67. Clay
Clay
The teenage boy levels the rifle directly at Hannah.
No hesitation.
No fear.
Just obedience.
And somehow that’s worse than hatred.
Russ moves first.
Fast.
His rifle snaps upward—
—but Hannah throws her arm out hard.
“WAIT!”
The word cracks through the corridor.
Everybody freezes.
Even the Ascension kids.
The girl staring at Hannah blinks once slowly.
Like confusion itself is unfamiliar to her.
Hannah steps around me carefully before I can stop her.
Absolutely not.
I catch her wrist immediately.
“Hannah—”
“They’re victims.”
Her voice breaks slightly.
“Just like me.”
The teenage boy doesn’t lower his weapon.
“Director Wu ordered termination.”
Like a machine repeating code.
Jesus Christ.
Hannah takes another slow step forward.
No weapon raised.
No aggression.
Only pain.
“What’s your name?”
Silence.
The boy’s expression never changes.
“We don’t use names.”
The same answer.
Again.
Like they carved it into all of them.
Hannah nods slowly.
And I can literally see her recognizing pieces of herself in them.
“I know.”
The girl’s eyes narrow slightly.
Something flickers there.
Recognition maybe.
Memory.
“You left.”
The accusation hits harder than a bullet.
Hannah swallows visibly.
“Yes.”
“You weren’t supposed to survive.”
Wu’s voice hums softly through the corridor speakers.
“She was exceptional.”
That’s it.
I’m officially out of patience.
I raise my rifle toward the nearest camera.
“You know, for a genius, you sure talk too damn much.”
I fire.
The camera explodes in sparks.
But Wu just calmly transfers to another speaker.
“Violence from emotionally compromised subjects is expected.”
Russ mutters beside me:
“I cannot wait to kill this guy.”
Same.
Very same.
Hannah ignores Wu completely now.
Her attention stays on the teenagers.
“There are children upstairs.”
The boy says nothing.
Hannah’s voice softens carefully.
“They’re scared.”
The girl’s grip tightens slightly on her rifle.
Fear flashes across her face again.
Fast.
Buried.
But there.
Hannah sees it too.
And presses harder.
“You know what he does to children who are afraid.”
The corridor goes dead silent.
The teenage boy’s jaw tightens almost imperceptibly.
Tiny crack in the conditioning.
Wu notices instantly.
“Emotional contamination detected.”
Every fluorescent light in the corridor suddenly shifts red.
Alarm tones pulse overhead.
The teenagers physically tense.
Training response.
Automatic.
Wu’s voice sharpens for the first time since entering the bunker.
“Neutralize the threat.”
The boy raises his rifle fully.
Finger tightening on the trigger—
—and suddenly the girl shoves his weapon aside.
The shot slams into the ceiling instead of Hannah’s chest.
Everything explodes.
The boy spins toward her instantly.
“What are you doing?!”
Confusion.
Real confusion.
Like independent thought physically hurts him.
The girl stares at Hannah breathing hard now.
Fear cracking through years of conditioning.
“You said outside was real.”
Hannah nods slowly.
“Yes.”
The girl’s voice trembles.
Barely.
“Were they lying?”
Oh God.
Hannah’s eyes fill instantly.
“No.”
The teenage boy looks between them both like his entire world is splitting open.
Wu’s voice cuts through the corridor like a blade.
“Subject Eight-Seven has failed compliance.”
The girl flinches violently.
And suddenly—
hidden turrets descend from the ceiling.
Auto-defense systems.
Russ shouts instantly:
“MOVE!”
Gunfire erupts from above.
The hallway detonates into chaos.
Clay. Move.
I grab Hannah hard and throw both of us behind reinforced medical barriers as automatic weapons shred the corridor.
The teenage boy gets clipped immediately.
Blood sprays across the white floor.
The girl drags him behind cover on instinct despite his protests.
Despite the conditioning.
Because somewhere deep down—
humanity survived.
Gabriel fires upward at the turrets.
Russ destroys another with controlled bursts.
Sparks rain across the corridor.
The bunker shakes violently again beneath us.
Harder this time.
The reactor countdown is accelerating.
Emergency lights flash across terrified faces.
Smoke fills the hallway.
And through it all—
Wu calmly speaks.
“Attachment always corrupts efficiency.”
Hannah rises beside me with fury burning in her eyes.
“No,” she says.
The girl looks toward her from behind cover.
Hannah’s voice hardens.
“It’s what makes us human.”
And for the first time since we entered Ascension—
the conditioned children hesitate to obey Wu.