Sasha
The footsteps were the last thing I heard.
Not quiet. Not careful. Heavy. Boots on stone. Multiple sets.
I reached for my bow. My hand was halfway there when something hit the back of my head. Hard. The world went white. Then black. Then nothing.
---
I woke up on a floor.
Cold. Concrete. Fluorescent lights buzzing overhead. The same white walls. The same smell of bleach and blood.
We were back.
I sat up. My head was pounding. Blood dripped down my neck from where they'd hit me. I touched the wound. Not deep. Just enough to hurt.
The room was large. Empty except for bodies. Kids. Some I recognized. Marcus. The crying girl. The boy who prayed. Others I didn't know. From other groups. Other zones.
Dozens of us. Lying on the floor. Waking up one by one.
Riley wasn't there.
I stood up too fast. The room spun. I caught myself on the wall.
"Where is she?"
No one answered. No one knew.
---
The door opened six hours later.
Guards in black armor. Rifles across their chests. Visors hiding their faces.
"Follow," one of them said. "No talking. No running. No fighting."
We followed.
Through white corridors. Past doors I remembered. Past the room where they'd strapped me to a table and put needles in my arms. Past the room where I'd watched Riley burn her own wound shut without flinching.
They led us to a different room. Bunk beds. Metal. Three high. A drain in the floor. No windows.
"Wait here."
The door closed. The lock engaged.
I sat on the bottom bunk. Stared at the door. Waited.
---
Riley
I woke up on the table.
The same table. The same straps. The same cold metal against my back.
Dr. Marlow was standing over me. Her white coat was spotless. Her hair was pulled tight. Her tablet was in her hands.
"You're awake," she said. "Good. We were worried we'd lost you."
I tried to move. The straps held.
"Where am I?"
"Back where you belong. Phase Two is over. You've been... recalled. For additional calibration."
"The others—"
"Are safe. For now. You're the one we're interested in, Riley. You and your... condition."
She tapped her tablet. A screen on the wall flickered on. Images of me. In the forest. Touching the Stalkers. Smiling while the camp burned.
"We've been watching. Your scores have been... extraordinary. Two hundred and forty-seven was your baseline. But you've gone up. Significantly. Do you want to know your current score?"
I didn't answer.
"Three hundred and eighty-one."
She smiled. That same smile. The one that said interesting.
"Do you know what that means, Riley? It means you're no longer human. Not entirely. The changes we've been tracking—the healing, the nails, the teeth, the connection to the Stalkers—they're all part of the process. You're becoming something new."
"I don't want to become something new."
"It doesn't matter what you want. The Project doesn't care about wants. It cares about results."
She set her tablet down. Picked up a syringe. The needle was long. Thinner than anything I'd ever seen.
"We're going to push you further now. Deeper than before. Your mind is... fractured. We've known that since intake. The dissociation. The alternate personality. Hannah, wasn't it?"
I froze.
"We've been monitoring her too. The way she comes out when you're vulnerable. The way she talks to people. The way she feels things you can't." Marlow stepped closer. "She's a weakness, Riley. A crack in your foundation. We're going to seal that crack."
"What are you going to do?"
"We're going to make another one."
---
The needle went into my neck.
The fluid was cold. Like ice water in my veins. Spreading through my chest. My arms. My legs.
I waited for the pain. The electricity. The fear.
Nothing happened.
"It's not working," I said.
"Give it time."
Marlow stepped back. Watched her tablet. Numbers flickered across the screen. Brain activity. Heart rate. Something called neural integration.
"The serum we've developed is designed to accelerate the split. The fragmentation. Your mind is already divided—Riley and Hannah, two selves sharing one body. We're going to create a third. A new self. One that doesn't feel. Doesn't hesitate. Doesn't have weaknesses."
"I don't want—"
"It's not about what you want."
---
The first change was in my head.
A pressure. Behind my eyes. In my temples. Like something was pushing. Growing. Trying to get out.
I clenched my jaw. Squeezed my eyes shut.
"It's starting," Marlow said. "The neural pathways are reconfiguring. Your brain is creating new connections. New patterns. A new identity."
The pressure became pain. Sharp. Stabbing. Like needles behind my eyes.
I screamed.
Not the kind of scream I'd held back on the table. Not the kind I'd swallowed down during the experiments. A real scream. The kind that tears your throat.
"Heart rate elevated. Blood pressure spiking. Neural activity is... extraordinary. The split is proceeding faster than projected."
Another scream. Louder. My back arched. The straps bit into my wrists.
"Riley," Marlow said. "I need you to stay present. If you fragment too quickly, you could lose both existing personalities. We need all three to remain viable."
I couldn't stay present. I couldn't stay anything. I was breaking apart. Splintering. Pieces of me floating away.
I saw Hannah. Inside my head. She was crying. Reaching for me.
"Riley, I'm scared."
"I know. Hold on."
"I can't. Something's coming. Something new. It's pushing me out."
"Don't let go—"
"I can't hold on. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry—"
Her voice faded. The pressure became everything.
---
The third scream was different.
Not mine. Not Riley's. Not Hannah's.
Someone new.
The sound came from my throat. But it wasn't my voice. It was lower. Rougher. Wrong.
Marlow's eyes widened. She looked at her tablet. Her fingers flew across the screen.
"It's happening. The third personality is emerging. Neural patterns are... stabilizing. All three are present. Riley. Hannah. And..."
She looked at me. At my face. At my eyes.
"What do we call you?"
My mouth opened. The voice that came out wasn't mine.
"Vessel."
---
Sasha
The door opened twelve hours later.
Guards. Riley between them. Her wrists were bloody. Her face was pale. Her eyes were open but empty. Like she wasn't inside anymore.
"Riley—"
She walked past me. Didn't look. Didn't speak. Sat on the bottom bunk. Stared at the wall.
I sat next to her. Touched her arm.
"Riley. What did they do?"
She turned her head. Looked at me. Her eyes were the same. But something behind them was different. Something new.
"They made another one," she said. Her voice was flat. Empty. "Inside me. A new one."
"Another what?"
"Another person. Another me. Not Riley. Not Hannah. Someone else."
"What's its name?"
Riley's face twitched. Something flickered in her eyes. Not her. Not Hannah. Something else.
"Vessel," she said. "It calls itself Vessel."