Chapter 24 - THE LAST DOOR
The voice echoed through the underground hospital.
Eleanor stared at the ceiling.
“Thomas?”
Margaret's face had gone white.
“No.”
Daniel looked at her.
“What do you mean, no?”
Margaret whispered,
“That's not Thomas.”
The voice returned.
“Eleanor, you have exactly ten minutes.”
Eleanor stepped toward the cell.
“Where is my daughter?”
A laugh echoed through the corridor.
“Which one?”
“Emily.”
“She's alive.”
“Bring her to me.”
“Come to the chamber.”
“Where?”
“Under the White House.”
Eleanor's stomach dropped.
“You expect me to walk into a trap?”
“You've been walking into one your entire life.”
The speakers went silent.
Claire looked at Eleanor.
“We have to go.”
Margaret grabbed Eleanor's wrist.
“No.”
Eleanor looked at her.
“What?”
“You can't.”
“Why?”
“Because once you enter that chamber, you can't leave.”
Eleanor shook her head.
“My daughter is there.”
Margaret's eyes filled with tears.
“I know.”
“I'll bring her back.”
Margaret whispered,
“Then take the red key.”
Eleanor looked at it.
“What does it open?”
“The final door.”
They left the hospital through a hidden tunnel.
The tunnel connected to an old government passage beneath Washington.
The walls were covered in faded markings.
Names.
Dates.
Numbers.
Eleanor stopped at one.
ELENA — 1999.
She touched it.
“What is this?”
Margaret looked away.
“Someone who didn't survive.”
Eleanor kept walking.
At the end of the tunnel stood a massive steel door.
A biometric scanner waited beside it.
Claire stepped forward.
“DNA.”
Eleanor placed her hand against the scanner.
Nothing happened.
She tried again.
Still nothing.
Margaret stepped forward.
“Use the key.”
Eleanor inserted the red key.
The scanner suddenly activated.
A voice spoke.
“Subject Zero recognized.”
Eleanor froze.
“Subject Zero.”
Claire looked at her.
“That's you.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
The door opened.
Beyond it was a massive underground laboratory.
Glass rooms.
Medical equipment.
Monitors.
Rows of old photographs.
And in the center stood Henry.
Emily was beside him.
Eleanor's heart broke.
“Emily!”
Emily ran toward her.
Henry grabbed her arm.
Eleanor stopped.
“Let her go.”
Henry smiled.
“You came.”
“Let her go.”
“Give me the key.”
“No.”
“Then she stays.”
Eleanor looked at Emily.
“Are you hurt?”
Emily shook her head.
“I'm okay.”
Henry smiled.
“She is remarkably resilient.”
Eleanor's anger exploded.
“She is a child.”
“She's the future.”
“No.”
Eleanor stepped closer.
“She is my daughter.”
Henry looked at Daniel.
“And he is the missing component.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“Take me.”
Eleanor turned.
“No.”
Daniel looked at her.
“I can do this.”
“You don't know what he'll do.”
“I know.”
He walked toward Henry.
Henry smiled.
“Exactly like your father.”
Daniel stopped.
“What did you say?”
Henry looked at him.
“Your father made the same mistake.”
“My father is dead.”
“No.”
Henry's smile disappeared.
“He's standing behind you.”
Daniel turned.
Thomas stood in the doorway.
Alive.
Eleanor stared.
“Thomas?”
He looked at her.
“I'm sorry.”
Daniel stepped backward.
“You lied to me.”
Thomas nodded.
“I had to.”
“Why?”
“To keep you alive.”
Henry laughed.
“Always the same excuse.”
Thomas looked at him.
“You were never supposed to find the chamber.”
Henry answered,
“And you were never supposed to survive.”
Eleanor stared at both men.
“Who is Henry?”
Thomas looked at her.
“Your biological father.”
Eleanor's heart stopped.
“What?”
Margaret stepped forward.
“No.”
Thomas nodded.
“Yes.”
Henry smiled.
“You finally understand.”
Eleanor shook her head.
“You're lying.”
Thomas looked devastated.
“I'm not.”
Henry walked toward her.
“I am your father.”
Eleanor stared at him.
The memories began flooding back.
Her mother's voice.
The red door.
The hospital.
The boy.
The gun.
The accident.
The photographs.
Everything connected.
Henry had been there.
Thomas had been there.
Margaret had been there.
And Eleanor had been the child in the center.
Henry opened a metal box.
Inside was a small cassette tape.
He placed it into an old player.
A child's voice filled the room.
“Daddy, please don't.”
Eleanor froze.
It was her voice.
Then a man's voice.
“You have to forget.”
The recording continued.
“Forget the red door.”
Eleanor covered her ears.
“No.”
Henry looked at her.
