THE LITTLE RED WAGON
PART 5 — THE COUNTDOWN BELOW
The heavy metal door beneath Cedar Ridge Regional Hospital unlocked with a deep mechanical clunk.
Everyone heard it.
Even from the neonatal unit.
Daniel turned toward the hallway.
“What the hell was that?”
Marcus looked at the floor.
“The basement.”
Vivian frowned.
“This hospital doesn't have a basement.”
Marcus gave her a grim smile.
“Not on the public blueprints.”
Nathaniel stared at his father.
“You built it.”
His father said nothing.
Daniel stepped closer.
“You're coming with me.”
The old man laughed.
“You still don't understand.”
“Understand what?”
“This hospital was never just a hospital.”
Daniel looked at Vivian.
She shook her head.
“I've worked here for twelve years.”
“Then you've been working inside a lie.”
Molly suddenly grabbed Daniel's sleeve.
“The numbers.”
Everyone looked at the monitor.
The countdown continued.
00:58:41
00:58:40
00:58:39
Molly's face went pale.
“What happens when it reaches zero?”
Nobody answered.
Then the smaller twin began crying.
A tiny, weak sound.
Vivian rushed toward him.
“His heart rate is stabilizing.”
Molly smiled through her tears.
“He's going to live.”
Vivian looked at the screen again.
“No.”
Her smile disappeared.
“Something else is happening.”
The numbers had changed.
They were no longer counting down.
They were counting upward.
01
02
03
Vivian stared.
“What does that mean?”
Nathaniel whispered:
“It started.”
Daniel looked at him.
“What started?”
Nathaniel pointed toward the baby's chest.
“The mark.”
The dark symbol seemed to have changed.
A thin red line was spreading outward from its center.
Vivian's expression became alarmed.
“We need to move him.”
She reached toward the incubator.
The old man suddenly shouted:
“DON'T!”
Everyone froze.
Vivian turned.
“Why?”
He stared at the baby.
“Because touching him will activate it.”
Nathaniel's eyes widened.
“You knew.”
His father said nothing.
“You knew what the marks were.”
“Yes.”
“What are they?”
The old man looked toward the twins.
“Keys.”
Daniel frowned.
“Keys to what?”
“The Lantern.”
Marcus stepped forward.
“You're lying.”
“No.”
The old man smiled.
“You saw only the beginning.”
Nathaniel looked confused.
“Project Lantern was supposed to be destroyed.”
“It was.”
“Then why are the twins carrying the marks?”
His father answered quietly:
“Because Elena rebuilt it.”
Molly's eyes widened.
“Mama?”
“She discovered how the system worked.”
Nathaniel shook his head.
“Elena would never do that.”
“She didn't.”
Marcus looked at Nathaniel.
“She built something to destroy it.”
The countdown continued.
00:47:12
00:47:11
Daniel looked at the old man.
“What happens at zero?”
The old man didn't answer.
Daniel grabbed his collar.
“What happens?”
The old man smiled.
“You'll see.”
Suddenly, the hospital lights flickered.
A low vibration passed through the floor.
The nurses looked around nervously.
Then every computer monitor in the emergency department switched on at once.
A single message appeared:
LANTERN PROTOCOL ACTIVE
Vivian stepped backward.
“No…”
“What?” Daniel asked.
She pointed at the screens.
“That's an old hospital access code.”
“You recognize it?”
“I've seen it in archived records.”
“What records?”
Vivian hesitated.
“Patient transfers.”
Daniel looked at her.
“What kind of transfers?”
Vivian swallowed.
“Newborn transfers.”
Nathaniel stared at her.
“How many?”
“I don't know.”
“Guess.”
Vivian looked toward the screens.
“Hundreds.”
Molly whispered:
“Were they all taken?”
Vivian didn't answer.
Marcus did.
“Yes.”
Molly's eyes filled with tears.
“Why?”
Marcus looked at her.
“Because someone believed they could create children who could survive something ordinary humans couldn't.”
Daniel stared.
“Survive what?”
Marcus's expression darkened.
“The Lantern.”
Nathaniel suddenly remembered something.
A room.
A white table.
A child's cry.
His own father's voice.
And Elena standing beside him.
He grabbed his head.
“No…”
Daniel caught his shoulder.
“What did you remember?”
Nathaniel looked terrified.
“I've been here before.”
His father smiled.
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Before you were twenty.”
Nathaniel shook his head.
“No.”
“You helped build the first system.”
“That isn't possible.”
“You were brilliant.”
“I would never…”
“You didn't know what it was for.”
Nathaniel's breathing became heavy.
Then another memory hit him.
Elena.
Crying.
Holding a newborn baby.
