Chapter 8 - The Figure Behind the Glass
The chamber door opened only halfway before the mechanism jammed.
Marta’s father stepped aside.
Behind him stood a young man wearing a torn gray uniform. His wrists were marked by old restraint scars, and a thin metal band circled his neck.
He looked no older than thirty.
Yet when Elena saw him, she whispered a name with unmistakable terror.
“Adrian.”
Robert turned toward her.
“Who is he?”
Elena did not answer.
On the monitor, Adrian lifted his face toward the camera.
His eyes were unnaturally calm.
“You kept your promise,” he said to Marta’s father.
Sofia smiled.
“Not all of us forgot you.”
Victor rushed to the control panel and began entering commands.
“We have to close the chamber.”
Marta blocked him.
“Why?”
“Because he is not a prisoner.”
Adrian looked straight into the lens as though he could hear every word.
“No,” he said. “I was evidence.”
The guards behind Sofia shifted uneasily.
One of them lowered his weapon.
The movement was small, but Sofia noticed.
“Hold your position,” she ordered.
The man did not obey.
Instead, he stared at Adrian on the screen.
“My father worked here,” he said. “He disappeared in 1998.”
Adrian tilted his head.
“What was his name?”
The guard answered.
Adrian closed his eyes for a moment.
“He died in Chamber Four.”
The guard’s face collapsed.
Sofia raised her pistol and shot him before anyone could react.
The sound echoed through the corridor.
Marta stumbled back.
“You killed him.”
“He was already compromised,” Sofia replied.
Robert moved toward the fallen guard, but the others raised their weapons.
David, still seated against the wall, reached toward the man’s dropped rifle.
Elena noticed and kicked it away.
“No more mistakes.”
On the screen, Marta’s father pressed both hands against the chamber door.
“Adrian, help me.”
Together, they forced the damaged door wider.
A freezing white mist poured into the chamber.
Then the monitor image distorted.
For one second, Marta saw rows of transparent cells behind them.
Dozens of figures stood inside.
Some were elderly.
Some were children.
All wore the same gray uniforms.
The screen flickered again, returning to Marta’s father and Adrian.
Henrik stared in horror.
“How many people are down there?”
Victor’s voice was barely audible.
“More than the official list ever showed.”
A warning appeared across every monitor:
CENTRAL CONTAINMENT OVERRIDE ACCEPTED.
Sofia looked at her second key.
“I did not authorize that.”
Adrian slowly raised one hand.
The metal band around his neck blinked green.
“You were never the only one with access,” he said.
The corridor lights went dark.
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When they returned, every locked door in the underground complex was opening.
And from somewhere beyond the walls came the sound of hundreds of footsteps.
