Chapter 8 - Subject E-7
The children in the glass chambers were alive.
Some were unconscious.
Others pressed their palms against the walls as the fluid drained around them.
Claire ran to the nearest chamber.
A girl of approximately nine stared back at her through black-veined eyes.
“We have to open these,” Claire said.
Reyes studied the control console.
“It requires a code.”
Lucas sat on the floor, too weak to stand.
Melissa wrapped him in her coat.
“What event was she talking about?”
Lucas answered.
“The silence.”
Claire crouched beside him.
“What is the silence?”
“When all the phones stop.”
Reyes froze.
“An electromagnetic event?”
Lucas nodded.
“The roots keep your thoughts safe when the machines go dark.”
Claire looked at the children.
Vera’s organism had been designed to grow along neural pathways.
A living network could theoretically function without conventional electronics.
“You were building biological communication systems,” Claire said toward the camera.
Vera’s voice returned.
“Not systems. Survivors.”
“You experimented on children.”
“Adults reject integration. Young neural tissue adapts.”
“Children died.”
A pause followed.
“Sacrifices were made.”
Melissa looked up in disgust.
“They had names.”
“Yes,” Vera said. “And because of them, millions may live.”
Reyes entered several codes.
The console rejected them.
The doors of the glass chambers began unlocking automatically.
The children stepped out slowly.
Their movements were unnatural.
Synchronized.
All twelve turned toward Claire at the same time.
Lucas covered his ears.
“She’s connecting them.”
The nearest girl spoke.
Her lips moved, but Vera’s voice emerged.
“Emma is the first subject to establish independent communication without full integration.”
Claire felt a wave of dread.
“That is why you chose her?”
“I did not choose Emma. The network did.”
The children began walking forward.
Reyes raised his weapon but did not aim it at them.
“Stop.”
They continued.
Claire noticed small metal discs attached behind their ears.
“Those are transmitters.”
“Control relays,” Lucas whispered.
Claire pointed toward the discs.
“Remove them.”
Melissa reached the nearest child.
The girl swung her arm with surprising force.
Melissa fell.
Reyes caught the child’s wrists.
“Claire, now.”
Claire pulled the disc away.
The girl collapsed.
The other children stopped briefly.
Then they rushed forward.
Reyes and Melissa restrained them one at a time while Claire removed the relays.
Each child fell unconscious when disconnected.
The final boy backed into the corner.
He began striking his head against the wall.
“Don’t let her go,” Lucas said.
Claire removed his transmitter.
The alarms stopped.
The locked doors released.
Reyes radioed for help.
This time, the signal connected.
He gave the location and requested multiple ambulances.
Vera’s voice returned through a smaller speaker near the console.
“You have delayed the process.”
Claire approached it.
“Where are you?”
“Closer than you think.”
“What is the event?”
“You already witnessed a fragment of it when the ambulance was attacked.”
“That was your people.”
“No.”
Claire looked at Reyes.
Vera continued.
“The electromagnetic pulse used against the ambulance was military technology. My organization does not possess it.”
“Then who attacked us?”
“The people trying to prevent the network from becoming active.”
“Why?”
“Because when the silence begins, they intend to control who can communicate.”
Reyes stepped closer.
“You expect us to believe you are protecting people?”
“I expect Claire to understand once she sees the capsule.”
“It was stolen.”
“No,” Vera said. “It left.”
Claire remembered the laboratory footage showing Nathan entering the room.
“That is impossible.”
“Is it?”
A monitor on the wall activated.
Security footage appeared.
The stolen capsule rested inside its containment tray.
Its outer shell opened.
Black filaments spread across the table.
Within minutes, they assembled into the rough outline of a hand.
Then an arm.
Then a human figure.
The image distorted.
When it cleared, Nathan stood beside the table.
He opened the laboratory door and walked out.
Claire stared.
“That was not Nathan.”
“No,” Vera said. “It was an adaptation.”
“What does it want?”
“Emma.”
“Why?”
“Because the fragment removed from her body cannot complete itself without its original host.”
Claire thought of her daughter lying in the hospital.
She grabbed her phone.
No service.
The underground alarm had blocked the signal again.
Reyes ran toward the stairs.
Claire followed.
Behind them, Lucas called out.
“Mrs. Bennett.”
Claire turned.
May you like
The dark lines in his eyes had begun moving.
“She’s already at the hospital.”
