Chapter 12 - Vera’s Husband
Reyes parked behind an abandoned church two streets from Westridge.
Emma directed them to the basement.
Beneath a rotting carpet, they found an iron ring set into the floor.
Reyes pulled it.
A trapdoor opened.
A tunnel descended toward the school.
Claire looked at Emma.
“How do you know this is here?”
“I can see what they remember.”
“Who are they?”
“All of them.”
Nathan’s infection had reached the base of his neck.
His pupils contained faint black branches.
Yet he remained himself.
For now.
They entered the tunnel.
Brickwork gave way to concrete after approximately fifty yards.
On the walls were faded construction markings.
One name appeared repeatedly.
Dr. Elias Holt.
Vera’s husband.
Melissa photographed the name.
“He was a doctor too?”
Nathan answered.
“A neuroengineer. He disappeared before Vera’s medical-license investigation.”
“Disappeared or died?” Reyes asked.
“Officially died in a boating accident.”
Emma looked toward the darkness.
“He is not dead.”
Claire stopped.
“Can you hear him?”
Emma nodded.
“He is under the garden.”
The tunnel opened behind the underground laboratory’s main chamber.
Federal agents occupied the visible corridors.
Claire heard them removing evidence.
Reyes motioned for silence.
They entered a narrow service passage hidden behind the walls.
Emma guided them toward the deepest section.
At the end was a circular steel door covered in black growth.
The same substance surrounded Nathan’s wound.
When Emma approached, the filaments moved aside.
The door opened.
Beyond it lay a chamber far older than the school.
Its walls were lined with copper coils, analog instruments, and glass tubes.
In the center stood a large cylindrical tank.
A man floated inside.
His body appeared approximately sixty years old.
Dark filaments entered his skull, spine, and chest.
His eyes opened as Emma entered.
Vera Holt stepped from behind the tank.
Claire moved in front of her daughter.
Reyes raised his weapon.
Vera held up both hands.
“If you shoot me, Elias dies.”
Claire looked at the man in the tank.
“Your husband.”
“What remains of him.”
“You used children to keep him alive?”
Vera’s face tightened.
“I used the network to keep everyone alive.”
“Stop lying.”
“I am not lying.”
Nathan approached the tank.
“The signal in the Atlantic.”
Vera looked at him.
“It infected you.”
“Yes.”
“Then you already know.”
“I hear coordinates, not explanations.”
Vera walked to an old console.
“In 1994, Elias worked on a deep-sea communication project. The team discovered a biological structure growing around an abandoned undersea cable.”
“A fungus?” Melissa asked.
“Not exactly. It mimicked neural tissue. It transmitted electrical impulses over extraordinary distances. It also stored information.”
“Memories?” Claire asked.
“Patterns. Voices. Images. Fear.”
Vera activated a monitor.
Grainy footage showed a research vessel lifting a dark mass from the ocean.
“Elias brought a sample to the laboratory. It connected to him during an accident.”
“Like Nathan,” Claire said.
Vera nodded.
“At first, Elias could hear radio transmissions without equipment. Then he heard people. Eventually, he heard other organisms beneath the sea.”
“What organisms?”
Vera looked at the tank.
“He called them the Choir.”
Emma covered her ears.
“They’re too loud.”
Vera approached her.
Claire blocked the way.
“Do not touch her.”
“She is the only child who can separate individual voices. Every other subject became overwhelmed.”
“You tortured them until one survived.”
“I made terrible choices.”
“That is not remorse.”
“No,” Vera said. “It is accuracy.”
Reyes moved closer.
“Why is the government here?”
“Because they funded the original project.”
“Who attacked the ambulance?”
“A containment unit trying to destroy the capsule.”
“The creature?”
Vera shook her head.
“That was not the capsule.”
Nathan stared at her.
“We watched it form a body.”
“You watched the network respond to a threat.”
“Then what was it?”
Vera looked toward Emma.
“A guardian.”
Claire felt no relief.
“What is it guarding her from?”
The man inside the tank opened his mouth.
His voice emerged from speakers throughout the chamber.
“Me.”
The steel door slammed shut behind them.
Vera spun toward the tank.
“Elias?”
May you like
The man’s eyes turned completely black.
“You should have let me die.”
