Kian couldn't move.
The boy stood inches behind him.
Nobody else seemed to notice.
Kane was helping Mara back onto her feet.
Kade was checking his arm.
Adrian was trying to understand what had happened to the chamber.
Elias was staring at the broken glass.
Kian swallowed.
The boy smiled.
"You heard me."
Kian whispered without moving his lips.
"What do you mean?"
"You're not the youngest."
Kian's eyes shifted toward Kane and Kade.
"They're my brothers."
"I know."
"Then what are you talking about?"
The boy tilted his head.
"You were born first."
Kian's heart stopped.
"No."
The boy placed a finger against his lips.
"Not so loud."
Kian stared at him.
"That doesn't make sense."
"It will."
The boy stepped backward.
"Ask your father."
Kian turned.
"Dad?"
Elias looked at him.
"What?"
Kian opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
The boy was gone.
Kian looked around.
Nobody seemed to have noticed anything.
Elias walked toward him.
"Kian?"
Kian stared at his father.
"Am I the youngest?"
Elias stopped.
The question hit him harder than expected.
Kane and Kade both looked over.
Kade frowned.
"Of course you are."
Kian didn't look at him.
He kept his eyes on Elias.
"Dad."
Elias said nothing.
Kian's voice became quieter.
"Am I?"
The silence answered before Elias did.
Kane noticed.
"Dad?"
Elias looked at the three boys.
Then he lowered his head.
"No."
Kade blinked.
"What?"
Elias took a breath.
"Kian isn't the youngest."
Kade looked at Kane.
Then back at Elias.
"But... he was born last."
"Yes."
"Then how isn't he the youngest?"
Elias struggled to find the words.
"Because there was another child."
Mara's face went pale.
"What?"
Elias looked at her.
"I didn't know how to tell you."
"You said there were three."
"There were three births that night."
Kade frowned.
"Then how can there be four?"
Elias looked at Kian.
"Because one of them wasn't taken home."
Nobody spoke.
Mara slowly shook her head.
"No."
"I didn't know."
"You knew there was another child?"
"I knew there was something wrong."
Mara's voice cracked.
"Elias."
"I swear to you, Mara, I didn't know the whole truth."
She stared at him.
"You're telling me I gave birth to four children?"
Elias shook his head.
"No."
He paused.
"You gave birth to three."
Everyone stared at him.
"Then who was the fourth?" Kane asked.
Elias looked toward the broken chamber.
"That is what I've been trying to find out."
Kade took a step backward.
"So the boy in there…"
Elias nodded.
"We don't know who he is."
Kian looked at the empty chamber.
"He knows me."
Elias turned sharply.
"What did he say?"
Kian hesitated.
"He said I was born first."
Elias's face changed.
"He told you that?"
Kian nodded.
Elias looked away.
Adrian noticed.
"You know something."
"I know that whoever is in this facility knows things he shouldn't."
"That isn't what I asked."
Elias didn't respond.
Adrian stepped closer.
"You've been hiding something since the moment you saw him."
Elias looked at him.
"So have you."
Adrian's expression hardened.
"This isn't about me."
"It became about you the moment you brought them here."
"I didn't know the facility was active."
"You knew enough to find it."
"I followed your map."
"And that's exactly what they wanted."
Adrian stopped.
"What?"
Elias pointed toward the metal object.
"The map."
Adrian looked down at it.
"The map wasn't showing us where to go."
Elias's voice dropped.
"It was showing them where we were."
Nobody spoke.
Kane looked at the object.
"So it was a trap?"
"Not exactly."
Elias picked it up.
"It was a beacon."
Kade's eyes widened.
"You mean we've been carrying a tracking device?"
"Yes."
Mara looked at Adrian.
"And you gave it to them."
Adrian's face tightened.
"Elias gave me that object years ago."
"Which means," Elias said, "he expected you to use it."
Adrian stared at him.
"Then why?"
Elias looked toward the broken chamber.
"Because he wanted you to bring them here."
Kane frowned.
"Who?"
Elias didn't answer.
The facility suddenly came alive.
Lights flickered on across the ceiling.
One after another.
Then every monitor in the room activated.
The same image appeared on all of them.
Three newborn babies.
Red eyes.
Blue eyes.
Green eyes.
Mara stepped closer.
She recognized them.
"That was the night they were born."
Elias nodded.
"No."
Mara looked at him.
"What?"
"That isn't the night they were born."
She stared at the screens.
The timestamp showed a date.
Three days before Mara had given birth.
Kade's face tightened.
"That's impossible."
Elias stared at the footage.
Someone had recorded the boys before they were born.
Adrian stepped toward the screen.
"Where did they get that?"
Elias didn't answer.
The footage changed.
A medical room appeared.
A doctor stood beside three incubators.
Inside each one was a small fetus suspended in a clear fluid.
Kian stared.
"Those are babies."
Elias whispered:
"Yes."
Kane looked at him.
"Were those us?"
Elias shook his head.
"I don't know."
The footage moved forward.
The doctor turned toward the camera.
A voice spoke.
"Sequence one remains unstable."
Another scientist entered.
"Sequence two?"
"Viable."
"And sequence three?"
The scientist looked toward the third chamber.
"Unknown."
Then the footage stopped.
A new screen appeared.
One word.
GENESIS
Adrian's eyes narrowed.
Elias immediately stepped toward the control panel.
"No."
"What is it?" Kane asked.
Elias tried shutting the screen down.
Nothing happened.
The word remained.
Then another line appeared beneath it.
SUBJECTS LOCATED.
A second line appeared.
FATHER LOCATED.
Elias stopped.
Then the final line appeared.
ORIGINAL SUBJECT AWAKENING.
The entire facility went silent.
Kade looked around.
"What's an original subject?"
Elias didn't answer.
Kian felt something touch his hand.
He looked down.
The boy was standing beside him again.
Only this time, the others could see him.
Mara gasped.
Kane immediately stepped in front of Kian.
"Who are you?"
The boy looked at Kane.
Then Kade.
Then Kian.
He smiled sadly.
"My name is…"
He stopped.
His expression changed.
"I don't remember."
Kade frowned.
"You don't remember your name?"
The boy shook his head.
Elias stared at him.
"You never had one."
The boy looked at him.
"You remember me."
Elias's face went pale.
"Yes."
Kane turned.
"Dad?"
Elias slowly stepped forward.
The boy didn't move.
"You were the first."
Kade looked confused.
"The first what?"
Elias swallowed.
"The first child they ever put inside this facility."
The boy smiled.
"And you were the first person who tried to save me."
Elias closed his eyes.
"I failed."
The boy's smile disappeared.
"No."
He looked at Kian.
"You didn't."
Kian stared at him.
The boy reached out.
Their fingers touched.
The lights exploded.
Kian vanished.
Mara screamed.
"KIAN!"
Kane rushed forward.
Kade shouted his name.
Elias grabbed the boy.
"Where did you send him?"
The boy looked up at Elias.
"I didn't send him anywhere."
Elias froze.
"Then where is he?"
The boy smiled.
"He went home."
Elias stared at him.
"What does that mean?"
The boy's eyes turned completely black.
"It means…"
He looked toward the ceiling.
"…he's finally remembering."
Far away, in a place none of them could see, Kian opened his eyes.
He was standing in the same room.
But it wasn't the room he had left.
There was no Adrian.
No Mara.
No Kane.
No Kade.
Only a woman sitting beside a window.
Her back was turned toward him.
Kian took one step forward.
The woman slowly turned around.
She had Mara's face.
But she wasn't Mara.
And she smiled at him.
"Kian."
Kian froze.
The woman whispered:
"I've been waiting for my son."