Chapter 9 - the memory that belonged to someone else
Miles fired into the nearest ceiling vent.
The gas continued pouring into the corridor.
Ethan covered Sophie’s mouth and nose with his coat while Rebecca searched the control panel. Laura pulled a fire extinguisher from the wall and smashed the emergency glass.
Nothing happened.
Daniel struck the observation window from inside his cell.
“Floor panel!” he shouted.
Sophie pointed beneath Ethan’s feet.
A red lever was recessed into the concrete.
Ethan pulled it.
Emergency shutters closed over the vents. Industrial fans activated, drawing the gas out through the lower ducts.
Everyone coughed, but the immediate danger passed.
Miles examined the sealed doors.
“Victoria wanted us unconscious, not dead.”
Laura looked through the glass.
“How do we release Daniel?”
Sophie held up the stuffed rabbit.
The remaining plastic eye had begun flashing.
Daniel pointed at it.
“The rabbit is the access token.”
Laura pressed the toy against the scanner beside the cell.
The lock opened.
Daniel stumbled into the corridor.
Sophie ran to him.
He dropped to his knees and held her, trembling so violently that Laura had to support them both.
For a moment, Ethan turned away.
The reunion was too intimate and too painful to watch.
Then Daniel looked at him again.
“What do you remember about the fire?”
“Point Delmar?”
“Yes.”
“Almost nothing.”
“You locked Matthew inside the testing room.”
Ethan felt a sharp pressure behind his eyes.
An image appeared without warning.
A blue door.
Smoke.
A child screaming his name.
He gripped the wall.
Miles watched him.
“You remember.”
“I don’t know.”
Daniel approached.
“You were eight. Victoria told you Matthew would replace you if he scored higher. She gave you a key and said only one boy could leave.”
Ethan saw another image.
His small hand turning a lock.
A boy pounding on the glass.
Flames spreading behind him.
“No.”
“You closed the door.”
“I was a child.”
“You watched him burn.”
The memory struck with physical force.
Ethan collapsed to one knee.
Nora moved toward him, but Miles stopped her.
“Let him remember.”
The laboratory fire had not simply erased records.
It had been the final evaluation.
Ethan had locked another boy inside because Victoria told him survival required it.
“Was the boy the real Ethan?” Ethan asked.
Daniel shook his head.
“Matthew was another replacement candidate. The original Ethan died earlier.”
Ethan looked at Miles.
“Then who are we?”
“Children taken from hospitals and shelters,” Miles replied. “Names were assigned according to usefulness.”
Daniel touched the electrodes still attached to his temples.
“Victoria records memories from every survivor. She believes trauma makes identity transferable.”
Laura examined his wrists.
“How long have you been here?”
“Seven years.”
“Why didn’t you contact me?”
“I tried. Every message was intercepted.”
Laura’s face crumpled.
Daniel held her hand.
“They showed me footage of you moving on with Miles. They wanted me angry enough to cooperate.”
Laura looked toward Miles.
“You knew Daniel was alive?”
“No.”
Daniel studied him.
“You were Subject Eleven.”
Miles stiffened.
“You remember me?”
“You used to hide bread beneath my pillow.”
No one spoke.
A childhood kindness had survived inside Miles despite everything Victoria made him become.
The prison doors unlocked.
Victoria’s voice returned.
“Family reunions are exhausting. Come to the central laboratory.”
A directional light appeared along the floor.
Rebecca shook her head.
“It’s a trap.”
“All routes are traps,” Ethan said. “At least this one leads to her.”
They followed the illuminated path through the underground complex.
Rows of rooms appeared behind glass: medical bays, classrooms, recording studios, and small bedrooms built to resemble ordinary American homes.
In one room, a table had been set for dinner.
In another, a Christmas tree stood beside wrapped boxes.
These were environments used to train replacement children.
Sophie stared silently.
Ethan wished he could cover her eyes, but she had already seen too much.
They reached a circular laboratory beneath the center of the mansion.
Victoria stood on an elevated platform wearing a cream suit and red shoes.
Beside her sat a machine surrounded by monitors.
Murphy growled.
Victoria looked at Sophie.
“You brought the final compatible child.”
Daniel moved in front of his daughter.
“You will never touch her.”
“I do not need to. The process has already begun.”
Sophie’s rabbit emitted a high-pitched tone.
She dropped it.
The torn seam opened by itself.
Inside was not merely a data capsule.
A small injector extended from the fabric.
A red mark appeared on Sophie’s palm.
Laura grabbed her hand.
“When did it prick you?”
Sophie stared at the rabbit.
“In the doghouse.”
Victoria smiled.
“The toy delivered the first stage twelve hours ago.”
Daniel lunged toward the platform, but a transparent barrier rose between them.
“What did you give her?” Ethan demanded.
“A biological recorder.”
Sophie swayed.
Laura caught her.
Victoria looked at Ethan.
May you like
“By sunrise, Sophie will begin remembering everything you were trained to forget.”
👉 Sophie had been injected through the stuffed rabbit, and Victoria intended to use the child’s mind to recover the darkest memories buried inside Ethan.
