Chapter 12: Sublevel Zero
11:09 p.m.
Fifty-one minutes.
That was how long we had to find my daughter.
The old clinic stood at the edge of town, surrounded by overgrown trees and rusted fencing. I had passed it hundreds of times as a child.
My father used to tell me it had been closed after a fire.
Now I knew that was another lie.
The building looked abandoned from the outside.
But beneath it was a facility that had apparently been operating for years.
Marcus killed the headlights.
"We go in quietly."
Thomas checked his weapon.
"Richard will know we're coming."
"I know."
Claire looked at me.
"And that's exactly what worries me."
We entered through a broken side door.
The lobby was covered in dust.
Old medical posters hung from the walls.
One showed a human brain.
Another showed a DNA helix.
Then I noticed something.
A photograph.
It was me.
Five years old.
Standing in this exact lobby.
I touched the glass.
"I've been here."
Claire nodded.
"Yes."
"I don't remember."
"Your father made sure you wouldn't."
We reached the elevator.
There was no button for the basement.
Marcus searched the control panel.
"Nothing."
I looked at the wall.
Something felt familiar.
I ran my hand across it.
Then I noticed a small indentation.
I pressed it.
The wall clicked.
A hidden keypad appeared.
It asked for a four-digit code.
I stared at it.
Suddenly, a memory surfaced.
My father kneeling beside me.
His hand on my shoulder.
"What's your favorite number?"
I had laughed.
"Seven."
"Good."
Then another memory.
A second number.
Three.
Then one.
Then nine.
I entered:
The keypad turned green.
The elevator doors opened.
Everyone stared at me.
"How did you know that?"
I couldn't answer.
"I remembered."
The elevator descended.
Ten seconds.
Twenty.
Thirty.
The floor indicator passed B1.
B2.
B3.
Then the numbers disappeared.
A red light appeared.
SUBLEVEL ZERO
The elevator stopped.
The doors opened.
Cold air filled the cabin.
The hallway beyond was brightly lit.
Too clean.
Too modern.
Someone was still operating this place.
We stepped out.
A voice came through the speakers.
"Welcome home, Daniel."
My father's voice.
I raised my weapon.
"Where is Ava?"
"You've always been impatient."
"Where is she?"
"Room Twelve."
I looked down the corridor.
Twelve doors.
Each one numbered.
...
Claire stopped.
"No."
"What?"
She pointed toward the doors.
"This wasn't here when I escaped."
"Then what is it?"
"An expansion."
I walked toward Room Twelve.
Marcus grabbed my shoulder.
"Wait."
"Why?"
"Look."
A small red light was blinking above the door.
"It's a trap."
I stared at it.
"Of course it is."
I reached for the handle anyway.
The door opened automatically.
Inside was Ava.
She was sitting on a chair.
No restraints.
No injuries.
Just sitting there.
"Daddy!"
I ran to her.
She jumped into my arms.
I held her tightly.
"Are you okay?"
She nodded.
"I knew you'd come."
I kissed her forehead.
"I'm getting you out."
Ava pulled away.
"No."
I frowned.
"What?"
She pointed behind me.
"He's still here."
I turned.
The room was empty.
Then the door closed.
Locked.
Ava whispered:
"Daddy, don't be scared."
"I'm not."
She looked at me.
"You should be."
The lights turned red.
A speaker clicked on.
Richard's voice filled the room.
"Subject Zero."
I looked up.
"I'm here."
"Do you remember the first test?"
I said nothing.
"Your daughter does."
Ava looked at me.
"I remember."
I knelt beside her.
"What do you remember?"
She closed her eyes.
"When I was little..."
Her breathing became shallow.
"I woke up here."
My heart broke.
"What happened?"
"There were lights."
"Doctors."
"And Grandpa."
She looked at me.
"He told me not to cry."
I felt sick.
"Did he hurt you?"
"No."
"What did he do?"
"He showed me a video."
