Dead man surviving .. survival chance 0.002

Chapter 7 — Fractures

The tunnel swallowed them in silence.

Jun walked ahead, her mimic-blade still wet with the blood of Rayn's duplicate. Rayn followed, the echo of his footsteps bouncing back distorted, like the place itself was unsure of their presence. Behind them, the others gathered what they could—Cole muttering, Milo silent, the weight of what had happened dragging at their limbs.

Rayn's grip tightened on the crowbar. He should feel relieved. But instead, a hollow cold had settled inside his chest.

"You said 'next version,'" he called out into the dark. "You're going to explain that now."

Jun didn't slow down. "Keep walking. We're almost there."

"That's not an answer."

She finally stopped.

When Rayn caught up, he realized where they were—another chamber, this one larger and oval-shaped, with walls that shimmered faintly, as if something moved just behind the surface. In the center stood a massive cylindrical device, rusted and humming with a low mechanical groan.

Jun turned to him. "You want the truth? Fine. The facility isn't just making mimics. It's experimenting on versions. Fractured timelines. Quantum selves. Your mind is caught between possibilities—and something is feeding on the contradictions."

Rayn frowned. "That... thing back there. The Shade."

She nodded. "An Echo Shade. Born from mental dissonance. When two versions of the same consciousness get too far out of sync, the pressure can tear a rift open. What comes out is worse than a mimic."

"Why me?"

"That's what I'm trying to find out."

He didn't like how she said it. Like he was a puzzle she hadn't solved yet.

"Are there more?" he asked.

Jun stepped closer to the device. "I think this machine... it's connected to the merge points. Whoever ran this place wasn't just studying mimics—they were trying to rewrite identity. Permanently."

Rayn looked at the machine. "Then we shut it down."

"No," she said. "We use it."

Behind them, the others caught up.

Cole squinted at the machine. "That thing's powered by half-dead mimic cores. One wrong pulse and it'll explode."

Milo wiped his face. "We're not really doing this, are we?"

Jun ignored them. She pulled open a rusted panel and started rerouting wires, hands a blur. "Rayn, I need you to focus. You said the dreams started after you escaped. Right?"

He hesitated. "Not exactly. I had flashes before that. Visions. But they got worse after the mimic girl touched me."

Jun nodded. "Then she wasn't a mimic. She was a trigger. Your mind started syncing with other versions of yourself. This place... it amplified it."

Rayn stepped closer to the humming device. "So what happens if I step into it?"

Jun looked at him, her voice low. "We find out which version of you is real."

A cold sweat broke across his back.

As Jun calibrated the machine, the lights dimmed. Power was draining.

Suddenly, Milo yelped. "Something's moving out there!"

Cole raised his rifle.

In the distance—shadows shifting. But not mimics.

People.

Or something like them.

Rayn squinted. No faces. Just silhouettes. Dozens. All standing. Watching.

Jun froze. "No..."

Rayn whispered, "What are they?"

Jun whispered back.

"Other yous."

Rayn's stomach turned. He stared at the figures—and some of them stared back.

Not all were bleeding. Not all were afraid.

Some were smiling.

One stepped forward—and it looked exactly like him.

Same coat. Same scar. Same eyes.

But colder.

Cruel.

It spoke first.

"I remember this part. She tells you to step in. You hesitate. Then I kill her and do it myself."

Rayn backed up. "That's not happening."

The copy drew a mimic-blade.

"Then pick. Right now."

The lights in the chamber flickered violently.

Jun shouted, "We don't have time! If you don't step in, he will!"

Rayn turned to her. "What if I choose wrong?"

Her voice broke. "Then one version of the world dies."

The wall behind them cracked open—like a wound. Black mist poured out.

And with it, laughter.

Not mimic laughter.

Not Echo Shade.

Something older.

Watching.

Waiting.

Rayn looked between Jun, the machine, and the version of himself holding a blade.

Then he stepped forward—

And froze.

ecause now three versions of him stood there.

All staring.

All breathing.

All real

The chamber shook.

Sparks rained down from ruptured conduits, and the machine's core glowed with a pulsing, sickly amber light. Jun slammed a hand onto the controls. "Now, Rayn!"

"I don't understand—what if I'm not—?"

"You are! Or you're the closest thing we have!"

A mimic-blade screeched across the floor behind them as the second Rayn lunged. Cole fired. The shot went wide. Jun grabbed Rayn's arm and threw him toward the Merge Engine.

The machine swallowed him.

Sound vanished. Light fractured.

Rayn screamed—but no one heard.

He was nowhere.

A white void stretched in every direction. Shadows stirred at the edge of his vision, bleeding inward like cracks in glass. Then—movement. Figures stepped forward from the fog.

Him.

Another him.

And another.

They were all Rayn. But different. Broken. Angry. One wore a lab coat. Another was younger—blood on his hands. A third was burned, the skin of his face melted like wax, smiling.

"You made us," the burned one said. "You let this happen."

"I didn't choose any of this," Rayn muttered.

"You chose survival," said another. "Every time. That's the version you are."

"I didn't want to die."

The one in the coat stepped forward. "Then stop pretending this isn't your fault."

Rayn fell to his knees. The void flickered again—shifting. Now, he stood in the ruins of the suburb. The church. The mural burned into stone.

He saw it again.

Himself.

Standing triumphant, mimic corpses all around.

And behind him—Jun. But… wrong.

Not her.

Her face shimmered, glitching. Eyes too wide. Smile too calm.

"You're not real," Rayn whispered.

She tilted her head. "Neither are you."

She reached out—and her fingers pierced into his chest like needles.

Screams tore through the void.

Rayn convulsed as memories bled through—memories he never lived. Flashbacks of deaths that weren't his. Wounds that had never touched his skin. Whole timelines collapsing into a single thread.

He tried to hold onto something. Anything.

And then he heard a voice.

Faint. Familiar.

Jun's real voice. "Rayn—come back! Fight it!"

He clenched his teeth and grabbed the hand stabbing into his chest. The false Jun shrieked. Her skin cracked, dissolving into ash.

The void shattered like glass.

Rayn woke up gasping.

He was lying on cold metal. Lights flickered above.

He sat up—and froze.

Jun stood over him. Her eyes cold. Her blade drawn.

Behind her, Cole. Milo. The others.

All watching him.

All silent.

"Who are you?" Jun asked.

Rayn blinked. "Jun, it's me—"

She took a step back. "Stay where you are."

"Wait—what?"

Cole raised his rifle. "Don't move."

Rayn looked around.

Same facility. Same chamber.

But something was wrong.

Their expressions. Their posture. The way Milo stood slightly to the left—he never did that.

Jun's voice was colder than he'd ever heard it. "The Merge Engine activated twenty-two minutes ago. We pulled you out when the system spiked. But you didn't come back alone."

Rayn's heart dropped. "What are you talking about?"

She stared at him.

"You're not our Rayn."

Chapter 7 Ends