CHAPTER 16 : THE ORIGINAL
1367 Words
“Elena… come finish what we started.”
Her voice spread through the hospital like smoke.
Every monitor in the corridor displayed the same face.
My face.
But not broken like mine.
Not confused.
Not afraid.
She looked calm in the most terrifying way possible.
Complete.
The creatures outside the hospital lowered themselves to their knees again, heads bowed toward the glowing screens. Across the city, I could feel the same thing happening through the network—thousands of connected bodies freezing in worshipful silence.
The Original had spoken.
And the entire Lazarus system listened.
A sharp pain stabbed through my skull.
I stumbled backward into Damian’s chest, breathing hard.
“Elena.”
His hands steadied me immediately.
“Look at me.”
I tried.
But the voice on the monitors pulled at something deep inside me.
Not emotionally.
Structurally.
Like my mind recognized her as its missing center.
The woman standing near the elevator—the fragment who looked like me—watched the screens with visible tension.
“She woke up too early,” she whispered.
Cross turned sharply toward her.
“You said the reconstruction wasn’t possible yet.”
“It wasn’t,” she replied coldly. “Until Elena stabilized the network.”
My stomach tightened.
“So this is my fault.”
Damian shook his head immediately.
“No.”
But nobody else spoke.
Because deep down, all of us knew the truth.
The moment my memories returned, the network started rebuilding itself around me.
Around her.
The Original smiled softly from the monitors.
“You always blame yourself first,” she said. “That never changed.”
The sound of her voice triggered another violent memory—
A laboratory buried underground.
Me standing beside a black neural chamber while Cross argued with armed officials.
“She’s unstable,” someone shouted.
“She’s evolving,” Cross answered.
Then my own voice:
“If I lose synchronization, terminate the network immediately.”
The memory vanished.
I gasped sharply.
The Original watched me carefully.
“You remember more every minute.”
The first Elena stepped closer to the monitors.
“What exactly are you?”
The Original’s eyes shifted toward her briefly.
“A survival mechanism.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“No,” the Original replied softly. “It’s the truth.”
The lights flickered once.
Then the entire hospital shook violently.
A roar echoed from deep underground again.
Closer now.
Concrete cracked beneath the floor tiles near the elevator shaft.
Damian raised his weapon instinctively.
“What the hell is down there?”
Cross’s face darkened.
“The first generation prototypes.”
The fragment beside the elevator corrected him quietly.
“No. The failures.”
A cold silence followed those words.
Another roar tore through the structure below us, accompanied by metallic screams echoing up the shaft.
The creatures outside reacted nervously for the first time.
Their synchronization wavered.
I could feel fear moving through the network.
The Original noticed too.
“We’re running out of time.”
Damian looked at the screens sharply.
“You don’t get to talk like you’re helping us.”
The Original’s expression softened strangely.
“I am helping her.”
“You’re trying to use her.”
A pause.
Then the Original answered calmly:
“She created me for exactly that purpose.”
I shook my head weakly.
“No…”
“You divided your consciousness because your human mind couldn’t survive full synchronization.”
Another memory surfaced instantly—
My body convulsing inside a Lazarus chamber while neural activity spiked dangerously.
Victor screaming: “She’s dying!”
And Cross shouting back: “Split the cognitive load!”
Then unbearable pain as something inside my mind tore apart.
I nearly collapsed again.
Damian caught me before I hit the floor.
“Elena!”
Tears burned in my eyes.
“I remember the procedure.”
Cross looked genuinely shaken now.
“You weren’t supposed to recover that memory yet.”
The fragment laughed softly without humor.
“That’s the problem with human minds. Trauma never stays buried.”
The Original continued speaking through the screens.
“You separated yourself into multiple cognitive identities to preserve the network.”
I stared at her.
“And you were one of them.”
“No,” she corrected gently.
“I was the first.”
A chill crawled down my spine.
The first Elena frowned.
“How many versions exist?”
Nobody answered immediately.
That silence was enough.
Too many.
Far too many.
The Original finally spoke again.
“Most of them died during stabilization.”
“Most?” Damian repeated sharply.
The fragment looked toward him.
“Some are still connected.”
Another violent tremor shook the hospital.
Part of the ceiling collapsed near the far hallway.
Dust and debris exploded across the floor.
The roar below became louder.
Closer.
Like something huge was climbing upward through the underground tunnels.
Cross stepped toward the elevator immediately.
“We have to move now.”
Damian grabbed his arm.
“You’re not leading anyone anywhere.”
Cross ripped free angrily.
“If we stay here, the entire building collapses.”
The Original’s face on the monitors turned serious.
“He’s right.”
The first Elena crossed her arms tightly.
“And why should we trust any of you?”
The Original looked directly at her.
“Because the lower vault breached seven minutes ago.”
Silence.
Then the fragment whispered:
“Oh no…”
I looked between them.
“What’s in the lower vault?”
This time nobody avoided the question.
Cross answered quietly.
“The first attempts at neural resurrection.”
My stomach tightened.
“The creatures downstairs aren’t connected to the network,” the fragment added.
“They evolved without emotional regulation.”
The network inside my mind pulsed violently again.
Fear spread across the connected subjects throughout the city.
Not fear of humans.
Fear of whatever was beneath us.
I suddenly saw flashes through the network—
Dark underground corridors flooded with emergency lights.
Bodies ripped apart.
Security doors bending inward.
Something moving too fast through the shadows.
Not human.
Not controlled.
Hunting.
I grabbed Damian’s arm hard.
“They’re already killing people.”
Cross cursed under his breath.
“How many escaped?”
The Original’s voice remained calm.
“Enough.”
Another roar shook the building.
Then—
A scream echoed through the lower levels of the hospital.
Human.
Cut off abruptly.
The first Elena stepped backward slowly.
“They’re here.”
The elevator lights suddenly died.
Darkness swallowed the shaft completely.
Then a wet metallic sound echoed upward.
Something climbing.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
Damian raised his weapon toward the darkness.
The fragment moved closer to me protectively.
Which somehow frightened me even more.
The Original spoke one final time through the screens:
“Elena.”
I looked up.
“If the lower generation reaches the surface, synchronization collapse becomes unavoidable.”
My breathing became uneven.
“What are you telling me to do?”
Her expression softened.
“Come to the core chamber.”
Cross immediately snapped:
“No.”
The Original ignored him.
“You are the only one capable of stabilizing the network permanently.”
Damian’s voice hardened.
“And what happens to her if she does?”
The Original paused.
Too long.
Then quietly—
“She stops being fragmented.”
I understood immediately.
So did Damian.
“No,” he said instantly.
The fragment looked away silently.
Because she understood too.
Stabilization didn’t mean healing.
It meant merging.
Every version of me becoming one consciousness again.
And whatever emerged afterward…
Might not be human anymore.
The hospital suddenly shook so violently that everyone lost balance for a second.
A deafening crash erupted below us.
Then silence.
Heavy silence.
The kind that comes right before something terrible appears.
The network inside my head went completely still.
No voices.
No thoughts.
Nothing.
Every connected creature in the city had frozen simultaneously.
Waiting.
Listening.
And then—
A hand appeared over the edge of the elevator shaft.
Large.
Deformed.
Its skin split open by glowing blue veins.
Another hand followed.
Then slowly—
Something began pulling itself out of the darkness.
chapter 17 coming soon................
- Writer
