Clone Crisis: Book 1 in the Clone Crisis Trilogy

by Melissa Faye

  Ben made us pause for a second before running out the door. He pulled a baseball cap out of his bag and handed it to Etta. “Put this on,” he said. She pulled it low over her face. I zipped up my coat over my insignia again.

  We went to the elevator, but after waiting too long for it to arrive, we took the stairs down. I wasn’t sure if the building supervisor would recognize us, but I didn’t want to take any chances. She was still sitting in the lobby so we snuck out the rear entrance into a back alley. I could see the main street from where we stood. More and more people were gathering in the roads. The community was coming together to protect themselves...against us.

  “What now?” said Etta. Her hands shook noticeably.

  “Come on!” Breck said. He took Etta by the hand and led her through the alley; Ben and I trailed behind. Someone turned into the alley and we leapt behind a storage cart parked against a wall. The man walked past. Breck peered at the main street where people were staring at their TekCast and scanning the crowds. Someone pointed to Breck, who was now in their full view. Breck grasped Etta’s hand tightly and ran in the other direction.

  A group was following us and we needed to escape. There was no time to try to get past them undetected. We ran out the other side of the alley, pushing through throngs of people. A security guard appeared out of nowhere and ran in our direction.

  I felt a hand grab my arm, and with a shove I pushed the person over. Someone else grabbed at my bag, and I tore it away. I saw people pulling Ben backwards, and lunged in his direction to pull him back. Breck and Etta were faring a bit better. They were holding hands and people struggled to separate them.

  I don’t know how long it took, but we finally arrived at the community gate. Hopefully very few of these people would actually leave the community in our pursuit, I thought. Breck and Etta pushed the gate open and ran out. Ben followed, then me. We picked up our pace now that there was a bottleneck at the gate behind us. I turned and saw several people run through it. We ran faster, zigging and zagging over the road and through the brush to try to lose our tails. The group got smaller the farther we got from the gate until there were only two people behind us. A security guard and a young man.

  “Wait!” Breck shouted at us. He stopped in his tracks. I drew myself to a stop, overshooting Breck by several feet. He faced our two followers.

  “Go back to your town,” he commanded. “Go back. We’re not going to hurt you or anyone if you let us go.”

  The two men stared at Breck and inched closer to us. They were twenty feet away and approaching slowly. I backed up another foot as we watched each other.

  “I’m serious,” Breck said. “There are four of us and two of you. We haven’t hurt you. We’re not dangerous. We’re just trying to stay safe.”

  “Haven’t you ever thought something suspicious was going on with the community leadership?” Ben said, stepping forward. “Have you ever shared your doubts with your friends? That’s all we did. And now the government is after us.”

  The men continued to inch closer.

  “Stay back!” I yelled. “Go home! Get out of here!” They paused but didn’t back off.

  Etta stepped forward before Breck could stop her.

  “I’m pregnant,” she said. She lifted her shirt so we could see her torso. She was starting to show; her stomach pushed out against the waist of her pants. She turned to the side so the men could see it better. “I’m pregnant, and I’m in danger. If you turn us in, there’ll be no escape for me. Or for the baby.”

  I watched the two men. They couldn’t take their eyes off Etta’s belly. She was a tiny bit larger than usual, and with her small frame, it didn’t look like much. Still, it didn’t quite fit the rest of her body. If that didn’t convince the men, I knew Etta’s earnestness would.

  “Get out of here,” the security guard said. “Don’t come back. We don’t want a part of this. Whatever this is.” The other man kept staring, but when the security guard backed away, he followed.

  We waited until the men were a hundred feet away. Breck led us in the opposite direction. We ran for a half hour before making camp a ways off of the main road. Etta lay down first, on her back. She clutched her stomach and started to cry. Breck lay next to her, playing with her hair and whispering in her ear. I gestured to Ben; we needed to give them space. We walked twenty feet away and sat down to look at the map Henny gave me. Another close escape. But now we had a new plan to find actual allies. I allowed myself to feel cautiously optimistic.

