Real

by Dena Nicotra

  Something moved too quickly off in the distance. It was definitely not human. “Shit!” I said, ducking down. Two was beside me in an instant. “What did you see?” she whispered.

  “Simp, at least one, and I’m pretty sure it saw me.”

  Giz looked up at us and raised one finger. Two signaled for us to stay low as she moved quietly to the door. If there was just one, she could take it out without working up a sweat. Just in case, I pulled my knife from my boot. The loud banging on the wooden door startled me, and caused Giz to scramble away from his equipment. He was beside me in a second.

  “Little pig, little pig, let me in!” It took me a minute to recognize the voice.

  “It’s Eli!” I whispered. Two dropped her right leg back and took a fighting stance before she replied, “Huff and puff, mother-fucker!” In a blur, he’d kicked in the door and before I could blink again, he and Two were going at it. Seeing her moving at this speed was surreal. In one moment, she was throwing a punch, and in the next, she’d climbed up the grain stacks like a spider to deliberately drop down on him. Eli was equally strong, and as the battle between them continued, I urged Giz to move back. They were covering a lot of space, and I didn’t want either one of us to get caught up in the fray.

  “My equipment!”

  “Leave it!” I pushed Giz forward and the two of us moved into the darkness on the opposite side of the barn. It didn’t take long to understand why Two didn’t want me to see what was there. The moonlight that streamed through the window cast an eerie glow on the small mountain of jumbled body parts. There were some bodies that were fully intact, and others that were so badly mutilated that it was hard to tell where one body started and another ended. My eyes landed on a head with two silvery braids and I swear, it was all I could do not to vomit right there.

  In the distance, I could hear that Two was still fighting with Eli. Giz was lost between muttering squeaky prayers and retching and I had to focus all of my energy on keeping him calm. If he lost it and began to shout, we’d all be dead. I put my hands on his cheeks and forced him to look at me.

  “Giz, just look at me, focus on my face and breathe. Hold it together buddy. We’ve got to be quiet!”

  “Holy mother of God, what have we done?”

  “Shhhh! It’s okay, it’s okay! Don’t look, Giz, just keep your eyes on me.”

  “There are so many bodies, Lee!”

  “Yes, Giz, I know, but you can’t do anything about that now. You have to stay calm and you have to keep your shit together, because I need you! Alice needs you!”

  “Oh, my God, Lee. Oh, my God! Look at all of these bodies!” At that point, the benevolent side of me went bye-bye. I slapped the shit out of him. “Giz, pull it together!” I was spitting my words at him through gritted teeth and doing it as quietly as I could.

  “You are one crazy bitch! Why in the hell would you do that, Lee?” Giz was holding the side of his face that I’d slapped and glaring at me. “Because, Giz, sometimes a bitch has to do what a bitch has to do.” He sank to his knees and buried his sobs in his hands. At that point, it didn’t matter if he was doing it quietly, because Eli had clearly given our position away. The keening went out like a beacon and in seconds, the side of the barn began to rattle as the rickety wooden doors gave way.

  I could hear shouting in the distance, but the chaos of the moment demanded my full attention. I braced to defend myself for as long as I could. I yelled at Giz to hide, and when I saw that he was immobilized, I did the only thing I could think to do. I shoved him into the heap of bodies and told him to lie still. He made a pitiful whimpering sound and then, following my direction, went limp.

  I looked up just in time to watch Two snatch Dallas’ scythe from a hook on the wall. She spun around like a bad ass in slow motion under the moonlight and severed Eli’s head with it. It rolled haphazardly before coming to rest against a propane tank not far from me. His wide synthetic eyes faced the ceiling. Not wasting a second, she then tossed the scythe in my direction. It landed at my feet with a clank on the cement floor. I quickly shoved my knife back in my boot and seized it. This was a much better weapon and Two knew I needed it more than she did.

  Stepping over Eli’s headless body, I took a stand next to Two just as the door flew open, and with it, the howling desert wind. Standing before us, was a lone individual. Deraline. At least six simps lay sprawled in the dirt around her.

