Chapter 8 The Canyon Ridge Descent

The road to Canyon Ridge was long, silent, and carved through the black spine of the Rockies like a wound. Riley's headlights sliced through the mist, revealing pine trees swaying unnaturally in the wind - not reacting to it, but almost waiting for it.

The GPS died five miles back. Just static on the screen now, twitching like a heartbeat.

She found the site at dawn. Tucked between jagged rock formations, a rusted gate hung open like a jaw. Behind it, a crumbling tunnel mouth gaped into the earth - concrete reinforced with old military signage.

U.S. GOVERNMENT PROPERTY - RESTRICTED ACCESS

PROJECT: ORPHEUS PROTOCOL – CODE BLACK

Riley slung her pack over one shoulder, flashlight in hand, Glock on her hip. She ducked beneath the caution tape, boots crunching over broken glass and old shell casings.

The tunnel swallowed her in seconds. The light from the entrance faded, and the walls grew moist and warm, like the inside of a throat.

Twenty steps in, her flashlight flickered.

She smacked it. The beam steadied.

Then she saw it - a blood-red handprint smeared across a steel door. Too high for a man. Fingers too long. Almost wrong.

She reached for the handle.

A voice whispered behind her:

"You shouldn't have come."

She spun, Glock raised.

The tunnel was empty.

Only her own footsteps. Her own breathing.

And yet... not quite her own. A half-second delay. Like a playback.

The steel door groaned as she pushed it open.

The room beyond was wide - a sunken chamber of cracked monitors, flickering CRT screens, and shattered biometric pods. Cold light blinked on, revealing faded photos tacked to a wall: Jack Rourke. Marcus Clay. The entire lost squad.

A red "X" had been drawn over each face - all but one.

Riley Clay.

She backed away, breath catching in her throat.

Suddenly, one of the monitors crackled to life.

A video loop.

Her father's face - blank-eyed, pale, speaking without sound.

She turned the volume dial.

"It wears memory... it learns memory... if you're seeing this, you're already too late..."

The image glitched. Static warped his face. And for a second, her father smiled.

But not with his mouth.

With his eyes.