by Alyssa Lynn
“Nothing would be published or sent off to anyone, it’s solely curiosity,” replied Ava. “I wouldn’t want that information getting into the hands of anyone; otherwise we would be swarmed with questions. Not to mention we would have no control over what they would do with Demo.”
“I wouldn’t mind,” said Demo, shrugging his shoulders. Ava’s eyes lit up with the ideas of what the results would show. She would be the only one, aside from Marcus Creations, to have the analysis of a clone’s blood.
“Okay,” said a cheerful Ava, “let’s get ourselves to bed.”
Walking into the bedroom, Ava started to de-clutter the extra bed that had been consumed by her research. “Kaycie and Ethan will sleep in this bed. Demo, do you prefer the bed or the pull-out couch?”
“You take the bed, it will be best for your back. I don’t mind the pull-out couch. It’s still an upgrade from the military cots they have us sleeping on.”
Ava looked over at Kaycie and Ethan, “No hanky panky from the two of you while I’m in the next bed. I mean it.” Kaycie rolled her eyes and Ethan blushed.
“I’m not quite sure what you mean by ‘hanky panky’, but I’m excited to get to learn what it means during the excursions you have planned for me,” said Demo.
“Maybe Ava can give you a hands-on experience in the ‘hanky panky’ class,” Kaycie said, winking at Ava while she grabbed Ethan’s hand and led him back to the bedroom.
“I would really appreciate that,” he said, smiling at Ava.
Ava could feel her cheeks getting warm with embarrassment, “I’ll kick your ass for that one later, dear bestie. Demo, you better get some sleep. We have a lot on our plates for tomorrow. I’ll grab the extra blankets from the closet by the door and help you get your bed set up.”
“Maybe even start that hanky panky lesson tonight!” Kaycie shouted from the bedroom.
“I hope you stub your toe on the corner of the bed frame!” Ava yelled back at her.
She walked over and closed the bedroom door before going to the kitchen to tidy up from the mess they made from dinner. Demo walked over and started helping her. “This would have gone a lot faster had we asked Kaycie and Ethan for assistance,” said Demo, plugging the sink drain and adding soap to the water.
“Actually, it’s quite the opposite when it comes to Kaycie. Anytime I want to get things done, I make sure to schedule that time during the times she’s either asleep or at work.”
“That doesn’t sound like good roommate skills.”
“She’s honestly the best roommate and friend I could have. She puts up with me and I put up with her. It’s a well-oiled machine.” Demo gave her a confused look. “We work well together,” she said for clarification.
After they got the dishes washed and were drying them to put them away, Ava looked at Demo. “Hey, Demo. I wanted to thank you for what you did for me. Saving my life and helping me escape.”
“You don’t need to thank me; you seem like the kind of person who would do it for someone else,” he said, drying the last plate and putting it away. Hearing him say that had her stomach in knots. If only that were a true statement, she thought to herself.
They got the pull-out bed prepped and ready to go for Demo. Ava walked around the living room attempting to tidy things up and leaned over to pick up the folder from the middle of the floor. The photo of the labeled egg sacks was on top of the pile and she saw something she hadn’t noticed the first time. On the fourth row of sacks, she recognized the name and her stomach did summersaults.
Category: Organ Transplant Parts (discard remaining evidence), and on the sixth sack in the row read: Demo 1215
CHAPTER seven
B eing the early riser has its perks as well as its downfalls. You get to be the first one to drink the freshly brewed coffee, but you also have nobody to talk to if you had a bad dream the night before and just need to reset your thoughts with mindless conversation.
After seeing his name on the egg sack, Ava spent the whole night tossing and turning. Dreams of running out of the building kept replaying in her mind. Sometimes she would find him in an egg sack, sometimes she would find him already dead with a sign that said FAILED EXPERIMENT, and sometimes they would both be escaping and he would get caught and dragged back into the building at the last minute.