"What video?"
Ava pointed toward the wall.
The screen turned on.
A recording appeared.
It showed me.
As a child.
Sitting in the same chair.
A woman stood beside me.
She held a photograph.
A photograph of my mother.
Then she said:
"Daniel, if you want to see your mother again, you must remember."
Five-year-old me began crying.
The woman continued.
"Fear makes memories disappear."
Then my father appeared.
He looked directly at the camera.
"Begin."
The video changed.
I saw myself screaming.
Then the screen went black.
Ava whispered:
"They made you forget."
I couldn't breathe.
"What did they make me forget?"
She looked toward the door.
"Me."
I froze.
"What?"
Ava's voice trembled.
"They told you I was someone else."
The door opened.
Serena stood there.
Blood stained her dress.
She was barely standing.
I stared.
"How did you get here?"
She closed the door behind her.
"Your mother helped me."
"Where is she?"
Serena shook her head.
"Richard took her."
"Is she alive?"
"I don't know."
I looked at Ava.
"How did you escape?"
Serena answered.
"I didn't."
I turned.
"What?"
She pointed toward the ceiling.
"Richard wants you to think you've rescued Ava."
Ava suddenly grabbed my hand.
"Daddy."
"What?"
She whispered:
"Look at the mirror."
I turned.
The wall behind us was covered by one-way glass.
Someone was watching us.
I stepped closer.
Behind the glass was a control room.
Dozens of monitors.
And standing in the middle...
Richard.
He smiled.
Then another person stepped beside him.
I couldn't believe my eyes.
My mother.
Alive.
She was standing beside my father.
But she wasn't a prisoner.
She was holding a folder.
And she looked calm.
Too calm.
I stared at the glass.
"Mom?"
She looked directly at me.
Then she raised the folder.
She opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
A photograph of me as a baby.
Beside it was another photograph.
Ava as a newborn.
My mother pointed to both.
Then she wrote something on the glass.
Four words.
YOU WERE BOTH BORN HERE.
I felt the world disappear beneath my feet.
Ava looked at me.
"What does that mean?"
I couldn't answer.
Serena started crying.
"Daniel..."
"What?"
She whispered:
"Your mother isn't your mother."
I turned toward her.
"What?"
"She was your father's partner."
I looked back at the glass.
My mother smiled.
Then Richard placed his hand on her shoulder.
She didn't move away.
I felt something inside me break.
My entire life had been constructed around people who had lied to me.
My father.
My mother.
My wife.
Maybe even myself.
Then the speaker crackled.
Richard's voice returned.
"Daniel, there is one final thing you need to know."
I looked at him.
"What?"
"The DNA test was never fake."
I stared.
"Ava isn't your biological daughter."
Serena shook her head.
"No."
Richard continued.
"Because Ava isn't your daughter."
He paused.
"She's your sister."
The room went silent.
Ava looked at me.
I looked at her.
"No."
Richard smiled.
"You're both children of the same genetic program."
Claire screamed from the hallway.
"He's lying!"
The door suddenly opened.
Claire rushed inside.
"Daniel, don't listen to him!"
Richard's voice came through the speaker.
"Ask Claire what she did to your mother."
Claire froze.
I looked at her.
"What did you do?"
She didn't answer.
Richard laughed.
"Go ahead, Claire."
"Tell him."
I stepped toward her.
"Tell me."
Claire's eyes filled with tears.
Then she whispered:
"I killed the woman who raised you."
My blood ran cold.
"What?"
She shook her head.
"I didn't know she wasn't your mother."
"Then who did you kill?"
Claire looked at the glass.
At Richard.
Then at the woman standing beside him.
She whispered:
"Her twin."
The woman behind the glass smiled.
And for the first time...
I understood why everyone had been so afraid of the woman I called Mom.
Because she wasn't my mother.
May you like
She was my father's experiment.
And she had just opened the door to Sublevel Zero.
