Chapter 14 - Natalie moved through the darkness.She heard gunfire.
Shouting.
Explosions.
Briggs was beside her.
“Left!”
She fired.
A soldier dropped.
Holloway covered the rear.
Ward opened a security door.
Evelyn stayed close.
The laboratory became chaos.
Natalie reached the white room.
Empty.
Lily was gone.
“NO!”
She slammed her fist against the glass.
A monitor flickered.
A message appeared.
SUBJECT MOVED TO LEVEL ZERO.
Natalie stared.
“There's no level zero.”
Evelyn whispered:
“There is.”
“How?”
“It is beneath the mountain.”
They found a hidden elevator.
It descended.
Deeper.
Deeper.
Until the numbers disappeared.
The doors opened.
Level Zero.
The room was enormous.
At the center stood Lily.
She was awake.
Unrestrained.
Kane stood behind her.
Natalie raised her pistol.
“Let her go.”
Kane shook his head.
“She came willingly.”
Natalie stared.
Lily looked at her mother.
“Mommy.”
Natalie lowered the weapon slightly.
“What did they do to you?”
Lily smiled.
“Nothing.”
Kane stepped forward.
“She activated herself.”
Natalie stared.
“What?”
Lily walked toward her.
The soldiers around the room did not move.
Natalie opened her arms.
Lily ran into them.
Natalie held her tightly.
Then whispered:
“You're okay.”
Lily nodded.
“I remembered.”
Natalie froze.
“Remembered what?”
Lily looked at Kane.
“What he did to Mommy.”
Kane's smile disappeared.
Lily raised her hand.
Every light in the room exploded.
The soldiers dropped unconscious.
Natalie stared.
Evelyn whispered:
“Impossible.”
Lily looked at her mother.
“I was inside your memories.”
Natalie couldn't speak.
Kane backed away.
For the first time, genuine fear appeared on his face.
“What are you?”
Lily answered:
“Your mistake.”
The entire facility began shaking.
Warning alarms blared.
Holloway shouted:
“Get out!”
Kane ran.
Natalie grabbed Lily.
They moved.
But Kane reached a control room first.
A massive blast door began closing.
Natalie shoved Lily through.
She remained on the other side.
“Mom!”
Natalie turned.
The door came down.
Kane stood behind it.
Natalie aimed her pistol through the narrowing gap.
Kane smiled.
“You can't kill me.”
Natalie fired.
The bullet struck his shoulder.
He staggered.
Then smiled.
“You still don't understand.”
He pressed a button.
The screen behind him activated.
Natalie's face appeared.
But not the current Natalie.
A younger Natalie.
Wearing a black uniform.
Standing in front of hundreds of soldiers.
Her voice echoed:
“Begin the operation.”
Natalie stared.
Kane whispered:
“You weren't just Echo Seven.”
The door slammed shut.
His final words came through the speakers.
“You were the commander of Echo.”
Natalie stared at the screen.
She saw herself giving orders.
Hundreds of soldiers moving.
Dozens of bodies.
Then one final image.
Her younger self walking into a room.
Behind her was the Pentagon.
Natalie slowly turned toward Evelyn.
“Was I working for them?”
Evelyn shook her head.
“No.”
“Then why was I giving the orders?”
Evelyn looked at her.
“Because you infiltrated them.”
Natalie stared.
“For how long?”
Evelyn whispered:
“Since you were nineteen.”
Natalie's entire world shifted.
Everything she remembered was wrong.
Everything she had forgotten had been deliberate.
But one question remained.
“Why did I come back?”
Evelyn's eyes filled with tears.
“You didn't.”
Natalie frowned.
“What?”
Evelyn pointed toward Lily.
“You weren't supposed to survive.”
Natalie looked at her daughter.
“And neither was Lily.”
The mountain shook violently.
A massive explosion erupted below.
May you like
Evelyn whispered:
“Kane just started the war.”
