Chapter 8 - THE CHILDREN UNDERGROUND
Emergency lights illuminated a staircase descending beneath Facility Nine.
Luka wanted to leave.
I didn't.
“My mother died because of this place.”
“Emma—”
“There are people down there.”
We could hear them.
Voices.
Not machines.
People.
Derek stared at the staircase.
“We can't leave them.”
Luka cursed under his breath.
Then he reloaded.
“Five minutes.”
We descended.
What we found destroyed every remaining illusion about M-17.
There were twelve rooms.
Inside them lived adults.
The surviving children from the original experiments.
M-2 was thirty-one.
M-5 was twenty-eight.
M-11 was twenty-six.
Some were sick.
Some were physically scarred.
All had spent most of their lives imprisoned.
A woman stepped toward the glass.
“M-17?”
She wasn't looking at me.
She was looking at Grace.
“No.”
I moved between them.
“She's Grace.”
The woman smiled.
“Grace.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“Your mother wanted that name.”
I froze.
“You knew my mother?”
“All of us did.”
She touched the glass.
“She tried to save us.”
Luka found the release controls.
Doors opened.
One by one, the prisoners emerged.
The woman introduced herself as Anna.
M-5.
She handed me a small recording device.
“Elena gave me this before the fire.”
My mother's voice filled the corridor.
If Emma survives, tell her none of this was her fault.
I covered my mouth.
Tell her M-17 isn't immortality.
Charles misunderstood my research.
The mutation does not prevent death.
It improves cellular repair.
Used correctly, it could help millions.
Used incorrectly, it could become the most expensive biological patent in history.
There it was.
Money.
Not immortality.
Not destiny.
Money.
Billions of dollars.
My mother continued.
Charles wants ownership.
Thomas wants to expose him.
Evelyn wants revenge.
And Luka…
The recording paused.
Luka stiffened.
Luka is the only one I trust with Emma.
He looked away.
My eyes filled.
My mother had trusted him.
Twenty-five years later, he had still come.
The recording continued.
But there is one final truth.
Emma must know who her biological father is.
My heart stopped.
Luka looked at me.
The recording crackled.
Then gunfire erupted upstairs.
The device fell from my hand.
The final sentence disappeared beneath the noise.
“No!”
I grabbed it.
The recording had stopped.
Luka looked upward.
“We have company.”
Anna pointed toward another tunnel.
“There's an exit.”
We began moving the survivors.
Then Derek stopped.
“What about my father?”
Nobody answered.
He turned back.
“Derek!”
“He might still be alive.”
I grabbed his sleeve.
“Don't.”
He looked at me.
“He's still my father.”
Then he ran upstairs.
Luka started after him.
I stopped Luka.
“Get these people out.”
“What about Derek?”
I looked toward the stairs.
“I'll get him.”
Luka stared at me like I had lost my mind.
Maybe I had.
I handed Grace to him.
His eyes widened.
“Emma.”
“Protect her.”
Those two words changed him.
He held my daughter as if someone had handed him the entire world.
I ran upstairs.
I found Derek kneeling beside Charles.
Charles was alive.
Barely.
Derek looked at me.
“Help me.”
Then Charles opened his eyes.
He saw me.
And smiled.
“Emma.”
His bloody fingers wrapped around my wrist.
“Your father…”
I leaned closer.
“What about him?”
Charles smiled.
“Thomas Hale wasn't your father.”
“I know.”
Charles's eyes moved toward the staircase.
Toward Luka.
Then he whispered.
“Neither am I.”
My blood went cold.
“I know who is.”
Before he could say the name, a shot rang out.
Charles's body jerked.
He died holding my wrist.
May you like
I turned.
Brittany stood behind us with the gun.
