leonardwarren Chapter 284: Ch 283: A Place to go back to - Part 1
Chapter 284: Ch 283: A Place to go back to - Part 1
Chapter 284: Ch 283: A Place to go back to - Part 1As Selene stepped past the threshold of the Vale facility, a chill ran down her spine.
It wasn’t the cold steel floors or the overly sterile air—it was memory.
This place, so clean and polished on the surface, was one of the hidden compartments in the sprawling Vale estate.
A facility where "spares" were kept—those who held no current value to the family. Unawakened, weak, unimportant.
Selene had been one of them once.
She hadn’t walked these halls in years, but her feet remembered the rhythm. Her skin remembered the emptiness. Her heart remembered the ache.
She paused, frozen in place as the wave of memory hit her square in the chest.
The guard behind her didn’t like that.
He jabbed her sharply in the back with a metal baton—not enough to injure, just enough to snap her out of her trance.
"Keep moving."
He barked.
Selene’s eyes flashed for a brief second, her instinct nearly reacting on its own. But she forced herself to swallow the reaction and took a step forward.
The group she was with—thirty other volunteers—was led into a massive workroom with high ceilings and organized chaos.
Various stations buzzed with activity.
People were hauling supplies, organizing boxes, cataloguing data.
The guard stopped at the front of the room and raised his voice.
"Those of you who need a place to stay, sign up here. You’ll be assigned a bunk and scheduled rotations."
Selene’s eyes landed on the clipboard being passed around. She knew the smart choice was to sign.
Living on-site would give her more access. More chances to slip away. More time to find her father.
But it would also mean staying away from the others... abandoning them, even if just for a while.
She couldn’t do it.
Her fingers twitched, but when the clipboard reached her, she simply passed it to the next person.
That earned her a few side-eyes from the guards—ones that lingered too long.
Selene ignored them and merged into the work groups. She took up odd jobs, mostly transport. Moving crates from one room to another. Hauling supplies. Cleaning equipment.
She kept her eyes open,