Chapter 10: Subject Zero
The first thing I felt was the cold.
Not the kind of cold from an air conditioner.
Not the cold of a hospital room.
This was different.
The air was heavy.
Still.
Like this place had been buried underground and forgotten by time.
I opened my eyes slowly.
A single light hung above me.
It flickered weakly.
The ceiling was made of concrete.
The walls were gray.
No windows.
No signs.
No way out.
For several seconds, I didn’t move.
I tried to understand where I was.
The last thing I remembered was collapsing in Room 214.
The voice in my head.
The third consciousness.
The words:
“I was tired of pretending to be you.”
Then darkness.
Now I was here.
Somewhere beneath the hospital.
I pushed myself up.
My head was pounding.
“Hello?”
My voice echoed.
No answer.
I looked around.
There was only one object in the room.
A screen.
The same screen showing the old CCTV footage.
Thirty years ago.
Room 214.
Three children.
Elizabeth.
Me.
And the third child.
The one who looked exactly like me.
The one labeled:
SUBJECT ZERO.
I stepped closer.
The video continued.
The quality was terrible.
Black and white.
Old security footage.
But the image was clear enough.
Three children were lying on hospital beds.
Three heart monitors.
Three heartbeats.
One doctor stood beside them.
A younger Thomas Reed.
Another person stood behind the glass.
A woman.
I couldn’t see her face.
The doctor spoke.
“Begin synchronization.”
A voice responded.
“Subjects one and two are stable.”
A pause.
“What about zero?”
Thomas looked at the third bed.
“Zero is the original.”
My heart stopped.
Original.
The word echoed.
The video continued.
A child opened his eyes.
Subject Zero.
He looked directly at the camera.
Then he smiled.
Not like a child.
Like someone who understood everything.
Thomas stepped closer.
“Can you hear me?”
The child nodded.
“What is your name?”
The child answered.
My voice.
“My name is…”
The video distorted.
The sound disappeared.
Then returned.
The child finished:
“Whatever you want me to be.”
I stepped backward.
A horrible feeling spread through me.
The child wasn’t confused.
He wasn’t scared.
He knew.
The screen changed.
A medical report appeared.
PROJECT 214
SUBJECT ZERO
Age: 8
Status: ORIGINAL HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS
Purpose:
Template Creation
I stared.
Template.
Not patient.
Not experiment.
Template.
A door suddenly opened behind me.
I turned.
Nobody was there.
Only a hallway.
A long underground hallway.
At the end was a red light.
I didn’t know why.
But I knew I had to follow it.
Every instinct told me not to.
But staying felt worse.
I walked.
The hallway walls were covered with old files.
Patient records.
Photos.
Names.
Hundreds.
All connected to Project 214.
Then I saw something that made me stop.
A photograph.
Three children.
Elizabeth.
Me.
And Subject Zero.
But the date was different.
Not twenty years ago.
Thirty years ago.
I looked closer.
The child in the middle was Subject Zero.
The same face.
The same eyes.
But the name written underneath was:
DANIEL CARTER JR.
I froze.
Daniel.
The administrator.
The man who had been hiding everything.
The man who claimed his daughter was Elizabeth.
The man who had watched the experiment.
The child in the photo was him.
Young Daniel Carter.
Subject Zero.
My hands began shaking.
“No…”
A voice came from behind me.
“You finally found it.”
I turned.
Thomas Reed stood there.
Older.
Tired.
But alive.
I backed away.
“You knew.”
Thomas looked at the photograph.
“Yes.”
“You knew Daniel was Subject Zero.”
Thomas nodded.
“Everyone who worked on Project 214 knew.”
My anger grew.
“Then why didn’t you tell me?”
Thomas looked at me.
“Because you weren’t ready.”
I laughed.
“Ready?”
I pointed at the files.
“My entire life is a lie.”
Thomas didn’t argue.
“You were created from his memories.”
I froze.
“What?”
Thomas continued.
“Subject Zero was the first successful consciousness transfer.”
“Daniel?”
Thomas nodded.
“The original Daniel Carter.”
I stared.
“Then who is the Daniel upstairs?”
Thomas’s expression became darker.
“Something created from him.”
A cold silence.
“A copy.”
The pieces started connecting.
Daniel wasn’t the person who controlled Project 214.
He was the first victim.
Or the first experiment.
“What happened to the real Daniel?”
Thomas looked toward the screen.
“He realized what they had done.”
“Then?”
“He tried to destroy the project.”
I frowned.
“But he became the administrator.”
Thomas shook his head.
“No.”
He looked at me.
“The administrator became obsessed with becoming him.”
My stomach tightened.
“Who?”
Thomas didn’t answer.
The lights above us flickered.
Then the underground speakers turned on.
A woman’s voice filled the hallway.
“Thomas.”
The old doctor froze.
I recognized the voice.
The same voice from the security announcement.
The hospital board.
The woman continued:
“You brought him to the archive.”
Thomas looked around.
“I didn’t.”
A pause.
Then:
“You did.”
Everyone went silent.
Thomas looked confused.
The woman laughed softly.
“He followed you.”
I felt a chill.
Because I understood.
The woman wasn’t talking about Thomas.
She was talking about me.
The voice continued:
“Subject One has reached the original records.”
A pause.
“Begin recovery.”
Suddenly, every screen in the hallway turned on.
Thousands of files appeared.
My name.
Elizabeth’s name.
Daniel’s name.
Then one final file.
A file that had been hidden.
The title:
SUBJECT ZERO: MEMORY RESTORATION
The screen opened.
A video played.
A young Daniel Carter sat in a chair.
Alive.
Healthy.
Speaking to the camera.
“If you are watching this…”
He looked directly into the lens.
“…then I failed.”
My breathing stopped.
The recording continued.
“I created Subject One and Subject Two because I wanted to save my daughter.”
Young Daniel smiled sadly.
“But I discovered something.”
He leaned closer.
“Death was never the enemy.”
A pause.
“Identity was.”
The video showed Elizabeth.
Then me.
Then another child.
Subject Zero.
Young Daniel whispered:
“The biggest mistake was believing the original was the strongest.”
The video glitched.
Then one final message appeared.
SUBJECT ZERO IS NOT DANIEL CARTER.
I froze.
The screen changed.
A new line appeared.
SUBJECT ZERO IS YOU.
My blood went cold.
Thomas looked at me.
“No…”
The underground room shook.
The woman’s voice returned.
“Welcome back.”
A pause.
“We have been waiting thirty years.”
The screen showed a live camera feed.
Room 214.
The room was empty.
Except for one person.
Standing in the middle.
Waiting.
It was me.
But younger.
Eight years old.
The original version.
The child from the experiment.
He looked into the camera.
And whispered:
May you like
“Come home.”
End of Chapter 10
