Chapter 5: The Seventeenth Door
The darkness lasted only three seconds.
But sometimes three seconds is enough to change everything.
Three seconds was enough for a criminal to disappear.
Enough for a child to get hurt.
Enough for fear to spread through an entire building.
When the emergency lights returned, the hallway was empty.
The man was gone.
The Collector had vanished.
But his voice remained in my head.
Let's see if you can save seventeen children before time runs out.
I looked around.
The classroom doors were open.
Every single one.
That shouldn't have been possible.
The doors had automatic locks.
During a lockdown, they could only be opened manually from inside.
But now they stood wide open.
Waiting.
Jax growled softly.
Not toward the hallway.
Toward the floor.
I followed his gaze.
There was something beneath us.
Something hidden.
"Jason."
Detective Bennett's voice was low.
"What do we do?"
I looked down the hallway.
At the open classrooms.
At the terrified teachers.
At Leo standing behind me.
Every instinct told me this was a trap.
But every instinct also told me something else.
Children were in danger.
And we couldn't wait.
"Secure the students first."
Sarah nodded.
We moved quickly.
Officers checked every classroom.
Teachers were instructed to keep children away from windows and doors.
But something strange happened.
Every classroom was empty.
Not empty like abandoned.
Empty like someone had just left.
Books were open.
Pencils were on desks.
Chairs were pulled out.
It looked like children had been sitting there seconds ago.
But there were no students.
No teachers.
Nothing.
"Officer Miller."
An officer called from the end of the hallway.
"You need to see this."
I followed him.
He was standing in front of a classroom door.
Room 17.
The number was written on a small metal plate.
I froze.
Leo's drawing.
The hidden door.
The number seventeen.
The room existed.
But it shouldn't.
According to the school records, Room 17 had been removed years ago.
The space had supposedly been converted into storage.
I looked at the door.
A small black symbol was carved into the metal.
The same symbol from Leo's drawings.
The same symbol from the files.
My hand moved toward the handle.
Leo grabbed my arm.
"No."
I looked back.
His face was pale.
"What is it?"
"They don't like this door."
"Who?"
"The doctors."
I crouched down.
"Leo, what's behind it?"
He stared at the door.
"The beginning."
The word sent a chill through me.
Not the end.
Not the place where they kept him.
The beginning.
I opened the door.
The room behind it was not a classroom.
It was a hallway.
A long, narrow hallway made of concrete and steel.
The air smelled old.
Like a place that had been closed for years.
But there were signs that someone had been using it recently.
Fresh footprints.
New cables.
Modern equipment.
Someone had maintained this hidden place.
For a long time.
Sarah looked at me.
"This was under the school the entire time?"
I nodded.
But I couldn't understand how.
A secret facility.
Inside an elementary school.
With children walking above it every day.
It felt impossible.
Until I remembered something.
Impossible was becoming a pattern.
We walked deeper.
Jax moved slowly.
His nose near the ground.
Suddenly, he stopped.
A small sound escaped him.
Not a bark.
Not a growl.
A warning.
I raised my hand.
Everyone froze.
"What is it?"
I looked at Jax.
He was staring at a small room on the left.
The door was slightly open.
Inside...
A child's backpack.
I stepped closer.
The backpack was blue.
A name tag was attached.
Mason Reed.
I recognized the name.
A second-grade student.
A child reported absent three weeks ago.
His parents said he was sick.
But he had never returned.
My stomach tightened.
"Mason..."
Leo heard the name.
His face changed.
"You know him?"
Leo nodded slowly.
"He was number six."
Sarah looked at him.
"Number six?"
Leo looked at the backpack.
"They gave everyone numbers."
I opened the bag.
Inside was a notebook.
Drawings.
Pages filled with children's handwriting.
The first page contained a list.
Emma
Noah
Lily
Daniel
Sophia
Mason
...
The list continued.
At number seventeen...
A blank space.
Except for one word.
Incomplete.
I closed the notebook.
My hands tightened.
"They were tracking children."
Sarah nodded.
"And selecting them."
I looked at Leo.
"Why were you number seventeen?"
He didn't answer.
Instead, he walked toward the wall.
His fingers touched a small scratch.
A mark.
Almost invisible.
"What is this?"
Leo looked at it.
"My mark."
I stared.
"Your mark?"
He nodded.
"They made one for everyone."
"Why?"
"So they knew who we were."
My stomach turned.
Not names.
Not identities.
Numbers.
They had erased who these children were.
At the end of the hallway, we found another door.
This one was different.
Thicker.
More secure.
A keypad beside it.
Sarah examined it.
"No power."
I looked closer.
There was a fingerprint scanner.
Below it was a message.
AUTHORIZED SUBJECT REQUIRED.
Everyone became silent.
The system needed someone.
Not an employee.
Not an officer.
A subject.
A child.
I looked at Leo.
He immediately stepped back.
"No."
I shook my head.
"We're not doing anything."
But before I could move, the device inside Leo's arm activated.
A sharp beep echoed.
The keypad turned on.
Green light.
ACCESS GRANTED.
Leo grabbed his arm.
"No..."
The door unlocked.
Slowly.
A cold wave of air came from inside.
Behind the door was a room filled with monitors.
Hundreds of screens.
Each one showing different places.
Different children.
Different moments.
My eyes moved from screen to screen.
A playground.
A hospital hallway.
A bedroom.
A school bus.
Children.
All children.
And in the center of the room was one large screen.
A live video feed.
It showed Willow Creek Elementary.
It showed us.
At that exact moment.
Someone had been watching.
Sarah stepped closer.
"What is this?"
I didn't answer.
Because I saw something else.
A file open on the main monitor.
A profile.
A photograph.
Leo.
Underneath his picture were words.
PROJECT PHOENIX
SUBJECT 17
EMOTIONAL RESPONSE: EXCEPTIONAL
MEMORY RETENTION: UNSTABLE
FINAL PHASE: PENDING
I felt anger rise inside me.
They weren't helping children.
They were experimenting on them.
Leo stared at the screen.
His face changed.
Because he recognized something.
"What?"
He pointed.
At the bottom of the file.
There was a signature.
The person who approved the project.
The person who created it.
The name appeared clearly.
Dr. Adrian Vale.
But below the signature...
There was another name.
A name that made Leo step backward.
A name he knew.
A name he feared.
"My dad..."
I looked at him.
"What?"
May you like
Leo whispered:
"My dad signed it."
