The Perfects

  He came to my side. “What is it?”

  I clapped my hands over my mouth, unable to believe our luck.

  “Don’t keep us in suspense,” Ashley said.

  “There’s a sign,” I said and pointed down the way.

  Ian adjusted his quiver and bow and headed in the direction of where I pointed. There was a literal red EXIT sign further down the hallway.

  The three of us bolted in that direction. The two-minute warning had passed so at any moment the Perfects would be after us. If we could get out before they found us, we had a good chance of getting away for good.

  As we neared the EXIT sign, we heard something crash behind us.

  As if it were a starting pistol, the three of us took off toward the door.

  “Hurry!” Ian hissed.

  He reached the door first, and he shoved his body into the push bar. He grunted, and the door didn’t budge. He pushed it again, but nothing happened.

  My stomach sank, and heat flashed behind my eyes.

  “You've got to be kidding me,” Ashley said.

  Ian looked at the door from all angles before turning back to us. “It must be locked from the outside.”

  I turned around, fully expecting to see an army of Perfects behind us, ready to strike. There weren’t any, but it was only a matter of time before they caught up with us. I had no doubt about that.

  “What are we going to do now?” I asked.

  Ian narrowed his gaze and glanced from left to right. “Let me try your axe.”

  I gave it to him, and he slammed it against the door numerous times. Each time the metal hit metal, I flinched. If they didn’t know where we were before, they sure did now.”

  “We’re pretty much screwed,” Ashley said and dropped the pipe she’d been holding onto the ground.

  There was a warble to her voice which made my throat thicken.

  We were faced with an impossible situation with no way out. The only way would have been the door, but the people at Edgewood already thought of that. We were mice in a maze with no cheese at the end.

  The only thing waiting for us was a life cooped up in some strange pod while a robot took over our lives.

  “We’re not screwed,” Ian said, running further down the way.

  “How is that?” Ashley asked, following him.

  I pulled up the rear, wondering why he was so cryptic.

  Ian picked up his pace. “Come on!”

  Ashley and I followed. What was his plan?

  I glanced behind me numerous times, checking to be sure we weren't being followed.

  “There’s a door here,” he said, stopping in front of another push bar door at the far end. “I bet this leads into another hallway. If we can trace our way back to where that other exit door is, we can see if that one will open.

  “And if it doesn’t?” Ashley said.

  “We won’t be better off in here,” I said. “It’s something.”

  “At least there are places to hide in this room,” Ashley said.

  “For how long?” I asked. “They’ve been a step ahead of us the entire time. We have a chance to get out of here.”

  “At least we have a plan. If it doesn’t work out, we can always come back in here to figure out something else.”

  “There isn’t any time to waste,” I said. And then pushed through the door.

  “Abigail!” Ian hissed then pushed through the door behind me. I looked both ways down the dim hallways and determined that they were clear. At least for now.

  I turned to the right, and Ian and Ashley were close behind me.

  Ian took the lead, and I was right behind him, followed by Ashley. We stuck close to the wall and were within one step from each other the entire time.

  Being back in the hallway made a shiver move up my spine. The temperature in the mechanical room was much warmer and more comfortable. Out in the hallway, the air was chilled and added to the unease that filled my stomach.

  “Up ahead,” Ian whispered.

  Ashley moved out of formation to my side. Up ahead an EXIT sign glowed as if it were a beacon of our freedom.

  I glanced behind me and saw no one. The entire time we had been down there, except for when we were in the mechanical room, the Perfects were always right behind us. As much as I wanted to get out of there alive, the hairs on my arm started to rise. Something was wrong. Getting to the exit wasn’t supposed to be this easy.

  A sliver of bright light shone below the EXIT sign, and the three of us stopped in our tracks.

  The sliver widened enough that we could see three figures emerging from what looked like another well-lit hallway. I squinted and realized it wasn’t hallway, it was outside. My heart leaped into my throat.

  “Ian,” I said.

  “I see it.”

  “Do you also see them?” Ashley interjected.

  The door closed behind them, so it took my eyes a minute to adjust. With the black spots out of my vision, I could make out the faces of the three Perfects. It took at least a minute for me to make the connection.

  Amy, Melanie, and Marcus stood there. I expected them to come running to us and we’d be able to join forces again to escape.

  That fantasy was shattered with the reality of the situation.

  They wore the same outfit as the other Perfects we’d encountered. Marcus no longer wore glasses, and his shaggy hair was now a close shave against his head. The biggest difference was the amount of weight he'd lost. He no longer had a gut. Instead he appeared as fit as Ian.

  Amy looked the same except for the grimace on her face.

  Melanie’s usually scraggly locks were slick back in a severe ponytail that matched Amy's.

  I didn't make the connection after seeing Karen, but when Ian mentioned his brother’s scar missing, it appeared that in addition to removing flaws, these Perfects were really perfect in every way. With teens at Edgewood for a year, these transformations could easily be explained with the time away. And with the technology available, no one would question someone getting corrective eye surgery or any other physical enhancements.

  Amy was the first to step forward. “This has gone on long enough. Now you will be taken by force.”

  Melanie sneered, and she and Marcus came toward us.

