**7**
Captain Ryder’s military knife sliced across Liam’s throat.
Blood splattered on the control panel. Liam’s eyes still held that eerie fanaticism. Even in
death, he continued to hum that melody.
“Commander, I’m sorry. I should have noticed sooner.”
I didn’t answer. Liam’s corpse was still twitching, but my attention was drawn to the
communication signal that had relit on the main screen.
Dr. Thorne’s face reappeared. This time, his expression was even more composed, even
tinged with a pathological affection.
“Seraphina, do you see? This is the gift I’ve given you.”
“You’re insane,” I said through gritted teeth.
“Insane?” Dr. Thorne chuckled. “I’ve never been clearer. Do you want to know the truth?
About you, about all of this?”
The screen switched.
A blurry image began to play. It was a crude lab, old, with poor video quality.
A young woman was tied to an experimental table.
Her face was indistinct, but those eyes–those desperate and furious eyes–I would never
forget.
Mom.
“No.” My voice trembled.
“She was beautiful, wasn’t she?” Dr. Thorne’s voice came through the speakers. “Too bad she didn’t understand my ideals.”
In the video, a younger Dr. Thorne held a syringe, injecting something into my mother, shot after shot. My mother struggled, cried, desperately called for help.
But no one came to save her.
“Genetic modification, Phase One,” Dr. Thorne from the video noted. “Objective: create the perfect host.”
“Phase Two, embryo implantation.”
“Phase Three, induced mutation.”
“Phase Four…”
I pressed the play button again.
“Finished watching?” Dr. Thorne’s face reappeared. “Seraphina, do you want to know who
I am?”
I didn’t want to hear it. But his next sentence completely shattered my world.
“Impossible.”
“Your special constitution, your immune capabilities, your resistance to the virus…” Dr. Thorne’s voice was calm. “These weren’t natural, Seraphina. These were all my masterpieces.”
“I created you, just as I created this virus.”
“This entire apocalypse was merely the final testing ground for my ‘Man–Made God‘ project.”
My world was collapsing.
All the memories from my childhood, all the pain, all the struggles–it had all been an experiment.
“You killed my mother.”
“She died in childbirth,” Dr. Thorne corrected, “However, her death was indeed related to the experiment. I hadn’t yet fully grasped the side effects of genetic modification”
“But her death had value, She created you, a perfect man–made god”
A frantic laugh suddenly echoed from the cell.
Dorian Blackwood.
He had heard everything.
“Hahahaha…” Dorian Blackwood’s laughter grew wilder. “So that’s it! That’s it!”
“The one I loved was an experiment! The one I betrayed was also an experiment!”
“We’re all pawns! All pieces in his hand!”
Dorian Blackwood’s voice turned hysterical: “Eleanor, do you know? From beginning to end, we were all under his control!”
“He made me love you, made me betray you, made me suffer, made me despair! All of this was his design!”
I watched Dorian Blackwood on the monitor. He was completely insane, slamming his head against the cell walls repeatedly, blood streaming from his forehead.
“Even our love was fake!”
Dr. Thorne’s laughter echoed from the speakers: “Dorian Blackwood is right. His feelings
for you were also part of my calculations. I needed a variable to test your emotional
endurance.”
“He played the perfect betrayer”
My heart was utterly cold.
All the pain, all the betrayal, all the despair, from my previous life to this one, originated
from the same person,
I looked at that familiar face on the screen, and for the first time, I felt a pure, all–consuming hatred,
“What do you want?”
“I want you back” Dr. Thorne said, “Back by my side, to become a true god”
“I’ve prepared the final experiment. If you’re willing, I can grant you true divine power”
“What’s the price?”
