CHAPTER 4
1204 Words
Sera’s pulse hammered in her ears.
She couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think.
Bennett’s words replayed in her head like a broken record.
Your memories were rewritten. Someone erased what really happened and fed you a different past.
It didn’t make sense. It wasn’t possible.
And yet… something inside her knew it was true.
She gripped the armrests of the chair, her nails digging into the worn leather. “No. No, I—I remember my life. My job. My home.” She gasped, panic clawing up her throat. “You’re lying.”
Bennett didn’t argue. He just watched her with pity, and that made it worse.
Ethan knelt beside her, his voice steady. “Sera. Look at me.”
She did.
His dark eyes weren’t soft, but they weren’t cruel either. There was no deception, no manipulation—just a man trying to keep her from falling apart.
“Breathe,” he said. “One thing at a time.”
She forced a shaky inhale. Her vision swam, her thoughts jumbled, but the terror eased. Slightly.
Bennett sighed, rubbing a hand down his face. “I figured this might happen.”
Ethan shot him a look. “Then talk.”
Bennett hesitated, then turned the scanner toward Ethan. “Whoever did this to her used a high-level neural override. We’re talking classified tech. Government or corporate-level. They didn’t just erase random memories—they installed a Memory Lock.”
Ethan’s jaw tightened. “Explain.”
Bennett motioned to the screen. “Her brain isn’t just missing data—it’s been programmed to reject certain truths. If she gets too close to the real memories, her subconscious pushes back. That’s why she’s panicking. It’s a built-in failsafe.”
Ethan exhaled sharply. “So how do we break it?”
Bennett grimaced. “You don’t.”
Silence.
Sera’s chest clenched. “What do you mean, you don’t?”
Bennett leaned against his desk, arms crossed. “Memory Locks aren’t just mental blocks. They’re hardwired into the neural pathways. If we try to force it open too fast—” He hesitated. “It could kill you.”
Sera felt like the air had been sucked out of the room.
Ethan stood, his expression like carved stone. “So what’s the alternative?”
Bennett was quiet for a long moment. Then he said, “We trigger the memories instead.”
Sera’s pulse spiked. “How?”
Bennett turned to Ethan. “We need to take her back.”
Ethan narrowed his eyes. “Back where?”
Bennett met his gaze.
“To the place where it all started.”
⸻
Three Hours Later – Abandoned MindCorp Facility
The building stood like a corpse.
Tall, skeletal, its windows shattered, vines creeping through the cracks. The old MindCorp research facility had been shut down after the fire that supposedly killed Cole Bennett. Since then, it had been left to rot—erased from records, forgotten by the city.
Except someone had been here recently.
Ethan crouched near the entrance, scanning the ground. Faint footprints in the dust. A fresh cigarette butt. Someone was watching this place.
Sera stood a few steps behind him, arms wrapped around herself. She hadn’t spoken much since they left the Lower Sector, but Ethan could see the tension in her jaw.
She was trying to be strong. But she was terrified.
He pushed open the rusted door, stepping inside.
The air was thick with old smoke and chemicals. Flickering emergency lights cast eerie shadows on the cracked tile floor. The place had been abandoned in a hurry—papers scattered, broken monitors, overturned chairs.
Sera hesitated in the doorway. Her breathing hitched.
Something about this place was familiar.
Ethan glanced back at her. “You okay?”
She swallowed hard. “I—I don’t know.”
Bennett stepped ahead, moving toward an old server room. “This is where I worked before the fire. Where they tested the first memory implants.” He ran his fingers over a dusty console. “And where Sera was last seen before she disappeared.”
Ethan stilled.
Sera’s breath caught. “I was here?”
Bennett nodded. “Yeah. And whatever happened to you—it started here.”
Sera’s vision blurred. A sharp pain pulsed behind her eyes.
Images. Fragments of something just out of reach.
A sterile lab. The hum of machines. A hand gripping her wrist.
Ethan noticed her trembling. “Sera?”
She didn’t answer. The memories were coming too fast.
Then—
A whisper.
Not a sound. Not real.
But inside her head.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
Sera gasped, stumbling backward.
Ethan caught her. “Hey—breathe.”
She clutched his arm, shaking. “Someone’s here.”
Bennett frowned. “No one’s here.”
“No, not—not here. In my head.”
Ethan and Bennett exchanged looks.
Then a sound echoed through the building—a soft mechanical click.
Ethan’s instincts screamed.
“Down!” he barked, shoving Sera behind a desk.
Gunfire erupted.
Bullets shredded through old equipment, sparking against metal. Shadows moved in the corridors—men in tactical gear.
Sera clamped a hand over her mouth, her whole body trembling. Ethan drew his gun, returning fire.
Bennett cursed, ducking behind an old server rack. “They must’ve been watching the facility!”
Ethan gritted his teeth. Of course they were.
Whoever had erased Sera’s past didn’t want her remembering.
And they were here to make sure she never did.
Ethan fired twice, dropping one of the masked gunmen. The others spread out, moving fast, trained.
They weren’t common thugs. These were professionals.
Bennett pulled a small EMP grenade from his jacket. “Cover me!”
Ethan fired another shot, forcing the attackers into cover. Bennett lobbed the grenade across the room.
A bright flash—static crackling in the air.
The facility’s remaining power flickered. The gunmen’s visors short-circuited.
Ethan grabbed Sera’s hand. “Move. Now!”
They ran.
Through the dark corridors, past collapsed ceilings, weaving through the wreckage. The gunfire had stopped, but Ethan wasn’t stupid—they weren’t out of this yet.
They reached a rusted back exit. Ethan kicked it open. The alley was empty.
For now.
He turned to Sera. “Are you hurt?”
She shook her head, but her hands were shaking.
Bennett leaned against the wall, breathing hard. “They’re not done. They’ll keep coming.”
Ethan clenched his jaw. “Then we find them first.”
Bennett nodded. “We need to find out who ordered the Memory Lock. If we can trace the source, we can start reversing what they did to her.”
Sera swallowed hard. “And what if I don’t want to remember?”
Ethan held her gaze. “You do.”
She exhaled shakily. He was right. She needed to know.
Bennett straightened. “Then we have one lead left.”
Ethan narrowed his eyes. “Who?”
Bennett glanced back at the facility.
And when he spoke, Ethan’s stomach dropped.
“Tyler Grayson.”
Sera’s blood ran cold. “But he’s dead.”
Bennett’s expression was grim.
“Yeah. But he wasn’t the only one with his memories altered.”
- Writer
