What Was Left Behind

Chapter 11: The Face of Patient #57

Maia's breath caught in her throat. Patient #57—the person who had haunted her father's files, the missing link in Camilla's disappearance—stood before her, cloaked in shadows. For a moment, the room was suffocatingly silent, the only sound being the faint hum of electricity crackling through the flashlight in her hand.

Levi, frozen beside her, kept his eyes locked on the figure. "Who the hell are you?" he growled, his body tense, ready for whatever might happen next.

But the figure didn't move and didn't respond. It was as though it was waiting—waiting for them to make the first move. The air around them felt charged, almost electric, as if something far darker than either of them could imagine was about to unfold.

Maia's heart pounded against her ribs as she finally managed to speak, her voice trembling. "Who are you?"

The figure stepped forward, the dim light catching their face, revealing a woman—her eyes wide and unblinking, her skin pale and stretched tight over her bones. There was a hollow, distant look in her eyes, a kind of emptiness that made Maia's blood run cold.

"I've been waiting for you," the woman whispered, her voice barely audible, as if it were coming from somewhere deep within her. "You're Dr. Lockhart's daughter."

Maia felt the words hit her like a punch to the gut. Dr. Lockhart. Her father. She couldn't tear her eyes away from the woman, her mind reeling. This woman—patient #57—had been a part of her father's experiments. She had been kept hidden, forgotten in the facility's darkness. And now, somehow, she was standing here, waiting for her.

Levi took a step forward, his face hard, but Maia held him back, her hand gripping his arm. She could feel the tension radiating off him, but she needed to understand what was happening. She needed to know who this woman was and what her connection was to everything.

"What did my father do to you?" Maia asked, her voice shaking as she stared into the woman's eyes, searching for any flicker of humanity.

The woman's lips twisted into a chilling smile, her teeth sharp, unnatural. "He made me forget," she said softly, her voice distant. "He made me forget everything. Who I was. What I knew. But now... now I remember."

A shiver ran down Maia's spine. The experiments. The memory manipulation. This woman had been one of the subjects, one of the people her father had tried to erase. But something had gone wrong—terribly wrong.

Levi stepped forward again, his voice sharp. "What do you remember? What did they do to you?"

The woman's smile widened, a grotesque, twisted grin. "He tried to take it all away. But the memories... they don't just disappear. They're still here." She tapped her temple, her eyes darkening. "They never leave."

Maia felt a wave of nausea wash over her. The experiments had been more than just unethical—they had broken this woman. Her father had torn apart her mind, and now she was standing here, the shattered remnants of a person who had once existed.

Levi's voice was cold. "Did Camilla find you?"

The woman's expression faltered, her hollow eyes flickering with recognition at the mention of Camilla's name. "She... she came to me. She was asking questions. She wanted to know about the trials. About your father." The woman's eyes shifted back to Maia, locking onto her with a chilling intensity. "She was close. Too close."

Maia's stomach turned. "What happened to her?" she whispered, dreading the answer.

The woman took a step closer, her presence looming larger in the small room, the walls seeming to close in. "She wanted to expose the truth. But there are things—things your father hid. Things that were never meant to be found."

Levi's face hardened. "Did you hurt her?"

The woman's smile disappeared, replaced by a vacant, haunted expression. "I didn't. But they did."

Maia's breath caught. They. There were more of them. More people involved, more shadows lurking in the darkness.

"Who are they?" Maia asked, her voice trembling with fear and anger. "Who's behind this?"

The woman's eyes flicked toward the doorway, her movements jittery and unnatural. "They're watching," she whispered, her voice barely audible. "They're always watching. You're next."

The words sent a bolt of terror through Maia's chest. They're watching. Her father's work, the experiments—it wasn't just a secret buried in the past. It was still happening. And now she was a target.

Levi moved quickly, grabbing Maia's arm and pulling her back. "We need to go. Now."

Maia nodded, her mind racing, but before they could take another step, the woman lunged toward them. Her movements were swift and inhuman, and Maia barely had time to react before Levi shoved her out of the way, blocking the woman's path.

The woman snarled, her face contorting into something monstrous, her hands reaching for Levi's throat. He twisted out of her grip, his elbow connecting with her jaw, sending her reeling back. But she recovered quickly, faster than should have been possible.

She came at him again, her fingers clawing at the air, her body moving like something out of a nightmare.

Levi barely dodged her second attack, his back hitting the wall. "Get out of here!" he shouted to Maia, his voice strained as he fought to keep the woman at bay.

But Maia couldn't move. She couldn't leave Levi behind—not now. Not when they were so close to uncovering the truth. Her eyes darted around the room, searching for something—anything that could help.

Her gaze landed on a heavy metal filing cabinet near the corner of the room. Without thinking, she rushed toward it, her hands shaking as she yanked it open. Inside, buried under a mess of old papers, she found what she was looking for—a small iron rod, rusted but solid.

She grabbed it and turned back to see Levi still struggling with the woman, her hands clawing at his throat. Without hesitating, Maia ran forward, swinging the rod with all her strength. It connected with the side of the woman's head with a sickening thud.

The woman let out a bloodcurdling scream, her body jerking violently as she stumbled back. For a moment, Maia thought she had knocked her out, but then the woman's head snapped back up, her eyes blazing with fury.

Levi wasted no time. He lunged forward, grabbing Maia's arm and pulling her toward the door. "Go!"

They bolted out of the office, the woman's scream echoing behind them as they raced down the hallway. Maia's heart pounded in her chest, her breath coming in sharp, painful gasps as they sprinted toward the exit. The facility felt like a maze of endless corridors, each one darker and more twisted than the last.

The growls and snarls from the woman behind them grew fainter, but Maia didn't dare slow down. She could still feel her presence—still feel the weight of her father's sins chasing her through the halls.

They burst through the front doors and out into the night, the cold air slamming into them like a wall. Levi didn't stop until they reached the car, his chest heaving as he unlocked the door and shoved Maia inside.

For a moment, they sat in stunned silence, the weight of what had just happened settling over them like a suffocating blanket. Maia's hands were still shaking, her mind racing with a thousand questions, but only one thought stood out.

Patient #57 was real. And so was the threat her father's work had unleashed.

Levi turned the key in the ignition, his jaw clenched, his eyes fixed on the dark road ahead. "That thing—whatever she was—it's not over, Maia. There's more."

Maia nodded, her voice barely a whisper. "I know."

As the car sped away from the facility, Maia's thoughts turned back to Camilla, to the experiments, and to the twisted figure of Patient #57. They were closer now, closer to the truth than ever before. But the darkness that surrounded it was deeper and more dangerous than she could have imagined.

And as the cold night air whipped through the open window, Maia knew one thing for certain:

This was only the beginning.