2026-08-28 06:55:47Chapter 4 — Subject 72
Ethan couldn't move.
The rain fell around him.
The black Tower stood in the distance like a wound torn into the sky.
And the man in front of him was smiling.
"I was the first person you killed."
The words echoed inside Ethan's head.
"No."
His voice came out weak.
The man tilted his head.
"You don't remember."
"I don't know you."
"That's what they wanted."
He took another step forward.
Mia raised the metal pipe.
"Stay away from him."
The man's eyes moved toward her.
For the first time, his expression changed.
Recognition.
"You survived."
Mia tightened her grip.
"Who are you?"
The man smiled.
"That's a complicated question."
He looked at Ethan again.
"But he knows the answer."
Ethan's headache returned.
A flash.
A laboratory.
White walls.
A glass chamber.
A young Ethan standing inside it.
Someone was speaking through an intercom.
"Subject 72 is responding to the procedure."
Another flash.
Ethan saw a woman.
Long black hair.
A white coat.
She was standing beside the chamber.
Her face was blurred.
But her voice was clear.
"If he remembers, everything is over."
Another flash.
Blood.
Ethan screaming.
A needle entering his arm.
Then darkness.
He stumbled.
Mia caught him.
"Ethan!"
"I'm fine."
"No, you're not."
"I'm fine!"
His voice was sharper than he intended.
Mia stepped back.
The masked man watched silently.
Finally, Ethan looked at him.
"What is your name?"
The man smiled.
"Adrian."
Ethan froze.
Adrian Vale.
The scientist from the recording.
The man who was supposed to have died before the apocalypse.
"You..."
Adrian nodded.
"Yes."
"But I saw you die."
"Of course you did."
"You were executed."
"In your memories."
Ethan's expression hardened.
"What does that mean?"
Adrian stepped closer.
"It means you remember a version of events."
"Which version?"
"The one they wanted you to remember."
Ethan stared at him.
Mia looked between them.
"Someone changed his memories?"
Adrian shook his head.
"Not changed."
"Then what?"
"Edited."
The word hit Ethan harder than any punch.
"Why?"
"Because you were dangerous."
Ethan laughed bitterly.
"Dangerous?"
"You still are."
Adrian looked toward the Tower.
"And now they've realized you remember enough to become a problem."
A loud siren suddenly sounded.
The black vehicles from earlier were moving toward them.
Adrian looked at the approaching headlights.
"We have less than three minutes."
"Three minutes for what?"
"For them to arrive."
"Who are they?"
Adrian's expression became serious.
"The people who built the Tower."
Ethan looked toward the massive structure.
"Why?"
Adrian didn't answer.
Instead, he reached into his coat and pulled out a small metal device.
It looked like a watch.
He threw it to Ethan.
Ethan caught it.
The moment his fingers touched the device, the screen activated.
SUBJECT 72 — STATUS: ACTIVE
MEMORY RESTORATION: 17%
Ethan's eyes widened.
"What's this?"
"Your key."
"To what?"
"To remembering everything."
Mia stepped closer.
"Why would you give that to him?"
Adrian looked at her.
"Because if I don't, he'll die again."
Ethan stared at him.
"Again?"
Adrian nodded.
"You've died before."
"How many times?"
Adrian didn't answer immediately.
"Seven."
Silence.
Ethan's stomach turned.
"Seven?"
"You have lived this timeline seven times."
Mia's face went pale.
"That's impossible."
Adrian looked at her.
"Is it?"
He pointed toward the Tower.
"That structure has been activated seven times."
Ethan stared at the Tower.
Seven times.
He suddenly remembered something.
A sensation.
A strange familiarity.
The Tower.
The rain.
Mia.
Adrian.
It wasn't his first time seeing them.
It was his first time remembering them.
Ethan looked at the device.
"Why do I keep coming back?"
Adrian's eyes darkened.
"Because you haven't completed your purpose."
"What purpose?"
"Ending the apocalypse."
Ethan laughed.
"You caused it."
"No."
Adrian's expression became cold.
"I tried to stop it."
"Then who caused it?"
Adrian looked directly at him.
"You did."
Silence.
Ethan felt as though the ground had disappeared beneath his feet.
"No."
"You activated the first Tower."
"I've never seen it before."
"You don't remember."
"Stop saying that!"
Ethan grabbed Adrian's collar.
"Tell me the truth!"
Adrian didn't resist.
"You want the truth?"
"Yes."
"You were seventeen when the project began."
