The Childrens

Night fell like a curtain as Shiromi and Hayato stood on a hill overlooking the facility.
From the outside, it looked like nothing more than a decommissioned water treatment plant — cracked concrete, rusted tanks, broken fences.
A lie.
Hayato adjusted the stolen access card in his hand.“Security rotates every six minutes. Cameras loop for twelve seconds at a time. We go in through the drainage tunnel.”
Shiromi nodded.
No hesitation.No fear.
Only focus.
They slipped through the shadows, descending into the underground passage. The air grew colder, tinged with chemicals and metal — a smell, Shiromi remembered something in the past that happened to her.
Her steps slowed.
Flash.
A younger version of herself sitting in a white room.Needles.Bright lights.A voice saying “Subject 4 is stable.”
She clenched her jaw and kept walking.
They reached a reinforced door.
Hayato swiped the card.
The door opened.
Inside, the facility was alive.
White corridors.Observation windows.Researchers in lab coats moving between rooms.
And behind the glass…
Childrens.
Some sat quietly, staring at nothing.Some were hooked to monitors.One boy tried lifting a metal chair with shaking arms while a scientist recorded data.
Shiromi froze.
Her reflection overlapped with theirs in the glass.
“…They’re me,” she whispered.
Hayato touched her shoulder gently. “We get them out. All of them.”
A voice echoed from behind.
“I was wondering when you would come back.”
They turned.
A woman in her forties stood at the end of the corridor, silver-streaked hair tied neatly, glasses reflecting the fluorescent lights.
She smiled — not kindly.
“Subject 4,” she said. “You grew beautifully.”
Shiromi's fists tightened.
“Who are you?”
The woman stepped closer.
“Dr. Shinohara. Lead researcher of Project H.”
Hayato stepped in front of Shiromi. “You experimented on childrens.”
Dr. Shinohara tilted her head.“We saved them. The world is unstable. Wars. Collapse. Disasters. Ordinary humans won’t survive what’s coming.”
She looked at Shiromi with fascination.
“But you will.”
Shiromi’s voice was ice.
“You killed my family!"
The doctor didn’t flinch.
“They broke protocol. Emotional interference compromises results.”
Rage flared — but Shiromi didn’t rush forward.
Not yet.
Instead, she asked quietly:
“How many subjects are still alive?”
Dr. Shinohara smiled.
“Enough to change the future.”
Alarms suddenly blared.
Red lights flooded the hallway.
Hayato looked at his device. “They know we’re here!”
Dr. Shinohara stepped back toward a security door.“You’re not here to destroy the project,” she said calmly.
She pressed a button on the wall.
Steel doors slammed shut throughout the corridor.
“You’re here,” she finished,“to prove it works.”
Behind them, heavy footsteps echoed.
Not guards.
Something heavier.
Stronger.
Shiromi exhaled slowly.
“Subject 1 isn’t the only success,” she said.
The shadows at the end of the hallway shifted.
And something stepped forward that looked human…
…but moved like her.