The silence was absolute, an oppressive void pressing on Alec's ears like an unbearable weight. He blinked slowly, trying to adjust his vision to the infinite white surrounding him. The snow covered everything except his face, and he felt the icy moisture seeping into his clothes. The cold was a relentless predator, sinking invisible teeth into his skin.
"Where... where am I?" he murmured, trying to force his mind to function through the fog of unconsciousness.
He tried to move, but his limbs were stiff. With effort, Alec managed to turn his head and saw the destruction around him. The research base, once a fortress of concrete and steel, was now nothing but debris buried under tons of snow.
A fragmented memory of the avalanche moment crossed his mind. The deafening roar, the ground trembling beneath his feet, the desperate run to the exit... and then the impact, the cold, the darkness.
"It can't be..." His lips trembled, and he realized he was speaking to himself.
Alec tried once more to move, this time successfully. With effort, he freed his right arm from the snow and used it to dig around his body until he could stand. The icy wind hit him like a slap, cutting his skin and stripping away any trace of warmth he might have had.
He stood, unsteady, his eyes scanning the horizon for any sign of life. There was nothing but a vast white expanse, interrupted only by the sparse shadows of the base's wreckage.
"I need... to get out of here..." He began to walk, each step a monumental effort, his feet sinking into the soft snow up to his ankles.
Alec didn't know how much time had passed, but each second was a battle to stay conscious. The cold was more than just uncomfortable; it was a living entity, lurking, waiting for him to let his guard down. His fingers were numb, almost insensible, and his breath turned into small puffs of vapor that disappeared into the air.
He stumbled over something hard under the snow and fell to his knees. With a grunt, he began to dig, revealing a twisted piece of metal and broken glass—the remnants of a window.
"The base..." Alec whispered, his voice hoarse. "Or what's left of it..."
It was then that he saw the figure on the horizon. For a moment, he thought it was a hallucination, a cruel trick of his desperate mind, but the figure was approaching. It was real. Alec struggled to his feet, trying to signal with one arm, but his body didn't fully obey.
The figure drew closer, and Alec finally made out a man, tall and with a stern expression. The man wore a heavy coat, the hood pulled up to cover half his face.
"You're alive." The man's voice was cold, without any surprise or emotion, as if finding survivors in the middle of an avalanche was a common occurrence.
"Help... I need help..." Alec tried to approach, but the man raised a hand, indicating that he should stay where he was.
"Don't worry," the man said with a sinister smile. "We'll take care of you."
Something in the way the man said this sent a chill down Alec's spine, more intense than the cold surrounding him. He stopped, reassessing the situation with new eyes, and something in the man's rigid posture, in the tone of his voice, set off alarm bells in his mind.
"Who... who are you?" Alec asked, trying to back away, but his legs gave out.
The man stepped closer, and Alec saw the metallic gleam of something in his hand—a syringe, small but unmistakable.
"I'm someone who needs to ensure you don't talk about what happened here," the man said, with an unsettling calm.
Alec tried to react, but his reflexes were slow, his movements uncoordinated. The man was faster, grabbing him by the arm and injecting the syringe's contents before he could even scream.
"This... isn't... fair..." Alec whispered as his vision began to fade again.
Before he lost consciousness, one last image was etched into his mind: the icy smile of the man holding him, a smile that promised nothing but darkness.
When Alec opened his eyes again, he was lying on a cold, hard surface. The first thing he felt was the painful throbbing in his arm, where the syringe had pierced his skin. He blinked several times, trying to clear his vision, but everything around him was dark.
"Where... am I?" He tried to move but found he was restrained, tied to a metal table. The sound of chains echoed through the room, creating a disturbing reverberation.
A sudden light shone down on him, blinding and cruel. Alec squinted, trying to adjust to the sudden brightness.
“You’re finally awake.” The voice of the man from before echoed in the room, now devoid of the slightest trace of sympathy.
