"Adrian… you were never supposed to bring them here."
The voice rolled through the chamber.
Mara stared into the darkness.
Her face had gone completely still.
"Kade?"
No answer.
"Kian?"
Nothing.
She turned toward Adrian.
"Get them out."
Adrian was already moving.
He dropped to one knee beside the broken floor and shone his flashlight downward.
The beam disappeared into the darkness.
"Kade!"
A distant voice answered.
"I'm here!"
Mara breathed again.
"Are you hurt?"
"I don't think so!"
Adrian looked at the stranger.
"You said you knew this place."
"I know parts of it."
"Then tell me what we're dealing with."
The man didn't move.
"I told you. Something Elias was afraid of."
Adrian grabbed him by the collar.
"That's not an answer."
The man's eyes remained fixed on the darkness.
"You really want me to tell you?"
"Yes."
A deep vibration passed through the floor.
The stranger swallowed.
"This facility wasn't built to study mutants."
Adrian's grip loosened slightly.
"Then what was it built for?"
The man looked at him.
"To keep something contained."
Another vibration.
This time, the walls shook.
Mara stepped backward.
"Contained?"
The stranger nodded.
"For years, they believed mutants were the problem."
He looked toward the opening.
"Then they discovered something worse."
A metallic screech came from below.
Kade shouted.
"ADRIAN!"
Adrian immediately dropped through the opening.
Mara screamed after him.
"Adrian!"
He landed on a lower platform.
His flashlight swung around.
"Kade!"
"Over here!"
Kade was sitting against a metal support.
His clothes were covered in dust, but he was conscious.
Adrian rushed toward him.
"Where's Kian?"
Kade pointed into the darkness.
"He fell farther."
Adrian's heart sank.
"How far?"
"I don't know."
Kade's voice trembled.
"He disappeared."
Adrian looked around.
"Kian!"
Nothing.
Then a faint sound came from behind him.
"Adrian?"
He turned.
Kian was standing several meters away.
Adrian stared.
"How did you—"
Kian looked confused.
"I don't know."
Kade stood up.
"You were gone."
"I know."
"You weren't there."
Kian looked down at his hands.
"I was."
"No, you weren't."
"I think…"
Kian hesitated.
"I think I went through the wall."
Adrian looked toward the wall beside him.
It was solid metal.
Kian's expression remained uncertain.
"I don't know how long I was inside it."
Adrian crouched beside him.
"Did you see anything?"
Kian nodded.
"A hallway."
"Where?"
Kian pointed.
"There."
Adrian looked.
There was no hallway.
Only a solid wall.
Kade frowned.
"Maybe you're seeing things."
Kian shook his head.
"No."
He placed his palm against the wall.
"It's there."
The wall suddenly flickered.
For less than a second, its surface became transparent.
Behind it was a corridor.
Kade jumped backward.
"Okay."
He stared at Kian.
"That's new."
Adrian looked at the hidden corridor.
Then at Kian.
"Can you pass through it?"
Kian didn't answer.
He was already trying.
His hand became faint.
Then his arm.
His shoulder.
His entire body flickered like a reflection disturbed by water.
He stepped forward.
And disappeared through the wall.
"Kian!"
Kade rushed toward the wall.
A moment later, Kian's head appeared through the other side.
"It's safe!"
Kade stared at him.
"You're creepy now."
Kian gave him a small smile.
"Come on."
Kade looked at Adrian.
"Do we have to?"
Adrian sighed.
"Apparently."
They passed through the wall.
On the other side, the corridor was completely different from the rest of the facility.
The walls were clean.
The lights still worked.
There were no signs of rust or decay.
Someone had maintained this place.
Kade looked around.
"Why does this part look new?"
Adrian didn't answer.
They continued.
After several meters, they reached a large glass window.
Behind it was a room filled with old equipment.
And photographs.
Hundreds of them.
Kade stepped closer.
"What are those?"
Adrian looked.
His face changed.
The photographs weren't of random mutants.
They were records.
People.
Families.
Children.
Some had strange physical traits.
Others looked completely ordinary.
Each photograph had a number beneath it.
Kian noticed something.
"Look."