Pouring her second cup of coffee, she heard rustling coming from the pull-out bed. Ava looked over at Demo and whispered, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“You didn’t wake me. I have been up for quite some time now. We are only given a few hours of sleep each night so that we can dedicate more time to our classes and special performance modules.”
“What is a special performance module?”
“It’s just as it sounds. We attend regular performances where we are trained to act accordingly in the event of a catastrophe. Martial arts training, shooting and gun exposure; as well as basic skills like cooking and crafting.”
“Let me get this straight. They expose you to guns and firearms, but you don’t know what a vehicle is?”
“We know what vehicles are; we were just misinformed of their purpose in the real world. Being told that something will combust the moment you press the accelerator pedal, usually tells your mind that you shouldn’t be inside them; thus, justifying my reaction from yesterday.” Swinging his legs to the side of the bed, he got onto the floor in a yoga pose and held himself there while he continued to speak. “However, after being in the vehicle with you yesterday, aside from your aggressive driving, the experience was quite eye-opening for me.”
“Excuse me, but I was only driving aggressively because we had crazy people coming after us!” Tilting her head like an intrigued puppy, she asked, “And what exactly are you doing?”
“I’m practicing my yoga stances. It’s extremely good for your spine and your flexibility. Opening yourself up like this will help stretch your core and wake up your muscles. It’s highly recommended that you do thirty minutes of yoga before bed, and thirty minutes of yoga upon waking. You should try it,” he offered, while switching into a different pose.
Ava watched him as he put his palms flat to the floor and raised his butt up in the air. “You look totally ridiculous.”
“I don’t understand how you feel keeping up with a healthy sleeping and waking regimen is ridiculous. Just do as I do and I promise you’ll feel some of the stress leave your body.”
“I’m not stressed.”
“Yes, Ava, you are. I can tell just by looking at you. Your shoulders are always heightened and you walk like you have stiff muscles. Come down here and stretch with me. It will relieve some of the tension in your back.”
Surprised at the fact that he was hitting the nail on the head, she figured she had nothing to lose and joined him in the same pose on the floor. “Am I doing this right?”
He swung his head underneath his arm and immediately chuckled as he dropped his head back down into place. Slowly, he arched his back and allowed his body to roll in an upright position. He walked behind her and grabbed onto her hips, pulling in an upward motion. It was almost uncomfortable for him to be this close to a woman, but he did it only for the purpose of helping her with her form.
“You need to loosen your hips more. Push up on the balls of your feet while lifting your heels up off of the floor. You’ll feel the stretch in your thighs.”
Ava did as she was told and lifted herself up onto the balls of her feet which positioned her butt even higher in the air. “Like this?”
“Exactly. Now spread your hands out so they’re shoulder-width apart and arch your back a little bit. This is called ‘downward dog’.” He reached down and put his hand on her thigh, while keeping the other hand on her hip. “Do you feel the stretch in there?”
“Yes. It does feel nice, you’re right.”
Ava and Demo looked up at the doorway when they heard someone clear their throat. “Sorry, you two. Are Ethan and I interrupting something?”
Comp
letely startled, Ava dropped to the floor, almost taking Demo down with her. “No. No. You’re not interrupting anything.”
Kaycie crossed her arms and grinned at the blushing girl sitting in the middle of the living room floor. “Oh okay. It just seemed as though Ethan and I had walked into the middle of Hanky Panky 101.”
Getting up to her feet and brushing herself off, Ava hid her blushing face and shook her head. “Nope. Nothing going on. Demo was just showing me some yoga moves to help relieve some of the tension in my back.”
“I know what relieves the tension in my back,” Kaycie said, with a wink toward Ethan.
“Anyway,” Ava started, cutting off whatever embarrassing remarks Kaycie was about to make, “we really should get our things packed up and head back to Chicago. I’m sure it won’t be hard to find us here and I’m sure they’ve already started coming up with a plan to retrieve their missing clone.”
“Valid point, Ava. If they find my location and you three are still with me, you will all be a target for destruction. We need to create some distance between us and those from the corporation. May I ask a question?”
