?
I stared at the wall, expecting to see my reflection, but the realization sunk in hard and fast: it wasn''t a mirror... it was ss. There were people on the other side, observing me, yet their faces were a blur.
I swung my legs off the bed and slowly approached the ss, hoping to catch a glimpse of the other side, but all I saw was my own confusion staring back at me.
The room felt too spacious, too void of any clues, leaving me to wonder about the intentions of the organization.
Were they testing me? Observing me? They wanted to know if I was indeed Phoebe.
ying right into their hands, I turned around, grabbed the IV stand with determination, and smashed it against the circuit breaker above, plunging the room into darkness. The power outage unlocked the door.
I stepped out into the deserted corridor when suddenly, a dog charged at me.
"Howler..."
It resembled Howler more than Coly ever did, likely another clone of my faithfulpanion.
The dog pounced, knocking me down with a look of sheer desperation in its eyes, as if it would tear anything to pieces to satiate its hunger.
It snapped at me.
"Howler!" I blurted out instinctively.
Amidst its frenzied struggle, the dog calmed down, gazing into my eyes before letting out a whimper and copsing beside me.
It was barely hanging on to life, having used itsst ounce of strength to pounce on me. All it had to do was bite my neck to survive.
But it didn''t.
Dogs have a way of understanding humans, a sense of spirit that sometimes makes them more humane than people themselves. The organization had deliberately starved Howler''s clone, wanting to see if it would attack its owner in a state of frenzy and madness. But the whole experiment was wed. Pets could be cloned, but memories couldn''t be copied and pasted.
Is a cloned dog still the same dog?
I stroked the dog''s head gently and pushed myself to stand.
The corridor stretched out before me, with arrows pointing me forward.
"Foebe Larson or Phoebe Caldwell?" At the end of the hallway, a man in ab coat, goggles, and gloves greeted me with a sinister smile.
He was clearly part of the organization, a doctor, perhaps.
"How many are watching me?" I asked, seeking to understand the extent of their surveince.
"Many... Not just the elite of Sea City
ne
but international tycoons as well. Their eyes are all on you, waiting for the experiment to confirm your identity. You''re the organization''s most valuable and controversial asset," he replied, hisughter echoing the madness of his words.
"And who in Sea City is watching?" I probed further, curious about the faces beyond the room.
"Members of the globalmerce
guild have the privilege. The
president of the All-Stars
Consortium, Matthew, Dextel
all have eyes on you."
They
I was forced into a chair, my gaze fixed on the camera on the wall.
They were all watching...N?velDrama.Org content rights.
Who exactly was the president of the All-Stars Consortium? The leader of the organization?
Was Dexter joining the guild against Hailey''s wishes to uncover the leader?
He must be watching me right now...
Watching me, the test subject, to see if I truly was Phoebe.
"This is a lie detector. You must answer truthfully to every question disyed on the screen. These inquiries from the tycoons," he
exined as he connected the
device with grave seriousness. "Who are you?"
I looked up at the screen, remaining silent.
My refusal to cooperate seemed to irritate him, prompting him to press the electric shock button.
Electricity coursed through my body, causing agonizing spasms.
"I am a test subject..."
The lie detector screeched in rm.
I had lied.
The shock of electricity surged through me once more.
I relented. "Phoebe, I am Phoebe Caldwell..."
The lie detector remained silent.
"Who do you love, Dexter or Caleb?" The screen scrolled with the next question.
That question... It had Dexter written all over it.
He was watching from behind the camera, seemingly at peace with his voyeurism.
I didn''t respond for three seconds, and electricity once again wracked my body with pain. The screen went quiet, awaiting my answer.