Chapter 14 - Leo's voice no longer sounded like that of a two-year-old.David stared at him.
The child's face was the same.
But his eyes weren't.
They contained recognition.
Too much recognition.
“Leo?”
The boy smiled.
“You found the room.”
Sarah moved toward him.
“Baby…”
Leo looked at her.
“You aren't my first Mommy.”
Sarah stopped.
Tears filled her eyes.
“I know.”
Leo walked toward David.
“The man under the house isn't Grandpa.”
David frowned.
“What?”
“He's a memory.”
Silence.
Emma stared at Leo.
“What did you remember?”
Leo looked at her.
“You.”
Emma started crying.
“Me?”
“You were sad.”
Her gun dropped from her hand.
Leo continued.
“You wanted to go home.”
Emma covered her mouth.
“And Daddy came.”
David stared.
“I came?”
Leo nodded.
“You took me away.”
David felt dizzy.
“When?”
Leo pointed toward the floor.
“Before.”
A deep vibration shook the facility.
Lights shattered.
The entire network was activating.
The grandmother's voice filled the speakers.
“Excellent.”
David turned toward the screens.
Her face appeared.
“Subject A-18 has reached complete recall.”
Sarah shouted:
“What do you want?”
“To finish what your family interrupted.”
Emma grabbed Sarah.
“It's starting.”
“What?”
“All memories are reconnecting.”
Screens exploded with images.
People began appearing in the corridors.
Not physically.
Projected.
Memories.
A child running.
A woman screaming.
A doctor operating.
A dog lying beneath a table.
David saw himself.
Eight years old.
Holding Tank.
He remembered.
His father had brought him to the original facility.
David had seen the children.
He had seen Sarah.
He had seen Emma.
He remembered their mother.
He remembered the order:
“Erase him after transfer.”
But the process failed.
Because Tank intervened.
The original dog attacked the machine.
The memory transfer broke.
David had forgotten.
Everyone had.
Except the dog.
And now Leo had restored it.
David looked at Emma.
“You were protecting us.”
Emma nodded.
“Always.”
Sarah grabbed David's hand.
“What do we do?”
Leo answered.
“Break the crib.”
David froze.
“The crib?”
Leo pointed toward the screen.
The original nursery appeared.
The crib.
The one beneath their house.
The one Tank had scratched.
The one David thought was ordinary.
Leo whispered:
“That's where they keep the memories.”
David understood.
The crib wasn't for the child.
It was the machine.
The false bottom.
The monitor.
The hidden cables.
All designed to record and transmit.
He ran.
Sarah followed.
Emma behind them.
Tank limped after them.
They reached the nursery.
The crib stood in the center.
Lights beneath it glowed red.
The machine was alive.
David lifted the mattress.
Inside the frame were hundreds of tiny memory cards.
Names.
Dates.
Faces.
Every stolen life.
David grabbed the first one.
The lights exploded.
The grandmother's voice screamed through the speakers.
“STOP!”
David ripped another.
Then another.
The system shook.
The walls cracked.
Emma shouted:
“Don't stop!”
Sarah began pulling cables.
Tank bit through a wire.
Sparks flew.
The nursery filled with smoke.
Leo stood beside the crib.
He looked at David.
“Daddy.”
“What?”
“There's one left.”
David looked down.
One final card remained.
It had no name.
Only a number.
A-18.
David reached for it.
The moment his fingers touched it, every light in the house died.
Then a woman's voice whispered directly into his ear.
“You finally found me.”
David turned.
The grandmother stood behind him.
Holding a knife.
She smiled.
May you like
And pointed it at Leo.
“Now give me my son.”
