The Darkness I Carry

Chapter 40: Chapter 40: Into the Abyss



Chapter 40: Into the Abyss

The air in the hallway felt different now. Heavier. Like it was thickening with something darker than just sterile chemicals or mechanical silence. Caleb could feel it as he stepped forward, his feet dragging, reluctant but unable to stop. He had thought, hoped even, that there was still time time to pull Leah back from the edge. But now, with every step he took toward the door, every second that ticked away in the depths of this place, he knew deep down that it was too late.

They had passed the point of no return a long time ago.

Leah walked ahead of him, her movements automatic, her expression vacant. Her face was a mask a mask that had been sculpted, forged by the system that had raised her. But Caleb saw through it. He always had. At least, he used to.

Now, he wasn't sure if he could even recognize her anymore.

They reached the door at the end of the hall. Caleb's pulse quickened. There, beyond that threshold, was their fate. The target. The mission. The inevitable descent into whatever hell awaited them next. And yet, Leah didn't seem afraid. She didn't even seem resigned. It was as if she had already accepted this as her reality, had already made peace with the fact that she had no place in the world outside these walls.

The man in the black suit stood beside the door, expressionless, watching them with that same detached gaze. "It's time," he said, his words hollow and final.

Caleb wanted to speak, to argue, to say something anything that could stop this from happening. But he was paralyzed. He wasn't sure if it was fear or something else, something deeper, but he couldn't find the strength to voice the words.

Leah's voice, though, broke through the silence like a jagged knife. "I've been waiting for this."

Caleb turned his head sharply, his heart hammering in his chest. She wasn't looking at him. She was staring ahead, her eyes fixed on the door, her hands clenched into fists at her sides.

"Leah…" he whispered, his voice barely audible. His hands trembled slightly, but his words were firm, desperate. "You don't have to do this. You can still walk away. We"

She cut him off, her voice colder than he had ever heard it. "No, Caleb. You can walk away. I can't."

The weight of her words hit him like a punch to the gut. She was right. She couldn't walk away. Not anymore. Not when she had been forged into this weapon, this thing that only existed to follow orders and erase lives. It was too late for her. But he hadn't given up on her yet. Not completely.

"Please, Leah," he said, stepping forward, his hand reaching out. "You don't have to be this person. You were more than this."

She didn't flinch at his touch. Her eyes stayed forward, unwavering. "I never was."

The coldness in her tone shattered something deep inside him. He had always thought he could save her. That by reaching out, by showing her that there was something worth fighting for, he could pull her back from the abyss. But there was no one left to save. She had already fallen, and he had watched her slip away without doing a thing to stop it.

"You don't understand," Leah said softly, her words almost drowned out by the heavy silence in the room. "I never had a choice. None of us did."

The door in front of them opened with a soft, mechanical hum, revealing a brightly lit room beyond. It was clinical, sterile, and too perfect like the rest of the facility they had been trapped in for so long.

The man in the black suit gestured for them to enter, his eyes flicking to Caleb briefly, as if sensing the uncertainty that radiated from him.

Leah stepped forward without hesitation, her movements as precise and controlled as ever. She had already accepted her fate. It was only Caleb who seemed to be caught in a limbo of indecision, his mind racing with conflicting thoughts, drowning in the despair of what had already happened and what was yet to come.

When he didn't move, Leah paused just before the door. She glanced back at him, her gaze piercing, as though she could see every crack in his resolve. "I'm not the same person anymore," she said quietly, her voice almost lost in the hum of the room. "And you need to accept that."

Caleb opened his mouth, but the words didn't come. He didn't know how to respond. He didn't know what to say to someone who had already given up on herself. On everything.

Her eyes softened for just a moment, a fleeting vulnerability that only lasted a breath. But before Caleb could reach her, before he could speak the words that might undo all of this, she turned away.

The door slid shut behind them with a faint metallic clink.

Inside the room, a single table sat in the center, surrounded by high-tech equipment. The monitors flickered to life as the man in the suit stepped toward the terminal, his fingers moving quickly over the keys.

Leah stood at the table, her eyes already scanning the mission parameters. Caleb stayed by the door, his hand on the cold metal of the frame, his gaze flicking between the man and Leah. It was happening. It was really happening.

"Your target," the man said as the screen flashed with images of a well-dressed man, his face smeared with red marks indicators of his importance. "Eliminate him before he reaches the location." The coordinates flashed next, the path they would follow to execute the mission laid out with precision.

Leah studied the images without emotion, her face a perfect mask of detachment.

Caleb's stomach churned as the last vestiges of hope inside him crumbled. This wasn't the girl he had fought so hard to protect. This wasn't the girl who had once been full of fire, a fury born of injustice. This was something… different.

"This is your last assignment," the man continued, his tone colder than the room around them. "Once this is complete, your debt will be paid. No more missions. You're free."

Leah didn't react.

But Caleb did. "Free?" he repeated, his voice rising slightly. "What does that even mean? After everything they've done to you? To both of us? This isn't freedom, it's just"

"Enough," the man interrupted, his eyes narrowing. "You have no say in this. Your compliance is mandatory."

Caleb turned his gaze to Leah, his heart in his throat. "Leah…"

Her eyes met his for a fraction of a second, cold and empty. "This is my choice, Caleb."

With that, she turned back to the table, preparing for the mission ahead, and Caleb felt the final thread between them snap.

The mission was set in motion. The target was marked. But more than that, something irrevocable had shifted between them. Caleb had always thought that if he held on, if he kept fighting, he could save her from this. But the truth was more brutal than he could have imagined: there was no saving Leah.

She was lost to this world.

And perhaps, in some way, he had been lost with her all along.


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