💔 The Contract Groom
Rain slashed through the city roads like knives.
A black SUV raced through the storm at dangerous speed while headlights cut violently across the darkness.
Inside—
Aryan struggled to stay conscious.
His breathing had become unstable now.
Veins near his neck darkened faintly beneath the skin while sharp pulses of pain spread through his body every few seconds.
Protocol Zero was activating faster.
Sasmita sat beside him, gripping his hand tightly despite trying not to show panic.
"Aryan… stay awake."
But his vision kept fading in and out.
Fragments of memories flashed uncontrollably.
Children screaming inside laboratory halls.
Emergency lockdown alarms.
Professor Veer shouting—
"Secure Subject One immediately!"
Then Mira's voice from years ago—
"Run!"
He shut his eyes painfully.
Mira drove silently from the front seat.
Cold.
Focused.
Every mirror check calculated.
Behind them—
headlights appeared again.
Circle pursuit teams.
"They found us already," Sasmita whispered.
"Of course they did," Mira replied calmly.
"They track neural signal fluctuations."
Another terrifying detail.
Aryan forced himself upright slightly.
"They can trace Protocol Zero?"
Mira nodded once.
"As long as the trigger remains active."
"So we destroy it."
Mira's eyes briefly met his through the mirror.
"That's what your aunt tried years ago."
Silence filled the vehicle.
Heavy.
Painful.
Then suddenly—
Aryan looked toward her sharply.
"You said there were other survivors."
Mira's fingers tightened slightly around the steering wheel.
"…Most are dead."
The way she answered revealed enough.
Not natural deaths.
Hunted.
Eliminated.
Erased quietly by the Circle.
Sasmita's jaw tightened.
"How many children did they experiment on?"
Mira stayed silent for a few seconds.
Then—
"Officially?"
A bitter smile appeared briefly.
"…Thirty-three."
Aryan froze instantly.
Thirty-two failures.
One success.
That was what Veer said.
"They counted only me," Aryan whispered darkly.
Mira nodded.
"Because the Circle never considered the others human after the experiments failed."
The words chilled the entire vehicle.
Outside—
the pursuing headlights grew closer.
Gunfire suddenly erupted.
Bullets slammed against the SUV violently.
Glass cracked near the rear window.
Sasmita immediately pulled out her weapon and returned fire through the broken side glass.
The pursuing vehicle swerved slightly.
But more headlights appeared behind it.
Three vehicles now.
Mira's expression sharpened.
"They're trying to box us in."
She slammed the accelerator harder.
The SUV roared forward through the rain-covered highway.
Aryan pressed a hand against his neck again as another wave of pain struck.
His heartbeat became irregular.
Then suddenly—
he noticed something strange.
A pattern.
The pursuing vehicles weren't attacking recklessly.
They were moving strategically.
Predictively.
His brain analyzed it automatically.
"They know our route."
Mira looked sharply toward him.
"How?"
Aryan's eyes darkened slightly.
"Because they're predicting your driving choices."
Sasmita frowned.
"You figured that out already?"
But Aryan barely noticed the question.
His mind was accelerating again.
Processing too quickly.
Three pursuit vehicles.
Wet roads.
Limited escape points.
Then suddenly—
he realized something terrifying.
"The bridge."
Mira's expression changed instantly.
Ahead through the storm—
a massive highway bridge emerged from the darkness.
And parked across it—
black armored vehicles blocked the entire route.
Trap.
The Circle anticipated everything.
"Damn it!" Sasmita shouted.
Gunmen emerged from the blockade immediately.
Red laser sights cutting through the rain.
Mira jerked the steering wheel sharply.
The SUV swerved sideways violently onto a smaller industrial road beneath the bridge.
Tires screeched.
Concrete barriers shattered beside them.
The pursuing vehicles followed instantly.
But Mira suddenly smiled faintly for the first time tonight.
"Good."
Sasmita looked confused.
"Good?!"
Mira's eyes focused ahead.
"Now they can't stop us."
The road ahead descended deep beneath the city toward an abandoned industrial district.
Dark factories.
Broken warehouses.
Rust-covered gates.
And at the very center—
a massive underground structure hidden beneath the old docks.
Aryan's eyes widened slightly.
Because another memory surfaced instantly.
A hidden elevator.
Underground corridors.
Children running through metal hallways.
Impossible.
"This place…"
Mira nodded quietly.
"The original Project Aryan facility."
Sasmita froze.
"They brought us here?"
"No," Mira whispered.
"We were born here."
Lightning illuminated the massive rusted gate ahead.
A faded silver-circle symbol barely visible beneath years of decay.
Behind them—
the Circle vehicles closed in rapidly.
But none crossed the gate immediately.
They slowed.
Hesitated.
Fear.
Sasmita noticed instantly.
"They're scared."
Mira's voice lowered quietly.
"Because this is where the Circle buried its worst secrets."
The giant underground gate slowly opened with a deep metallic sound.
Darkness waited beneath it.
Cold.
Silent.
Forgotten.
Aryan stared into the underground abyss while pain continued burning through his veins.
And somewhere deep inside—
his memories whispered one terrifying truth.
This place wasn't abandoned.
Something was still alive down there.