CHAPTER FIFTEEN-THE FIRST EXPERIMENT
1552 Words
The mirror shattered.
Daniel stood motionless.
Pieces of glass covered the floor.
His reflection was gone.
But Zero's voice remained.
I'm your memory.
Daniel looked at Samuel.
Samuel looked terrified.
Not of Daniel.
Of what Daniel had just said.
“What did you hear?” Daniel asked.
Samuel didn't answer.
“Samuel.”
“I heard him.”
“Where?”
Samuel slowly pointed at Daniel.
“Inside you.”
Daniel's stomach tightened.
Before either of them could move, every monitor in the room switched on.
A single date appeared across all of them.
JUNE 14, 2004
Then:
PROJECT TWELVE — ORIGINAL RECORDING
Daniel stepped closer.
The screen showed St. Martha's Children’s Home.
But this wasn't the ruined building they had discovered.
It was alive.
Children played in the courtyard.
Workers walked through the halls.
Cars were parked outside.
Everything looked normal.
Then the camera moved underground.
Daniel's breathing slowed.
He recognized the corridor.
The same corridor they had walked through.
But the recording revealed something he had never seen.
There were twelve children.
Not eleven.
Not three.
Twelve.
They sat in a circle.
A young Dr. Evelyn Shaw stood in front of them.
Beside her was a man Daniel had never seen before.
The man wore a dark suit.
His face was hidden by the camera angle.
Shaw spoke.
“Project Twelve begins today.”
One of the children raised his hand.
“Are we going home?”
Shaw smiled.
“Yes.”
It was a lie.
Daniel knew it immediately.
The screen changed.
SUBJECT ASSIGNMENTS
1 — Jonathan
2 — Marcus
3 — Amara
4 — Samuel
5 — David
6 — Peter
7 — Michael
8 — Thomas
9 — Daniel
10 — Sarah
11 — Elias
12 — Unknown
Daniel stared.
“Wait.”
Samuel stepped closer.
“That's impossible.”
Daniel pointed.
“I'm Subject Nine.”
Samuel looked at the list.
“I'm Four.”
“And David…”
“Five.”
Daniel felt a chill.
“Then who was Twelve?”
The screen flickered.
The name remained blank.
Then the recording continued.
---
The children were taken into separate rooms.
Each room contained a chair, a camera and a small speaker.
Shaw's voice came through.
“Tell me your name.”
A child answered.
“Samuel.”
“What is your favorite memory?”
“My mother.”
“Good.”
“What if I told you your mother never existed?”
The boy began crying.
Shaw continued.
“Would you believe me?”
“No.”
“What if everyone else told you she never existed?”
Silence.
“Would you still remember her?”
The recording cut.
Another room.
Daniel recognized the child immediately.
Amara.
She sat quietly.
Shaw asked the same question.
“What is your name?”
“Amara.”
“What if I told you that isn't your name?”
Amara stared at the camera.
“What is my name?”
Shaw smiled.
“That's what we're here to find out.”
The video cut again.
Daniel's own younger face appeared.
He was sitting in a chair.
Shaw stood behind him.
“What is your name?”
The boy answered:
“Daniel.”
Shaw smiled.
“Good.”
Daniel frowned.
Something about the scene felt wrong.
He watched carefully.
Shaw left the room.
The door closed.
A few seconds later, another person entered.
A man.
The same man from the group photograph.
He walked toward young Daniel.
Daniel couldn't hear what he said.
But young Daniel began screaming.
The man grabbed his face.
And whispered something into his ear.
Young Daniel suddenly stopped.
His expression became empty.
The man left.
Shaw returned.
“What is your name?”
Young Daniel looked directly into the camera.
“Samuel.”
Daniel stopped breathing.
The recording ended.
---
“No.”
Samuel stepped away from the screen.
“No, no, no.”
Daniel looked at him.
“What?”
Samuel was shaking.
“I remember that room.”
“What happened?”
“They asked me my name.”
“And?”
“I said Daniel.”
Daniel stared at him.
“You said Daniel?”
Samuel nodded.
“Then they told me I was wrong.”
The lights flickered.
A new recording began.
Shaw appeared.
This time she looked exhausted.
“Project Twelve has produced unexpected results.”
Behind her was a glass chamber.
Inside stood a child.
The child's back was turned.
Shaw continued.
“Subject Twelve does not forget.”
Daniel's eyes narrowed.
“Subject Twelve remembers everything.”
The child slowly turned.
Daniel couldn't see his face.
Shaw looked into the camera.
