Chapter 8: One Hour
The doors locked with a heavy metallic click.
I spun around.
“Mom?”
She was already staring at the ceiling speakers.
The recording continued.
My mother's voice filled the abandoned clinic.
“If you're hearing this, Claire, then Elias has finally found you.”
Static crackled.
“You have exactly one hour to save your daughter.”
The recording stopped.
Nobody spoke.
Then Travis whispered:
“Why one hour?”
My mother looked at the clock on the wall.
The second hand moved.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
“Because that's how long we have.”
I stared at her.
“Until what?”
She didn't answer.
“Mom.”
She finally looked at me.
“Until your second baby's genetic sequence activates completely.”
My blood ran cold.
“What happens then?”
“She'll become detectable.”
“To Elias?”
“To everyone.”
My sister stepped closer.
“How?”
“Every compatible blood marker within several miles will react.”
I frowned.
“That sounds impossible.”
My mother shook her head.
“I wish it were.”
Another contraction hit.
I grabbed the nearest table.
“Please…”
Travis caught me.
“Breathe.”
“I can't.”
“You can.”
My mother looked toward the corridor.
“We need the delivery room.”
I stared at her.
“I'm not giving birth here.”
“You don't have a choice.”
“I need a real hospital.”
“If you go to a normal hospital, Elias will know within minutes.”
“But I need doctors.”
My sister pointed toward the hallway.
“There are doctors here.”
I looked at her.
“What?”
She opened a door.
Behind it was a fully equipped medical room.
Operating table.
Monitors.
IV equipment.
Oxygen.
Everything.
It looked like a hospital room that had been abandoned in the middle of an emergency.
I stared.
“How is this here?”
My mother answered quietly.
“Your mother built it.”
I looked at her.
“You built this?”
“Yes.”
“For what?”
Her eyes lowered.
“For the day I had to deliver you.”
I stepped inside.
The walls were covered with old medical records.
Names.
Dates.
Photographs.
Women.
Hundreds of them.
My stomach turned.
“This is where they experimented on them.”
My mother nodded.
“This was the original facility.”
Travis looked around.
“Then why abandon it?”
“Because your mother destroyed the program.”
I turned.
“How?”
“She erased their data.”
My sister shook her head.
“Not all of it.”
My mother looked at her.
“No.”
My sister touched her chest.
“Some of it was inside me.”
Silence.
Then she looked at my belly.
“And now some of it is inside her.”
I swallowed.
“Inside my daughter.”
“Yes.”
A sudden scream came from the hallway.
We all froze.
My mother grabbed a flashlight.
“Who was that?”
Travis reached for his gun.
“Stay here.”
He stepped outside.
I heard him moving down the corridor.
Then silence.
“Travis?”
Nothing.
“Travis!”
My sister grabbed my arm.
“Don't go.”
I pulled away.
“He's out there.”
“He knows how to handle himself.”
“He's been shot.”
She looked at me.
“He'll come back.”
Another contraction hit.
I screamed.
My mother rushed toward me.
“Claire, lie down.”
“I can't.”
“You have to.”
She helped me onto the table.
My sister checked the monitor.
The screen flickered.
Two heartbeats appeared.
Fast.
Then one slowed.
I stared at it.
“Which one?”
“The first.”
My heart sank.
“Is she dying?”
“No.”
My sister frowned.
“She isn't.”
“What do you mean?”
“The heartbeat is changing.”
The monitor began to beep irregularly.
My mother stared.
“That's impossible.”
“What?”
“The first twin is responding to the second.”
“How?”
“I don't know.”
The second heartbeat suddenly matched the first.
Beat.
Beat.
Beat.
Perfectly synchronized.
Then the lights flickered.
My sister stepped backward.
“She can hear her.”
“Who?”
“The other twin.”
I touched my belly.
“Can you hear me?”
The monitor changed.
One heartbeat accelerated.
Then the other.
My mother started crying.
“She's responding to you.”
I smiled through tears.
“Baby…”
The lights went out.
Complete darkness.
