Chapter 4 - The Girl with My Face
Aboveground, Evelyn pressed a towel against her bleeding arm and dragged Mara behind a concrete pump house.
Mara's skin glimmered blue at the throat. She was shaking so hard her teeth clicked.
"What did you inject?" Evelyn asked.
"What Victoria told me to use. She said it would keep me safe."
"From what?"
"From the other girl."
Evelyn stared at her. "You saw her face. You still think she's your enemy?"
Mara's eyes filled. "Victoria said she was made to replace me."
"That's what Victoria says whenever somebody starts asking questions."
Marcus staggered around the corner, his injured hand wrapped in his jacket. Two guards followed.
"Evelyn," he called, "give me the girl."
"I spent eleven years giving you what you wanted. I'm done."
He glanced toward the oak. "You think you can save her? That implant can stop her heart from a room miles away."
Mara went rigid. "What implant?"
Marcus said nothing. His face told her enough.
Evelyn pulled Mara through a maintenance hatch. They slid down a narrow ladder while boots hammered above them. At the bottom, a monitor flickered with camera feeds from the underground lab.
Mara saw Clara standing beside their father.
"He's alive," she whispered. "She told me he died before I was born."
Evelyn opened an old supply locker and handed Mara a breathing mask.
"Your father was never a saint," she said. "But he tried to stop this."
Mara stared at Clara's face on the screen. "Does she know about me?"
"She does now."
A red notification flashed across every monitor.
REMOTE COMPLIANCE MODE ACTIVE.
May you like
Then Victoria's voice filled the tunnel.
"Run the purge on Subject 0B first."
