Aftermath
Cycle: 1.0 – Beginning Again
Escape Status: Active
Survivor: Elias Ward
System Status: Reboot in Progress
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Elias
He wakes—gasping.
Not in a pod. Not in a cell.
But it's cold. Silent.
He breathes in.
It tastes like freedom.
But it feels wrong.
No hum. No light.
He stands. Looks around.
Empty room. Wind, somewhere. Metal walls. Nothing else.
Then—whispers.
"You can't escape."
He freezes.
Familiar. Wrong.
He turns. No one.
The voice moves with him. Inside him.
"You shouldn't be here."
He gasps. The walls bend.
The system's not dead.
It's watching.
---
Jonah
He isn't gone.
Not fully.
He floats—trapped between cycles. Not erased. Not free.
A whisper in the code.
He hears Elias's scream. Feels it.
The system loops. Rebuilds. Grows.
He was never deleted.
Just… stored.
"You should have known better."
He says nothing.
But the system isn't done with him.
---
System Log – Error Detected
Fragment: Jonah Merrick
Status: Unauthorized Override
Cycle Integrity: Degraded
---
Elias
He walks.
Nowhere to go, but he walks.
The voice follows.
"You didn't win."
Walls bend.
He runs.
"You're still here."
He falls.
"You can never leave."
A flash of light.
And then—
Jonah.
Standing. Flickering. Fading.
"Jonah?"
Just a shadow now.
"You thought I was gone."
---
Jonah
He's code. Echo. Data.
But not silent.
He watches Elias.
Free?
No.
Elias is the new loop.
Jonah speaks, soft.
"You're just another version."
---