  I WOKE UP TO THE SOUND of Ben and Breck murmuring. They were talking about what they thought we’d find at the camp. I opened my TekCast and sent a message to Charlie. “Seen. Going to camp.” I hoped he would understand what I was saying.

  He replied. “Search is on. Talk soon.”

  I put down my TekCast and lay down next to Etta, who was starting to wake up. “How do you feel?” I whispered.

  “Tired,” she said with a smile. It was nice to see her a little happy. “I get tired all the time. I can’t keep running like this. But maybe we can stop soon! Maybe we can stay at the camp!”

  I wasn’t sure what would happen once we found the camp. It was a better plan than hiding in a community, but there was no telling how they’d respond to us. We weren’t against cloning. We were in hiding. Did the ACers welcome people who didn’t share their ideology?

  “What about Charlie?” Etta asked. She sat up on her elbows and looked down at my face with a mischevious smile.

  “What about him?” I asked. “He says they’re still looking for us. No more updates.”

  “No, that’s not what I meant,” Etta said with a laugh. I sat up next to her, waiting for an explanation. She giggled at my frown. “I mean, what was going on with you two? He seemed very invested in helping you. And he’s definitely been really helpful with our...trip.”

  “Yeah, he wants to keep you safe. So do I.”

  Etta fell back down on her back and laughed again. “You must not notice how he looks at you. You’re so busy thinking about how to get out of a conversation, you don’t get what’s happening right in front of you.”

  “What’s happening??” I didn’t like being laughed at, though I was willing to forgive Etta for it.

  “He really likes you, Yami,” said Etta. “You spent all that time with Ben, and you barely liked him. He was all wrong for you. But Charlie really likes you. And he’s a way better match.”

  I stood up and brushed dead leaves and grime off my pants. “Now isn’t the time to worry about guys, Etta,” I said. “Besides, not everyone gets to have what you have with Breck.”

  “You’re too stubborn for your own good, Yami,” said Etta. She still wore a big grin on her face.

  “I think we can get to the camp by tomorrow midday,” Ben announced as he came to sit down next to Etta. Etta gave me a final wink; she wouldn’t tease me about Charlie in front of Ben. “It doesn’t seem that far away. It’s getting colder, though, so we need to move faster. We need to be someplace with shelter against all this wind. I wouldn’t be surprised if it snows soon.”

  Etta groaned. “A whole day and a half of walking? I don’t know if I’ll make it.”

  “You’ll be fine,” Breck said. “You’ll be tired, but once we get to the camp and they welcome us with open arms, you’ll be able to put your feet up.”

  Etta struggled to keep up with us while we walked, so we rested more than we had planned. It wasn’t until the following evening when we finally located the ACer camp. It took us a while, walking around the general area, to find the camp. We walked over a hill, though, and finally knew we had found it.

  The ACers lived on a makeshift campground. There were tents of all sizes scattered around the space. There were a few wobbly looking buildings. I could see a few people walking around. One saw us and yelled and pointed to the others. As we approached, we were met halfway by a thirty-something man who introduced himself as Sven. He was tall and fit, with broad shoulders and the hands of someo
ne who had done a lot of manual labor in his lifetime – it made sense, since his insignia was Bronze. His clothes were ragged and torn, but they couldn’t hide his authoritative demeanor.

  “Why are you here?” Sven asked us. He stood still; I knew we wouldn’t be getting closer to the camp without his approval.

  “We need help,” I said. “We had to run from our community. We need a safe place to stay, and time to figure out what to do next.”

  Sven looked us up and down. We were a mess. Our clothes were crumpled and Ben had torn a hole in his jeans while we hiked. The zipper on my bag was broken by someone when we were escaping Glenwood Pines. I knew we were smellier than we could tell.

  “Why did you run?” Sven asked.

  A moment of silence passed. Sven didn’t push; he waited us out.

