CHAPTER 12: SUBJECT ZERO
My mother's voice echoed through the room.
“Come find me, son.”
I couldn't move.
For twenty years, I had believed she was dead.
I'd watched my father bury her.
I'd seen the coffin.
I'd carried flowers to her grave.
I'd cried until I couldn't remember what her voice sounded like.
And now she was speaking to me through a speaker inside a secret facility.
Alive.
Somewhere.
Waiting.
“Mom?”
My voice cracked.
The speakers hissed.
Then silence.
I looked at my father.
“You knew.”
He shook his head.
“I suspected.”
“That's not good enough.”
“I thought she was dead.”
“You just told me she was.”
“I thought she was.”
I grabbed his jacket.
“You knew something.”
“I knew Black Meridian had a Subject Zero.”
“Who is Subject Zero?”
His face collapsed.
“Your mother.”
The words hit me like a physical blow.
I released him.
“Why?”
“She was the first person they ever tested.”
“Tested for what?”
“Memory transfer.”
I looked at the screens.
The archive.
The photographs.
The files.
“The system began with her.”
“Yes.”
“And I built it?”
“Part of it.”
I shook my head.
“I don't remember.”
“They erased it.”
“Why?”
“Because you tried to destroy everything.”
I looked toward the old man.
He was smiling.
“Your son was brilliant.”
My father turned toward him.
“Don't.”
“He built the architecture.”
“He was a child.”
“He was twenty-six.”
“He didn't understand what you were doing.”
The old man laughed.
“He understood perfectly.”
I stepped between them.
“Enough.”
Everyone became silent.
I looked at the old man.
“You used my mother.”
“Yes.”
“You used me.”
“Yes.”
“You used Daniel.”
“Yes.”
“You used Isabella.”
He smiled.
“Not yet.”
I felt a chill.
“What does that mean?”
“You still think this is about control.”
He leaned forward.
“This is about succession.”
I frowned.
“Succession?”
He looked at Daniel.
“Your brother refused.”
Then at me.
“You forgot.”
Then at Isabella.
“She inherited both.”
I stepped closer.
“What did she inherit?”
“Everything.”
Before I could respond, every screen in the room flickered.
A woman's face appeared.
Older.
Pale.
Gray hair.
But I recognized her immediately.
My mother.
I stopped breathing.
She looked directly into the camera.
“Son.”
Tears filled my eyes.
“Mom?”
Her expression softened.
“You grew up.”
I couldn't speak.
Daniel turned away.
My father stared at the floor.
The old man smiled.
My mother continued.
“If you're seeing this, the system has already activated.”
I stepped toward the screen.
“Where are you?”
She shook her head.
“Don't try to find me.”
“Why?”
“Because they will follow you.”
“Who?”
She looked terrified.
“The people who took me.”
I stared.
“I thought Dad…”
“He tried to save me.”
I looked at my father.
My mother continued.
“He failed.”
My father closed his eyes.
“Then he tried to destroy Black Meridian.”
“But he couldn't.”
“Because I stopped him.”
I froze.
“You?”
My mother nodded.
“I was already connected to the system.”
“How?”
“They used my memories as the foundation.”
She touched her temple.
“Everything began here.”
I stared at her.
“What did they do to you?”
“They made me remember things that never happened.”
My stomach tightened.
“What?”
“They implanted memories.”
“Why?”
“To control people.”
She looked directly at me.
“They discovered that if you could convince someone they had lived through something, their brain would react as though it were real.”
I thought about my missing years.
My false memories.
My childhood.
My supposed father's death.
My mother's funeral.
All of it.
My mother whispered:
“They made you believe you killed someone.”
I looked at the old man.
He smiled.
“But you didn't.”
My mother continued.
“You killed a man who looked like your father.”
I froze.
“Why?”
“Because they wanted you to believe you had failed.”
“And then?”
“They erased your memories.”
My mother looked toward Isabella.
“And they created her.”
I felt my heart stop.
“Created?”
“She was conceived naturally.”
I exhaled.
“But they manipulated the pregnancy.”
“How?”
“They altered the environment around her before she was born.”
My mother looked away.
“She became compatible with the system.”
I stared at Isabella.
She was sitting silently beside Elena.
“Does she know?”
“She remembers.”
My mother smiled sadly.
“She has remembered more than anyone expected.”
Then Isabella suddenly spoke.
“I remember you.”
My mother's expression changed.
“You shouldn't.”
“I do.”
“What do you remember?”
Isabella closed her eyes.
“You were crying.”
My mother began trembling.
“Where?”
“In the white room.”
My mother's eyes filled with tears.
“You were holding me.”
