Chapter 7 - The Room Beneath the RoomThe hidden door revealed a narrow stairwell.
Noah stared.
“Dad built this.”
Elias nodded.
“Before they found him.”
They descended.
Behind them, the cellar ceiling collapsed.
Hale shouted.
Dust swallowed the room.
Daniel slammed the hidden door.
“Keep moving.”
The stairs led deeper.
Much deeper than any basement should have gone.
After thirty seconds, they reached a steel corridor.
Noah stopped.
There were cameras.
Old ones.
Still functioning.
Mara looked up.
“Who is watching?”
Elias answered:
“Everyone.”
Daniel found a wall panel.
Inside was a monitor.
He activated it.
Dozens of video feeds appeared.
Hospitals.
Homes.
Schools.
Bedrooms.
Children.
Adults.
People sleeping.
People crying.
People talking.
All recorded.
Mara whispered:
“This is bigger than the hospital.”
“Yes.”
“Then how many subjects?”
Elias didn’t answer.
The monitor suddenly changed.
A live video appeared.
Noah.
Standing in the corridor.
The camera angle was impossible.
Because the camera was directly behind him.
He turned.
Nothing.
Then the screen displayed:
SUBJECT DETECTED.
Noah stepped backward.
“I don’t like this.”
His mother grabbed his shoulders.
“We’re leaving.”
A speaker crackled.
Victor Hale’s voice.
“Noah.”
Everyone froze.
“You have spent ten years wondering why your memories feel broken.”
Noah stared at the camera.
“I didn’t break them.”
Hale continued.
“I removed them.”
Mara looked at Elias.
“You let him do this?”
Elias shook his head.
“No.”
“He was there.”
“I tried to stop him.”
Hale laughed.
“You always say that.”
A door opened at the end of the corridor.
They entered a control room.
Hundreds of screens.
Servers.
Medical equipment.
And one old photograph pinned to the wall.
Noah approached it.
It showed his father.
Standing beside a little boy.
Noah himself.
But the photograph had something wrong.
The boy had a scar on his temple.
Noah touched his skin.
Nothing.
His mother gasped.
“You had surgery.”
“No.”
She looked at Elias.
“What did you do to him?”
Elias said nothing.
Mara stepped forward.
“Elias.”
He finally answered.
“When Noah was six, Hale implanted a recorder.”
Daniel stared.
“You removed it?”
“No.”
“Then what happened?”
Elias looked at Noah.
“The device damaged his memory.”
Noah whispered:
“And you lied.”
“I had to.”
“You told me I fell.”
“You did.”
“From where?”
Elias swallowed.
“From the basement stairs.”
Noah’s breathing became faster.
A memory surfaced.
A woman.
A needle.
His father shouting.
Hale holding his shoulder.
And another child crying nearby.
Noah gripped his head.
“There was another boy.”
Everyone froze.
“What boy?” Mara asked.
Noah closed his eyes.
“I don’t know.”
Hale’s voice came through the speaker again.
“You do.”
A screen changed.
A live feed appeared.
A teenage boy sat inside a white room.
His wrists were restrained.
His face was bruised.
He looked directly into the camera.
Then he whispered:
“Noah.”
Noah stepped forward.
The boy lifted his head.
“We need to finish what your father started.”
Noah stared.
“Who are you?”
The boy smiled weakly.
“You really don’t remember me?”
The screen flashed his name.
SUBJECT 0023.
Noah’s face went blank.
May you like
Then the boy said:
“I’m your brother.”
