Mag-log in♪♪ Enemy • Imagine Dragons × J.I.D
✿✿✿ LILAH I THRASH in the tight hold of the monsters. The monster I call Mom, keeps smacking my face with a vengeance, making me lament in agony. Robert is looking at me with teary eyes but neither he bulges nor does he speak as if he's pinned on his spot by some supernatural potency. But the anger inside him is diaphanous as quartz, fists and jaw clenched hard, eyes bloodshot with tears. "What the fuck are you waiting for? Go and bring money for us!" The monster I call Dad, yells, twisting my arm as I cry out in torment. "No, no! Robbie, don't leave me! They'll kill me!" I scream and try to approach him pushing my parents but my mother grabs a fistful of my hair and throws me on the couch. "But I have to go. I'll come back for you, I promise." Robbie's voice cracks like the way he's breaking from inside. "Go Robert! Or we'll kill her!" Mom shouts, tightening her hold on my neck and making me struggle to breathe. Tears spills from my aching eyes. I look at Robbie with my blurry vision. I shake my head furiously, inhibiting him silently from leaving me alone in the hands of monsters. "I'll come back for you, if not, just think that I'm dead. Be strong and stay safe, Li." No, no, no! He didn't come back even though it's been five years. No! He's not dead! I choke out of breath and whimper as a huge amount of cold water's thrown on me. I hiss as pain shot through my wounds when the cold water kisses them hard. This time, neither my hands and legs are tied, nor am I sitting on a chair in the same room but I'm half lying on the ground in an unfamiliar room as the concrete wall pushing up my back a bit. Exquisite pain shoots through my left arm when I regain all of my senses, I comprehend I was shot on the arm, for the first time in my life. Well, the experience's extremely unpleasant, horrifying and terrible. The wound is deep enough to die from bleeding within twenty four hours. "Ona ne spit." A male voice speaks as if he's informing something to someone, making me raise my wobbly lowered head as my gaze meets the familiar curly head, bald head and the buzz cut. [Russian- She's awake.] There are also three unfamiliar faces joined, one of them is a woman, glaring down at me as if I pissed on their face. I recognize the woman, who is hissing at me like an angry snake, is Landon's girlfriend Katherine. And girl, she's scarier than the pictures. The black tattoos on her face almost make her look like a burned woman. Smell of rotten flesh and blood, the soggy bottom and the nebulous luster are doing nothing but making me weaker. In a corner, a pair of thick ferrous chains with shackles are hanging from ceiling to mid air. I suddenly feel an urge to feel so lucky because they didn't hang me there, at least for now. Whatever, my situation is worse than that. The door of the dimly lit room opens lazily, sending a cold shiver throughout my veins which I don't know why. All I can see is a pair of expensive and shiny black shoes making their way inside as the figure is confined by the intimidating Russian pythons standing semicircular before me. As soon as everyone notices the unfamiliar figure, they instantly slit to make a path for him, bowing their heads as the man is a king and they're his slaves. When the tall figure is finally out of the dark, my hazel eyes meet those lustrous emerald green eyes, pinning me on my spot. I feel my heartbeat stops. The figure is taller than everyone in the room, standing with his intimidating glory and empyrean beauty. Expensively polished and tailored black suit's hugging his muscular body as if it's made particularly for him, black shirt beneath, black tie and a shiny Rolex embracing his wrist lovingly. Those big veiny hands and long fingers with silver rings could bring a woman on their edge without an effort. And I'm not that woman. When I stare back to those emerald eyes, they're already observing me unwaveringly the same way as mine, giving me a chance to trail my eyes on the glowy pale skin, sharp prominent jaws that could cut your skin, straight nose, thick lashes and brows, perfectly combed zed black hair which is cut short on the sides but left long on top, and lastly a pair of slightly parted pink luscious lips. I expected the boss to be an old grandpa, who'll look like a pile of trash and smell like shit. But the man is so far from my imagination, he's unrealistically handsome, sexy and intimidating. Bitch, you're shamelessly staring. Heat starts creeping on my neck and cheeks as I instantly removed my gaze from the unrealistic Russian beauty with a pounding heart. But his gaze never leaves from my petite form, instead it stopped on my enormous tits, making me self-conscious. I follow his gaze and meet my now bloodied and torn pink shirt that's giving a painfully clear view of my pink lacy bra cups to everyone. Nice. I'll die in embarrassment before they can kill me. "What's your name?" A smooth like butter voice suddenly ask with the thick Russian accent, tearing the heavy tension of the room, making me snap my head to him. And girl, am I still alive? He has the finest euphonious voice I've ever heard in the twenty years of my life. "Alice Hamilton." I lie with no hesitation. But my heart starts pounding so hard that I could feel it in my throat. Rule number one- never let your enemy sense your fear and weakness. "As in Alice Hamilton, the renowned US toxicologist who died fifty-four years ago?" There's no humor in his voice but the coldness is about to freeze my wounded body. Brilliant. "No." I grit out. My voice is hoarse as I feel my mouth become dry. He sighs deeply before pulling out his android phone from his pant pocket with those sexy long fingers before tapping them on it with full concentration. I wonder how they would feel on my burning skin, gosh, what am I even thinking?! "Lilah Montgomery, works in a coffee shop and nothing?" The man frowns before tearing his gaze from the phone and looking at me with amusement. And he isn't surprised? Of course, I changed my surname after moving to NY. I was so in love with my first name to change it. And Joshua helped me to clear all my past records from the universe. I'm now just Lilah Montgomery, a simple twenty years old girl who works in a coffee shop. "Kill her." All of a sudden, the Russian beauty let out the two deadly words so softly as if he's promising a kid to buy them chocolates, making me gasp in horror.Chapter Thirty-Nine: The Woman at the Lake Emma Volkov We didn't speak until the trees swallowed Ark completely. The facility disappeared behind us. No alarms followed. No vehicles. No shouting. Nothing. That frightened me more than pursuit would have. Lucas walked beside me, scanning the forest. Viktor remained several steps behind. My father was breathing heavily. The message was still open on my phone. Your mother is waiting for you. I stared at it again. “No signal,” Lucas said. “I know.” “Then how did you receive it?” “I don't know.” My father looked at the screen. “Delete it.” I looked at him. “Why?” “Because whoever sent it knows where you are.” Lucas shook his head. “That's not enough.” My father looked at him. “What?” “If they know where we are, they already know the phone received the message.” He turned toward the road. “Which means deleting it changes nothing.” Viktor finally spoke. “Unless the message itself is the trap.” I looked at him.
