CHAPTER 13 — THE MEMORY BEHIND THE WALL
Ryan didn't turn around.
He couldn't.
Every instinct screamed that the shadow behind him was wrong.
Too tall.
Too still.
And yet the voice came softly from the darkness.
“Ryan.”
He knew that voice.
Evelyn.
Ryan slowly turned.
His mother stood in the doorway.
Her wrists were no longer tied.
Her face was bruised, her hair disheveled, but her eyes were sharp.
Alive.
Ryan stared at her.
“You escaped.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“No.”
“What?”
“I was released.”
“By whom?”
Evelyn looked toward the corridor.
“By the person who wanted you here.”
Ryan's blood ran cold.
He looked back at Oliver.
His son was sitting on the hospital bed, strangely calm.
“Oliver.”
The boy smiled.
“Daddy.”
Ryan rushed toward him.
Oliver reached for his hand.
Ryan grabbed it.
Warm.
Real.
Alive.
“You're safe.”
Oliver nodded.
“Grandma said you would come.”
Ryan looked at Evelyn.
“What did you tell him?”
“The truth.”
Ryan's jaw tightened.
“You've been lying to me for thirty-five years.”
Evelyn flinched.
“I lied because you asked me to.”
Ryan froze.
“What?”
Evelyn stepped into the room.
“When you were nine, you begged me to make you forget.”
Ryan stared.
“I would never ask that.”
“You did.”
“Why?”
“Because you remembered what happened to Noah.”
Ryan's chest tightened.
“What happened?”
Evelyn looked at Daniel.
He stood behind her.
For once, neither parent seemed willing to speak.
Ryan looked between them.
“Enough.”
His voice echoed through the room.
“I've spent my entire life being told I'm being protected.”
He pointed at the walls.
“This place.”
He pointed at the files.
“These lies.”
He pointed toward Oliver.
“My son.”
Then he looked directly at Evelyn.
“No more secrets.”
Evelyn nodded slowly.
“You deserve the truth.”
She reached into her coat.
Ryan immediately tensed.
She pulled out a small cassette recorder.
Old.
Scratched.
She placed it on the table.
“I recorded this the night everything changed.”
Ryan stared at it.
“What night?”
“Your ninth birthday.”
His stomach tightened.
Evelyn pressed play.
Static filled the room.
Then a child's voice.
Ryan's voice.
Young.
Terrified.
“Mommy?”
Ryan stopped breathing.
The recording continued.
“Where is Noah?”
Evelyn's younger voice answered.
“Ryan, you don't have a brother.”
“Yes, I do.”
“No.”
“I saw him.”
Silence.
Then young Ryan began crying.
“He was in the room.”
Evelyn's voice trembled.
“You imagined it.”
“No!”
The child screamed.
“He was crying!”
Ryan covered his mouth.
He could feel the memory returning.
A white room.
A glass window.
A baby crying.
His father's voice.
A woman screaming.
Noah.
He staggered backward.
Maya's face appeared in his mind.
Not his wife.
A nurse.
Standing behind glass.
Holding a baby.
Ryan gasped.
“Stop.”
Evelyn stopped the recording.
Ryan gripped the table.
“I remember.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“What do you remember?”
Ryan stared at him.
“You.”
Daniel froze.
“You were holding Noah.”
Daniel's face crumbled.
Ryan continued.
“You said he was dangerous.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“And then…”
Ryan's breathing became shallow.
“You gave him to someone.”
Evelyn began crying.
Ryan turned toward her.
“Who?”
She didn't answer.
“Who did you give him to?”
Evelyn whispered:
“The Foundation.”
Ryan's blood ran cold.
“Why?”
“They said they would save him.”
“You knew what they were doing.”
“I didn't.”
“You knew!”
Evelyn broke down.
“I found out later.”
Ryan stared at her.
“And what happened?”
Evelyn looked toward Oliver.
“They didn't save Noah.”
Ryan's voice became quiet.
“What did they do?”
“They used him.”
“For what?”
“Research.”
Ryan looked at Daniel.
“And you?”
Daniel whispered:
“I helped them.”
Ryan's face hardened.
“You killed your own son.”
“No.”
Daniel shook his head.
“I thought I was saving him.”
“You experimented on him.”
“I was trying to understand the mutation.”
“You were trying to control it.”
Daniel didn't answer.
Ryan stepped toward him.
“You destroyed our family.”
Daniel looked at him.
“I destroyed myself long before I destroyed you.”
Ryan's anger didn't disappear.
But something else appeared.
A memory.
A room.
A little boy.
Noah.
Ryan remembered sitting beside him.