He pointed to one of the files.
Three photographs were pinned together.
Three newborn babies.
Red eyes.
Blue eyes.
Green eyes.
Kade stopped breathing.
Kane wasn't there.
Neither was Kian.
Neither was Kade.
The photographs were older.
Much older.
Kade looked at Adrian.
"Those aren't us."
Adrian stepped closer.
"No."
"But they look like us."
"They do."
Kian touched the glass.
"Why?"
Adrian didn't know.
Then he saw something written beneath the photographs.
TRIPLE-SEQUENCE — FAILED
Adrian's expression hardened.
"Move."
He pulled the boys away from the glass.
"Why?"
"Because we need to leave."
"But—"
"Now."
A sound came from behind them.
Footsteps.
Adrian turned.
The stranger was standing at the end of the corridor.
He had followed them.
"You finally found it."
Adrian raised his weapon.
"You knew this was here."
"Yes."
"And you let us walk right into it."
"I didn't bring you here."
Adrian glanced at the boys.
"You knew they would activate it."
The stranger's expression changed.
"I suspected."
"You used them."
"No."
"You tracked them for six years."
"Yes."
"You came armed."
"Yes."
Adrian's voice hardened.
"Then don't tell me you're different from the people who built this."
The stranger went quiet.
Then he said:
"I am."
"Prove it."
The man looked at the boys.
"Ask them what they saw."
Adrian frowned.
"What?"
"When the machine activated."
Kade crossed his arms.
"I saw darkness."
Kian shook his head.
"I saw someone."
The stranger looked directly at him.
"Who?"
Kian hesitated.
"A man."
Adrian stepped closer.
"What man?"
"I don't know."
"What did he look like?"
Kian closed his eyes.
"He looked like…"
He opened them.
"…me."
Nobody spoke.
The stranger's face went pale.
"What?"
Kian pointed toward the room.
"He had green eyes."
The stranger slowly backed away.
"That isn't possible."
Adrian noticed.
"You're scared."
The man didn't respond.
"You know something."
Still nothing.
Then the facility lights suddenly turned red.
An alarm began to sound.
WARNING. CONTAINMENT FAILURE.
The stranger looked upward.
"No."
Adrian raised his weapon.
"What did you release?"
"I didn't release anything."
The alarm repeated.
WARNING. CONTAINMENT FAILURE.
A heavy impact shook the corridor.
Kade grabbed Kane's arm.
"Something's coming."
Another impact.
Closer.
The glass window behind them cracked.
Kian stepped backward.
A long shadow moved behind the glass.
The stranger stared at it.
"That's impossible."
The glass shattered.
Adrian pulled the boys down.
Something enormous crashed into the room.
Metal screamed.
Dust filled the corridor.
Mara's voice echoed faintly from somewhere behind them.
"ADRIAN!"
Adrian couldn't see her.
He couldn't see the boys.
He couldn't see the stranger.
Only darkness.
Then something grabbed his shoulder.
Adrian froze.
A voice whispered beside his ear.
"You should have listened to Elias."
Adrian slowly turned.
The dust began to clear.
Standing in front of him was a man.
Tall.
Thin.
Barefoot.
His clothes were torn and covered in dust.
His face was partly hidden by the shadows.
But Adrian knew that face.
He had seen it before.
Years ago.
In a photograph.
At Elias's side.
Adrian's weapon slipped from his hand.
"No…"
The man lifted his head.
His eyes were tired.
His face was older.
But there was no mistaking him.
Elias.
Kade stared at the stranger.
Kian stared at Elias.
Adrian could barely breathe.
"You're alive."
Elias looked past him.
Straight at the three boys.
His expression broke.
For the first time, the man who had spent years hiding showed something Adrian had never seen before.
Fear.
Not for himself.
For them.
"Adrian," Elias whispered.
"What?"
Elias looked toward the darkness behind the boys.
"They can't stay here."
Adrian frowned.
"Who can't?"
Elias didn't answer.
His eyes remained fixed on the darkness.
Then something moved behind him.
Elias's expression changed.
He stepped in front of the boys.
And whispered:
"Because it knows they're awake."
The lights went out.
Chapter 11 End.