Evo

Chapter Thirteen: The First Evo

"Son."

The word stayed in Mika's head.

He looked at the pale man.

Then at Adrian.

His father looked like he had been punched.

"Who is he?"

Adrian didn't answer.

Mika grabbed his jacket.

"Who is he?"

Adrian looked at the man.

"His name was Elias."

The pale man smiled.

"Was?"

Adrian's face went hard.

"You died."

Elias laughed.

"I was never alive in the way you understood it."

Mika stepped between them.

"You said he created you."

Adrian shook his head.

"He created the first Evo."

Mika looked at Elias.

"Then why did he call me son?"

Elias walked closer.

"Because I gave you the thing that made you."

Mika's chest burned.

The core inside him pulsed.

Elias smiled.

"You feel it."

Mika backed away.

"What did you put inside me?"

"Nothing."

Mika frowned.

"Then what did you do?"

Elias pointed at Mika's chest.

"I gave you a piece of myself."

Adrian raised his weapon.

"Don't listen to him."

Elias looked at him.

"You've spent your whole life hiding the truth."

"You don't know what you're talking about."

"I remember everything."

Elias turned toward the others.

"Every experiment. Every child. Every person you sacrificed."

Elena stepped forward.

"We didn't sacrifice anyone."

Elias laughed.

"You always tell yourselves that."

Cain stood beside Lyra, watching.

Mika noticed something.

Cain wasn't smiling anymore.

"Why are you afraid of him?"

Cain looked at Mika.

"Because I know what he is."

"What?"

Cain swallowed.

"The first."

Mika looked at Elias.

"The first Evo?"

Cain nodded.

"The first one who survived the Source."

Elias looked at Cain.

"You survived because they copied me."

Cain's jaw tightened.

"They made me from your blood."

"Yes."

"And him?"

Elias looked at Mika.

"They didn't make him from my blood."

He walked closer.

"They made him from my mistake."

Mika's stomach tightened.

"What mistake?"

Elias looked at Adrian.

"Tell him."

Adrian stayed silent.

Mika turned toward him.

"Tell me."

Adrian finally lowered his weapon.

"When Elias first touched the Source, his body changed."

"How?"

"His cells began rebuilding themselves."

"Like me."

"No."

Adrian shook his head.

"Better."

Mika looked at Elias.

"Then what happened?"

"The Source connected to him," Adrian said.

"Elias could control it."

Elias corrected him.

"No."

Everyone looked at him.

"It controlled me."

The chamber went quiet.

Elias looked at his hands.

"I spent years believing I was becoming powerful."

He laughed softly.

"I wasn't becoming anything. I was becoming a container."

Mika looked at the giant broken cylinder.

"For the Source."

"Yes."

Mika's chest burned again.

Elias looked at him.

"When they took a sample from me, the Source followed it."

Mika understood.

"My core."

Elias nodded.

"The part they put inside you wasn't mine."

He pointed toward the broken machine.

"It came from there."

Mika looked at the dark liquid on the floor.

"Then why am I connected to it?"

"Because the Source recognizes you."

"Why?"

Elias smiled.

"Because you are the only one it chose."

Mika shook his head.

"That doesn't make sense."

"It doesn't have to."

Elias stepped closer.

"You were born with something the others didn't have."

"What?"

"A choice."

Mika stared.

"Choice?"

"The Source cannot control you completely."

Elias looked at Cain.

"That is why they are afraid."

Cain looked away.

Mika glanced at Elena.

"Is that why you hunted me?"

Elena answered.

"We hunted you because every Evo we've created eventually reaches a limit."

"And me?"

"You don't."

Mika looked at his hands.

Elena continued.

"Your body learns. Your mind changes. Your core grows."

She took another step.

"If you keep evolving, there will be nothing left that can stop you."

Mara raised her gun.

"Then maybe we should stop him now."

Mika looked at her.

She wasn't talking about him.

She was talking about Elias.

Elena smiled.

"Try."

Mara fired.

Elias lifted one hand.

The bullets stopped.

Mika watched them hang in the air.

Elias closed his fist.

The bullets dropped.

Mara stepped backward.

Elias looked at her.

"I don't want to hurt you."

"That's good."

Mika raised his hand.

Elias turned.

Mika pushed.

Elias flew backward.

He hit the wall.

The entire chamber shook.

Mika stared.

Elias slowly stood.

Then smiled.

"Better."

Mika felt angry.

"Stop saying that."

Elias laughed.

"You sound like your father."

Mika charged.

He reached for Elias's body.

He felt the energy inside him.

Then something pushed back.

Mika was thrown across the room.

He crashed onto the floor.

His head hit metal.

"Mika!"

His mother ran toward him.

He pushed himself up.

"I'm fine."

Elias looked at her.

"You still protect him."

She froze.

"You know me?"

"I remember you."

Her eyes filled with tears.

"I was there."

Elias nodded.

"You were."

Mika looked at his mother.

"What does he mean?"

She didn't answer.

Elias did.

"Your mother was one of the first people to carry an Evo child."

Mika stared at her.

"You were pregnant before me?"

She shook her head.

"No."

Elias looked at her.

"Tell him."

She closed her eyes.

"I lost a child."

Mika said nothing.

"Before you."

She wiped her face.

"The pregnancy failed."

Mika felt something tighten in his chest.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't want you to grow up thinking you were replacing someone."

Elias looked at Mika.

"You weren't."

Mika turned toward him.

"What happened to the child?"

Elias answered.

