by Patti Larsen
I nod, remember. He forbid it, giving us names. Mother called us her kittens. But he hated that, the scientist who led the project. We were only ever One, Two and Three.
I hate him so much in that moment of awareness it makes me shake.
Solo steps back, sweeps her gaze over her captives. I turn my head, do the same. See a few notable exceptions to the round up. Beckett is nowhere in sight. Nor is Poppy. Or Chime for that matter. And Socrates and Vander seem to have evaded capture too. Ande.
My friends. They are free yet. I just hope they stay that way.
“I'm glad we found you.” I find myself speaking, a stunned and shocked feeling taking over my body, deadening everything. I'm cold, so cold, and yet the calm eludes me as Solo smiles and nods.
“Then why did you run, silly girl?” Solo tsks at me.
“The task.” I reach for her, she must help me, this is the reason I'm here. “We have a task to complete.”
Solo spares a glance for Duet who howls beside me. I wish I could offer my sister comfort. I'm so broken myself inside I can only focus on why I'm here.
This can't be how it ends.
“Three,” Solo says, “Trio. You must accept it. I am the task.” She sighs, a lovely sound. “I'm the reason for the Sick, for Duet's hard landing.” She giggles over that, like a little girl with one hand over her mouth, playful and full of mischief. As though she didn't aim to kill our sister. “I tried to do the same to you, but I missed, somehow.” A pout bows her lips. “You simply landed off course and lost your memory.” She winks at Duet. “Not your humanity.”
Duet roars like a wild animal, her voice amplified by the power of her Tek blood. She surges forward to attack, only to be forced back by six Crawlers. They seem to struggle to control her, but do so. Who are they? The ones we've fought were augmented somehow, but defeatable. What has Solo done?
“This can't be right.” Tears well, trickle down my cheeks. What am I to do?
Mother?
Cade pushes his way to Solo's side, still smirking. “I'll take her when you're done with her.”
Solo half turns, eyes tightening just a little as Brick grasps his former leader's shirtfront in one fist and punches that handsome face. Cade goes down in a spray of blood, grasping at his broken nose, staring up at his old second in command.
Solo strokes Brick's arm, smiling at Cade like he's something to be pitied. “Our agreement was always so one-sided,” she says. “I've chosen a new partner.” She smiles up at Brick who nods back. “He's much more to my liking.” Solo winks at me. “Don't you think so, Trio?”
“You had the walkie-talkie.” I can't muster anger, the calm, anything. I've been betrayed for the last time and I know it's over.
Brick's smirk is worse than Cade's because he's sane and still doesn't care.
“Of course,” he said. “If your Bright friend had just let me drive, this would have been over a long time ago.”
The captured Crawler truck. Brick was so angry when Vander wouldn't give up the wheel.
“You took the hand set from there.” I nod slowly. It makes perfect sense.
Perfect.
“Now,” Solo steps back, gesturing to her soldiers. “We have much to discuss, sister mine. And I'd rather do so in a more secure location.”
I don't fight. There's nothing to fight for. Mustering the energy to free myself seems beyond my capabilities. Better to just go with her, to fall and not get up. I've failed.
Duet's last roar is paired with the sound of an engine. There's shouting, off to the left, coming from deeper in the park and Solo is suddenly angry, ordering people about while I'm dragged toward her truck.
No. I have to escape. I can't let her take me, not like this. But when I try to resist, something strikes the back of my head and I stumble forward, falling face-first into the Crawler vehicle. Blackness pours in around me, drawing me down into the dark even as I hear the sounds of battle outside.
And the dog. He's barking.
***
Chapter Eighteen
The dog is barking. The sound of it pulls at me through the darkness as surely as the statue drew me, as I now know Solo drew me, calling me to pay attention, to be careful. I'm aware I'm unconscious, fight to wake even as I want to simply slip back into the quiet peace of the beckoning black.