Chapter Thirty-Eight: Welcome Home Emma Volkov “Welcome home, Emma.” The voice came from inside the room. Not from the speakers. Not from the corridor. Inside. I froze. Lucas moved immediately, placing himself between me and the doorway. My father whispered my name. Viktor reached for the flashlight at his belt. I stopped him. “Don't.” He looked at me. “Why?” “Because whoever is in there wants us to react.” The silence that followed felt deliberate. Then the emergency lights returned. The room was empty. The chair sat beneath the lamp. The desk remained untouched. No person. No hidden movement. Only the photograph. And my mother's note. If you're reading this, he's already won. Don't trust your father. I walked toward the glass. My father remained behind me. “Emma.” I didn't look at him. “Don't.” He stopped. I opened the door. The room smelled faintly of paper and dust. Nothing else. Lucas entered behind me. Viktor followed. My father stayed at th
Chapter Thirty-Seven: The Original Lie Emma Volkov The door opened somewhere beneath us. We heard it. A deep mechanical release. Then the sound of something heavy moving across rails. No one spoke. My father was staring into the darkness. Lucas stood beside me. Viktor had gone completely still. I looked at my father. “You said you disappeared because you discovered who created Ark.” “Yes.” “Who?” He didn't answer. “Dad.” His expression changed at the word. It was the first time I had called him that since seeing him again. Not Professor Volkov. Not Aleksandr. Dad. Something broke across his face. Regret. Then fear. “Come with me.” He walked toward the newly opened door. I followed. Lucas followed me. Viktor came last. The staircase descended farther than the previous levels. Much farther. The air became colder. The walls changed from concrete to exposed stone. This part hadn't been renovated. It felt older than Ark itself. My father kept one hand aga
Chapter Thirty-Six: The Cost of Trust Emma Volkov CHOOSE WHO YOU TRUST. The sentence remained on the screen. No timer. No instructions. No explanation. That somehow made it worse. Lucas was the first to speak. “It's manipulating us.” My father shook his head. “Not exactly.” Lucas looked at him. “Then explain it.” “The system has no reason to care who we trust.” “Then why give us the choice?” My father looked toward the four sealed doors. “Because it wants to observe the consequences.” Viktor gave a quiet laugh. “You're still pretending it's an observer.” My father turned. “And you're still pretending it isn't.” Viktor stepped closer. “It learned from us.” “Yes.” “It adapted around us.” “Yes.” “It now predicts our reactions.” “Yes.” Viktor's voice hardened. “Then it's no longer observing.” My father didn't answer. I looked at the screen. “Maybe that's the point.” Both men turned toward me. I continued. “Maybe it doesn't care who we trust.” Lucas fro
Chapter Thirty-Five: The Choice Beneath ArkEmma VolkovThe deeper we went, the less Ark looked like a building.It became a machine.The walls were no longer concrete alone. Behind them ran cables, conduits, cooling systems, old fiber lines, newer replacements. Some belonged to the original facility.Others had clearly been installed years later.Someone had kept Ark alive.Quietly.Carefully.For reasons no one had ever told me.My father walked ahead of us.He knew exactly where he was going.That bothered me more than the darkness.“Where are we going?” I asked.“The observation chamber.”Lucas looked at him.“The original one?”“Yes.”“Why?”“Because Phase Two begins there.”Viktor stopped.My father turned.“You don't have to come.”Viktor gave a bitter smile.“After all these years, you still think I can walk away?”“Yes.”“That stopped being true a long time ago.”My father studied him.Then continued.I looked at Lucas.He didn't say anything.But I could tell what he was thi
Chapter Thirty-Four: The Man Behind the DoorEmma VolkovThe gate closed behind us with a sound that was almost too ordinary.Metal against metal.A mechanical lock engaging somewhere beneath the ground.Then silence.The forest swallowed the road behind us.Lucas kept both hands on the steering wheel.He didn't move.Neither did I.Ahead, the Ark facility stood exactly as it had appeared in my father's old photographs.Concrete.Narrow windows.A central tower.No insignia.No visible entrance.No sign that anyone had been inside for years.And yet the gate had opened for us.I looked at Viktor through the rearview mirror.He was staring at the building.“You've been here before.”“Yes.”“When?”“Once.”“Why only once?”His answer came after a pause.“Because the second time I came, the door wasn't there anymore.”Lucas looked at him.“What does that mean?”“I don't know.”I turned around.“You always say that when the truth is worse.”Viktor met my eyes.“This time, it's the truth.”







