Chapter 6 - Natalie couldn't hear anything except the recording.Her voice.
Her command.
Her own words ordering soldiers to die.
She shook her head.
“That's not me.”
Kane watched her carefully.
“Of course it is.”
“No.”
“You don't remember giving the order.”
“No.”
“That's the point.”
Ward stepped toward her.
“Natalie, listen to me.”
Natalie pulled away.
“Don't touch me.”
Ward stopped.
Briggs lowered his weapon.
“She wasn't herself.”
Kane smiled.
“Such comforting words.”
Natalie looked at him.
“What did you do to me?”
“We enhanced your neurological response.”
“Why?”
“To create soldiers who could continue operating after psychological trauma.”
“That's insane.”
“It worked.”
Kane gestured toward her leg.
“You survived injuries that should have killed you.”
Natalie shook her head.
“I nearly died.”
“Exactly.”
He pressed something on a tablet.
A screen appeared.
Natalie's medical scans.
But there was something else.
A series of neurological maps.
Kane pointed at them.
“Your brain adapted.”
“What did you put inside me?”
“Nothing.”
Natalie's eyes narrowed.
“Then what changed?”
“Conditioning.”
Briggs suddenly fired.
The shot struck the tablet.
Chaos erupted.
“RUN!”
Natalie grabbed her crutch.
Ward fired toward the guards.
They sprinted down the corridor.
Bullets tore through the walls.
Briggs kicked open a door.
They rushed inside.
It was a maintenance chamber.
“Close it!”
Ward slammed the door.
Briggs locked it.
Natalie leaned against the wall.
“What was that?”
“An escape.”
“This isn't escape.”
Briggs looked toward the ceiling.
“No.”
He pointed upward.
“We're going deeper.”
Natalie stared.
“There are only seven levels.”
Briggs smiled grimly.
“Officially.”
They found a hidden elevator.
Briggs opened the control panel.
A number appeared.
-8.
Natalie's stomach turned.
“There is an eighth level?”
“Not on any map.”
The elevator doors opened.
They stepped inside.
As the elevator descended, Natalie noticed something carved into the wall.
A series of numbers.
Seven.
Eight.
Nine.
Ten.
She stared.
“Briggs.”
He looked.
“Don't.”
“What is this?”
“Records.”
“Of what?”
“Subjects.”
Natalie counted.
There were dozens.
“Forty-three?”
Briggs nodded.
“That's how many came through.”
“How many survived?”
He looked at her.
“You're looking at one.”
The elevator stopped.
The doors opened.
Natalie stepped out.
The room beyond was enormous.
Rows of glass chambers.
Hundreds of files.
Equipment.
Medical stations.
And in the center, beneath bright lights, was a single chair.
Restraints.
Blood stains.
Natalie stopped.
Her body recognized it before her mind did.
She had been here.
She slowly approached.
A memory exploded into her mind.
Straps around her wrists.
A woman crying.
A doctor shouting.
Kane standing behind the glass.
And Ward beside him.
Natalie turned toward Ward.
“You were here.”
Ward's eyes filled with tears.
“Yes.”
“You watched.”
“I was restrained too.”
“Then why don't you remember?”
“Because we weren't supposed to.”
Natalie stepped toward her.
“What did they make us do?”
Ward whispered:
“Each other.”
Natalie froze.
Before she could respond, every monitor in the facility suddenly activated.
A countdown appeared.
00:59.
00:58.
Kane's voice came through the speakers.
“Echo Seven has returned.”
00:50.
“Begin recovery protocol.”
00:47.
Briggs looked at the doors.
“We have to go.”
Natalie didn't move.
“What's recovery protocol?”
Briggs stared at her.
“Erasing the subject.”
00:39.
Natalie understood.
“They're going to kill me.”
“No.”
Ward shook her head.
“They're going to make you forget again.”
00:32.
Natalie looked at the chair.
Then at the files.
Then at the glass chambers.
Something inside her snapped.
“No.”
She picked up a metal bar.
Briggs stared.
“What are you doing?”
Natalie smashed the nearest control panel.
Sparks exploded.
The countdown stopped.
For one second.
Then restarted.
00:29.
Briggs stared.
“That's not possible.”
Natalie looked at the screen.
A new message appeared.
SUBJECT AUTHORIZATION ACCEPTED.
May you like
Then every chamber opened at once.
And the men inside stepped out.
Related Stories
