Chapter 13 - The GrandfatherRichard stopped smiling.
Lucas stood perfectly still.
His eyes looked different.
Older.
Too aware.
“You don't know what you're saying.”
Lucas tilted his head.
“I remember.”
Richard raised his weapon.
Evan stepped between them.
“No.”
Richard laughed nervously.
“You have no idea what he's becoming.”
“I know he's my son.”
Richard's voice hardened.
“He is not your son anymore.”
Evan's fist connected with his face.
Richard crashed into the wall.
Mara stared at Lucas.
“Lucas?”
The boy blinked.
The strange expression disappeared.
“Mom?”
Mara grabbed him.
He began crying.
“I don't know what happened.”
Evan looked at Richard.
“You're done.”
Richard wiped blood from his mouth.
“No.”
He pressed something inside his coat.
A siren sounded outside.
Multiple vehicles.
Helix had arrived.
Richard smiled.
“You think I'm the villain.”
He stepped backward.
“You haven't met the real one.”
The door opened.
A woman entered.
Evan froze.
His mother.
Older.
Elegant.
Cold.
Alive.
Lucas whispered:
“Grandmother.”
The woman smiled.
“Hello, Lucas.”
Mara stepped forward.
“You killed him.”
“I corrected him.”
“You killed your husband.”
“He betrayed the work.”
Evan stared at her.
“Why did you create me?”
She looked at him with unsettling tenderness.
“Because I loved you.”
“You experimented on me.”
“I was trying to preserve you.”
“You erased my childhood.”
“I removed the suffering.”
“You stole my life.”
She looked at Mara.
“She made you emotional.”
Mara slapped her.
The room fell silent.
The older woman touched her cheek.
Then smiled.
“You haven't changed.”
Evan aimed the gun.
“Where is Subject Zero?”
His mother answered:
“Dead.”
Evan's face tightened.
“You're lying.”
“No.”
She looked at Lucas.
“He served his purpose.”
Lucas suddenly screamed.
He dropped to his knees.
Evan rushed to him.
Images flooded Lucas's mind.
A laboratory.
A lake.
Two newborn boys.
A woman screaming.
Then a different memory.
A man carrying a baby.
Evan.
Except the man was not Richard.
It was Evan's father.
And he was crying.
He handed the baby to Mara.
“Take him.”
The memory shifted.
Mara leaving with the child.
Behind them, the laboratory burned.
Then Lucas saw something else.
A third child.
A little girl.
Nina.
She was standing inside the flames.
Lucas screamed:
“Nina!”
Everyone froze.
Nina's face changed.
“How did you know?”
Lucas looked at her.
“You were there.”
Nina whispered:
“Where?”
Lucas answered:
“The beginning.”
Voss suddenly understood.
“She isn't just another subject.”
“What is she?” Evan asked.
Voss stared at Nina.
“The first successful transfer.”
Mara went pale.
“Whose mind?”
Nina smiled.
A voice came from her.
Not her voice.
An old man's voice.
“Mine.”
Evan stumbled backward.
His father's voice.
Inside Nina.
The older woman looked shocked.
“That isn't possible.”
Nina looked directly at Evan.
“It is.”
She smiled.
May you like
“Your father survived.”
The lights went out.