Ethan's grip loosened.
"You weren't a test subject."
Adrian paused.
"You were the project leader."
Ethan stepped backward.
"No."
"You designed the Awakening protocol."
"No."
"You predicted the collapse."
"No."
"You created the Towers."
"No!"
Ethan screamed.
His memories couldn't be real.
He had spent three years fighting the apocalypse.
He had watched people die.
He had buried friends.
He had starved.
He had suffered.
How could he have created it?
Adrian looked almost sympathetic.
"That's why they erased your memory."
"Who?"
"The people who funded the project."
"Who?"
Adrian glanced at the Tower.
"The Helix Foundation."
The name meant nothing to Ethan.
Mia suddenly spoke.
"I've heard that name."
Ethan looked at her.
"Where?"
"Before the blackout."
She hesitated.
"My father worked for them."
Ethan stared at her.
"What?"
Mia looked uncomfortable.
"I never told you."
"Your father worked for Helix?"
"Yes."
"Doing what?"
"I don't know."
Adrian smiled.
"She knows more than she thinks."
Mia stepped backward.
"What does that mean?"
Adrian didn't answer.
The vehicles arrived.
Eight armed soldiers surrounded the street.
A voice shouted through a loudspeaker.
"STEP AWAY FROM SUBJECT 72!"
Ethan looked at Adrian.
"Subject 72?"
The soldiers raised their weapons.
"ETHAN CARTER!"
"YOU ARE ORDERED TO SURRENDER!"
Mia whispered:
"What do we do?"
Adrian looked at Ethan.
"Now you decide."
"Decide what?"
"Whether you want to remember."
Ethan looked down at the device.
A single button was blinking.
RESTORE MEMORY — 17%
Adrian continued.
"If you press it, you'll recover everything."
"And if I don't?"
"You can live."
Ethan frowned.
"Live?"
"You'll remain the man you believe yourself to be."
"And if I press it?"
Adrian looked toward the soldiers.
"You'll become the man you were before."
Ethan's fingers tightened around the device.
"Which one is worse?"
Adrian smiled sadly.
"You."
A soldier shouted again.
"LAST WARNING!"
Ethan looked at Mia.
She was terrified.
But she didn't run.
She stayed beside him.
That mattered.
Ethan looked at the Tower.
Then at Adrian.
Then at the device.
He pressed the button.
The world disappeared.
Pain exploded inside his skull.
Memories flooded back.
A laboratory.
A classroom.
A young Ethan drawing equations across a glass wall.
Scientists surrounding him.
A woman laughing.
Mia.
No.
It wasn't Mia.
It was someone who looked exactly like her.
Ethan saw himself standing before the first Tower.
He placed his hand against its surface.
The Tower activated.
Thousands of lights appeared.
The woman beside him whispered:
"We can save humanity."
Ethan smiled.
"We will."
Then the scene changed.
People screamed.
Cities burned.
The woman turned against him.
Ethan shouted:
"Shut it down!"
She shook her head.
"It's too late."
Ethan attacked the control system.
Soldiers entered.
Someone shot him.
He fell.
The woman leaned over him.
Tears filled her eyes.
"I'm sorry."
She touched his forehead.
And whispered:
"We'll meet again when we come back."
Ethan's eyes opened.
He gasped.
The vision ended.
He fell to his knees.
Mia grabbed him.
"Ethan!"
He stared at her.
But he wasn't looking at her.
He was looking through her.
Because the face of the woman from his memory—
was hers.
Exactly hers.
Ethan whispered:
"Mia..."
She froze.
"What?"
Ethan's voice trembled.
"You were there."
Mia's face became completely white.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"You were there."
"I wasn't."
"You were standing beside me."
Mia stepped backward.
"I don't remember."
Ethan stood.
"You don't remember because they erased you too."
Adrian suddenly looked alarmed.
"Ethan."
"What?"
Adrian pointed behind him.
"Look."
The black Tower had changed.
A bright red symbol appeared across its surface.
72:00:00
A countdown.
72 hours.
Ethan stared.
The same number.
The same countdown.
Adrian whispered:
"The real apocalypse starts now."
Ethan's phone vibrated.
One final message appeared.
UNKNOWN:
You finally remembered.
Then another.
UNKNOWN:
Now remember who killed you the first time.
Ethan looked at Mia.
She was crying.
And for the first time, Ethan wondered whether the woman he had spent three years believing was his enemy...
had actually been trying to save him.
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