Chapter 10: The Genesis Protocol
633 Words
The wind howled across the Montana tundra.
The lab sat beneath a decommissioned dam, buried deep under rock and camouflage. Its official name was Cypress Hydroelectric. But in the files Nova cracked, it was labeled something else:
“Site: Genesis.”
The birthplace of Project Lazarus.
The place Ari was made.
l
She stood at the rusted gates, hood up, jaw locked.
Behind her, Kellan tightened his gloves. Rosa and Jax had stayed behind—too injured. Nova came along, silent and pale, like she knew this place too well.
They moved inside.
The corridors were cold, humming with ghost electricity. Blood stains still painted parts of the floor, long dried. Some rooms had collapsed, but others… others were intact.
And then Ari found it.
Her name.
Etched on a doorplate:
> Subject: ARI-04.
She stepped through the doorway like walking into a tomb. A medical chair stood in the center. Old restraints. Surgical trays.
A hologram flickered to life above the console.
Lucien.
Younger. Cold. Calculating.
“This is Entry 241,” his voice said. “Subject ARI-04 shows remarkable neural acceleration. Emotional resilience exceeds projected baseline. She may be the most stable iteration yet. If Paragon finds out, I’ll lose her. So I’ll fake her death, raise her myself. No one can know.”
Ari stumbled back.
Kellan caught her. “He... he stole you from the project. To protect you.”
She nodded, eyes damp. “But he still made me.”
“Maybe,” he said softly, “but you made yourself.”
Nova was quiet. Too quiet.
Then Kellan turned to her. “How did you know about this place?”
Ari’s head snapped around. “Yeah. You found it too fast.”
Nova froze.
“I… I hacked—”
“Lie,” Kellan said, stepping toward her. “This wasn’t a guess. You’ve been here.”
Nova’s eyes hardened.
She sighed.
“Fine.”
And then she said the words that shattered the room:
“I was Subject ARI-03.”
—
Ari’s world tilted.
“You were... what?”
Nova pulled back her sleeve, revealing a barcode burned into her wrist.
“Lucien’s earlier prototype. They thought I died in a failure sequence. But I escaped. Changed my name. Hid for years. Built the Resistance not to help you... but to end you.”
Ari raised her gun.
Kellan didn’t stop her.
Nova held her ground. “But I changed. I saw how human you were. How strong. You weren’t a monster like they said you’d be. You loved. You chose.”
“But you lied,” Ari whispered. “All this time.”
“I had to. You wouldn’t have trusted me.”
Kellan’s voice was ice. “You’re right.”
Nova stepped closer. “Paragon will come for you, Ari. He wants you alive. But only to unleash you. You think this is the war? No. This is just selection. He’s purging the weak. Building an empire from people like us.”
Ari lowered the gun.
Barely.
“Why tell me now?” she asked.
Nova smiled bitterly. “Because if you don’t kill me... I’ll help you end him.”
—
That night, they made camp in the remains of the lab.
Ari stared at the stars from the roof, heart full of static.
Kellan joined her, sitting in silence.
“Do you think I’m still me?” she asked.
He didn’t hesitate. “You’ve always been you.”
“Even if I was designed to fight? To kill?”
He took her hand. “You chose love. You chose us. That’s all that matters.”
And then, beneath the stars, she kissed him—slow, hungry, and real. Like the world might end tomorrow.
It might.
But tonight, they burned.
Together.
—
- Writer
