Chapter 18: Not the Only One
968 Words
The room didn’t feel the same anymore.
It wasn’t just the broken glass.
Or the bodies on the floor.
Or the echo of everything that had just happened.
It was them.
Three figures stood in the doorway.
Still.
Calm.
Watching her.
Like she was something familiar.
Isabella didn’t move.
Didn’t speak.
But her heart—
It reacted.
Faster.
Sharper.
Like it recognized them.
“You’re late,” the woman had said.
The words replayed in Isabella’s mind.
“…Someone who didn’t die.”
Her throat went dry.
“You’re like me,” Isabella said slowly.
The woman tilted her head slightly.
Studying her.
“Not exactly,” she replied.
Her voice was smooth.
Controlled.
But there was something underneath it—
Something dangerous.
“What does that mean?” Isabella asked.
The woman stepped forward.
Each step deliberate.
Measured.
Up close—
She looked about the same age as Isabella.
Maybe a little older.
Sharp features.
Cold eyes.
“I mean,” she said, stopping a few feet away,
“you’re the original.”
The words landed heavy.
“And you’re…” Isabella started.
“A result,” the woman finished.
Silence.
The two figures behind her stayed still.
Watching.
Waiting.
Isabella’s chest tightened.
“How many of you are there?” she asked.
The woman’s lips curved slightly.
“Enough.”
That wasn’t comforting.
“Are you here to take me?” Isabella asked.
The woman laughed softly.
“If we wanted to take you, you wouldn’t be standing.”
That sent a chill through her.
“Then why are you here?”
The woman’s gaze sharpened.
“To see if you’re worth it.”
Isabella frowned.
“Worth what?”
The woman stepped closer.
Close enough now that Isabella could feel it—
That same energy.
That same difference.
“Worth saving,” she said.
Silence.
That wasn’t the answer Isabella expected.
“Saving me from who?” she asked.
The woman’s expression darkened slightly.
“From the people who made us.”
Isabella’s mind raced.
Victor.
The project.
The experiments.
“You’re against them?” she asked.
The woman didn’t answer directly.
“We survived what they couldn’t control,” she said.
“That makes us a problem.”
“So they want to fix it,” Isabella said.
“Or erase it,” the woman corrected.
A chill ran through Isabella.
“Then help me stop them,” she said.
The woman’s gaze lingered on her.
“You don’t even understand what you are yet,” she replied.
“Then explain it to me.”
Silence.
Then—
The woman raised her hand slightly.
And the air shifted.
Subtle.
But real.
The broken glass on the floor trembled.
Then lifted.
Floating.
Isabella’s breath caught.
“…You can do that too,” the woman said.
“I stopped a bullet,” Isabella replied quietly.
A small smile.
“Good,” the woman said.
Then—
She dropped her hand.
The glass shattered again as it hit the floor.
“You’re progressing faster than expected.”
That word again.
Progressing.
“Stop saying it like I’m a test,” Isabella snapped.
The woman’s expression didn’t change.
“That’s exactly what you are.”
Anger flared instantly.
“I’m not a thing.”
“No,” the woman said.
“You’re worse.”
Silence.
That hit differently.
“What does that mean?” Isabella asked.
The woman stepped even closer now.
“You’re the blueprint,” she said.
The words echoed.
“They didn’t just copy you,” she continued.
“They built us from you.”
Isabella’s chest tightened.
“So everything I am…”
“Exists in pieces inside others,” the woman finished.
That realization hit hard.
Her strength.
Her instincts.
Her abilities—
Scattered.
Replicated.
“But none of them are you,” the woman added.
Silence.
Then—
Isabella asked the question that mattered most.
“What do you want from me?”
The woman didn’t hesitate.
“A choice.”
That surprised her.
“What kind of choice?”
The woman’s gaze sharpened.
“You can keep running,” she said.
“Let them chase you. Study you. Break you.”
A pause.
“Or…”
Her voice dropped.
“You can stand with us.”
Across the city—
Alexander paced.
Restless.
Angry.
“This is a mistake,” he said.
Sophia sat nearby, watching him carefully.
“Going back isn’t going to fix anything,” she said.
“It might,” he replied.
Liam stood by the window.
Quiet.
Thinking.
“She’s not alone,” he said again.
Alexander stopped.
“You knew about them,” he said.
Not a question.
Liam didn’t deny it.
“I knew they existed.”
“That’s not enough.”
“It’s all I had.”
Silence.
Then—
Sophia spoke.
“What if they’re not the enemy?” she asked.
Both men looked at her.
“What if they’re like her?” she continued.
Liam nodded slightly.
“They are.”
Alexander’s jaw tightened.
“That doesn’t mean they’re on our side.”
“No,” Liam agreed.
“It means she has to choose.”
Back in the room—
Isabella stood still.
Processing everything.
“You want me to join you,” she said.
The woman nodded.
“We don’t follow them anymore.”
“And if I say no?”
A pause.
Then—
The woman smiled slightly.
“Then you’re on your own.”
Silence.
Heavy.
Real.
Isabella looked between them.
At what she could become.
At what she might already be.
At what she was losing.
Then—
She asked one final question.
“What’s your name?”
The woman held her gaze.
“…Aria,” she said.
Isabella nodded slowly.
“Then here’s my answer.”
- Writer
