have we."
She went inside.
The corridor was panelled with rusty sheets and long-dead lamps set into the ceiling. Thin wires trailed like vines. Every step creaked as if the walls themselves were hollow, listening.
Ava's fingers brushed a switch beside the door.
Click.
Nothing.
"No power," Rohit said. "Figures."
But then—
A flicker.
At the far end of the hallway, one light—just one—buzzed on, spasmodically flashing over a half-open steel door.
"I don't like that," Anaya whispered.
"I don't either," Ava agreed. "But we've come too far."
They pressed on. When they passed by the first doorway, Ayesha slowed her step.
"There were cells there," she breathed. "Little ones. They made us wait in them before the tests. I remember the walls… sometimes they felt warm. Like they could breathe."
Ava peered into one. Hollow. Barely space for a kid to sit. Floor stained, walls clawed with pale markings—scratches, words, blood.
One word echoed:
"𝗟𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻."
She felt a chill. She pushed the door silently closed.
And then something scraped behind them.
Everyone froze.
Rohit spun around. "Who's there?"
Nothing.
Just silence.
Ava exhaled. "Let's go."
The hallway grew darker. They reached the dimly lit light. Beneath it, the half-open steel door creaked as Ava pushed it fully open.
A control room—occupied, old in ambience, but still operational. Monitors ran along one wall, dark and dead. Thick cables rested on the floor like dark serpents.
Anaya approached the desk and touched a keypad.
The screen flashed.
Then lit up.
The other monitors blinked one after another, illuminating the room in a crisp blue light.
A map with a burden.
The complex.
Dozens upon dozens of rooms. Laboratories. Test rooms. Deep levels still sealed. The blue print went much deeper than Ava had ever thought.
"What the hell…"
Rohit gasped for breath.
"This place is massive," Anaya whispered. "How was this never found out?"
Because no one was supposed to find it," Malik said from behind, coming in now, with a thick folder. "This is not a lab. It's a vault. A prison. A control center."
He placed the folder on the table. "My team found blueprints years ago—nothing as big. But there was one codename that came up again and again."
He opened the folder and waved.
"𝗖𝗵𝗿𝘆𝘀𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘀."
Ava furrowed her brow. "What's that?
Malik gazed at her. "That is what the program had evolved into after Vikram Joshi disappeared. ECHOES was Phase One. Chrysalis was Phase Two—weaponization. They were no longer researching memory manipulation. They were creating subjects that could be remotely controlled. Monitored. Deployed."
Rohit took an oath. "Like living drones."
Ayesha stared at the screen.
"I wasn't supposed to live through Chrysalis," she explained. "None of us were."
Everyone gazed.
"They pushed us too hard. Tried to break us apart—personality fractures, overloads. The others screamed until they couldn't anymore."
Ava's fists were tightened. "They turned children into—into monsters."
Ayesha looked up. "Not monsters. Tools."
The screen blinked suddenly.
An alert flashed in red.
𝗨𝗡𝗔𝗨𝗧𝗛𝗢𝗥𝗜𝗭𝗘𝗗 𝗔𝗖𝗧𝗜𝗩𝗜𝗧𝗬 𝗗𝗘𝗧𝗘𝗖𝗧𝗘𝗗 – 𝗪𝗘𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗡 𝗖𝗢𝗥𝗥𝗜𝗗𝗢𝗥
Malik moved back to the console. "Someone's here."
"No one followed us," Rohit said.
"No," Malik assured. "But this sector… it's coming online."
The light above buzzed again. The hallway behind them creaked.
"Backup systems probably booting random sectors," Malik complained.
Ava cursed at the warning.
Room 42-B.
"What's in there?"
Malik hesitated. "I… don't know."
Ayesha went white. "We shouldn't go."
Anaya looked over at her. "Why?"
"That's where the failed subjects went," Ayesha breathed. "The ones that didn't listen anymore."
A moment of silence dropped among them.
Then the door behind them slammed shut.
Everyone sprang.
Malik ran to the panel. "Manual override's been activated. We're sealed in."
"From the outside?" Rohit asked.
"Yes."
Ava stood up and turned toward the other door at the opposite end of the control room. "Then we go forward."
They walked toward the new hallway in front. It suddenly dropped down—stairs down to lower levels. Ava's breath fogged. The air was colder. Light diminished with each step.
Then they hit a new room.
This one. was unlike the others.
A 𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗯𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗺. In the middle, a glass pod stood on its side. Inside, a 𝗯𝗼𝗱𝘆—floating in pale blue liquid, face obscured behind a mask, wires inserted into their arms and head.
Monitors still glowed softly on the rim of the pod.
Malik stepped forward. "This isn't one of the children…"
"No," Ayesha breathed. "This is the prototype."
Anaya's eyes widened. "What?"
"They made him first," she said. "Before us. Before the rest of us. They never took us to see him—but we could sense him. In our minds. Like thunder when he was awake."
The body in the pod convulsed.
Then, slowly—
Its fist clenched.
Ava stepped back. "We must leave."
But the doors at their backs slid shut again.
The monitors spiked.
𝗦𝗨𝗕𝗝𝗘𝗖𝗧 𝗭𝗘𝗥𝗢 - 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗕𝗜𝗟𝗜𝗭𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗜𝗡 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗚𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗦
Anaya was shaking her head. "No, no, no—we can't wake him. He's hooked into the system."
Rohit looked at Ayesha. "Is that what the voice was talking about? Taking back what's theirs?"
"No."
They all spun around.
"This," Ayesha said, "is what they're afraid of."
Sudden blare of alarms cut through the air. Lights flashed red.
On one of the screens, a message began flashing.
𝗜𝗡𝗜𝗧𝗜𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗥𝗘𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗦𝗘 𝗦𝗘𝗤𝗨𝗘𝗡𝗖𝗘
Ava ran to the console. "Can we shut it off?"
"Too late," Malik replied grimly. "It's all automated."
Steam hissed from the pod.
The liquid within began to drain away.
The occupant inside shifted again.
Rohit took aim.
"No!" Ayesha shouted. "Guns will not kill him. You will make it worse only."
Ava took hold of Malik. "Is there another way out?"
He nodded. "The side tunnel. Emergency evacuation shaft. But we have to hurry."
The pod groaned.
Ava grabbed Ayesha's hand.
"Run!"
They sprinted for the emergency tunnel exit.
Behind, the glass shattered.
And the sound of one drawn breath ricocheted through the chamber.
Alive.
He was alive.
As they fled down the narrow shaft, Ava could hear it—footsteps not far behind. But not running. 𝙋𝙖𝙘𝙞𝙣𝙜. Measured.
The tunnel curved, twisted—then opened into a narrower tunnel lined with crates and broken equipment.
They did not stop until they burst out into the night.
A gust of cold air struck them.
Stars flashed overhead.
Ava crumpled onto her knees, gasping.
They were out.
Malik slammed the outside door shut behind them. "We'll batten this down for now."
Rohit spun. "But he's awake now."
"Yes," said Ayesha.
"And he remembers."
Ava gazed at her. "What do you mean?"
She gazed into Ava's eyes.
"He knew you."
Ava's stomach dropped. "What?"
"In the labs. When I was a child. They used to speak of her. The girl that Subject Zero used to keep searching for."
Ava's heart pounded.
Ayesha stepped forward.
"You're not just a survivor," she said. "You were the beginning."
Behind them, a single red light blinked on top of the sealed hatch.
Inside, something moved.
Something watching.
Something waiting.
..................