Chapter 7: The Delivery Room
For one terrible second, nobody moved.
Elias stood in the doorway with the medical container in his hands.
Behind him were four armed men.
Beside him stood a woman in blue surgical clothing, her face hidden behind a mask.
My eyes went straight to the container.
It was empty.
But there was a label attached to the side.
SUBJECT TWO.
My stomach dropped.
“What is that?”
Elias smiled.
“Something we'll be needing shortly.”
Travis stepped in front of me.
“You're not touching her.”
Elias raised an eyebrow.
“You still think you have a choice?”
Travis clenched his fists.
“I'll die before I let you take my wife.”
Elias laughed softly.
“You already agreed to give me the child.”
Travis's face tightened.
“I changed my mind.”
“You don't get to change your mind.”
My mother suddenly stepped forward.
“You never did.”
Elias looked at her.
For the first time, his expression became vicious.
“You should still be dead.”
My mother smiled bitterly.
“So should you.”
The room went silent.
I stared between them.
“You two knew each other.”
Elias ignored me.
“Take Claire upstairs.”
The men moved.
Travis attacked the first one.
A punch landed.
The man stumbled backward.
Another grabbed Travis from behind.
Travis fought wildly.
“RUN, CLAIRE!”
I tried.
But my body refused.
Another contraction hit.
I screamed and dropped to my knees.
My mother rushed toward me.
“She's fully dilated.”
The masked woman checked her watch.
“Then we need to move now.”
I looked up at her.
“Who are you?”
She didn't answer.
My sister suddenly lunged toward her.
“You.”
The masked woman froze.
My sister tore the mask from her face.
I recognized her immediately.
Dr. Helen Price.
My obstetrician.
The woman who had delivered my first ultrasound results.
The woman who had reassured me when I experienced bleeding.
The woman who told me the babies were perfectly healthy.
I stared at her.
“You.”
She looked away.
“I didn't have a choice.”
My sister laughed bitterly.
“Everyone says that.”
Helen looked at Elias.
“He needs to know.”
Elias shook his head.
“No.”
“He has to know.”
“No.”
She turned toward me.
“Claire, listen carefully.”
Elias raised his gun.
“Doctor.”
Helen ignored him.
“The second baby isn't genetically identical to the first.”
I looked at her.
“I know.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“You don't understand.”
She pointed toward my belly.
“The second fetus contains altered genetic sequences.”
“What kind?”
She hesitated.
“Sequences designed to store information.”
My sister stepped forward.
“Memory.”
Helen nodded.
“But not only memory.”
My stomach tightened.
“What else?”
Helen looked at Elias.
Then back at me.
“Evidence.”
I stared.
“Evidence of what?”
“Everything.”
She swallowed.
“Every woman who was part of the program. Every procedure. Every medical record. Every name.”
My mother whispered:
“They turned human memory into a biological archive.”
I felt sick.
“You put all that inside my baby?”
Helen's eyes filled with tears.
“I didn't.”
Elias interrupted.
“We did what was necessary.”
I stared at him.
“You murdered women.”
“No.”
“You experimented on them.”
“We studied them.”
“You stole their children.”
“We preserved their bloodline.”
“You killed my sister.”
He smiled.
“Your sister died protecting the experiment.”
My sister stepped toward him.
“You murdered me.”
Elias looked at her.
“No.”
He smiled.
“I merely failed to finish the job.”
My sister's face went white.
I looked at her.
“You survived because of him?”
She nodded slowly.
“He kept me alive because I was useful.”
“How?”
“He needed my DNA.”
My stomach turned.
“And now he needs the baby's.”
“Yes.”
Elias walked toward me.
“Because your sister's genetic material was incomplete.”
He looked at my belly.
“Your daughter completes it.”
I backed away.
“You're insane.”
“Perhaps.”
He pointed toward the hallway.
“But the contractions are getting closer.”
Another wave of pain tore through me.
I screamed.
Helen rushed toward me.
“Claire, you need to lie down.”
“No!”
I pushed her away.
“I don't trust you.”
She stopped.
“I understand.”
“Then tell me the truth.”
She looked at me.
“The first twin can trigger the memories.”
I frowned.
“And the second?”
