2025-09-03 15:53:20
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Chapter 120
The choice Rain slashed through the shattered warehouse windows as the world dissolved into gunfire. Muzzle flashes flickered like lightning. Ethan shoved Clara behind an overturned table, his body shielding hers. The echo of bullets tore through the metal walls, sending sparks flying into the dark.“Stay down!” Ethan yelled over the chaos, reloading with quick, sharp motions.Clara’s heartbeat pounded in her ears. “They found us—how did they find us so fast?”Victor’s voice came through the smoke. “Because they never stopped tracking her!” He ducked behind a column, clutching his bleeding side, firing wildly toward the windows.Ethan’s jaw clenched. “You set us up again!”“I didn’t!” Victor snapped, panting. “Kane’s men have been on me since I stole that chip! You think I’d bring them here on purpose?”Another volley of bullets slammed into the wall beside Clara’s head. Ethan yanked her closer, their faces inches apart. “When I say run, you run. Don’t look back.”Her voice trembled.
Chapter 119
The Double cross The echo of the gunshot still reverberated in the storm when Clara hit the ground, rain splashing across her face. She turned just in time to see the body of one of Kane’s men collapse behind her — lifeless, blood washing away in the downpour.Victor’s silhouette loomed through the rain, his gun still raised, smoke curling from the muzzle. For a heartbeat, Clara couldn’t move.Ethan pulled himself to his feet, the cold cutting through his soaked clothes, his arm wrapped tightly around his side. “Victor,” he growled, the name slicing through the air like thunder.Victor lowered the gun slowly. His voice came out raw, broken. “You’re welcome.”Clara’s chest heaved as she stared between them — two ghosts from the same war, standing on opposite sides of a line that no longer existed.“What the hell are you doing here?” Ethan demanded, stepping closer.Victor flinched at the tone but didn’t retreat. “Running. From Kane. From all of it.” He glanced down at his bleeding arm
Chapter 118
The breakout The air was heavy with static and smoke — the kind that clung to the back of your throat, making every breath feel like swallowing metal. The underground facility trembled with each explosion, a wounded beast collapsing on itself. Clara’s fingers tightened around Ethan’s arm as the alarm blared overhead, shrill and merciless.“Move!” she yelled, yanking him down the corridor just as a section of the ceiling caved in behind them.Ethan grunted, his hand pressed to his side where blood seeped through his shirt. “I can still walk—”“You’re barely standing,” she shot back, dragging him toward the exit sign flickering weakly through the haze.Every step echoed against the concrete like a ticking bomb. The sound of boots thudded behind them — Kane’s men were closing in. Clara’s pulse thundered in her ears, the fear sharp and bright, but beneath it was something else — a desperate resolve.They turned a corner and stumbled into a dimly lit chamber — rows of broken test tubes gl
Chapter 117
Bound by BloodThe rain didn’t stop. It never did when everything was falling apart.By the time Clara and Ethan reached the old service tunnel, they were soaked, shivering, and silent. Water dripped from their clothes, echoing through the narrow corridor like a slow heartbeat. The walls were carved with age — a relic of the old city, half-forgotten and swallowed by roots and time.Clara held the flashlight steady while Ethan checked the generator panel. The dim yellow glow flickered to life, painting his face in ghostly light. His eyes were distant, focused but elsewhere — still trapped in the hologram they’d seen.Her voice broke the silence first. “You knew.”Ethan froze mid-motion. “Clara—”“You knew my name was in that file,” she continued, her tone sharp but trembling underneath. “That’s why you didn’t want to go near it. You knew it was connected to you.”He sighed, leaning against the wall. “I didn’t know how. I swear it.”“But you knew something.”“I suspected,” he admitted.
Chapter 116
The FileThe forest had gone quiet. Too quiet. Even the insects seemed to know what the chip had shown them — something that rewrote the rules of everything Clara and Ethan thought they knew.Ethan stood by the edge of the dying campfire, staring into the ashes. The faint blue glow from the deactivated chip rested in his palm like something poisonous, a secret you could never unsee. His shoulder still bled from the wound he’d sustained days ago, but he didn’t care. Pain grounded him. It reminded him he was still here, still breathing, still trying to stay human in a world that was trying to turn him into something else.Clara sat a few feet away, her knees drawn to her chest, the wind threading through her hair. She hadn’t spoken since the hologram ended. There was nothing left to say — only questions with no answers. The words “SUBJECT: CLARA BERNETT” still pulsed in her mind like a wound that wouldn’t clot.She turned to him finally.“What aren’t you telling me?”Ethan didn’t look u
Chapter 115
Smoke and MirrorsThe forest burned in the distance — a jagged orange wound bleeding against the horizon. Clara and Ethan stumbled through the smoke, lungs rasping, adrenaline the only thing keeping their legs moving. The smell of metal and ozone hung in the air. The world had become one long stretch of survival.“Down,” Ethan hissed, pulling her into the shadow of a crumbled outpost wall. A faint hum echoed — mechanical, high-pitched. Clara’s eyes darted upward just in time to catch the gleam of a drone sweeping through the trees.Ethan lifted his weapon and fired once. A clean shot. The drone exploded midair, scattering embers like dying stars. Silence followed — almost holy.Her pulse thudded in her ears. “That was close.”He nodded, still breathing hard, scanning the tree line. “Too close. They’re not guessing anymore — someone fed them our coordinates.”Clara frowned. “You think Kane found us again?”“No,” Ethan said flatly. “He’s not guessing. Someone told him.”His gaze hardene
