Two Beating Hearts

by Campbell, Jamie

  He crossed his arm over his chest, the flashlight sending waves of light in all directions. He held the pose for a few moments, his chin held high as if he could see things we couldn’t. Then his whole body relaxed again as it drained momentarily.

  “It’s okay, sir. You don’t need to get upset,” I said. His one arm started waving about so wildly I was concerned he was going to hurt himself. “Who are the Resistance? What do they do?”

  “They’re going to take over. We’re coming from the shadows and will hack them to pieces. Just like they do to us.”

  A stab of fear ran down my spine. If what he was saying was true, then something was happening in the city. Something we had no idea about.

  Something that might change everything.

  But for good, or for bad?

  The old man stepped closer to me so I could smell his acrid breath and see his rotting teeth. I swallowed down the urge to take a step backwards away from him.

  “You, girl,” he started, pinning me in place with his piercing stare. Uncomfortable only began to explain how I was feeling with him so close. “They want you the most. If you don’t run, then you have to hide. They’re coming for all of us but they want you the most.”

  He burst into a fit of laughter as I finally stepped backwards and into Rocky’s chest. He guided me to the left and we hurried deeper into the sewer system.

  The laughter followed us the entire way.

  My heart was pounding against my ribs as we ran around a corner and stopped. Leaning against the cold wall, I gasped for some air to reflate my lungs. There was no such thing as fresh air so deep in the sewer network.

  “What do you think he meant?” Rocky asked quietly.

  I shook my head before I remembered he couldn’t see me in the darkness. “I don’t know. Do you really think there is a group of Defectives trying to fight back?”

  I felt him shrug beside me. “If there is I’d like to speak with them.”

  “He made it sound like they were savages.”

  “That’s what the humans think we are. Maybe it’s time to prove them right.”

  Rocky and I rarely disagreed but this was something I secretly had to go against him. We weren’t feral savages that were little more than wild animals. If we acted that way then the humans had every right to treat us like they did.

  All I wanted was equality.

  A chance to live in freedom.

  Without the fear of death looming over my head and without the hunger in my belly.

  After regaining our composure, we started walking again. We heard no more voices. Only the sound of dripping water greeted our ears around each bend.

  We reached the end of one tunnel, unable to go any further with a steel grate slicing the passageway in two. A drain in the ceiling a few feet down gave us some light. The water didn’t reach this far up, leaving the ground drier than most of the other places we had walked.

  “We should rest here,” Rocky said. “Try to get some sleep so we can figure out what we’re going to do from here on out.”

  I sat on the ground, feeling it first to make sure I wasn’t in for a wet surprise. It was cold and damp, it had been covered in water at some stage. For whatever reason, it had drained away. Perhaps this part of the sewers was for rainy days and the overflow.

  “It should be safe enough,” I agreed.

  Rocky sat next to me as we huddled together. My gimp foot was almost numb from all the walking and running. It wasn’t designed to get me this far, they called me defective for a reason. I rubbed it to try to get the blood pumping back through it.

  I knew without looking that Rocky was doing the same to his deformed arm.

  We settled down for the night, determined to get what little sleep we could. There was nothing comfortable about the hard floor but at least there was less chance of us being discovered and taken.

  My eyes must have closed eventually as something pulled me from my sleep sometime later. It was a sharp tap on the arm. And then the leg. I brushed at the pain as I was roused from slumber.

  I sat up sleepily.

  And then I saw the cause of the pain.

  We were covered in rats.

  Hundreds of them.

  Maybe thousands.

  Millions.

  They flooded around us both like a thick and heavy blanket, covering the ground for as far as I could see. I screamed, waking up Rocky as he jumped up beside me.

  “What’s going on?” he mumbled.

  “Rats!” I shouted, like it wasn’t already obvious.

  Their little whiskers, gnashing teeth, and dirty paws milled about, completely unfazed by us. We were nothing, even to the rats that lived in the sewer system.

  I grabbed onto Rocky as the creatures tried to scurrying up my legs. I wanted to climb the walls, hang off the ceiling, do anything to get away from them.

  Rocky let me go so he could crouch over and brush at them to get off me. They squeaked and scurried away, still nonplussed about the disturbance to their territory.

  “We should move on,” Rocky suggested. I wasn’t going to argue with him.

  Even as I walked, I could still feel their disease-ridden feet and teeth on my skin. I could hear their sharp claws on the concrete for many, many tunnels. No matter how many corners we turned, I would never be able to shake the fear of them returning.

  Rocky had been quiet a long time before he spoke suddenly. “What do you think is outside the city wall?”

  If he was trying to distract me, he chose a good topic for conversation. “I used to think it was a perfect world out there. I imagined the city was like Hell and everywhere else beyond was Heaven.”

  “That would be fine. You know, if we managed to make it out there.”

  “I somehow doubt it’s the fantasy I’ve made it out to be in my daydreams. Stone says creatures and monsters live out there and they feed on flesh.”

