Buried During Snowfall – Chapter 16
Which One Survives
Mara’s boots scraped violently against the flooded concrete floor while the second Adrian held her suspended one-handed against the pillar. Her face had already begun turning red beneath his grip.
Adrian moved instinctively.
Not thinking.
Pure reaction.
He grabbed a rusted metal tray floating nearby and swung it hard across the second Adrian’s skull.
The impact echoed through the chamber.
The second Adrian released Mara immediately.
Not because it hurt.
Because he chose to.
Mara collapsed into freezing water choking violently while the second Adrian slowly turned his head back toward Adrian.
Smiling.
“You always react emotionally first.”
Adrian shoved Mara backward toward Noah. “Get her out of here.”
Mara struggled to breathe. “What about you?!”
“GO!”
Another tremor split the underground chamber. Massive cracks spread across the ceiling while water surged higher around them. Somewhere deep below, entire sections of the facility were collapsing into Blackwater Lake.
But none of it mattered.
Because Adrian now stood face-to-face with the part of himself buried for thirty years.
The second Adrian stepped closer calmly.
“No weapons?”
Adrian clenched his fists.
“No speeches either?”
“Shut up.”
“That’s disappointing.”
Then he attacked.
Fast.
Far faster than any normal person should move through chest-deep freezing water.
Adrian barely blocked the first strike aimed directly at his throat. The second blow crashed into his ribs hard enough to lift him partially off his feet.
Pain exploded through his side.
The second Adrian didn’t pause.
Every movement looked controlled. Efficient. Clinical.
Not fighting from anger.
From training.
Adrian suddenly remembered why.
Ashriver conditioned violence like language.
The second Adrian drove him backward into a restraint chair. Metal snapped beneath the impact while freezing water splashed across the chamber floor.
“You spent thirty years pretending weakness was morality,” the second Adrian said calmly.
Adrian swung wildly.
Missed.
Another strike hit his stomach.
He collapsed into the flood choking.
Across the chamber, Mara tried raising the stolen pistol with shaking hands.
Noah grabbed her arm instantly.
“Don’t.”
“He’ll kill him!”
Noah’s damaged eye remained fixed on the fight.
“Yes.”
Mara stared at him. “Then why stop me?!”
Noah whispered softly:
“Because he’s trying to decide.”
Adrian struggled upright again breathing hard.
The second Adrian waited patiently.
No rush.
No panic.
Almost curious.
“You know why they feared us?” he asked.
Adrian spat blood into the water. “Because we were children.”
“No.” A faint smile appeared. “Because we adapted.”
The chamber lights flickered violently.
Memory fragments continued smashing into Adrian uncontrollably now.
The experiments.
The splitting process.
Doctors realizing they accidentally created something dangerous inside him.
Not broken obedience.
Strategic violence.
Then the second Adrian spoke again.
“You enjoyed it.”
Adrian froze.
“No.”
“You did.”
Another memory surfaced.
One he had buried deepest.
A doctor begging for mercy inside a burning laboratory while Adrian calmly locked the door from outside.
The second Adrian smiled wider.
“There it is.”
“No…”
“You felt powerful for the first time.”
Adrian grabbed his head again desperately.
Mara shouted across the chamber:
“Adrian, listen to me!”
But the second Adrian interrupted softly.
“She still thinks there’s a difference between us.”
Another violent tremor hit.
Concrete collapsed from the ceiling between them.
The water had risen nearly to their chests now.
Subjects throughout the chamber screamed in celebration while floodwaters swallowed the underground facility piece by piece.
The second Adrian looked around almost peacefully.
“The lake remembers everything.”
Then Noah stepped forward.
“Enough.”
Both Adrians turned toward him.
Noah looked exhausted beyond human limits now. Water streamed from his ruined body while old surgical scars stretched across pale skin.
“You promised,” Noah whispered toward the second Adrian.
The smile faded slightly.
“That was before he came back.”
“You said we’d leave together.”
Silence.
For the first time the second Adrian seemed almost human.
Sadness flickered briefly across his face.
Then vanished.
“Noah…”
“You lied.”
The second Adrian looked at him carefully.
“I learned from the Headmaster.”
Those words broke something inside Noah completely.
Pain twisted across his damaged face.
Not physical pain.
Betrayal.
“You became him.”
Silence swallowed the chamber.
Even the subjects stopped screaming.
Because everyone understood the truth immediately.
The second Adrian didn’t escape the experiments.
He completed them.
Adrian stared at his other self in horror.
“No…”
The second Adrian slowly looked toward him again.
“You think monsters are born?” he asked quietly. “No. They’re trained.”
Then he revealed the final truth.
“The Headmaster didn’t survive Ashriver.”
Adrian’s heartbeat stopped.
“What?”
The second Adrian smiled faintly.
“I killed him.”
Pure silence.
Mara whispered:
“Oh my God…”
Memories detonated fully now.
The burning underground office.
The Headmaster crawling across the floor bleeding heavily while alarms screamed around them.
And Adrian standing over him with surgical scissors buried in the man’s throat.
The second Adrian’s voice softened.
“You were there when he died.”
Adrian shook violently.
“No…”
“You watched him beg.”
“No…”
“You enjoyed it.”
The chamber suddenly lurched sideways.
The entire underground structure was collapsing.
Massive cracks burst through walls while black freezing water exploded inward from every direction.
Warren screamed from farther down the chamber:
“THE LAKE’S COMING THROUGH!”
Subjects were swept away instantly.
Observation windows shattered.
Steel beams bent.
The underground facility beneath Blackwater Lake had minutes left before complete destruction.
The second Adrian looked upward calmly as debris rained around them.
Then he looked at Adrian one final time.
“You know what the worst part is?”
Adrian couldn’t answer.
The second Adrian stepped closer until only inches separated them.
“You were happier here.”