by Jon Jacks
‘Twin?’ I laughed again, but more uncertainly this time. ‘Huh; you just set the lock to scream that out, to fool me.’
‘Have it your way,’ Cally replied indifferently. ‘So how come I got past your car’s DNA lock so easily?’
‘The hair or whatever it was you took from the restaurant. Somehow you created enough DNA strands to fool the lock.’
Cally laughed.
‘Oh sure; as you can see, we’ve got all the laboratory equipment we need to do that!’
She indicated the bare room with a wave of an arm. The woman remained wide-eyed, fearful even, letting Cally do all the explaining.
‘Somewhere else; you’ve got the equipment somewhere else,’ I spat back lamely, knowing the equipment required was both expensive and sold only to respected agencies
Cally pointed towards the DNA lock once more.
‘That’s our equipment. Sure, Kerrsly managed to sneak out one of your hairs; I ran it by the lock, and the lock seemed to recognise it as being similar to my coding. Course, there were nowhere near enough strands to fool it into opening. Even then, I thought mum was being crazy, making out you were my sister.’
‘I saw you on TV.’ The woman spoke once again at last. ‘I knew it had to be you Angie!’
‘This can’t be right! I screamed, bewildered by all this nonsense they were firing at me. I slumped into a nearby chair. ‘My real mother and father are dead!’
‘They were your adoptive parents Angie!’
The woman had begun to move towards me. She stopped, held back by my angry glare.
‘I know it’s hard for you to take all this in so suddenly,’ she said apologetically. ‘I wish we had some way of showing you it’s all true. You were taken as a child–’
‘I was not taken as a child! I grew up with my real mum and dad!’
‘Angie! Look at me!’ Cally was staring directly, aggressively, into my face. ‘Okay, so I’m nowhere near as pampered as you are; but just for once look beyond the scruffiness and try and see the similarities between us!’
‘Similar? Me and you?’ I barked angrily.
But it was all a front to cover my growing doubts.
What had I thought when I had first seen Cally staring at me through the car window?
I’d thought I was looking into a mirror, seeing myself as I could be if…if, well, if I hadn’t been pampered and well cared for, yes!
I glanced at the anguished looking woman. Yes, there were similarities there too.
Similarities I’d never noticed in my…my mother.
But she had been my mother! She’d been the one who raised me, who’d cared for me, who loved me!
I turned angrily on the woman.
‘If I’m really your daughter, why did you let me go?’ I pointed at Cally. ‘Why did you keep her?’
‘I didn’t have any choice Angie! They came when your dad was out, out with Cally. They didn’t know about Cally, otherwise they’d have taken her–’
‘Dad? Where is he, where’s my so-called dad? And who’s they? Why would they take me?’
My mind was a whirl of questions.
Who were these people claiming to by family?
Why would they make such an outrageous, ridiculous claim?
Yet there was a part of me beginning to believe them.
My parents, like all proud parents, had taken a ridiculous amount of photos and videos of my childhood.
But I couldn’t remember if I’d ever seen any of me as a baby. Or any of me before my third birthday.
‘When?’ I suddenly screamed. ‘When was I taken? How old was I?
‘You…you were just three,’ the woman said tearfully. ‘It was just before your and Cally’s third birthday.’
*
Chapter 10
I’m still not convinced; still confused, bewildered.
This has all got to be some awful trick, some cruel joke.
‘But why? Why would they take me? And who – who took me?’
‘The authorities, the government – whatever you want to call them.’
The woman says it with both hurt and honesty in her wide, tear-filled eyes.
‘Why me? Why not her?’
I pointed irritably at Cally. I wasn’t quite sure why I needed to know the answer to such a ridiculous question.
I was just finding it hard to think straight.
‘They would have done, if they’d known she was an identical twin. They wouldn’t want anyone out here with the same DNA – for obvious reasons. That’s how your dad almost managed to rescue you. I’d made him a pair of gloves from Cally’s hair. It was enough to fool the old style car locks–’
‘Dad? Rescue me?’
‘Usually, no one knows what happens to the children taken–’
‘Children? You mean there’s more, more than me taken from here?’
I’m angry, hurt.
They can see it too. They’re both standing back. Trying to break all these things to me gently, slowly.
Now Cally’s letting the woman do all the talking.
‘Your adoptive parents were famous; even as a child, you were always on TV. We – both me and your dad – knew it had to be you. You still looked like Cally then. We were sure. Dad made a plan to rescue you–’
‘Rescue?’ I hate that word, the way she’s using it. ‘How could you rescue me from my parents?’
I’d almost snapped when she’d said adoptive parents. I really can’t take all this nonsense much longer. I’ll have – wait!
‘You said fool the car locks! It was that man, wasn’t it? The man who broke into our car! The man who killed my parents!’
‘Angie! We’re you’re parents! We–’
‘Killed your parents?’
Cally dashed towards me.
She suddenly halted, standing so close, so close like she’s having to hold herself back from tearing my head off.