  “But it couldn’t be worse than the city, right?” Rocky asked hopefully.

  I shook my head. “Nothing could be worse than the city. Even the scariest of monsters couldn’t beat our Makers. At least they only want to kill us for food.”

  Rocky nudged me with his shoulder. “So what could be out there? Seriously, now. Do you think there are other cities just like ours?”

  I wished I knew.

  “Maybe. Perhaps they don’t even have clones and they will think we’re human.” It was nice to dream about, anyway. In reality, I didn’t even believe my own words.

  We would never be accepted as human.

  Because we weren’t.

  “Being mistaken for human, now there’s a nice thought,” Rocky replied. His eyes glazed over as he retreated to his fantasy world. It was definitely a nice place to be.

  Footsteps thudded in the distance, echoing down the tunnel. We both stopped completely still to listen. There were so many strange noises in the tunnels we needed to make sure we weren’t the source.

  Thud thud thud.

  They definitely didn’t belong to us. And they were definitely footsteps.

  I pulled Rocky to the edge, pressing our bodies against the wall in the hope we would merge with it. We needed to be invisible. These weren’t the footsteps of the feeble old man, these ones were assured, confident, and… hunting.

  “Troopers,” I whispered as quietly as I possibly could. Rocky gave me a nod of understanding.

  They grew louder, mingling with the squeak of the rats and the steady, constant tapping of the water as it dripped along the sewer lines.

  Not to mention my raging heartbeat.

  If I could have squished myself down to the size of a chestnut, I would have done it. There was nowhere down the tunnel we could run and there was no way we would be able to make it through the steel grate at the end. Being caught was the end of us, we would be thrown to President Stone in no time.

  It would be a certain death.

  I held my breath for as long as I could before slowly letting it out and gulping in a new one.
I counted to eleven before the footsteps stopped.

  No, please, don’t find us. Please.

  If begging and wishes came true, I would have no problems in the world.

  Please please please.

  The heavy feet started their rhythm again.

  They slowly grew faint.

  Then someone screamed.

  My blood ran cold at the curdling sound. It ended with a thud and a choke as something heavy collided with something alive. Something like a back or a head or a chest.

  “Take me and the Resistance will only get stronger.” That voice, I knew it.

  The old man.

  The troopers had the old man and were beating him.

  “We will have justice. We will rise up against you and you will be powerless against us.”

  Whack.

  A sickening blow. My hand shot up to cover my mouth to stop the scream lingering on my lips. It almost got out as I fought the urge to run for the old man. He didn’t deserve the beating he was receiving. He deserved compassion and help. Not this.

  Anything but this.

  Rocky held my hand in his, squeezing it gently. He knew what I was thinking without needing words. Sometimes I wondered if we shared the same brain, split into two heads and able to communicate silently.

  The footsteps started again. This time they were accompanied by a dragging sound. The old man was no longer talking. He was no longer walking. Their melody was a funeral march.

  We stood in the darkness until not a sound except the dripping could be heard again. Perhaps a little longer. Long enough for the fear to subside enough to allow for movement.

  Silently we started walking. There was no destination for our journey. We could only hope that the sounds of our footsteps could erase the memory of the troopers and that poor old man.

  “Maybe the sewers lead out of the city,” Rocky suggested after we had walked for so long my foot was smarting.

  “Maybe they do,” I replied.

  If only it were that easy.

  I’d walk until I was free.

  Chapter 10: Reece

  The trooper truck bounced up and down with every jerking inch it moved. Our comfort didn’t matter, we were on a mission and we had to shut up and cop it.

  I was glad to be out of the base. Even if it was only to protect President Stone. Everyone was gathering in Aria Square, the heart and center of the city. Stone was going to give a speech to inspire the weary.

  Or some shit like that.

  All I knew was that I had a semi-automatic machine gun in my arms and I was authorized to kill anyone who came too close to our precious president.

  The truck screeched to a halt, sending us all lurching forward. I had to grab the seat in front of me just to stop myself colliding with the metal frame.

  The doors opened and we walked in a single file down the aisle until stepping outside into the daylight. We immediately fell into formation. Teams of four marched in complete unison toward the podium. People were already waiting to catch a glimpse of Stone. Some even held banners showing their support.

  She had them all fooled.

  But not me.

  I knew the evil the woman and her government were capable of. She wouldn’t stop at anything if it meant furthering her cause. There was no soul in her body, no beat to her heart. What little humanity she contained was frozen in place, impossible to thaw.

  If it wasn’t for the bigger plan, I would have shot the woman myself. I had a gun, I had opportunity, all I needed was to squeeze the trigger once and it would be all over.

  I had to be patient.

  My turn would come.

  Our group found our mark and we spread out in single file, joining the others so we were a human barricade between the square and the podium. Now all we needed were tens of thousands of more people and we were all set.

  The square filled over the next two hours. Anyone capable of being there was required to attend. It wasn’t a suggestion by the president but a summoning. She wanted everyone to hear what she had to say.

