Chapter 9 - THE SECOND BRIDE 💥Viral Hook Title: THE NEW BODY ON TABLE 1 MOVED... AND HER FACE WAS IDENTICAL TO VICTORIA'S DECEASED SISTER!The morgue was dead silent, save for the rhythmic, unnatural hum of the fluorescent lights and the faint, wet rasps coming from the body on Table 1.
Elena stood perfectly still, her hand firmly gripping her surgical shears. Six months ago, the sound of a "corpse" speaking would have sent her running out of the building in pure terror. But now, she was no longer the timid girl who hid in storage closets. She was a seasoned medical examiner who knew that the darkest horrors didn't come from ghosts—they came from living men with scalpels and endless bank accounts.
"Who are you?" Elena asked, her voice steady, low, and demanding as she adjusted her grip on the shears.
The wet, shivering girl on the table didn't answer with words. Instead, her fingers—gray, wrinkled from sea water, and caked with dark mud—clawed violently at her chest, tearing open the soaked collar of her jumpsuit.
Etched into her flesh, right above her heart, was a crude, fresh surgical scar shaped like an inverted cross.
Elena leaned down, her eyes widening in horror as she examined the scar. "This wasn't done in a surgery room... this was branded onto you."
"They... they are coming..." the girl gasped, air whistling through her water-clogged lungs. Her dark, pitch-black pupils dilated until her eyes appeared completely black. "The container... wasn't a coffin... it was... a transfer unit..."
Before Elena could ask another question, the heavy double doors of the morgue prep room slammed open with a deafening bang.
Elena snapped her head around, thrusting the shears forward into a defensive stance.
Her junior assistant, Tim, burst into the room, his face pale as chalk, his uniform soaked in sweat.
"Dr. Elena! You need to lock the doors right now!" Tim shrieked, backing into the room while pointing a trembling finger toward the main corridor. "A convoy just pulled up to the ambulance bay! Unmarked black vans! Men with weapons... they say they have a federal court order to seize the harbor corpse!"
Elena’s blood ran cold. "Federal? The harbor police haven't even finished their intake report yet!"
Suddenly, the intercom speaker in the corner of the ceiling burst into static, followed by a smooth, chillingly familiar voice that made Elena’s heart drop into her stomach.
"Dr. Elena. How wonderful to hear your voice again. Please do not resist. We are only here to retrieve stolen property."
Elena’s eyes darted to the ceiling speaker. "That voice... no... it’s impossible. You're dead!"
Julian Vance had been shot right in front of her eyes by Dr. Aris six months ago. She had seen his body fall. She had seen the blood pool around his chest.
"A Vance never dies so easily, my dear Elena," the voice chuckled through the speaker, accompanied by the sound of boots marching rapidly down the tiled hallway outside. "Julian was merely the public face of our enterprise—a foolish, arrogant son. I am Harrison Vance. Julian’s uncle. And the girl lying on your table belongs to Project Lazarus."
Elena didn't waste a single second. She turned to Tim. "Help me move her! NOW!"
"Where?!" Tim stammered, his hands shaking so violently he could barely hold the gurney.
"The old refrigeration tunnel under Sub-Level 2!" Elena ordered, unlocking the brake mechanism on Table 1.
Together, they shoved the heavy metal table toward the service elevator at the back of the prep room. The girl on the table groaned in agony, her hand reaching up to grab Elena’s lab coat.
"Victoria..." the girl whispered, her blue lips trembling. "Find... Victoria..."
Elena froze for a microsecond. How does she know Victoria’s name?
CRASH!
The glass windows of the prep room doors shattered into a million pieces. Heavy tactical boots kicked open the broken frame, and four men in unmarked black body armor stepped into the room, raising suppressed automatic rifles.
"DROP TO THE FLOOR! HANDS ON YOUR HEAD!" the lead mercenary barked.
"TIM, GO!" Elena screamed, shoving her assistant into the elevator car along with the gurney and slamming her hand onto the Door Close button.
As the heavy metal doors slid shut, a volley of suppressed gunfire chewed through the wall frame where Elena had been standing seconds before, showering the elevator interior with plaster dust and flying sparks.
The elevator shuddered and began its slow, creaking descent into the dark, abandoned sub-levels of Saint Jude’s Hospital.
Elena panted heavily, her back pressed against the elevator wall. She looked down at the mysterious girl lying on the gurney. She pulled a flashlight from her coat and shined it directly onto the girl's wet, muddy face, clearing away the strands of matted dark hair.
When the light illuminated the girl’s features, Elena’s breath hitched in her throat.
The bone structure. The shape of the nose. The unique mole right beneath her left cheekbone.
This girl was not a stranger.
She was an exact, flawless twin of Victoria Vance.
"Impossible..." Elena whispered, her hands trembling as she touched the girl's icy face. "Victoria was an only child... her records said she was an orphan with no living relatives!"
The elevator came to a sudden, grinding halt with a loud metallic screech. The lights inside the car flickered and died, plunging them into pitch darkness.
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Above them, deep inside the elevator shaft, heavy footsteps began descending down the emergency ladders.
Then, a red laser sight cut through the darkness, beaming through the glass ceiling of the elevator car, locking directly onto Elena’s forehead.