“What… what do you want?” Alec asked, struggling against the throbbing pain in his head and the rising panic in his chest.
“Don’t worry, Alec. It won’t hurt… much.” The man smiled, and Alec could see the gleam of surgical instruments on a table beside him.
Fear hit him with full force. Alec began to thrash, but the restraints were strong. He was at the mercy of this man and his captors.
“What did you do… to the base?” Alec managed to ask, his voice laced with desperation.
The man stepped closer, his face now illuminated by the light. He was older than Alec had imagined, with deep wrinkles etched into his face.
“The base was just the beginning, Alec,” the man spoke with a frightening calm. “What you saw out there… is only a fraction of what’s to come. And you… you weren’t supposed to survive.”
“You won’t get away with this…” Alec tried to sound confident, but the pain and fear bled through every word.
“Oh, but we already have.” The man picked up a sharp tool and held it above Alec. “And you will be the proof that nothing, absolutely nothing, can stop us.”
The blade's reflection flashed in Alec's eyes, and for a moment, all he could hear was the sound of his own quickening breath. However, within him, a flame of determination began to ignite. He wasn't going to give up. Not here. Not like this.
“I… will… fight…” Alec whispered, feeling the anger growing inside him.
The man tilted his head, as if pondering Alec’s words, but then shrugged, indifferent.
“We’ll see how long you can keep that promise.” And with that, he moved forward with the blade.
The pain was excruciating, a searing heat that seemed to consume Alec from the inside out. He lay on the same metal table, his entire body trembling, but something inside him had changed. With each passing second, the physical agony was muffled by a growing willpower, a fierce determination he hadn't known he possessed.
The man who had tortured him was somewhere in the room, but the light over the table kept Alec from seeing him clearly. All he could focus on was the pain and the desperate need to survive.
“You think you can break my will with this?” Alec whispered through gritted teeth, his voice hoarse.
The man emerged from the darkness, now without his hood, revealing a severe, time-worn face. There was something in his eyes that reminded Alec of a predator watching its prey, waiting for the right moment to strike.
“The pain isn’t to break you, Alec,” the man responded, his voice icy. “It’s to remind you that your life is in our hands.”
Alec laughed, a rough, painful sound that escaped from his cracked lips.
“If you wanted to kill me, you would have done it already,” he said, forcing himself to meet the man's gaze. “You need me… for some reason.”
The man paused, his expression impassive, but Alec noticed a slight tremor in his hands. It was a sign. He was right. There was something more, something the man wasn’t revealing.
“What do you want from me?” Alec insisted, feeling the anger burning in his chest.
The man didn’t respond immediately. Instead, he walked over to a bench on the side and picked up a glass vial containing a bright blue liquid. He held it in front of Alec, as if offering a silent answer.
“This is the future, Alec,” the man said calmly. “It’s the result of years of research, years of sacrifices. And you… you are the key to it.”
Alec tried to process the words, but the pain was clouding his mind. He focused on the vial, on the small swirls the liquid made as the man gently turned it.
“What is that?” Alec asked, feeling desperation creeping in.
“This, my dear, is the result of genetic manipulation,” the man smiled, a joyless smile. “We’ve created a new kind of human, adapted to survive the most extreme environments, to evolve beyond the limitations imposed by nature.”
A chill ran down Alec’s spine. The magnitude of what was being said hit him like an avalanche, burying him under a mountain of implications and fears.
“You… want to turn me into that?” he asked, his voice filled with horror.
"Not exactly," the man replied, stepping closer to the table. "We've already begun the process when you were captured. What you're feeling now… is just the beginning. Soon, you'll be something much more… far beyond what you could ever imagine."
Despair mixed with a growing fury surged through Alec. He struggled against the restraints, feeling them cut into his skin, but he didn't care. He had to escape, had to stop the man from completing his plan.
"You're… insane…" Alec managed to say, panting.
