CHAPTER 15: THE LAST CHILD
“Home.”
The baby's voice was barely louder than a whisper.
But everyone heard it.
Claire stepped backward.
Adrian stared at the newborn.
My father raised his weapon.
Even the police officer froze.
I couldn't move.
The baby looked at me with those impossible black eyes.
Then she reached one tiny hand toward my face.
“Mommy.”
I swallowed.
“Who are you?”
She smiled.
“Home.”
“That isn't an answer.”
She blinked.
Then the blackness in her eyes disappeared.
They became brown again.
The baby began crying.
Just a newborn.
Just a baby.
I looked at Adrian.
“Did you hear her?”
He nodded.
“Yes.”
“What does it mean?”
He shook his head.
“I don't know.”
Evelyn stepped forward.
“I do.”
Everyone turned.
She stared at the baby.
“She isn't speaking.”
“What?”
“She's repeating a command.”
My stomach tightened.
“Whose command?”
Evelyn looked toward the dark hospital windows.
“Subject 00.”
I felt a chill.
“She can control her?”
“Not exactly.”
“Then what?”
“She can communicate with her.”
I stared at the baby.
“How?”
“Genetic memory.”
I was beginning to hate that phrase.
“So the baby is connected to her.”
“Yes.”
“Then why does she want me to go home?”
Evelyn looked at me.
“Because the final facility is there.”
My blood froze.
“My house?”
“Yes.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
Evelyn nodded.
“Your grandfather built the first laboratory beneath the Whitmore estate.”
“But my house isn't the Whitmore estate.”
“Not anymore.”
I stared at her.
“What does that mean?”
She took a breath.
“Your house was built on top of the original facility.”
I couldn't believe it.
“You're lying.”
“I wish I were.”
Adrian looked at me.
“That explains the basement.”
I remembered.
The strange locked door.
The concrete wall.
The noises I had heard at night.
The old electrical panel that never seemed connected to anything.
I had always thought the house was simply old.
It wasn't.
It was hiding something.
My entire life had been built on top of a laboratory.
I looked at the police officer.
“Can you evacuate my neighborhood?”
He hesitated.
“Why?”
“Because there may be people underground.”
He immediately gave instructions to his team.
I turned toward Adrian.
“We go now.”
He nodded.
But before we could leave, Evelyn grabbed my arm.
“Emma.”
I looked at her.
“If you go there…”
“What?”
“You may not come back.”
I smiled bitterly.
“I've already spent my whole life running from that place.”
I looked at Claire.
“Tonight I stop.”
We left the hospital.
The city outside was chaos.
Police vehicles filled the streets.
Ambulances screamed through intersections.
News helicopters circled overhead.
The Whitmore empire was collapsing in real time.
But I didn't care.
I only cared about my daughters.
And the woman waiting in my house.
The drive took eleven minutes.
Every second felt like an hour.
Adrian drove.
I sat beside him.
In the back, two officers followed with the babies.
Claire sat between them.
She kept looking at me.
“Mommy?”
“Yes?”
“Are those other girls my sisters?”
I didn't know what to say.
“I don't know.”
She frowned.
“They look like me.”
“I know.”
“Are they scared?”
“Probably.”
Claire thought for a moment.
“Then we have to help them.”
I looked at her.
She was six years old.
And somehow, after everything they had done to her, she still wanted to help other children.
I reached back and squeezed her hand.
“We will.”
The car turned onto our street.
Everything looked normal.
That was the worst part.
Quiet houses.
Porch lights.
Trees moving in the wind.
Then we saw my house.
Every light was on.
The front door was open.
I stared.
“She wants us inside.”
Adrian stopped the car.
“Stay here.”
“No.”
“Emma.”
“I'm going.”
He looked at me.
“Then I'm going too.”
We stepped out.
The police officers followed.
I raised my hand.
“Wait.”
The front door moved slightly.
A voice came from inside.
“Emma.”
The woman.
I stepped forward.
“I'm here.”
“Come alone.”
“No.”
“Then the children die.”
I froze.
Adrian grabbed my arm.
“Don't.”
The voice continued.
“You know what happens when you disobey.”
I looked at the house.
Then at my husband.
“I have to go.”
Adrian shook his head.
“No.”
“She's expecting me.”
“Exactly.”
I looked at him.
“What do you mean?”
“She wants you alone because she knows we'll stop her.”
I nodded.
“Then we don't play by her rules.”
We entered together.
The house was dark.
No furniture had been moved.
No signs of struggle.
Except for one thing.
The nursery door was open.
Inside, four girls sat on the floor.
All around six years old.
All with my face.
They looked at me.
One stood.
“Mommy.”
Claire gasped behind me.
“They look like me.”
The girl walked closer.
“Which one are you?”
I stared.
“I'm Emma.”
She smiled.
“We know.”
Another girl stood.
“We've been waiting.”
“For what?”
“For you to remember.”
My skin prickled.
“Remember what?”
The first girl pointed toward the floor.
“There.”
I looked down.
A wooden panel had been removed.
A staircase descended into darkness.
I stared.
“How long has that been there?”
