CENTI

chapter 5

CH 5: THE OTHER KIDS

The facility was buried under a mountain in Norway.

No satellite showed it. No map listed it. No government admitted it existed.

But Kazuo wanted Ryze to find it. He’d left the trail on purpose. A breadcrumb. A test.

Ryze went in at 2:13 AM.

No alarms at the gate. No guards patrolling. The snow wasn’t even disturbed.

Too quiet.

His chest tightened. The timer ticked. 178 days left.

The front doors opened with a hiss. White halls. White lights. The smell of disinfectant and something else. Blood. Fear.

And then he saw them.

Rows. Hundreds of feet of them. Glass tubes, 8 feet tall, lined up like soldiers.

And inside each tube, a kid.

Ages 6 to 16. Boys and girls. All with white hair like his. All with pale skin. All with tubes in their arms, necks, spines. Machines beeping. Breathing masks fogging.

CENTI-02. CENTI-03. CENTI-04... CENTI-50.

Some were asleep. Some had their eyes open, staring at nothing.

Ryze’s hands started shaking. "No... no, no..."

He was 01. The prototype. The first success.

These were the rest.

A small voice behind him. Barely a whisper. "You’re like us."

He turned, slow.

A girl. Maybe 10. Bare feet on the cold floor. Thin hospital gown. Her arms were covered in bruises. But ice was forming on her fingertips without her trying. She wasn’t scared. She was tired.

"CENTI-07," she said. "What’s your number?"

"01," Ryze said. His voice cracked. "The first one."

Her eyes went wide. Then filled with something like hope. "The one who escaped. The stories said you died in the fire."

Footsteps. Fast. Heavy boots.

Six guards rounded the corner. Guns up. "Intruder! Detain CENTI-01! Lethal force authorized!"

Ryze didn’t think.

Ice exploded from his left and formed a wall 10 feet thick. Fire erupted from his right and melted their guns in their hands.

In 30 seconds they were all down. Breathing. Not dead. He wouldn’t kill them. Not in front of the kids.

Alarms screamed red. `INTRUDER. FACILITY BREACH.`

"CENTI-07, get the others," Ryze said. "We’re leaving. Now."

"But the tubes— they’ll die without the machines— their bodies can’t—"

"I’ll handle it."

He ran to the main console. His hands hovered over the buttons. Warning labels everywhere.

`FACILITY SELF-DESTRUCT. CONFIRM? THIS WILL TERMINATE ALL LIFE SUPPORT.`

SIREN did this for him. Blew up Lab-01 so he could live.

Now he’d do it for them.

He slammed the button. `10:00`

"Everyone out! NOW!"

The kids moved. Some were too weak to walk. Ryze carried two of the youngest, maybe 6 years old. CENTI-07 helped the others who could stand.

They ran through halls as red lights flashed. `09:00... 08:00...`

The exit was a mile up. Freight elevator.

`03:00`

The doors opened. Snow. Cold air. Stars. Freedom.

`00:10`

They made it 200 meters from the entrance.

The mountain exploded behind them.

The sound hit them first. Then the heat. Then the shockwave that threw them all to the ground.

When Ryze looked back, there was nothing but fire and a crater.

Silence. Then coughing. Then crying.

47 kids. Alive. Free. Shivering in the snow.

Ryze set the two down and looked at all of them. Hungry. Cold. Terrified. Looking at him like he was the only thing between them and death.

"Come on," he said. His voice was rough. "I know a place. We can hide. We can be safe."

For the first time in 18 years, he wasn’t alone.

But in his chest, the timer ticked. 178 days.

And now he had 47 lives to protect.