CHAPTER 14: THE LAST MEMORY
“Welcome back, son.”
My father's voice echoed through the chamber.
I stared at him.
For twenty years, I had imagined his face in nightmares I couldn't remember.
Now he stood thirty feet away.
Alive.
Unchanged.
Calm.
Behind him, people poured into the chamber.
Men.
Women.
Children.
Some were crying.
Some were screaming.
Some simply stared at me.
All of them had the same look in their eyes.
Recognition.
I slowly pulled the cable from my neck.
My knees nearly buckled.
Emily caught my hand.
“Daddy?”
I looked at her.
“I remember.”
She stared at me.
“Everything?”
“Everything.”
My father smiled.
“That is unfortunate.”
I raised the gun.
“You did this.”
“Yes.”
“You took my memories.”
“Yes.”
“You took my daughter.”
“No.”
He looked at Emily.
“We protected her.”
“You locked her in a cage.”
“Jason did.”
“You ordered him.”
“I ordered him to prevent the memory cascade.”
I stepped forward.
“Stop calling it protection.”
My father looked at me.
“You still think emotionally.”
“And you don't?”
“No.”
He glanced around the chamber.
“That is why I survived.”
Michael stepped forward.
“You survived because you replaced yourself.”
My father's expression hardened.
“Michael.”
“Father.”
The two men stared at each other.
I suddenly remembered.
Michael had always hated him.
Not because of the replacement program.
Because my father had murdered Michael's mother.
The memory hit me.
A kitchen.
Blood on the floor.
Michael screaming.
My father standing there.
Cold.
I looked at him.
“You killed her.”
He didn't deny it.
“She betrayed us.”
“She tried to expose you.”
“She tried to destroy the family.”
“You destroyed the family.”
He smiled.
“No.”
He pointed toward me.
“You did.”
I froze.
“What?”
“You built the system.”
I shook my head.
“I was forced.”
“No.”
He stepped closer.
“You volunteered.”
The chamber went silent.
My memory returned again.
I was younger.
Twenty-seven.
I stood in front of the machine.
My father beside me.
Michael was on the other side of the glass.
I was furious.
I had discovered that the program could transfer memories.
I had discovered what my father planned.
He wanted to use it to replace dying members of wealthy families.
I wanted to destroy it.
But then Sarah was brought into the room.
She was pregnant.
My father held a gun against her stomach.
“You have a choice.”
I remembered saying:
“Leave her alone.”
“Then help me.”
“No.”
He pointed the gun.
Sarah cried.
I looked at the machine.
“What do you want?”
“Your memory.”
I stared.
“What?”
“You will become the first successful replacement.”
I understood.
If I surrendered my memories, he would erase the evidence.
He would erase my identity.
He would turn me into someone else.
I agreed.
Not because I wanted to.
Because I wanted Sarah and my unborn daughter to survive.
But there was one condition.
I looked at my father.
“You promised.”
He smiled.
“I always keep my promises.”
He lied.
The memory ended.
I opened my eyes.
“You lied.”
My father shrugged.
“Of course.”
I felt rage explode inside me.
“You killed Sarah.”
“No.”
I looked toward Sarah.
She was standing near the chamber entrance.
Alive.
My father looked at her.
“She survived.”
Sarah stared at him.
“You tried to kill me.”
“I tried.”
“Why?”
“Because you knew too much.”
I stepped toward her.
“Then how did you survive?”
She looked at Claire.
“Claire saved me.”
I turned.
Claire nodded.
“She helped me escape.”
My father laughed.
“Claire.”
She stared at him.
“You should have died twenty years ago.”
“I almost did.”
“Why didn't you?”
“Because your son saved me.”
My father looked at Michael.
“You.”
Michael raised his gun.
“You murdered my family.”
“I made you immortal.”
Michael's expression twisted.
“You made me a prisoner.”
“Same thing.”
“No.”
Michael stepped closer.
“Immortality without freedom is just a longer death.”
For the first time, my father looked angry.
“Enough.”
He raised his weapon.
Before he could fire, Daniel stepped in front of me.
“Don't.”
My father looked at him.
“My grandson.”