Then a voice came through the speakers.
Not my mother's.
Elias.
“Claire.”
I froze.
“How did he get in?”
His voice was calm.
“You should have stayed home.”
My mother shouted:
“You'll never take her!”
Elias laughed.
“You still don't understand.”
“What?”
“I'm not trying to take the baby.”
My sister whispered:
“He's lying.”
Elias continued.
“I want Claire.”
My blood ran cold.
“What?”
“You've spent your entire life believing you were the victim.”
I stared at the speaker.
“You are.”
“No.”
His voice hardened.
“You are the key.”
My mother shouted:
“Don't listen to him!”
Elias ignored her.
“Your mother's research wasn't about creating children.”
I swallowed.
“Then what was it about?”
“Transferring memory.”
I felt dizzy.
“You said the twins carry the memories.”
“They do.”
“Then why do you need me?”
“Because you're the original.”
Silence.
My mother covered her face.
I stared at her.
“What does he mean?”
She didn't answer.
“Mom?”
Still nothing.
Elias continued.
“Your mother discovered that memories could be passed between generations.”
My sister stepped closer.
“She didn't just discover it.”
Elias laughed.
“She perfected it.”
My mother whispered:
“I had no choice.”
“You always had a choice.”
He paused.
“Claire, ask your mother why she erased your memories.”
I looked at her.
“Mom?”
She began crying.
“I wanted to protect you.”
“From what?”
“From yourself.”
My heart pounded.
“What did I do?”
“You remembered too much.”
I shook my head.
“I was six.”
“You were different.”
“How?”
My mother stared at me.
“You could remember things that hadn't happened yet.”
The room went silent.
I laughed nervously.
“That isn't possible.”
“It was.”
“Then why don't I remember?”
“Because I erased them.”
I felt the blood drain from my face.
“You erased my memories?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because you saw what Elias was going to do.”
I stared at the speaker.
“What was he going to do?”
Elias answered.
“Ask her.”
I looked at my mother.
She whispered:
“He was going to kill your sister.”
My sister looked away.
“And you stopped him.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
My mother touched my belly.
“By hiding the evidence inside you.”
I stared.
“What evidence?”
“The memory.”
My stomach tightened.
“What memory?”
My mother looked directly into my eyes.
“The memory of who murdered your father.”
I stopped breathing.
“My father?”
Elias suddenly spoke.
“Claire…”
His voice was different now.
Almost gentle.
“Your father wasn't killed by a stranger.”
I felt my chest tighten.
“Who killed him?”
Silence.
Then Elias said:
“Your mother.”
My mother screamed.
“That's a lie!”
The monitors began beeping violently.
Both babies started moving.
The lights flickered.
My vision blurred.
And suddenly I saw it.
A red door.
A man on the floor.
My father.
My mother standing over him.
Blood on her hands.
A gun.
Then my mother looked directly at the little girl watching from the doorway.
Me.
She whispered:
“I'm sorry.”
The vision vanished.
I screamed.
My mother collapsed to her knees.
“Claire…”
I stared at her.
“You killed him.”
She shook her head.
“I didn't.”
“I saw you.”
“You saw what they wanted you to see.”
“Then what really happened?”
She looked toward my sister.
My sister nodded.
My mother whispered:
“Your father was already dead when I found him.”
“Then who killed him?”
She looked at the speaker.
“Elias.”
The lights suddenly came back on.
A red emergency light began flashing.
Then every door in the clinic unlocked at once.
My sister looked toward the corridor.
“He's inside.”
Travis stumbled into the room.
Blood covered his shirt.
“Claire…”
He looked behind him.
“They're here.”
My mother grabbed my hand.
“How many?”
Travis looked at her.
“All of them.”
Then the clinic doors burst open.
Men flooded the hallway.
Elias walked behind them.
But he wasn't holding a gun.
He was holding a newborn-sized metal case.
He looked directly at my stomach.
And smiled.
“Time's up.”
The first baby kicked.
May you like
The second answered.
And then my water broke.
