THE TRAITOR
1412 Words
The morning started like any other.
Elliot sat in the common room, drinking coffee, watching the copies move around him. The haven had grown—over a hundred copies now, living together, healing together. Some had found work in nearby towns. Others had started families. A few had even begun to forget they were copies at all.
Frank walked in, his face grim. "We have a problem."
Elliot set down his cup. "What kind of problem?"
"The general isn't dead. His body wasn't in the base."
Elliot's blood ran cold. "We saw him. He was in the main hall when we escaped."
"We saw someone. Not him." Frank pulled out a photograph. A man in a general's uniform, lying face-down in the rubble. "This is one of his officers. He was wearing the general's clothes."
Adam joined them, his laptop open. "The general's neural signature is still active. I've been tracking it since the raid."
"Where is he?"
Adam turned the laptop around. A map appeared, with a red dot pulsing in the mountains.
"About fifty miles from here. There's another facility. Smaller. Better hidden."
Elliot studied the map. "How do we get in?"
"We don't. The facility is underground. Fortified. Designed to survive a nuclear blast."
Frank frowned. "Then how do we stop him?"
Adam hesitated. "We don't. Not yet. The general is planning something. Something big."
"What?"
"I don't know. But whatever it is, he needs the copies to do it."
Charlotte called a meeting in the common room.
The copies gathered—David, Maria, Lily, James, Marcus, Zoe, Frank, Adam, Daphne. Sophia's chair sat empty, a memorial of flowers beside it.
"We have a problem," Elliot said. "The general is alive. He's in a hidden facility in the mountains, planning something."
Marcus leaned forward. "What kind of something?"
"We don't know. But he needs copies to do it."
David spoke. "Then we find him. Stop him."
"It's not that simple. The facility is fortified. Heavily guarded. We can't attack it directly."
"Then we find another way."
Adam raised his hand. "There might be a way. The general's network is connected to the facility's life support. If we can shut down the network, the facility will become uninhabitable."
"How?"
"By accessing the mainframe. From the inside."
Elliot shook his head. "No one is going inside."
"Someone has to."
"Then I'll go."
Adam shook his head. "The general knows you. He'll kill you on sight."
"Then who?"
Adam looked at Zoe. "Her. The general doesn't know her face. Doesn't know her voice. Doesn't know her neural signature."
Zoe nodded slowly. "I can do it."
"Zoe—" Frank started.
"I'm not a fighter, Frank. But I'm not a coward either." Zoe met his eyes. "The general took everything from us. Our family. Our home. Our future. I'm not letting him take anything else."
Frank was silent for a moment. Then he nodded.
"Go."
The mission took three days to plan.
Zoe studied the facility's layout, the guard rotations, the security protocols. Adam programmed a device that could shut down the network from the inside.
"Once you activate this," Adam said, holding up a small metal box, "the facility's systems will crash. The life support will fail. The general will have to evacuate."
"What about the copies inside?"
Adam hesitated. "The device only targets the network. The copies will be unharmed."
Zoe took the box. "How long do I have?"
"Once you enter the facility, maybe an hour. Maybe less."
"I'll need a diversion."
Marcus stepped forward. "My team can create a distraction. Draw the guards to the east side."
"Do it."
The night of the mission was cold and dark.
Elliot stood at the edge of the tree line, watching the facility through his scope. The building was smaller than the others—a concrete bunker set into the mountainside, surrounded by fences and cameras.
Zoe crouched beside him, dressed in black, her face hidden behind a mask.
"Remember," Adam said through the earpiece. "Once you're inside, head to the sub-basement. The mainframe is there."
Zoe nodded. "I remember."
Marcus's voice came through. "Diversion is ready. On your mark."
Elliot looked at Zoe. "Be careful."
Zoe smiled. "Always."
She ran.
The diversion worked.
Guards rushed to the east side, leaving the main entrance unguarded. Zoe reached the door and pressed the device against the scanner. The lock clicked.
She disappeared inside.
