The Perfects

  I glanced at the door and saw Ian standing there, the bow in his hand at his side.

  I did a double-take. I had to. Perfect-Ian was still on the floor, and the Ian by the door was pale, and his hair was matted to his head.

  The professors from the stage rushed over to me.

  “Are you okay?” Lucy asked.

  I nodded, still looking at Ian. “I’m perfect.”

  I skipped over the A.I.s, careful not to step on them as I made my way to the door. Ian slumped against the frame while attempting to stand upright.

  When I got to him, he fell into my arms, and I squeezed him. “Is it really you?”

  The corner of his mouth quirked up. “Yeah, you can check my back if you want.”

  I sobbed and touched his cheeks before kissing him. The first time I kissed Perfect-Ian was nothing like this. Sure, it had been a great kiss, but with the real Ian my entire body exploded with tingles that stretched all the way down to the tips of my toes.

  Shuffling movements and voices coming from the hallway stopped our reunion.

  I glanced out and saw several other teens coming down the hallway toward us.

  Then the questions filled my mind. “What happened?”

  “I guess I was wrong about the interrupter. It did work. I woke up in the pod and was able to open the door. I think you saved us all.”

  “It wasn't just me,” I said. “You were here in spirit. And your Perfect had done you justice.”

  Ian nodded and looked into the room where all the bodies were. He was probably curious about what his A.I. Looked like but he didn't go any further into the room.

  “Do you remember anything from before?” I asked, bringing his attention back to me.

  “I remember everything. It was strange. It was as if I was controlling him in a video game or something. Like with my mind. I remember them transitioning me and then waking up in that new body.”

  “Where are you all going?” A familiar voice called down the hallway.

  The teens moved aside as a man with a cane hobbled down the hallway.

  If I squinted to could see the resemblance to the A.I. version of Dr. Sanger. I assumed he was young when he started the institute but he was around my grandmother's age if she were still alive.

  Several of the professors came out of the auditorium and took Dr. Sanger by the arms and dragged him away. He cursed at them, but in his fragile form, he was no match. Besides we had won.

  I couldn't believe it. We had won.

  I fell into Ian's embrace and knew that everything would be okay.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  “We should probably call the authorities,” Ian said.

  Then a voice filled the room. It took me a minute to realize it was Lucy's voice over the intercom system.

  “Everyone needs to report to the front lawn. I repeat, all employees and recruits need to report to the front lawn immediately.”

  Several disoriented teens walked down the hallway. Some peered into the auditorium, and their eyes went wide. A few of them even started to cry. I could imagine what it looked like to them.

  “Let's go,” I said to Ian then took his hand. I closed the door behind me and closed that terrible chapter of my life forever.

  Outside were hundreds of people. Lucy and the other professors were arranging the teens into groups. She caught my eye and nodded at me.

  Government officials were already on site, and they surrounded a group of white coats near the entrance. Some of the employee's families weren't being held hostage to keep them working. Some of them had the same ideas as Dr. Sanger and carried out his twisted mission. The thought made my stomach turn. But it was all over now. It would take some time to get our town back to normal, but now we were on the right track.

  I spotted Dr. Gates, and she looked utterly distraught. She’d been so kind to me that I knew she couldn’t have had anything to do with the terrible things going on at Edgewood. At least not by choice.

  “Abigail!” someone called from behind me.

  Just as I turned around, someone crashed into me.

  I let out an “oof” sound as the wind was knocked out of me. Thick blonde hair filled my mouth, and I spat it away.

  “You did it!” Ashley said, pulling away from me.

  I smiled. “We all did it.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “If we’re going to be friends, you need to learn to not talk back to me.”

  She hugged me again then went over to Ian and hugged him too. If she had done that previously, I might have been a little jealous, but now I knew we had a bond that went beyond friendship and petty jealousy.

  “Let’s go find everyone else,” Ashley said, taking my hand.

  We walked around the front lawn. The professors in charge of the teens were too busy to mind us wandering around looking for the kids we knew. An image of Marcus, Melanie, and Amy on the floor of the hallway made me shiver.

  It wasn’t them, I tried to tell myself. Even though I knew the image would haunt my nightmares. Edgewood itself would haunt them for a long time to come.

  “Ian!” someone called from beside us.

  Ian’s brother Josh and a boy that I guessed was his friend Caleb, rushed over to us. Josh embraced Ian, clapping a hand on his back. “Ian, what happened to you? Are you okay?”

  Ian looked at me. “I’m fine.”

  Caleb embraced Ian too.

  “I’m so sorry,” Josh said, pulling his fingers through his hair. “I had to pretend that I was like the other ones.”

  Ian cocked his head. “What do you mean?”

  Josh pulled at his hair again. The nervous tic he had since childhood. “For some reason, the whole transition didn’t work on me. But I had to pretend to obey them so I wouldn’t get into trouble. It was weird.”

  “We’re immune,” Ian said.

  Both Caleb and Josh stared at Ian wide-eyed.

  Ian laughed. “I’ll explain it to you.”

  “Over here!” Ashley called and pulled me alongside her. I left Ian to catch up with his brother and best friend.

  The others in our class were sitting on the grass in a small circle.

  Karen jumped when we came up beside her. She squinted her eyes at us. “Ashley? Abigail?”

  Amy leaped up from the ground and came over to us. Streaks of tears cut down her cheeks. “Oh my god, guys! Are you okay?”

  “We’re fine,” Ashley said. “Abigail was the one to save us.”

  Our friends and several others who were nearby came up to us.

  “How did you do that?” Melanie asked.

