The abandoned sector felt wrong before they even reached it.
The tunnel walls grew older, cracked and stained by time. Pipes overhead groaned as if shifting under invisible weight. The air thinned, colder than the rest of the underground—like something ahead absorbed warmth instead of holding it.
Dr. Calder walked ahead with steady, deliberate steps.
Ash stayed close beside Palo, not touching him, but close enough that Palo could feel the tension radiating off him like heat.
"Ash," Palo whispered as they walked, "are you sure about this?"
Ash didn't look at him, but his voice softened.
"I'm not sure about any of this. But I'm sure about staying with you."
Palo's chest tightened—uncomfortably, confusingly.
Not a romantic feeling, but a heavy emotional pull that he didn't know how to explain.
Calder glanced back. "We're close."
The tunnel sloped downward, turning into an old maintenance corridor. Wires hung loose overhead like dead vines. Faded hazard signs clung to the walls, peeled and unreadable.
Palo stopped.
Because he'd seen this hallway before.
Not yesterday.
Not last year.
When he was seven.
He didn't realize he was staring until Ash stepped in front of him.
"Palo? What's wrong?"
Palo lifted a shaky hand and pointed at the rusted metal door at the end of the hall.
"I… know that door."
Calder nodded. "You should. You escaped through it."
Palo's stomach lurched.
"How do I remember that? I thought my memories were erased."
Calder tapped the side of his head. "Erased is never complete. More like… painted over."
Ash's eyes darkened.
"They wiped him too young. His mind found ways around it."
Palo moved closer to the door. It seemed bigger now—or maybe he was remembering how small he had been back then. His fingers brushed the metal, and a sharp, freezing rush tore through his body.
He stumbled back.
Ash caught him by the shoulders immediately, steadying him. "Palo! Are you okay?"
"I… saw something."
Calder stepped closer. "Describe it."
Palo swallowed hard. "A red room. A chair. Lights—really bright. And someone standing behind me."
Ash's grip tightened unconsciously.
"That's enough," he said quickly.
Calder raised a brow. "He needs to remember."
Ash snapped, "He doesn't need to relive trauma to solve anything."
Calder sighed. "Memories are not the enemy. Ignorance is."
Palo raised a hand weakly.
"It's okay. I just… wasn't ready."
Ash exhaled slowly, trying to steady himself too. "You're not doing this alone. Not for a second."
Palo nodded, breathing through the cold echo in his mind.
Then Calder pressed a hand to the old metal door.
"You two should know something," he said. "This facility was abandoned for a reason. Not because it was empty—but because what was inside could not be controlled."
Ash's expression sharpened.
"What was inside?"
Calder hesitated. His silence alone made Palo's skin crawl.
Finally, he answered.
"Children like you."
Palo froze.
Ash's voice came out low. "What do you mean—'like him'?"
Calder turned to them, the dim tunnel light casting sharp shadows across his face.
"Marked children. Those with heightened perception. Those who could see patterns others couldn't. Some developed stronger abilities as they aged."
Palo felt his pulse quicken.
"Abilities like what?"
"Memory recall beyond normal limits. Intuition that bordered on precognition. Pattern reading at near-inhuman speed. And in rare cases…" Calder's eyes lingered on Palo a moment too long. "Sensitivity to others with the mark."
Ash's entire body tensed.
"Palo is not part of whatever experiment you ran."
Calder answered softly, "He already is."
Palo forced himself to focus.
"What happened in this building? What went wrong?"
Calder turned back to the door.
"A revolt."
Ash blinked. "A what?"
"They grew up," Calder said. "And they realized they were being treated as assets. So they fought back. The sector wasn't abandoned because it failed. It was abandoned because the children inside refused to cooperate."
Palo felt a cold shiver.
"Did any of them… escape?"
"Some," Calder said quietly. "Some were taken. Some disappeared. Some didn't survive."
Palo's voice trembled.
"And me? Was I part of that group?"
Calder met his eyes.
"You were younger than the others. You weren't meant to be in the same program. But something happened. Something they refused to record. Something that made them more afraid of you than the older children."
Palo's stomach twisted.
"Afraid of me? Why?"
Ash stepped between them protectively.
"Stop giving vague answers. If you know something, tell us."
Calder sighed. "Fine."
He placed his hand on the latch.
"You escaped not because you ran," he said quietly. "But because the others helped you."
Palo's breath hitched.
"The older kids?"
Calder nodded. "They led you to this door. They hid you. They defended you when the guards tried to stop them."
Ash's eyes widened.
"They risked everything for him."
"Yes," Calder said. "And I never understood why."
He pulled the door open with a groaning wail of metal.
"But maybe now I do."
Cold air spilled out—sharp, sterile, filled with the faint scent of old chemicals and dust.
Palo stared into the dark interior.
"What do you mean?" he whispered.
Calder stepped aside.
"Because they believed you were the key," he said. "To something bigger than all of this."
Ash's hand moved toward Palo again—steady, reassuring.
Palo took a breath and crossed the threshold.
The door slammed shut behind them.
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