The voice came from directly behind Elias.
“We’re not the ones trapped in here.”
Elias turned.
Nothing.
Only the survivors.
Thirty-two people stood scattered across the platform.
Thirty-two.
He counted them again.
Thirty-two.
Marcus was still staring at the wall.
The number 34 remained scratched into the concrete.
Noah stepped closer.
“That wasn’t there before.”
Elias shook his head.
“No.”
Marcus suddenly raised his weapon.
“Nobody move.”
Everyone froze.
Marcus looked across the platform.
“Count yourselves.”
A survivor frowned.
“What?”
“Count.”
The group began calling out names.
One.
Two.
Three.
Elias watched Marcus’s face.
His eyes moved from person to person.
When they reached the final survivor, Marcus lowered his weapon.
“Thirty-two.”
Noah exhaled.
“See?”
Marcus didn’t answer.
He walked toward the wall.
His fingers touched the number 34.
“Then why is it here?”
Nobody knew.
Subject Nine stared at the writing.
Her expression was different.
Not confused.
Afraid.
Elias noticed.
“Nine.”
She didn’t respond.
“Why are you looking at it like that?”
She slowly turned.
“Because I know what it means.”
Marcus looked at her.
“What?”
Subject Nine pointed at the numbers.
“They aren’t counting people.”
Silence.
“Then what are they counting?” Elias asked.
She swallowed.
“Changes.”
The survivors exchanged uneasy glances.
Marcus shook his head.
“Explain.”
Subject Nine stepped closer to the wall.
“Chimera experiments were monitored continuously.”
She touched the first number.
“Thirty-two.”
Then the second.
“Thirty-three.”
Then the final number.
“Thirty-four.”
Elias frowned.
“Changes in what?”
“Behaviour.”
Noah looked toward the tunnel.
“Whose behaviour?”
Subject Nine’s eyes moved across the room.
“Everyone’s.”
The shelter became silent.
Mara crossed her arms.
“You mean it can change us?”
“Not exactly.”
Subject Nine hesitated.
“It can influence us.”
Marcus’s face hardened.
“How?”
“Fear.”
She pointed toward the tunnel.
“Fear changes the brain.
Changes hormones.
Changes decision-making.”
Elias stared at her.
“So it’s studying us.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Subject Nine didn’t answer immediately.
Then:
“Because that’s how Chimera learns.”
A sudden crash came from the storage room.
Everyone turned.
Marcus raised his weapon.
“Stay here.”
He moved toward the door.
Elias followed.
“You’re not going alone.”
Marcus didn’t argue.
They entered the storage room.
Boxes were scattered across the floor.
A broken shelf leaned against the wall.
Marcus checked the corners.
Nothing.
Elias noticed an open container.
Inside were medical supplies.
Someone had moved them.
“Marcus.”
He pointed.
Marcus approached.
The supplies had been arranged into a neat line.
Bandages.
Antiseptic.
Syringes.
Medicine.
Then one final item.
A small black identification card.
Marcus picked it up.
CHIMERA RESEARCH DIVISION
He turned it over.
There was a name.
MARCUS VALE
Elias stared.
Marcus didn’t move.
“You know this?”
Marcus’s expression was empty.
“No.”
Elias looked at him.
“Your name is on it.”
“I know.”
“You said you weren’t part of Chimera.”
“I wasn’t.”
“Then why is your name on the card?”
Marcus dropped it.
“I don’t know.”
Elias studied him.
Marcus was breathing faster.
His eyes were fixed on the card.
Then a voice came from the storage room.
“Marcus.”
He froze.
Elias immediately raised his weapon.
The voice came again.
His brother.
“You remember.”
Marcus closed his eyes.
“No.”
“You remember what you did.”
Marcus’s breathing became ragged.
Elias stepped between him and the darkness.
“Don’t listen.”
The voice laughed softly.
“You always forget the important parts.”
Marcus opened his eyes.
“What did I do?”
Elias looked at him.
“Marcus.”
But Marcus wasn’t listening.
“What did I do?”
The voice answered.
“You left me.”
Marcus’s weapon dropped slightly.
“You left me there.”
Marcus shook his head.
“No.”
“You heard me calling.”
“No.”
“You heard me.”
Marcus pressed his hands against his head.
“No.”
Elias grabbed him.
“Marcus!”
Marcus shoved him away.
“Get off me!”
His voice echoed through the storage room.
The survivors outside became silent.
Marcus looked at Elias.
For a moment, he looked completely lost.
Then he whispered:
“I remember the door.”
Elias said nothing.
Marcus stared into the darkness.
“I was holding it shut.”
His breathing became heavier.
“My brother was on the other side.”
The voice came again.
“Marcus.”
