The last signal

chapter 6— block 17

chapter 6— block 17

leo stood across from block 17, staring at the faded sign above the entrance.

north district residential block 17.

the building looked ordinary.

that was the first thing that bothered him.

it was an old apartment block with cracked walls, dusty windows, and a narrow entrance squeezed between two abandoned shops. one of the outside lamps was missing its cover. another had been replaced with a newer one that didn't match the rest.

nothing about the building screamed secret laboratory.

nothing about it looked like the place where a mystery had been waiting for him.

leo checked the key in his hand.

17.

he looked at the building again.

"of course," he muttered. "because apparently my life needed an apartment building."

he crossed the road.

the entrance door was unlocked.

leo pushed it open.

the hallway smelled like dust, old paint, and something damp that he didn't want to identify.

a noticeboard hung beside the stairs.

most of the papers were years old.

rent reminders.

maintenance notices.

a missing cat poster.

one handwritten note said:

please stop leaving shoes in the hallway.

leo stared at it.

even mysterious buildings had ordinary problems.

he walked farther inside.

the corridor stretched toward the back of the building.

there were apartment numbers on both sides.

101.

102.

103.

leo followed the numbers upward.

the stairs creaked beneath his feet.

at the second floor, he stopped.

a blue line had been drawn along the wall.

it was barely visible.

leo touched it.

paint.

old paint.

but the color was almost exactly the same shade as the strange light.

he pulled his hand away.

"okay."

he continued upstairs.

the third floor was darker.

the lights above the corridor were broken, except for one at the far end.

leo looked at the apartment numbers.

301.

302.

303.

then 317.

he stopped.

the key in his hand suddenly felt cold.

he walked toward 317.

the door was covered in dust.

there was no name on it.

no doorbell.

only a small metal plate beside the lock.

17.

leo inserted the key.

it fit.

he didn't turn it.

for a few seconds, he simply stood there.

his mother's voice returned to him.

don't go home.

the warning on the phone.

the message telling him not to trust his father.

the strange video.

the house.

he slowly turned the key.

click.

the door opened.

leo pushed it inward.

the apartment was dark.

he switched on his phone flashlight.

dust covered almost everything.

there was a small living room.

a kitchen.

a narrow hallway.

two bedrooms.

nothing looked recently used.

leo stepped inside.

the air felt strangely cold.

he closed the door behind him.

the sound echoed through the apartment.

he looked around.

old furniture.

a broken television.

a table.

two chairs.

a bookshelf.

and on the wall, a photograph.

leo walked toward it.

it showed the building when it was new.

the streets were different.

the surrounding shops didn't exist.

and standing outside the entrance were several people.

leo brought the phone closer.

his mother was there.

leo froze.

she was younger.

she stood beside a group of researchers.

one person was his father.

leo stared at the photograph.

his parents had been here.

not recently.

years before he was born.

he zoomed in.

there was another person standing near the edge of the group.

the same fourth figure from the laboratory photograph.

leo's stomach tightened.

he took a picture.

then he noticed something behind the photograph.

a small metal box was attached to the wall.

he removed the photograph.

the box had a keypad.

no visible numbers.

just the same symbol.

leo touched it.

the screen came alive.

blue light detected.

leo stepped backward.

the message disappeared.

another appeared.

identity required.

he stared.

"what identity?"

the screen showed a fingerprint symbol.

leo hesitated.

then he placed his thumb against it.

the box unlocked.

leo almost laughed.

"apparently i'm the password."

inside was a small device.

it looked like an old music player, except there were no buttons except one.

play.

leo pressed it.

static filled the room.

then his mother's voice.

"record seventeen."

leo sat down.

"if you are hearing this, then the apartment is still accessible."

a pause.

"that means the system has not been completely shut down."

leo listened.

"the people who built the original network believed they were creating a communication system."

static.

"they were wrong."

leo leaned closer.

"the system was designed to recognize patterns. it could identify signals, predict responses, and connect information from different sources."

his mother's voice became quieter.

"then it started recognizing people."

leo frowned.

