The alarms screamed through the underground facility, a sharp metallic howl echoing off steel walls. Red emergency lights flashed overhead, painting the corridors in pulses of blood and shadow.
Dr. Ethan Carter slammed his palm against the biometric lock, his trembling fingers slick with sweat. The heavy door slid open with a hiss, revealing a cylindrical chamber filled with silver mist. In its center hovered a fragment of lunar stone, an otherworldly shard glowing faintly, pulsing like a heartbeat.
Beside him, Dr. Miriam Carter typed furiously on a tablet, her voice steady despite the chaos."Security breach confirmed on all levels. They've cut the main power line. We have ten minutes at best."
Ethan's jaw clenched. "Then we end it here. Project Alpha dies with us."
He turned toward the observation window. Behind the reinforced glass lay their son, Alex, unconscious and hooked up to monitors that danced with erratic waves. His body trembled. The serum inside him shimmered silver under the dim light, threads of light weaving through his veins like rivers of moonfire.
Miriam whispered, "He's too young. The procedure wasn't meant-"
"It chose him, Miriam," Ethan said, voice raw. "The rock responded only to him. If anyone can survive the merge, it's Alex."
A dull explosion rumbled from somewhere above. Dust rained from the ceiling. The lights flickered again, weaker this time.
Miriam's eyes filled with tears, but her hands kept moving. She entered the final code sequence into the terminal: PROTOCOL ECLIPSE - INITIATE.
"Ethan," she breathed, "they're almost here."
He took her hand. "Then let them come."
The door behind them burst open with a flash. Black-clad soldiers stormed in, their visors glowing crimson. At their center stood Victor Grant, the government's favored operative, tall, unyielding, his right arm humming faintly with cybernetic gears.
"Dr. Carter," Victor said, voice cold and precise. "Step away from the boy."
Ethan positioned himself between the pod and the intruders. "You don't understand what you're doing. The experiment isn't stable."
"That's not your concern anymore," Victor replied, raising his weapon. "The asset belongs to the government now."
Miriam's trembling voice cut through the tension. "You're making a mistake. If the lunar fragment bonds completely, it will evolve beyond your control."
Victor's eyes narrowed. "Then we'll dissect it until we find a way to control it."
He took a step forward and froze. The air grew heavy. The lunar shard inside the containment field flared to life, light expanding in a blinding pulse.
The monitors around Alex went haywire. His heart rate spiked. The boy's body arched violently as tendrils of light licked across his skin, leaving faint glowing marks beneath the surface.
Ethan turned to his wife, desperation in his voice. "Miriam, Now!"
She slammed her hand on the manual override. The pod released a hiss as the containment field broke apart. The light surged outward, wild and alive.
Victor shielded his face, shouting, "Stop them!"
Too late. The lunar energy burst through the room, ripping through equipment. The world became sound and light and screaming metal.
Through the chaos, Ethan reached for his son. "Alex, listen to me. Whatever happens, you must survive."
Miriam grabbed Alex's arm, pressing a small drive into his palm. "This holds everything. The truth. Run, and don't ever let them take it."
And then, silence. A blinding flash swallowed everything.
When Alex opened his eyes, the world was ash and ruin. The facility was gone, reduced to a smoking crater beneath a crimson sky. The air smelled of ozone and blood. His head throbbed. His veins burned like molten steel.
He looked at his hands. Faint silver lines crawled under his skin, pulsing softly in rhythm with the moon above.
A voice echoed in his mind — his father's, faint and fading, "The moon chose you, Alex. Never let them find it."
Alex staggered to his feet, the sound of distant sirens rising in the distance. He turned toward the wreckage, his silver eyes glowing for the first time under the blood moon.
Far away, Victor Grant opened his eyes in a dark recovery chamber, half his face burned away, and whispered, "Project Alpha lives."