Night came quickly, and the atmosphere was cold and dark. Mark and Elena walked a few steps ahead, whispering to each other as they studied the map. They took out the only flashlights they had left to see the path. They didn't realize Sam had stopped walking behind them.
They didn't hear the soft exhale he let out — part relief, part annoyance.
Elena smiled gently, turning around, "We're close to the river, Sam... Almost there!"
Sam tilted his head, an unreadable expression on his face, "That's good, but I think we should stop here for now. You two have been… very helpful."
"What do you mean?" Mark paused and asked.
Elena took a slow step back, "Sam… why are you talking like that?"
Sam sighed, "This isn't personal, really. But you weren't supposed to go this far north. You weren't supposed to survive this long. And honestly… thanks for all the escape information."
He gave a small, cold smile, then took a pen from his pocket — the one he always wrote with in his notebook, along with a rope from his backpack.
Mark stepped in front of Elena, protecting her as Sam came closer.
"S-Sam, please... don't do this man...I thought we were friends," he said nervously.
"Pfft, I bet y'all were using us to get out of here," Sam said with glee, "But now...neither of you will see real sunlight again."
Their screams were consumed by the darkness of the forest. No one heard anything. At this time, Rory, Maya, and Lena were all asleep in the small cave they had found, and Sam was on a mission to hunt them next.
Jace's POV
The underground corridor was colder than the lab upstairs. The air hummed with machinery. Jace causiously walked deeper into the restricted sector he was never supposed to find. He scanned through the manual Dr. Nathan gave him.
He shouldn't be here. But after overhearing Sam's voice speaking to Dr. Kessler in the hallway, Jace no longer cared about rules.
He needed answers.
He needed to know what secrets Dr.Kessler was keeping from the other scientists, and why these specific subjects were being tested, especially his girlfriend.
He took the elevator, and it took him underground. He approached a metal door that read 'Sublevel 4'. He entered the first access code with shaking fingers.
The door slid open to another hallway. In this one, the lights were dimmer.
He tried to steady his breathing as he hurried down the hallway, repeating the same thought over and over:
This is my only chance.
He turned the first corner, and a dozen armed guards patrolled the floor. He gasped, then quickly turned the other way without getting caught.
Minutes earlier, a guard had approached him, the one assigned by Dr. Nathan. The guard was dressed in a clean navy blue suit and a rifle at his side. His face was tight with stress, his voice barely a whisper as he slipped a card key into Jace's palm.
"Central Control Room," he'd said quietly, "Dr. Nathan wants you to see what's really happening. You're running out of time. I'll keep watch."
"Thank you," Jace nods as he takes the key card.
"Also..." The guard handed him a long pocket knife, "Nathan said I should give this to you too, for self-defence."
The guard then showed him the second entrance to the room, less heavily guarded. Before Jace could ask a single question, the guard had walked away, back to his duty as if nothing had happened.
He swiped the key card, and a soft click echoed through the metal door.
Jace pushed the door open and closed it behind him. He looked up and froze. A chill ran down his spine.
The room stretched wider than he ever expected. Blue lights glowed from the floor and ceiling, with halograms of every live data collected.
Then he saw something that shook him to the core, and he covered his mouth trying to stop himself from throwing up. Dozens of rows of tall glass capsules lined the walls. Inside each one lay a person, asleep and perfectly still in a translucent blue liquid. Thin wires ran from their temples, chests, and arms into a web of cables overhead that led into a massive machine at the center of the room.
The core.
He walks up to the first capsule in front of him. A young woman lay inside, eyes closed, breathing shallow but steady. Her hair floated slightly in the gel-like fluid around her.
He checked the data on the screen above.
SUBJECT: A-6 (GROUP A) — STATUS: SUSPENDED
The thought hit him like a punch.The remaining survivors of Group A, Mark and Elena, had said the others died — but they were here. Preserved. Unmoving. Waiting. Even he, as the scientist, was fooled into thinking these subjects were eliminated.
Jace's stomach twisted.
"What… what is this?" he whispered, turning to the next capsule.
Jace stepped closer to one capsule in disbelief, tears filling his eyes as his trembling fingers touched the glass.
His breath caught in his throat. It was Lena.
His girlfriend lay inside, wires attached to her skin, eyes closed, body still.
"No— Lena—"
He pressed his hand against the cold glass, voice shaking. "Lena, please… wake up. Please."
She didn't move. He wanted to break the capsule open, to rip out every wire, to carry her out of this nightmare with his own two hands.
Then he saw the tablet on the side panel.
SUBJECT: B-3 (GROUP B) - LENA WARD
VITAL READINGS: STABLECYCLE MONITORING: ACTIVE
He paused, confusion washing over him. In his head, he thought, "If the real Lena is here, then who is in the dome?"
He wanted more answers. He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand.
"Lena...What have they done to you…?"
A faint sound stirred behind him.
Footsteps.
Jace froze, fear rising in his throat like smoke. Then a voice slid across the silent room like a blade.
"Well," Dr. Kessler said calmly, "I suppose I always knew you'd find your way down here eventually."
Jace spun around as Dr. Kessler stepped into view, his hands clasped behind his back, face unreadable. He looked almost amused.
"How did you get in?" Kessler asked lightly.
Jace straightened, anger boiling up, "Stop pretending you don't know."
Kessler eyed the capsules behind him, "Ah. So you've met our sleeping guests."
"Guests?!" Jace snapped, "You're experimenting on them! You're keeping them trapped in this cursed place!"
Kessler raised an eyebrow, "They volunteered...including your girlfriend."
"They didn't volunteer for this!" Jace shouted. His voice cracked with emotion, "They didn't agree to be drugged and wired into your machines like lab animals!"
"It is progress," Kessler responded, "The persons in the domes are just their consciousness in a simulation. They don't know that, but this is to prepare for an unpredictable future. My goal is to create a group of people who can survive and save humanity when Earth is doomed."
Jace's jaw clenched hard, "You're a sick piece of—"
Kessler snapped his finger, and a dozen guards stormed in with guns, "Be careful of your words, Jace. We wouldn't want Lena to find you dead now, would we?"
Jace's jaw clenched hard, "What about Sam?" Jace said, "I heard his call to you last night. He said 'Father.' He said he's following your plan."
Kessler sighed softly, as if disappointed. "I expected you to remain focused. Not eavesdropping on my conversations."
"So it's true?" Jace demanded. "Sam is your son?"
Kessler did not flinch, "Sam knows how the experiment works. He knows the Dome better than any of them."
"You're using him—"
"He is following the plan," Kessler said sharply, patience thinning. "He will help guide them until the final phase. Nothing more. Nothing less."
"What final phase?" Jace asked, "What are you planning now?"
Jace stepped forward, fists clenched, "I'm not letting you keep doing this. Not to Lena. Not to the others."
"And what...do you think you can do?" Kessler asked with a grin.
Jace glared at him with fury and determination, "I'm not leaving this room without her, even if it kills me."