The compound's alarms howled like sirens from the underworld, shaking rusted vents and making the walls tremble. Selene and Calder moved fast, but not fast enough. Doors were locking behind them. The floorplan had shifted.
Lina's scream still echoed in Selene's mind. Not just sound—grief weaponized. She had seen the madness in her sister's eyes. But also a spark. A flicker of recognition.
She knew me.
"Up ahead," Calder called, shouldering through a side door marked Specimen Transport. "This wing's not in the schematics. Probably added post-clearance."
Selene followed, steps silent, hand tight around her sidearm. They passed shattered observation windows and tanks filled with cloudy fluid. Not water.
Suspension. Human-sized.
"This place wasn't just about testing," Calder muttered. "It was breeding."
Selene didn't respond. She was listening.
She could feel her sister nearby. That same eerie stillness in the air. Not just silence—but the weight of something watching.
They reached the sub-hangar. An emergency exit panel blinked red above a sealed tunnel marked Harrow Biotech Private Transit.
"We can blast it," Calder said, pulling out a shaped charge.
"No," Selene said, moving toward the control console. "I need to try something first."
She pressed a small disc—the same one Aria had given her—against the lock. The coin with the ouroboros.
It hissed once. Then blinked green.
The door creaked open.
Behind them, a whisper: "Selene."
Both turned.
Lina stood at the end of the corridor. Her gown was torn, the wires ripped from her skin. But her eyes—those same soft eyes from childhood—were focused. Pale. And full of fire.
Selene's breath caught.
"Lina," she whispered. "It's me."
Lina didn't move. Her voice was distorted, like speaking through a broken radio.
"They said you left."
"I came back."
Lina blinked. A tremor rippled down her arm, twitch-like. As if her body resisted the words she spoke.
"Can't trust them," Lina rasped. "They said... you were gone. Said you didn't survive."
"I did," Selene said softly, stepping forward. "I got out. But I never stopped looking."
Lina flinched.
Something in her posture shifted—tension twisting into defense. A second presence took hold, like another voice riding her spine.
"Protocols say terminate. Unauthorized subject breach."
"Lina, listen to me," Selene begged, "they did this to you. You were innocent."
"I'm not innocent anymore," Lina hissed. "I remember... everything."
Calder raised his weapon. Selene held up a hand. "No."
"I'm not going to shoot your sister," he said, voice cold. "But I won't let her kill you either."
Lina's pupils dilated. She raised a trembling hand—fingers twitching into a claw-like shape.
Selene stepped closer, slowly. One movement at a time.
"I'm not here to hurt you," she said. "I'm here to end this. To burn it all down."
Lina's hand trembled... then dropped.
A sob wrenched from her chest.
Then—
"RUN."
The scream didn't sound like her. It was deeper. Corrupted.
The hallway lights surged. Metal scraped behind the walls—doors unlocking. Not for Selene.
For something else.
"MOVE!" Calder shouted, grabbing Selene's arm.
They sprinted into the tunnel. Behind them, the walls shook again. Growls echoed—low and wrong. Something had been released.
As the emergency tunnel sealed behind them, Selene looked back.
Through the narrowing gap, Lina met her eyes.
There was a tear sliding down her cheek.
Selene didn't speak.
But her promise was loud in the silence: I will come back for you.