"The Source took it."

His mother started crying.

Mika stared at Elias.

"How?"

"The baby was used in an experiment."

Adrian stepped forward.

"Enough."

Elias looked at him.

"You don't get to decide when the truth ends."

Mika looked at his father.

"Did you know?"

Adrian's eyes lowered.

"Yes."

Mika stepped back.

His face went blank.

"You knew."

"I was trying to—"

"Don't."

Adrian stopped.

Mika turned away.

He couldn't look at him.

Cain suddenly spoke.

"We don't have time."

Everyone looked at him.

"The facility is collapsing."

A deep rumble answered him.

Dust fell from the ceiling.

Sarah looked toward the broken cylinder.

"The Source is destabilizing."

Elena shouted,

"Move!"

The scientists began running.

Mika didn't.

He looked at Elias.

"Are you coming?"

Elias smiled.

"I don't need to."

"What does that mean?"

Elias looked at the broken cylinder.

"I'm already where I need to be."

Mika felt something move inside his chest.

The core.

It was responding to Elias.

Elias walked toward him.

"Come with me."

Mika shook his head.

"No."

"You don't understand."

"Then explain it."

"I can't."

"Why?"

"Because the moment you understand, it will hear you."

Mika stared.

"What will hear me?"

Elias didn't answer.

The floor suddenly split.

Mika jumped back.

A black crack raced across the chamber.

From below came a sound.

Not a roar.

A whisper.

Thousands of voices speaking at once.

Mika covered his ears.

His mother screamed.

"Mika!"

He couldn't hear her.

The voices grew louder.

Open.

Open.

Open.

Mika fell to his knees.

His eyes turned white.

The small boy appeared in his mind again.

But this time, the boy was crying.

Mika reached toward him.

"What happened?"

The boy pointed behind him.

The door was open.

Something was standing there.

Mika's own face stared back at him.

Older.

Colder.

Eyes completely white.

The older Mika smiled.

"You finally opened it."

Mika shook his head.

"No."

The older version stepped closer.

"You can't keep me locked away."

"I will."

"You tried before."

"When?"

The older Mika laughed.

"You don't remember."

Mika felt a sharp pain in his head.

Images flooded through him.

Cities burning.

Evos hunting humans.

Humans hunting Evos.

Mara lying dead.

Daniel covered in blood.

His mother crying.

Adrian standing over a body.

And Mika.

Standing in the middle of it all.

He saw himself holding the world in his hands.

Then the vision ended.

Mika opened his eyes.

Elias was standing over him.

"You saw it."

Mika breathed heavily.

"My future."

"No."

Elias shook his head.

"A possibility."

Mika stood.

"Then I won't let it happen."

Elias smiled.

"Good."

A loud explosion shook the chamber.

The ceiling began collapsing.

Adrian grabbed Mika's mother.

"Mika! We have to go!"

Mika looked at Elias.

"Come with us."

Elias shook his head.

"Not yet."

"Why?"

"Because someone has to stay."

Mika understood.

"No."

Elias placed a hand against Mika's chest.

The core suddenly became hot.

Mika screamed.

A bright light spread through his body.

Elias stepped away.

"Now you have enough."

"Enough for what?"

Elias smiled.

"To make your own choice."

The ceiling collapsed between them.

Mika was thrown backward.

Adrian dragged him toward the exit.

Mika fought against him.

"Elias!"

The dust swallowed the chamber.

For a few seconds, there was nothing.

Then the ground stopped shaking.

Mika stared at the rubble.

"Is he dead?"

Adrian didn't answer.

Cain walked past them.

"No."

Mika looked at him.

"How do you know?"

Cain looked toward the rubble.

"Because he doesn't die."

They escaped the facility minutes later.

Outside, the night air hit Mika's face.

He looked back.

The old hospital collapsed into itself.

His mother stood beside him.

Adrian was silent.

Mara checked her weapon.

Daniel looked at the burning building.

Then Mika felt it.

Someone was watching.

He turned toward the trees.

Lyra stood there.

Alone.

She looked at him.

Then at his mother.

Her eyes filled with tears.

Mika stepped forward.

"Lyra."

She didn't run.

Instead, she whispered,

"You saw him."

Mika nodded.

"Who is he?"

Lyra looked toward the collapsed facility.

"The man who started all of this."

She looked back at Mika.

"And the man your mother was supposed to kill."

Mika's mother went pale.

Mika turned toward her.

"Mom?"

She couldn't speak.

Lyra smiled sadly.

"Ask her what happened on the night you were born."

Then she disappeared into the trees.

Mika looked at his mother.

"Did you try to kill him?"

She shook her head.

"No."

"Then what happened?"

She stared at the burning hospital.

"I failed."

Mika waited.

His mother finally looked at him.

"I was supposed to kill you."

Mika's face went cold.

"What?"

She began to cry.

"I was ordered to kill you the moment you were born."

Mika couldn't speak.

His mother reached for his hand.

"But I couldn't."

She squeezed it.

"So I ran."

Mika looked at the burning building.

"And Dad?"

His mother looked at Adrian.

"He followed us."

Mika stared at his father.

Adrian nodded.

"I did."

"Why?"

Adrian's voice was quiet.

"Because by then..."

He looked at Mika.

"You were already my son."

Mika stood between them, unable to decide whether to believe either of them.

Then his chest pulsed again.

Once.

Twice.

A voice whispered inside his mind.

They are lying.

Mika closed his eyes.

The voice continued.

All of them.