The air in the hallway seemed to freeze around them, the tension thick enough to cut with a knife. Clyde's heart pounded in his chest as he faced his twisted reflection. Every muscle in his body was coiled, ready to spring into action, but something held him back. The doppelgänger's cold, mocking smile was a constant reminder of the darkness he had been running from, the dark side of himself he had tried so hard to escape.
The woman beside him stepped forward, her eyes narrowing at the figure blocking their path. "We don't have time for this," she repeated, her voice firm and resolute. "This ends now."
Clyde turned to her, surprise flashing across his face. "You're not afraid of him?"
"Afraid?" The woman scoffed, a small, determined smile playing at the corner of her lips. "No. This is just another obstacle. We've dealt with worse."
The doppelgänger's laugh echoed through the corridor. "You think you can just walk past me? You think you've escaped me? You can't escape yourself, Clyde. You're stuck in this loop. You always will be."
Clyde clenched his fists, his body trembling with a mix of anger and frustration. He hated the truth in the doppelgänger's words. It had always been like this: a constant battle with the past, with his own identity, with the version of himself that had been twisted by the experiments. But something inside him had shifted. He was tired of running, tired of being haunted by this version of himself. He wanted to break free.
"I'm not you," Clyde said through gritted teeth. "I'm not trapped in your cycle anymore. I'm not the person you think I am."
The doppelgänger's form flickered, its body distorting like corrupted data. "You're lying to yourself. You can't escape the truth. You're just a product of the system. You'll always be a remnant of the rewrite."
The woman stepped closer to Clyde, her hand resting lightly on his shoulder. "He's right about one thing. You're a remnant. But that doesn't mean you're doomed to repeat the same mistakes. It means you have a chance to rewrite your own story."
Clyde looked at her, a sense of clarity washing over him. The woman had become his anchor, his reminder that he wasn't defined by the experiments or the manipulation. He wasn't the broken version of himself that the doppelgänger wanted him to believe he was.
"I'm not a remnant," Clyde said, his voice stronger now. "I'm someone who can still change. And I'm done letting you control me."
With a surge of determination, Clyde took a step forward, his eyes locked on the doppelgänger. "You don't get to define me anymore."
The doppelgänger's eyes flashed with malice as it stepped closer, its form glitching even more violently. "We'll see about that."
Suddenly, the air around them shimmered, and the doppelgänger lunged forward, its arms reaching out as if to tear Clyde apart. But before it could make contact, Clyde raised his hand, focusing every ounce of energy he had left into his palm. A burst of bright, white light exploded from his fingertips, pushing the doppelgänger back with a shockwave that sent it stumbling.
The doppelgänger screeched in pain, its form flickering even more erratically. "No! You can't do this! You're nothing without me!"
Clyde didn't hesitate. He clenched his fist, channeling everything he had left into the strike that would end this once and for all. The light around him intensified, and in one final, powerful burst, he unleashed a wave of energy that engulfed the doppelgänger.
The figure screamed, its form distorting beyond recognition before it finally shattered, its presence disintegrating into static and nothingness.
For a moment, everything was silent.
Then, the woman stepped forward, placing a hand gently on Clyde's arm. "You did it," she said, her voice soft but filled with admiration.
Clyde's breath was heavy, his body shaking from the exertion. He had done it. He had finally broken free from the cycle that had bound him for so long. The doppelgänger—the twisted version of himself—was gone.
But there was still so much left to do. The path ahead was uncertain, and the facility they had escaped from was still collapsing around them. There was no time to rest. They needed to leave, to find a way to rebuild, to escape the crumbling remnants of the world that had tried to hold them in place.
"We need to move," Clyde said, his voice steady despite the exhaustion in his body. "The exit's not far. Let's go."
The woman nodded. "Let's go. Together."
As they turned toward the hallway that led them to freedom, Clyde couldn't shake the feeling that this wasn't the end. It wasn't just about escaping the facility. It wasn't even just about confronting his past. It was about finding the strength to move forward, to create something new from the ashes of the world they had left behind.
And for the first time in a long while, he felt like he had a chance.