Her face appears before me, she's shouting for me, the one I love so much. My mother. But the dog is loud, so loud, I can't hear what she's saying over his barking.
Endless barking.
I lurch awake, to my feet, reaching for him, but I'm alone, his anguished cries for me only an echo. It takes a moment for reality to reassert, though I feel completely alert and aware. It's as if my brain needs to reboot, as though I'm like Duet, more machine than human.
For all I know, I am.
A cell. Finally my eyes connect with my awareness and I make sense of where I am. Some kind of holding cell, gray walls, heavy metal door of the same hue, a small glass plate window shot through with wire the only outside portal. A narrow bed, more of a cot, fastened to the wall with heavy brackets. The mattress looks old, stains making me shudder.
There's a small sink, a toilet. And that's all.
And me.
The train. My friends. I sink to the bunk, head in my hands, feeling for the lump I know should be there from the blow I took. But isn't. I've healed. My body did that, while I slept. While I hid from the truth.
I've failed.
My sister betrayed me. Solo did this, is the cause of this. How did I not know, not remember? And why did my mother send me here if it was only to walk into Solo's hands?
My sister appears at my little window as though thinking of her summoned her. Solo waves as the lock grinds, metal on metal, before she pushes it wide and strides into my cell, beaming at me as though this was exactly the way things were supposed to be.
“I've brought you a friend.” Solo gestures, a Crawler enters, dragging someone behind him. I know her immediately, of course I do, jump up to help Dauphine across the narrow space to sit beside me on the bunk. The blind seer, once one of Genki's tribe in long gone Los Angeles, touches my face with trembling fingertips, tears welling in her empty eyes.
“Clone Three,” she whispers. “Final instructions.”
Solo finds her words hilarious, laughs for a long moment while the silent Crawler watches and Dauphine shudders beside me. She's thin, worn, her arms covered in bruises, fingers bent oddly as though they've been broken and not allowed to heal properly.
Tortured. By my sister.
“Thanks to our darling Dauphine, I've been tracking you ever since you left the City of Angels.” Solo looks around, a little frown pulling the perfect skin of her forehead together for just a moment. As if she's suddenly seeing where we are. Her expression smooths out again quickly. And I wonder then, of all of us, who is the most damaged.
Solo reaches out, prods Dauphine's shoulder. I slide one arm around the girl, holding her close, as though I could protect her. I can't, but I have to at least make the effort.
Solo ignores me, a wicked grin on her face, the first time I've seen an outer glimpse of her inner demon. “Tell us the future, girl.”
Dauphine whimpers into my collar, shivering, but she slowly pulls away and takes first my hand, then Solo's. We're falling—
the white light beckons as Solo steps into it, smiling and waving at me
Solo pulls free, laughing her delightful laugh. “Perfect.” She taps the end of my nose with one index finger. “All better now.”
Now that I'm here. I've changed the future. But wait.
Wasn't that the past?
“It's all working out,” Solo says with great enthusiasm. “Just as I planned.”
I release Dauphine as she sags sideways, laying her out on the bunk. “Where are my friends?”
Solo's reaction shocks me. Her savage snarl curls her pretty lips as she lunges at me, face an inch from mine. Madness burns in her brown eyes, threatening to devour
me, to pull me down with her.
“Dead,” she snarls. “All of them, dead. Even that damned dog.” Telling me clears her mood, because she straightens, stretches, the prim gray suit she wears clinging to her perfect figure. She reminds me of a doll.
I suppose she always did.
“Now,” Solo says as the Crawler grabs Dauphine and drags her to the door, “you are mine, only mine. And when I've done what I need to do, maybe then I'll offer you a place. With me.”
Is that hope in her eyes? I can't allow myself to react. But if there is a weakness in her, if there ever was, it was her need to be loved. Adored.
Followed.
As she sweeps out, the Crawler and Dauphine behind her, the seer's blind eyes turn to me and, just as the door closes, I see her shake her head, just a little.
