Chapter 2804: Story 2805: The Prisoner Beneath the Floor

“Ryan, my son. Please help me.”

Ryan froze beside the cracked floor. The voice sounded exactly like his father—deep, tired, and carrying the same gentle warmth Ryan remembered from childhood. For fifteen years, he had dreamed of hearing it again. Now that it had returned, he was terrified.

Zara raised her rifle. “Step away from the floor.”

“But that’s my father.”

“You saw what that giant did. You heard what Hamza and Meher told you. How can you be sure?”

Three knocks echoed beneath their feet.

“Ryan,” the voice pleaded. “There isn’t much time.”

Ryan dropped to his knees and brushed aside broken concrete. A narrow metal hatch lay underneath, its surface marked with a faded symbol: a golden circle surrounded by seven black lines.

The moment his fingers touched it, the symbol illuminated.

Ryan jerked backward.

From somewhere beneath the building came a deep mechanical groan. The hatch unlocked with a metallic click, releasing a breath of freezing air that smelled of rust and damp earth.

Zara aimed her rifle into the darkness. “We’re not going down there.”

A sudden scream erupted from the street below.

Ryan rushed to the window. Zombies were pouring into the ruined building, climbing over one another to reach the staircase. But something strange happened when they reached the second floor. Every creature stopped simultaneously, their decayed faces turning toward Ryan.

Then they began whispering his name.

“Ryan… Ryan… Ryan…”

His radio crackled violently.

“Do not open that hatch!” Captain Hamza shouted. “Whatever you hear, it is not safe!”

Ryan grabbed the radio. “You said my father disappeared inside the facility. Is he alive?”

Silence.

Then Dr. Meher’s voice broke through. “Ryan, we discovered recordings of your father after the first experiment. They were dated yesterday.”

“Yesterday?” Zara repeated.

“His body may be dead,” Meher continued, “but something down there has learned to imitate him. It knows memories that nobody else should know.”

The voice beneath the hatch suddenly laughed.

Not his father’s gentle laugh.

Something older. Hungrier.

“Meher always was afraid of the truth,” it whispered.

The golden symbol flared brighter. Ryan saw images flash across the metal: a laboratory, a blood-covered table, a younger version of his father strapped beneath a machine. Behind the glass stood a little boy, crying as scientists watched.

Ryan recognized the boy.

It was him.

His knees weakened. “What did they do to me?”

The hatch swung open.

A narrow ladder descended into a tunnel lined with enormous cables. Far below, golden lights pulsed like a gigantic heartbeat.

“Come down, Ryan,” his father called. “I can explain everything.”

Zara seized Ryan’s shoulder. “Look at the wall.”

Beneath the hatch, fresh scratches formed letters across the concrete.

DO NOT TRUST THE MAN WHO CALLS YOU SON.

A deafening roar shook the tunnel. Something enormous moved in the darkness below, dragging chains across the ground.

Then another voice emerged from the depths—identical to Ryan’s own.

“Father,” it said, “the door is open.”

The zombies outside suddenly fell silent.

And from beneath the city, something answered.

“BRING ME MY FIRSTBORN.”