Adrian shook his head.
“I've never seen it.”
The girl smiled.
“That's because it only opens for her.”
She pointed at me.
I stepped forward.
The stairs seemed endless.
We descended.
At the bottom was a corridor.
Old.
Cold.
Familiar.
I had seen it before.
In my dreams.
At the end was a red door.
Room 317.
I stared.
“The same room.”
Adrian stepped beside me.
“This isn't the hospital.”
“No.”
I touched the door.
The lock opened.
Inside was a laboratory.
But it wasn't abandoned.
Screens were active.
Machines were running.
And in the center stood the woman.
Subject 00.
She looked at me.
“Welcome home.”
I stared at her.
“You created this place.”
She smiled.
“I created you.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
She walked toward me.
“Do you want the truth?”
“Yes.”
“Then look.”
She pointed toward a large glass chamber.
Inside was a woman.
Unconscious.
Pregnant.
I stared.
My face.
My body.
My hair.
Everything.
I felt sick.
“That's me.”
Subject 00 nodded.
“Not you.”
“What?”
“Your original body.”
I couldn't breathe.
“What does that mean?”
She stepped closer.
“You were never born.”
I stared at her.
“You were transferred.”
“From where?”
“From here.”
She pointed at the chamber.
“The woman inside isn't a clone.”
My heart pounded.
“Then who is she?”
“Your biological mother.”
I froze.
“My mother?”
“Yes.”
“But she died.”
“No.”
I stared at the chamber.
The woman inside opened her eyes.
My eyes.
She looked directly at me.
And whispered:
“Emma.”
I couldn't move.
Subject 00 smiled.
“She has been asleep for six years.”
“Why?”
“Because she gave birth to you.”
My heart shattered.
“You said I wasn't born.”
“You weren't.”
She pointed at the woman.
“She gave birth to your body.”
I shook my head.
“That makes no sense.”
“It will.”
She pressed a button.
The chamber opened.
The woman inside slowly sat up.
She looked exactly like my mother.
But younger.
Healthier.
Alive.
I stepped backward.
“Mom?”
She smiled.
“My little girl.”
Tears filled my eyes.
“You're alive.”
“Yes.”
“Why did you let me believe you were dead?”
“Because I had to protect you.”
“From the Whitmores?”
She shook her head.
“From you.”
I froze.
“What?”
She looked at Subject 00.
“She doesn't know yet.”
“Know what?”
My mother reached toward me.
“You were born carrying something.”
“What?”
“The original genetic sequence.”
I looked at Subject 00.
She nodded.
“The sequence that can control every child created by the project.”
I stared at the four girls.
The babies.
Adrian.
Everything.
“You're saying…”
My mother whispered,
“You are Subject 00.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
Subject 00 smiled.
“Evelyn was a prototype.”
“The woman on the monitor…”
“Another copy.”
“Then who are you?”
She stepped toward me.
“I am the administrator.”
My heart pounded.
“And I have been waiting six years…”
She looked at the sleeping woman.
“…for you to come home.”
The laboratory doors suddenly slammed shut.
Adrian turned.
“Locked.”
I looked at Subject 00.
“What do you want?”
She smiled.
“Nothing.”
“Then why bring me here?”
“Because it's time.”
“For what?”
She pointed toward the four girls.
“They're ready.”
The girls stood together.
All four looked at me.
Then all four spoke at the same time.
“Mother.”
I felt the blood drain from my face.
Subject 00 stepped backward.
“Choose.”
“Choose what?”
“Which one becomes the heir.”
I shook my head.
“I won't.”
She smiled.
“You already did.”
I looked at the four girls.
One stepped forward.
Then another.
Then another.
Then the fourth.
Their eyes slowly turned black.
Adrian grabbed my hand.
“Emma.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
He stared at the girls.
“Something's wrong.”
“What?”
He pointed toward the fourth girl.
She wasn't looking at me.
She was looking at him.
Then she smiled.
“Father.”
Adrian went completely still.
The girl whispered:
“You were supposed to recognize me.”
I stared.
“What does she mean?”
Adrian shook his head.
“I don't know.”
The girl smiled.
“Yes, you do.”
She walked closer.
Then whispered something only Adrian could hear.
His face went white.
“What did she say?”
He looked at me.
His voice trembled.
“She said…”
He swallowed.
“…she remembers the night we killed the original.”
I froze.
“What original?”
Adrian stared at the girl.
Then at me.
“The first Emma.”
Silence.
The woman in the chamber suddenly screamed.
The laboratory lights turned red.
Every monitor activated.
And one final file appeared:
PROJECT MOTHER
SUBJECT 00
STATUS: ORIGINAL BODY RECOVERED
MEMORY RESTORATION: 100%
Then my mother looked at me and whispered:
“Run.”
But it was too late.
The woman called Subject 00 smiled.
And behind her, a second door opened.
A man stepped through.
My grandfather.
Alive.
He looked at Adrian.
Then at me.
Then at the four girls.
And finally he said:
“Now that everyone is home…”
May you like
He raised his gun.
“…we can finally tell them what really happened six years ago.”
