The lights went out.
For a moment, nobody breathed.
Then something moved.
A heavy scrape dragged across the floor somewhere in the darkness.
Mara screamed.
"Boys!"
"We're here!"
Kade's voice came from somewhere near Adrian.
Kian answered a second later.
"I'm here too!"
Kane called out.
"Mum!"
Mara followed their voices, stumbling through the darkness.
Adrian reached for his flashlight.
Nothing.
He shook it.
Dead.
"Everyone stay where you are."
A low growl answered him.
Adrian froze.
Elias stood several feet away.
"Don't move."
Adrian lowered his voice.
"You know what that is?"
Elias didn't look at him.
"I know what it isn't."
Another scrape.
Closer.
"What isn't it?"
"It isn't one of them."
Adrian frowned.
"One of who?"
Elias finally looked at him.
"The things they built."
A sudden flash illuminated the corridor.
For less than a second, everyone saw it.
Something enormous stood at the far end.
Its body was almost completely hidden in the darkness.
But its eyes were visible.
Three pairs of them.
Red.
Blue.
Green.
The lights went out again.
Kade whispered.
"What was that?"
Elias answered quietly.
"A mistake."
The creature roared.
The sound shook the entire corridor.
Mara grabbed Kian.
"Run!"
Everyone moved.
Adrian took the lead.
"Follow me!"
They sprinted through the corridor.
Kane stayed beside Mara.
Kade ran behind them.
Kian struggled to keep up.
The creature crashed through the wall behind them.
Metal flew across the hallway.
Kade screamed.
"FASTER!"
"I'M TRYING!"
Kian stumbled.
Kane immediately grabbed his hand.
"Come on!"
They ran.
Behind them came another crash.
Then another.
The creature wasn't chasing them normally.
It was tearing through the facility.
As if the walls meant nothing.
They reached a locked security door.
Adrian tried the handle.
Locked.
"Move."
He pulled his weapon and fired at the control panel.
The door didn't move.
"Adrian!"
"I'm working on it!"
The creature roared again.
The hallway shook.
Kian stared at the door.
Then at his own hand.
"I can open it."
Adrian looked at him.
"How?"
"I can go through."
Before anyone could stop him, Kian stepped toward the door.
His body flickered.
His hand passed through the metal.
He gasped.
For a second, he looked frightened.
Then he pushed harder.
His entire body slipped through the door.
Kade stared.
"He actually did it."
A click came from the other side.
The door opened.
"Go!"
They rushed through.
Kian stood waiting.
Adrian grabbed his shoulder as he passed.
"Good work."
Kian smiled faintly.
It was the first time anyone had praised him for using his ability.
Then the creature slammed into the door.
The metal bent inward.
Everyone froze.
Elias stared at the damaged door.
"We have maybe thirty seconds."
Mara looked at him.
"Thirty seconds until what?"
"Until it remembers how to open doors."
Kade stared.
"It can think?"
Elias looked at him.
"It can remember."
Kade's smile disappeared.
They continued running.
Eventually, the corridor opened into a large control room.
Adrian rushed inside.
"Close the door!"
Everyone entered.
Adrian slammed a switch.
Steel shutters dropped over the entrance.
The creature hit them almost immediately.
BOOM.
The entire room shook.
Kade fell onto the floor.
Kane helped him up.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah."
Another impact.
BOOM.
Kade looked at the shutters.
"I don't think that thing likes us."
Kane glanced at him.
"Probably because we're running away."
Kade nodded.
"Fair."
Mara almost laughed.
Almost.
But she was too frightened.
Elias moved toward the control panels.
Adrian followed him.
"You disappeared for years."
"I had to."
"You left everyone thinking you were dead."
"I was supposed to be."
Adrian stared at him.
"What happened?"
Elias didn't answer.
Instead, he began typing.
"You need to get them out."
"I need answers."
"You'll get them."
"I've waited six years."
Elias stopped.
Then he looked at Adrian.
"You think I've been hiding because I didn't want to see my sons?"
Adrian said nothing.
Elias's expression softened.
"I've watched them."
Mara stepped forward.
"What?"
Elias looked at her.
"I've watched them from a distance."
Mara's eyes filled with anger.
"You watched them?"
"I couldn't come near them."
"You let me believe you were dead."
"I thought that was safer."
"For who?"
"For them."
Mara shook her head.
"You don't get to decide that alone."
Elias looked down.
"I know."
The room went quiet.
Kian was watching him.
He had barely spoken since Elias appeared.
Finally, he asked:
"Are you our father?"
Elias looked at him.
His eyes became wet.
"Yes."
Kian stared.
Kade stepped closer.
"So you really are."
Elias nodded.
Kane remained still.
He studied the man carefully.
"Why did you leave?"
Elias looked at all three of them.
"Because someone was looking for you before you were even born."
Kade frowned.
"Who?"
Elias hesitated.
Then he said:
"The people who created this place."
Adrian stepped closer.
"Created?"
Elias nodded.
"They weren't studying mutants."
He pointed toward the control room.
"They were trying to understand how certain abilities could be reproduced."
Mara looked horrified.
"You mean they created mutants?"
"Not exactly."
Elias shook his head.
"They discovered something older than the mutation itself."
Adrian's eyes narrowed.
"What?"
Elias looked toward the boys.
"Potential."
Kade frowned.
"That doesn't make sense."
"It will."
Elias moved toward one of the monitors.
He activated it.
An old recording appeared.
Scientists stood around a glass chamber.
Inside was a small child.
A red-eyed child.
Kane stepped closer.
"That looks like me."
Elias nodded.
"It isn't you."
Another image appeared.
A blue-eyed child.
Then green.
Three children.
Three different chambers.
Kian whispered:
"Were they triplets?"
"No."
Elias paused.
"They were attempts."
Adrian's expression changed.
"Attempts at what?"
Elias looked at him.
"At creating what you see standing behind me."
Everyone turned.
The room was empty.
Elias's face changed.
"What?"
The steel shutters were still closed.
But something was wrong.
The creature wasn't outside anymore.
Adrian slowly raised his weapon.
"Where is it?"
Elias stared at the monitor.
A small red light appeared on the security system.
Then a blue one.
Then a green one.
Three lights.
Just like the brothers.
Kian suddenly grabbed his head.
"Ah!"
Kane caught him.
"What happened?"
"I heard something."
"What?"
Kian looked terrified.
"A voice."
Elias rushed toward him.
"What did it say?"
Kian looked at his father.
"It said…"
He swallowed.
"It said my name."
The room became silent.
Then another voice came through the speakers.
Not Elias's.
Not Adrian's.
A child's voice.
Soft.
Confused.
Almost crying.
"Kane?"
Kane froze.
The voice continued.
"Kade?"
Kade stepped backward.
"Kian?"
Kian's face went pale.
Mara pulled them together.
The three brothers stared at the speakers.
Then the voice whispered:
"Why did you leave me?"
Elias's face turned white.
Adrian looked at him.
"Elias."
Elias didn't respond.
"Who is that?"
Elias stared at the three boys.
Then at the monitor.
His voice barely came out.
"There were supposed to be three."
The speakers crackled.
A fourth voice began to laugh.
Elias closed his eyes.
And whispered:
"No…"
The control-room door slowly began to open.
Not from the outside.
From the inside.