Chapter 16 - Subject ZeroNobody moved.
The baby in the glass chamber looked impossible.
He shouldn't have been alive.
He looked like an infant, but when he spoke, his voice was calm.
“Connor.”
I stepped closer.
“What are you?”
He smiled.
“The first.”
Evan stared.
“That isn't possible.”
The baby turned toward him.
“You were the second.”
“No.”
“You were copied from me.”
Evan backed away.
“I was born seventeen years ago.”
The baby smiled.
“You were grown.”
Mara stared at the monitors.
“He isn't an infant.”
“What?”
“He's in suspended aging.”
I looked at the machine.
The display showed:
SUBJECT ZERO
AGE: 17
BIOLOGICAL AGE: 3 MONTHS
I couldn't understand.
“He's seventeen?”
“Chronologically.”
“But physically?”
“Three months.”
The baby looked at me.
“They wanted to keep me young.”
“Why?”
“To harvest me.”
The word made my stomach twist.
He continued.
“Every month, they removed cells.”
“From you?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I regenerate.”
Evan whispered:
“I'm the copy.”
The baby nodded.
“Yes.”
I looked at myself.
“Then what am I?”
The baby smiled.
“You're the accident.”
I froze.
“What?”
“You weren't designed.”
“Then why can I heal?”
“Because you're better.”
That sentence landed like a hammer.
Voss had been trying to recreate something that nature had created accidentally.
Me.
I looked at Mom.
“You knew?”
She shook her head.
“I only knew you were different.”
The baby spoke again.
“Your mother knew more than she remembers.”
Mom looked terrified.
“I don't.”
He smiled.
“You asked them to erase your memory.”
Mara looked at the monitors.
“There's another file.”
She opened it.
PROJECT GENESIS: SUCCESSFUL
The date:
March 14, 2007.
Underneath:
PRIMARY SUBJECT: UNKNOWN
SECONDARY SUBJECT: EVAN HAYES
TERTIARY SUBJECT: CONNOR HAYES
I stared.
“Tertiary?”
Mara scrolled.
There was one final line.
TERTIARY SUBJECT DISPLAYS UNEXPECTED ADAPTATION.
“What does that mean?”
The baby answered.
“It means you were never supposed to be part of the experiment.”
I looked at him.
“Then what am I?”
He smiled.
“You are what happened when the experiment escaped.”
Suddenly the vault door exploded.
Gunfire erupted.
Voss's men flooded the room.
Dad pushed us down.
Mara returned fire.
The glass chamber cracked.
The baby began screaming.
Voss entered.
“Enough!”
He looked at me.
“You finally understand.”
I stood.
“You created him.”
“Yes.”
“You created Evan.”
“Yes.”
“You've been hunting me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Voss looked almost sad.
“Because you are the only thing I failed to control.”
He raised his hand.
Guards surrounded me.
“I don't want to kill you, Connor.”
He smiled.
“I want to learn how to become you.”
Then the baby in the chamber whispered:
May you like
“Don't let him touch your blood.”
The glass shattered.