‘Dad was the one killed! He was chased down, shot by the police! He didn’t mean to kill the people who’d stolen you–’
‘He infected them!’ I snapped. ‘They died!’
‘Didn’t you hear me? They hunted dad down, like a wild animal. And only because he wanted you back! I lost him because he loved you! Your so called precious parents died because you’re all so closeted behind your Oasis walls! You’ve no longer got any protection against infections that don’t harm us out here!’
‘They looked after me. They cared for me!’
‘And dad cared for you so much he gave his life trying to get you back! Can’t you see that? Can’t you–’
‘Cally, please…’
The woman had silently stepped between us, her eyes, her anguished face, pleading with Cally to move back a little and leave me alone.
‘It’s hard for her to take all this in.’
She curved her arm around my shoulders.
‘It would be a shock for anyone my dear.’
‘She didn’t see the way you suffered mum, every time you saw her on TV.’ Cally was still glaring at me. ‘For ages and ages, I just thought she was crazy. I thought her and dad had to be crazy to think you were one of us!’
She spat out the ‘you’ like I was the lowest person, the lowest thing, on earth.
‘But now, now we know it is her,’ the woman declared forcibly. She was choking with emotion, near to crying. ‘And now we have her back!’
She was holding me close, tightly.
It had been so, so long since I’d been held like this; so lovingly, so protectively.
‘Do we?’ Cally snarled. ‘Do you really think she’s going to stay and help us–’
She halted in mid-sentence, staring up towards the ceiling.
The woman’s embrace felt stronger than ever.
I could hear the beating of her heart, of our hearts. Feel the tense vibrations of blood coursing through our entwined bodies.
Then
I realised the whole room was vibrating, rattling, throbbing.
Abruptly, the roof was being pounded by a fierce, rushing wind. It bucked and twisted, revealing huge gaps between the walls.
‘Hawkdroid!’ Cally screamed. ‘We’re under attack!’
*
Chapter 11
The whole roof was suddenly yanked free.
It rose into the air, swinging off to one side. Suspended on a rope, it twirled in the pounding wind like an ungainly, broken pendulum.
The force of the wind pummelling down on us was now almost unbearable. Even my skin rippled like stormy waves.
As Cally had guessed, a Hawkdroid was hovering directly above us.
Its feathered belly immediately opened. As the clamped roof was finally released, letting it spin away and fall to the ground, more ropes descended, rapidly uncoiling as they fell down towards us.
‘Police raid!’ Cally spat, grabbing hold of her mother and pulling her with her towards the rattling door. ‘Run!’
I’m saved, I thought, hesitating. They’re here to rescue me.
Then the first of the police began to swiftly abseil down the ropes.
But they weren’t the regular police.
They were Tigerdroids.
I spun on my heels, running out the door after Cally and her mother.
There was no predicting what Dorian’s new Tigerdroids would be capable of doing.
And I didn’t want to stay around to find out.
*
I ran.
Ran through the door left swinging open by the fleeing Cally and her mum. (My mum?)
Had they left me because they were more bothered about saving their own lives rather than mine? Or because they didn’t think I’d be in any danger, thinking like I had that the police were here to rescue me.
They wouldn’t know anything about Dorian’s Tigerdroids, of course.
The Tigerdroids were already shooting at the fleeing pair, the laser bolts striking the ground just behind their heels. Other missed shots took away the corners of the houses Cally and her mum were expertly (and surprisingly lithely – had they prepared for or even experienced a chase like this previously?) ducking behind. They constantly changed their course to ensure they weren’t an easy target.
But other Hawkdroids were hovering over the maze of houses they were hoping to disappear into.
Other Tigerdroids were already sliding down the extended ropes, threatening to block off Cally and her mum’s route.
In many cases the Tigerdroids weren’t even bothering waiting until they reached the end of the ropes; they leapt into space, landing on the corrugated roofs with a loud clattering before rushing across the house tops. They fired on the run at the fleeing pair, who weaved as quickly as they could down the winding alleyways.
Cally and her mum began disappearing into the houses themselves, coming out the other side through back doors.
I was finding it increasingly difficult to keep up with them. I was tiring, unused to all this running. (My long hours in the gym hadn’t prepared me for anything like this!)
It wasn’t just choking dust and filth flying up everywhere. The roofs and walls of the hovels were being rapidly destroyed by the Hawkdroids’ downdrafts and the exploding laser bolts.
I’d been right to fear the Tigerdroids. Whether they were incapable of recognising me or had been confused by my similarities to Cally, their laser bolts seemed to be churning up the earth around me as if I’d been taken to be a member of Cally’s gang.
This confusion of my role was as much their fault as mine; I tried to take a different route to Cally on a number of occasions but, finding the alley blocked by oncoming Tigerdroids, I had no choice but to duck into whichever hovel Cally and her mum had chosen to cut through.
It was as we were cutting through one of the homes that Cally, shouting out both a quick apology and warning to the occupiers, glanced back long enough to realise I was following them.
‘Stay here you idiot!’ she screamed out angrily over the cacophony of explosive blasts and shattering walls. ‘It’s you they want to rescue!’