Elliot watched through the scope, his heart pounding.
"Zoe, status?"
"Inside. Moving to the sub-basement."
Minutes passed. An hour.
"Zoe?"
No answer.
"Zoe, come in."
Static.
Elliot grabbed his rifle. "I'm going in."
Frank grabbed his arm. "Wait."
"I can't."
He ran.
The facility was dark.
Elliot moved through the corridors, his rifle raised, his night vision goggles glowing green. The walls were concrete, the floor was metal. The air smelled like ozone and blood.
"Zoe!"
No answer.
He reached the sub-basement. The door was open.
Inside, the mainframe. Rows of servers, blinking lights, humming fans. And on the floor, a body.
Zoe.
Elliot ran to her. She was alive—barely. Her face was pale. Her breathing was shallow.
"Zoe. Zoe, can you hear me?"
Her eyes fluttered open. "Elliot?"
"I'm here."
"The device. I activated it. The network is down."
"You did good."
Zoe smiled. "Frank?"
"He's outside. Waiting."
"Tell him... tell him I'm sorry."
"Sorry for what?"
Zoe's eyes closed.
"Zoe. Zoe!"
Frank carried her out of the facility.
Elliot covered them, firing at the guards who pursued. Marcus's team engaged from the east, drawing fire.
They reached the vans. Charlotte was waiting.
"Put her in the back."
Frank laid Zoe on a cot. Charlotte checked her pulse, her breathing, her pupils.
"She's alive. But she's lost a lot of blood."
"Can you save her?"
Charlotte hesitated. "I can try."
The drive back to the haven was silent.
Elliot sat in the back of the van, watching Charlotte work. Frank stared out the window, his face tight.
"She's going to be okay," Elliot said.
Frank didn't answer.
"Frank."
"She's the only family I have left."
"I know."
Frank looked at him. His eyes were wet.
"I can't lose her."
Elliot put a hand on his shoulder.
"You won't."
Zoe woke up three days later.
She lay in a bed in the infirmary, her face pale, her eyes tired. Frank sat beside her, holding her hand.
"You scared me," Frank said.
Zoe smiled. "I scared myself."
"Don't do that again."
"I'll try."
Elliot stood in the doorway. "The general?"
Zoe shook her head. "I didn't see him. But the network is down. His facility is offline."
"For how long?"
"A few weeks. Maybe a month. Long enough for us to find another way."
Elliot nodded. "Rest. We'll handle the rest."
Zoe closed her eyes.
Frank stayed by her side.
The copies gathered in the common room.
Elliot stood at the front, looking at their faces.
"We have a month," Elliot said. "Maybe less. The general is planning something. Something big. We need to be ready."
David spoke. "Ready for what?"
"I don't know. But whatever it is, we face it together."
Maria raised her hand. "What about the other facilities? The ones we haven't found?"
"We find them. We free the copies. We destroy the research."
"That's a lot of work for a month."
"Then we work fast."
Lily stood up. "I'm in."
"So am I," James said.
One by one, the copies stood.
Elliot looked at them. At the people he had saved. The people who had saved him.
"Then let's get to work.
The weeks that followed were busy.
Teams fanned out across the country, searching for the general's remaining facilities. Adam coordinated from the haven, using Gavin's memories to predict the general's moves. Charlotte worked on the neural stabilizers, trying to improve their efficiency.
Zoe recovered slowly. Frank rarely left her side.
One night, Elliot found them on the roof, watching the stars.
"You two look comfortable," Elliot said.
Frank smiled. "We're getting there."
Zoe leaned her head on his shoulder. "He's not as grumpy as he looks."
"I heard that."
Elliot sat beside them. "What are you thinking about?"
Frank was silent for a moment. Then he said, "The future. What comes next."
"The same thing that's always come next. More copies to save. More fights to win."
"Will it ever end?"
Elliot looked at the stars. "I don't know. But as long as we're together, we'll survive."
Frank nodded slowly.
"Together," he said.
- Writer
