CHAPTER 21: BENEATH THE WATER
Claire woke in darkness.
Cold water surrounded her legs.
Emergency lights flickered inside the overturned train.
Children cried from nearby cars.
“Lily!”
A small hand touched her shoulder.
“I’m here.”
Claire pulled the child close.
Adrian lay unconscious beneath a broken seat.
Aiden lifted the metal frame and freed him.
Claire stared at the young man.
He looked like Adrian’s reflection from fifteen years earlier.
“Can you carry him?”
Aiden nodded.
They moved through the flooded train.
Claire Vale and Marcus were freeing children from the rear cars.
Richard had injured his leg.
Anna helped him walk.
Miriam carried the wounded Evelyn.
Helena was missing.
Claire looked toward the broken tunnel.
“Where is she?”
Claire Vale shook her head.
“I thought she was with you.”
A tapping sound came from outside the train.
A diver appeared beyond the cracked glass.
Then another.
They attached equipment and sealed the opening.
Within minutes, the survivors were transferred into a submarine.
Claire collapsed beside Lily.
A man removed his diving mask.
Marcus stared at him.
The diver looked exactly like Marcus.
But the scar above his eyebrow was on the opposite side.
“Who are you?” Claire asked.
The man looked toward Marcus.
“The original.”
Marcus raised his weapon.
The diver lifted both hands.
“You were created from me.”
Marcus laughed bitterly.
“Of course I was.”
The submarine descended deeper.
Through the windows, lights appeared on the ocean floor.
A vast city stood beneath a transparent dome.
Claire stared.
“Blackridge wasn’t the main facility.”
The original Marcus shook his head.
“It was the entrance examination.”
“For what?”
“The Continuance colony.”
Thousands of people moved through the city.
Some had identical faces.
Families of copies.
Children being raised beside adult versions of themselves.
The submarine entered a docking chamber.
Helena waited on the platform.
Claire Vale aimed her gun.
“You left us.”
Helena shook her head.
“I opened the underwater route.”
Claire stepped off the submarine.
“What is this place?”
Helena looked toward the city’s central tower.
“The only place August never controlled.”
A mechanical voice interrupted her.
PRIMARY SUBJECT DETECTED.
Every person in the city stopped moving.
They turned toward Claire.
Screens activated across the dome.
An image appeared.
Claire as a little girl.
She stood inside a white room and spoke directly into the camera.
“My name is Clara Vale.”
May you like
The child smiled.
“I created Continuance.”