I don't know what her gesture means. And now that I'm alone, I don't care.
My friends are gone.
I'm alone again.
***
Chapter Nineteen
They are dead and it's my fault. All of them, gone. Beckett. Poppy. Socrates and Vander. Dear Ande, though I can't bring myself to feel for the loss of Chime. But the dog... and what's become of Shine and Shade? I swore I'd keep the puppies safe. I swore to keep them all safe.
I'm in no position to be of any help to anyone now. If I ever was. I've brought nothing but hurt and loss and grief to the ones I care about.
My mind at last falls on Duet. My damaged sister clone. Where is she? I have no doubt Solo spared her, if only to torment her. And I can't bring myself to believe Solo would kill one of us.
Can't.
I should have listened to Duet. My feet itch, legs vibrate with the need to move and I find myself pacing the few short steps from one end of the cell to the other. But the motion only serves to fuel my anxiety and the growing need I have inside to do something, anything.
The bunk makes a satisfying thunk when I kick it. Another blow from my boot crumples the frame. Yes, just what I want. What I need. I'm pounding away at the toilet, shattered ceramic flying, water spraying everywhere as I howl out my rage. The door buckles under my blows as I call up the rage sitting inside me though again the calm refuses to come in answer to my need.
They barge in, the warped door groaning, three Crawlers with trank guns. I take one to the shoulder, but barely feel it. They've given me the chance to break free and I refuse to waste it.
They go over in a clatter, metal-clad bodies impacting the hall floor as I leap forward and barrel into them, my full body weight and all the strength I can command forcing them backward until they collapse under me. I scramble to my feet, hear myself laughing though I don't find this funny, not even a little bit. Not while a slow paralysis creeps over my right side, slowing me down, slowing down the world, until everything tips sideways and I'm crawling, pulling myself forward with one hand, with fingertips.
With nothing.
There are moments of wakefulness after that, though there are times I wonder if I'm dreaming. Solo isn't a dream, I'm sure of her, as she stands over me, wavering from the drugs they've pumped into my body.
“You're mine, I told you.” Her hand seems enormous as she leans in, a hallucination expanding her outward as though she were a giant and I only a speck of nothing. Her fingers feel odd as they touch my skin, rough and hot and smooth and cold all at the same time until the dark comes again.
The next time I emerge, I'm shaking all over, the world is vibrating around me and nausea rumbles in the pit of my stomach. Solo again, this time full of fury, her once gentle hand striking me over and over as she fights to wake me.
I lay there and look up at her while she shakes me again.
“Who is she?” Droplets of moisture from her lips touch my face, making my skin crawl from the contact. “Why are they protecting her? Why is she so important?”
I can't answer, don't have words, my head bobbing on my neck as she strikes me again.
“Tell me!” Her boot contacts my thigh, then my ribs as she rolls me over onto the floor and continues her beating. If only she knew I can't feel any of it, my body dull and numb. I'm grateful for the drugs, feel my cheeks stretch despite the paralysis. She's unhappy. And that brings me joy.
“I'll find out.” Solo hisses over my face while I slowly lick my lip and taste blood. “Your precious little girl child won't evade me forever.”
It takes a long time for me to understand what she's said, to process her words.
But when I do, I laugh again, pure mirth and joy escaping me, coming out in a bubbling sound through the damage to my ribs and lungs, already healing.
Poppy. Solo is looking for Poppy. Which means she lied to me.
My friends are alive.
The shake of Dauphine's head as she left. This is what she tried to tell me. Solo lied.
Solo lies. I cling to the fact as the Crawlers return and hoist me back up on my bunk, another shot filling my veins with stillness and quiet.
I can feel her next to me when I wake again, know she will haunt me like this forever and wonder if I'll go as crazy as she is from her attention. Solo strokes my hair back from my forehead, the scent of cinnamon hovering around her. And apples. I know that smell. My mouth waters as she spoons a scoop of hot apple pie into my mouth.
