Mara woke to the sound of breathing that wasn't hers.
She sat up sharply, chest heaving, heart thundering. The room around her—an abandoned farmhouse Daniel had found hours after their escape—was dark except for the faint pulse of moonlight seeping through broken wooden slats.
Daniel slept restlessly on the couch across the room. Ten curled up beside him, her small fingers clutching his sleeve. Evelyn sat at the table, buried in documents, the glow of a lantern soft on her worn face.
But none of them were awake.
None of them were breathing like the sound she heard—
slow, cold, inches from her ear.
Mara swallowed, forcing herself still.
It's not real, she told herself. It's just a nightmare from the facility. Leftover noise. Trauma.
But then she heard the voice.
Soft.
Female.
Inside her skull, not around her.
"Mara… can you hear it?"
Zero.
Mara clenched her teeth. "Not now," she whispered under her breath.
The room stayed silent—except the whisper was now behind her, brushing the back of her neck.
"Listen."
A burst of static crackled through her mind—like a radio tuning in from another world.
Then—
A click.
A distorted hiss.
A faint, broken-sounding transmission:
[—…unit offline… search and—]
[—signal corrupted… anomaly detected—]
[—E-series asset confirmed escaping—]
Mara froze.
Those weren't memories.
They were current.
Something—someone—was broadcasting.
"Zero," Mara whispered, "what is that?"
Zero's voice exhaled like cold wind.
"A call."
"What kind of call?"
Zero stepped into view.
Not physically—her body wasn't there—but her silhouette flickered like a hologram of pure light, standing in the corner of the farmhouse.
Her eyes glowed with the same white electricity as Mara's.
"They're searching for us."
Mara's breath hitched.
"Who? Voss? The facility survivors?"
Zero tilted her head.
"Not them."
The static deepened, tightening like a fist around Mara's ribs.
[—Project Echo initiating—]
[—Subject Twelve… reactivating—]
Mara's blood turned to ice.
"Twelve?" she whispered. "There were only eleven prototypes."
Zero's expression softened into something terrible.
"There were more than you were told."
Mara stumbled back.
"No—no, Daniel looked through the logs—there was Zero, then one through Ten—"
Zero stepped closer, her voice dropping.
"Eleven was the last one you saw."
Mara's stomach twisted.
"Zero… what did they make after us?"
Zero smiled sadly.
"Something they hoped could replace me if you failed."
The static surged again—
[—Subject Twelve awake… target: Mara—]
Mara's heart plummeted.
"No. No, that's not possible."
Zero's voice was a whisper.
"They didn't stop at Ten. They didn't even stop at you."
A cold draft blew through the farmhouse.
Daniel stirred, groaning quietly in his sleep.
Zero looked toward him with unreadable emotion.
"If Twelve finds you before you find it… he won't survive."
Mara's breath shook.
"What does Twelve want with me?"
Zero began to fade, her outline dissolving like dust in wind.
Her final whisper brushed against Mara's ear—
"Twelve wants what was promised to you… the legacy of Zero."
Then—
A sound outside.
Soft.
Metallic.
Deliberate.
Footsteps.
Coming toward the farmhouse.
Mara's pulse spiked.
She crossed the room and shook Daniel roughly.
"Daniel," she hissed. "Wake up."
Before he could open his eyes—
The front door creaked.
Ten woke with a gasp.
Evelyn looked up from her papers, eyes wide.
Then they all heard it:
A distorted voice outside the farmhouse door—
"…Mara…"
Not Zero.
Not human.
Something new.
Something built to hunt.
Something built to replace her.
Subject Twelve.