Chapter 11 - The Dead ManEthan couldn't move.
His father had been dead for fifteen years.
Yet there he was.
Alive.
Older.
Attached to machines.
Victor Hale spoke calmly.
“Your father never died.”
Ethan shook his head.
“No.”
“He tried to expose me.”
Hale laughed.
“So I made him disappear.”
Eleanor pressed both hands against the glass.
“Ethan, don't listen to him.”
“Is that really my father?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because every person who knew the truth disappeared.”
Ethan stared at the old man inside the chamber.
His father raised his head.
Their eyes met.
For several seconds neither moved.
Then his father whispered through the microphone:
“Son.”
Ethan's chest tightened.
“Dad?”
“I’m sorry.”
The words were barely audible.
Ethan stepped closer.
“What happened to you?”
His father closed his eyes.
“I trusted the wrong man.”
Hale’s voice interrupted.
“You trusted your father.”
Ethan turned.
Hale appeared on a monitor.
“You think I'm the villain because I continued his research.”
“You killed people.”
“I preserved them.”
“You poisoned me.”
“I protected you from your own inheritance.”
“By destroying my memory?”
Hale smiled.
“You inherited something dangerous.”
“What?”
“Your father's neurological resistance.”
Ethan frowned.
Hale continued.
“Somnus doesn't affect you the way it affects normal people.”
“Then why am I sick?”
“Because we never had enough time to calibrate the dosage.”
Ethan suddenly understood.
They had been experimenting on him.
“For fifteen years?”
“For decades.”
He looked at his father.
“You knew?”
His father nodded weakly.
“I tried to stop them.”
“But you failed.”
“Yes.”
Eleanor began crying.
“I failed too.”
Claire suddenly stepped forward.
“Hale.”
He looked at her.
“Why are you here?”
Claire’s voice was steady.
“You promised to protect Ethan.”
“I did.”
“You lied.”
Hale smiled.
“You're beginning to understand.”
Claire pulled something from her pocket.
A gun.
She aimed it at Hale’s camera.
“You killed Grace.”
Hale's smile disappeared.
Claire's hand shook.
“You told me she'd escape.”
“You were never part of the inner circle.”
“I know.”
Claire's eyes filled with tears.
“And neither was I.”
Daniel looked at her.
“What do you mean?”
Claire turned.
“Grace wasn't killed.”
Ethan stared.
“I know.”
“No.”
Claire shook her head.
“You don't.”
She looked toward the second chamber.
“There is another patient.”
Hale's voice became angry.
“Claire.”
She smiled bitterly.
“Tell him.”
Silence.
Then Hale said:
“You're making a mistake.”
Claire stepped closer to Ethan.
“Your father isn't the man they've been hiding for fifteen years.”
Ethan frowned.
“What?”
Claire pointed toward the opposite side of the room.
“Look behind the glass.”
A hidden curtain moved.
Another chamber was revealed.
Someone was standing there.
A woman.
Dark hair.
Pale face.
Eyes filled with tears.
Ethan forgot how to breathe.
“Grace?”
She placed her hand against the glass.
And whispered:
May you like
“Run.”
The entire facility exploded into darkness.