Marcus closed his eyes.
“He was begging me to open it.”
Elias realized where this was going.
Marcus continued.
“I didn’t.”
The voice whispered:
“You left me.”
Marcus’s face crumpled.
“I heard him screaming.”
Noah appeared at the doorway.
“Marcus…”
“I heard him.”
Marcus looked at Elias.
“I could have opened it.”
Nobody spoke.
“But I didn’t.”
He looked toward the floor.
“I chose everyone else.”
The silence became unbearable.
Elias finally understood.
Marcus’s guilt wasn’t simply because his brother died.
It was because Marcus believed he had chosen to let him die.
The creature hadn’t created the wound.
It had discovered it.
And now it was tearing it open.
A gunshot suddenly echoed through the station.
Everyone jumped.
Marcus immediately snapped back into action.
“Where?”
“Platform!”
They rushed outside.
One survivor was standing beside the tracks, weapon smoking.
“What happened?”
The survivor pointed toward the darkness.
“I saw something.”
Marcus looked at him.
“What?”
“A person.”
“Who?”
The survivor’s face was pale.
“My wife.”
Mara stepped closer.
“Your wife?”
He nodded.
“She died three days ago.”
Nobody moved.
Marcus slowly lowered his weapon.
“Did you see her face?”
The survivor nodded.
“Yes.”
“Did she speak?”
“She told me she was cold.”
Marcus’s expression changed.
“Did you answer?”
The survivor hesitated.
“Yes.”
Everyone looked at him.
Marcus’s voice became quiet.
“What did you say?”
“I said…”
The survivor swallowed.
“…I’m coming.”
Marcus immediately raised his weapon.
“Get away from him.”
The man looked confused.
“What?”
“Back away.”
“Why?”
Marcus didn’t answer.
Subject Nine stepped forward.
Her eyes were fixed on the survivor’s neck.
“Look.”
Elias followed her gaze.
There were black veins beneath his skin.
The survivor touched his neck.
“What?”
Marcus shouted:
“Don’t touch it!”
The man stumbled backward.
“What is happening?”
The black veins spread.
Slowly.
Like ink beneath glass.
Mara rushed toward him.
“Hold him!”
Two survivors grabbed the man’s arms.
He screamed.
“I don’t want to die!”
The voice changed.
For half a second, it wasn’t his.
It was his wife’s.
“I don’t want to die.”
Everyone froze.
The man began crying.
“No…”
The voice came again.
“I don’t want to die.”
Then his eyes turned black.
Elias stepped backward.
The man’s body convulsed.
The black veins spread across his face.
Subject Nine whispered:
“It got inside him.”
Noah looked at her.
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
Marcus shouted:
“Everyone move!”
The man suddenly stopped shaking.
His head lifted.
He smiled.
Then spoke in his own voice.
“Thirty-three.”
Elias froze.
The creature looked across the survivors.
“Thirty-four.”
Marcus raised his weapon.
The creature’s smile widened.
“Thirty-five.”
It lunged.
The platform erupted into chaos.
Gunfire.
Screams.
People scattered.
Elias fired twice.
The creature twisted away.
It moved faster than a normal human.
Marcus shot it in the leg.
The creature stumbled.
Noah fired.
It fell.
Mara shouted:
“Don’t get close!”
The creature laughed.
Then it spoke in Marcus’s brother’s voice.
“Marcus.”
Marcus froze.
The creature crawled toward him.
“You promised.”
Marcus raised his weapon.
His hands shook.
Elias stepped beside him.
“Don’t.”
The creature looked at Elias.
Its expression changed.
Recognition.
Then it spoke in Elias’s own voice.
“Don’t.”
Elias felt his stomach drop.
It wasn’t merely copying voices.
It was copying them.
Marcus fired.
The creature’s head snapped backward.
It collapsed.
Nobody moved.
Marcus lowered his weapon.
“Is it dead?”
Elias approached cautiously.
The creature wasn’t moving.
Subject Nine stared at it.
“Don’t touch it.”
Elias stopped.
“Why?”
She pointed toward its chest.
Something was moving underneath the skin.
A heartbeat.
Then another.
Then—
Nothing.
Marcus exhaled.
“It’s dead.”
Subject Nine shook her head.
“No.”
She looked toward the tunnel.
“It isn’t.”
Elias followed her gaze.
The tunnel was empty.
But the radio on Marcus’s belt suddenly activated.
Static.
Then a voice.
Clear.
Calm.
Human.
“Thirty-six.”
Marcus looked down.
The radio displayed a signal.
CHIMERA ACTIVE
Elias’s marks burned beneath his skin.
And somewhere deep beneath the abandoned station…
Something answered.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
Marcus closed his eyes.
Not again.