The Perfects

  The alarms didn’t stop as we continued to run. But the barking did. And I wondered if that was because the dogs went somewhere else or they were in pursuit of us. I hoped it was the former.

  “Stop running!” Christopher called out to us. His voice was much closer than I wanted it to be. “You won’t be able to escape.”

  Yes, we would! I called back in my mind. I wouldn’t be able to talk if I tried. I focused all of my energy into my legs.

  “You’re only making this harder on yourselves!” Lucy called.

  How many of them were after us? From what I heard, they didn’t appear to be out of breath. My curiosity got the best of me, and I turned around to see dozens of Perfects after us.

  “Run!” I yelled to my friends.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  I had to tear my eyes away from our pursuers or else I might have given up on the spot. Ashley started to fall behind. Her breathing was labored, and the blood continued to gush out of her nose.

  “Ian?” I said quickly with a warning tone.

  “Almost there.”

  “There’s. Too. Many.” I said between short, staccato breaths.

  “I know a good hiding place,” he said.

  The corner of the fence appeared sharper up ahead. Ian had been right. We were almost there.

  I grabbed Ashley’s arm and held her close to me as we ran. “You can do this,” I said to encourage her. Part of that encouragement was for me.

  I thought we were in a dire situation before, but if we didn’t get through that fence, we were going to get caught with no chance of escape.

  Ian was the first to reach the fence. We were at least a hundred feet away. He shoved his bow and quiver through the break in the fence and then curled up the side of the metal to make a bigger hole. He struggled to hold it up, and his eyes widened when he looked behind us.

  I didn’t dare glance behind me. If I did, then I might lose all faith that we were going to get out of this in our own skin.

  “You need to go first,” I said to Ashley. I wanted her through so that I wouldn’t have to worry about her for at least a few seconds.

  Ashley dove for the hole and scrambled through. She popped up on the other side and pressed the blood-soaked fabric against her nose.

  “Go,” Ian said.

  I didn’t hesitate. I dove through like Ashley had and then Ian came next.

  Ian popped his head through the fence just as Christopher reached him. His body crashed against the metal, and then he reached down and grabbed Ian by the waist.

  “No!” I screamed.

  Ian clawed at the ground and grunted with effort.

  Ashley and I grabbed his hands and pulled with all of our strength. We weren’t strong enough. Between the running and fighting, we were almost on empty.

  “Let go,” Ian said through his teeth.

  “No,” I said.

  Ian looked up at me. “Trust me.”

  I nodded and let go. I trusted him with my life.

  Ian whipped around. Half of his body was through the fence while the other half Christopher held in his arms.

  Ian wriggled around to get one of his legs free and then kicked Christopher in the groin.

  Christopher groaned and fell to his knees.

  Ian was able to get his other leg free, and he pushed off the ground to get through the fence.

  “Go, go, go!” Ian said, taking Ashley’s hand.

  She was the weak link in our group and needed his strength.

  They took off, but my legs were rooted to the ground. Christopher leaned against the fence, his eyes squeezed shut in pain. He wasn’t a Perfect. Yet he protected them and Edgewood. He would pay for this. They all would.

  The dozens of Perfects crashed against the fence. I didn’t recognize any of them. Two of them shoved Christopher aside and tried to get through the break in the fence. They were too close for comfort, and I whirled around and took off after Ian and Ashley.

  “Where were you?” Ian asked when I finally caught up.

  “They’re coming through the fence. How much farther until we reach the road?” I asked.

  “We’re not going to make it before nightfall,” he said. “But I have a spot we can hide.”

  “They know this land better than us,” Ashley said through her teeth. She winced with each movement. Even if we were close to the road, she wasn’t going to last much longer. I began to suspect that her injuries were more severe than we initially thought. “How can we hide?”

  “It’s where I disappeared last time and they never found me. I have supplies there too.”

  “Is it safe?” I asked.

  “Yes,” he said.

