Chapter 8 - The first explosion hit three miles east.The ground shook.
Dust fell from the ceiling.
Rex barked.
Daniel shouted:
“The evacuation system has started!”
I grabbed him.
“Where?”
“The old train tunnel.”
“What is happening?”
Vale answered.
“The test begins.”
I turned toward him.
“What test?”
He smiled.
“Memory recovery.”
The second explosion hit.
The lights died.
Emergency sirens started.
Red lights flashed along the walls.
Elena ran to a control panel.
“Daniel!”
He joined her.
I stayed with Rex.
Vale disappeared through a side door.
I wanted to follow.
But another scream echoed through the facility.
A woman's scream.
Then silence.
We moved.
The corridor opened into a laboratory.
Rows of rooms.
Glass walls.
People inside.
Dozens of them.
Men.
Women.
Children.
All asleep.
Machines connected to their heads.
I stared in horror.
“What is this?”
Daniel looked away.
“Residents.”
“Residents?”
“They've been here for years.”
I approached one room.
An elderly man slept behind the glass.
A monitor displayed his name.
EDGAR MILLS.
Then:
MEMORY CONDITIONING: ACTIVE.
I looked at Daniel.
“They've been experimenting on the entire town.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Echo was never about soldiers.”
He looked around.
“It was about control.”
The third explosion hit.
Glass cracked.
Machines sparked.
People woke up screaming.
A woman slammed her fists against the glass.
“Let me out!”
Another man shouted:
“Where am I?”
Another cried:
“My daughter!”
The entire underground complex descended into chaos.
I reached for the emergency release.
Daniel stopped me.
“Wait.”
“What?”
“If you open everything at once, some won't survive.”
I looked at the monitors.
“What do we do?”
“Shutdown the conditioning network.”
“Where?”
Daniel pointed upward.
“Central tower.”
Elena stared at him.
“The tower was destroyed.”
“No.”
Daniel shook his head.
“Everyone thought it was.”
He looked at me.
“It was moved.”
“Where?”
Daniel answered:
“The Rusty Spur.”
I laughed.
“Of course.”
The diner.
The place where this started.
The place that had brought us here.
We ran.
Rex led.
The emergency tunnel opened behind the kitchen.
I remembered the table.
The pool table.
The broken jukebox.
The bartender.
Everything felt different now.
I looked around.
The diner was empty.
But the basement door was open.
We descended.
A steel elevator waited below.
Daniel entered a code.
The doors opened.
Inside was a surveillance room.
Hundreds of screens.
Every street.
Every house.
Every person.
And in the middle of the room was one screen showing me.
Not now.
Eleven years ago.
I watched myself walking through a village.
Then something happened.
The screen split.
My younger self stopped.
He looked directly into the camera.
Then spoke.
“If I come back here, don't trust Elena.”
I turned.
Elena stood behind me.
Her weapon was raised.
Daniel froze.
“Don't,” he whispered.
Elena's eyes were filled with tears.
I stared at her.
“You told me to trust you.”
She didn't answer.
The gun trembled in her hand.
Daniel stepped toward her.
“Elena.”
She pointed the weapon at him.
May you like
“I am sorry.”
And then she fired.
Related Stories
