Chapter 20 - You Shouldn't ExistThree months later, they told me the Genesis project was over.
Voss was in prison.
Vale was facing international charges.
St. Mary’s had been demolished.
The files had been seized.
Most of the laboratories had been shut down.
My father survived.
My mother remembered everything.
Evan was learning how to live like a normal person.
The baby, Subject Zero, was taken somewhere classified.
Nobody told me where.
For a while, I believed it was over.
Then the nightmares started.
Every night I dreamed of the same hallway.
White walls.
Red door.
Room 34.
And a voice saying:
“Connor…”
Sometimes it sounded like my mother.
Sometimes Evan.
Sometimes me.
But one night, the voice changed.
It belonged to a man.
“Wake up.”
My eyes opened.
Someone was standing in my bedroom.
I reached for the lamp.
The figure stepped into the light.
I stopped breathing.
He looked exactly like me.
Not seventeen.
Not young.
Thirty.
Same face.
Same eyes.
But older.
Calmer.
A scar crossed his cheek.
He smiled.
“Hello, Connor.”
I backed away.
“Who are you?”
He looked at me.
“I think you already know.”
I grabbed the phone.
“No signal.”
He laughed.
“Of course not.”
“What do you want?”
“To warn you.”
“About what?”
He placed a file on my desk.
PROJECT GENESIS
But it looked different.
The pages were dated years in the future.
I stared.
“This is impossible.”
He nodded.
“That was my first thought too.”
“Who are you?”
He answered:
“Connor Hayes.”
My heart stopped.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“The file said Subject Four.”
He smiled.
“That's what they called me.”
“Four?”
He nodded.
“Subject One was the infant.”
He pointed at himself.
“Subject Two was the clone.”
He pointed toward the hallway.
“Subject Three was you.”
I froze.
“And Subject Four…”
He pointed to my chest.
“…was the version that came after.”
I couldn't speak.
He opened the file.
Inside were photographs.
Me at seventeen.
Me at twenty.
Me at thirty.
Me at fifty.
All different timelines.
Some showed cities burned.
Others showed people wearing masks.
One showed a world where nobody seemed to age.
Another showed thousands of people with my face.
I looked at him.
“What happens next?”
He smiled sadly.
“You die.”
I laughed nervously.
“What?”
“You live a long life.”
He sat down.
“But eventually, your body stops adapting.”
“And then?”
“They come for you.”
“Who?”
He looked at the window.
Outside, dozens of black vehicles stopped in the street.
He whispered:
“The people who built Genesis.”
I stood.
“How many?”
He answered:
“More than you can imagine.”
The front door exploded.
Agents flooded the house.
But this time, they weren't police.
The silver symbol appeared.
My older self stood.
“Run.”
“Where?”
He looked at me.
“Back to where it started.”
“St. Mary’s?”
“No.”
He shook his head.
“Before St. Mary’s.”
My heart raced.
“Where?”
He whispered:
“The place where your mother was first taken.”
I stared at him.
“She was pregnant?”
“No.”
He looked at me.
“She wasn't born yet.”
My blood turned cold.
“What?”
He opened the final page of the file.
A photograph.
A little girl.
My mother.
Standing inside the same laboratory.
Beside her was a woman.
My grandmother.
And behind them stood Dr. Voss.
Young.
Smiling.
The caption read:
GENESIS PROJECT: 1979
I looked at my older self.
“This started before my mother was born.”
He nodded.
“And they didn't create you to save humanity.”
“Then why?”
He looked me directly in the eyes.
“To replace it.”
The house shook.
The walls began cracking.
The agents were coming.
My older self grabbed my arm.
“There's one thing you need to understand.”
“What?”
He stared at me.
“The reason your body adapts…”
He paused.
“…is because your DNA isn't entirely human.”
I felt the room tilt.
“No.”
He nodded.
“That's why Dr. Brennan said you shouldn't exist.”
He looked toward the approaching footsteps.
“Because seventeen years ago, they didn't create you.”
He whispered:
“They found you.”
The front door burst open.
Agents raised their weapons.
My older self shouted:
“Now!”
I ran.
Down the hidden staircase.
Into the darkness beneath the house.
Behind me, I heard gunfire.
Then silence.
I reached the bottom.
There was a steel door.
One word was engraved into it:
ORIGIN
My hand touched the handle.
A voice came from the other side.
My mother's voice.
But she was upstairs.
And she was screaming.
“Connor…”
I stepped back.
The voice came again.
“Open the door.”
I couldn't breathe.
“Who are you?”
Silence.
Then the voice answered:
“I'm the reason you were born.”
The door slowly unlocked itself.
And from the darkness came the face of a woman I had never seen before.
She looked at me.
Then smiled.
“You took long enough.”
Behind her were hundreds of glass chambers.
Thousands of files.
And dozens of people with my face.
She pointed toward the largest chamber.
Inside was a man.
Older than everyone.
Pale.
Still.
But alive.
His eyes opened.
He looked at me.
And whispered:
“Connor Hayes.”
I couldn't move.
He smiled.
Then said the words that began everything.
“You shouldn't exist.”
But this time, I understood what they meant.
They weren't telling me I was impossible.
They were telling me I was dangerous.
And somewhere deep inside my body, something answered.
Something ancient.
Something awake.
The lights came on.
Every chamber opened.
And every person with my face turned toward me.
May you like
Then, together, they spoke:
“Welcome home.”
