Chapter 136

Chapter 136

00:18:02

The emergency lights painted the corridors red.

Sirens wailed without pause.

Somewhere deep beneath the island, massive machines groaned to life, shaking the walls beneath Damon's feet.

Ascension was waking up.

Every second counted.

Damon and Luca ran side by side through the narrow corridor, Isabella only a few steps behind them. None of them spoke.

There wasn't anything left to say.

Not after what had happened.

Not after the confession.

Not after finally choosing each other.

Their feelings hadn't made the mission easier.

If anything, it made the stakes even higher.

Now they had someone they couldn't bear to lose.

They reached a heavy blast door marked SECTOR C – CENTRAL TRANSIT.

Sophia's access card was still clutched tightly in Damon's hand.

He slid it into the security panel.

The scanner flashed red.

ACCESS DENIED

"What?" Isabella frowned.

Damon tried again.

Another beep.

ACCESS DENIED

Luca immediately stepped toward the terminal.

"Move."

His fingers flew across the keypad.

Years of working under the Program hadn't only taught him how to kill.

It had taught him how Vale built her systems.

He bypassed the first firewall.

Then the second.

A third security lock appeared.

"...She's paranoid."

"No," Damon answered quietly.

"She's afraid."

Luca glanced sideways.

Damon looked at the sealed door.

"People who believe they're invincible don't build this many locks."

For the first time...

Luca smiled.

"I think you're right."

A final code appeared.

Luca entered three commands.

The heavy doors shuddered.

Then slowly opened.

Cold air rushed toward them.

Beyond lay an enormous underground railway.

Steel tracks stretched into darkness.

Several transport trains stood abandoned.

The station itself was eerily empty.

Too empty.

Isabella immediately noticed.

"I don't like this."

Neither did Damon.

The silence felt deliberate.

Like the island itself was holding its breath.

Then

A child's cry echoed from somewhere down the platform.

They ran.

At the far end of the station, nearly thirty children huddled together.

The oldest couldn't have been fifteen.

The youngest was barely four.

Some were crying.

Some clung to one another.

Some simply stared with empty eyes.

A little girl stepped protectively in front of the others when she saw Damon approaching.

She picked up a metal pipe from the ground.

Her hands shook violently.

But she still stood there.

Trying to protect everyone behind her.

Damon slowly knelt until he was at her eye level.

"We're not here to hurt you."

She didn't lower the pipe.

"They all say that."

The words cut deeper than any knife.

Because she believed them.

She had heard those lies before.

Luca crouched beside Damon.

Very slowly, he removed the knife strapped to his thigh.

He placed it on the floor.

Then another.

Then his pistol.

One by one.

Until he was completely unarmed.

The little girl stared.

Confused.

Luca smiled gently.

"My name is Luca."

Silence.

"I'm not one of them anymore."

The girl's grip weakened slightly.

Damon followed Luca's example.

Setting his own weapon on the ground.

"My name is Damon."

Another pause.

"We came to take you home."

One little boy whispered from behind the girl,

"...Home?"

The word sounded unfamiliar.

Like something he'd only read about.

Damon's heart broke.

Before he could answer

A loud explosion shook the station.

Dust rained from the ceiling.

The emergency lights flickered.

Then heavy footsteps echoed across the platform.

Slow.

Measured.

Confident.

Not hurried.

Not afraid.

Someone was coming.

The children instinctively backed away.

Terror filled their faces.

Luca's expression hardened.

He knew that reaction.

He had seen it before.

The footsteps stopped.

A lone figure emerged from the darkness.

Black combat uniform.

Silver insignia over his chest.

No helmet.

His face looked impossibly young.

Perhaps twenty-one.

Yet his eyes...

His eyes belonged to someone much older.

Someone who had forgotten how to hope.

"The Shepherd," Isabella whispered.

The young man smiled.

"Still remember me."

"I wish I didn't."

He looked at Damon.

Then Luca.

Then the children.

His expression remained unreadable.

Finally he spoke.

"Mother predicted you'd come this way."

Damon stepped in front of the children.

"If Vale wanted us here..."

"She did."

The Shepherd interrupted calmly.

"Everything has happened exactly as she planned."

Luca moved beside Damon.

"You really believe that?"

"I know it."

There wasn't arrogance in his voice.

Only certainty.

The certainty of someone raised to obey.

Raised never to question.

Damon studied him carefully.

The Shepherd wasn't evil.

Not in the way Vale was.

He was...

Empty.

Like Luca once had been.

Like Isabella had once been.

Another child the Program had stolen.

Damon lowered his weapon.

Luca looked at him.

"What are you doing?"

"He isn't our enemy."

The Shepherd laughed quietly.

"You sound just like Elena."

The words froze Damon.

"You knew my mother?"

"I watched the recordings."

His smile faded.

"Mother showed them to us every year."

The statement made Isabella sick.

Vale had turned Elena into scripture.

Into an impossible standard.

Into something every child had been forced to chase.

No wonder they all broke.

The Shepherd slowly drew his sword.

A long black blade.

Perfectly balanced.

Beautiful.

Deadly.

"I won't let you interfere with Ascension."

Damon didn't move.

"I don't want to fight you."

"You don't have a choice."

"Neither do you."

For the first time

The Shepherd hesitated.

Only for a heartbeat.

But Damon saw it.

So did Luca.

There was doubt.

Tiny.

Fragile.

Hidden beneath years of conditioning.

Damon stepped forward.

"You know she's lying."

Silence.

"You know killing children isn't salvation."

The Shepherd's grip tightened around his sword.

"You don't know anything."

"I know what it's like."

Another step.

"I know what she took from you."

Another.

"I know what it feels like to think she's all you have."

The Shepherd's breathing changed.

Subtly.

Uneven.

Damon recognized it immediately.

He was reaching him.

Not much.

But enough.

Then Vale's voice suddenly exploded through hidden speakers.

"Enough."

The single word echoed throughout the station.

Cold.

Commanding.

Absolute.

The Shepherd immediately straightened.

Every trace of hesitation disappeared.

Every crack vanished.

His expression became empty once more.

"As you command, Mother."

He raised his sword.

Behind him, dozens of Guardians stepped out of the darkness, weapons aimed directly at Damon and the children.

The platform became a battlefield.

Luca drew his knives again.

Isabella loaded a fresh magazine into her pistol.

Damon exhaled slowly.

There would be no talking their way out of this.

Not today.

The Shepherd pointed his blade toward Damon.

"Show me why Mother chose you."

Around them, the countdown echoed through the station speakers.

00:15:00

Then the first shot rang out.