The Hollow Box (Part-6)

Episode 6: “The Girl in the Glass”

Alarms wailed. Red lights pulsed like a heartbeat. Metal doors slammed closed somewhere overhead.

The Clark sisters did not flee.

Lara raced to the chamber controls, searching the old console. "There's a manual override," she called out, fingers racing over buttons. "It's password protected."

Lana gazed at the girl behind the glass. She had her lips moving, but she wasn't making a sound.

She raised the silver locket, pressed it against the glass. The girl's eyes widened. The keypad was aglow. Next, on its own, it typed:

CLARK.

A hiss of air. The chamber unlocked.

The door creaked open, releasing cold mist. The girl stepped out slowly, barefoot, in a torn hospital gown. Her skin was too pale. Her movements too smooth. But she wasn’t hostile just afraid.

“They made me,” she said softly. Her voice echoed like wind in a tunnel. “I wasn’t supposed to exist.”

Lana reached for her. “What’s your name?” “They called me Subject Twelve. But your mother. she gave me a real one. She called me Iris.”

Lara's chest tightened. "You knew our mother?

Iris nodded. “She tried to stop them. Tried to take me away. That’s why they killed her.”

Before Lara could say anything, the walls shook.

Footsteps.

Boots. Voices.

"They're here," Iris declared, eyes darkening. "You have to decide now. Run or help me finish this."

Lara looked at Lana. No words were necessary.

They pulled Iris by the wrists and ran.

Down a secret hallway, through deserted labs and flickering lights, the three girls vanished into darkness just as the Order of Nox materialized on the scene.

Too late.

“Would you risk everything to save someone you barely know if you believed it was the right thing to do?”