Chapter 76: Secrets of the Logging Camp

 

Northern Alaska. The Abandoned Logging Camp. 1:00 PM (Twilight).

The snowmobile roared across the frozen lake, towing a sled with Dr. Braun (who was screaming) and Harper. Sebastian rode behind Jack on the lead machine. They arrived at a cluster of rotting wooden buildings half-buried in snow. [ STERLING TIMBER CO. - EST. 1985 ]

"Your family owns a lot of dead things," Jack spat tobacco juice as he killed the engine.

"My father liked to diversify," Sebastian dismounted. He scanned the structures with his thermal vision. Blue. Blue. Blue. Everything was frozen. Except for one spot. Under the main sawmill. A faint pulse of Red. Geothermal heat. Or... a generator running deep underground.

"There," Sebastian pointed to the sawmill. "The basement."

---

[The Time Capsule]

They pried open the heavy iron doors. The air that rushed out smelled of stale ozone and old paper. Jack lit a flare. The red light danced on the walls. It wasn't a sawmill basement. It was a Field Hospital. Or a prison. Rusted metal beds lined the walls. Chains hung from the ceiling. And in the center, a massive, ancient computer terminal, similar to the one in Paris but older.

"This is where it started," Sebastian whispered, running his hand over a dusty gurney. "Before Paris. Before the Noodle Shop. This was the Alpha Site."

Harper walked to a filing cabinet marked [ REJECTED ]. She pulled out a file. The paper crumbled in her hands. "Project Helios... Phase 1," she read. "Subject: Arctic Adaptation."

"They weren't trying to make super soldiers initially," Dr. Braun adjusted his glasses, fascinated. "They were trying to make workers who could survive the cold. For oil drilling. For mining." "Slave labor," Jack grunted from the doorway.

---

[Subject Zero]

Harper found a thick folder on the main desk. It was stamped [ TOP SECRET ]. She opened it. A photograph fell out. It showed a man strapped to a chair. His veins were black. His eyes were wild. But his face... It was a younger version of Jack.

Harper gasped. She looked at the photo, then at the hunter standing in the shadows. "Jack?"

Jack walked over. He looked at the photo. His face was unreadable. "That's not me," he said roughly. "That's my father."

"Your father was a test subject?" Sebastian asked.

"He was Subject Zero," Jack tapped the photo. "He was a local. A trapper. One day he went out hunting and never came back." "Six months later, he returned. Changed." "He couldn't feel cold. He could lift a snowmobile with one hand. But he... he was hungry. Always hungry."

Sebastian felt a chill that had nothing to do with the temperature. Hungry. Just like him.

"He lost his mind," Jack whispered. "He attacked my mother. I was ten years old. I had to... I had to put him down." Jack’s hand drifted to the hunting knife at his belt. "I buried him out back. Under the ice."

He looked at Sebastian. "I stayed here to make sure no one else ever came looking for this place." "And then you showed up."

---

[The Legacy]

Sebastian looked at Jack. He realized why Jack hadn't shot them. Jack wasn't looking for a bounty. He was looking for answers. Or perhaps, closure.

"I am not like them, Jack," Sebastian said. "I am trying to destroy this legacy. Not revive it."

"Are you?" Jack pointed at Sebastian’s glowing eyes. "You have the same look he had. The hunger." "How long before you turn? Before you eat the girl?"

Sebastian looked at Harper. He felt the gnawing emptiness in his stomach. The protein bar had done nothing. He was hungry.

"I won't," Sebastian said. But his voice lacked conviction.

Suddenly, Dr. Braun shouted from the back of the room. "I found it! The cache!"

He was standing in front of a heavy freezer unit. He cracked it open. Inside were rows of silver canisters. [ HELIOS STABILIZER - PROTOTYPE ]

"It's the original formula!" Braun grabbed a canister. "Crude, unrefined, but... it might suppress the metabolic burn."

He tossed one to Sebastian. Sebastian caught it. He didn't hesitate. He jammed the injector into his thigh. Hiss.

The relief was instant. The hunger faded. The fire in his veins cooled. Sebastian exhaled, his breath shuddering. "Better."

Jack watched him. He didn't relax. "That buys you time," Jack said. "Not salvation."

---

[The Hunter Becomes the Hunted]

BEEP. BEEP. A red light started flashing on the console. "Uh oh," Braun said. "I think I tripped a silent alarm when I opened the freezer."

"Who is receiving the signal?" Harper asked.

"Not the Syndicate," Braun paled. "This is an old frequency. US Military." "Specifically... DARPA."

Jack cursed. "The Black Helicopters. They patrol this sector."

"We need to move," Sebastian grabbed a handful of the stabilizer canisters. "Jack, where can we go? They will track the snowmobiles."

Jack looked at the map on the wall. He pointed North. To the frozen sea. "There is an old oil rig. Deepwater 9. Abandoned in the 90s." "It's technically in international waters. And it has a radio tower strong enough to broadcast to the world."

"Why do we want to broadcast?" Harper asked.

Sebastian smiled grimly. "Because hiding is over." "We are going to upload the Helios files. The experiments. The names. Everything." "We are going to burn Sterling Corp to the ground with the truth."

"It's a suicide run," Jack warned. "The ice bridge to the rig is unstable."

"We are already dead men walking, Jack," Sebastian adjusted his armor. "Lead the way."

(End of Chapter 76)