Chapter 12 - THE ESCAPEThe underground chamber became a battlefield.

People ran in every direction.

Gunfire shattered the lights.

Pavel dragged Ovidiu behind a concrete pillar.

Lidia searched for Stefan.

He was gone.

"Where is he?"

Ovidiu pointed toward a tunnel.

"There!"

Pavel followed.

They ran through corridors lit only by emergency lights.

Behind them came screaming.

Ahead stood a steel elevator.

The doors opened.

Stefan stepped inside.

Lidia reached him.

"Come with me."

He looked at her.

"You lied to me."

"I did."

"You let them take me."

"I saved you."

"You destroyed my life."

Tears filled her eyes.

"I know."

The elevator doors began closing.

Pavel jumped inside.

Ovidiu followed.

But something grabbed Lidia from behind.

She screamed.

Stefan lunged forward.

The doors closed between them.

"LIDIA!"

The elevator descended.

Ovidiu punched the emergency button.

Nothing happened.

Stefan stood motionless.

Then the elevator stopped.

The lights flickered.

A speaker crackled.

"Subject One has escaped."

Stefan looked up.

A voice continued.

"Initiate retrieval."

He looked at Pavel.

"What is Subject One?"

Pavel slowly realized.

"It's you."

The doors opened.

They found themselves in a hospital.

A normal hospital.

Bright lights.

Doctors.

Nurses.

Patients.

Nobody reacted to them.

Stefan stepped into the corridor.

A nurse smiled.

"Mr. Stefan, you're awake."

He froze.

"Where are we?"

"Saint Raphael Hospital."

Pavel checked the date.

It was impossible.

The date was eleven years earlier.

Ovidiu whispered:

"No..."

Everything outside the facility had been manipulated.

They had not escaped into the present.

They had escaped into a recorded memory.

The nurse walked away.

Then turned.

Her face changed.

The skin seemed to ripple.

And Adrian Voss appeared.

"Welcome back."

Stefan staggered.

"This isn't real."

Adrian smiled.

"Real enough."

Pavel fired.

The bullet passed through Adrian.

The corridor disappeared.

They fell into darkness.

Then a voice echoed around them.

Lidia.

"Stefan, listen to me."

A pause.

"There is only one way out."

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