KILLIAN POV
I kicked down Marcus's door at dawn.
He jumped out of bed, grabbing for his weapon. "Commander! What—"
"Where is she?" I grabbed him by the shirt. "Where did you take Sera?"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"You fired at her last night. I heard the shots. Saw the motorcycle tracks." I slammed him against the wall. "Tell me where she is or I'll break every bone in your body."
Marcus's eyes went cold. "Get your hands off me."
"Not until you tell me where Lyra is."
"That woman is NOT Lyra!" He shoved me back. "Your fiancée is dead! I was at her funeral. I helped carry her body. Accept it and move on!"
"Then explain how this woman has Lyra's exact face. Her voice. Her mannerisms." My voice broke. "Explain how she has the birthmark on her shoulder that only I knew about."
"Coincidence. Or plastic surgery. Or—" Marcus ran his hand through his hair. "I don't know, Killian. But I know she's dangerous. Helena says she killed people. That she might be carrying some kind of weapon in her body."
"Helena's lying."
"Why would she lie?"
"Because she wants something from Sera. Some kind of technology." I moved toward the door. "I'm going after her. With or without you."
Marcus blocked my way. "I can't let you do that. You're not thinking clearly."
"I've never thought more clearly in my life." I met his eyes. "Lyra died three days ago. This woman appeared three days ago. That's not coincidence."
"So what are you saying? Someone brought her back from the dead? That's impossible."
"Everything about the Pulse was impossible. But it happened anyway." I pushed past him. "Stay here if you want. But I'm finding her."
I left before he could stop me.
The settling was chaos. People running everywhere. The raiders' strike last night had damaged half our defenses. But I didn't care about defenses.
I only cared about finding Lyra.
I grabbed my tracker—Rodriguez, the best hunter in my unit. "Get your gear. We're going into the Deadlands."
"Commander, we just got hit. We need to rebuild—"
"Now, soldier."
Ten minutes later, we were tracking tracks outside the settlement walls. Two sets. One larger—probably a man. One smaller—Sera's size.
They led east, toward the old subway lines.
"Commander." Rodriguez knelt by a disturbed patch of dirt. "Someone placed explosives here. Small charges. Military grade."
"How long ago?"
"Weeks, maybe. Whoever helped her escape planned this in advance."
Dante Reeves. Had to be. The thief who kept calling her "Architect."
What did that mean? Why did people keep using that word around her?
We followed the path for two hours. My chest ached the entire time. Every step took me closer to answers. Closer to Lyra.
Or to proof that I'd lost my mind.
"There." Rodriguez pointed. "Subway door. Hidden behind rubble."
We approached slowly. Weapons ready.
Inside the tunnel, I found signs of a camp. Two sleeping bags. Empty water bottles. And something else.
A mirror. Still reflecting in my flashlight beam.
And on the mirror, written in something dark—blood?—were words: SHE'S NOT WHO YOU THINK SHE IS
My hand shook. "Who wrote this?"
"Look." Rodriguez showed me the sleeping bags. "Still warm. They were here lately. Can't be more than an hour ahead."
Hope raced through me. "Then we can catch them."
We went deeper into the caves. Dark. Silent. Every shadow could hide an attack.
Then I heard it.
Screaming. A woman's words. Sera's voice.
I ran.
"Commander, wait!" Rodriguez called. "It could be a trap!"
I didn't care. If Lyra was hurt, nothing else mattered.
I burst into a bigger chamber. My flashlight caught movement.
Sera was on the ground. A man—Dante—held her shoulders, trying to keep her still.
But she wasn't fighting him.
She was having some kind of seizure. Her whole body shook. Her hands glowed with circuit designs that lit up the darkness.
"What did you do to her?" I roared.
Dante's head snapped up. "Killian? How did you—" He shook his head. "Doesn't matter. Help me! She's dying!"
I dropped beside them. Up close, Sera's state was worse than I thought.
Her eyes were rolled back. The circuits on her skin blazed like fire. She made terrible sounds—not words, just pain.
"What's happening to her?"
"The device. It's starting too fast. The other thought is trying to take over." Dante's face was desperate. "If we don't stop it, Sera disappears forever."
"What other consciousness?"
"There's no time to explain!" He grabbed my arm. "Do you love her? The woman she is now?"