Daniel froze.
“You know me?”
“I created you.”
Daniel's face changed.
“What?”
“You were the second-generation prototype.”
Daniel looked at me.
“Dad…”
I nodded.
My father continued.
“You were created using his memories.”
Daniel looked sick.
“I had a mother.”
“Yes.”
“A childhood.”
“Yes.”
“A father.”
My father smiled.
“You had an identity.”
Daniel looked at me.
“And you?”
I answered:
“I didn't know.”
My father laughed.
“That's the beauty of the system.”
Then Emily spoke.
“Why are you afraid of me?”
My father looked at her.
The smile disappeared.
“You shouldn't have remembered.”
“But I did.”
“You were supposed to remain asleep.”
“Why?”
“Because you know where the original records are.”
Emily frowned.
“What records?”
My father stepped toward her.
“The ones your father hid.”
I stared.
“I didn't hide anything.”
“Yes, you did.”
“What?”
He looked at me.
“You erased your own final memory.”
I froze.
“What final memory?”
“The one thing you were never supposed to remember.”
He pointed toward the machine.
“The location of the original archive.”
I looked around.
“This is the archive.”
“No.”
He shook his head.
“This is the decoy.”
My blood went cold.
“Then where?”
He smiled.
“Under your house.”
I couldn't breathe.
“Our old house?”
“Yes.”
“The house Sarah and I bought?”
“Yes.”
“The pool?”
“Yes.”
The black trash bags.
The green water.
The dark shapes.
I remembered Emily's fear.
“What's under the pool?”
My father smiled.
“Your past.”
I looked at Sarah.
“You knew?”
She shook her head.
“No.”
“Then why did Jason throw things into the pool?”
“He was hiding the entrance.”
I stared.
The pieces came together.
The cage.
The pool.
The trash bags.
The house.
Everything had been pointing there.
My father continued.
“You were supposed to discover the facility.”
“But not the archive.”
“Correct.”
“Why?”
“Because the archive contains the one thing that can destroy us.”
“What?”
“Proof.”
I looked around.
Thousands of people were staring.
“Proof of what?”
“Every identity transfer.”
“Every child.”
“Every death.”
“Every person replaced.”
“And every person responsible.”
My father smiled.
“Including you.”
I felt the floor disappear beneath me.
“Me?”
“You signed the first authorization.”
“I was forced.”
“History doesn't care.”
I looked at Emily.
She was staring at me.
“Daddy?”
I knelt beside her.
“I didn't want any of this.”
“I know.”
“How?”
She touched my face.
“Because I remember.”
I froze.
“What do you remember?”
She whispered:
“You tried to save me.”
My heart broke.
“When?”
“Before the crash.”
I remembered.
Sarah had handed me Evelyn.
I had promised:
“I'll come back.”
Then my father attacked me.
The crash.
The hospital.
The memory transfer.
Everything.
Emily continued.
“You told me something.”
“What?”
She smiled through tears.
“You said…”
Her voice cracked.
“No matter what happens, I'll find you.”
I closed my eyes.
I had kept that promise.
Twenty years late.
But I had kept it.
Then a gunshot rang out.
Emily screamed.
I spun around.
My father was holding his chest.
Blood spread across his shirt.
He looked shocked.
Behind him stood Jason.
But Jason wasn't aiming at my father.
He was aiming at the machine.
He fired again.
The machine exploded.
Sparks filled the chamber.
People screamed.
The lights went out.
I grabbed Emily.
“Stay with me!”
Daniel grabbed Sarah.
Michael pulled Claire toward the exit.
The chamber filled with smoke.
Then Jason shouted:
“GET OUT!”
I looked at him.
“Why are you helping us?”
He stared at me.
“Because I finally remembered who I was.”
“Who?”
He smiled sadly.
“The first child you saved.”
I froze.
“What?”
He pointed toward himself.
“I was there.”
“When?”
“The night you opened the doors.”
I stared.
“You were one of them.”
“Yes.”
“Then why did you work for my father?”
“Because he promised he'd restore my memories.”
“Did he?”
“No.”
Jason looked toward the burning machine.
“He lied.”
