The reinforced door finally gave way.
A deafening crack.
A burst of metal.
A shriek that vibrated down the hall.
Prototype Nine crawled through the broken frame, twitching violently, its limbs jerking like pulled by invisible strings. Its pale skin steamed from the electricity Daniel had forced through it—yet it still stood, still hunted, still focused entirely on—
Mara.
"Mara—move!" Daniel hissed, tugging her back.
They ran.
Nine sprinted after them, claws screeching along the tile, tearing small sparks from the floor with each step. Alarms blared from overhead as motion sensors detected the breach.
FACILITY LOCKDOWN INITIATED.
ALL DOORS SEALED.
NON-HUMAN ENTITY DETECTED.
Red lights flashed wildly.
Mara and Daniel reached a corner and nearly collided into a massive reinforced blast door slamming down from above.
"No—NO—" Daniel grabbed the edge, trying to stop it, but the hydraulics overpowered him.
The door crashed shut.
They were trapped in this wing.
And so was Prototype Nine.
Daniel dragged Mara down another hall, past broken gurneys and shattered medical screens.
"We can't outrun it forever," he said through gritted teeth.
"We need to outthink it."
"That thing doesn't think. It reacts." Mara's voice shook as they sprinted.
"Then we force it to react the way we want."
THE CHASE THROUGH THE MEDICAL WING
Nine's screech echoed—
louder, closer.
Mara looked back and saw it rounding the corner, dropping to all fours like some rabid animal. Its head jerked sharply—left, right, left—tracking her with predator precision.
"Daniel—!"
"I see it!"
He shoved open a side door and dragged Mara inside. They slammed into a surgical lab with half-lit overhead lamps and tools scattered across the table.
Daniel grabbed a tray and hurled it into the far wall.
The clang echoed.
Nine shrieked and lunged in that direction.
"It hunts sound," Daniel whispered.
They silently slipped out the back door just as Nine tore apart the opposite wall.
But Mara froze when she noticed the glass window carved into the hallway wall.
Inside the lab they'd just entered was a large containment tank.
Floating in a pale green fluid…
A body.
But not just any body.
A girl with Mara's face. Younger. Smaller. Unmoving.
Mara stumbled closer, horrified.
"What—what is that?" she whispered.
Daniel wouldn't look at her.
"Mara… that's Prototype Ten."
Her skin crawled.
"She's—me."
Daniel nodded grimly.
"She was the attempt to recreate you. The final one. They wanted a version of you without Evelyn's—attachments."
Mara's stomach twisted.
"She's dead," she whispered.
Daniel didn't answer.
Because the girl's eyes suddenly opened.
Piercing blue.
Cold.
Empty.
Mara gasped, stumbling backward.
The girl pressed a hand against the glass from inside the tank. Her small mouth didn't move, but something flooded Mara's mind—
Help me.
Mara's breath hitched.
"Daniel—she's alive—she's—"
Before he could respond, Nine crashed through the ceiling tiles above them, landing directly between Mara and the containment tank.
Its glowing eyes fixed on Mara and shrieked so loudly the glass trembled.
Daniel pulled Mara, voice shaking.
"We need to GO!"
MARAs POWER IGNITES
They sprinted down the hallway, but Nine leapt from wall to wall, moving like an insect, fast and disjointed.
It lunged.
Mara screamed—
and the lights above them exploded in a burst of white sparks.
The hallway plunged into flickering chaos.
Daniel looked back at her, eyes wide.
"Mara—what did you just—"
"I DON'T KNOW!"
Nine screeched and lunged again—and Mara, terrified, thrust her hands forward as if by instinct.
A shockwave rippled outward.
The air warped.
Nine was sent skidding backward, slamming into an exam table.
Daniel stared in disbelief.
"Mara… you have active neural modulation. The psychic augmentation—they said it failed—"
"It didn't," Mara whispered, shaking.
"It's waking up."
THE PLAN
More blast doors dropped around them as the lockdown intensified.
Sirens wailed.
Red light strobed.
Daniel grabbed Mara's face gently, forcing her to focus.
"Listen to me. We can trap Nine in the incineration chamber."
"The what?!"
"It's built to sterilize contaminated bio-samples. It'll burn anything inside at two thousand degrees."
Mara looked back at Nine, twitching violently as it tried to stand.
"Will it hold it?" she whispered.
"It better," Daniel said grimly. "Because nothing else will."
They sprinted again.
Nine shrieked and charged after them, tearing medical carts apart, flipping equipment with monstrous strength.
Mara and Daniel darted into a narrow corridor lined with hazard symbols.
Daniel keyed in a code on a wall panel.
A massive door slid open.
Inside lay a steel chamber the size of a small room, with heat-proof walls and industrial burners lining the sides.
Daniel turned to Mara, whispering urgently:
"You lure it inside. I'll hit the switch."
Mara swallowed hard.
"Daniel… what if I can't make it back out?"
He touched her shoulder.
"Then I go in after you."
She didn't have time to react.
Nine was coming.
Fast.
THE TRAP
Mara stepped into the chamber, heart pounding, forcing herself to stand her ground.
"NINE!" she screamed.
The creature skidded to a halt, head jerking.
It sniffed the air—
eyes burning as they locked on her.
It sprinted inside.
Mara dove out of the chamber just as Daniel hit the switch.
The door slammed shut—
but Nine jammed its claw between the steel panels.
The door buckled.
It was forcing its way back out.
"Daniel—IT'S NOT CLOSING!"
Daniel screamed, "Mara—push it!"
"How?!"
"Like you did before! FEEL it! The pressure—let it out!"
Mara placed both hands on the steel door.
She closed her eyes.
Inhaled.
The world sharpened.
Her pulse synced to a strange rhythm—
a familiar one—
like she had done this many times before.
She exhaled—
and unleashed a blast of force that slammed the door shut with a thunderous metallic boom.
The locks clicked.
Daniel hit the ignition.
A roar of fire filled the chamber.
Prototype Nine's scream was like nothing human—
a sound that echoed through the entire facility.
Then faded.
Then stopped.
Daniel sagged against the control panel, breathless.
"It's… it's done."
Mara collapsed to her knees, trembling uncontrollably.
Daniel knelt beside her.
"You did it," he whispered.
Mara shook her head, tears gathering in her eyes.
"No… Daniel… this isn't over."
She looked back at the containment tank down the hall.
At Prototype Ten.
At the girl with her face.
"Because Ten is still alive."