Chapter 14 - The Override
As the automated voice announced two minutes remaining, the lab speakers crackled to life, overriding the siren. It was Camille's voice, patched in from the federal command center above. "Mother?" she called out, her tone surprisingly steady. Evelyn froze beneath my grip. "You failed me," Evelyn spat toward the ceiling camera. "You confessed."
Camille's voice carried a heavy, sorrowful weight. "You killed my mother. You used my grief to turn me into a monster. But I won't let you burn Sophie." Because Camille had been Evelyn's right hand for years, she knew the archaic, manual backdoor codes to the facility's emergency protocols. "Turn off the purge, Camille!" Evelyn demanded, realizing her leverage was gone.
Instead, Camille entered an override sequence. The countdown paused at thirty seconds. "The system only pauses for half a minute," Evelyn mocked, her confidence returning. "It's hardwired." "I know," Camille replied calmly. Suddenly, a hidden maintenance panel near the console slid open. "Elias, the manual liquid nitrogen valve! Pull it!" Camille shouted through the speakers. Elias lunged for the panel, gripping a heavy iron lever and wrenching it downward with all his strength. A deafening hiss filled the room as freezing liquid nitrogen flooded the purge pipes, instantly neutralizing the superheated gas. The countdown aborted. The massive steel blast doors unlocked with a heavy thud.