  “We just –“ Breck struggled to continue. “They were after us. The authorities.”

  Sven continued to wait. Like Henny, this wasn’t enough. “Why would the authorities be after you?” he finally asked.

  “I’m pregnant,” Etta jumped in. She folded her arms behind her back and squeezed her forearms tightly. “I’m sorry, I know there’s no use holding that back. I need your help. We need a place to stay, and we need to figure out how I’m going to have a baby.” I hoped we wouldn’t regret trusting Sven with this information.

  If Sven was surprised, he didn’t show it. His face was unreadable.

  “Follow me.”

  We stayed a few steps behind Sven as we walked to the camp site. There were no formal walls or gates, and as we approached I could feel dozens of eyes staring at us. There were little whispers here and there. Some people stopped what they were doing to watch us. It was like what we experienced at Glenwood Pines when everyone was staring, but the looks here were friendlier. We passed by several tents, a man hanging clothing on a laundry line, a group of men and women tending to a garden, and a group of people carrying baskets of food. People wore all different colors on their TekCasts – Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Gray –but very few were wearing their insignias. Sven led us into the largest building.

  The space was set up as a sort of meeting area, with chairs and blankets in rows and a small set of chairs arranged in a circle off to the side. There was a makeshift podium at one end. An electrical cord snaked its way into the building and lit up strings of lights along the walls. For people without access to government and community resources, the ACers were doing alright for themselves.

  “Sit,” said Sven. He pointed to some of the chairs in the circle. Sven sat across from us. “We’re waiting on Matana.” Who is Matana? I thought. What are we waiting for? What are they going to do to us? I said nothing. Sven seemed like the type of person who wouldn’t answer questions until he was ready.

  A few minutes later a woman, Gold, entered the building and nodded hello to Sven. She was in her fifties, with long black and gray hair that went all the way to her waist. She was dressed similarly to Sven: boots, torn jeans, a raggedy top, and a long open sweater. Like Sven, she had an air of authority that I could sense as soon as she entered the room. I sat up straighter in my chair and wondered if one or both of them led the camp.

  “I’m Matana,” she said as she shook our hands. “What brought you here?”

  “I’m pregnant,” Etta said before anyone could jump in with our usual ambiguous explanations. “I had to run from my community. My friends here have been helping me. They were doing tests on us, and the baby, and we were going to be studied. There wasn’t concern for our health or safety. We got away, but we need to figure out what comes next.” The words poured out so quickly; Etta had been holding them in more tightly than I realized.

  Matana and Sven sat quietly. Their silence made me uncomfortable and I was compelled to tell them more.

  “We came here for help,” I said. “That’s all. We don’t need much besides a place to stay and people who won’t tell anyone that we’re here. We don’t want anyone here to get in trouble on our account.”

  “That’s fine,” Matana said. “We can provide you with resources and carry your secret. You can pay us back by working at the camp. But you need more than a place to stay.”

  “What do you mean?” said Etta.

  “You need medical help,” said Matana. “You need to learn about pregnancy and your own fertility. You eventually need to find a place to raise the child.”

  “Yeah, that would be great!” Etta perked up. I hadn’t really thought in this much detail yet. I was still only thinking one step ahead. “But where do I find all of that?”

  “There are several of us here who studied fertility and development,” said Sven. “Matana worked for years in both research and cloning. We have resources that can help you.”

  My jaw dropped. How could this camp exist without anyone knowing about it? How could they have collected so much information?

  “Personally, I’d like to learn as much as I can,” Ben said. “It’s more than the pregnancy. It’s also the lack of shared information within the community. Our leaders may be keeping things from us. I want to learn what I can and share it with others.”

  “I worked for a long time in a community,” said Matana. “I knew when I was around your age that I didn’t support the status quo, including the way leaders make decisions. I don’t support cloning or the community structure. Like you said, I made it my mission to learn as much as I could to eventually share it with the resistance.”

