CHAPTER NINETEEN-THE HOST
1665 Words
The gun clicked.
Daniel held his breath.
Darkness surrounded them.
“Samuel?”
No answer.
“Amara?”
Silence.
Then a voice came from the darkness.
“Put the gun down.”
Kane.
Daniel turned toward the sound.
“Where is Samuel?”
“I don't know.”
A slow laugh echoed through the room.
Daniel recognized it.
Zero.
But this time it wasn't coming from a speaker.
It was coming from somewhere inside the room.
“Stop hiding.”
Daniel's voice shook with anger.
“I’m not hiding.”
A figure stepped into the emergency light.
Samuel.
Blood still stained his shirt from the gunshot.
But he was standing perfectly straight.
Too perfectly.
His eyes were empty.
Daniel raised his weapon.
“Who are you?”
Samuel smiled.
“You already know.”
“No.”
“You just don't want to accept it.”
Amara stepped between them.
“Daniel, don't shoot.”
Samuel looked at her.
“You always protect him.”
Amara's expression changed.
“Because he's still himself.”
Samuel laughed.
“Is he?”
Daniel looked at Amara.
“What does that mean?”
She didn't answer.
Samuel walked closer.
“You want to know who I am?”
He pointed at himself.
“I'm Samuel.”
Then he pointed at Daniel.
“And you're Daniel.”
Then he touched his own chest.
“But something else lives inside me.”
Daniel's blood ran cold.
“Zero.”
Samuel smiled.
“Finally.”
Kane raised his weapon.
“Get away from him.”
Samuel looked at Kane.
“You should have killed me twenty-two years ago.”
Kane's face went pale.
“I tried.”
“You failed.”
Samuel laughed.
“And now you get to watch the experiment finish.”
---
The monitors suddenly switched on.
One by one.
Twelve screens.
Twelve faces.
The eleven victims appeared.
Then Daniel.
Then Samuel.
Then Amara.
A final screen appeared.
A blank silhouette.
SUBJECT ZERO
Daniel stared.
“Why are there thirteen?”
Kane whispered:
“Because Project Twelve was never about twelve people.”
Samuel smiled.
“It was about thirteen memories.”
Daniel turned toward Kane.
“What does that mean?”
Kane looked exhausted.
“Every subject was given a primary memory.”
He pointed to the screens.
“The eleven victims carried memories of the experiment.”
“Daniel carried the memories of the children.”
“Samuel carried the memories of the adults.”
Daniel looked at Samuel.
“And Zero?”
Kane hesitated.
“Zero carried the memory of the experiment itself.”
Silence.
Daniel slowly understood.
“He remembers everything.”
Kane nodded.
“That was the goal.”
Samuel's smile disappeared.
“No.”
Daniel looked at him.
Samuel's voice became cold.
“That wasn't the goal.”
“What was?”
“To make someone who could control everyone else's memories.”
Daniel stared at him.
“Zero.”
Samuel nodded.
“And they succeeded.”
---
A door opened.
Dr. Shaw entered.
Daniel raised his weapon.
“You.”
Shaw looked at Samuel.
“Welcome back.”
Samuel stared at her.
“You knew.”
“Of course.”
“You knew I was the host.”
Shaw smiled.
“I knew before you did.”
Daniel looked between them.
“You put Zero inside Samuel.”
Shaw shook her head.
“No.”
She looked at Daniel.
“Samuel was never the host.”
Daniel's heart stopped.
Samuel's smile disappeared.
Shaw continued.
“The host was chosen long before Samuel was born.”
Daniel stared.
“Then who?”
Shaw looked directly at him.
“You.”
Daniel felt the room tilt.
“No.”
“Yes.”
Kane stepped forward.
“Evelyn.”
She ignored him.
“You've been carrying Zero for twenty-two years.”
Daniel shook his head.
“Then why is he inside Samuel?”
“He isn't.”
Daniel looked at Samuel.
Samuel suddenly began laughing.
His body shook.
His face changed.
Not physically.
Something deeper.
His expression became Daniel's.
Then Zero's.
Then Samuel's.
Three identities.
One face.
Shaw spoke quietly.
“That's what you're looking at.”
Daniel's breathing stopped.
“Samuel isn't possessed.”
“No.”
“He's remembering.”
“Yes.”
“And Zero…”
“Isn't a person.”
Daniel looked at Samuel.
Zero's voice came from him.
“I told you.”
Daniel whispered:
“You're a memory.”
Samuel smiled.
“I am what happens when a memory learns how to think.”
---
The door behind Shaw slammed shut.
Their mother appeared on a monitor.
She was still alive.
Still tied to the chair.
Daniel moved toward the screen.
“Mom!”
She looked directly at him.
“Daniel.”
Shaw turned toward the monitor.
“It's time.”
Their mother shook her head.
“No.”