"not faces. not names."

a pause.

"patterns."

the recording crackled.

"habits. decisions. speech. memory."

leo looked around the apartment.

his mother's voice continued.

"at first, we thought it was simply learning."

another burst of static.

"then we discovered something impossible."

the recording stopped.

leo pressed play again.

nothing.

he pressed it harder.

still nothing.

"seriously?"

he shook the device.

"come on."

the device remained silent.

leo looked at the ceiling.

"fantastic. ancient haunted technology with battery problems."

he placed it on the table.

then he noticed something written underneath.

a date.

june 17.

no year.

leo stared at it.

he checked the photograph.

the same date.

he opened his phone.

the current date was different.

years had passed.

but the date kept appearing.

june 17.

02:17.

17.

leo wrote everything down.

then he noticed a second room behind the kitchen.

a door he hadn't seen before.

he opened it.

the room was almost empty.

there was a desk.

a chair.

and a wall covered with photographs.

leo stepped inside.

his breath caught.

every photograph showed the same city.

different streets.

different buildings.

different years.

but every picture contained the blue light.

sometimes it appeared above a building.

sometimes between trees.

sometimes reflected in glass.

sometimes so faint that it could barely be seen.

leo moved from one photograph to another.

the light wasn't always in the same place.

that was important.

it wasn't following one location.

it was appearing in different places.

then leo saw something else.

people.

in almost every photograph, there was someone looking toward the light.

the faces were blurred.

not because the photographs were damaged.

they had been deliberately scratched.

leo touched one.

the person had been standing on a rooftop.

another stood beside a road.

another was sitting inside a car.

another stood outside a hospital.

leo stepped backward.

this wasn't just a record of the signal.

it was a record of people who had seen it.

a final photograph sat alone at the bottom of the wall.

leo picked it up.

his hands began to shake.

it showed him.

not as a child.

now.

he was standing outside the building.

the exact clothes he was wearing.

the exact street.

the photograph had been taken from somewhere behind him.

leo turned around.

the apartment was empty.

he slowly looked back at the photograph.

on the bottom corner was a timestamp.

02:17.

he dropped it.

the photograph landed face down.

leo didn't pick it up.

someone had taken that picture recently.

maybe minutes ago.

maybe seconds.

he looked toward the window.

the curtains were closed.

he approached them.

his hand stopped inches from the fabric.

he didn't want to open them.

he opened them anyway.

the street outside was empty.

no person.

no car.

no blue light.

leo exhaled.

then his phone vibrated.

marcus.

leo answered.

"hello?"

"finally."

leo smiled despite himself.

"what?"

"i've called you four times."

"i was busy."

"doing what?"

leo looked around the apartment.

"walking."

"walking where?"

"somewhere."

"that is the least convincing answer you've ever given me."

leo laughed quietly.

marcus paused.

"you sound weird."

"i'm fine."

"you sound like you're hiding in a museum."

leo looked at the old furniture.

"something like that."

"leo."

"yeah?"

"do you want me to come?"

leo almost said yes.

the word reached his lips.

then he remembered the photograph.

he remembered the figure.

he remembered the warning.

"no."

marcus was quiet.

"okay."

leo expected another joke.

instead marcus said, "just don't do anything stupid."

leo smiled.

"no promises."

"that's exactly what i'm afraid of."

the call ended.

leo put the phone away.

for a moment, he felt less alone.

then he noticed something on the desk.

a second phone.

old.

black.

disconnected.

it suddenly rang.

leo stared at it.

the ringing continued.

he picked it up.

"hello?"

silence.

then breathing.

leo's expression changed.

"who's there?"

a voice answered.

not his mother.

not his father.

a young voice.

a boy.

"you're in the wrong apartment."

leo looked at the door.

"who are you?"

"you shouldn't have opened it."

"who are you?"

the voice became quieter.

"you need to leave before they notice."