  We bobbed and weaved through the trees. A number of leaves on the ground would cover our tracks at least for a little while. I wanted to question Ian about the amount of Perfects after us. Would we be safe in his hiding spot? Or would we endanger ourselves more by staying still? Ashley clearly needed a break but if push came to shove would I put her life before my own? Back at the institute, when Ian and I were in the mechanical room, I resided myself to knowing that she had been transitioned. At least one of us had to get out of Edgewood’s grasp to be able to exploit them to the public. I shook away the thoughts. That decision would be made if something or someone forced me into it.

  It felt like we’d been running for hours. When I drove up to the institute with Lucy, I didn’t realize the property surrounding Edgewood was so vast. It became harder and harder to see as dusk settled over the trees.

  “Are we almost there?” I asked Ian.

  “We’re here,” he said, slowing down.

  I looked around at all the trees. No way could any of these hide our location.

  “It’s an underground bunker,” he said as if reading my doubtful thoughts.

  Ashley collapsed to the ground and pulled her knees up to her face. She dropped her forehead against her knees and took deep gulps of air.

  Ian slid his foot over the ground, moving piles of leaves around.

  I went to his side. “Is this the spot where you tried to get Caleb out?” I asked.

  Ian nodded.

  “How did you know it was here?” I asked.

  “I didn’t,” he said. “Caleb did. His grandfather was one of the architects for Edgewood. We found the schematics of the area months before Caleb was supposed to come to Edgewood.”

  “Did his grandfather know what was going to happen to Caleb?” To us? When had this all started? How many Perfects were walking around us each day?

  Ian wiped his forehead and met my eyes. “I don’t know.”

  A loud crash against the leaves made both Ian and I jump.

  We scanned the area looking for Perfects or Christopher and Lucy. But instead, Ashley had fallen to her side, and her eyes were closed.

  “Oh no,” I said, rushing to her side.

  Dark red liquid stained her shirt. How had I not seen that before?

  I lifted her shirt and gasped. A large cut split her abdomen. It was a flesh-wound and had been attempting to heal itself as the blood was crusted along the edge of the wound. She must have opened it again when she sat.

  I turned around, and Ian was further away from us. “Ian, she’s hurt.”

  He moved aside a rock and revealed a bag. He hefted it on his shoulder and came over to us. He touched her forehead and dropped the bag on the ground.

  “What is that?”

  “Supplies,” he said. “Caleb and I prepared for everything. Lift up her shirt higher. I need to clean the wound.”

  Ian looked like a surgeon as he worked on Ashley. She was unconscious but breathing. I guessed she passed out from blood loss. I didn’t think Ian had the ability to give her a transfusion, so for right now we had to get her cleaned up and hopefully she would regain consciousness soon.

  His movements with the antiseptic and gauze were precise and efficient. No wonder he’d been chosen for the Healer position. I already knew he was smart, but he also carried a
bedside manner that was unique to the profession.

  Once her stomach was bandaged, we sat her up. He pulled a small vial from the bag and uncorked it. He waved the vial under Ashley’s nose and she woke with a start.

  “Don’t move,” I said.

  Ashley’s eyes were wide, and her breathing was labored. “What happened?”

  “You passed out,” Ian said. “You had a severe wound on your stomach.”

  She groaned after pressing her hand to her side. “That’s what was hurting so bad. I guessed Amy got a better shot at me than I thought.”

  Ian nodded and looked around us. “Let’s get into the bunker, and we can work on fixing up your nose.”

  We helped Ashley to her feet. I grabbed Ian’s bow and quiver from the ground, and we walked a few feet away. Ian reached down and pulled at a handle. The handle was attached to a metal door.

  I peered down the hole that the door covered. “Is this safe?”

  “Yes,” Ian said. “Abbey, you go first, and we can help Ashley down.”

  I swallowed. I trusted Ian but the hole was dark, and I had no idea what to expect. We had no time to waste, though. So I took a deep breath and slowly descended the stairs leaving into nothingness.

