Members of the President’s Personal Guard surrounded us, supporting our efforts and ensuring their presence was felt there too. They didn’t do security details on big crowds like this, but they wanted to remind everyone they were still protecting the president at all times.
She let us push her toward the door as other trooper groups placed a human barricade between us and the crowd. We shuffled along in the melee, eyes alert and legs ready to spring. Our fingers were itchy on the trigger of our guns.
It would have been so easy to kill her right there and then.
One little shot.
To end the suffering.
But it wasn’t time.
We reached the heavy steel doors just as they swung open to allow us through.
The gunshot rang out a moment later.
Followed by screams.
The door thudded closed and drowned out the noises – something I was extremely grateful for. The sign of an X over the chest was a symbol of the Resistance. We’d lost one of our own. Every loss was one too many.
It would have been fair retribution to shoot President Stone now. She had taken one of ours so it was our right to take one of hers. One little twitch of my finger and it would be done.
Maybe it was time.
I leveled the gun toward her and held it there. My finger hovered over the trigger. One second would be all it took for everything to change. Stone would be gone, as would her regime and every horrible thing she stood for.
My heart beat out the seconds.
I took a breath.
“Thompson, move!”
My name snapped me out of my thoughts. I lowered my gun and started moving again. It wasn’t time yet. It was vital I remembered my part and played it accordingly.
We hurried Stone to her armored vehicle and climbed in after her. The driver pulled onto the road the moment the last door slammed closed.
Stone sat in the middle of the eight-person luxury SUV with her advisor. Four troopers sat in each corner, our eyes scanning the roads to ensure there were no threats ready to spring.
If only she knew.
Everyone was silent in the vehicle except for Stone as she grumbled to her advisor. “How did he even get in if he was a member of that ridiculous group? I thought we had exterminated that threat.”
Her advisor, a middle-aged man with hair going prematurely gray, nodded in agreement. “That’s what Stanthorpe said. I’ll have his head if he hasn’t cleaned up this mess like he was supposed to. I’ll call a meeting of the security council immediately.”
“Good. And tell them they will be personally accountable to me if they are not eradicated.” Stone moved her legs to cross them in the opposite direction. She managed to put indignation into every part of her movement. “I will not have the stupid people of this city make a fool out of this government. It’s bad enough we have to put up with them, we don’t need them getting ideas of having their own opinions in their thick heads.”
“Certainly, President.”
They continued their threats and plans but I tuned them out. I couldn’t take listening to their self-serving trash for too long. Listening to them made me too angry. If I let their words infiltrate my thoughts I might forget about not shooting her.
From my seat behind her, I had a perfect shot. But that’s not what I noticed first. While Stone still wore a face full of makeup, some of it had run with sweat during her hasty exit. The skin underneath the foundation was pasty and white.
She had more creases around her eyes and mouth too than she normally did. She looked older than her forty-eight years, despite having access to all the anti-aging technology of her precious laboratories.
President Stone did not look well.
Up close she couldn’t hide it, from a distance she could.
I tore my gaze away and looked out the window, determined not to get caught doing the wrong thing again. My superiors would have no reason to pick me out from the crowd. I would be a trooper like all the others.
The streets outside were eerily quiet with everyone still in Aria Square. Those that didn’t attend were hiding, making sure they couldn’t be caught for their disobedience.
There was nobody around to rush at the vehicle or fire a stray bullet to assassinate the president.
Pity.
With no traffic we soon pulled in through the wrought iron gates of President Stone’s headquarters. Her personal chambers were on the top floor, the other three dedicated to parliament. It was a large building, the white stone slabs taking up a full city block.
The SUV drove into an underground garage and came to a stop in the center of the large concrete room. The vehicle doors were unlocked only when we were sealed in with the main door thudding closed.
The troopers moved in unison, sliding out of the vehicle and then allowing Stone and her advisor to exit the SUV. There was no need to flank her now she was in a protected environment but protocol said we were to remain with her until we were told otherwise. Her personal guards would take over soon.
We marched behind the pair as they took off for the interior door. I’d only been inside the building once before, for my initiation ceremony. At the time I was wide eyed and nervous about the ceremony. I didn’t take it all in.
It was a wasted opportunity.
Now when I walked through it was like being in a completely different building. Gilt framed artwork lined the walls while gold encrusted light fittings sparkled down from the ceiling. The marble flooring would have cost more than the entire trooper barracks.
Antique vases and crystal decanters dotted available spaces and wall sconces. Everywhere I looked there was something expensive and purely for show. Stone had lined her building with the taxes of the Arian people.
It was disgusting.
Half the people in the square were hungry and living on the poverty line. All the while the president was living in the utmost of luxury. She was rubbing their faces in her power and complete disregard for their suffering.