  “Don’t come any closer, Deraline.” Two wasn’t fucking around. I knew that tone of voice and I knew Two would snap her in half if she moved. She raised both of her hands to show us she was unarmed. Not that this gave either of us any reason to relax. She could take me out with one hand tied behind her back if she wanted to, and if Two didn’t stop her, I had no doubt that she’d be skipping down the street with my head swinging from her hand.

  “We don’t have time for this!” she spat. I raised the scythe and widened my stance.

  “I came as soon as you called me. Why are you assuming I am a threat?” She sounded as innocent as a typical teenager, and as she tossed her hair back, I had to shake the image of her skipping with the head. That was enough for me to re-prioritize my thoughts. She was dangerous, and I would not allow myself to forget that.

  “Don’t you see that I stopped them from hurting you?” She spread her arms out, gesturing toward the simps on the ground. I wasn’t buying it. Maybe she’d been sent by Aaron to set us up, or maybe she just wanted to kill us herself. She could kill humans easily, what would a few fellow simps mean to her? For that matter, what did we mean to her? She had no human emotions. She’d skipped down the road swinging a head! I lunged forward but stopped as Giz began shouting from behind me.

  “Stop! It’s true, she’s responding to my command, Lee!”

  “Prove it!” I shouted back. “Prove it, or I will cut her head off right here and now!”

  ““I.D.E. Alpha, Echo, Dataset, Composite…Simply, identify!” Giz’s voice commanded obedience from the simp in front of us. As her eyes rolled back, a part of me wanted to take her down, but another part of me prayed he was right.

  “I am infant upgrade 9035 Alpha Composite registered to IHSIR number 33276944957511. Status…deceased.” Giz nodded. “Good. Identify your human profile.” He crossed his arms and waited. There was a certain smugness in his body language that made me shake my head. He had more confidence in his programming skills than he did in people.

  “Deraline Faith Roberts. Age simulated…sixteen. Data files…corrupted. Human family history…unrecoverable.

  “Oh, shit.” Giz lowered his head.

  “So she doesn’t remember her human parents?”

  “No, Lee…he’s wiping her.” Giz wiped his face with his shirt.

  “What?”

  “Shut up, Lee. Give me a minute to think.” He muttered something and then went to his equipment. Deraline began to sputter gibberish. Her hands flipping back and forth like little fish out of water. “Do you know how many more sleeps until…do you know how many sleeps until…I get to grow up, Daddy?” Her voice sounded like a small child, maybe six or seven years of age. “Should I serve jury duty when I have no respect for the judge?” Her voice revolved from a small child’s back to her normal voice.

  “Giz, what’s going on here?” I demanded.

  “She’s trying to fight it,” said Two. She’d moved from beside me to stand closer to Deraline, her head moving from side to side like an inquisitive animal. I had to look away. It disturbed me to see Two behave like a simp. I didn’t want to think about the possibility of her turning on me, or breaking down in the way that Deraline clearly was now.

  “Night light!” Giz exclaimed.

  “Excuse me? Have you lost it?” The commotion outside was getting louder. I didn’t know what was going on out there, but I was certain of one thing. We didn’t have much time.

  “No! Script Night Light. It’s a command string that will pause all data transactions. It’s exclusive to infant upgrades. It’s a
safety configuration that prevents memory loss when parents bring their units in for synthetic age upgrades.”

  “Then do it, what are you waiting for?”

  “I just need to get the syntax. Let me think, damn it!”

  “I can help.” Two’s voice was flat. Deraline was clutching Two’s arm, like a frightened child. “How many more sleeps?” She kept whispering.

  “Two, can you access the syntax?” Two nodded slowly, her eyes fixed on Giz.

  “Then do it.” Giz shrugged wearily. I knew from his body language that this decision was not without risk, but there was no time to ask about the consequences.

  Two’s eyes rolled back and her jaw went slack. The keening that came from her open mouth sent a shudder of terror through my body. I covered my ears and dropped to my knees. If there was ever a sound that summoned fear in me, that was it. Not to mention it was a sound sure to draw in the legion of synthetic monsters that had to know where we were by now.

  “Giz, what the fuck have you done?”