  “They’re using our friends against us,” Ian said.

  Ashley held the pipe like a baseball bat. “These aren’t our friends.”

  “I wouldn’t bother fighting,” Melanie said. “You're outnumbered, and there’s no way out of here.”

  The way out was directly behind them. With our escape only a ten feet away from us, I planned on using everything in me to fight to get out of the institute with my mind and body intact.

  “This is for the best,” Marcus said. At first, hearing his voice coming from that body was strange

  It wasn't him, and I had to remember that.

  “Being locked up in a box doesn't sound like something I want to do for the rest of my life,” Ashley said.

  “The pods extend your life,” Amy said. “You won't feel anything.”

  “How?” Ian asked. “And why?”

  The three Perfects blinked at the same time but didn’t elaborate.

  “I feel fantastic,” Marcus said.

  The three of them came forward with their arms extended at their sides.

  “Come with us peacefully, and you will feel the same shortly,” Amy said.

  I took a step back, and Ian moved in front of Ashley and me.

  Melanie frowned. “There isn’t a choice here. You will come with us no matter if you agree or not. Make this easier on yourselves and give up.”

  “This will be painless,” Amy reiterated.

  “I’d rather feel everything than nothing at all,” I said.

  Amy frowned too, and the expression looked foreign on her. These Perfects were dangerous, and I had an idea that we were going to have to fight our way out of here.

  “Then you have no choice,” Marcus said. “You will
be taken by force.”

  Then Amy, Marcus, and Melanie raced toward us.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  They rushed the three of us in one clump. And since we were so close to them, it was hard to avoid them. Amy pounced on Ashley right as Ashley swung the pipe. She missed hitting Amy and Amy whipped around grabbed Ashley by the shoulders.

  Marcus went after Ian. Since Ian stood in front of me, when Marcus shoved him, Ian lost his balance and bumped me with his body.

  I flew backward against the wall. My back connected with the concrete, knocking the wind out of me. I fell to the ground, and the axe dropped from my hands and slid away. I attempted to catch my breath. I hadn’t felt this way in years, not since one of our new horses bucked me off its back. I’d fallen to the ground, doing the most ungraceful belly flop.

  Ian called out for me as Marcus delivered a blow to Ian’s stomach.

  Melanie stood over me for a moment. I had no strength to defend myself as I sucked in deep gulps of air.

  The sounds of Amy and Ashley’s struggle with each other filled my ears, and I knew it was one of the last sounds I’d hear before I was turned into one of the Perfects. I hoped that transition wasn’t painful.

  Heat seared my eyes, and I silently prayed that my parents would somehow know it wasn’t me and fight against Edgewood. Hopefully, they wouldn’t fail as I have.

  Melanie reached down for me and then her eyes widened. She let out a strange sound from her mouth and then fell on top of me. Her limp body crashed to the floor, pinning my legs to the ground.

  I might have wondered what happened to her, but I didn’t need to. The long arrow sticking out of her back was all the proof I needed to what had happened.

  I glanced over at Ian. Marcus was slowly getting up from the ground. The side of his head was split open, but no blood came out. Instead, the electronics in his head were sparking. His eye twitched a few times as if he were short circuiting.

  Ashley cried out, and I whipped my head in her direction.

  I shoved Melanie off me and went to help Ashley. At least it was three against two in our favor now. Maybe we would have a shot.

  Amy had her by the hair and was pulling her in the opposite direction from the door. If I shoved Amy away, then she might still have a grip on Ashley and harm her further. I looked around for something to help me.

  Then I found it. Ashley’s pipe was on the ground. Amy got it out of her hands somehow.

  I reached down and grabbed it. It was heavier than I thought. My hands shook. I didn’t know if the Perfects could feel anything, but right now, it was us against them. I lifted the pipe and was about to bring it down on Amy when something hard crashed into the back of my knee.

  I fell to the ground, but on the way was able to swing down the pipe onto Amy’s back.

  Amy yelled and released Ashley from her grasp.

  Marcus lifted me up from the ground and started to run with me in the other direction.

  “Ian!” I cried. I struggled against Marcus, but he was much stronger than me.

  “It’s no use, human,” he said.

  I kicked back into his crotch, and he groaned but didn’t let me go. “I’m going to make sure you feel every second of the transition.”

  The menace in his voice was so unlike the boy I’d gotten to know.

  “Hey!” Ashley called out, and Marcus turned.

  Ashley was out of breath, and her hair was matted on one side. A trickle of blood ran down from her mouth. I hoped she wasn’t seriously injured. We had a lot of work to do if we were going to survive this.

  She had the pipe again, and she swiped it at his leg. Marcus lifted his leg and kicked Ashley square in the face. Her expression froze as she crumpled to the ground.

  If I didn’t know it already, now I knew these Perfects had lost their humanity. They were programmed to bring us to be transitioned, and that was their goal. The people that they were created from were gone, replaced by these inhuman robots.

  Marcus started running again, but we only went a few feet before the floor shot up at me. I braced myself and managed to turn my body away, and Marcus took the brunt of the fall.

  I scrambled out of his arms and stood up.

