Chapter 18 – The Hunter Within
The corridor stretched ahead like a throat of steel. Alarms pulsed through the walls, a dull red glow flashing with each warning tone. Damian wiped the blue fluid from his cheek and stared at the footprints the clone had left behind—wet, perfect copies of his own.
Amara caught up to him, breathless. "You can't go after it alone."
"I'm not leaving him loose in this house," he said. "If he gets out, there'll be no telling who's real and who's not."
They moved together through the flickering light. The air was thick with the smell of electricity and dust. Every door they passed led to another forgotten room—rows of empty glass tubes, cables torn from the walls, machines humming softly like they were dreaming.
From somewhere above came a low, steady vibration. The system was repairing itself. Whatever Kerrin had built, it was still alive.
"Damian," Amara whispered, "what if it's not just a copy? What if it remembers everything you've done?"
He stopped, his hand tightening around the lantern. "Then it knows what I'm afraid of."
A soft metallic sound echoed at the far end of the corridor—footsteps that matched his own rhythm exactly. Damian raised the light, but the hall was empty. Only the reflection of his face stared back from a cracked mirror on the wall. For a moment, the reflection smiled before he did.
Amara gasped. "Did you see that?"
The lights went out. The hum of the machines rose into a roar, then silence. Damian felt the darkness breathe around them, and he knew they weren't alone.
Somewhere in the dark, his own voice whispered back at him.