Chapter 5: The Mark
The tiny red mark on my belly seemed to pulse beneath my skin.
Once.
Twice.
Then it disappeared.
Nobody moved.
Not Elias.
Not Margaret.
Not even Travis.
I looked down at my stomach.
“What was that?”
Travis stared at me.
His face had gone completely pale.
“Claire…”
“What was that?”
He didn't answer.
I grabbed his shirt.
“Tell me!”
His eyes filled with tears.
“I didn't know it would happen this soon.”
“What would happen?”
Elias suddenly shouted:
“GET HER OUT!”
The two men rushed toward me.
Travis attacked the closest one.
The basement exploded into chaos.
A fist struck someone.
A chair crashed against the wall.
Margaret grabbed my hand.
“Claire, move!”
I tried.
But another contraction hit.
Harder than the others.
I screamed.
My knees buckled.
Travis caught me.
“I've got you.”
I looked into his eyes.
For the first time since this nightmare began, I saw the husband I remembered.
The man who used to make coffee for me every morning.
The man who held my hand during our first ultrasound.
The man who kissed my stomach when the babies kicked.
“Travis…”
“I know.”
“You lied to me.”
His jaw tightened.
“I know.”
“You knew something was wrong.”
“Yes.”
“You knew your father was alive.”
“Yes.”
“You knew about my mother.”
“Yes.”
“And you still married me.”
He closed his eyes.
“I didn't know the truth when I married you.”
“But you found out.”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Six months after our wedding.”
I stared at him.
“And you stayed.”
“I tried to leave.”
“Then why didn't you?”
He looked toward Elias.
“Because he threatened you.”
My heart broke.
“What did he threaten to do?”
Travis lowered his voice.
“He said if I ever told you, he'd kill you.”
I shook my head.
“So you protected me by becoming cruel?”
His eyes filled with tears.
“I thought if you hated me, you'd leave.”
“You made me think I was worthless.”
“I know.”
“You abandoned me tonight.”
His expression collapsed.
“I know.”
“You locked me in this house.”
“I didn't.”
I froze.
“What?”
Travis looked at Margaret.
“She did.”
Margaret's eyes widened.
“I had to.”
“You locked me in?”
“I locked the doors because Elias's men were coming.”
“Then why did you let Travis leave?”
“Because he was supposed to draw them away.”
I looked at Travis.
“Then why did you tell me not to move?”
He swallowed.
“Because I knew someone was watching the house.”
“Who?”
He looked at Elias.
“My father.”
Elias laughed bitterly.
“You still think you understand everything.”
Travis turned toward him.
“I know enough.”
“No, you don't.”
Elias lifted his gun.
Travis stepped in front of me.
“Put it down.”
“You've become just like your mother.”
Travis froze.
“What did you say?”
Elias smiled.
“She told you she was innocent, didn't she?”
Travis's face changed.
“What are you talking about?”
“Your mother wasn't a victim.”
Margaret whispered:
“Elias…”
“She was one of us.”
Travis shook his head.
“No.”
“She helped create the program.”
“What program?”
Elias looked at me.
“The one that created your twins.”
My stomach twisted.
“What program?”
Elias ignored me.
He looked at Travis.
“Your mother selected Claire's mother.”
Travis stared.
“What?”
“She chose her.”
“Why?”
“Because she carried the bloodline we needed.”
I felt sick.
“My mother was experimented on?”
Elias nodded.
“Before you were born.”
“And I was…”
“Born from it.”
I backed away.
“No.”
Travis looked devastated.
“That means…”
Elias interrupted.
“Yes.”
He pointed toward my belly.
“Your children are the first successful result in twenty-two years.”
Margaret covered her mouth.
I stared at my stomach.
“Successful result of what?”
Elias said nothing.
“Tell me!”
“The program was designed to preserve a genetic trait.”
“What trait?”
He smiled.
“Memory.”
I frowned.
“Memory?”
“Not ordinary memory.”
He stepped closer.
“Genetic memory.”
I shook my head.
“That isn't possible.”
“Perhaps.”
He looked toward the hidden room.
“But we've already observed it.”
Travis whispered:
“The dreams.”
I looked at him.
“What dreams?”
“You've been having them.”
My heart stopped.
He continued.
“You told me you kept dreaming about a house you'd never visited.”
I nodded slowly.
“The red door.”
“And the woman standing behind it.”
My throat tightened.
“How do you know?”
“You told me.”
I had.
Years ago.
I'd always had the same nightmare.
A little girl running through a dark house.
A woman screaming.
A red door.
A man holding a baby.
I thought it was just a childhood dream.
Travis shook his head.
“It wasn't a dream.”
Elias smiled.
“It was a memory.”
I stared at him.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“You're saying I remember something that happened before I was born?”
“Not exactly.”
He pointed at my stomach.
“Your daughter does.”
My entire body went cold.
“What?”
Elias stepped closer.
“The firstborn twin has already begun displaying the trait.”
Travis looked at my belly.
“How?”
Elias answered:
“She reacted to the trigger.”
“What trigger?”
“The mark.”
I looked down.
The red mark was gone.
“What does it mean?”
Elias smiled.
“It means she remembers.”
“Remembers what?”
He leaned close.
“Your mother's death.”
I felt like I'd been struck.
“No…”
Margaret started crying.
“Claire…”
I looked at her.
“You knew.”
She nodded.
“Your mother left you something.”
“What?”
Margaret reached into her coat.
She pulled out a small silver pendant.
I recognized it immediately.
I had seen it in my childhood photographs.
It belonged to my mother.
My hands trembled as I took it.
“Where did you get this?”
“She gave it to me.”
“When?”
“Before she died.”
I stared at the pendant.
There was a tiny symbol engraved on the back.
Three parallel lines.
The same mark on Elias's wrist.
My fingers touched it.
Suddenly, my vision blurred.
The basement disappeared.
I saw a red door.
A woman screaming.
A little girl crying.
A baby wrapped in white cloth.
Then I heard my mother's voice.
“Claire, don't let them take her.”
I gasped.
The vision vanished.
I nearly collapsed.
Travis caught me.
“What happened?”
I stared at him.
“I saw my mother.”
Elias's face changed.
“What did she say?”
I looked directly at him.
“She said…”
My voice trembled.
“Don't let them take her.”
Elias suddenly looked terrified.
Not angry.
Not surprised.
Terrified.
He stepped backward.
“What did she say?”
I repeated it.
“Don't let them take her.”
Margaret looked at Elias.
“You know what that means.”
Elias shook his head.
“No.”
Travis frowned.
“What does it mean?”
Margaret whispered:
“The firstborn isn't the one they're after.”
I looked at her.
“Then who?”
She pointed at my belly.
“The second twin.”
Silence.
Elias slowly lowered his gun.
“No.”
Travis stared at him.
“Father?”
Margaret stepped forward.
“She lied to us.”
Elias's eyes widened.
“She was never carrying the child we thought.”
I felt another violent movement inside me.
This time, only one baby moved.
The other remained completely still.
Margaret's face went white.
“Claire…”
“What?”
“The second baby.”
“What about her?”
Margaret looked at Elias.
Then at Travis.
Then back at me.
“She isn't the one with the genetic memory.”
I frowned.
“Then what does she have?”
Margaret whispered:
“Something much more dangerous.”
Suddenly, every light in the basement exploded.
Glass rained down.
Someone screamed.
And from somewhere inside the darkness came a woman's voice.
A voice I had heard only once before.
In my dreams.
“Claire…”
I froze.
“Mom?”
The voice whispered again.
“Don't trust Travis.”
May you like
Then something struck me from behind.
Everything went black.
