CHAPTER 7 — "THE CHILDREN WHO NEVER STOPPED WAITING"
The whisper echoed through the underground corridor.
"Is... our mother finally here?"
Emily felt every hair on her body stand on end.
The voices weren't angry.
They weren't frightened.
They were hopeful.
As though they had asked that same question hundreds of times before.
Quincy squeezed her hand until his knuckles turned white.
"Emily..."
"...who are they?"
Before she could answer, another small voice came through the steel door.
"Please..."
"Don't leave again."
Emily's heart shattered.
These were children.
Not babies anymore.
Children.
Daniel slowly lowered his head.
"I told them this place was empty."
His voice cracked.
"I wanted to believe it."
Emily spun toward him.
"You knew?"
"I knew there was another level."
"I didn't know they were still alive."
"You expect me to believe that?"
Daniel's eyes filled with tears.
"My grandmother never allowed anyone below Level Three."
"I thought the records were destroyed years ago."
Evelyn laughed softly from the other side of the blast door.
"You always were the weakest Carter."
Margaret stood beside her, hands folded over the Bible.
"The children are exactly where they belong."
Emily shouted,
"They belong with families!"
Margaret answered calmly,
"They are with family."
"No..."
"They're prisoners."
Ignoring the flashing red alarms, Emily rushed toward the massive steel door at the end of the hallway.
It had no handle.
Only another fingerprint scanner.
Beside it was a faded brass plaque.
GENESIS WING
Below it, in smaller letters:
AUTHORIZED BY ELEANOR CARTER — 1958
Emily touched the scanner.
Nothing.
Daniel stepped forward.
"It only recognizes Carter blood."
Without hesitation, he placed his hand on the glass.
A green light flashed.
ACCESS DENIED
Everyone froze.
Daniel frowned.
"That... shouldn't happen."
Then Quincy quietly stepped forward.
"I'll try."
"No!" Daniel shouted.
But it was too late.
Quincy pressed his tiny hand against the scanner.
The entire system came alive.
Green lights raced across the ceiling.
Locks disengaged one after another.
A computerized voice announced:
"Primary heir recognized."
Daniel's face turned white.
Emily stared at Quincy.
"Primary... heir?"
The steel door slowly slid open.
The room beyond looked nothing like a prison.
It looked like a school.
Bookshelves.
Tiny desks.
Paintings on the walls.
Children's drawings covered every surface.
Sunlight poured through artificial skylights designed to imitate the outside world.
About twenty children stood silently in the center of the room.
The youngest looked four.
The oldest couldn't have been older than sixteen.
Every one of them wore simple white clothing.
Every one of them stared directly at Quincy.
Not Emily.
Not Daniel.
Quincy.
A little girl stepped forward.
She couldn't have been more than six.
She held a worn stuffed rabbit missing one ear.
"You're back."
Quincy blinked.
"I've... never been here."
The girl smiled sadly.
"You don't remember."
Another boy, perhaps twelve, nodded.
"They made sure you wouldn't."
Emily looked around the room.
Photographs lined one wall.
Each child had a picture.
A birth date.
A blood type.
And one disturbing detail.
Every file carried the same handwritten word:
COMPATIBLE
"What does that mean?" Emily whispered.
No one answered.
Instead, an older teenage girl walked toward her.
She had striking green eyes identical to Emily's.
The resemblance was impossible to ignore.
She stopped only inches away.
Then she whispered,
"My name is Lily."
Emily smiled weakly through tears.
"I'm Emily."
Lily's lips trembled.
"I know."
"I've been waiting eighteen years to meet my sister."
Emily felt the world disappear beneath her feet.
"My... sister?"
Lily nodded.
"Our mother escaped with you."
"I was left behind."
Emily's knees nearly buckled.
"No..."
"My mother only had one child."
Lily slowly shook her head.
"That's what they wanted you to believe."
She reached into the pocket of her white sweater and pulled out a faded photograph.
It showed a much younger woman.
Emily recognized her instantly.
Her mother.
She was holding two newborn babies.
Twins.
One wore a pink bracelet.
The other...
a purple one.
Emily's breathing stopped.
She had a twin sister.
One baby escaped.
One stayed.
Before anyone could speak again, every television screen inside the Genesis Wing suddenly switched on.
Evelyn Carter appeared on every monitor.
She smiled calmly.
"Welcome home, Emily."
Behind her...
a nurse stepped into view carrying a familiar blue blanket.
Faith.
Emily screamed,
"Don't touch her!"
Faith was alive.
Awake.
Crying.
But something was wrong.
An IV line ran into the baby's tiny arm.
Evelyn stroked the infant's cheek.
"You've misunderstood everything."
"We never intended to kill your daughter."
Emily glared at the screen.
"Then why take her?"
Evelyn's smile widened.
"Because she isn't our next victim..."
A long pause filled the room.
Then Evelyn delivered the words that made every child in Genesis Wing go completely silent.
May you like
"...she is our next mother."
TO BE CONTINUED...