Looking directly at him.
She had said:
“If you love us, Nathaniel, forget this place.”
He remembered grabbing her hand.
Promising to protect her.
Then his father's men appeared.
And everything went black.
Nathaniel fell to his knees.
Molly watched him.
“Did you hurt Mama?”
Nathaniel looked at her.
“No.”
His voice broke.
“But I think I helped them find her.”
The old man nodded.
“Exactly.”
Daniel looked toward the basement.
“We're going downstairs.”
Nathaniel stood.
“I'm coming.”
“No.”
“You need me.”
“I don't trust you.”
Nathaniel looked at Molly.
“Neither does she.”
He turned toward Daniel.
“But Elena trusted me once.”
Daniel hesitated.
Then the building shook violently.
A ceiling tile crashed onto the floor.
A nurse screamed.
The old man looked toward the clock.
00:31:06
He smiled.
“We're running out of time.”
Daniel grabbed his weapon.
“Move.”
They headed toward the hidden basement entrance.
Molly followed.
“No,” Daniel said.
“You can't stop me.”
“Molly, this is dangerous.”
“My brothers are down here.”
Daniel looked at the twins.
“They're in the NICU.”
Molly shook her head.
“No.”
Everyone stopped.
“How do you know?”
“Because Mama told me.”
“What did she tell you?”
Molly looked at the old man.
“She said the first place they would search would be the hospital.”
Daniel frowned.
“Why?”
“Because they wouldn't expect us to bring the babies back to where they were born.”
Vivian stared.
“Back?”
Molly nodded.
“They were born here.”
Nathaniel froze.
“What?”
Molly looked at him.
“Mama said the hospital was where my brothers came into the world.”
Vivian's face drained of color.
“That can't be.”
She quickly checked the medical records.
Then she stopped breathing.
“What?”
Daniel asked.
Vivian turned the computer around.
The twins' birth records were missing.
Not deleted.
Not corrupted.
Completely absent.
Their names did not exist.
Their birth certificates did not exist.
Their medical charts did not exist.
It was as if they had never been born.
Nathaniel whispered:
“They erased them.”
Marcus nodded.
“Exactly.”
The old man walked toward the basement door.
“And now we're going to put them back into the system.”
Daniel blocked him.
“What does that mean?”
The old man smiled.
“It means when the countdown reaches zero…”
He looked at the twins.
“…everyone who ever searched for these children will know exactly where they are.”
Molly's face went pale.
“Everyone?”
“Yes.”
“Even the men who hurt Mama?”
“Especially them.”
Molly looked at Daniel.
“We have to stop it.”
Daniel nodded.
Then he noticed something.
A small red light blinking on the wall.
Beside it was a brass slot.
The same size as Molly's broken key.
He stared.
“The key wasn't a key.”
Nathaniel looked at him.
“What?”
“It was an access token.”
Marcus smiled.
“And Elena knew that.”
Daniel looked at Molly.
“Do you still have the other half?”
Molly reached into her pocket.
She pulled it out.
The old man suddenly lunged forward.
“Give it to me!”
Daniel tackled him.
They crashed into the wall.
Marcus grabbed Molly.
“Run!”
They raced down the hidden staircase.
Nathaniel followed.
Vivian carried one twin.
A nurse carried the other.
Behind them, Daniel fought to hold the old man back.
The countdown continued.
00:18:22
00:18:21
00:18:20
Molly reached the bottom.
A massive steel door stood before her.
There was a brass slot in its center.
She held up the broken key.
“It goes here.”
Nathaniel grabbed her wrist.
“Wait.”
“What?”
He stared at the door.
“There are fingerprints.”
Molly looked closer.
Small fingerprints.
Child-sized.
Dozens of them.
Pressed into the metal as if children had once stood here.
Trying to get out.
Molly whispered:
“They were trapped.”
Nathaniel closed his eyes.
Then he heard something.
A faint sound from behind the steel door.
Knocking.
Three times.
Molly's face changed.
“Someone's inside.”
Nathaniel listened.
Three knocks again.
Then a woman's voice.
Weak.
Barely audible.
“Molly…”
The little girl dropped to her knees.
“Mama?”
Nathaniel stepped toward the door.
“ELENA!”
The voice came again.
“Don't open the door.”
Molly froze.
“Why?”
A pause.
Then Elena whispered:
“Because I'm not alone.”
Behind her came another sound.
A man's breathing.
Slow.
Heavy.
And then a voice spoke directly behind Elena.
“Hello, Nathaniel.”
Nathaniel went completely still.
He knew that voice.
It was his own.
But the man behind the door sounded exactly like him.
The countdown reached:
00:10:00
And began flashing red.