  “It’s the only way, Lee!”

  “What do you mean, it’s the only way? Do you have a death wish? Jesus! You made her call to them? Why not just send up a damn signal flair?”

  “No, Lee. Do you honestly think I’m stupid?” he squeaked. “She’s not calling for them, she’s accessing their collective data source.”

  “Why? What good is that going to do?” I demanded.

  It’s what they do!”

  “Well it’s going to get us killed in the process!”

  “Lee, for once would you just trust me and stop asking so many questions!”

  “Well then explain it so that I don’t have to ask!” I shot back.

  “I know what I am doing, dammit!”

  Two began to blink in rapid succession and then speak at a speed that wasn’t remotely human. There was no way to make out what she was saying. It was just loud and simultaneously creepy as hell. Then, abruptly she stopped, leaving Giz’s last word hanging in the silence and sounding awkwardly loud.

  Two’s eyes came back into focus. “Got it,” she said.

  Deraline began to mutter again. “How many more sleeps, how many more…” Two placed her hands on both sides of Deraline’s face and then she began to speak in a voice that sounded distorted and unstable. “I.D.E. Primary, Ricochet, Dataset, Composite, Lullaby, Delphi, Sleep.”

  And just like that, Deraline slumped silently to the floor. Giz smiled broadly at my synthetic counterpart. “Ha ha! You did it!”

  “So now what?” I asked. We were still in a shit storm of a position, and the fact that we had no game plan hadn’t escaped me.

  “Lee, I’m doing the best that I can. I can’t promise you we’re going to survive this, but I can promise you that I will do my best to stop them. Now do me a favor, and just let me do what I do!” Giz was clacking on his equipment at a furious pace. The clamor outside was getting closer. There was no place to go, and we both knew it.

  “I know where he is.” Two’s statement made us both turn to look at her.

  “Talk to me, Two. What have you got?”

  “Lee! I know you are in there. Let me explain. I don’t want to hurt you, come out here and talk to me!” Mic stood in the doorway, an army of simps behind him. It was too late. He knew I was here. Fortunately, we were back far enough that he couldn’t see us from where he stood. “I know you’ve got Deraline. Are Giz and Two with you as well?”

  “Fuck you, Mic!” Giz shouted into the darkness. “You’re a self-serving asshole, and you’re not using her or me to do your bidding anymore.”

  Mic’s laughter echoed across the desert night. “Use you? I’ve never used you, Giz. I’ve taught you everything you know!”

  “No, Mic. Not everything. You never taught me how to be a murderer.”

  “It’s not like that, Giz. It’s about what’s best for the greater good! Sometimes you have to make sacrifices. Do you think I like that? Do you think I enjoy being deceptive?”

  “I think you’ll do whatever you have to do to get what you want, Mic!”

  “Of course I will! Do you think success comes to anyone who isn’t willing to take the necessary risks? Stop wasting my time, and give me the girls!” One of them knows where Aaron is, and that’s the key to our success! Don’t you see that, Giz?” He took a step forward, “Now stop wasting my time!” Mic shouted. He motioned to the simps to move forward.

  “Make them step back, Mic, or I swear I will wipe Two’s memories clean!”

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa, buddy. Take it easy now. Let’s talk this through!”

  “There’s nothing to talk about, Mic. It’s done. It’s ending right here, tonight.”

  “Just think about what you’re saying, Giz. Everything we’ve worked for can be meaningful again!”

  “Really? How, Mic? How can any of this be meaningful? You’ve gone just as insane as Aaron!”

  “No, that’s where you’re wrong, Giz. It’s not insanity. It’s genius! Together, we can force Aaron to give us the technical knowledge he’s held over my head while he withers away with his delusions of genetic healing. Don’t you see? Together we can rebuild!”

  Two had silently inched closer to Giz and I watched as she scooped things up and stepped stealthily into the shadows with his equipment. Giz was buying time.

  “Just come out here and we can sit down and I can walk you through it all.” He’d taken on that smooth tone of voice. The one that could melt reporters like butter. He was such a manipulator!

  “What about me, Mic? Can we sit down and talk through it all?”

