Chapter 130

Chapter 130
The night was cold and wet when they rolled into the city’s edge. The caravan had broken apart hours ago, each vehicle vanishing into the maze of half-lit streets. Hardin kept the truck’s headlights dim as he guided it through what was left of the industrial district — cracked glass, burnt signs, the smell of old fuel and rain.

Natalie held Ava close in the back seat, whispering soft lullabies that blended with the hum of the engine. The child had barely spoken since the mountain pass. She just stared out the window, her reflection flickering in the glass every time lightning flashed.

Hardin’s mind wasn’t on the road. It was on the name that had appeared in his radio a few hours ago — a voice he hadn’t heard since before the war.

Marcus.

Once, Marcus had been his commanding officer. A man who could make armies move with a word. If anyone knew what was left of the Serpent network, it was him.

Hardin pulled the truck into the shadows of an old freight depot. “We wait here,” he said quietly. “Marcus will come to us.”

Natalie frowned. “You trust him?”

“No,” Hardin said. “But I need him.”

The depot was a skeleton of iron and rust. Wind pushed through broken windows, carrying the smell of oil and saltwater. Hardin checked his pistol again, counting the rounds — eight left. Enough to make a point, not enough for a fight.

Natalie sat with Ava on her lap, wrapping her in an old blanket. “This doesn’t feel right,” she said.

Hardin crouched near the door, eyes on the fog outside. “Marcus doesn’t take risks unless he’s desperate. If he’s reaching out, it means Voss left something behind.”

“You mean Eden,” Natalie said, voice low.

Hardin nodded once.

Ava stirred. “Who’s Marcus?” she asked softly.

“An old friend,” Natalie said.

Hardin hesitated. “Someone who used to believe in the same things I did.”

Ava tilted her head. “And now?”

“Now,” Hardin said, “we’ll find out.”

An hour passed before the knock came — three taps, pause, two more. Hardin’s shoulders tightened. “That’s him.”

He opened the door just enough to see a man in a long coat, hood dripping from the rain. The face was older, harder, but the eyes were the same sharp gray Hardin remembered.

“Still alive,” Marcus said with a crooked smile. “Didn’t think you’d make it past the Spine.”

“Neither did I,” Hardin replied. “You said you had something.”

Marcus stepped inside, glancing around the room before his gaze landed on Natalie and the child. “You brought company.”

“Family,” Hardin said.

Marcus raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t think you had that in you.”

“People change.”

Marcus laughed quietly. “Not you, soldier. You just trade one war for another.”

He sat at the broken table and pulled a metal case from his coat. The hinges creaked as he opened it — inside were two cracked data drives wrapped in oilcloth.

“This,” Marcus said, “is what’s left of Voss’s private research. I salvaged it from the northern lab before it burned. He called it Project Eden.”

Natalie leaned forward. “What’s on it?”

“Blueprints,” Marcus said. “DNA mapping, behavioral encoding, artificial gestation. Voss wasn’t just cloning soldiers. He was rewriting evolution. The child — your child — was part of it.”

Natalie’s throat tightened. “You mean he planned her?”

Marcus nodded slowly. “Not her, exactly. But something like her. The next step.”

Hardin’s jaw clenched. “Why come to me?”

“Because you’re the only one he couldn’t control,” Marcus said. “And because people are still dying. The network’s rebuilding underground. I can give you the data — but I want something in return.”

Hardin’s voice hardened. “What?”

“Protection,” Marcus said simply. “The Serpent has my name. If they find me before I cross the border, I’m dead.”

Natalie’s gaze darted between them. “So you’re trading lives again.”

Marcus met her eyes without flinching. “I’m trading survival. It’s what we do.”

Outside, thunder rolled across the city. The lights flickered once, twice, then went dark. A low hum filled the air — mechanical, deliberate. Hardin froze.

“Drones,” he whispered. “They found you.”

Marcus swore and grabbed the drives. “They track movement through thermal tags. We need to move!”

Natalie clutched Ava and ran for the back exit. The air outside was alive with noise — rotors chopping, engines roaring. Red beams cut through the fog like knives.

Hardin fired at the nearest light. Glass shattered. “Go!” he shouted.

Marcus ducked behind a crate, firing back with a small pulse gun. “They’re not aiming to kill!” he yelled. “They want the child!”

“Then they’re not getting her,” Natalie snapped.

She pressed Ava close and sprinted toward the truck. Hardin followed, bullets sparking against metal all around. The rain turned to steam where the beams hit the ground.

They dove inside. Hardin slammed the door and gunned the engine. The tires screeched, flinging water as they tore down the narrow street.

Marcus climbed into the back, panting. “You still drive like a maniac.”

“Still talk too much,” Hardin shot back.

For miles, no one spoke. Only the sound of the rain and the engine filled the silence. When they finally stopped near the outskirts, Marcus handed Hardin the drives.

“Take them. I’ve done my part.”

“You’re coming with us,” Hardin said.

Marcus shook his head. “They’ll track me. I’ll lead them away. You keep her safe.”

Natalie frowned. “Why help us now?”

Marcus hesitated, looking at Ava. “Because I saw what she did to those agents on the pass. Whatever she is… maybe she’s the only thing that can end this.”

He stepped out into the rain, pulling his hood up. Before disappearing into the fog, he turned back. “Voss isn’t dead. You’ll understand when you open the files.”

Then he was gone.

Natalie looked down at Ava, asleep again in her arms. The faint serpent shimmer under her skin had returned, pulsing softly like light through water.

Hardin drove in silence, the two drives resting in his lap. He didn’t have to say it — they both knew this wasn’t the end.

It was the beginning of something worse.