“Yes.”
“You said you were sorry.”
“Yes.”
“You gave me to Dad.”
My mother nodded.
“I did.”
“Why?”
“Because he was the only person I trusted.”
Isabella looked at me.
“Then why did you leave?”
My mother couldn't answer.
I stepped toward the screen.
“Mom.”
She looked at me.
“Tell me the truth.”
“I am.”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“Tell me everything.”
She hesitated.
Then:
“I didn't give Isabella to your father to save her.”
My stomach tightened.
“Then why?”
My mother looked at Isabella.
“Because I needed her to survive.”
“From what?”
“My own father.”
The room went silent.
I turned toward the old man.
He smiled.
“Yes.”
I stared at him.
“You were going to kill her.”
“No.”
“You said she was the final stage.”
“She is.”
“You wanted to use her.”
“Yes.”
My mother interrupted.
“Not anymore.”
The old man looked toward the screen.
“Still protecting them?”
“I always will.”
“You know what happens if she completes the sequence.”
My mother looked frightened.
“She will destroy the system.”
“And herself.”
“Yes.”
I stepped forward.
“There has to be another way.”
My mother looked at me.
“There is.”
“What?”
She whispered:
“You.”
I froze.
“What do you mean?”
“You built the original architecture.”
“I don't remember.”
“You don't need to.”
She looked at Isabella.
“She remembers.”
I turned toward my daughter.
“What does she remember?”
My mother smiled sadly.
“Everything you forgot.”
I felt a chill.
“What?”
“Your memories weren't erased.”
My heart stopped.
“They were transferred.”
“To where?”
My mother looked at Isabella.
“Into her.”
Silence.
I stared at my daughter.
“No.”
My mother nodded.
“Every memory they removed from you was stored in Isabella.”
I suddenly understood.
The dreams.
The white room.
The photographs.
The memories from before she could speak.
She wasn't remembering her own past.
She was remembering mine.
I crouched beside her.
“Isabella.”
She looked at me.
“Do you remember my childhood?”
She nodded.
“Do you remember my mother?”
“Yes.”
“What about Daniel?”
“Yes.”
“What about Black Meridian?”
“Yes.”
I swallowed.
“Do you remember the system?”
She nodded.
“Do you know how to destroy it?”
She hesitated.
“Yes.”
My heart jumped.
“How?”
She pointed toward the old man.
“He has the first key.”
Then she pointed toward my father.
“He has the second.”
Then she pointed toward Daniel.
“He has the third.”
Finally, she touched her own chest.
“And I have the last one.”
The old man's smile disappeared.
“No.”
Isabella looked at him.
“You're scared.”
For the first time, the old man looked genuinely frightened.
“How could you know that?”
She smiled faintly.
“Because I can hear you.”
He stared at her.
“What?”
“I can hear what you're thinking.”
His face went pale.
My mother whispered:
“She has crossed the threshold.”
The old man suddenly stood.
His wheelchair fell backward.
He pulled a hidden weapon from beneath his coat.
“Then she dies now.”
He raised the gun.
I moved instantly.
I grabbed Isabella and pushed her behind me.
A shot exploded.
The room filled with smoke.
Someone screamed.
When the smoke cleared, the old man was gone.
So was Daniel.
I looked around.
“Where's my brother?”
Nobody answered.
Then Isabella pointed toward the floor.
A trail of blood led toward the hidden passage.
“Dad.”
I followed the trail.
“Daniel is hurt.”
We ran.
At the end of the corridor, we found him lying against the wall.
Blood covered his shirt.
I dropped beside him.
“Daniel.”
He opened his eyes.
“Don't.”
“Don't what?”
“Follow him.”
“Who?”
“Our father.”
I looked toward the tunnel.
“He took the third key.”
“What key?”
Daniel grabbed my wrist.
“The key to the original system.”
“Where is it?”
He coughed.
“Inside the place where we were born.”
I froze.
“The facility?”
He shook his head.
“No.”
“Then where?”
Daniel looked at Isabella.
“The house.”
“What house?”
He whispered:
“Your childhood home.”
My heart stopped.
“The house I grew up in?”
Daniel nodded.
“Black Meridian was never headquartered here.”
He took a shaky breath.
“The real system is under your house.”
I stared at him.
“That's impossible.”
“No.”
He looked at me.
“You've been living above it your entire life.”
Then he closed his eyes.
And somewhere above us, my mother's voice came through the speakers one final time.
“Son…”
“Whatever you do…”
“Do not go home.”
The line went dead.
At that exact moment, my phone rang.
May you like
The caller ID showed a name I had not seen in twenty years.
MOM.
