Chapter 14
Tamar Site 0 wasn’t marked on any official maps. Hidden deep in a stretch of forested mountains, it was more legend than reality—even among insiders. But Vayle, ever the coward when his life was on the line, had given Kaelyn coordinates. And now, three days later, she stood on a ledge overlooking a sealed underground facility buried beneath layers of dirt and silence.
The entrance had been camouflaged with dense growth and fake rock. Only a thermal scan had revealed the faint heat signature beneath. No signs of recent activity. No guards. No traps.
“Either it’s abandoned…” Sebastian muttered behind her, “or it’s a very elaborate bait.”
M-2 crouched beside Kaelyn, scanning the perimeter with a practiced eye. “This is where it all started. I remember this place. They took me here after my first mission. I didn’t walk out the same.”
Kaelyn’s voice was firm. “Then let’s make sure we don’t walk out empty-handed.”
They moved in carefully, entering through a narrow steel hatch in the ground. It opened with a long, rusty hiss, revealing a staircase that spiraled downward into darkness. The air smelled like dust, metal, and old secrets.
The lights flickered to life as they descended, activated by motion sensors. Walls lined with glass chambers greeted them—some shattered, others intact. Within some, bodies floated in cryo-stasis—silent, motionless versions of themselves.
Kaelyn’s heart clenched.
There were dozens.
Girls who looked like her. Some slightly older, some younger. Some with scars, others with burns. One even had Kaelyn’s same eyes—but colder, emptier. Numbered tags hung from their feet.
M-2 walked ahead, her boots echoing on the steel floor. She paused at one chamber and stared at the girl inside. “This one… she didn’t survive training. They made us watch her final test as punishment.”
Kaelyn swallowed hard, rage twisting inside her.
They continued through the facility, eventually reaching a locked control room. Vayle’s biometric key, reluctantly given, granted them access. Inside, rows of data screens glowed. Files. Logs. Surveillance.
And names.
Batch 2A, Batch 2B, and Batch 3X.
Kaelyn’s fingers flew over the keyboard. “They didn’t just make clones. They were breeding supersoldiers. Testing genetic mutations. Behavioral manipulation.”
Sebastian hovered behind her, reading the files aloud. “Psychological triggers… pain conditioning… memory suppression…”
M-2 stood silently, jaw tight, eyes dark. “We weren’t girls. We were field tests.”
Then Kaelyn found it—a list of subjects marked as ‘Activated’ with their last known locations. There were more out there. Dozens. Spread across different regions, living lives they didn’t choose. Some might not even know what they were.
Sebastian leaned closer. “What are you thinking?”
Kaelyn stared at the screen, then slowly stood up. “I’m going to find them. All of them. And I’m going to give them a choice.”
M-2 crossed her arms. “And if they choose war?”
Kaelyn didn’t flinch. “Then I’ll fight beside them. But not as their commander. As their sister.”
A sudden beep sounded on the console.
Sebastian checked it. “Inbound signal. Someone’s triggered a failsafe. This place is rigged to blow.”
“Time to move!” Kaelyn barked.
They sprinted out, retracing their steps through the echoing halls. As they neared the exit, explosions began to rumble behind them. Glass shattered. The ground trembled.
They burst through the hatch moments before the entire facility caved in, smoke and flame rising into the sky.
Kaelyn stood at the edge, watching it burn.
“I wanted to bury it,” she murmured. “But now, I’m glad it’s gone.”
M-2 nodded. “It’s not over. Tamar will retaliate.”
“I’m counting on it.”
Kaelyn turned toward the horizon, the list of names burned into her memory. For too long, she’d been a shadow—chained by lies, silenced by grief.
But now?
Now she was fire.