“Of course,” Ava said.
“What is Chicago?”
“Chicago is where we all live. It’s a city in the state of Illinois,” Ethan said. “Didn’t they teach you geography?”
“Only in a manner of speaking,” replied Demo. “We learned mostly about the areas surrounding our building and the location of two random cities throughout the country. Chicago was not on the list of cities.”
Ava stared at him and then looked at Ethan and Kaycie. “And we are supposed to get him there, how?” Ava asked, realizing he couldn’t fly on a plane. “He has no form of identification and they’ll never give him a plane ticket without one.”
Ethan raised his hand.
“You don’t need to raise your hand, babe. Just tell us what you want to tell us.” Kaycie said.
“I um… I kind of have a plane.” Ethan said, shrugging his shoulders. “I can fly all of us back to Chicago without an issue.”
Ava started running through a mental checklist, but was cut off by Kaycie. “You will be flying with us too, Ava,” Kaycie said, forcefully. “We can’t be losing sight of you with everything that is happening.”
“I already paid for my plane ticket though.”
“I don’t give two shits, dude. Ethan will fly all of us back to Chicago because we need to stay together right now. We wouldn’t have any idea if something happened to you until you landed. What if the flight gets delayed or someone from that place ends up finding us and follows you onto that plane?”
Ava held her hands up in the air, “Okay! Okay! I’ll come with you guys! I guess I will be flying back regardless, so a plane ticket is a plane ticket.”
“Good. I’m glad we cleared that up,” Kaycie said with a satisfied smile on her face.
“We need to get our things around and head out of here as soon as possible.” Ava looked over at the clock and did some quick calculating her in head. “It’s only eight a.m. right now, so it will be close to one p.m. by the time we get there if we leave right this minute. Let’s take twenty minutes to pack our things and hit the road.”
“I packed more than twenty minutes worth of clean up,” Kaycie said with raised eyebrows.
“Then, I guess you should make better traveling choices next time,” Ava replied.
“Yes, Ava. Next time you decide to save a clone, I will be sure to pack smarter.”
“It’s greatly appreciated,” Ava said through a low chuckle. “Now, get packed.”
~
Ava was surprised when they made record time packing up the hotel room. They worked through their list of things to get done, including returning the rental vehicle, and headed for the car that Ethan was making arrangements for.
Noticing the look of concern on Demo’s face as Ethan made the phone call for the car, Ava walked over and grabbed his arm. “I know this is going to be a lot for you to take in. Please, just promise that you’ll hang in there. We aren’t going to hurt you or do anything to cause trouble for you.”
“You mean, besides breaking into Marcus Creations?” Demo asked.
“Glad to see the sarcasm is coming easier to you now,” Ava replied.
Demo grinned and said, “I appreciate your concern for me, but I can assure you that I will be alright.”
Ava put her sunglasses on to shield her eyes from the blinding sun. She couldn’t help but to smile as she caught sight of his grin.
Piling into the expensive SUV, they anxiously awaited the plane ride home. Almost feeling nauseous at the thought of everything that had happened the day before, they put on their best happy faces and attempted bravery. All of them had plastered themselves against the window to get a closer look as they pulled up to Ethan’s pride and joy.
“Holy big aircraft,” Ava said, gawking up at the plane in front of them.
Ethan tipped off the driver as they unloaded their things from the trunk. It was like Ethan pressed a button when he waved his hand in the air and the steps to the plane were automatically lowered for oncoming passengers. The side of the plane had “The Best of The Best” painted in big bold letters.
Ava leaned in to whisper in Kaycie’s ear, “Holy shit, marry this one,” which caused Kaycie to start laughing.
“What’s so funny?” Ethan asked.
“Nothing. Damn allergies threw me into a coughing fit,” Kaycie said, throwing an awkward glance over her shoulder to Ava who was holding in a snicker.
Ava glanced at Demo who was standing with his mouth hanging open. “Are you going to be okay, Demo?”
