CHAPTER 14: THE LAST TEST
The timer began counting down.
47:59:59
Forty-eight hours.
Not enough time.
Not enough people.
Not enough answers.
Daniel stared at the numbers glowing on the monitor.
He had spent his entire life chasing one question:
Who took my sister?
Now he had the answer.
And somehow...
It was only the beginning.
"Phase Four."
Emily whispered the words.
Her face had lost all color.
"What is it?"
Daniel looked at her.
She didn't answer immediately.
That frightened him.
Because Emily had faced things no child should ever see.
She had walked through the worst parts of the world and survived.
But this...
This scared her.
"Emily."
She swallowed.
"Phase Four wasn't about the children."
Daniel frowned.
"Then who?"
Her eyes moved toward him.
"You."
The chamber doors suddenly opened.
The tactical agents outside lowered their weapons.
Confusion spread across their faces.
They weren't attacking.
They were waiting.
Then Evelyn Ross walked in.
No armor.
No weapon.
Just a dark suit and a calm expression.
She looked exactly like someone walking into a business meeting.
Not a crime scene.
Not a nightmare.
"Daniel Carter."
She looked around the room.
"You finally made it here."
Daniel stared.
"Three thousand children."
"How many more?"
Ross didn't blink.
"You misunderstand."
"Do I?"
"Yes."
She stepped closer.
"You still think this is about harming children."
"Isn't it?"
"No."
Ross looked at Lily.
"It is about saving them."
Daniel almost laughed.
"Saving them?"
"You manipulated them."
"You erased their identities."
"You destroyed families."
Ross nodded.
"Yes."
The calm acceptance disturbed him more than denial.
"But every medical breakthrough in history came from uncomfortable places."
Daniel's expression hardened.
"Children are not experiments."
"No."
Ross looked at him.
"They are possibilities."
Mercer stepped forward.
"You don't understand what she is doing."
Ross glanced at him.
"You've always been too emotional."
A faint smile.
"That was your weakness."
Daniel noticed something.
Mercer hated her.
Not feared.
Hated.
"You two aren't partners."
Ross looked at him.
"No."
"We never were."
"Then why?"
Ross looked at the ceiling.
"Because Mercer wanted to understand children."
"I wanted to understand humanity."
A screen activated.
Thousands of names appeared.
Not subjects.
People.
Doctors.
Officials.
Researchers.
Politicians.
Military leaders.
Daniel scanned the list.
His eyes widened.
"You recruited everyone."
Ross nodded.
"The world is full of people who want stronger soldiers."
"Smarter leaders."
"People who don't break under pressure."
Daniel stared.
"And you created them."
"No."
Ross smiled.
"We discovered how."
Lily stepped forward.
Her voice was small.
"But you hurt people."
Everyone looked at her.
Ross studied the child.
"You are Subject Seven."
Lily's face changed.
"No."
Ross tilted her head.
"That reaction."
"Interesting."
Lily stepped back.
"I have a name."
Ross smiled.
"Exactly."
A pause.
"You are the first one who rejected the number completely."
Daniel noticed something.
Ross wasn't angry.
She was fascinated.
Like Lily was not a child.
Like she was data.
Daniel moved between them.
"She is not your experiment."
Ross looked at him.
"Neither are you."
That stopped him.
"What?"
Ross walked toward the main console.
A file opened.
Not Lily.
Not Emily.
Daniel.
CONTROL GROUP SUBJECT: DANIEL CARTER
"Your entire life was the comparison."
Daniel stared.
"No."
"Yes."
"You were placed into normal society."
"You were given a family."
"Education."
"Love."
"Pain."
"Loss."
Ross looked at him.
"And then we watched."
Daniel's voice became quiet.
"Watched what?"
"Whether a person raised with love could become stronger than someone raised with fear."
The room became silent.
Daniel looked at Emily.
She looked away.
Because she knew.
"You knew this?"
She whispered:
"Only part of it."
"What part?"
Emily's eyes filled.
"That you were the proof they needed."
Ross continued.
"Your career."
"Your choices."
"Your obsession with protecting children."
"Everything was evidence."
Daniel shook his head.
"No."
"You weren't studying me."
"You were trying to control me."
Ross smiled.
"Exactly."
A notification appeared.
PHASE FOUR: SUBJECT RESPONSE REQUIRED
Ross looked at Daniel.
"This is the final evaluation."
"Of what?"
"Choice."
Daniel stared.
"You already know what I'll choose."
"No."
Ross shook her head.
"That's the point."
She pointed toward three doors.
The first:
CHILDREN
The second:
MEMORY RESTORATION
The third:
TRUTH
Daniel frowned.
"What happens if I choose?"
Ross answered:
"Only one door opens."
Emily stepped forward.
"That's impossible."
Ross smiled.
"Everything has a cost."
Daniel looked at the doors.
Children.
His instinct.
Save them.
Memory.
The truth about his life.
Truth.
The answer to everything.
But he knew this game.
Mercer had played it.
Ross had played it.
They wanted him to choose.
They wanted him to prove their theory.
That people always sacrifice something.
Daniel turned away.
Ross frowned.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm not choosing."
"You must."
"No."
Daniel walked toward the center console.
"The entire experiment is based on one assumption."
Ross watched.
"Which is?"
"That people only act when forced."
He placed his hand on the console.
"But you forgot something."
"What?"
Daniel looked at Lily.
At Emily.
At Mercer.
"People can refuse."
He slammed his hand onto the emergency override.
The system screamed.
Warning messages appeared.
UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS
FAILURE
FAILURE
Ross's expression changed.
For the first time...
She looked afraid.
"What did you do?"
Daniel smiled slightly.
"I stopped playing."
The facility shook.
Doors opened.
Every screen changed.
The three thousand children appeared.
One by one.
Their rooms unlocked.
Their restraints released.
Their cameras turned off.
The experiment collapsed.
Ross stared in disbelief.
"You can't."
"I just did."
"You don't understand what you've done."
Daniel looked at her.
"No."
"I understand perfectly."
Then...
Every screen went black.
A final message appeared.
Not from Ross.
Not from Mercer.
From Anna.
CONGRATULATIONS, SUBJECT ZERO.
Daniel froze.
Another line appeared.
YOU PASSED THE TEST.
Emily looked confused.
"Passed?"
The final message appeared.
BUT YOU FAILED TO NOTICE ONE THING.
The lights suddenly went out.
Complete darkness.
Then...
A child's voice came from the speakers.
A voice Daniel recognized.
Anna.
But younger.
Much younger.
"Daniel..."
A pause.
"Do you remember who saved you?"
Daniel looked around.
His heart began racing.
Because he knew that voice.
It wasn't from the past.
It was from now.
Anna wasn't recording.
She was somewhere inside the facility.
The speakers crackled again.
"Because I wasn't the one who escaped."
Silence.
Then:
"You were."
The emergency lights returned.
The room was empty.
Mercer was gone.
Ross was gone.
Anna was gone.
Only one thing remained on the floor.
A photograph.
Daniel picked it up.
It showed him.
Emily.
Lily.
And Anna.
But behind them...
Standing in the shadows...
Was another person.
Someone Daniel recognized instantly.
His own face.
Older.
Scarred.
Watching them.
On the back of the photo were four words:
May you like
THE REAL SUBJECT ZERO.
END OF CHAPTER 14
