“Don’t thank me,” I replied, clenching and unclenching my fists to try to dissolve the anger bubbling deep within me. “I was the one who sent you to them. I’m so sorry. I thought they would keep you safe, I didn’t expect to find you like that.”
She shook her head slowly, still dopey from the sedatives. “It’s not your fault.”
It was my fault. I should have helped her myself. If I thought there was a way to get away from my mission that day in Aria Square, I would have done so. There was no way I would have sent her away otherwise.
My situation seemed almost as impossible as hers sometimes.
But I didn’t live with a gun permanently to my head like she did. I would never trivialize her situation. At least I was a human with all the rights attached to the status. Clones had no rights whatsoever, the odds were against them from the moment they first opened their eyes in the labs.
“Did you save Rocky?” Her voice was so small and fragile, I didn’t know how she was managing to think of someone else when her own situation was so vicarious.
Wren was strong.
Far stronger than anyone I knew.
“I asked around,” I started, my heart bleeding at being the one to tell her the news. “There doesn’t seem to be any traces of your friend anywhere. Are you sure he was taken by troopers?”
“They were dressed just like you.”
Just like me. How Wren could look at me with anything but hatred was beyond me. I represented everything she feared and loathed in her life. Everything that was wrong with her existence.
I’d asked dozens of people if any new Defectives had been captured and brought in. There were only certain people I could ask without raising alarm bells so I had to be selective. Everyone I’d spoken to said no new Defectives had been captured in the last week.
Her friend was nowhere, almost like he’d just disappeared.
Wren’s eyes welled with tears but she didn’t let them fall. A part of her was expecting my answer. The look on her face and the slump of her shoulders told me she wasn’t accustomed to getting good news. Her existence was marred by bad news, broken only by hopelessness.
I shifted a little closer, resisting the urge to wrap an arm around her shoulders and comfort her. I knew if I did that I would scare her and she would shrink away. I couldn’t lose her trust, not when I was trying so hard to earn it.
She closed her eyes for a moment as she turned her head to the ceiling. They tell us clones don’t have souls, that they only exist in body form. But, looking at her beautiful face, I swear I could see right into her sad soul.
“I’m really sorry,” I said.
Her attention came back to me as if she might have forgotten I was still there. “You tried, that’s all you can do. Thank you.”
“I really wanted to find him for you.”
“I wish you did.”
She licked her cracked lips, she had to be thirsty. I jumped up and poured a glass of water from the kitchenette in the corner. I offered it to her but I doubted her frail body could hold it yet.
Kneeling down, I held the glass to her lips and tipped it slightly, just enough to get the liquid into her mouth. She drank gratefully, like she hadn’t had anything to drink in days.
Probably three days.
I was going to make them pay for what they did to her. It didn’t matter that we were on the same side. I was firmly on Wren’s side, and if anyone crossed her, they would have to deal with me.
She drank the whole glass. “Do you want some more?”
“No, thank you.”
I returned the glass and sat on the floor again, closer to her this time. She’d let me help her, that was a good sign she wasn’t too terrified of me.
“You look really good,” I said, not thinking before I spoke.
Wren ran a hand through her hair, smoothing it down. “They let me shower. I used soap.”
Being clean and being beautiful were two different things but I’d already said too much so I wasn’t going to point that out. Even when she was covered in dirt she was gorgeous. It was something that glowed from the inside.
I needed to change the subject. “How long have you known Rocky?”
A smile graced her lips at a recalled memory. “My whole life. He’s always been there. I’ve been told we were delivered to the camp at the same time. I can’t remember a moment when we were apart like this.”
“You must be very close.” A pang of jealousy stabbed through me as I tried to ignore it. These feelings had no right being in me. They were wrong, and if anyone found out, I would be destroyed.
“He’s like my brother. I love him.”
I nodded, refusing to ask the one question I really wanted answered. I would keep it inside, determined to hold it there forever.
I would not ask if they were lovers.
I would not ask if they were together.
I would not.
I could not.
“And you were separated in Aria Square?” I asked instead.
“Yes. There were so many people, it was difficult to keep track of everything. One minute he was there, the next I saw him being dragged away by troopers.”
“And you have no clue about who his Maker is?” If we could work out who had ordered his existence, we could track him down and determine if he had called in his clone. It was a big if but it was a start.
“We never worked it out and nobody knew,” she answered sadly. “But we came from the same laboratory, I know that much.”
I sat up straighter. “You know which lab?” She nodded and hope welled in me. “Defective Clones are returned to the labs where they were created. If troopers did take him they would transfer him there. Wren, we might be able to find him.”
Her face lit up as if someone had shone a light on her. “He might still be there?”
Four days was a long time for a Defective to be in custody. If troopers had handed him straight over to the scientists, it was unlikely they would hold him for too long.
I wasn’t going to tell Wren that.
Not when it would wipe the smile from her face.
“They might still have him,” I replied.