I looked at him.
“What did you destroy?”
“The transfer core.”
“Why?”
“Because if he got it…”
Jason looked at Emily.
“He would have transferred himself into her.”
My blood froze.
My father.
His consciousness.
My daughter's body.
That had been the final stage.
Not immortality through replacements.
Immortality through Emily.
I grabbed her hand.
“We're leaving.”
We ran.
The chamber began collapsing behind us.
We climbed the stairs.
People poured out of the underground facility.
Police vehicles filled the cemetery.
News helicopters circled overhead.
Reynolds shouted orders.
Then we reached the surface.
I looked back.
The cemetery was burning.
For a moment, I thought it was over.
Then my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
Nobody spoke.
Then a child's voice whispered:
“Daddy?”
I froze.
Emily was standing beside me.
I looked at her.
She hadn't spoken.
The voice continued.
“Daddy, I'm cold.”
I felt the blood drain from my face.
“Who is this?”
A little girl whispered:
“I'm Evelyn.”
I looked at Emily.
She was crying.
“That isn't me.”
The voice continued.
“You promised you'd find me.”
I couldn't speak.
Jason stepped closer.
His face had gone white.
“No.”
“What?”
He looked at the phone.
“That's impossible.”
“What?”
He whispered:
“Evelyn wasn't the only child.”
The voice giggled.
Then another child spoke.
Then another.
Then dozens.
Hundreds.
All whispering through the phone.
“Daddy.”
“Daddy.”
“Daddy.”
I dropped the phone.
Jason stared at me.
“The memory cores weren't destroyed.”
I looked toward the burning cemetery.
“Then where are they?”
He pointed toward the road.
A black truck was disappearing into the darkness.
“They were transferred.”
“To where?”
He swallowed.
“To the original archive.”
“Under my house.”
He nodded.
I looked at Emily.
She was trembling.
“We have to go home.”
Daniel stepped beside me.
“I'll come.”
Michael nodded.
“So will I.”
Claire raised her weapon.
“I'm coming too.”
Sarah took Emily's hand.
“No.”
Everyone looked at her.
“This time…”
She stared at the burning cemetery.
“We finish it.”
I looked toward the road.
The black truck was gone.
But now I knew where it was going.
Home.
The house where everything had begun.
The house where my daughter had been locked inside a dog cage.
The house with the green pool.
The house beneath which the original archive was hidden.
I opened the car door.
Emily climbed inside.
Before I followed, I looked back at the cemetery.
My father's body was nowhere to be seen.
I knew what that meant.
He had survived.
Again.
And if he reached the archive before us, he would have everything he needed.
Names.
Memories.
Identities.
And the technology to become someone else forever.
I started the engine.
Daniel climbed into the passenger seat.
He looked at me.
“Dad.”
“Yeah?”
“What if we're too late?”
I looked at Emily in the rearview mirror.
Then I remembered the promise I had made twenty years ago.
“I won't be.”
We drove toward the house.
But halfway there, Emily suddenly screamed.
I slammed the brakes.
“What happened?”
She was staring at the rear window.
A black SUV was following us.
Then another.
Then another.
Daniel looked back.
“Three cars.”
I tightened my grip on the steering wheel.
“Who are they?”
Emily whispered:
“Not them.”
I looked at her.
“What?”
She was staring at the road ahead.
A fourth vehicle was approaching.
An old silver sedan.
Emily began shaking.
“That's him.”
“Who?”
She whispered:
“The man who took me.”
The sedan stopped directly in front of us.
The driver's door opened.
A man stepped out.
I recognized him.
Not Jason.
Not my father.
Not Daniel.
Someone else.
Someone I had seen only once.
In the oldest photograph in the archive.
He looked at me.
Then at Emily.
And said:
“Michael.”
He smiled.
“You really thought your father was the mastermind?”
I raised my gun.
He laughed.
“No.”
He opened the trunk.
Inside were dozens of black files.
“This started long before the Mercers.”
He looked toward Emily.
“And it ends with you.”
Then he closed the trunk.
“Come home, Evelyn.”
May you like
Emily screamed.
And suddenly every light along the road went out.
