Chapter 18 – The Ones Who Never Slept

The scanner wouldn't stop pulsing.

Every ten seconds, a red blink.

Alek stared at the device on the table like it might explode. The light wasn't bright, but the pattern was rhythmic—steady—alive.

Noah leaned over his shoulder, tension etched into every line of his face.

"It's moving," he muttered. "South. Fast."

Calen tapped the side of the scanner. "It's not just moving. It's searching."

Alek looked up. "For what?"

"For you," Calen answered flatly.

Silence.

The kind that weighs heavy and settles between ribs like stone.

Alek stood. "We follow it."

Noah grabbed his arm. "We don't know what we're walking into."

Alek pulled away. "Exactly."

The van they took rattled on the cracked asphalt, tires crunching broken glass and weeds poking up from pavement seams. The countryside blurred into patches of trees and crumbling towns.

Calen drove.

Noah sat in the back with Alek, fingers tracing a map on his lap, though they both knew it was mostly useless. The scanner beeped again—stronger.

"We're getting close," Calen called from the front. "Three kilometers."

Alek's pulse quickened.

He could feel it—like something old was waking up in his bones.

They reached the outskirts of a half-destroyed town. Buildings sagged with age. Vines choked windows. Signs hung sideways in languages no one used anymore.

It was dead.

But not quiet.

A low hum filled the air. Faint. Electronic.

"Power," Alek whispered.

"Underground?" Noah guessed.

Alek nodded. "Has to be."

They followed the signal to a school building. The gymnasium doors were split down the middle, one hanging off the hinge, the other scratched with what looked like claw marks.

The scanner shrieked.

"Here," Calen said.

Alek stepped in first.

He felt it before he saw it.

The weight.

Like walking into a room where someone had just screamed but left no sound.

He stood in the middle of the gym—barefoot, shirtless, trembling.

Young. No more than eighteen.

His arms were covered in burn scars and sensor ports.

Eyes glowing faintly blue.

He was rocking back and forth, repeating something under his breath.

"They lied… they lied… the Alpha is dead… the fire won't stop…"

Alek stepped forward. "Can you hear me?"

The boy froze.

Then slowly lifted his head.

He sniffed the air.

And smiled—too wide, too wrong.

"Unit 017… active. Alpha code found."

Noah's breath caught. "What?"

The boy's muscles tensed—and he launched forward.

Too fast.

Too trained.

Alek barely dodged.

A punch slammed into the wall behind him, shattering the brick like it was paper.

Noah scrambled to the side. "He's enhanced!"

"I noticed!"

Calen tossed a stun rod from his bag. Alek caught it mid-air and swung, catching the boy in the ribs.

It barely slowed him down.

The boy turned—eyes wild—and roared.

He tackled Alek, slamming him into the floor.

Pain exploded across his spine.

Alek grunted, grabbing the boy's shoulders, trying to flip him.

But the boy wasn't trying to kill him.

He was sniffing him.

Like an animal.

"Alpha…" the boy whispered. "You're real…"

Alek froze.

"…what's your name?"

The boy blinked.

Then clutched his head. "They said not to trust you. Said if I saw you, I had to… I had to—"He screamed.

Louder than any human scream should be.

Blood trickled from his nose.

He collapsed, twitching.

And whispered:

"…fire… hurts… make it stop…"

They brought him back.

The ride was quiet, broken only by the low muttering from the boy in the backseat.

Calen strapped him down gently to the bed in the cabin, using soft cloth and padding.

His chest still rose and fell in uneven gasps.

Alek sat beside him. Noah brought water and painkillers they weren't sure would work.

"He's not stable," Calen said. "His implant is leaking signal frequencies. He's overheating from within."

"Can we take it out?"

"Not like yours. It's buried deeper."

"Will he survive?"

"If he doesn't burn up first."

Alek exhaled slowly.

"What's his name?" Noah asked.

Calen checked the scanner again. "LIO-R17. Could be a designation. Lior, maybe?"

Alek nodded. "Lior. That's good enough."

Lior stirred.

"…Alpha…?"

"I'm here," Alek said.

Lior blinked at him through fevered eyes.

"They said you died."

"I didn't."

"They said if you came back… the system would break."

Alek leaned closer. "What system?"

Lior's body went rigid.

Then whispered:"The one you built."

That night, sleep didn't come.

Noah found Alek on the porch, wrapped in a thin blanket, eyes lost in the stars.

"You okay?"

Alek didn't look at him.

"I was supposed to lead them."

Noah sat beside him. "That's not your fault."

"I was the prototype. The Alpha. The one they all recognized. They hardwired obedience into them—using me."

"You didn't choose that."

"But I didn't stop it either."

Noah touched his hand.

"You are now."

Alek looked at him finally.

"…what if I'm still dangerous?"

"Then I'll be the one who pulls you back."

A beat.

Then Alek whispered:

"Don't let me become them."

"I won't."

The next morning, Lior was stable enough to speak.

Noah helped him drink water. Alek sat nearby.

Lior clutched the glass like it was the first real thing he'd ever held.

"I remember you," he said. "You walked different. Even in training."

Alek blinked. "You were in the facility?"

"We all were. They called us the next generation."

"…how many of you?"

Lior looked up.

His voice shook.

"Dozens."

A chill ran through the room.

Lior continued.

"They kept us underground. We trained day and night. We weren't allowed to speak unless ordered. But we knew about you. We whispered when they weren't looking. You escaped. You fought back."

Alek's heart ached. "I tried."

"They punished us when you did. But we still hoped."

Noah placed a hand on Alek's shoulder.

"You became their myth," he said softly.

Lior nodded. "Some of us believed you'd come back and free us."

Alek's eyes burned.

"I will."

Later, Calen showed them data extracted from Lior's implant.

A signal pinged a satellite—still active.

From it, they triangulated a facility: two hundred kilometers west.

A blacksite.

Officially decommissioned.

Unofficially—very much alive.

"They're waking the others," Calen said. "One by one."

"Why now?"

"I don't know. But it's coordinated. Precise. Someone's giving the order."

Alek clenched his jaw. "Then we stop them."

Before they slept, Lior gripped Alek's sleeve again.

"When they see you," he said, "they'll remember."

"What do you mean?"

"They'll remember their Alpha."

Alek frowned.

"…and?"

Lior whispered:

"And they'll either follow you—or kill you."