Room after room was the same. We went from one opulent surrounding to the next. I had no idea what they could use all the rooms for, what they could possibly need so much artwork for. Stone didn’t have a large parliament, she insisted on keeping a few close advisors and trusting them to help with all the decisions.
This was madness.
I swallowed down my anger as it threatened to bubble to the surface. If I didn’t play the part of a perfect trooper I would bring attention to myself. I could not let that happen. I had to repeatedly tell myself that.
I would appear to be conforming.
I would appear to be conforming.
Stone stopped in an office – finally a room with a purpose. While completely oversized for its use, at least it contained a desk and communications console. It was functional, for once.
She sat behind her desk and kicked off her high heels. A door opened and a young woman stepped through. She immediately stopped when she saw the four troopers pointing their guns at her.
Her arms flew into the air in surrender. “I’m the president’s assistant.”
We all looked at Stone for confirmation. She nodded once and waved our concerns away, already over having us shadowing her every move. We relaxed our weapons and the assistant lowered her hands. She rushed to the president’s side.
“Would you like a drink, ma’am?”
Stone shrugged, not even bothering to reply. The girl scurried to a cabinet and poured an amber liquid into a small crystal tumbler. She topped it off with two ice cubes before leaving it on the table for her.
The girl was dismissed with another shrug.
We took up position around her office as she was absorbed into something on her computer. She ignored us and we tried to blend into the furniture.
I stood by the window, looking down at the entrance courtyard. The occasional car would make it through the gates and deposit their passengers at the front door as people started making their way back from the square.
; Adjusting my grip on the heavy gun in my hands, I hoped it wouldn’t be too long before my communicator buzzed in my ear and called us back to base. Anything was better than being this close to the horrible woman.
My silent prayer wasn’t answered. We waited with the president all afternoon and into the early evening. Eventually she sighed and stood. “I am going to eat dinner. I take it you will all be required to accompany me?”
Corporal Keenan spoke, as the leader of our group. “Yes, Madam President. I’m afraid we must stay with you at all times until we are recalled. I can assure you, it’s for your own protection.”
“Just stay out of my way,” she snapped back.
We followed her into a long corridor and then down a grand staircase to get to the dining room. Only one place setting was sitting on a long table that could easily fit fifty people.
There were three doors in the room. I took the one down the far left of the president, as far away from her as possible. My comrades covered the rest and the final one stood by Stone’s chair. The smell of the food was making my stomach grumble. We’d already missed lunch for her and now it looked like we’d miss dinner too.
We had to stand through her entire three course meal.
She ate up every bite.
Nobody in Aria ate as well as President Stone. Most of the people would be happy with even half of one of her dishes. A three course sitting would make them sick, their stomachs had shrunk so small.
The Defective Clones wouldn’t even be able to comprehend that much food being available. Let alone eating it all in one meal. It would be enough to last them a full month.
I needed to get away from Stone or I was going to go crazy. I couldn’t stop the resentment rolling off me in waves. If she was any bit intuitive she would have felt my hatred shooting at her.
Every second choked me like a noose.
After dinner we traipsed after the president into her private sitting room. She flicked on her holographic television and settled into the oversized cream sofa. The thick cushions swallowed her up while she got comfortable.
I prayed for my communicator to fire up in my ear while standing by the window. It was dark outside now, the sun long making a hasty retreat for the other side of the world.
In school we were told other cities existed outside our border walls. While they were far less sophisticated than ours, they existed nonetheless. They were horrible and filled with monsters so terrible we would never sleep again if we saw one. We were not permitted to travel outside the city wall to check for ourselves.
The sun had an exemption.
It would continue to shine on the other lands in the world with no regard for the president’s laws and regulations. I envied the sun for that. To have that freedom would be exhilarating. Even if the monsters turned out to be real.
If the cities were just like ours, I wondered why we weren’t allowed to visit them. What was the president so concerned about that would place such restrictions on her people? Surely she wouldn’t be afraid of monsters.
My father once recounted a story he had heard long ago. So long ago it was before the wall existed. He said people could come and go as they pleased. That people knew others in cities far beyond the horizon and they would communicate and visit with them regularly.
Once the wall went up, the border closed. Any friendships were cut off as the people of Aria were isolated from everyone else. Nowhere in the history books said what happened. Everything that occurred before the wall was wiped from the pages. There was only after now.
After the wall.
After our freedom was withdrawn.
It had been so long since the walls were erected that there was no telling if the other cities still existed. Maybe the monsters all disappeared, giving up if there were no people left. If nobody could leave Aria then there was nobody left to tell tales of them.
The few people that made it through the gate in the wall were high ranking officials. They carried out the direct orders of the president and their silence was golden. If there were secrets outside the wall, they wouldn’t be the ones to tell them.
