You saved me

The sound of alarms blared through the crumbling lab as the Paragon experiments closed in. Their grotesque forms moved with unnatural speed, their glowing eyes locked onto Mia, Alexander, and their team. The red emergency lights flickered, casting eerie shadows across the walls.

"Move!" Alexander shouted, pulling Mia behind him as he fired his weapon at the nearest experiment. The bullet struck, but the creature barely flinched before lunging forward.

Victor and his team unleashed a barrage of gunfire, but it only slowed the creatures down. Whatever Marco had done to them had made them nearly indestructible.

Mia's pulse pounded in her ears. She grabbed a stray weapon from one of the fallen guards and fired, but her hands shook. These weren't just monsters—they were victims. They had once been people, stolen from their lives and turned into this.

"This isn't working!" Victor called out. "We need another way out!"

Alexander scanned the room quickly. His eyes landed on a reinforced metal door at the far end of the corridor, partially open but blocked by debris.

"There!" he pointed. "If we can get through that, we might be able to escape before this place comes down on us."

Victor nodded, already working on clearing the path. But the creatures weren't going to let them go easily. More of them flooded into the corridor, their guttural growls sending shivers down Mia's spine.

One of them lunged for her.

She barely had time to react before Alexander tackled the creature, slamming it against the wall. But another one came at him from behind.

"Alexander!" Mia cried out.

A blur of movement. A sharp gunshot rang out.

The creature collapsed, blood pooling beneath it.

Mia turned to see Subject 47 standing beside her, a stolen weapon in hand. His breathing was heavy, his eyes filled with something human—rage, determination, and a deep sense of loss.

"You saved me," Mia whispered.

47 glanced at her before turning his focus back on the battle. "No more," he muttered before charging into the fray.

With 47's help, they fought their way to the exit. Victor managed to pry the door open just wide enough for them to slip through.

"Hurry!" he shouted.

One by one, they squeezed through the gap. The lab continued to shake violently, explosions echoing through the structure. It wouldn't hold for much longer.

Just as Mia was about to step through, a voice crackled over the intercom.

"Oh, Mia… you never cease to surprise me."

Marco.

Her blood ran cold. She turned to see a screen flicker to life, revealing Marco's smirking face. He was watching them.

Alexander stepped protectively in front of her. "It's over, Marco. We're shutting this down."

Marco only chuckled. "Is it? You're so predictable, Alexander. You think you've won just because you've destroyed a few of my labs? Project Paragon wasn't just about soldiers—it was about evolution."

Mia's fists clenched. "You tortured people for this so-called 'evolution'!"

Marco leaned forward, his smile widening. "And yet, look at you, Mia. You were never meant to be just an observer in all this. You're more involved than you realize."

A cold chill ran down her spine.

"What the hell does that mean?" Alexander growled.

Marco's voice softened, almost mockingly. "I suppose you'll just have to find out... when it's too late."

With that, the screen went black.

An ominous beeping filled the room.

Victor's eyes widened. "It's rigged—he set a detonation sequence!"

"RUN!" Alexander grabbed Mia's hand and pulled her through the door just as the explosion erupted behind them.

They barely made it outside before the entire lab imploded, sending a wave of heat and debris into the air. The force of the blast knocked them to the ground.

Mia coughed, her body aching as she struggled to sit up. The lab was gone. Nothing remained but fire and rubble.

But as she looked at Alexander, relief washing over her, Marco's words echoed in her mind.

"You were never meant to be just an observer in all this…"

What had he meant?

She didn't know.

But she had a terrible feeling they hadn't seen the last of Marco's plans.