Chapter 11 - The Forty-EighthEva went completely still.
Alexander looked at her.
“Did you?”
She shook her head.
“No.”
Mia stared at her.
“You did.”
“I wasn't there.”
“You were.”
Alexander stepped backward.
His mind felt like it was splitting apart.
Richard spoke through the monitor.
“Mia, you're remembering the wrong sequence.”
She looked at him.
“You're the one who taught me.”
Richard's face changed.
Alexander noticed.
“What did you teach her?”
Nothing.
“Dad?”
Richard finally said:
“The memory inside her isn't complete.”
Mia suddenly collapsed.
Alexander rushed to her.
Her body shook.
A voice came from her throat.
Not a child's voice.
An adult man's voice.
“Alexander.”
Alexander froze.
The voice belonged to Richard.
But Richard was still on the monitor.
The voice spoke again.
“Do not trust the recording.”
Alexander stared at Mia.
The voice continued.
“Your father is lying.”
The monitor image flickered.
Richard disappeared.
A different man appeared.
Alexander’s double.
He was alive.
Sitting in a chair.
Blood on his shirt.
He smiled.
“You have questions.”
Alexander pulled the pistol from Eva’s belt.
“Where is my father?”
The double smiled.
“Dead.”
“Then who's on the monitor?”
“A loop.”
Alexander stared.
The double continued.
“Your father died fifteen years ago.”
“Then who sent us here?”
“Your mother.”
Alexander felt dizzy.
Eva stepped closer.
“She wanted us to come.”
The double nodded.
“She knew you would.”
Alexander lowered the pistol.
“Why?”
“Because Room Seven was never the real laboratory.”
“What was?”
The double pointed toward Mia.
“Her.”
Mia opened her eyes.
The double smiled.
“You see, Richard didn't copy his memories into her.”
Alexander frowned.
“He copied hers.”
Silence.
“What does that mean?”
“She was alive before you.”
“She's eight.”
“No.”
The double looked at Mia.
“She is forty-three.”
Alexander stared.
Mia smiled.
For the first time, the childlike fear disappeared from her face.
“Hello, Alexander.”
Her voice was no longer that of a little girl.
It was calm.
Adult.
Cold.
Alexander stepped backward.
Eva whispered:
“Mia?”
The woman inside the child’s body looked at her.
“You still remember me.”
Eva dropped the gun.
The double stood.
“The transfer is happening.”
“What transfer?”
“The final one.”
Mia turned toward Alexander.
“You've spent eleven years thinking you were married to Eva.”
Alexander stared.
“You are not.”
She smiled.
“You are married to me.”
Eva’s eyes widened.
“What?”
Mia looked at Alexander.
“When you were twenty-four, they erased your memory.”
She touched her chest.
“And when you woke up, you believed you loved Eva.”
Alexander shook his head.
“No.”
Mia smiled.
“She stole your memories.”
Eva screamed:
“That's not true!”
Mia looked at her.
“Then why did you marry him?”
Eva said nothing.
Mia turned back to Alexander.
“Because you were supposed to kill me.”
The bunker doors began unlocking.
One by one.
Outside, footsteps approached.
Mia whispered:
“And tonight…”
May you like
She smiled.
“…you finally remembered why.”
