Chapter 5 - The Sister's Mask Slips
Before Samantha could process the revelation, the pathology lab's emergency alarms shrieked to life. The overhead lights plunged into an ominous crimson rotation. Through the thick glass pane of the lab door, Samantha watched two men in sterile grey tactical gear step into the corridor, brandishing silenced sidearms.
"They tracked the telemetry feed from your implant," Dr. Evans gasped, thrusting a flash drive containing the research data into her jacket pocket. "Run through the waste disposal tunnel! Go!"
A muted gunshot shattered the observation window. Dr. Evans collapsed to the floor with a muffled cry, clutching his shoulder. Samantha bolted through the rear emergency exit, her adrenaline overriding the blinding vertigo in her head. She scrambled into the concrete drainage alley behind the hospital, the icy rain washing over her face as she disappeared into the Chicago fog.
She had nowhere left to hide except the source of the rot.
Two hours later, Samantha bypassed the security gate of Chloe’s lakeside estate in Lake Forest. Using her childhood key code, she slipped through the side entrance of the sprawling glass-and-steel mansion. The house was dead silent, smelling faintly of lilies and scorched plastic.
Samantha found Chloe sitting calmly in the expansive, minimalist living room, sipping red wine while gazing out at the rain lashed across Lake Michigan. Chloe wore an immaculate white silk robe, completely unbothered by the storm outside—or the blood Samantha carried.
"You shouldn't have run from the hospital, Sammy," Chloe said without turning around. Her tone was devoid of the bubbly warmth she had faked for years. It was cold, mechanical, and horrifyingly detached. "The retrieval team was ordered to extract you gently."
"Why did you put this thing in my head, Chloe?" Samantha demanded, her voice cracking as she picked up a heavy bronze statuette from an end table, her hands shaking with murderous rage. "What did Dad build?!"
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Chloe turned around, her lips curling into an empty, dead-eyed smile. "Dad didn't build a machine to help humanity, sister. He built a machine to achieve immortality. And you were always his favorite canvas."
***