“You wanted to remember.”
“I never wanted this.”
“You were five.”
“You made me forget.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because you killed him.”
Eleanor stared.
“Who?”
Henry pointed toward a monitor.
An old photograph appeared.
Her father.
The man Eleanor had believed was Charles Whitmore.
Then another photograph.
His real name appeared.
DAVID BENNETT.
Eleanor gasped.
“That's my father.”
Henry nodded.
“Your mother loved him.”
Eleanor looked at Margaret.
Margaret cried.
“He tried to expose the program.”
“What happened?”
Henry answered.
“You shot him.”
Eleanor shook her head.
“No.”
“You did.”
“I was five.”
“You were protecting yourself.”
“From what?”
Henry's expression hardened.
“From the man who wanted to use you.”
Eleanor looked at the photograph.
Her father.
The man she had spent her life mourning.
The man she had apparently killed.
But something still didn't fit.
She turned toward Thomas.
“You said he disappeared.”
Thomas nodded.
“He did.”
“Then how did I shoot him?”
“You didn't.”
Eleanor froze.
Thomas stepped forward.
“Henry altered the recording.”
Henry's expression changed.
Thomas continued.
“You never killed David.”
Eleanor stared.
“Then what happened?”
Thomas looked at Henry.
“He did.”
Henry's face became cold.
“You betrayed me.”
“I finally stopped you.”
“You couldn't.”
Thomas looked at Eleanor.
“Your father survived the shooting.”
“Where is he?”
Thomas hesitated.
“Dead.”
“Who killed him?”
Thomas looked toward the final chamber.
“Henry.”
Eleanor's eyes filled with tears.
Henry suddenly raised a weapon.
Thomas moved.
A gunshot exploded.
Thomas fell.
“THOMAS!”
Eleanor screamed.
Henry grabbed Emily.
Daniel rushed forward.
Claire pulled Eleanor behind a console.
“Stay down!”
More shots echoed.
The laboratory alarms activated.
Red lights flashed.
Doors began closing.
Henry dragged Emily toward a hidden elevator.
Eleanor stood.
“EMILY!”
Emily screamed.
“Mommy!”
Daniel tackled Henry.
The gun flew across the floor.
Claire grabbed Emily.
Eleanor pulled her daughter into her arms.
Henry crawled toward the elevator.
Then he smiled.
“You still don't understand.”
Eleanor held Emily tightly.
“What?”
Henry pressed a button.
The entire laboratory began shutting down.
“No.”
Claire looked at the monitors.
“The chamber is going into lockdown.”
“What does that mean?”
Claire's face went pale.
“Everyone inside will be sealed in.”
Eleanor looked at Henry.
“Stop it!”
Henry laughed.
“You wanted the truth.”
He looked at Daniel.
“Now you have it.”
The elevator doors closed.
Henry disappeared.
Eleanor ran toward the control panel.
A countdown appeared.
10:00.
9:59.
9:58.
Daniel looked at the doors.
“We have to get out.”
Claire searched the controls.
“There's another exit.”
“Where?”
“Behind the central chamber.”
They ran.
Eleanor carried Emily.
Lily followed close behind.
Then Eleanor saw something on the floor.
A photograph.
She picked it up.
It showed five children.
Claire.
Noah.
Eleanor.
Daniel.
And one final child.
A little girl Eleanor had never seen.
On the back were two words.
SUBJECT SEVEN.
Eleanor stared.
“Claire.”
Claire looked.
Her face went white.
“That can't be.”
“Why?”
“Because Subject Seven was never born.”
Eleanor turned toward Margaret.
Her mother was standing beside the entrance.
But Margaret was smiling.
Eleanor's blood ran cold.
“Mom?”
Margaret slowly raised her head.
“I suppose it's time.”
“What?”
Margaret looked toward Lily and Emily.
Then toward Eleanor.
“Now you know why I kept you all apart.”
Eleanor stepped backward.
“Why?”
Margaret's smile disappeared.
“Because Subject Seven is still alive.”
A sound came from behind the sealed laboratory door.
Three slow knocks.
Everyone froze.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
Then a child's voice came through the steel.
“Mommy?”
Eleanor's heart stopped.
It was Lily's voice.
But Lily was standing beside her.
Eleanor looked down at her daughter.
Lily looked terrified.
“Mommy…”
The voice came again from behind the door.
“I'm the real Lily.”
Eleanor couldn't breathe.
The countdown continued.
07:31.
07:30.
And behind the door, the child began crying.
“Please let me out.”
Eleanor stared at the steel door.
Then at Lily.
Then at Emily.
And finally at Margaret.
Her mother whispered,
“Choose carefully.”
May you like
The lights went out.
And from somewhere in the darkness, another child laughed.
