Chapter 9 - The Children Beneath the House
Cold air poured from the chamber.
Beyond the steel door stretched a laboratory larger than the Mercer ballroom.
Rows of glass rooms lined both sides of a central corridor. Old monitoring equipment stood beside modern computers. Some areas were covered in dust. Others had been cleaned recently.
The Garden had never closed.
It had evolved.
Daniel and Ross entered with two officers.
The door sealed behind them.
Every monitor activated simultaneously.
Black-and-white footage appeared.
Children sat alone in white rooms.
Some rocked silently. Some stared at flashing lights. Others wore metal bands around their necks.
A date appeared in the corner of one recording.
Thirty-five years earlier.
A four-year-old girl stood behind the glass.
Clara.
Daniel approached the screen.
Even as a child, she had the same solemn eyes.
A younger Thomas entered the room and knelt before her.
The recording had no sound, but Clara reached for him.
The image changed.
Vivian appeared in a white medical coat.
She watched from the observation room, writing on a clipboard.
Daniel felt sick.
Ross examined a central terminal.
“Most files are encrypted.”
A new recording began.
Richard Mercer faced the camera.
“If this message is playing, the Garden has recognized all three access elements.”
Daniel moved closer.
His father looked exhausted.
“Vivian believes Subject Twelve will complete the program. She is wrong. Subject Twelve does not stabilize the network. Subject Twelve controls it.”
Ross looked at Daniel.
“What network?”
Richard continued.
“The implants communicate through an adaptive biological relay. Every viable subject connected to the system can be influenced by the twelfth.”
Daniel thought of the capsules in Sophie’s neck.
His father’s recording continued.
“If Subject Twelve activates fully, the Garden will reveal the locations of all remaining subjects.”
A map appeared.
Dozens of lights illuminated across the country.
Then across the world.
Ross whispered, “There are more.”
A speaker crackled.
Vivian’s voice filled the laboratory.
“Welcome home, Daniel.”
Lights activated at the far end of the chamber.
Vivian stood behind reinforced glass.
Adrian was beside her.
Clara stood between them, wearing a white gown.
Sophie lay unconscious on a medical table.
Daniel ran toward the glass.
“Sophie!”
Vivian spoke through the intercom.
“She is stable.”
“You took her from intensive care.”
“She was never safe there.”
Clara lifted her head.
Her eyes appeared unfocused.
Daniel pressed his hand against the glass.
“Clara.”
She looked toward him.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then tears filled her eyes.
“Daniel?”
Vivian touched a control panel.
A low tone sounded.
Clara’s expression emptied.
Daniel struck the glass.
“Stop it.”
“The capsule inside her has remained dormant for thirty-one years,” Vivian said. “I merely reminded it of its purpose.”
“You tortured your own daughter.”
Vivian smiled sadly.
“Clara is not my biological daughter.”
“You told her she was.”
“I told her what she needed to believe.”
“Why?”
“To separate her from Thomas.”
Thomas’s voice came through another entrance behind Daniel.
“It won’t work.”
Daniel turned.
Thomas and Mary had entered the Garden with Dr. Ortiz and two additional officers.
Ross cursed.
“I told you to remain at the hospital.”
“Sophie needs me,” Thomas said.
Vivian’s face hardened.
“Elias.”
Thomas approached the glass.
“You lost.”
Vivian laughed.
“The Garden is open.”
“And Subject Twelve will reject you.”
“She is seven years old.”
“She is Clara’s daughter.”
Vivian looked toward Sophie.
“That is exactly why she will obey.”
Thomas turned to Daniel.
“The capsules must be removed before the system completes synchronization.”
Dr. Ortiz studied the equipment around Sophie.
“I can operate here, but we need access to that room.”
Ross searched for a release panel.
Adrian stepped forward behind the glass.
“You still don’t understand,” he said. “Mother isn’t the only one controlling the system.”
Daniel looked at his brother.
“Then who is?”
Adrian glanced toward the darkness behind them.
A man emerged.
He was thin, pale, and scarred along one side of his face.
Clara’s missing husband.
Michael.
He placed one hand on Sophie’s medical table.
“She remembers me,” he said.
Daniel raised his weapon.
“Step away from my daughter.”
Michael smiled.
“She is not your daughter.”
Sophie’s eyes opened.
Every light in the Garden turned red.
The child looked directly at Michael.
“No,” she whispered.
Michael’s smile disappeared.
Sophie lifted one hand.
Across the chamber, locks engaged around Michael’s wrists and ankles.
The Garden’s automated restraints pulled him against the wall.
Vivian turned toward the control panel.
It no longer responded to her.
Sophie sat upright.
May you like
When she spoke again, her voice carried through every speaker.
“You hurt my mother.”