Her eyes opened wide in shock as the opening behind me suddenly darkened.
I spun around.
A huge Tigerdroid dropped down from the roof, blocking the doorway, preparing to fire at me.
With a surprised, pained groan, he was abruptly sent spinning backwards as a thick crossbow bolt thudded into the chest of his body armour.
‘Come on then!’ Cally cried out to me, clicking another bolt into place in her hand-held crossbow. ‘Those morons are firing at you as well!’
She hustled me out of the backdoor, following on the heels of her mum.
I ran between them both, wondering if this is going to be my last day alive.
*
Chapter 12
Cally hasn’t got just the one crossbow, she’s got two of them.
Her mum’s got another two, and both she and Cally are experts with them. They take out Tigerdroid after Tigerdroid as they close in on us, using their knowledge of the maze running between the hovels to their advantage.
I don’t know who’s built these crossbows for them, but they’re amazing. Bolt after bolt clicks back into place as soon as one’s fired.
Cally and her mum smoothly replace empty magazines with full ones strapped around their waists beneath their billowing shirts. The bolts penetrate top-grade police armour like it’s as insubstantial as the hovels we’re careering through.
But our incredible luck can’t last, of course.
A troop of Tigerdroids rush out of a side alley we’re hurtling by, splitting Cally off from us.
Mum halts, turning to fire at the crouching, firing Tigerdroids blocking us off from reaching Cally.
One of the Tigerdroids aims directly at me. Mum tries to take him out, but she’s already fired the last bolt of the magazine.
She dives in front of me, her chest exploding as the laser bolt meant for me agonisingly rips her apart.
She falls across me, sending me spinning backwards and dropping to the floor beneath her bloodied remains.
Through the milling legs of the surrounding troopers I catch a glimpse of Cally’s pained face as she sees us fall in a wild splatter of blood.
She thinks we’re both dead; I can see it in her glazed eyes.
She leaps up from the crouching position she’d taken. She barges and rolls past a surprised Tigerdroid, sprinting towards a ridiculously narrow gap between too closely built hovels.
She slips down the gap’s narrow confines, the Tigerdroids too bulky to follow.
But they don’t need to.
They take aim.
They fire.
Cally has to be an unmissable target.
*
Chapter 13
They brusquely pull mum off me like she’s nothing more than an old, worn blanket.
When did I start thinking of her as ‘mum’?
Just a few seconds before she died, I reckon.
A few seconds before she gave her life to save mine.
One of the Tigerdroids unceremoniously straps me into a hoisting cradle. From the back of the harness, a wire shoots up into the air.
A Hawkdroid swoops past high overhead, its hoisting claws automatically sensing and clutching at the ascending wire.
The wire immediately begins reeling in, whisking me up into the air, swiftly drawing me up towards the door opening up in the Hawkdroid’s waiting belly.
I look back down towards the ground.
What’s left of mum’s body is splayed across the dirt
Her face, thankfully, is remarkable untouched.
&n
bsp; She looks like an older version of me, peacefully sleeping.
*
‘Murderer! You murderer!’
Dorian was already waiting at the side of landing strip as the Hawkdroid landed in the Hippodrome.
As soon as I’d clambered out of the side door, I’d rushed up to him, my arms flailing, my fists striking out, hoping to wipe that smug smile off his face.
‘What?’
He was surprised, shocked, stepping back as I lashed out at him.
His strong arms (he spends a ridiculous amount of time in the gym!) curled around me, hugging me so tight and close that my arms were pinned against his chest.
‘Is…is this all the thanks I get for rescuing you?’ he laughed.
His laughter made me feel more frustrated and angry than ever.
‘Rescue? You shot my m–’
I stopped. I couldn’t say it.
What would he think if I said his dammed Tigerdroids had just murdered my mum?
That I was crazy?
That my mum had died ages ago?
And if he believed me, then what?
How could I explain everything that had happened to me? Explain that my supposed history was all a lie?
And if he knew my mother wasn’t who we’d all been led to believe it was?
Would I be deemed ‘compatible’ with the great Dorian Nairod?
No; of course I wouldn’t.
I might even be kicked out of the Oasis.
My God!
What am I thinking?
I’m embarrassed by who my real mum is!
A mum who gave her life to save mine!
All this flashed through my mind remarkably quickly.
But I’d still paused long enough for Dorian to take control of the conversation.
‘They weren’t shooting at you, Angeic!’
I sighed with relief as I realised he thought I was complaining that the Tigerdroids had been shooting at me.
I had been planning on complaining about that – but not just yet.
‘The guns were set to recognise your DNA; the beams would instantly turn to nothing more than just blasts of light. They only killed if they didn’t recognise your DNA!’
I struggled in his arms, pulling back from him.
‘You…you mean they wouldn’t have killed me?’
He smiled, nodded.
How could he possibly know what the confusion on my face really meant?
My mum had died for no reason!
I’d never really been in any danger!
The gun’s blast only became deadly because mum was directly in its path; and her DNA wasn’t a close enough match to mine!