Shaw pressed a button.
The screen split into two.
Their mother on one side.
Daniel on the other.
A machine began humming.
Daniel felt something inside his head shift.
A memory appeared.
His mother holding him as a baby.
Another.
Samuel beside him.
Another.
A burning building.
Another.
Adrian.
Then Zero.
The memories began overlapping.
Daniel screamed.
“Stop!”
Shaw watched calmly.
“This is the final synchronization.”
Kane rushed toward the machine.
Shaw pulled a gun.
“Don't.”
Kane stopped.
Daniel dropped to his knees.
His vision blurred.
He saw himself standing in the old facility.
But there were no children.
No doctors.
No machines.
Only a single chair.
And a boy sitting in it.
The boy looked exactly like Daniel.
Eight years old.
The boy looked up.
“You came back.”
Daniel stared.
“Who are you?”
The child smiled.
“I'm the part you forgot.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“Zero?”
The boy shook his head.
“No.”
“Then who?”
The boy pointed behind Daniel.
Daniel turned.
Samuel stood there.
But Samuel's face was different.
He looked terrified.
“Don't listen to him.”
Daniel turned back.
The child was gone.
The room changed.
Suddenly Daniel was standing in the burning St. Martha's corridor.
Amara stood beside him.
She was eight years old.
She held his hand.
“Daniel, we have to go.”
He looked at her.
“What happened?”
“You told us to run.”
“Who?”
She pointed toward the end of the corridor.
Adrian.
He stood in the flames.
Behind him were twelve children.
Daniel looked at Amara.
“How many children were there?”
She whispered:
“Twelve.”
Daniel looked again.
There were thirteen.
His heart stopped.
“That's impossible.”
Amara began crying.
“One of them wasn't a child.”
“Who?”
She pointed.
The thirteenth figure stepped forward.
Daniel couldn't see the face.
But he recognized the voice.
His own.
“I was the experiment.”
The memory shattered.
---
Daniel woke on the floor.
Samuel was kneeling beside him.
“Daniel.”
Daniel pushed him away.
“Don't touch me.”
Samuel froze.
Daniel looked at Shaw.
“You lied.”
Shaw smiled.
“About what?”
“There were thirteen.”
Her expression changed.
For the first time, she looked afraid.
Daniel stood.
“The experiment wasn't Project Twelve.”
Kane stared at him.
“What are you saying?”
Daniel looked at the twelve screens.
“Project Twelve was a cover.”
He pointed at the thirteenth silhouette.
“The real experiment was Subject Zero.”
Shaw slowly lowered her gun.
Daniel continued.
“You didn't create Zero from memories.”
“You created memories from Zero.”
Kane's eyes widened.
“What does that mean?”
Daniel looked at Samuel.
“Zero existed first.”
Samuel's face became pale.
Daniel whispered:
“And then they built the twelve subjects around him.”
Shaw stepped backward.
“No.”
Daniel looked at her.
“You made us remember him.”
Shaw shook her head.
“No.”
“You made us believe he was our brother.”
“No.”
“You made us believe he was a memory.”
Shaw's voice cracked.
“Stop.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“You didn't control Zero.”
Silence.
“Zero controlled you.”
The lights suddenly went out.
A scream came from the monitor.
Their mother.
Daniel turned.
The screen was black.
Then a single sentence appeared.
THANK YOU FOR REMEMBERING.
Samuel grabbed Daniel.
“We need to leave.”
Daniel pulled away.
“Why?”
Samuel stared at him.
“Because now I know where Zero is.”
“Where?”
Samuel looked at Daniel.
His eyes filled with terror.
“He's not inside me.”
Daniel's blood ran cold.
“Then where is he?”
Samuel pointed at Daniel.
“He's inside you.”
Daniel stopped breathing.
“No.”
Samuel whispered:
“And he just woke up.”
A child's voice spoke through the darkness.
Daniel's voice.
But younger.
Closer.
Inside his own head.
Hello, Daniel.
He closed his eyes.
The voice laughed.
I've been waiting for you.
Then the lights returned.
Samuel was gone.
Kane was gone.
Shaw was gone.
Only Amara remained.
She stood in front of Daniel.
Her face was pale.
“Daniel…”
He looked at her.
“What?”
She stepped backward.
“You need to stay away from me.”
“Why?”
She began crying.
“Because I remember what happens next.”
Daniel stared.
“What?”
Amara whispered:
“You kill me.”
The clock on the wall changed.
3:16 a.m.
One minute later, it would be 3:17.
Daniel looked at his palm.
The symbol was glowing.
But beneath it, a new number slowly appeared.
12
Then another number appeared beside it.
0
And finally:
13
Daniel looked up.
Amara was gone.
The clock struck 3:17 a.m.
And somewhere inside Daniel's mind, Zero whispered:
“Let the final experiment begin.”
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