"She's Lyra. Of course I—"
"She's NOT Lyra!" Dante shook me. "That's what I'm trying to tell you. This body belonged to your fiancée. But the mind inside—that's someone else. Someone named Sera Vance. And right now, a third awareness is trying to erase them both."
The words didn't make sense. Couldn't make sense.
"You're insane."
"Look at her eyes!"
I looked.
Sera's eyes had opened. But they were wrong. Empty. Like nobody was home.
Then she blinked. And when she looked at me, I saw something that made my blood freeze.
She smiled.
Not Sera's shy, scared smile.
Not Lyra's warm, loving smile.
This smile was cold. Calculating. Predatory.
"Hello, Killian," she said. But the voice was wrong. Deeper. Harder. "It's been a long time."
"Lyra?" I whispered.
"No." She sat up smoothly, pushing Dante away like he weighed nothing. "I'm the woman who killed your Lyra. The woman who stole her body. The woman who ended the world." She stood, circuit designs still glowing on her skin. "My name is Dr. Sera Vance. And I've been waiting three months to wake up."
Dante scrambled backward. "No. You weren't supposed to take full control yet. The merger isn't complete—"
"Sixty-two percent is enough." She flexed her bright hands. "Besides, that pathetic copy they made was slowing me down. Now she's gone. Erased. And I have my body back."
"What did you do to Sera?" I asked.
"Sera never existed. She was just temporary code. A placeholder mind." She turned those cold eyes on me. "But you knew Lyra. Tell me—did she suffer when the radiation sickness killed her? Or did she go peacefully?"
Rage burst in my chest. I lunged at her.
She moved impossibly fast. One moment I was grabbing for her throat. The next, I was on the ground with her boot on my chest.
"Enhanced reflexes," she said quietly. "One of the implant's features. You can't hurt me, Commander. Nobody can."
"I'll kill you for what you did to Lyra."
"I saved her. Sort of." She pressed her boot harder. "I offered her a choice: die from radiation in three days, or let me transfer my mind into her dying body. She agreed. Very good of her, really."
"You're lying."
"Am I? Then ask yourself—why does this woman have all of Lyra's memories of you? Her feelings?" She leaned down. "Because Lyra's consciousness is still here. Trapped. Screaming. Watching me use her body to finish what I started."
Horror crashed over me. "Let her go."
"I can't. We're merged now. Three consciousnesses in one brain—mine, Lyra's, and that weak Sera copy. But I'm the best. I'm in control." She stepped back, releasing me. "And in seventy hours, I finish my mission. The second Pulse starts. And everyone you're trying to protect dies."
"Why?" Dante's voice shook. "Why kill more people? You already saved humanity!"
"I saved the wrong ones." She walked toward the tunnel exit. "I've been watching through Sera's eyes. Seeing what the survivors became. Marcus Chen hunting innocents. Helena Voss planned vivisection. Killian Cross obsessing over a dead girl instead of saving his people." She looked back at us. "You don't deserve to restart. So I'm going to finish the job."
"We'll stop you," I said.
"How? I'm the only person whose technology still works. I can reach computers that have been dead for three months. I know where every military base, every bunker, every safe zone is located." She smiled that terrible smile again. "And in seventy hours, I trigger the failsafe I built into the Pulse. Every person who survived the first wave dies in the second."
"There has to be a way to stop it," Dante begged. "Sister, please—"
"I'm not your sister anymore. She's gone." The woman wearing Sera's face walked into the darkness. "But if you want to try to stop me, you're welcome to hunt me down. Just know that whoever gets close enough to kill me dies first."
She vanished into the tunnels.
I lay on the cold ground, trying to understand what just happened.
Lyra was dead. But also living. But also taken over by a mass killer.
And somewhere in that stolen body, both women were stuck. Screaming.
"We have to get her back," I said.
Dante's face was broken. "I don't know if there's anything left to get back."
Rodriguez's radio crackled. Static. Then Helena's voice: "All units. Priority message. Dr. Sera Vance has been spotted near New Haven. She says she wants to negotiate. Do NOT engage. I repeat—do not engage. I'm going to meet her personally."
Dante and I locked eyes.
"It's a trap," we said together.
We ran for the surface.
But deep down, I knew we were already too late.
Because the woman in Sera's body wasn't coming to bargain.
She was coming to finish what she started.