Chapter 21 - Veritas Foundation

The silence stretched between them, heavy and suffocating. The screen had gone black, but the James Emanuel words still echoed in their heads.

Emma clenched her jaw. "James Emanuel… He wasn't just missing."

Walter's knuckles turned white, "No, he was taken."

Kath crossed her arms as a way to comfort herself, her voice low. "They had him this whole time. But why? What did they do to him?"

Walter's eyes remained fixed on the dead monitor, he couldn't believe the boy he spent years looking for was still alive this whole time.

Emma, "And who were the children in that footage?" her voice was grim. "Were they prisoners? Test subjects?"

Too many questions. No answers.

Kath took a deep breath. "One thing's for sure, whatever happened here, the truth is still buried somewhere in this place."

And they were going to find it.

Their footsteps echoed down the metallic hallway, past rusted panels and warning signs. Then-

A reinforced door stood before them.

Tall. Thick. The steel was dented, scratched, as if someone had tried to break through.

And in the center-

The Eye Symbol.

The same sigil they had seen before, always marking something important. Something hidden.

Kath ran her hands along the door, searching for a way in. "No handle, no keypad. It's locked from the inside."

Emma stepped back. "There has to be a way-"

Then she saw it.

A hidden panel, barely noticeable, embedded in the wall. It had a slot for an access key.

A key they didn't have.

Kath cursed under her breath. "Of course. It'snot goingto be that easy."

Walter snapped back from his thoughts and turned, scanning the area. "Then we look."

They searched through overturned desks, inside rusted lockers, among scattered papers. Then-

Emma spotted something.

A dead body and-

A bloodstained ID card.

Tony smith.

She picked it up, heart pounding as she she saw a piercing on the side of his skull.

Silence.

Kath swallowed. "…Omg"

Emma tightened her grip. This wasn't a normal death, this was like a scene from a horror film, a cliché horror film.

And now, in her hands.

She exhaled. "Let's find out what's behind this door."

She swiped the card.

The lock clicked.

The door slid open.

And they stepped inside.

The room wasn't what they expected.

Not a cell.

Not a lab.

But a library.

Rows of dusty shelves stretched along the walls, filled with aging books and binders. The air smelled of paper and mildew, untouched for years.

Kath ran a hand over a spine. "This… isn't normal."

Emma's flashlight swept over the shelves. No fiction. No history books. Only research files, medical reports, hand-written notes.

And at the far end-

Another door.

Kath was getting tired of all this, "It's like a damn maze."

Walter stepped forward. "That's not all."

He pointed to a desk. On it-

A DVD player.

And a tape.

Again, it felt like someone had put it there.

Tony Smith experiment 000.

They played it.

The screen flickered. A man appeared.

Middle-aged. Unshaven. Blood on his shirt.

His breathing was uneven. His hands trembled.

And when he spoke, his voice was hollow.

"If you're watching this, I'm already dead."

A pause.

"I was a researcher here. We were told we were saving lives, pushing the boundaries of human potential."

A bitter laugh.

"But we weren't saving anyone. We were building something. And when they started using children, I knew… I knew we had gone too far."

His gaze darted off-screen.

"The tests. The disappearances. The ones who never left their rooms. We weren't supposed to ask questions. But I did. And then…"

He exhaled shakily.

"Then, they brought in Cain."

Emma and Kath exchanged glances. There it was again.

The researcher's voice lowered.

"That's when everything changed. The experiments, the results-"

His breath hitched.

"They called it progress. I called it something else."

Then-

A voice off-screen.

Cold. Mocking.

"Mr. Smith… you shouldn't be doing this."

The researcher's face drained of color.

He turned, slowly. His voice cracked.

"I trusted you."

He followed, "did you really think we wouldn't notice?, helping the subjects all this time?."

Tony couldn't even turn his face to look at man, he was simply-

Terrified.

The man added, "we just didn't bother because we were curios to see how the subjects will react when given some sense of support and affection."

The researcher clenched his fist, the weight of regret was eating him alive, and now you're telling him he was far deep in the experiment than he actually thought he was.

The searcher, in a desperate move, tried to get up and fight but-.

The voice laughed.

BANG.

The researcher's head jerked to the side.

Blood sprayed across the camera.

The tape shook as the body collapsed.

Then, movement.

A figure stepped into frame.

Unaware of the camera.

A tall man. Broad shoulders. A black coat.

And a fox mask.

The screen cut to static.

Emma's pulse hammered in her ears. "What the hell was that?"

Kath stared at the frozen image. "That voice. " this tony... at least he admitted it..."

Walter's face was unreadable. "And that man… the one who killed him…"

Emma swallowed hard. "We need to check those files."

Kath's fingers flew across the nearby computer terminal. She bypassed corrupted folders, then stopped.

A hidden document.

Labeled:

"REDACTED - FINAL CLEARANCE."

She opened it.

A list of names.

James Emanuel.

Eliminated: January 7, 2030.

Age: 26.

Walter hopes completely crumbled before his eyes.

Emma felt a cold dread seep into her bones.

Kath scrolled. More names.

Luna Belle: 'EXPIRED.'

Rick Norman: 'RECLAIMED.'

Emilia Armen: 'SUCCESSFUL TRANSFER.'

Then, one last name.

Cain.

Final Name: [CAIN █████]

Status: [UNKNOWN.]

Date of birth: [2025.]

No termination date.

No notes.

Just, Cain.

His last name was scratched completely.

Emma's throat was dry. "Cain …He's the only one without a fate."

Kath whispered, "What the hell is Cain? Why everything leads back to him??."

Walter's voice was grave.

"Better question…"

"Is he still here?"