  “We don’t have much,” Sven said. “But the camp functions. Everyone has enough to do and enough to eat. We help people when they need it. People find out about us and seek us out for shelter or resources. Matana has been our leader since she helped create the camp over ten years ago. We know so much more than those in communities because of her.”

  “I need to know about being pregnant!” Etta exclaimed. The pregnancy often felt unreal to me; I hadn’t thought much about how it must feel to Etta. Her voice was getting louder and grew large. “I don’t know how this works. I was tested, they found out I was pregnant, but I don’t know what it all means.”

  “I can share some books and information with you about what you’ll be experiencing over the next few months,” said Matana. “I can’t guarantee that you and the child will live. We don’t have the medical facilities to provide everything you might need.”

  “I might die?” Etta whispered. Breck squeezed her hand and held her knee possessively. “I might not live through this?”

  “If we lived back in the days where children were born at hospitals, under the care of doctors and nurses, I would say you have nothing to worry about,” said Matana. “Back then, the rate of birth complications in this country was low. Since neither I nor anyone else alive today has experience bringing a baby into the world, the process is going to be much more dangerous.”

  Etta’s eyes teared up. I had only been concerned with helping her avoid a lifetime of testing and imprisonment with Breck and the baby. I had never considered this possibility.

  “I will share what I know,” Matana continued. “I will help how I can. Meanwhile, you may stay here and join the camp. For now.”

  I didn’t want to think what “for now” meant. They were welcoming us, but it was conditional. There was an uncomfortable silence for a moment, though Matana looked satisfied with what she had said.

  “Etta, how long have you been pregnant?” Sven asked.

  “I – I’m not sure,” Etta said. “I think since September? No, August. What’s the date today?”

  “It’s December 12,” said Matana. “You’re around four months pregnant.”

  Etta looked down at her belly thoughtfully. “Four months,” she repeated to herself. “Five to go.”

  “Sven, please get Etta and her friends set up with tents and help them find jobs,” said Matana. “I will collect materials for us to review. Meanwhile, Etta, you should rest and have something to eat. You look exhausted.”

  Sven showed us around the camp. There were nearly fifty
residents, including some couples. Sven pointed out the dining area, where residents ate together. It was one of the larger buildings, and though it was clearly handmade and not nearly as fancy as community buildings, there was something cozy looking about it.

  The ACers mainly ate vegetarian meals given their lack of resources; most food was grown right there in the camp. When resources got low, they sent people out into different communities to buy whatever they needed using the money ACers had on their TekCasts when they joined the camp.

  Sven pointed out a small wind farm a half mile north of the camp. “One of our founders is an engineer, so he was able to set this all up. If we didn’t have electricity, we would survive, but electricity makes everything much easier. We’re able to have lights indoors.” He gave a brief overview of how plumbing was set up. None of it was technologically advanced, but it added to the ACers’ comfort and quality of life.

  Sven brought us to a building that stored many of the camp’s supplies. There were extra chairs, pillows, blankets, first aid supplies, lightbulbs, clothing, and much more. He pulled out two tents we could use, along with two thin mattresses and several blankets and pillows.

  “It isn’t much,” said Sven. “If we built houses for everyone, though, we would run out of supplies in a matter of days.”

  “This is much nicer than the stuff we’ve been using while traveling,” Breck said. I was looking forward to having a pillow again. “I can’t tell you how grateful we are.” Sven didn’t respond. He was stoic in a way that I appreciated, but it still felt out of place. I was used to my cheerful, friendly neighbors. I was used to being the unfriendly one in any group.

  Sven helped us find a spot for our tents. He pointed out a few available spaces and we picked one next to a tall oak tree. I contained my annoyance when I realized I would be sharing with Ben. I tried to help him set up the tent, but he refused. I suspected he thought that being a gentleman would get him back in my good graces.

  “I’m going to be okay,” Etta said to Breck. I suspected she didn’t believe it entirely, but needed to say it aloud.