Chapter 13 - The Sixty Survivors
Federal agents evacuated the hospital floor.
Natalie was moved through an underground tunnel connecting St. Matthew’s to an older research building. The tunnel did not appear on public maps, but Miriam remembered it from the years when Havenbridge funded the hospital.
Ethan stayed beside Natalie.
Mills coordinated with federal investigators.
Dr. Vargas carried portable medication and Natalie’s treatment records.
The flashing map point followed them.
“It isn’t tracking the device from the biopsy,” Ethan said.
Robert, pale from surgery and guarded by two agents, studied the signal.
“It may be tracking her biological activity.”
“That’s impossible.”
“Havenbridge developed biosensors capable of identifying specific protein patterns at close range.”
“Close range?”
“Within several miles.”
“Then someone nearby is scanning for her.”
The group entered an abandoned laboratory beneath the research building.
Old equipment stood beneath plastic covers.
Miriam stopped near a circular metal chamber.
“This was one of Elias’s test sites.”
Natalie stared through the chamber’s thick glass.
“Was I brought here?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Before St. Agnes.”
Natalie touched the glass.
A memory seemed to pass through her expression.
A room filled with orange light.
A man singing softly.
A woman screaming her name.
“I remember a song,” she whispered.
Miriam began crying.
“I sang to you during the tests.”
Natalie pulled her hand away.
Before she could respond, every light in the laboratory turned on.
Computer monitors awakened.
A system voice filled the room.
PRIMARY SUBJECT CONFIRMED.
Robert moved toward the control station.
“No one touch anything.”
The chamber door opened.
Inside was a small chair fitted with restraints for a child.
Natalie stared at it.
The countdown appeared on every monitor.
FOUR DAYS, ELEVEN HOURS.
A recorded image of Elias Warren appeared.
“You are not being hunted because of the trust,” he said. “The trust exists to ensure the protocol reaches completion.”
Natalie stepped forward.
“What protocol?”
The recording continued as if responding.
“The Ember Variant was not designed merely to survive extreme environments. It was designed to activate in the presence of a specific malignant process.”
Dr. Vargas looked at the screen.
“Cancer.”
“When the host develops cancer,” Elias said, “the synthetic sequence enters its final stage. The malignant cells become carriers.”
Natalie’s face turned pale.
“Carriers of what?”
“Regeneration.”
Images appeared showing damaged tissue repairing itself at impossible speed.
Burned skin restored.
Organs regrown.
Radiation injuries reversed.
Mills stared at the data.
“If this is real…”
“It is worth more than the trust,” Robert said.
“More than any company in the world.”
Miriam looked at Natalie.
“Elias believed the cancer would trigger the final adaptation.”
Natalie touched her surgical scar.
“But they removed the tumor.”
Dr. Vargas shook her head slowly.
“Not all malignant cells can be removed surgically. Microscopic cells may remain.”
Elias’s recording continued.
“On the thirty-fifth year of the primary subject’s life, the protocol will awaken. If successful, she will become the first stable carrier.”
“And if it fails?” Ethan asked.
The screen changed.
A medical report appeared.
SYSTEMIC COLLAPSE.
ORGAN FAILURE.
CASCADE TRANSMISSION RISK.
Dr. Vargas read the final line.
“Transmission?”
Robert stepped away from the console.
“The variant may become contagious.”
The room went silent.
Ethan looked at Natalie.
“How?”
“Blood,” Miriam said. “Possibly respiratory droplets after activation.”
Mills immediately ordered everyone to put on protective masks.
Natalie backed toward the wall.
“You brought me under a hospital full of sick people.”
“We didn’t know,” Dr. Vargas said.
Natalie looked at Miriam.
“You knew the protocol existed.”
“I believed it had failed.”
“You knew enough to protect the trust.”
“I was trying to keep you alive.”
“You keep saying that as though being alive means belonging to everyone else.”
Ethan approached her carefully.
“We’ll find a way to stop it.”
“And if stopping it kills me?”
He could not answer.
Natalie looked at the people surrounding her.
Her biological mother.
Her husband.
The doctor.
The detective.
The father-in-law who had helped build the system.
Every person wanted something from her body, even when they called it rescue.
She walked toward the chamber.
“What are you doing?” Ethan asked.
“The system recognized me.”
“Natalie, don’t.”
“If Elias built this place, the answers may be inside.”
She entered the chamber.
The door sealed behind her.
Ethan rushed forward and struck the glass.
“Natalie!”
A scanner moved around her body.
She stood calmly as light filled the chamber.
The monitor displayed a sequence of genetic data.
Then an unexpected message appeared.
PRIMARY SUBJECT REJECTED.
Ethan stared.
Miriam looked shocked.
“That cannot be right.”
A second line appeared.
PRIMARY SUBJECT IS NOT NATALIE COLE.
Everyone turned toward Brooke, who had just entered the laboratory holding Caleb’s hand.
May you like
The scanner rotated toward her.
PRIMARY SUBJECT DETECTED.
