CHAPTER FIVE- THE NAME THEY GAVE HIM
1276 Words
The door opened by itself.
Daniel raised his gun.
Amara immediately stepped in front of him.
“Don't move.”
The corridor beyond the door was empty.
No footsteps.
No masked figure.
Nothing.
Only darkness.
Daniel stared into it.
The words from the photograph remained trapped inside his head.
YOU ARE NOT DANIEL.
He looked down at the photograph again.
Twelve children.
Twelve faces.
One of them was him.
Or at least, that was what he had always believed.
“What does it mean?” Amara asked.
Daniel didn't answer.
He walked into the corridor.
“Daniel!”
He stopped.
“I'm going after Kane.”
“You don't even know where he is.”
“I saw him on the screen.”
“That doesn't mean he's here.”
Daniel turned toward her.
“Then where is he?”
Amara had no answer.
They moved through the facility quickly.
Every few meters, they found another door.
Some were marked with numbers.
Others had names.
SUBJECT 03.
SUBJECT 07.
SUBJECT 09.
Daniel's stomach tightened every time he saw one.
Then they reached a metal door marked:
SUBJECT 12 — ARCHIVE
Daniel stopped.
“Archive?”
Amara looked at him.
“Maybe that's where they kept your records.”
Daniel opened the door.
Inside were dozens of filing cabinets.
Old photographs.
Medical reports.
Video tapes.
Boxes covered in dust.
A single desk stood in the middle of the room.
On it was a file.
Daniel's name was written across the cover.
DANIEL COLE
He picked it up.
His hands trembled.
Amara stood beside him.
“Open it.”
Daniel hesitated.
Then he did.
The first page contained a photograph of him as a child.
Underneath it:
SUBJECT NAME: DANIEL COLE
SUBJECT NUMBER: 12
AGE AT ADMISSION: 8
STATUS: ACTIVE
Daniel turned the page.
There was another photograph.
This one showed him sitting in the memory restoration chair.
He was crying.
Beside him stood Dr. Evelyn Shaw.
But something was wrong.
Daniel looked at the date.
June 2, 2004.
He stared at it.
“That was twelve days before the fire.”
Amara nodded.
“Keep going.”
Daniel turned another page.
A handwritten note appeared.
Subject continues to reject assigned identity.
Daniel frowned.
“Assigned identity?”
Another line had been written underneath.
Subject insists his name is—
The rest had been scratched out.
Daniel's heart began pounding.
He turned the page.
There was only one sentence.
DO NOT ALLOW SUBJECT TO REMEMBER HIS ORIGINAL NAME.
The room suddenly felt colder.
“Amara.”
“I saw it.”
Daniel looked at her.
“Someone erased my identity.”
Before she could respond, footsteps echoed outside.
Both of them froze.
Someone was walking down the corridor.
Slowly.
One step at a time.
Daniel raised his gun.
The footsteps stopped outside the door.
Silence.
Then a man's voice spoke.
“Daniel?”
Daniel recognized it.
Dr. Elias Kane.
“Kane?”
The door opened slightly.
Kane appeared.
His face was bruised.
There was blood running from his forehead.
But he was alive.
“Close the door,” Kane whispered.
Daniel pulled him inside.
Amara locked it.
“What happened to you?” she asked.
Kane looked at Daniel.
“They found me.”
“Who?”
Kane shook his head.
“Not here.”
Daniel stepped toward him.
“You know what happened to the children.”
Kane looked away.
“You know what happened to me.”
Kane's expression changed.
“You shouldn't have come back.”
“I didn't know this place existed.”
“You did.”
Daniel froze.
“What?”
“You knew.”
Kane walked toward the desk.
“You just weren't supposed to remember.”
Daniel's anger rose.
“Stop talking in riddles.”
Kane looked directly at him.
“You were eight years old when they brought you here. You were frightened, angry, and confused. But you were also the strongest of the twelve.”
“Strong enough to kill them?”
Kane's face tightened.
“No.”
The answer came immediately.
“You didn't kill those children.”
Daniel stared at him.
“Then who did?”
Kane didn't answer.
Amara stepped forward.
“Who killed them?”
Kane looked at her.
“You're asking the wrong question.”
Daniel's jaw tightened.
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
“Because you don't understand what Project Twelve really was.”
Kane picked up a file.
“It wasn't an experiment to study memory.”
He opened it.
“It was an experiment to control it.”
Daniel stared at him.
Kane continued.
“The people behind Project Twelve wanted to create people who could be given memories, removed from memories, or made to believe they had committed things they never did.”
Amara looked disturbed.
“Why?”
“Control.”
Kane's voice dropped.
“A person who doesn't trust his own memories can be made to believe anything.”
Daniel suddenly remembered the children's voices.
The white room.
The chair.
Dr. Shaw.
And another man.
A man standing behind the glass.
He couldn't see his face.
But he remembered his voice.
“Again.”
Daniel grabbed the edge of the desk.
“I remember someone.”
Kane stared at him.
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
“What did he say?”
Daniel closed his eyes.
Again.
Again.
Again.
Then another memory surfaced.
A child's voice.
His own voice.
“My name is Samuel.”
Daniel opened his eyes.
Kane went completely still.
Amara noticed.
“Kane?”
Kane looked at Daniel as if he'd seen a ghost.
“Say that again.”
Daniel swallowed.
“My name is Samuel.”
Kane stepped backward.
“No.”
“What?”
“That name was supposed to be erased.”
Daniel stared at him.
“Samuel who?”
Kane didn't answer.
Suddenly, the entire facility shook.
A loud explosion echoed somewhere above them.
Dust fell from the ceiling.
Amara grabbed her weapon.
“What was that?”
Kane looked terrified.
“They've started the final phase.”
Daniel looked at him.
“What final phase?”
Kane pointed toward the file.
“Look at the last page.”
Daniel opened it.
There was a table.
Twelve subjects.
Eleven marked:
TERMINATED.
Daniel's name was the only one marked:
ACTIVE.
But beneath it was another line.
PHASE TWO: REACTIVATION OF SUBJECT TWELVE.
Daniel stared.
Then he noticed something else.
A date.
SEPTEMBER 13, 2026.
Today's date.
His blood ran cold.
“Why today?”
Kane looked at him.
“Because the murders weren't the experiment.”
Daniel's eyes narrowed.
“Then what were they?”
Kane whispered:
“They were preparation.”
A phone began ringing.
Everyone froze.
The sound came from inside the desk.
Daniel opened the drawer.
An old black telephone sat inside.
It shouldn't have had power.
Yet it was ringing.
Daniel slowly picked it up.
“Hello?”
Silence.
Then a child's voice.
“Hello, Samuel.”
Daniel's face went pale.
The voice continued.
“You finally remembered your name.”
Daniel looked at Kane.
Kane whispered:
“Don't answer.”
But it was too late.
The child's voice laughed softly.
“Now remember what you did to me.”
The call ended.
Daniel lowered the phone.
His hands were shaking.
“What did I do?”
Kane didn't answer.
“WHAT DID I DO?”
Kane looked at him with fear in his eyes.
“You didn't kill the eleven.”
Daniel waited.
Kane swallowed.
“You killed the twelfth.”
The lights went out.
And somewhere in the darkness, a child began screaming.
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