  Ashley and Ian were right behind me. Ashley held onto my shoulders, and I slowly slid my foot across each step so that I didn’t trip up either of us. When Ian got far enough down, the light from the outside went out, and I had to rely on my other senses to get us to safety. Once I reached the bottom of the stairs, I turned around and helped Ashley get to solid ground. I held her close to me. Her breath was hot on my hair.

  “I’ll get the lights on in a minute,” Ian said.

  I felt him move by us and within seconds, a small light illuminated from across the space. The light was dim but enough to give me a sense of placement in the room.

  “They take a minute to warm up,” Ian said, turning on another one.

  The bunker was a single room with empty shelving units on one side. Next to those was a curtain, moved aside to reveal a small toilet and sink. I doubted there was running water. By the look of the place, it hadn’t been utilized in some time. There were two dusty mattresses stacked against the wall. I could have turned my nose up at the disarray of the place, but I was happy not to be running anymore. My muscles ached, and I would have slept on the concrete floor if that had been the only option.

  “Will the Perfects or professors be able to find this place?” I asked. Ian had revealed the door by moving the leaves aside, giving whoever walked by an invitation to our hiding spot.

  “It will be dark soon,” he said. “And they didn’t catch me last time.”

  That wasn’t comforting, but I didn’t say anything. At least we’d have a place to rest. I could only focus on one thing at a time.

  Ashley went over to the mattresses and moved the top one onto the floor. She sat down and played with the fabric in her hands.

  Ian dropped the bag and started sifting through it. He pulled out two large plastic water bottles and four granola bars. “We don’t have much so we’ll have to use these sparingly.”

  Ashley rubbed her stomach. “I don’t think I could eat if I tried. I could use some water, though.”

  After we all had several sips of water, Ian put the supplies into the bag. Then he pulled out the antiseptic and several strips of clean gauze.

  “Tilt your head back,” he said to Ashley.

  She complied, and Ian started wiping at her face to remove the blood.

  “What’s the plan for tonight and tomorrow?” I asked Ian. The silence around us was too much. I felt like the room sucked all the noise from the forest and I was left with a weird buzzing in my ears.

  “Tonight, we rest,” Ian said, plopping another blood-soaked gauze onto the ground next to him. “Tomorrow, we continue toward town.”

  “What if the Perfects are out there in the morning?” Ashley said. “What if the people at Edgewood gather everyone who is a Perfect, even those in town, to come looking for us?”

  “They won’t,” Ian said.

  “How do you know that?” Ashley and I said at the same time. We looked at each other. It was the first identical thought we’d ever had.

  She ruined it by rolling her eyes at me.

  “If they draw too much attention to Edgewood, it will alert everyone. Especially if they say, they lost three recruits. No,” Ian said. “They will keep it a secret.”

  I narrowed my eyes. Ian had done a lot of research on Edgewood. He seemed to know a lot about everything at the Institute, yet we had a lot of trouble getting out of the place. Maybe they wised up after Ian and Caleb’s attempt to escape.

  “Leave the escaping up to me,” Ian said.

  I nodded and watched him work on Ashley. When all the blood was removed, we helped her into one of the beds. There were extra sheets in the small wardrobe further back in the room.

  “You two should get some rest,” Ian said. “I’ll keep watch.”

  “We aren’t secure here?” Ashley asked.

  “We are,” he said reassuringly. “But I want to be sure.”

  “How about we switch off?” I suggested.

  Ashley curled her lip the best she could with an injured nose.

  Ian nodded. “I’ll go first.”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Ian sat in a chair close to the stairs of the bunker. I tried to sleep, but every time I closed my eyes, I saw the Perfect versions of my friends. Eventually, I got up for good. Maybe Ian would be able to sleep better than me. I know I needed rest, but it wasn’t coming for me anytime soon.