As far as I knew, the only other people to pass by the wall were traders. They would occasionally come in to make a delivery of food or other goods before leaving again. They never spoke to anyone and never stayed for long. I wondered what they thought of the monsters outside.
“You, soldier.” Stone’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts as they swirled like a storm in my head.
My body was stiff as I turned around to see who she was talking to. I expected it was Corporal Keenan, following procedure that stated he spoke for all of us.
President Stone was clicking her fingers at me.
Did she know the traitorous thoughts in my mind?
Were they written across my face?
I jumped to attention, standing completely rigid like a good trooper. “Yes, President.”
She pushed off the couch and stormed toward me, standing by the window and staring me down like all the answers to her questions were tattooed across my forehead.
“What is your name?” she asked.
Could she see the beads of sweat as they started to pool around my hairline?
Keep it together, Thompson.
“Corporal Reece Thompson, ma’am.”
“How long have you been with my Trooper Division?”
“Four years, ma’am.” My heart thundered in my chest as I forced myself to stay completely still on the outside. Her beady blue eyes drilled into me. There was no way she could be Wren’s Maker.
It had to be a mistake.
They were nothing alike.
“Would you say you do your job well?” Stone arched her eyebrow with the question. I had a horrible feeling swelling in my gut about the line of enquiry.
“I am a committed trooper, ma’am. I have no indictments on my record.”
“That only tells me you haven’t been caught for anything.” The smile Stone gave me sent a chill down my spine. She had to know what I was doing.
That I was part of the Resistance.
Would my comrades shoot me like they had done to the man in the square?
I wasn’t afraid of death. But I was afraid of not fulfilling my purpose in the Resistance. I had a job to do and did not want to let anyone down.
Stone chuckled to herself. “Oh, don’t worry, I’m only joking with you. None of you men have any sense of humor, do you?”
Not when speaking with a crocodile, ma’am.
I bit my tongue.
“From what I have seen of you today,” she continued. “I think you might be exactly the kind of trooper I am looking for. There will be a position opening in my personal guard in the near future. I’m looking for a trooper to step up and take the position. How does that sound to you, Corporal Thompson?”
I would rather have crawled through broken glass on my eyeballs than be a member of the President’s Personal Guard. Having to spend all day protecting her life was enough to make me sick.
But…
Perhaps it would help the resistance.
There was no point in dismissing the opportunity if it could be used to our advantage. “I would be grateful for the consideration, ma’am. Thank you.”
She nodded with satisfaction. “Good. I will tip your name into the hat.”
I steeled myself and returned to my position looking out the window while President Stone returned to watching the television. The sick feeling in my gut didn’t untwist. The new position was intriguing but it didn’t change the fact that I had been noticed.
Stone had seen me, paid enough attention to consider me for a promotion. That wasn’t a good thing. I needed to be invisible and I was failing miserably with just one mission.
I needed to work harder.
Chapter 11: Wren
My feet hit the steel grate as I gave it a kick. I made the mistake of using my good foot. Now I had two that ached and barely worked.
Good one, Wren.
“None of the sewers lead out of the city,” I said, forcing the words out through my teeth in anger. It felt like we had walked forever and had reached yet another dead end.
We might have been walking in circles.
This grate could have been the same grate we’d run into six grates ago.
Rocky slumped against the wall as he wiped his brow with his sleeve. He looked as weary as I felt. “We’re going to have to go up then. At least we now know the sewers aren’t going to help us.”
“We’re never going to get rid of this smell.”
He sniffed at his shirt. “Probably not.”
I took a few deep breaths – despite the stench – and tried to rally up some optimism. I knew four things for sure:
I had to get out of the city.
The sewers were not going to get me beyond the wall.
If I was caught I would die.
I could not let Rocky get hurt.
Each absolute was as unhelpful as the last. I knew what I had to do, I just didn’t know how I was supposed to do it. There was no instruction manual for survival, no school that would teach me, and definitely no precedence. Every other Defective that tried to escape the city was captured and never heard of again.
I was sure their organs lived on.
I needed to be different to all those that had tried before me. Whatever had been their downfall had to be my strength. There had to be a way to get out and I had to find it.
Because as long as President Stone lived, I would be a wanted clone.
“We should go up and find food,” Rocky said, interrupting my determined thoughts. “Unless you want to chew on some rats.”
“I’m not hungry,” I replied. My stomach chose that moment to rumble. I hoped Rocky didn’t hear it.
I wasn’t that lucky. He conjured up a small smile. “Liar.”
“Fine.” I rolled my eyes. “I’m hungry. But that doesn’t matter. We need to find a place to sleep and then work out a plan. A solid plan, something we can actually implement.”
“Let’s go up then.”
It didn’t seem like we had any other choice.
Two Beating Hearts Page 10