Dead man surviving .. survival chance 0.002

Chapter 8 – Out of Sync

"You're not our Rayn."

The words hit harder than any mimic ever had.

Rayn's breath caught. He stared at Jun, her expression unreadable but her blade steady, unwavering. The others flanked her—Cole with his rifle raised, Milo with his fists clenched like he didn't know whether to fight or run. A silence hung in the air, taut as wire.

He took a single step forward.

Cole cocked the rifle. "Don't."

Rayn froze. "Jun, it's me. I came back. I fought my way through whatever that hellhole was. I remembered things—things I never lived. But I'm me."

"Then tell me," she said, her tone mechanical. "What's the last thing I said before you entered the Merge?"

Rayn hesitated. His mouth opened—then closed.

The words drifted from his mind like fog. He remembered her grabbing him. Shouting. Lights flashing. But the details… blurred.

Jun's grip tightened. "That's what I thought."

"I—I was disoriented. The Merge scrambles your sense of time. That doesn't prove anything!"

"It proves enough," Cole growled.

"But you saw me go in!" Rayn snapped, voice rising. "You dragged me to the machine! How can I be anyone else?"

Milo stepped forward. "That's just it. We don't know what the Merge Engine actually does when it misfires. You could be a mimic. Or worse—something made from leftovers."

Rayn reeled. "I'm not—"

"We're putting you under observation," Jun interrupted. "Two hours. If nothing changes, we'll test again."

"I'm not some lab rat," he hissed.

"No," Jun said quietly. "You're a threat. Until we're sure you're not, you're not going anywhere."

---

They locked him in the storage cell near the medbay—concrete walls, no windows. A cot. A flickering bulb. He paced like an animal, hands running through sweat-drenched hair.

Was he different?

He looked at his hands. No mimic claws. No black veins. No voice in his head whispering betrayal.

So why did everything feel wrong?

Even the air smelled different—sterile, like bleach and old blood. The facility layout was the same, but the lighting was off, dimmer than before. Shadows pooled in places they hadn't yesterday. And Milo… Milo was right-handed now. He'd always been left-handed.

He sank onto the cot, pressing his palms into his eyes.

What the hell happened in there?

The door clanked. A tray slid through the slot.

Jun's voice. "Eat something."

He didn't touch it.

Instead, he asked, "What's the phrase today?"

Jun didn't answer.

"You've been listening to the radio towers, right? They always broadcast something. What is it now?"

A pause.

Then, reluctantly, she said: "The observer has been replaced."

Rayn's blood turned to ice.

"That's about me, isn't it?"

Jun didn't reply. The slot slammed shut.

---

Hours passed.

He tried sleeping, but every time he closed his eyes, the void returned. The cracked versions of himself. The Jun with the wrong smile.

And always, always that whisper: You chose survival.

Footsteps echoed outside. The door opened.

Cole.

"Get up," he said gruffly. "Jun wants you in the comms room. Something happened."

Rayn followed, flanked by Cole and Milo. He noticed more changes—scratches on the walls that hadn't been there before. A broken camera that was intact yesterday. Jun wearing her pistol on the other hip.

In the comms room, the static-filled monitor flickered.

A body lay on the table.

Rayn's heart stopped.

Milo.

Or rather—a body that looked like Milo. Eyes open. Throat slit. Skin pale.

Rayn turned slowly to the Milo standing beside him.

"What the hell is this?" he whispered.

"We found it in the coolant shaft," Jun said, voice steady but eyes hollow. "Three levels below. No way in without the clearance codes."

Cole muttered, "We thought we had a mimic problem. But this?"

Milo—the one still standing—was white as ash. "I—I don't remember going down there. I swear, I didn't…"

"But you could have," Jun said.

Rayn stepped back. "No. No, this… this isn't right. If there are two Milos, maybe the Merge didn't just change me. Maybe it fractured the entire timeline."

Jun narrowed her eyes. "You're saying we're all wrong?"

"I'm saying maybe we're not in the same version of reality we started in."

A long, aching silence.

Then, on the monitor, the radio tower signal cut through the static again—clear, mechanical.

"Observer compromised. Reset pending."

Rayn swallowed hard. "You hear that? It's not about mimics. It's about us."

Jun leaned forward. "Then who are you, Rayn? If you're not our Rayn… who are you?"

He didn't answer.

Because deep down, he wasn't sure anymore.

We don't even know if that's the real Milo," Cole muttered.

"I didn't do anything," the second Milo said quietly. "I woke up like this. Just like him."

"This is insane," Jun said, stepping back from both. Her eyes flicked between the two Milos—one confused, one silent. "No. No, we're not doing this again. We scan both. Right now."

But the scanner lay in pieces across the floor, destroyed in the chaos.

Rayn stepped forward. "We need to leave. Now. Before whatever did this comes back."

"You're awfully eager to move," Cole snapped.

"Because if I'm not who you think I am, then standing around won't make me more real. But if I am—then I'm the one who knows what's out there. The mimics are changing. And we don't have time to argue."

Silence.

Then:

"You're right," Jun said finally. "But you're not leading us. I am."

The group moved out—fractured, uncertain.

Rayn trailed behind. So did the second Milo.

Neither of them spoke.

But they both looked at the same cracks in the walls. The same lights flickering. The same radio static whispering through the vents.

The observer has been replaced.

The facility was darker now. Colder. As if the very air rejected them.

Rayn touched the wall once—just briefly.

And it felt like something touched back.

Later, when they stopped to rest, Jun sat beside Cole and whispered something Rayn couldn't hear.

And when Rayn looked at the others…

They looked away.

Chapter 8 End