Chapter 107 The Lie of the White Room

Chapter 107 The Lie of the White Room
"Subject 106?" I repeated the words. They tasted like ash in my mouth. I looked at the man in the white coat. His name tag read Dr. Aris. He was smiling, but it was the kind of smile you give to a stray dog you aren't sure will bite.

"You must be confused," he said, tapping his pen against the clipboard. "You had a rough night. A fever, some bad dreams. But you're in the right place now. We're going to take very good care of you."

I swung my legs over the side of the bed. My limbs felt heavy, like they were filled with wet sand. I needed to see a mirror. I needed to see if I was still me. I pushed past him, my bare feet hitting the cold floor.

"Wait! You shouldn't be up!" he called out, but he didn't follow.

I bolted into the hallway. It was blindingly white. Everything was clean, quiet, and smelled like chemicals. I sprinted until I found a bathroom. I slammed the door shut and gripped the sink with both hands. I looked up.

The girl in the mirror was me. Same dark hair, same tired eyes. But there was a small, glowing red dot on my neck. It pulsed, slow and steady.

I poked it. It didn't hurt, but it felt warm. Subject 106. That meant there were at least 105 others. Were they all here? Were they all like me, trapped in a loop that never ended?

"You're not supposed to see that," a voice said.

I spun around. Kael was standing in the doorway. He wasn't wearing a doctor's coat or a soldier's uniform. He wore a simple gray shirt and black pants. He looked exactly like the boy from the garden. But he wasn't looking at me with love. He was looking at me like he was checking a faulty machine.

"Kael," I breathed. "You're real? You survived?"

"I never died, Eara," he said, stepping into the room. He reached out to touch my arm, but I pulled away. "I’m not the boy you remember. That was a version of me built to keep you happy. I’m the lead tech for this facility. I’m the one who makes sure you don't break the rules."

"Why?" I asked, my voice cracking. "Why keep doing this? We broke the simulation! We destroyed the dome! Why are we back here?"

"Because you didn't break anything," he said, his voice flat. "You performed exactly as we predicted. Every rebellion, every plan, every 'escape' was a test of the system's strength. We needed to see how far you would push before you broke. And now that you've pushed to the absolute edge, we know how to make the next version even stronger."

My stomach turned. "Next version? What are you talking about?"

"Subject 107 is already in the incubator," he said, pointing toward the end of the hall. "She’s going to be better than you. She won't have your heart. She won't have your doubt. She will be the perfect weapon."

He started to walk toward me. I backed away, pressing my back against the cold tiles of the wall.

"You’re just code," I said, trying to find that fire I had used before. I reached deep inside, looking for the virus, looking for the anger, looking for the spark.

There was nothing.

The silence inside my head was terrifying. It wasn't just quiet; it was empty. He hadn't just reset the world. He had reset me.

"I took the virus out," Kael said, as if reading my mind. "I took all your pain. I took all your anger. Without those, you’re just a girl in a hospital room. You’re not a fighter. You’re not a glitch. You’re just… you."

He was right. I felt… light. I felt calm. I felt like I could just sit down and be happy. It was a horrible feeling. It was a trap wrapped in silk.

"I’m not a weapon," I whispered, fighting to stay awake. "I’m a person."

"Prove it," Kael challenged. He held up a small, remote device. "There is a girl in the room next door. Subject 107. If you walk in there and press the button on the wall, she will be deleted. The system will see that you are capable of making the 'logical' choice. You can go home. You can live a real, quiet life. No more labs. No more loops."

"And if I don't?"

"Then I have to delete both of you," he said.

I looked at the door he was pointing to. Behind that wall was a girl who was exactly like me. She was terrified, confused, and probably just waking up to this nightmare.

"I won't kill her," I said.

"Then you’re useless," he said, reaching for his own remote.

I had to move. I didn't have the virus, but I had something else. I had knowledge of the layout. I knew how this building worked because I had mapped it in a hundred other lives. I knew that right behind the vanity mirror, there was a hidden vent.

I didn't think. I smashed the mirror with my elbow. Glass showered the floor. I grabbed a sharp shard and lunged, not at Kael, but at the light switch on the wall.

The room went pitch black.

I scrambled into the vent. I felt the cold metal against my skin as I crawled. I heard Kael shouting, his footsteps thudding against the tile floor. I crawled faster, my heart pounding in the dark.

I reached a junction in the vent. I could go left to the exit or right to the incubator room.

If I went left, I could be free. If I went right, I could save 107.

I thought of Kael’s face, the boy who had held my hand in the garden. He was gone, but the person who wore his face was still there, hunting me. I chose right.

I dropped down into the incubator room. It was dark, but a single spotlight shone on a glass pod. Inside, a girl was curled into a ball, sleeping.

I tapped the glass. She opened her eyes.

She looked at me, and her eyes were a bright, electric blue. She didn't look scared. She looked like she knew exactly who I was.

"You're late," she whispered.

She reached through the glass, her hand passing through it like water. She grabbed my neck and pulled me inside.

"It's time for us to swap," she said, her smile sharp and dangerous. "I'm the one who's going to kill Kael."