He remembered holding his hand.
He remembered Noah whispering:
“Don't let Dad take me.”
Ryan suddenly gasped.
“He asked me to help him.”
Evelyn nodded.
“You tried.”
Ryan looked at her.
“How?”
“You opened the door.”
“What door?”
“The laboratory.”
Ryan's eyes widened.
“You were nine.”
“I remember.”
“You opened the security door.”
“I remember.”
“And you saw Noah.”
Ryan's hands trembled.
“What happened?”
Evelyn's voice broke.
“You saw what they had done to him.”
Ryan looked toward the floor.
He remembered.
Machines.
Needles.
A hospital bed.
Noah crying.
And a symbol.
The same symbol on Oliver's blanket.
Ryan suddenly looked up.
“The symbol.”
Daniel stared.
“What?”
“The symbol on the blanket.”
Evelyn's face went pale.
“You remember it?”
“Yes.”
“What does it mean?”
Daniel shook his head.
“It was the Foundation's original mark.”
Ryan frowned.
“No.”
Daniel looked confused.
“What?”
“It wasn't the Foundation's.”
Ryan closed his eyes.
Another memory surfaced.
A woman.
Claire.
She was standing beside Noah.
She was crying.
She handed Ryan something.
A silver pendant.
Ryan remembered her whispering:
“Keep this safe.”
He opened his eyes.
“Claire gave me the pendant.”
Evelyn nodded.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because she knew they were coming for you.”
Ryan touched his neck.
He wasn't wearing it now.
He looked at Evelyn.
“Where is it?”
She reached into her pocket.
And pulled out the pendant.
Ryan stared.
“You had it?”
“I kept it for you.”
“Why didn't you ever give it to me?”
“Because the pendant contains the key.”
Ryan frowned.
“To what?”
Evelyn looked toward the wall.
“The truth.”
Ryan stepped closer.
“What truth?”
Evelyn walked to the far wall.
She pressed her hand against a small section of stone.
Nothing happened.
Then she pressed the pendant against it.
A hidden mechanism clicked.
A section of the wall opened.
Behind it was a narrow compartment.
Inside was a single file.
Ryan approached.
The cover read:
PROJECT NOAH — FINAL SUBJECT.
He opened it.
The first page contained his photograph.
The second contained Noah's.
The third contained Oliver's.
Ryan's eyes moved downward.
Then stopped.
A sentence had been highlighted in red:
SUBJECTS ARE NOT RELATED BY BLOOD.
Ryan stared.
“What?”
Daniel stepped forward.
Ryan turned the page.
Another sentence.
THEIR GENETIC MATCH EXISTS BECAUSE THEIR IDENTITIES WERE CREATED FROM THE SAME ORIGINAL SUBJECT.
Ryan's breathing stopped.
“What does that mean?”
Evelyn looked at him.
“It means…”
She swallowed.
“Neither you nor Noah were the original child.”
Ryan's face went blank.
“What?”
Daniel whispered:
“There was a first subject.”
Ryan looked at the next page.
A photograph appeared.
A newborn.
A tiny hospital bracelet.
The name:
SUBJECT ZERO.
Ryan stared.
“Who is this?”
Evelyn didn't answer.
Ryan turned the page.
The next photograph showed the same child years later.
A boy.
Then another.
A teenager.
Then an adult.
Ryan's blood froze.
The final photograph showed a man standing beside Maya.
Ryan dropped the file.
Because the man in the photograph...
was Ryan.
But older.
Much older.
With gray hair.
And beside him was Maya.
The date beneath the photograph was only six months ago.
Ryan stared at it.
“That can't be me.”
Daniel whispered:
“It is.”
Ryan shook his head.
“No.”
“You don't remember.”
“I would remember myself.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“You wouldn't.”
“Why?”
Daniel's eyes filled with tears.
“Because that photograph was taken before you were born.”
Ryan felt the room spin.
Before he could speak, Oliver suddenly pointed toward the photograph.
“Daddy.”
Ryan turned.
Oliver's expression had changed.
He was no longer smiling.
He looked terrified.
“That's the man.”
Ryan crouched beside him.
“What man?”
“The man who came to my room.”
Ryan's heart stopped.
“What did he look like?”
Oliver pointed at the photograph.
Ryan slowly turned.
Oliver whispered:
“Like you.”
A loud metallic crash came from the corridor.
Everyone froze.
Then the lights went out.
A voice came through the darkness.
“Ryan.”
Ryan recognized it immediately.
His own voice.
Older.
Colder.
May you like
Coming from somewhere beyond the door.
“It's time to remember.”
