Chapter 12 - The Third Child“No.”
Noah’s mother shook her head.
“That’s impossible.”
Her husband stared at the screen.
“That’s our daughter.”
Noah looked between them.
“We have a sister?”
His father’s expression broke.
“You were supposed to be the last.”
Evan stepped closer to the monitor.
“What was her name?”
His father whispered:
“Lily.”
Noah stared.
“She’s alive?”
“She was born after they took me.”
His mother looked at him.
“You knew?”
“I knew they were keeping another child.”
“You told me she died.”
“I was trying to make you forget.”
Elias interrupted.
“The child on the screen isn’t at the hospital.”
Everyone turned.
“What?”
He pointed at the timestamp.
“Look.”
Daniel zoomed in.
The date was wrong.
“Tomorrow.”
Silence.
Noah whispered:
“It’s a future recording.”
“No,” Elias said.
“It’s a scheduled feed.”
Hale was planning something.
They rushed toward the server room.
Daniel accessed the network.
“Where is the nursery?”
He frowned.
“It’s not in the hospital system.”
“Then where?”
Elias answered:
“Find the oldest Mercy Protocol location.”
They searched.
A map appeared.
Deep in the mountains.
An abandoned research compound.
His father stared.
“That’s where it started.”
Mara looked at him.
“Why go there?”
“Because that’s where Hale keeps the archive.”
“And Lily?”
His father nodded.
“If she’s alive…”
He didn’t finish.
They stole a vehicle.
For hours, they drove through the night.
Noah sat beside his father.
Neither spoke.
Finally Noah asked:
“Why did you leave us?”
His father stared ahead.
“I didn’t.”
“Then why didn’t you come back?”
“Because they captured me.”
“For ten years?”
“Yes.”
“What did they do?”
His father looked at him.
“They asked me the same question every day.”
“What question?”
“Where did I hide the key?”
Noah touched his temple.
“You mean me.”
His father nodded.
“You were the key.”
At dawn, the compound appeared through the mist.
Concrete buildings.
Rusting fences.
No guards.
Too quiet.
Evan looked uneasy.
“This is wrong.”
Daniel agreed.
“There should be surveillance.”
They entered.
The halls were empty.
No equipment.
No people.
No sound.
Then they found the nursery.
Forty-seven cribs.
Forty-six empty.
One occupied.
Noah walked toward it.
A tiny baby slept peacefully.
A small mark sat behind her ear.
The same mark Noah had.
His father whispered:
“Lily.”
Noah touched the glass.
The baby opened her eyes.
She looked directly at him.
Then the entire room filled with a voice.
Victor Hale.
“Welcome home.”
The doors slammed shut.
Gas began filling the nursery.
Mara shouted:
“Mask!”
Everyone searched.
There were none.
Noah’s father grabbed him.
“Stay low!”
Evan smashed the glass around one ventilation panel.
Daniel tore it free.
Air rushed in.
But Lily was already crying.
And across the room, a screen activated.
Hale appeared.
“This is the final experiment.”
Noah shouted:
“What do you want?”
Hale smiled.
“To see whether memory can survive blood.”
The screen showed a DNA sequence.
Then another.
Noah’s.
Evan’s.
Lily’s.
All identical in one hidden section.
Hale leaned closer.
“You three were never siblings.”
May you like
The camera zoomed in.
“You were copies.”
