SERA POV
Someone was beating on my tent.
I jerked awake, heart racing. The candle had burned out hours ago. Everything was dark.
"Sera! Open up! Now!"
Ezra's voice. But different. Panicked.
I stumbled to the tent flap and opened it. He pushed inside so fast I almost fell.
"Lock it. Lock it now." He was breathing hard, eyes wild.
"What's wrong?"
"Everything." He pulled papers from inside his jacket. Old, wrinkled papers that looked ready to fall apart. "I need to show you something. But you have to promise not to scream."
My stomach twisted. "You're scaring me."
"Good. You should be scared." He lit my candle with shaking hands. Then he spread the papers across the floor between us. "Look at these. Really look."
I knelt down. The first paper was some kind of legal document. It had beautiful writing at the top that said "Certificate of Death."
And underneath, in black ink: Dr. Sera Vance. Age 29. Cause of death: Trauma from laboratory blast.
The date was three days before the Pulse.
"This is a joke," I whispered. "Someone made this up."
"Look at the next one."
The second paper was a medical report. It described burns, broken bones, internal damage. At the bottom was a signature: Dr. Ezra Stone.
My hands started shaking. "You signed this."
"Because I had to. Because you were dead." His voice cracked. "I checked your pulse myself, Sera. There was nothing. You were gone."
"Stop lying!"
"I'm not!" He pulled out a picture. It showed a building—or what was left of one. Just ruins and twisted metal. Smoke rising from the ruins. "This is the Kronos Institute. Our workplace. Where we worked together for three years."
I stared at the destroyed building. Something about it felt familiar. Like a nightmare I couldn't quite remember.
"I've never seen this place before," I said, but my voice shook.
Ezra pulled out another picture. This one showed two people in white lab coats stood in front of computers. A man and a woman.
The man was Ezra, younger, happy.
The woman had my face.
"No." I pushed the picture away. "That's not me. It can't be me."
"Look closer." He held it up to the candlelight. "That scar on her eyebrow. You have the same one."
My hand flew to my cheek. He was right. I had a tiny scar there. I'd never thought about it before.
"Coincidence," I said softly.
"What about this?" He showed me another picture. The woman—me?—was laughing at something. She wore the same silver chain I'd woken up wearing after the Pulse. The one I never took off because it felt important somehow.
My chest hurt. "I don't understand."
"Someone brought you back from the dead." Ezra moved closer. His eyes were strange. Sad but also excited. Like he'd found something valuable but dangerous. "The question is who. And why."
"People don't come back from the dead."
"Technology can do amazing things. Before the Pulse, we were working on neural protection. Mapping human mind. Transferring memories from one brain to another." His words came faster. "What if someone saved your mind before you died? What if they put you in a new body?"
"That's impossible."
"So is a computer turning on after the Pulse. But you saw that happen yesterday." He grabbed my shoulders. "Sera, you're special. Different. Don't you feel it?"
I did feel different. The glowing wires under my skin. The voice in my head. The memories that weren't mine.
"Tell me the truth," I whispered. "Who was I? Before?"
Ezra's face changed. Something passed through his eyes—grief and guilt and something darker. "You were brilliant. The smartest person I ever met. We worked together on Project Kronos. It was meant to save the world."
"What was the project?"
"I can't tell you. Not yet. It's too dangerous."
"Tell me!"
"We were trying to prevent human extinction." He stood up, pacing. "Our computers projected that humanity would destroy itself within a year. Nuclear war, climate breakdown, disease. Everything hitting at once. Nine billion people would die."
My blood went cold. "And?"
"And we found a way to stop it. But it took sacrifice. Massive sacrifice." He turned to face me. "Sera, what if I told you the Pulse wasn't an accident? What if someone deliberately destroyed all technology to save humanity?"
The room tilted. "No."
"What if that someone was you?"
"I would never—"
"You loved humanity enough to make an impossible choice." His voice dropped to a whisper. "You killed five billion to save four billion. Mathematics, not morals. That's what you always said."
I backed away from him. "You're crazy."
"Am I? Then describe the neural implant in your head. Explain why you're the only person whose technology works. Explain why Helena is protecting you like you're the most important thing in the world."
"Helena's my friend."
"Helena was our boss. She ran Project Kronos." Ezra pulled out one more paper. "And she's the one who sent you into that room alone the day it exploded. She's the one who made sure you died."
"Why would she do that?"
"Because dead people don't ask questions. Dead people can't refuse orders. Dead people can be rebuilt however you want them." He moved closer. "But something went wrong. You came back with your memories damaged. You're asking questions. You're becoming dangerous."
My head spun with too many thoughts. "I need to talk to Helena."
"No!" Ezra grabbed my wrist. "That's exactly what you can't do. If she knows you're thinking, she'll—"
The tent flap tore open.
Guards flooded in. Six of them, guns drawn.
"Dr. Stone, step away from her," one ordered.
Ezra's hand tightened on my wrist. "Run," he whispered. "When I move, you run."
"What—"
He threw the candle at the guards. Darkness burst.
Someone screamed. Bodies crashed together. I felt Ezra shove me toward the back of the tent.
"Go! Now!"
I ran.
I tore through the canvas back wall and stumbled into the night. Behind me, men shouted. Flashlights swept the darkness.
I didn't know where to go. Didn't know who to trust.
So I ran toward the only place that felt safe—the hospital tent where I'd first woken up.
But when I got there, Helena was waiting.
She sat quietly on a crate, hands folded. Like she'd been expecting me.
"Hello, Sera. Or should I say Dr. Vance?" Her smile was cold. "We need to have a conversation about what you really are."
Behind her, the wall flickered. A projection appeared—security camera video.
It showed me standing in a laboratory. My finger on a red button.
The date read: Three hours before the Pulse.
And in the video, I was happy.
"Surprised?" Helena stood up. "You should watch what happens next. It's quite memorable."
She pre
ssed play.
On the screen, my past self pressed the button.
And the world ended.