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Chapter Thirteen – Where It Began

Author: Ella Mahmud
last update Huling Na-update: 2025-11-07 00:24:19

The rain hasn’t stopped since dawn.

It follows me like a shadow as I make my way across the outskirts of the city, past shuttered shops and empty streets, toward the place I swore I’d never see again — the university lab.

It’s barely a building anymore.

The fire two years ago turned it into a skeleton of blackened walls and twisted metal. The sign at the gate still reads Department of Biotech Research, though most of the letters are gone.

I stop in front of the gates, gripping the flash drive in my pocket. My heart drums in my ears.

“Where it began,” I whisper. “You better be here, Axel.”

I push the gate open. It groans like it’s protesting, like the past doesn’t want me to walk back in.

Inside, the air smells of smoke and ash even after all this time. Charred papers scatter across the floor. I step over a half-melted computer and broken glass that crunches beneath my boots. Every sound echoes.

A flash of memory hits — laughter in the halls, Axel arguing with one of the professors, me
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  • Timing The Rebel    Chapter Twenty-Two – Reboot Complete

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  • Timing The Rebel    Chapter Twenty-One – Resurgence

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  • Timing The Rebel    Chapter Twenty – The Last Sequence

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