“Just for you, Trio.” Solo giggles like a girl. “I almost have her, you know. Only one last piece of the puzzle left, and your dear little girl will be mine. And I have you to thank.”
I choke on the bite of sweetness, spitting it out, but Solo doesn't seem to notice. She finishes the pie instead, sitting back with it, legs crossed, top one bobbing slowly as the Crawlers inject me with more eternal darkness.
I don't want to wake. It's almost worse my friends yet live. Especially if Solo is as close as she claims. I want to burrow into the black and stay here forever. Who knows, maybe I've already been here that long.
Light breaks through my safe walls and pulls me out into the real world. I want to weep, I feel her again, she will never leave me alone.
Never.
Something cold and metallic presses to my cheek, warming instantly as we make contact. I force my eyes open, meet one brown and one glowing green.
“Trio,” Duet says. “Time to go.”
***
Chapter Twenty
I'm slung over strong shoulders, the press of cybernetic skin against my flesh where my t-shirt rides up.
“Have to go,” Duet whispers to herself as she spins and heads for the open door. I can only see behind her, my head bobbing helplessly, watch us pass through the gaping doorway, leap the bodies of three downed Crawlers, the hall passing at rapid speed as Duet carries me away. “Have to go.”
I struggle against her, feel the fog lifting this time. Did they misjudge the dose? Perhaps my body in its powerful healing capacity has finally adjusted. For whatever reason, I'm groggy still, but awake and aware and fight Duet for the right to use my own two feet.
She stops suddenly, dumps me next to her where I sway and wonder if it was such a good idea after all. Duet's eyes are full of madness, lips drawn back in a scowl so fierce I worry for her state of mind.
“Out!” She snarls like an animal, legs jittering as she grabs my arm and shoves me forward, running, feet pounding the concrete under us, through a heavy door, down three flights of stairs. I just keep up, only because she supports me with her metal hand, tripping but catching myself over and over, though I'm sure if I were to stumble completely she wouldn't let me fall.
Two more Crawlers charge toward us from an open doorway when we reach the bottom. Duet releases me, her howling a horrid echo from the walls, her body barreling forward into the two guards. I stagger forward to help but she's done already, bits of armor flying so I'm forced to duck, then bits of person. Then blood.
Then nothing.
She grabs me again and we run, feet sliding through pools of sticky liquid I refuse to look at, begging the calm to come to me, to take me over completely if it needs
to at last, but to allow me to go out fighting.
Duet stutters to a halt and propels me down a side tunnel. We're underground, I can feel the weight of the world above us, no windows, only gray concrete and metal doors. Some kind of prison or holding area, under it now, a sub-basement perhaps? She stops near a door, smashes it open, jerks me inside a small room, forces me face-first into the bottom of a metal ladder. The scent of rust is strong, rungs pitted with red, but Duet doesn't hesitate. She shoves me upward with her shoulder under my hips, grunting and humming while her body quivers with anger.
Climbing is easier than I thought, daylight showing through a crack far above me. I hear Duet roar again, the thud of her feet as she leaps down to the ground from part way up the ladder. I glance down, see her fight, taking out two more Crawlers. I stop, hang from one arm, wishing I could help her, but I know I'm a liability in the state I'm in and will only get in her way.
More armor. More pieces of people. Much more blood. She mounts the ladder again as shouting voices from down the hall precede pursuit.
“Out!” Duet isn't waiting for me, already behind me and I'm forced to climb as fast as I'm able, thankful the strength has returned to my body, the drug shaken off by my engineered metabolism.
I pop the cover at the top of the ladder and heave myself up and out into daylight. Duet practically leaps upward from the last rung like a shark broaching the water and pulls me to my feet.
“Wait.” I grasp the round lid, some kind of manhole cover, and drop it into place, cutting off the voices and the sounds of climbing. “Seal it.”