"Madness is a matter of perspective," the man responded, his gaze cold. "And you'll soon see that mine is the only one that matters."
What happened next was too quick for Alec to fully process. The man twisted the vial, and the blue liquid began to glow more intensely. Alec felt his body react, an intense heat radiating from the spot where the syringe had pierced his skin. The pain was unbearable, but there was also a strange clarity in his mind. He knew what he had to do.
With what seemed like an impossible effort, Alec managed to flex the muscles in his arms, breaking one of the restraints. The metal cut into his skin, but he didn't feel the pain. All that mattered was freedom.
The man noticed the movement and rushed toward him, but Alec was already on his feet, his body trembling, his eyes fixed on the glass vial.
"You won't turn me into a monster!" Alec shouted, feeling the anger explode inside him.
Before the man could react, Alec lunged, grabbing the vial from his hands and smashing it to the ground with all his strength. The glass shattered, and the blue liquid spread across the floor, rapidly evaporating into a dense vapor.
The man screamed, but it wasn't a scream of pain. It was a scream of fury, of absolute despair.
"You have no idea what you've done!" he roared, trying to grab Alec, but the survivor was too quick. Alec leaped off the table and ran toward the door, his body operating in a state of pure adrenaline.
Alec heard alarms blare, the sharp, piercing sound reverberating through the entire laboratory. He knew he had little time before the place was swarming with security—or something worse.
He found an exit at the end of the corridor, a heavy door that seemed to lead out of that hell. With one final effort, he pushed it open and felt the icy Arctic wind hit his face. He was free, but he wasn't safe.
Outside, the landscape was covered in snow and darkness. The wind howled, kicking up small snowstorms that blinded Alec with every step. He knew he couldn't stop, not now. He needed to put as much distance as possible between himself and that lab.
But then, he heard footsteps behind him. He turned quickly and saw the man from before, now without the heavy coat, wearing only a thin shirt, walking toward him as if the cold didn’t affect him.
"Alec!" the man shouted, his voice cutting through the wind. "You can't escape us. You’re one of us now!"
Alec felt his heart race uncontrollably. He looked around, but there was nowhere to hide, nothing but snow and ice as far as the eye could see. He would have to face the man, and quickly.
"I’ll never be like you!" Alec shouted back, feeling the cold invade his lungs.
The man stopped a few meters away, watching Alec with a look of deep sadness, mixed with a dangerous determination.
"Don’t you understand, Alec?" the man said, his voice now soft, almost paternal. "You’ve already changed. The process has begun. And soon… soon, you'll be stronger, faster, more resilient. You'll be perfect."
"I’d rather die than become a monster," Alec responded, the fury in his voice giving him courage.
"If that's what you wish…" The man replied with a sigh. He then pulled a small gun from his waistband, pointing it at Alec. "But I have to try."
Alec felt death hovering over him, but something inside him, something new and uncontrollable, began to bubble up. His senses were sharper, his vision clearer, and he could feel the movement of the air around him as if time was slowing down.
Before the man could pull the trigger, Alec moved, fast as the wind. He knocked the man down with a powerful blow, surprising himself with his own strength. The gun fell into the snow, and Alec grabbed it, pointing it back at the man.
"Don’t make me use this," Alec said, feeling the anger and desperation mix in his chest.
The man looked at him with a resigned expression. He knew he had lost.
"You have the power, Alec," the man said, raising his hands in surrender. "The power to change the world. Don’t throw it away."
Alec hesitated, the gun heavy in his hands. But then, he remembered everything he had been through, everything he had lost, and knew what he had to do.
"I don’t want power," Alec said, his voice firm. "I just want my life back."
He pulled the trigger.
The sound of the shot mingled with the wind, and the man fell into the snow, blood spreading around him like a dark stain. Alec stood there, panting, feeling the weight of what he had done, but also a strange sense of relief.
He wasn’t sure what would come next, but he knew he had survived. And for now, that was enough.
Merci pour la lecture!
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