Chapter 15 - The Blue CupThe gunshot echoed through the laboratory.
Ethan felt something slam into him.
He fell.
For one terrifying second, there was nothing.
No sound.
No pain.
Then he heard crying.
“Mr. Ethan!”
Ellie.
His eyes opened.
She was standing beside him.
Her tiny hand was holding his.
“Wake up.”
Ethan blinked.
He looked down.
There was blood on his shirt.
But it wasn't his.
Daniel stood in front of him.
A bullet had struck Daniel's shoulder.
Pierce was gone.
Grace was helping Daniel stay upright.
“Where's Pierce?”
“Escaped.”
Ethan stood.
“Then we follow him.”
Grace shook her head.
“No.”
She pointed at the glass tank.
“Look.”
The lights on the tank were changing.
The body inside began to move.
Ethan stepped closer.
The man opened his eyes.
Victor Hale.
Or the memory of Victor Hale.
His mouth moved.
“Ethan.”
Ethan stepped back.
The voice came through the speaker.
“You've misunderstood.”
“What?”
“I didn't build Somnus to control the world.”
“Then why?”
Hale's expression became strangely sad.
“To stop death.”
Ethan stared.
Hale continued.
“Your father discovered that memory is not only stored in the brain.”
“It can be copied.”
“It can be transferred.”
“The body is only the container.”
Grace whispered,
“No.”
Hale looked at Ethan.
“Your blood makes the transfer stable.”
Ethan understood.
He wasn't the cure.
He was the key.
Pierce needed Ethan to make memory transfer permanent.
Suddenly the entire facility shook.
The ceiling cracked.
Daniel looked up.
“The reactor.”
Grace grabbed Ethan.
“We have to go.”
They ran.
Behind them, alarms screamed.
Ethan stopped.
“Claire.”
Grace looked at him.
“We need to find her.”
They reached the upper facility.
Claire was lying on a medical table.
Alive.
Barely conscious.
Ethan rushed to her.
Her eyes opened.
“You came back.”
“I said I wouldn't leave you.”
She smiled weakly.
“I knew you would.”
Ethan noticed the blue cup sitting beside the bed.
The same cup.
The cup that had started everything.
Claire saw him looking at it.
“Ellie saved you.”
Ethan nodded.
“She saved all of us.”
Ellie stood nearby.
She held a tiny watercolor painting.
A blue cup.
A yellow sun.
And four stick figures.
Ethan smiled.
Then Ellie looked at Grace.
“Are you the pretty lady in the picture?”
Grace crouched.
“Yes.”
Ellie studied her.
Then smiled.
“My mama said you were sleeping.”
Grace's expression changed.
“What?”
Maria walked into the room.
She was pale but alive.
“I never said that.”
Ellie frowned.
“Yes, you did.”
Ethan looked at Maria.
“Where did you hear that?”
Ellie pointed at Grace.
“From her.”
Everyone froze.
Grace's face went white.
“I've never met Ellie before tonight.”
Ethan slowly turned toward Maria.
Maria looked terrified.
“I don't understand.”
Ellie pointed at Grace again.
“You were in Mama's old picture.”
Grace took a step backward.
“What picture?”
Maria looked at her daughter.
Then at Ethan.
Finally she whispered:
“The one Daniel kept.”
Ethan's blood went cold.
“Daniel?”
Maria nodded.
“My husband had a photograph of Grace.”
Grace stared at her.
“How?”
Maria reached into her coat.
She pulled out an old photograph.
Ethan took it.
It showed Grace.
Daniel.
Maria.
And Ellie.
But Ellie had been an infant.
The date on the back was one year before Grace's supposed death.
Ethan looked at Grace.
“You knew Daniel before he died.”
Grace's eyes filled with tears.
“Yes.”
“You knew Maria.”
“Yes.”
“You knew Ellie.”
Grace nodded.
Ethan's mind raced.
“What were you all doing together?”
Grace looked at him.
“Building an escape.”
“From Hale?”
“No.”
She swallowed.
“From your father.”
Ethan stared.
“But my father was imprisoned.”
Grace shook her head.
“That man in the chamber wasn't your father.”
Silence.
“What?”
Grace took his hand.
“I discovered the truth two years ago.”
“The man in the tank…”
“Was a memory replica.”
Ethan felt numb.
“Then where is my father?”
Grace looked toward the burning facility.
“He's dead.”
“And Hale?”
“Dead.”
“And Pierce?”
Grace's eyes hardened.
“He escaped.”
Ethan looked at the blue cup.
The object that had nearly killed him.
The object that had revealed everything.
Then Maria suddenly gasped.
“Ellie?”
The little girl was staring at the cup.
Her face had become serious again.
“Don't drink that one.”
Ethan slowly looked at it.
“Why?”
Ellie shook her head.
“Because this time…”
She pointed toward the door.
“…it's not sleepy medicine.”
Everyone turned.
A man stood in the doorway.
Dr. Leonard Pierce.
Alive.
Smiling.
Holding another blue cup.
He raised it.
And said:
“Good girl.”
Ethan stepped in front of everyone.
Pierce smiled.
“You finally remembered.”
The lights went out.
And somewhere in the darkness, a child's voice whispered:
May you like
“Mr. Ethan… we have to run.”
END OF PART ONE
