Chapter 10 - Daniel stepped away from the door.The voice came again.
“Daniel, open the door.”
Victor was trembling.
“How?”
Daniel looked at him.
“What do you mean?”
Victor whispered:
“That voice belongs to you.”
Daniel stared at the door.
The handle began turning.
Slowly.
Lily grabbed his hand.
“Don’t let him in.”
“Who is he?”
“Dad.”
Daniel froze.
“You mean me?”
Lily shook her head.
“Another you.”
The door opened.
A man stood outside.
Daniel.
Same face.
Same build.
Same scar beneath his eyebrow.
He stared into the room.
Victor whispered:
“Oh God.”
The duplicate smiled.
“You took your time.”
Daniel raised the gun.
“Who are you?”
The man smiled.
“You already know.”
Lily stepped forward.
“He remembers everything.”
Daniel looked at the duplicate.
“What are you?”
“A future.”
Victor shook his head.
“That wasn’t supposed to happen.”
The duplicate glanced at him.
“Nothing went according to plan.”
Daniel kept the gun aimed.
“You’re saying you’re me?”
“Eventually.”
“From when?”
The duplicate looked at Lily.
“Seventeen years from now.”
Daniel felt sick.
“You’re saying I become this?”
“No.”
The duplicate smiled.
“You become worse.”
Daniel fired.
The bullet struck the wall as the duplicate moved.
Too fast.
He slammed Daniel into the desk.
Lily screamed.
Victor fired.
The duplicate caught his wrist.
Then whispered:
“You were always the weakest one.”
He threw Victor across the room.
Daniel attacked.
The two men collided.
Their movements were identical.
Every strike.
Every block.
Every instinct.
Daniel realized why.
He wasn’t fighting a stranger.
He was fighting the man he could become.
The duplicate whispered:
“You still think this is about your family.”
Daniel punched him.
“It isn’t?”
“No.”
The duplicate stepped back.
“It’s about you.”
He reached into his coat.
Pulled out a small recorder.
Pressed play.
Daniel’s own voice filled the room.
“I created the program.”
Daniel froze.
The recording continued.
“I tested it on Eli.”
Daniel looked at Eli’s photo.
“No…”
The recording continued.
“And when Lily was born, I realized the transfer was complete.”
The duplicate stopped the recording.
Daniel stared at him.
“That’s impossible.”
“You don’t remember because they erased it.”
“Who?”
“Yourself.”
Daniel’s head began pounding.
Images flashed.
Himself entering the underground lab.
Holding a needle.
Standing over Eli.
Writing numbers on a wall.
Lily crying as a newborn.
Daniel collapsed.
“No.”
The duplicate crouched beside him.
“You asked them to erase your memories so you could live normally.”
“Why?”
“Because you were afraid of what you had become.”
Daniel looked toward Lily.
The little girl was crying.
“Then why does she remember?”
The duplicate smiled.
“Because she inherited your memories.”
Victor suddenly shouted:
“Daniel, don’t listen!”
The duplicate shot him.
Victor dropped.
Lily screamed.
Daniel lunged.
But the duplicate grabbed Lily.
“Let her go!”
“She is the final archive.”
Daniel stared.
“What does that mean?”
“She contains every version of us.”
“Every version?”
“Every memory. Every choice. Every future.”
Lily’s eyes filled with tears.
“Daddy.”
Daniel stepped forward.
The duplicate raised a gun to her head.
“You have one choice.”
Daniel stopped.
“Shoot me.”
Daniel looked confused.
The duplicate smiled.
“Kill me, and the future disappears.”
Daniel lowered his gun.
“Or?”
“Or you kill Lily.”
The mansion went silent.
Then a voice came through the speakers.
Emma.
“Daniel, don’t shoot him.”
Daniel looked up.
“Emma?”
Her voice trembled.
“He’s lying.”
The duplicate smiled.
“Of course I am.”
Then he looked at Lily.
“But not about the part that matters.”
Lily suddenly whispered:
“Daddy…”
Daniel stepped closer.
“What?”
Her face went pale.
“The fire.”
“What fire?”
May you like
She looked toward the windows.
“It already started.”
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