CHAPTER 16: EVELYN’S LAST ORDER
Miriam didn’t move.
Evelyn’s hand trembled.
“Mother,” Miriam whispered.
August spoke through Lily.
“Kill the weakness.”
Adrian stepped between them.
“If you shoot her, you shoot me first.”
Evelyn looked at the son she had raised.
Then at the daughter she had abandoned.
Her weapon lowered.
“No.”
Lily’s expression changed.
August’s anger looked unnatural on a child’s face.
“You belong to me.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“That is the first lie you taught us.”
She turned the gun toward the central transmitter.
Claire understood.
“Wait!”
Evelyn fired.
The transmitter exploded.
The children screamed and collapsed.
Lily went limp in Claire’s arms.
For several seconds, no one moved.
Then Lily opened her eyes.
“Mama?”
Her voice was her own.
Claire held her tightly.
Anna checked the computer.
“The connection is broken, but August’s memory is still inside them.”
“Can he control them?”
“Not without reconnecting.”
Evelyn leaned against the console.
Blood spread beneath her coat.
Miriam rushed toward her.
“You were shot.”
“One of the guards.”
Adrian caught Evelyn as her legs failed.
She touched his face.
“I chose you.”
He cried silently.
“Stay with us.”
“I don’t know how.”
Miriam pressed her hands against the wound.
“You learn.”
The sirens outside became louder.
Marcus checked the security cameras.
“It isn’t the police.”
Military vehicles surrounded the hospital.
A government order appeared on-screen.
BIOLOGICAL CONTAMINATION CONFIRMED.
FACILITY DESTRUCTION AUTHORIZED.
Richard stared at the warning.
“They’re going to bury everything.”
“How long?” Claire asked.
“Twenty minutes.”
The group began moving children toward the cargo tunnel.
Only forty transport chambers fit inside the submarine.
The remaining children had to walk.
Lily took Claire’s hand.
“I know another way.”
“How?”
“The man inside me showed me.”
She led them through a hidden door behind the laboratory.
Beyond it stood an underground train.
Hundreds of seats.
Enough for every child.
Adrian examined the route map.
The tunnel led directly beneath the ocean.
Destination:
BLACKRIDGE ISLAND.
Claire Vale looked toward Claire.
“This is what August wanted.”
Claire watched the military vehicles surround the hospital.
“We have no other exit.”
They loaded the children onto the train.
Evelyn lay across two seats while Miriam treated her wound.
The doors closed.
As the train accelerated into the darkness, Lily looked toward Claire.
“The man isn’t gone.”
Claire knelt beside her.
“Can you hear him?”
Lily nodded.
“What is he saying?”
May you like
The child looked toward Adrian.
“He says Daddy’s body is ready.”