He closed his mouth as he cleared his throat and nodded, “I’ll be fine.”
They made their way up the steps as their bags were loaded into the lower compartment. Stepping into the plane itself had them feeling like they were in a movie. Leather seats with cup holders that reclined to increase the comfort level for watching the giant flat screen television that was hung on the wall. Flight attendants were ready with drinks in hand and laminated menus of appetizers and small main courses. The walls were covered in golden wallpaper that shone when the sunlight came through the windows, which were framed with lace curtains and draw-string blinds. Overhead compartments were made of solid wood and the floor was covered in gorgeous stone tiles.
The captain stood at the head of the plane and greeted them all while waiting for the signal from Ethan that it was okay to take off.
Plopping down into the largest of the reclining seats, Ethan nodded to the pilot who then disappeared into the cabin.
“This is amazing!” Ava yelled, She dropped down onto one of the chairs and pressed the button to release the foot rest. A sigh of relief escaped her lips and she peeked over at Demo. “Now this will definitely help relieve the tension in my back.”
Demo sat down in the chair next to Ava and pressed the button to release the foot rest. “What is the purpose of having your feet out in front of you?” he asked, sitting straight up in the chair and looking at Ava’s outstretched legs.
Ethan stood and walked over to Demo, pressing down on the back of the chair and pulling his shoulders to lie flat on the seat. “It’s to help you relax. This is where the phrase, ‘take a load off’ is really put into action.”
Demo looked confused. “Take a load off?”
“We will get to all of that,” Ava said, reaching over and patting his hand. “All in due time. Now, just relax until we get there. We have a little ways to go.”
Demo released the tight grip he had on the arms of the reclined chair, “Yeah, okay.” He smiled at Ava who was already drifting off into another world and attempted to relax.
An hour into the flight, Ethan had already explained the navigation of the food and drink menus, which they were all putting to good use. Kaycie was slurring her words over the amount of bay breeze drinks she had consumed, and Demo was flabbergasted by the foods he had never seen before.
“S
o, Demo,” Ethan started, “What is your favorite of the foods you’ve tried so far?”
Placing his hand on his chin, he contemplated for a moment and looked at the group in front of him. “Definitely the PopTarts. It’s amazing how they sandwiched the slightest bit of fruit concentrate in the center of those pastries. Absolutely genius!”
The group laughed hysterically. “You mean to tell me that even after all the sushi and steak and shrimp fried rice, you are choosing the thing that was pulled from the flight attendants’ snack sack?” asked Kaycie with a mixture of shock and amusement.
Demo nodded and stuffed another bite of PopTart in his mouth while the girls howled laughing and Ethan ordered another round of drinks. “Demo, you’re in on this round,” he said, pointing at him with his glass.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Ava said, nervously.
Kaycie smiled at her and said, “Oh Ava, he’ll be fine.”
The drinks came out a few minutes later and Ethan personally delivered one to Demo. Taking it, he took a large gulp from the glass and said with a raspy voice, “What in the world is this?”
Ethan started to laugh and said, “I know, the bartender here makes them a little strong. It’s a piña colada; made with fresh coconut and pineapple juice. Do you like it?”
Demo took another sip, not quite as big as the last one, and licked his lips. “It’s quite delicious.” He began to chug it and wiped his mouth when the glass was empty. “May I have another?”
Ethan nodded with a smile on his face and waved for the bartender to make another pitcher of piña coladas. Demo now had his hands pressed to his temples and his eyes were squeezed shut while he took a few deep breaths.
“You gonna make it, slugger?” Ethan asked him, patting him on the back.
“My head is aching,” Demo said through clenched teeth.
“Well, that’s because you’re not supposed to chug frozen drinks. That’s what we call ‘brain freeze’. It’ll wear off, you’ll be alright. Let’s get this boy another drink!” He waved at the bartender and hit the jukebox in the corner by the television. Matchbox Twenty began blaring through the speakers as the girls got up and danced while the guys sank into their seats with their freshly filled drink glasses.