  It was easier to insight hatred in person.

  President Stone was the master at manipulation and there was no better way to do it than en masse.

  Valid Clones stood by their Makers. The richest of the rich so proud to show off what their money could buy. Some of them even dressed identically to their clones, proving that money couldn’t buy any kind of taste or humility.

  Seeing the clones so well cared for was in stark contrast to the Defectives. Where the Valids were given everything they needed, the Defectives had nothing. The display here in the square was just further proof that the revolution had to happen.

  My communicator crackled in my ear. “The raven has landed. I repeat, the raven has landed. Troop four to report. Over.”

  Like we were little more than tin soldiers, my group turned to the right and started marching. We walked a straight line to the doors and waited for further instructions.

  It wasn’t long before the earpiece came to life again. “The raven is at door three. The raven is at door three. Troop four ready for action. Over.”

  I gripped the gun tighter and held it ready as the doors opened. Troop three stopped, handing over the custody of Stone to us. We flanked her on either side as she walked between us toward the podium.

  The crowd erupted into a deafening cheer the moment they saw her. She waved to them as she stepped up on the podium, flashing her belligerent smile for all to see.

  My troop returned to our straight line as she waited for the crowd to calm down. It was going to take a while. She soaked up every applause and whistle, absorbing it into her skin like she could bathe in it.

  It made me sick.

  I had the best seat in the house from my vantage point. The president was only a few feet in front of me. So close I could see every one of her wrinkles and the makeup she had caked on so people wouldn’t see her faults.

  This woman was Wren’s Maker.

  How?

  How could something so impossibly evil and wretched create something so tender and gentle? They shared the same genes, they were the same person on a biological level. A part of Stone had been extracted in a lab so that Wren could exist.

  I couldn’t reconcile the two women in my head.

  As far as I was concerned, they weren’t even related.

  My gaze lingered on Stone too long. When I started eyeing the audience like my mission stated I should, my gaze locked with Sergeant Malone.

  I had been caught.

  It was like a punch to the gut. I should have been more careful. Troopers didn’t have the luxury of staring at the president. We had a job to do and nobody had the right to disobey orders.

  I set my face in a concentrated stare as I swept the audience and stared at the individual faces. I thought for sure I could feel my face burning, or at least my ears. Sergeant Malone knew. He knew I was staring at Stone.

  It was another mistake I couldn’t afford.

  The crowd. I needed to focus on the crowd.

  The people at the front dripped with diamonds and gold. This section was reserved for the wealthy. Nearly every part of Aria was reserved for the wealthy. The poor were tolerated, unwelcome by any means. A necessary evil to do the jobs they didn’t want to do.

  Their faces were upturned, enraptured by the enigmatic speaker at the podium.

  “We must come together,” Stone said as her arms rose to embrace the entire square. “It is vital for the city to operate as one so we can stand strong. Everybody must play their role like a stage performance. From the garbage collectors to my secretary, we each have to understand our place and carry out our duties. We owe that to the city. You owe it to your neighbors. You owe it to me.”

  Her veiled threat was probably supposed to sound like an inspirational speech. It might have sat easily with the wealthy who would prefer their servants and maids remember their place in the food chain.

  But not those behind them.

  Beyond the barr
ier that kept the masses from the few, the expressions were angry and bemused. They were thinner at the back, their faces weary and tired, and their clothes were threadbare. Aria was definitely for the wealthy and that was exactly how President Stone liked it.

  A few faces in particular caught my attention. Two men and three women were standing shoulder to shoulder. Their backs were straight and their expressions were in silent defiance. They were members of the Resistance.

  They were the only members I recognized but I was certain there were more of them. They would have been purposefully dispersed between the people, making sure they couldn’t be publicly associated with one another.

  It wouldn’t be long now before they started to act.

  Stone should be scared.

  Stone was too arrogant to think anyone would usurp her.

  She was wrong and we were going to prove it. I just had to bide my time and follow my instructions. I would help from the inside for as long as I could. As long as I didn’t get caught in the meantime.

  Her speech continued. “I have seen what happens when citizens do not feel they need to follow the law. I have seen the tragic consequences of disobedience, and I can tell you now, nobody wants to see that kind of carnage in Aria.”

  A few murmurs of agreement filtered through the front of the crowd as they nodded their heads. These were her real supporters, those that used their money to get whatever laws they wanted approved by Stone.

  One of the people at the back suddenly placed his arms over his chest in a cross formation.

  The troopers acted.

  A gun was held to the man’s head as he was pushed to the ground. Those around him yelped and shuffled back, terrified about what they were about to witness.

  I knew the feeling.

  “Troop four move now! Raven needs to fly. Repeat: Raven needs to fly. Troop four move. Over,” my communicator screamed in my ear. Whoever was on duty was riled up in his nice safe vantage point.

  My group moved quickly with the order. We didn’t have time to think or react, it was simply a process of surrounding President Stone and escorting her as fast as possible back to her vehicle.