"They didn't come here to kill me. They came to hollow me out, to turn me into one of their empty soldiers. And if I let them succeed, the Eternal Code won't just vanish I will."
---
The first drone landed with the weight of falling steel, the impact rattling through the cracked concrete beneath my boots. Sparks flickered from the ceiling as it straightened, chrome mask blank, eyes two cold lenses that reflected me back in distorted fragments.
For a heartbeat, I froze. My name still burned red across the wall-screen like fire brands:
AYLA MORGAN MUST BE ERASED.
Not hunted. Not killed. Erased.
The second drone dropped beside the first with mechanical grace, hydraulics hissing, and in their faceless silence I felt the full weight of what the Ghost Protocol really meant.
Kael moved first. Always Kael. His hand slammed against my chest, shoving me back toward the tunnel wall just as the first drone's arm snapped up, weapon already primed.
"Run!" he barked, gunfire cracking in his hand before my mind caught up. Three shots. Sparks flew as the bullets pinged against reinforced plating, leaving nothing more than scorched dents.
I clutched the drive holding the Eternal Code fragments to my chest so tightly my knuckles ached. The metal felt hot against my palm, almost alive, as if it pulsed with its own heartbeat. My brother's face flashed in my mind his laugh, his stubborn eyes, the way he always teased me about my overthinking. If I lost this, I lost him.
But the Protocol had chosen me.
I stumbled after Kael as he dragged me toward the escape tunnel, his body moving with controlled violence, every motion sharp, precise. The chamber erupted into chaos behind us bullets ricocheting, metal screeching, the hiss of hydraulics hunting us.
The tunnel narrowed, claustrophobic and echoing, every footstep like thunder. My lungs burned, throat raw from the dust stirred by our flight. The sound of pursuit followed: heavy, mechanical, relentless.
"They won't stop," I gasped, voice catching.
"They don't need to." Kael didn't look back. "They just need to catch you. Once the wipe begins"
He cut himself off, but I heard the words anyway. Once the wipe begins, you won't be you anymore.
"What happens if they wipe me?" I forced the question out. The dread was already coiling inside me, but I needed to hear it.
"You'll still be alive," he said.
"That's not an answer!"
His jaw clenched, the muscles twitching. "Because it isn't life, Ayla. It's obedience."
The words gutted me. My legs faltered, the thought sinking deep me, hollow, stripped of every memory, every choice, every piece of who I was. Alive, but not living. Just a shell for them to program.
"No," I whispered, rage bleeding into my fear. "I won't let them take me."
Kael's eyes cut toward me, sharp even in the shadows. "Then keep running."
---
The tunnel bent sharply, and Kael skidded to a halt so suddenly I slammed into his back.
I staggered around him and my stomach dropped.
Ahead, pale blue light filled the tunnel. Dozens of drones stood shoulder-to-shoulder, blocking every inch of the passage. Masks gleamed like polished bone, featureless, blank. My distorted reflection stared back at me from their chrome faces wide-eyed, terrified, breakable.
Trapped.
Kael raised his weapon, but even he knew bullets weren't enough. His shoulders tensed, like a predator ready to fight to the last breath.
"Ayla." His voice was calm, steady, but his hand trembled on the trigger. "There's only one way out."
"What way?" My pulse thundered so hard I thought my ribs might break.
He turned to me, eyes locking onto mine. "The Code. Use it."
I recoiled. "No. It's not ready. I don't even know what it'll do!"
"You don't have a choice."
The drones moved forward in perfect unison, boots clanging against steel. Each step echoed like a funeral drum.
I could feel the Eternal Code burning in my palm, alive, whispering, waiting. My brother's life, my own fate they all converged here.
---
With trembling fingers, I pulled the drive from my pocket and slammed it into the portable holo-interface on my wrist.
The tunnel exploded in light. Threads of living data unfurled around me like veins of fire, spiraling into symbols, arcs, and shifting patterns too old and alien to belong to human hands. The drones faltered, their steps stuttering as if caught in a snare.
The Code unfolded before me, vast and incomprehensible, spirals within spirals. It pulsed with intent, almost with hunger.
Choose, it whispered, though no voice filled the air. Protect or destroy.
My breath hitched. My chest tightened as the choice pressed down on me like gravity.
Kael's hand gripped my shoulder, grounding me. "Ayla. Now."
I reached into the lattice, fingers brushing symbols that thrummed with warmth. Images flooded me visions stitched into the Code itself.
I saw my brother alive, smiling, whole. I saw him hollow-eyed, a puppet, stripped of memory. And in every version, I saw myself unraveling, my edges dissolving into static, my reflection flickering.
Tears burned my eyes. My hand hovered over the final sequence.
"Do it!" Kael shouted, firing at the advancing drones.
I slammed my palm down.
---
Light erupted from the Code in a tidal wave. It surged down the tunnel, slamming into the drones with an electrical roar. Their masks flickered, bodies convulsing as if invisible strings had been cut.
Screams filled the air not human screams, but distorted, metallic, agonized. The sound made my teeth ache, made my bones feel hollow.
One by one, the drones collapsed, limbs thrashing, sparks flying. Then stillness. Dozens of chrome corpses littered the tunnel, smoke rising from their ruined shells.
The Code retracted, spiraling back into the drive, closing like an ancient eye.
Silence fell.
I dropped to my knees, the strength ripped out of me. My chest heaved, vision swimming. My head felt wrong hollow, sluggish, as if something vital had been pulled out of me along with the activation.
Kael was beside me in an instant, crouching low, his hands firm on my shoulders. "You did it."
"No," I whispered, shaking my head, tears slipping hot down my cheeks. "I lost something. I can feel it."
His gaze softened, but he didn't argue. Instead, he pulled me against him, his arms strong and steady around me as I shook. For a heartbeat, I let myself lean into him, into the warmth of his heartbeat, the steadiness of his presence.
But deep inside, I knew this wasn't victory.
It was the beginning of the end.
---
The wall-screen flickered.
New words scrolled across it, deliberate, sharp, inevitable:
GHOST PROTOCOL COMPLETE.
MEMORY ERASE SEQUENCE INITIATED.
My breath hitched.
Kael's arms tightened around me. "What does it mean?"
I stared at the glowing text, dread gnawing through my bones.
"It means…" My voice trembled, breaking. "…it's already inside me."
---
Ayla realizes that by using the Eternal Code to destroy the drones, she may have triggered the Ghost Protocol inside herself. Her memories the very essence of who she is may already be unraveling.