I gripped Sarah by the shoulders, grounding her through the overwhelming surge of contractions. Looking over at the old veteran, I let my voice drop into a firm, commanding growl.
"Turn around, old man. Give us space and keep your eyes on the cabin wall. She's delivering right now."
He nodded quickly, turning his back and leaning against the metal hull to give us privacy. I knelt on the fluid-stained floor of the helicopter, keeping my hands steady despite my massive frame. I looked up into Sarah's tear-streaked face, holding her gaze with fierce intensity.
"Listen to me, Sarah," I said softly, cradling her head as another contraction racked her body.
"David gave his life so this baby could draw her first breath. Before he went down, he told me what he wanted for her. He said her name must be Hope. You have to be strong for Hope right now. Push!"
Sarah let out a raw, guttural cry, screaming through her teeth as she used the last reserve of her strength. I guided the fragile new life into the world, carefully supporting the infant as her sharp, tiny cries pierced through the thrum of the rotor blades. I wrapped the baby girl in a clean cloth from my tactical pack, tied off the umbilical cord with precision, and placed the child gently onto Sarah's chest. She wept, clutching her newborn daughter close as the helicopter soared higher into the clouds.
For the first time in months, I looked out the window and saw a glimpse of pure, untouched blue sky.
In the year 2708, technological advancement had erupted beyond imagination. Most modern infrastructure was now nuclear-powered, allowing humanity's remaining strongholds to construct massive bio-domes capable of defying the apocalypse. Our helicopter descended into a sprawling arena so vast my eyes couldn't measure its dimensions in a single glance. It was a staggering dome of pure life, encased in ultra-thick bulletproof glass that contained a fully self-sustaining inner ecosystem, complete with green trees and artificial sunlight.
The moment our aircraft landed, heavy automated machinery swiped us into a decontamination chamber. Giant mechanical arms submerged Sarah, the baby, the old man, and me into deep tubs filled with 99.99% industrial alcohol.
The harsh chemical hit the fresh cuts, open scrapes, and battle bruises covering my skin. The sheer, searing agony made me roar out loud, my chest heaving as I fought the pain during the mandatory 10-second submersion.
When the machine finally lifted us back to the surface, dripping wet and gasping for air, a cold-faced slender woman with a sleek hair bun stood waiting. She offered us a hollow smile that didn't even reach her eyes.
"You are now disinfected," she said, her voice oozin with robotic neutrality. "Follow me. Your quarters are ready."
We stepped out of the tub and followed her down a maze of iridescent, neon-lit cyan hallways. The walls hummed with low nuclear energy, casting a strange glow over our exhausted faces. The woman stopped at two small doors along the corridor, motioning for Sarah, her baby, and the old veteran to enter their tiny, minimalist bunkers.
I stepped forward, looking down at the guide.
"Where are my quarters?"
She didn't reply. She simply turned and continued walking briskly down the glowing hallway. I narrowed my eyes, my boots heavy against the metallic floor as I followed her deeper into the facility. We reached a massive steel blast door at the end of the passage.
The door slid open with a heavy hiss. Before I could react or reach for my weapons, a pair of armored guards stepped from the shadows and pressed a thick, chemical-soaked cloth firmly over my nose and mouth. I thrashed violently, my immense strength fighting the sedative, but the potent gas invaded my lungs. Within seconds, my vision blurred, and darkness took me.
When I woke up, my head throbbed with a dull, heavy ache.
I tried to flex my shoulders, only to find heavy titanium straps pinning my arms, legs, and chest to a solid metal chair. Electrodes were stuck across my scalp, their wires running to a glowing diagnostic monitor beside me. I squinted through the thick, one-way interrogation glass in front of me, trying to clear the haze from my mind.
A harsh light flickered on behind the glass. A sharp-featured, gray-haired man in an immaculate military uniform stepped into view, holding a digital tablet. The man leaned against the metal counter and smiled down at me with cold amusement.
"Remember me, boy?" the man asked, his voice echoing through the chamber speaker. "It's been a long time, Eric Vance."
My blood ran cold at the sound of my full name. Every muscle in my body locked up as recognition hit me. The man standing behind the glass was General Victor Warner, the top military director who used to oversee my father's research initiatives.
They knew exactly who I was. I wasn't just another survivor. I was the son of the virus creator.
"Victor," I spat, my voice low and dangerous.
"Let's skip the pleasantries," Victor said, tapping a stylus against his tablet as the lie detector electrodes hummed on my head. "We know who your father was, and we know what he was building. Tell me about the pathogen, Eric. How was the initial strain synthesized? What was the original intended purpose? Was your father engineering a bioweapon for a foreign faction before he lost control of the facility?"
I glared at the general, my jaw clenching tight. "My father wasn't building a weapon. He was working on cellular regeneration. The mutation was an accident caused by an unexpected thermal reaction in the containment cell. He tried to stop it. He died trying to stop it."
Behind the glass, the lie detector display flatlined into a steady green wave. The needle didn't spike or flicker a single millimeter.
Victor stared at the green readout for a long moment, letting out a slow, deliberate breath. The suspicion in his eyes softened just a fraction, replaced by the calculating coldness of a politician. He tapped his tablet screen twice, and the heavy titanium straps binding my wrists and chest suddenly unlatched with a loud click, releasing me from the chair.
"The test confirms you are telling the truth," Victor said coldly, turning his back to the glass. "You carry no dangerous secrets, Vance. However, there are no free rides in this dome. You will be granted access to the residential bunkers only if you contribute your labor to our defense force. We need fighters who know how to handle the front lines."
I rubbed my bruised wrists, feeling the raw burn of the titanium straps. I looked up at Victor with dark, unyielding eyes, realizing I was trapped in a new kind of cage.
"Fine," I said quietly, standing up to my full height. "I'll play your game."