Chapter 1

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Alex didn't often make great choices, but this was one of them. As much as Ian trained him, he obviously didn't train him for this, not even close. And right now, he was starting to regret having pushed Mrs. Jones to allow him to go back to the school; he should have stayed there in the tent observing from behind the cameras. But that was too late, and right now he was left pressing against the wall, trying to block out the sound of the guns firing, knowing that at that moment they were taking someone's life. As bad as they were for working here, Alex still felt bad, they were somebody uncle, and Alex didn't want anyone to be pushed into a certain position like he had been.

He was brought out of his thoughts by a voice calling him.

"Alex." He turned his head, still pressing against the wall, fearing that a stray bullet might hit him.

Alex could almost cry with relief; it was Kyra, and she was okay.

"Come on, I need your help," she said. He immediately ran off, following her, not even thinking.

He didn't worry that he was leaving the rest of the unit behind, something that he was advised against. If anything, Mrs. Jones could see where he was through the camera strapped on his chest. He had been here because of Kyra; he wasn't leaving her behind because of some order. They could yell at him all they liked after they got out of here, but for know he was aloud to make stupid decisions.

She led him towards the basement, and Alex worried that something had happened with one of the others. Hadn't she been able to get them out? All of the possibilities were running around in his head that he didn't even notice Kyra using the original code on the door and not theirs.

It was his first mistake, but he only needed one to fail, and there was not a second try.

Alex realized his mistake too late, more specifically when he was struck with a fire extinguisher on the back of his head, and the door closed behind him, making him fall towards the ground.

"Thanks, Kyra."

Stellenbosch. Great, this couldn't get any worse. But it could, in fact, get worse, and it did.

Alex was dizzy on the ground, feeling the back of his head get wet with blood. His mild concussion probably wasn't so mild anymore, and he wondered how he was even conscious at that point.

He couldn't focus on that; he had a bigger problem on his hands right now, like Stellenbosch trying to kill him.

As hard as he tried, he couldn't land any hits on her. He was seeing double right now, something that was really concerning as far as head injuries goes, but the best he could do was block some of the hits that came his way.

He wondered if Mrs. Jones was paying attention to his camera right now. He couldn't know since his headset had flown out the moment, he hit the ground. He could only hope that she had alerted the others because as things were, he wouldn't be able to maintain his situation for much longer. He was doing a terrible job of fighting Stellenbosch, all his martial arts lessons flying out the window. He wondered what Ian would think right now, seeing him fight so badly after he had paid for the classes, after he had trained him all his life, how disappointed he would be.

Sooner than later, he found himself on the ground once again, victim of the glass beakers that Stellenbosch decided to throw at him. He winced as some shards penetrated his clothes and lodged themselves in his arms and legs, but thankfully, the majority of the glass hit the ground, or the thick clothes protected him.

His next problem was in front of him: the flammable tanks next to a rapidly spreading fire. Alex knew that it was only a matter of time before the tanks would blow up, and if he didn't get out of the way, they would blow up in his face.

He quickly crawled to a nearby corner, protecting his face the best he could, while still being attacked by Stellenbosch, who appeared to not have noticed the blazing fire and the upcoming explosion.

When it happened, it happened so quickly that Alex didn't have time to process. A white-hot, blazing pain hit his whole body as his vision turned black for a second. His body burned all over, pain hitting him in so many places that he couldn't even point to where it hurt the most. He couldn't even breath threw the tick cloud of smoke.

Alex stayed in a daze; he wasn't unconscious, but he wasn't fully conscious either. In fact, he was leaning towards the former rather than the latter. His eyes found themselves closing against his will before he forced them to open again.

In the middle of his battle, he felt someone grabbing his legs and pulling his body towards the hallway that led to the cells, making his pain intensify, what here they doing? Couldn't they see he was hurt? At least they were here to finally take him out of this hell.

But whoever was dragging him didn't take him towards the exit, instead he was abandoned next to a wall before much to his confusion, a piece of drywall was placed on top of him, hiding his body from others that might walk into the room. His eyes fluttered shut for a moment.

When they opened again, he heard voices, voices that sounded like they were a mile away. He could hear them; they were calling him.

He tried to answer back, call for help, but he couldn't. His body didn't obey his commands no matter what he did, he felt like he couldn't breathe he couldn't even think of being able to yell . But that didn't matter anyway; they were the military, the secret services, the best of the country. They would find him; they were trained for this.

But instead, the voices stopped calling his name.

"Cub, are you okay?"

They asked, but they weren't there; the piece of drywall was still on top of him. Who were they talking to?

"Come on, let's get you out of here."

Alex's dread only got worse as he saw a boy being lifted off the ground and walked out of the room—it was himself.

His eyes went wide. It all made sense to him now. They made a clone of himself. He had seen the file; how could he have forgotten? He saw them kill Dr. Baxter in front of him because he had finished the job. They had made a clone of himself, and that clone was being saved instead of himself.

"We have to go; Jones wants us out of here. Apparently, there's a storm coming; they're doing the cleanup when it passes."

They were leaving, and they would be taking a fake Alex with them.

Alex tried to call out to them as they left the room, tried to yell or move, tried to do something. How couldn't they see him, he was right next to them. As he tried to get someone attention, he felt the darkness closing in on himself, his body gave up.

"Don't leave me behind," he thought as his eyes closed again, taking him away from the pain.

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