“She can release them.”
I stared.
“What does that mean?”
Helen's voice dropped.
“If the second twin is born naturally, the genetic sequence will activate.”
“And then?”
“The information stored inside her DNA could be transferred through a biological process.”
“To whom?”
Helen looked at Elias.
“To anyone carrying the matching genetic marker.”
My blood ran cold.
“Elias.”
Helen nodded.
“He wants to inherit everything.”
My sister suddenly understood.
“He doesn't want the baby.”
She looked at Elias.
“He wants what the baby knows.”
Elias smiled.
“Now you're beginning to understand.”
Travis broke free from the men.
He charged toward Elias.
Elias raised his gun.
“Stop.”
Travis didn't.
A gunshot exploded.
Travis stumbled.
I screamed.
“TRAVIS!”
He fell against the wall.
Blood spread across his shirt.
I crawled toward him.
“No…”
He pressed one hand against the wound.
“I'm okay.”
“You've been shot!”
“I've survived worse.”
Elias looked annoyed.
“Take Claire upstairs.”
My mother grabbed my hand.
“Not yet.”
“What?”
She pulled a small object from her pocket.
A key.
She looked at my sister.
“Now.”
My sister nodded.
She ran toward the wall.
Pressed the key into a tiny hole.
A hidden panel opened.
Behind it was a narrow passage.
I stared.
“Where does that go?”
“My mother's old escape route,” my sister said.
I looked at her.
“You mean our mother's?”
She nodded.
“She built it before Elias found her.”
My mother pushed me toward the opening.
“Go.”
“What about Travis?”
He staggered toward us.
“I'm coming.”
Elias shouted:
“STOP THEM!”
The men rushed forward.
My sister slammed the panel shut behind us.
Darkness swallowed us.
We ran.
Well, they ran.
I stumbled.
I could barely walk.
Travis supported me with one arm.
Blood soaked his shirt.
“Can you keep going?”
“I have to.”
Another contraction hit.
I screamed.
Travis looked terrified.
“Claire…”
“I think the baby is coming.”
My mother appeared ahead with a flashlight.
“Keep moving.”
“How far?”
“Not far.”
Behind us came pounding.
Elias had found the passage.
“Faster!”
We reached a metal door.
My mother pulled it open.
Cold night air hit my face.
We emerged behind an abandoned building.
I almost collapsed from relief.
Then headlights appeared.
A black SUV screeched around the corner.
My sister looked at it.
“They followed us.”
Travis raised his gun.
“How many?”
“Three vehicles.”
My mother looked at me.
“Claire, you need somewhere safe.”
I shook my head.
“Where?”
She pointed across the road.
“At the old clinic.”
I stared.
“That place has been abandoned for years.”
“Exactly.”
We ran.
But halfway across the road, I felt something warm.
I looked down.
Blood.
Too much blood.
My mother grabbed me.
“Claire?”
I looked at her.
“I think something is wrong.”
Then I felt the first baby move.
Once.
Twice.
Then stop.
My heart froze.
“Mom…”
She looked at my belly.
Her face turned white.
“The first twin stopped moving.”
Travis stared.
“What does that mean?”
My sister whispered:
“It means Elias was right.”
“What?”
She looked toward the approaching headlights.
“The firstborn was never supposed to survive the delivery.”
A gunshot cracked through the night.
The bullet struck the pavement beside us.
My mother screamed.
“GET INSIDE!”
We ran toward the abandoned clinic.
But before I reached the door, I heard a newborn cry.
Not from inside.
Not from behind me.
From inside my own body.
A tiny, impossible cry.
My sister stopped dead.
“Claire…”
I looked at her.
“What?”
She was staring at my stomach.
“The second baby just opened her eyes.”
I almost laughed through my panic.
“How would you know that?”
My sister whispered:
“Because I can hear her.”
Then every light in the abandoned clinic suddenly turned on.
One by one.
Room after room.
As if someone had been waiting for us.
And from the speakers above our heads came a woman's recorded voice.
My mother's voice.
“If you're hearing this, Claire…”
The doors locked behind us.
“…then Elias has finally found you.”
A pause.
May you like
Then:
“And you have exactly one hour to save your daughter.”