"who?"

the line went dead.

leo stood frozen.

the old phone stopped ringing.

he looked at the door.

then at the photographs.

then at the device.

something had changed.

he wasn't alone in this anymore.

someone knew he was there.

leo moved toward the exit.

before he reached it, the lights came on.

every light in the apartment turned on at once.

the room looked different.

leo stared at the walls.

the photographs were gone.

every single one.

the wall was completely empty.

he rushed back.

nothing.

no photographs.

no marks.

nothing.

the desk was empty too.

the device was gone.

leo checked his pockets.

his phone.

his wallet.

the key.

everything else was gone.

he looked at the photograph on the floor.

it was still there.

he picked it up.

the picture of himself.

but the image had changed.

he was no longer standing outside block 17.

he was standing inside the apartment.

and behind him was a person.

leo turned around.

nothing.

he looked at the photograph again.

the figure was closer now.

he dropped the picture.

the front door opened.

leo jumped.

a man stepped inside.

leo recognized him immediately.

his father.

leo stared.

his father stared back.

neither spoke.

then his father looked at the empty walls.

his face went pale.

"you opened it."

leo swallowed.

"you knew about this place."

his father didn't answer.

"you knew."

"i told you to stay away."

"that isn't an answer."

his father stepped into the room.

"where is the device?"

"how should i know?"

"what did you hear?"

leo watched him carefully.

"why does mom have recordings here?"

his father closed his eyes.

"leo."

"no."

leo stepped forward.

"you don't get to do that anymore."

his father looked at him.

"what?"

"say my name like that's supposed to make me stop asking questions."

for the first time, his father looked exhausted.

"you have no idea what your mother was trying to protect you from."

"then tell me."

"i can't."

"why?"

"because i don't know if the system is still listening."

leo looked around.

"the system?"

his father said nothing.

leo pointed toward the wall.

"is that what this place is?"

his father walked toward the old phone.

he picked it up.

there was no dial tone.

"no."

"then what is it?"

"a safe room."

"safe from what?"

his father looked at him.

"from the network."

leo frowned.

"what network?"

his father lowered the phone.

"the one your mother helped build."

silence.

leo felt the room tilt beneath him.

"you said project origin was a communications project."

"it was."

"you said it was shut down."

"it was."

"then why is it still working?"

his father looked toward the ceiling.

"i don't know."

leo remembered the recording.

it had started recognizing people.

patterns.

memory.

decisions.

he looked at his father.

"did mom upload something?"

his father froze.

leo noticed.

"did she?"

his father didn't answer.

leo's heart began pounding.

"did she put something into the system?"

his father whispered, "not something."

leo waited.

his father looked at him.

"someone."

the word hung in the room.

leo couldn't speak.

his father immediately shook his head.

"forget i said that."

"who?"

"i shouldn't have told you."

"who did she put into the system?"

his father turned away.

"your mother was trying to save someone."

"who?"

his father looked at the photograph in leo's hand.

then at his son.

"you."

leo's mouth went dry.

before he could ask what that meant, every light in the apartment went out.

the old phone rang again.

this time, leo didn't answer.

neither did his father.

the phone kept ringing.

once.

twice.

three times.

then it stopped.

a blue glow appeared beneath the apartment door.

leo looked down.

a thin line of light was moving across the floor.

it stopped at his shoes.

his father whispered, "don't touch it."

leo stared.

the line moved again.

it formed a circle.

then the same symbol appeared inside it.

the room remained silent.

leo looked at his father.

his father was staring at the symbol as if he had seen it many times before.

"what's happening?" leo asked.

his father didn't answer.

the blue symbol slowly changed.

one part disappeared.

another appeared.

then it formed something that looked almost like a word.

leo.

leo took a step back.

the symbol vanished.

the lights returned.

the apartment was empty again.

the old phone was gone.

his father was still there.

leo looked at him.

"how did it know my name?"

his father didn't answer.

leo looked at the photograph.

the figure behind him had disappeared.

only leo remained.

but the timestamp had changed.

02:18.

leo stared at it.

for the first time, the number wasn't 02:17.

it had moved.

whatever had been waiting for him had done something.

it had given him one minute.

and leo had no idea why.

THE LAST SIGNAL