The rain eased into a fine mist by dawn.
Under the pedestrian bridge, neither Kenji nor Myers had spoken for nearly twenty minutes.
The silence wasn't uncomfortable.
It was heavy.
The kind that settled between people after a truth had been spoken.
Kenji finally looked over.
"You said…"
He hesitated.
"…the night I died."
Myers didn't move.
"I did."
"You remember it?"
"I remember waking up."
Kenji frowned.
"Where?"
Myers lowered his eyes.
"In a place that no longer exists."
"You mean the hospital?"
"No."
"The room beneath it."
Kenji's expression tightened.
"There was something beneath the hospital?"
Myers nodded once.
"There always was."
Before Kenji could ask another question…
Myers suddenly grabbed his shoulder.
"Down."
Kenji dropped instinctively.
A black SUV rolled slowly past the bridge.
Its windows were completely tinted.
No license plate.
No markings.
It never stopped.
It simply continued toward the old station.
Only after it disappeared did Myers release him.
"They're searching."
"For us?"
"For someone."
Kenji stared.
"You don't know?"
"I hope not."
Across the city…
Kenji's mother sat alone at the dining table.
The hospital badge remained in front of her.
Project ECHO.
The words refused to leave her mind.
She unfolded the bloodstained note again.
Her fingers stopped on something she hadn't noticed before.
Tiny writing beneath the fold.
Almost invisible.
She held it closer to the light.
Patient Seven was never the experiment.
Her breathing caught.
"No…"
She turned the page over.
Another sentence.
Find the child before they find him.
The paper slipped from her fingers.
Tears blurred her vision.
"So that's what you meant…"
Deep beneath the city…
The elderly man stood before a stone wall covered in names.
Hundreds.
Perhaps thousands.
Each carved by hand.
Some were faded beyond recognition.
Others looked newly engraved.
The young woman approached quietly.
"The search teams have reported back."
"And?"
"They couldn't find Subject Seven."
The old man smiled.
"They weren't supposed to."
She frowned.
"Then why send them?"
He traced one weathered name with his fingertips.
"To see who would move."
Silence.
After a moment…
He stopped.
His hand rested on a name unlike the others.
There was no inscription.
Only a smooth piece of stone.
Blank.
"The empty one…"
the young woman whispered.
"…does it belong to him?"
The old man closed his eyes.
"No."
"It belongs to the one who hasn't chosen a name yet."
Morning finally arrived.
The city slowly awakened.
Coffee shops opened.
Buses filled.
People hurried through another ordinary day.
No one noticed the dozens of cameras that had appeared overnight.
Mounted on traffic lights.
Telephone poles.
Building corners.
Watching.
Recording.
Waiting.
Inside one surveillance room…
A technician frowned.
"Sir…"
"What is it?"
"We found him."
The supervisor stepped closer.
"Show me."
The screen zoomed in.
Kenji.
Walking beside Myers.
The image froze.
Static flashed across the monitor.
Kenji's face distorted.
Frame by frame…
Someone else's face appeared over his.
Not completely.
Just for an instant.
The technician leaned forward.
"Who is that?"
The supervisor's expression changed.
His voice became barely audible.
"…Impossible."
"What?"
"I buried him."
The room fell silent.
On the monitor…
The distorted face smiled.
Then every screen in the building went black.
Miles away…
Kenji stopped walking.
His chest tightened.
He turned slowly toward the skyline.
For the briefest moment…
He felt as if someone had just recognized him.
Not Kenji.
Someone else.
Someone whose name…
…he still couldn't remember.