  Ian walked up to us and shot an arrow into Marcus’s chest. There were two arrows in Marcus’s legs. That must have been why he fell.

  “Are you okay?” Ian asked.

  “Yes,” I said. “We need to check on Ashley.”

  As I went to her side, she slowly propped herself up. Her face was covered in blood. It flowed out of her nose down to her mouth. Droplets fell to the floor, slipping off her chin.

  “I'm all right,” she said.

  I helped her up, and she wobbled for a moment before getting her balance.

  I surveyed the scene in front of us. All of the Perfect copies of our friends laid unmoving on the floor. Ian pulled out the arrows from Marcus and Melanie and shoved them back in his quiver.

  I had to keep reminding myself that these weren’t out friends.

  “If we hurt the Perfect copy, does it hurt the real person?” I asked, looking at Melanie on the floor. Her eyes were still and wide open, staring up at the ceiling.

  “No,” Ian said.

  “How do you know that?” Ashley asked.

  “I don’t know for sure,” he said, throwing his bow over his shoulder. “But that wouldn’t make much sense. If the Perfect version of anyone got hurt in the real-world, they’d be able to make another one of them here at Edgewood. It’s the perfect way to keep their plan going. Whatever that plan is.”

  “I guess you don’t want to find that out anymore?” I asked.

  “I do,” Ian said. “But we’re going to need a lot of back-up. We can’t do this on our own.”

  “Isn’t that the truth,” Ashley said, wiping her face with the sleeve of her shirt.

  We weren’t out of this yet. I didn’t want Ashley to lose too much blood and pass out during our escape. I’d dealt with bloody noses before. I hoped that it wasn’t broken. The way Ashley was wiping at it made me think it would be fine. If it were broken, she’d be in a lot more pain.

  I reached down to Amy. She was on her stomach, and her head was to the side. I hadn’t been that close to a Perfect before, at least not a still one.

  I moved her hair aside and touched her cheek. It was incredibly soft and flawless. I found a minute difference. Her skin felt synthetic, almost like a soft silicone material.

  Would anyone else notice that? If I hadn’t been stroking her skin enough to feel the difference would anyone else?

  Then I remembered that a lot of the teens coming out of the institute were eventually married. Starting this procedure at sixteen would allow whoever was running this program to transition all teens to these Perfect copies so when they got close to each other, there wouldn’t be any questions about how they looked or felt.

  My stomach turned thinking about this insane master plan that some twisted person thought up.

  Were these Perfects allowed to procreate? Or would they come to Edgewood and be given a Perfect baby?

  My mind filled with questions but I had to reign them in for now.

  “We should go before they send more Perfects,” Ian said.

  I ripped Amy’s shirt up the seam and then around her middle. I handed the fabric to Ashley. “Here. This should help the bleeding.”

  She took it and balled it up before pressing it to her nose. “Thanks.”

  Our truce continued as we met Ian close to the EXIT door.

  He turned to us. “This isn’t over yet.”

  I nodded.

  “The outside of the facility is under camera surveillance. We’re going to have to hurry to get to the woods. Stay close to me the entire time. I know where the breach in the fence is. And I doubt there is more than one.”

  “What if they already fixed it from your last break in?” Ashley asked.

  Ian took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Let’s hope that’s not t
he case.”

  I took one last look behind us at the Perfects and pushed through the door. I expected an alarm or something to alert our escape, but there was nothing.

  I shielded my eyes as the natural light, which I hadn’t felt on my skin for days, shone over us. The grass on the lawn was vibrant and finely manicured. I never thought I’d be excited to see grass.

  Ian closed the door behind us and held a hand out for us to stay where we were. The door was in a small alcove. I looked up, expecting to come face to face with a camera, but I didn’t see one.

  I peered around the corner and saw a row of them attached to the exterior wall, spread apart by only a few feet.

  Ian had been right to make us wait. Once we stepped out of our hiding spot, we were going to appear on those cameras from many angles.

  “Are you okay to run?” I asked Ashley.

  “I’m fine,” she said firmly. “Take care of yourself, and I’ll do the same.”

  I ignored her attitude. Even in desperate times she still held onto her grudge against me.

  “What are we waiting for?” Ashley asked, adjusting her grip on the fabric against her nose.

  Ian turned around. “I wanted to see if there were any patrols. We’re clear for now. So, we’re going to head over to that fence.” He pointed to a fence running perpendicular to the building. “The break is where that fence meets the one in the woods. It’s at least a five-minute run if we sprint.”

  After everything that had happened today, the idea of running five whole minutes at full speed and then running through woods for who knew how long, made me think we couldn’t do this. But a sudden spike of adrenaline in my body helped give me energy. I wasn’t sure how long it would last but that didn’t matter. We had to do this. We had no other choice.

  “Let’s go,” Ian said and then took off.

  Ashley and me were right behind him. Initially, I didn’t feel much from the sprint, but I knew my legs would give out if I stopped at any point. Within a minute of us running, loud alarms sounded all around us.

  In the distance behind us, I heard dogs barking.

  They had dogs?

  I knew if I turned around, I’d lose momentum, so I pumped my legs and arms harder. We were going to make it to the fence. We had to.