She rocked forward until she was crouched in front of me. “Will you take me there, please? I need to find him before they kill him. I have to save Rocky.”
“It will be too dangerous to go there.” Clone labs were some of the most secure buildings in Aria. They were fortified with tall fences and guard patrols that took up a large chunk of the city’s security budget.
There was a joke in Aria that it was easier to get out of the city than it was to get into the labs.
They weren’t wrong.
We wouldn’t be able to get anywhere near the labs before someone spotted us. We’d both be sent to our respective prisons to inhale our final breaths.
Wren’s hand rested on my arm, bringing me out of my silent reverie. “Please? I don’t care that it’s dangerous, I need to find Rocky. He can’t die like that. He just can’t, he doesn’t deserve it.”
The sadness in her features punctured my heart until it felt like it was bleeding. I was a shattered mess under her intense gaze, reduced down to nothing while my sensibilities disappeared. More than anything in that moment I wanted to make her happy. Wipe away the sadness until there was nothing but happiness radiating from her.
I didn’t know what I was saying until after the words lingered in the air between us. “I’ll help you get to him.”
“Really? You’ll take me there?”
“Yes, I will.”
And just like that, our fates were sealed.
There was no going back now.
Those three words were going to be the death of me. I just hoped they would be enough to save Wren’s friend and her in the process.
I needed to get back to base before my absence was noted. I convinced Wren to stay in the small room and wait for me to return. With promises of food that didn’t contain drugs, I said I would try to be quick and
return to her as soon as I could.
I wasn’t convinced she believed me.
Reluctantly, I left her alone in the warehouse and hurried back to base. I’d been gone too long, my instincts told me I should be running in the opposite direction rather than sneak in over the fence to blend in with all the other troopers.
Still, I continued on and headed toward my dorm, hoping Dwyer wouldn’t be in the room. I couldn’t handle his accusatory looks today, he’d know I wasn’t on base like I should have been. I wouldn’t need to confess, he would just know.
And, the worst thing was, he’d be right.
He would probably run to the administration building and snitch on me again. They’d add it to my ever-increasing file until they could justify my execution.
As if they needed justification.
The thought made me laugh.
I stepped around the last building before my own came into view. It wouldn’t be too long now and I would reach my room and pretend I’d been there all day. As long as nobody said anything different, I’d be able to use it as my alibi if anyone asked.
Without warning, a strong set of hands clamped down on my shoulders. I spun around, my body flexed and ready to defend myself.
I came face to face with Sergeant Washington.
“Sir, what’s—”
The rest of my words were kept in my mouth by his fist as it collided with my jaw. My head snapped sideways as I tasted blood and saw stars swimming in front of my vision.
My training said not to fight my superior. To hell with that. I steadied myself before taking a swing, aiming squarely at his head. He was already coming at me again, his fist flying up to meet mine. We collided in the middle, each landing a blow.
Washington was fast, far quicker than I anticipated. His fists were like rocks as they pummeled into me, colliding repeatedly with my ribs, head, arms, and abdomen.
I struggled to match his intensity, his strength seemingly superhuman as he attacked me behind the dorm building. For every three blows he got in, I was lucky to strike one.
The sickening sound of his knuckles on my skin permeated the air, joined by my ragged breathing. I was the one with all the fight training and I was being completely overpowered.
What had gotten into him?
He landed a heavy punch to my kidneys, sending me reeling backwards. “Think you can take my job and get away with it, Corporal?”
“What… what…” Words were pointless, I couldn’t get them out as I gasped for air. This was Washington’s show and I was only a spectator.
“That’s right, I know all about your acceptance slip. Think President Stone is going to protect you now you’re part of her personal squad? Ha! You’ve got another thing coming, you piece of scum.”
I fell to the ground, losing my footing on a rock. As I desperately tried to get up, he kicked me in the ribs, his heavy boots breaking at least a few of my bones.
Groaning, I tried to get up. On the ground I was completely vulnerable and at the sergeant’s mercy. I couldn’t be in that position, I wasn’t going to last much longer as all my energy was zapped. He’d already proven he wasn’t going to show me any mercy.
And all this was because I took his job?
It wasn’t even his to begin with. Stone was the one who had chosen me for the position, I didn’t get a say in the matter. Even if I had refused, there was nothing to say she would pick him instead.
None of these words made it onto my lips. I fought for breath as I pushed myself up onto my knees. The effort exhausted me, fueling Washington into taking another swing.
His knuckles were bloody as they collided with my temple and sent me back down again. I couldn’t tell if he wore my blood or his own.
I really hoped it was his. I wanted his hands to be sore for the next ten years from this.
Using the last of my energy, I recoiled my arm and struck out at him. My fist punched his jaw, sending him backwards as he staggered to regain his composure. I smiled through my bloodied lips, the bright red color staining my teeth.
His hand instinctively touched his jaw, clicking it a few times to test whether it was broken or not. By the look of it, he’d wear a bruise for a few days but that would be it. I wasn’t exactly in the best position for attack.