  “Lee, of course we can! I’d love nothing more than the chance to explain things to you.”

  “As if I could trust anything you’d say, Mic!”

  “Have I ever lied to you?” Mic’s voice dripped with false sincerity. I instantly thought about his wife. The one he’d lied about ever having when we’d first met back in the hospital. “Okay, don’t answer that one. Have I ever hurt you?”

  “Mic, that’s all you’ve ever done is hurt people. If I got in your way, I’m sure you wouldn’t hesitate to hurt me.”

  “Then don’t get in my way.” The threat was undeniable. “Do you know why I replicated a simp of you, Lee?” He paused, and for a moment I worried that he was giving instructions to the simps that stood waiting for his next command. To my surprise, his voice cracked with emotion. “Because I knew you were strong enough to take it, and I knew you would be the key to finally finding Aaron and bringing him back under my control! I did everything I could to preserve his knowledge, but he wanted so much more! He used his power to try and take advantage of me, but together, we can stop him and put things back in order!”

  “I see. So, we’re all supposed to get in line with the program here, and help you rise back to the top. Right?”

  “You’ve played a vital role in our progress, Lee. It’s because of you that we were able to control the virus and start fresh. I’ll always love you for that.”

  “Fuck you, Mic. I guess you love Janelle for other reasons, is that right?”

  “I didn’t want you to know about that, Lee. I’m sorry. You’re right though, I do love her for different reasons. I love her mind, and her dedication to the cause. The rest is just friendship with benefits.”

  “Now that’s rich, Mic.”

  “I was alone for a long time, Lee. Janelle not only understands that, she serves a purpose in the plan. Besides, a man has needs. Now stop stalling and come out here. All of you!”

  “I don’t think so, Mic. In fact, why don’t you come inside instead? I think it would be much safer for you in here with us, wouldn’t you agree?” said Two. Her laughter took Giz and I both by surprise. It wasn’t until I noticed the change in the posture of the simps around Mic that I realized why she was laughing. She’d changed the dynamics of the game. The simps were now under her control, not his.

  “Don’t make me give the command, Mic. Just step inside nice and calm, and you’ll be just
fine.” The expression on his face was priceless.

  Chapter 7

  By the time the sun came up, I was beyond tired of listening to Mic’s egocentric bullshit. Consequently, I’d taken the liberty of stuffing one of Dallas’ old bandanas in his mouth. Two had tied him up well and had him sitting on the floor against the wall. None of us had slept, and with the day I knew we had ahead of us looming, I just couldn’t take any more of his narcissistic babble.

  Giz looked exhausted, and I could tell it troubled him to see Mic sitting there tied up like a hog. I can’t imagine the internal conflict he must have felt. There’d been a time when he’d idolized Mic. I vowed to myself never to shove that in his face, if we survived.

  We’d learned over the course of the hours between late evening and dawn that Idella and Dallas were among the survivors being held in the church. This gave me some peace, but I knew many others were dead. Two’s keening had connected her to the simps within the same radius that Giz could read, and using the shared information she gained from that transmission, she’d taken control of them. We were safe. At least for the time being. We decided it was best to stay put until Giz could use the information he’d gotten from Two to locate Towering Aaron, and then —with any luck— we’d force him to lead us to what was left of the real Aaron and end this, once and for all.

  As a precaution, we decided not to alert the survivors in town that we were here. Two was ensuring that the simps that were holding our people in the church would not harm them. She’d also placed a couple of simps on Janelle. Still, as long as Aaron was out there, we couldn’t be sure of what would come next. It was best that the survivors stay in the church, where we could protect them with our puppet simps through Two, or in hiding (if they hadn’t been captured). My synthetic double was ensuring that no suspicions were raised, but we had no real way of knowing if she could sustain her hold on the simps.

  The bloated bodies piled just around the corner from where I sat were decaying and the putrid smell of rotting flesh was getting considerably stronger— so much so that it was making me gag. We wouldn’t be able to stay in the barn for much longer. Giz was occupied with his efforts to ensure our hold and although I knew he was doing his best, the stress was starting to affect my nerves.