Chapter 31: The Missing File

"Daniel!"

I ran towards the doorway.

"Maya, wait!" Michael shouted.

I ignored him.

The trail of blood disappeared into the darkness outside.

I followed it.

"Daniel!"

Nothing.

Then I heard something.

A faint groan.

I turned towards an abandoned storage room.

The door was slightly open.

I pushed it.

Daniel was lying on the floor.

Blood covered his shoulder.

But he was conscious.

"Daniel!"

I dropped beside him.

"Don't move."

He gave a weak smile.

"You always ignore instructions."

"Who shot you?"

He pointed towards the back door.

"They took the laptop."

"Who?"

"I don't know."

"You were carrying it!"

"I didn't have a choice."

I stared at him.

"What was on that laptop?"

He looked away.

"Daniel."

He finally met my eyes.

"Your birth file."

My stomach tightened.

"What does it say?"

"I don't know."

"You're lying."

"I saw the file name."

"Then tell me."

He hesitated.

"MAYA ECHO—ORIGINAL SUBJECT."

I stopped breathing.

"Subject?"

Daniel nodded.

"There was another file attached to it."

"What file?"

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a tiny memory card.

"I copied it before they took the laptop."

I stared at the card.

"You risked getting shot for this?"

"I knew you deserved to know."

I took it from him.

"What does it contain?"

Daniel shook his head.

"I didn't open it."

"Why?"

"Because I was scared."

"For yourself?"

He looked at me.

"For you."

Before I could answer, footsteps sounded behind us.

Samuel appeared at the doorway.

"We have to go."

"Daniel is injured."

"I know."

"We're not leaving him."

Samuel nodded.

"We aren't."

He helped Daniel to his feet.

As we returned to the warehouse, everyone was waiting.

Except my mother.

"Mum?"

Nobody answered.

Her car was gone.

Michael looked at me.

"She left."

My heart sank.

"Why?"

Elias picked something up from the floor.

A handwritten note.

He handed it to me.

I recognised my mother's handwriting immediately.

My hands trembled as I opened it.

Maya,

I have spent your entire life trying to protect you from the truth.

But there are some truths a mother cannot protect her child from forever.

If you want to know why you were born, find the room beneath our old house.

Your father called it Room Zero.

Do not let Elias take you there.

And whatever you do...

do not open the door alone.

I looked up.

Elias was staring at the note.

His face had gone completely pale.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

He didn't answer.

I held up the note.

"Why doesn't my mother want me to go with you?"

Elias finally spoke.

"Because she knows what happened in Room Zero."

"What happened?"

He looked at me.

"You were there."

My heart stopped.

"I was a baby."

"No."

His voice dropped.

"You were six years old."

I stared at him.

"That's impossible."

Elias shook his head.

"That's what they made you believe."

Suddenly, the memory card in my hand began to beep.

Everyone looked at it.

A tiny red light blinked.

Once.

Twice.

Then a message appeared on the screen of Daniel's phone:

ROOM ZERO HAS BEEN OPENED.

And beneath it...

MAYA IS ALREADY INSIDE.