2025-07-31 23:59:19
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Sofia stared at Ethan without blinking once.The room continued groaning behind their backs.Hundreds of hands crawled through broken walls.Yet Sofia noticed only Ethan’s frightened expression.That frightened her more than everything else.“Tell me who died first, Ethan.”Her voice sounded strangely calm somehow.Ethan swallowed before answering her question.“I don’t know how to explain everything.”Sofia laughed softly without feeling amused whatsoever.“That answer usually means something terrible happened.”Ethan looked toward the mysterious girl.Sofia immediately followed his frightened gaze.The girl looked strangely exhausted now.She seemed tired from carrying everyone’s secrets.“Stop looking at her,” Sofia whispered.Ethan finally looked directly into Sofia’s eyes.She hated how familiar those eyes felt.She hated how much she trusted them.Most importantly, she hated feeling betrayed.“Who died first?” Sofia asked again.Ethan remained completely silent for several secon
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Beverly stared at the older man silently.Nobody moved after his terrifying confession.The silence felt heavier than the smoke.Davion remained beside Beverly, completely frozen there.His eyes never left his father’s face.Beverly touched her chest with trembling fingers.Something inside her seemed strangely awake now.She could feel something moving beneath everything.Not physically, but somehow deeper than that.It felt like another heartbeat inside her.“What did you put inside me?”Beverly repeated those words much more firmly.Her father’s expression became noticeably colder then.“You were never supposed to remember anything.”Beverly’s stomach twisted painfully after hearing that.Davion stepped forward with his weapon raised.“You’re going to answer her questions.”His father looked at Davion without fear.“You still think you’re protecting her.”Davion’s jaw tightened immediately after hearing that.“What exactly am I protecting her from?”His father glanced toward Beverl
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For several seconds, nobody said anything.Beverly stared at the words painted across the doorway.HE IS COMING FOR HER.There was something particularly irritating about being threatened by someone who apparently had access to an underground facility, thousands of hidden systems, classified memories, dead people who were not actually dead, and enough technology to make Wilson look like he was about to personally sue the universe.Wilson was the first to break.“I hate this place.”Reika looked at him.“You’ve said that about six times.”“And every single time I’ve been correct.”Beverly was still staring at the doorway.“Who is he?”Nobody answered.She turned around.“Who is coming for me?”Davion’s jaw tightened.“Beverly—”“No.”She held up a hand.“No more telling me to stay behind you, no more telling me you’ll explain later, and absolutely no more standing around looking like somebody just mentioned a family secret at dinner.”Wilson slowly raised his hand.Beverly glared at hi
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The words BEGIN EXTRACTION had barely finished appearing on the screens when Wilson screamed.Not shouted.Not yelled.Screamed.It was the kind of scream that came from somewhere deep inside a person who had finally reached the absolute limit of what they were willing to tolerate from one particular evening.“No!”Reika flinched.“Wilson!”“No! I reject this!”Beverly stared at him.“You can’t reject it.”“I can reject anything I want!”“It’s a computer command.”“Then I reject the computer command!”The woman standing in the doorway looked at him as though she had genuinely forgotten how exhausting he could be.“You haven’t changed.”Wilson pointed at her.“You died!”She blinked.“Yes.”“You died!”“I heard you the first time.”“Then why are you standing there?”She sighed.“I’ve been asked that question a lot.”“By whom?”“Mostly myself.”Wilson stared at her.For once, he had absolutely nothing to say.Beverly might have laughed if the lights hadn’t suddenly begun flashing.A sha
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For once, nobody had a joke.Not Wilson, which was probably the clearest indication that things had gone horribly wrong.The message remained on every screen in the chamber, glowing against the darkness with an almost insulting level of confidence.BRING US DAVION.Beverly stared at it.Then she looked at Davion.Then back at the screen.Then at Davion again.“Well,” she said slowly, “that seems unnecessarily personal.”Wilson turned toward her.“Personal?”“Yes.”“Beverly, they just told us to hand Davion over!”“I know.”“And that’s what you have to say?”She shrugged.“I don’t know what else you want me to say.”Wilson pointed at the screen.“Maybe, ‘Oh no, mysterious people who apparently know everything about us want our friend!’”Reika glanced at him.“Friend?”Wilson paused.“Fine. Colleague.”Davion looked at him.Wilson cleared his throat.“Extremely intimidating colleague.”“Better.”Beverly almost laughed, but the sound died when the lights flickered.The message disappeare
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The first voice was followed by another.Then another.Then another.Within seconds, the underground chamber was filled with them.They came from every direction, overlapping so badly that Beverly couldn’t understand a single word, and the worst part was that they weren’t distorted or robotic like the system had been.They sounded human.Some were whispering.Some were breathing.Some were saying things that sounded like names.And one very strange voice was calmly reciting what sounded suspiciously like a grocery list.Beverly stared into the darkness.“Is that person talking about tomatoes?”Wilson looked at her.“What?”“Listen.”They did.“…two cartons of milk, bread, tomatoes…”Reika slowly lowered her weapon.“What in the world?”Wilson looked genuinely offended.“I don’t know, Beverly. We have bigger problems than someone’s underground shopping list.”“I just think it’s weird.”“Everything about tonight is weird!”Davion turned toward them.“Focus.”Wilson pointed toward the ce
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