CHAPTER 7 — Subject Zero
CHAPTER 7 — Subject Zero
Every officer raised a weapon.
"Don't move!" Detective Harris shouted.
The elderly man didn't flinch.
He rested both hands on the top of his cane and smiled with heartbreaking familiarity.
"Still giving orders before asking questions, Detective?"
Michael stood frozen.
His lips trembled.
"Ethan..."
The old man sighed.
"I haven't heard that name in twenty years."
Sophie stepped behind me.
"Mom... that's not Grandpa, is it?"
"No," I whispered.
"I don't think so."
The man chuckled.
"Smart girl."
"She's the only one who noticed from the beginning."
Detective Harris narrowed his eyes.
"State your name."
The stranger looked directly at him.
"My name depends on who's asking."
"I've been six different people in the last decade."
"But your scientists used to call me Subject Zero."
A heavy silence settled over the yard.
Michael slowly walked forward despite the officers trying to stop him.
"If you're really Ethan..."
"...tell me what Mom used to sing whenever the power went out."
The old man's smile faded.
Without hesitation, he began humming a lullaby.
A simple tune.
One I had never heard before.
Michael's shoulders shook.
"That's her song," he whispered.
Tears filled his eyes.
"It really is you."
Subject Zero smiled sadly.
"Or enough of me."
Michael looked confused.
"What does that mean?"
The old man tapped his cane against the porch.
"It means your brother died a long time ago."
"What survived..."
"...is what's left after they kept rewriting me."
He slowly removed what looked like a patch of wrinkled skin from his neck.
The edge peeled away like thin silicone.
Beneath it...
His skin was smooth.
Much younger.
Gasps rippled through the officers.
"I've worn so many faces," he said quietly.
"I barely remember my own."
Michael took another step.
"Come home."
"For God's sake, Ethan... it's over."
Subject Zero shook his head.
"No."
"It isn't."
"You think Daniel built an organization."
"He didn't."
"He inherited one."
Detective Harris frowned.
"Inherited it from whom?"
The old man looked past all of us toward the dark house.
"From the people who funded your project."
"The people who never cared about national security."
"They cared about power."
"Governments change."
"Faces don't."
A sudden buzzing interrupted him.
Every phone in the yard vibrated at the same time.
Officers.
Detectives.
Mine.
Michael's.
Even Sophie's small emergency phone.
Each screen displayed the same message.
LOOK BEHIND YOU.
Instinctively, everyone turned.
Across the street...
Neighbors had gathered outside after hearing the commotion.
Mr. Collins.
Mrs. Ramirez.
The teenage paperboy.
A jogger who had stopped to watch.
Perfectly ordinary people.
Then, one by one...
They all smiled.
The exact same smile.
Cold.
Empty.
Practiced.
Detective Harris whispered, "How many of them...?"
Subject Zero answered without looking.
"You'll never know."
"That's the point."
One of the neighbors slowly clapped.
Then another.
Within seconds, every person across the street was applauding in eerie unison.
Daniel stepped out from behind them.
No disguise.
No mask.
Just the face from the old photograph.
He looked at Michael and smiled.
"You finally understand."
"This was never about replacing one man."
"It was about proving anyone could be replaced."
He glanced toward Sophie.
"Except her."
"She notices the details."
"She ruins the illusion."
Subject Zero suddenly slammed his cane into the ground.
"Enough!"
The sharp crack echoed through the street.
Daniel's smile disappeared.
"You promised," Subject Zero said.
"You said no children."
Daniel's voice hardened.
"Plans change."
For the first time, anger flashed across Subject Zero's face.
He turned to Michael.
"Listen carefully."
"There is still one way to destroy everything we built."
"But once you know it..."
"...they will never stop hunting your family."
Michael didn't hesitate.
"Tell me."
Subject Zero leaned close and whispered a single sentence into his brother's ear.
Michael's eyes widened in disbelief.
"No..."
"That's impossible."
"It isn't," Subject Zero replied.
"It's hidden exactly where no one would ever think to look."
Before Michael could ask another question, a sharp crack rang out.
A sniper's shot.
Subject Zero jerked backward.
A crimson stain spread across his chest.
May you like
As he collapsed into Michael's arms, he used his last strength to whisper four words:
"Don't trust... Detective Harris..."