“We have tried suppression.”
The child remained still.
“Conditioning.”
Still.
“Identity replacement.”
The child smiled.
“And even traumatic displacement.”
Daniel felt cold.
“Nothing works.”
The child finally looked at the camera.
The screen distorted.
For a fraction of a second, Daniel saw his own face.
Then the recording ended.
Samuel whispered:
“That's him.”
“Who?”
“David.”
Daniel looked at him.
“You're sure?”
Samuel nodded.
“He was always different.”
Daniel remembered what their mother had said.
He could remember things that never happened to him.
The screen turned black.
Then white text appeared.
SUBJECT ZERO WAS CREATED AFTER SUBJECT TWELVE FAILED.
Daniel frowned.
“Created?”
Samuel stared.
“What does that mean?”
A voice answered from behind them.
“It means he wasn't born.”
They turned.
Dr. Evelyn Shaw stood in the doorway.
Daniel raised his weapon.
“Where is my mother?”
Shaw ignored the question.
“You've seen enough.”
“No.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“Tell me what Zero is.”
Shaw looked at him.
“Zero is what happens when memory becomes stronger than reality.”
Samuel's face hardened.
“You experimented on children.”
“Yes.”
“You killed them.”
“No.”
“You destroyed their lives.”
Shaw didn't deny it.
Instead, she said:
“We were trying to create something that could survive any trauma.”
Daniel lowered his weapon slightly.
“Why?”
Shaw's eyes moved toward the monitors.
“Because the human mind breaks.”
She looked back at him.
“We wanted to build one that didn't.”
Daniel's voice was quiet.
“So you used us.”
“All twelve.”
“What happened to the others?”
Shaw looked at the list.
“They became the eleven victims.”
Daniel's jaw tightened.
“And Subject Twelve?”
Shaw smiled.
“He became the killer.”
Silence.
Daniel shook his head.
“You said the murders were memory triggers.”
“They are.”
“Then who killed them?”
Shaw looked directly into his eyes.
“You did.”
Daniel's heart stopped.
“No.”
“You don't remember because we removed the memories.”
“Why would I kill them?”
“Because they were trying to escape.”
Samuel stepped forward.
“You're lying.”
Shaw looked at him.
“You still believe you're Samuel.”
Samuel froze.
Daniel looked between them.
Shaw continued.
“That's the problem with Project Twelve.”
She pointed at Daniel.
“He doesn't know who he is.”
Then at Samuel.
“He doesn't know who he is.”
Then toward the empty mirror.
“And Zero knows exactly who both of you are.”
A loud alarm suddenly sounded.
Shaw looked toward the ceiling.
Her expression changed.
“What?”
Daniel heard footsteps.
Many footsteps.
Coming from the corridor.
Shaw whispered:
“They found us.”
“Who?”
The door exploded inward.
Armed men stormed into the room.
Daniel dropped behind a console.
Gunfire erupted.
Samuel fired back.
Shaw disappeared into the smoke.
Daniel crawled toward the monitors.
One screen remained active.
Amara.
She was still strapped to the chair.
But now someone stood behind her.
Daniel's blood ran cold.
It was their mother.
She was holding a knife.
Daniel stared.
“Mom?”
Amara looked at the camera.
Her lips moved.
Daniel couldn't hear her.
Then she pointed at the person standing behind her.
The camera zoomed in.
Daniel froze.
It was Dr. Elias Kane.
But Kane wasn't holding Amara hostage.
He was holding a photograph.
He placed it against the camera.
Three boys.
Their mother.
And Dr. Shaw.
Daniel recognized the photograph.
But something was different.
The boy they had always called Zero had been scratched out.
And underneath the photograph, someone had written:
THERE WAS NEVER A THIRD BROTHER.
Daniel's eyes widened.
Then Kane turned the photograph over.
A message was written on the back.
THE THIRD BROTHER WAS A MEMORY IMPLANTED INTO BOTH OF YOU.
Daniel stared at the words.
Samuel grabbed his shoulder.
“Daniel.”
Daniel looked at him.
Samuel's face had gone pale.
“What?”
Samuel whispered:
“I remember who implanted it.”
“Who?”
Samuel looked toward the camera.
Toward Amara.
Toward their mother.
Then toward the darkness where Shaw had disappeared.
And finally he looked at Daniel.
“You did.”
A gunshot rang out.
Samuel fell.
Daniel screamed.
And on every monitor in the facility, one final message appeared:
SUBJECT TWELVE HAS REMEMBERED.
Then:
BEGIN FINAL PHASE.
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