CHAPTER 25: ELEVEN MINUTES
Darkness filled the underground chamber.
Emergency lights flickered on.
Evelyn performed chest compressions on Samuel.
“Samuel! Stay with me!”
His monitor remained silent.
Ava stood frozen beside Claire.
“I did that.”
“No,” Claire said. “The power failed.”
“I got scared, and the lights broke.”
Ethan knelt in front of his daughter.
“Look at me. This is not your fault.”
Behind them, Dane crawled toward his fallen pistol.
Bianca stepped on his hand.
He looked up.
“You were always cruel,” she said. “Even when we were children.”
Dane stopped moving.
“You remember?”
“Pieces.”
A memory crossed Bianca’s face.
White walls.
Metal beds.
A boy holding her hand during an alarm.
“You were there,” she whispered.
Dane’s anger faded.
“We were the only two who escaped the first fire.”
Ward collected pieces of the broken film.
“Dane, help us save Samuel.”
“Why?”
“Because Samuel carried you out.”
Dane stared through the glass.
Evelyn injected medication into Samuel’s chest.
Nothing happened.
Ava approached the chamber.
“Open the door.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“It is not safe.”
Ava placed both hands against the glass.
The lights above her began pulsing.
Ethan pulled her back.
Ava resisted.
“He needs help.”
“What are you doing?”
“I don’t know.”
The heart monitor beeped once.
Everyone froze.
Ava closed her eyes.
Another beep followed.
Then another.
Samuel gasped.
Evelyn stared at Ava with wonder and fear.
“That should not be possible.”
Ava opened her eyes.
Blood ran from her nose.
Ethan caught her as her knees weakened.
Claire wiped the blood away.
“We are leaving.”
Evelyn opened the chamber door.
“No one can leave now.”
Ethan turned.
“Why?”
“Eleanor was right about one thing. Ava’s condition cannot become public.”
“She is not a condition.”
“She is the first stable second-generation Northstar subject.”
Conrad looked at Evelyn.
“You used our granddaughter?”
Evelyn shook her head.
“I never touched Ava.”
“Then how?”
Evelyn stared at Ethan.
“Because Northstar can be inherited.”
A warning siren sounded.
May you like
Water began pouring into the lower tunnel.
The river wall had been breached.