“You scum!” he screamed at me. “You’re going to pay for this. I’m going to put you in the morgue.”
He lunged at me once more, landing another blow to my shoulder and making my arm feel like a dead appendage. I was as good as gone. Any one of his next blows could be the one that turned my lights out.
All of a sudden, Washington stopped. He put his head up, something had distracted him. He stood, knowing there was little I could do to fight back now. His head cocked to the side, listening for something.
Before I could understand what was happening, he sneered at me. “Tell anyone about this and your death is going to be slow and painful.”
Without another word he took off, running in the opposite direction of my dorm. I tried to sit up but my body protested, every inch aching or stinging.
I closed my eyes and tried to summon the strength to get up and save myself. If I could just make it back to my dorm, I could rest there in relative safety. At least the door had a lock, that was a vast improvement to being on the lawn of the barracks.
My legs staggered but at least they moved in the right direction. With everything swimming in front of my eyes, I barely recognized everything I knew so well around me.
Finally, I found the door I was looking for and slumped through it. The last thought I remembered was of being somewhere safe, and then everything went black.
Dwyer loomed over me when I opened my eyes again. “Man, what the hell happened to you?”
I tried to talk but I only choked and coughed instead. I think it might have scared him witless.
“Stay still, I’ll get a medic,” he said before he disappeared from my view.
The minutes that passed felt like hours as all the muscles in my body protested my breathing. They longed to give up and dissolve into the earth beneath me.
I fought with everything I still had to stop myself passing out. I had to hold on, make sure I got back to Wren or she would be all alone. She was depending on me and I would not let her down.
A violent racking cough tore through my lungs as I hurried to roll onto my side. I spat out blood, the bright redness in stark contrast to the black carpet.
I needed help and I needed it now.
Chapter 17: Wren
Reece knew where I could find Rocky. All I needed to do was get to the laboratory where his life was created and I could save it.
It was impossible not to be excited about the prospect. I had help, I had Reece and he promised he would do everything he could to help me rescue Rocky.
We were actually going to do it.
The Resistance, the time I had lost, the drugged state they left me in, none of it mattered if I got Rocky back. He would make everything better, make me whole again.
I wanted to go straight away, get out of this infuriatingly tiny room and run into the night. I would find a map somehow, work out where the laboratory was and go there.
But then what?
Reece said it was difficult getting into a laboratory and I believed him. If a trooper with knowledge of the place had concerns, then I couldn’t be reckless. I only had one shot at getting to Rocky and I couldn’t squander it.
I would follow the rules.
For now.
It was kind of the trooper to help me when he had no reason to. I shouldn’t trust him as much as I did but yet I kept doing it anyway. When I looked into his eyes I saw nothing there but honesty. I truly believed he wanted to help me.
For whatever reason.
I would waste no more time in questioning him or my decisions. There was no time anymore, especially now I knew Rosalind had robbed me of three days. I could have been rescuing Rocky in that time, I could have been liberating him from the prison he
was being held captive in.
Instead, I had been sleeping as soundly as the dead. You would think I would be filled with energy after being asleep for three days, that my strength would be restored so I could conquer the world.
I wasn’t.
Some of the drugs still had to be circulating around in my system, making my thoughts hazy and my movements slow. I was in no condition to go clone hunting but it wouldn’t stop me either.
If only Reece would return.
The tiny voice in the back of my head kept telling me he wasn’t coming. That I was trapped inside this trooper warehouse to either be found and slaughtered or starved to death.
I was desperately trying to ignore that voice, but as the hours passed, it wasn’t so easy. Reece needed to come back and get me, just like he had promised. He hadn’t broken his word to me yet but that was only one lie away.
One lie was all it took to fracture trust until it splintered into a million pieces and covered the sky, turning everything black.
It wouldn’t be hard for him to forget about me. A Defective Clone was nothing, the completely last rung on a ladder. We were there to Serve Our Purpose, to be used by humans any way they saw fit. A part of Reece had to know that, too.
I tried to nap on the floor, succumb to the fatigue gripping my limbs, but I couldn’t settle. Every little noise made me startle, wondering if it was Reece returning or something much more sinister.
My nerves were a frayed mess. I was little more than a bundle of panic, ready to spring into action with the first signal of danger. I’d lived my whole life that way, the feeling was not new to me.
I laid, staring up at the ceiling, for a very long time. Long enough for me to picture Rocky in all kinds of situations. The worst was when I imagined him being dissected. The best was picturing me running into his open arms and seeing him in one piece again.
I was unsure if it was day or night when footsteps padded on the floor outside my door. I immediately sprang into action, crouching behind a lone chair as it sat by the sink. Pretending I was invisible, I barely breathed for fear the noise would give me away.
The door handle turned.
I saw his feet first. He wore heavy boots, just like all the other troopers. My eyes travelled upwards, covering his white uniform pants, then his white vest lined with Kevlar. The panic was rising with my fear.
Two Beating Hearts Page 17