  “Did you know what was going on here?” someone else asked.

  The questions started coming at Ashley and I answered them the best we could. But when there was a lull in the conversation, I couldn’t help asking my own questions.

  “Do you remember anything from what happened?” I asked.

  There was a collective shaking of heads from the other teens.

  “I remember being strapped to a table,” Marcus said. “Then waking up in some box.”

  “Me too!” someone said from behind me.

  Ashley and I shared a look. We didn’t explain the confrontation in the hallway. I knew if it had been me, I would have felt terrible for attacking our friends. But it hadn’t been them, only a shell of a person.

  People started shouting and booing from behind us. Ashley and I pushed through to the front of the crowd, and our friends were right on our heels.

  Men dressed in uniforms were escorting Dr. Sanger out of the building in handcuffs. They held him by the arms and his legs kicked out a few times. The men didn’t seem to both with Dr. Sanger’s cane. What he did had been inexcusable, and I hoped he went to prison for a very long time.

  The other white coats were taken into custody, and I was surprised to see Christopher on a stretcher, being rolled out of the facility. I hoped he would get what he deserved too. And when I saw one of his hands shackled to the metal bar of the stretcher, I knew
he would.

  I wasn’t sure what the fate of our society was when it came to the illness that had killed so many, but I knew humanity would survive. We always did. And I was sure there was more research to be done to give us a chance while keeping our freedom.

  Since there had been so many Perfects in the institute at one time, there wasn’t enough transportation to get us home. The professors organized several buses to come pick everyone up and drop us in the middle of town.

  Lucy had spearheaded the whole thing. All of my thoughts of her had changed dramatically. She was working for Dr. Sanger to keep her family safe. It was what any of us would have done. It was upsetting that she even had to be in that situation at all. I had to keep reminding myself that it was over now and we had to pick up the pieces that were left over from this ordeal and move on with our lives as best we could.

  The remaining staff and some volunteers brought food and water out of the facility while we waited for the buses to arrive.

  Ian and I sat with Josh, Caleb, and the rest of our friends while we waited. Ian’s hand on mine was the only thing to keep me grounded as my mind continued to work on overdrive, processing the entire ordeal.

  He held it the entire time we were out on the front lawn, on the way to the bus, and for the whole ride to town. It was as if he sensed that I needed him with me. And I did. And words weren’t needed to convey how either of us was feeling.

  I supposed the only expectation I had about going to Edgewood had come true. I had made lifelong friendships and met the boy I wanted to be with for the rest of my life. It only took a different path to realizing that.

  It was a few weeks after the initial investigation into Edgewood Institute that we got any concrete news about what had happened there. News reporters bled the story to death, but the public wanted to know more and more so each tidbit of information, no matter how small had enticed anyone to their television or phone screen.

  It was a Saturday and Ian, and I met at our favorite climbing tree. We used to climb for hours at a time when we were kids. Now it served as a reminder of our past together. And no matter what we went through together, we would always have that past to fall back on.

  Ian kissed me, and I tried to live in the moment, knowing what was coming. Today was the biggest news of all. Dr. Sanger’s trial had been expedited, and the fate of Edgewood Institute would be determined today.

  It had been a tough sell for my parents to allow me to come there alone. Since I’d returned home, they were, even more, protective of me. Both of them kept tabs on me, and I hadn’t been allowed to leave the property, even when it came time to give my official statement. My parents thought they were protecting me when instead, they were smothering me. I’d come up against the biggest challenge of my life and yet I wasn’t allowed to be free. It almost felt like I was trapped in Edgewood again.

  Almost.

  Out of all the interviewers that wanted to talk to me, I had the privilege of choosing who to speak with. I wanted the most intelligent investigative reporter out there, Molly Jones. It hadn’t been the amount of money she offered, it was her ability to get to the truth without fear of consequences. I’d be able to give her my side of the story and she’d take to the streets to build a well-rounded report to provide to the public. There wouldn’t be anything hidden from the public. Everyone deserved to know what went on there.

  After the interview, my parents backed off a little, but I still wasn’t allowed off the property. They finally understood how I fought to keep my humanity and that I’d be able to defend myself if need be.

  “Abbey,” Ian said, breaking through my thoughts. “It’s almost on.”

  Ian placed a blanket down on the ground and pulled some snacks and water out of his backpack. These little moments away from my hovering parents were my idea of freedom. And I didn’t waste them. I intended to push my curfew to the limit with Ian, especially after watching the verdict of the man who almost ruined our lives and the rest of society.

  Ian sat with his back against the tree, and I laid between his legs, holding the phone in front of us. There was a live stream happening in less than two minutes and those two minutes stretched on for days.

  Ian played with my charm bracelet. Even though I gave the interrupter to the government officials for testing, I kept the empty shell with me. I wanted to keep the reminder of my grandmother and everything she’d done for us. I regretted any bad feelings toward her. And after coming home, Dad had given me her scientific journals that she kept locked away in her safety deposit box. She’d given him explicit instructions for him to give them to me after I came out of Edgewood. I didn’t understand a lot of the writing, but it appeared that she had her own ideas for vaccines that Dr. Sanger had completely ignored.

  I handed them over to the authorities as well. Other than sentimental value, I had no reason to hold onto them.

  Ian kissed my cheek as the screen flashed, showing the live stream of the courtroom.

  I sat up straighter and Ian adjusted himself around me. He wrapped his arms around me and we both waited with baited breath.

  The camera focused on the judge who was calling order to the room. Then we watched the fate of our changed society and held onto hope that it would be a better future for all of us.