Chapter 5 - The Override Code
Panic set in as the heavy ventilation fans above us ground to a halt.
I sprinted to the sealed blast door and frantically typed every passcode my father had ever taught me into the keypad.
Every single attempt flashed a harsh, glowing red 'ACCESS DENIED' on the screen.
"Shoot the panel!" I yelled at my brother.
Elias fired three rounds directly into the electronic keypad, shattering the plastic and sparking wires.
The door did not even budge.
"The locking mechanism is hydraulic and buried three feet into the concrete wall," Elias shouted.
"We need the master override sequence from the main control room."
There was only one person currently up there who had access to the main console.
I pulled the emergency two-way radio from my belt and switched it to the medical bay frequency.
"Cole, if you can hear me, you need to wake up right now," I screamed into the static.
There was a long, agonizing pause before a deep, groggy voice responded.
"I am awake," the mercenary grunted, sounding like he was in immense pain.
"I am trapped in the medical room, Maya."
"Use the emergency release lever under the operating table, then get to the main console," I instructed rapidly.
"You have three minutes before this room is pumped full of incendiary gas."
I heard the sound of breaking glass over the radio, followed by heavy footsteps.
"I am at the console," Cole reported a minute later.
"What is the override code for the sub-level?"
"I do not know," I admitted, my heart hammering against my ribs.
"My father hid this level from me."
"Check his digital logs for Subject Zero."
I heard furious typing through the radio speaker.
"I found it," Cole said, his voice suddenly going dangerously quiet.
"Maya, you need to look at the drawings on the glass walls of that cage."
I walked over to the shattered cell and looked closely at the frantic charcoal sketches.
They were incredibly detailed portraits of a little girl growing up.
A girl with pigtails, a girl riding a bicycle, a girl graduating high school.
They were portraits of me.
"Maya," Cole whispered through the radio.
May you like
"Subject Zero is not a weapon."
"Subject Zero is your mother."