  Ashley had no trouble sleeping. I assumed her condition helped her fall into a deep unconscious state. Her body needed to heal, especially if we were going to be traveling for a while tomorrow.

  The thought made my stomach turn. We weren’t free yet. I wouldn’t be free until I was in my parent's arms and able to explain to them that had happened at Edgewood. They were the only ones other than Ian and Ashley that I trusted. It had been hell getting out of the institute, I hoped that going forward it would be easier.

  Even though I doubted that thought the minute it was conceived. Nothing about this was easy. And it wasn’t going to get any better until we were safely at home.

  I rolled off the mattress and slowly crossed the room. It was pitch black. I tried to remember if there was anything I could trip on, but I made my way over to Ian without waking Ashley. She’d never let me live it down if I woke her.

  “Abbey?” Ian asked in a whisper.

  I found his hand in the dark, and he brought me closer to him, yet didn’t let go when I sat down on the steps across from him.

  “I couldn’t sleep. You should rest.”

  “Not until we’re safe,” he said.

  “I can keep watch,” I offered. “You should at least try.”

  “I know I won’t be able to.”

  That was two of us.

  “Here, take the chair,” he said getting up. He pulled me closer to him and turned me around. I felt the edge of the chair bump my leg. I sat and reached out for him.

  “Ian?”

  “Right here,” he said from next to me. He’d pulled up another chair. “Use the stairs to prop your legs. It’s a lot more comfortable.”

  I did. And it was. Then I felt a blanket cover and warm me. The bunker had been surprisingly warm, but the blanket sealed it in.

  Ian’s arm dropped over my chair, and I dropped my head to his shoulder.

  “I think we should go to my parents,” I said, needing to solidify a plan. “The farm is secluded, and your brother might be alerted to your involvement in the escape.”

  Ian nodded slowly. His chin lightly brushed the top of my head. “That’s a good idea.”

  I blinked. Even though it was dark, I could now make out the blurry outlines of things in the room, but I was surprised to know that Ian didn’t think of that plan himself. He’d been steps ahead of us the whole time. Had he not thought we’d
make it this far?

  Admittedly, I didn’t either.

  For some reason, it struck me wrong that he hadn’t already had a plan in his head, though.

  I decided to let it go. Ian had been an active leader for all of us from the start. It was okay that he needed a little time to recuperate.

  Ian’s fingers twined with mine, and I let out a deep sigh. I wished we admitted our feelings for each other in any other situation. Who knew what was coming tomorrow and if we were even able to get to the farm before we were caught. If we were going to be locked up in a pod for years, at least it was one small moment in my life that I could hold onto before being sedated.

  “We’re going to get through this, right?” I said to Ian.

  His thumb rubbed against mine. “If I have any say, then yes.”

  I snuggled closer to him, and we whispered to each other deep into the night about everything we’d do together when we got out of this mess for good.

  The next morning, I woke in my chair. I glanced over at Ian, but his chair was empty. I sat up, and my body was stiff and incredibly sore. I hadn’t felt that way since I started working full-time on the farm. I remembered when I was ten, I’d felt like this for at least a week after hauling hay bales and wheeling manure around the property.

  Since coming to Edgewood, I turned soft.

  I moved the blanket off of me and turned around. Ian must have lit a lamp at some point because it glowed from the shelving unit. Ashley was still fast asleep, but Ian was nowhere to be found.

  My pulse spiked, and I hoped that he wasn’t in any danger. Maybe he’d gone out to check if there were any Perfects nearby?

  I climbed the stairs, determined not to wake Ashley before he got back. We were supposed to keep watch, and I’d fallen asleep. She’d get on my back about not knowing where he was if she were awake.

  I pushed open the door, just enough so I could see out into the forest.

  Movement from the woods startled me enough that I dropped down and slowly closed the door over my head. I waited a few moments, each heartbeat of mine throbbing in my ears.

  I took a breath, pushed the door open and looked to where I’d heard the sound.