CHAPTER 54 — THREE CLAIRES
The third woman wore a medical gown.
She was thinner than the others and walked with a limp.
Margaret covered her mouth.
The woman looked at her without recognition.
“Are you the mother?”
Margaret approached carefully.
“What is your name?”
“C-Three.”
The first double laughed.
“Miriam told me I was C-Three.”
The woman in the gown pointed at her.
“You were C-Five.”
Then she pointed at Claire.
“C-Six.”
Claire felt dizzy.
“How many were there?”
“Seven attempts.”
Rose looked at Sarah.
“Seven again.”
Sarah opened the registry.
Pages filled with photographs of infants who had Claire’s face.
C-One had died at three months.
C-Two had disappeared.
C-Three stood before them.
C-Four had died during conditioning.
C-Five was the angry woman from behind the glass.
C-Six was Claire.
C-Seven had no photograph.
Lily looked at Rose.
“Is she C-Seven?”
Rose shook her head.
“My file said Subject Seven, not Claire Seven.”
The third Claire touched Margaret’s face.
“You visited me once.”
Margaret searched her memory.
“When?”
“You wore a blue dress. You were crying.”
Margaret stepped back.
“I remember a nursery. Miriam told me the child inside was Rose.”
C-Three looked toward Sarah.
“They changed the labels whenever you came.”
Sarah’s expression hardened.
“Miriam made Margaret believe she was searching for one child while showing her another.”
Daniel found a control door at the end of the passage.
It required seven fingerprints.
Claire, C-Five, and C-Three placed their hands on three scanners.
Four remained dark.
“We need all seven Claire subjects,” Elias said.
“Some are dead,” Mason replied.
“Their tissue may still exist in storage.”
The facility shook again.
A scanner suddenly illuminated by itself.
C-Two: PRESENT.
Everyone looked around.
A small hand had touched the sensor from the opposite side of the door.
Lily whispered, “There’s a child in there.”
May you like
A young girl spoke from behind the metal.
“My name is Claire.”
