Unless we wanted to eat rats.
Ugh.
I was almost that hungry, but not yet. Soon, perhaps.
I nodded with resignation as we started walking again. There was a drain about a hundred yards from the steel grate which we returned to. The sun shone down through the opening.
Rocky crouched over and linked his hands together. “Hop on and I’ll give you a boost.”
There was no point arguing. With my hands on his shoulders I stepped onto his knees and he lifted me up as far as he could. I grabbed onto the rough concrete of the drain and swung my legs up. It took a few goes to get there but I finally found my footing so I could climb up the drain.
I hung over the edge and reached for Rocky. He jumped several times before our hands gripped one another and he managed to scramble up to join me.
We were both exhausted.
A fully able bodied person would have had a hard time getting up the drain. Our defects made it nearly impossible.
We found ourselves in the recess of the drain, able to crouch over and see aboveground. There were hundreds of feet in the gap. They seemed to go on forever in all directions.
It was noisy too. We didn’t need to whisper to keep our secret hideaway hidden. “Why are there so many people out there?” I asked.
Rocky inclined his head to the side. “No idea. It looks like Aria Square.” He pointed to a stenciled name on the concrete drain – A.S.194. “Nowhere else in the city can hold this many people.”
In the distance a woman’s voice reverberated around the square. There was too much noise to understand what she was saying but it had to be coming out over the loud speakers. Only one person was permitted to speak in Aria Square.
“It’s Stone,” I said. “She’s addressing the city, making a speech or something.”
“Now might be a good time to disappear. There’s so many people they might not notice us.”
It was a big risk. It would only take one person to see us come up from the drain and recognize me to end everything. If President Stone was in the area so would be her security team. They always made sure to add extra protection when she was in public.
Apparently some humans wanted her dead too.
I wouldn’t have stopped them.
The alternative to sneaking out now was to go back to the sewer system and continue on until we found a more suitable drain. We could be walking forever. My aching muscles told me if I got back down again I wouldn’t be able to climb up a second time.
“I’ll go first,” I said, positioning myself at the gap between the drain and the road. “Wait to see if anyone notices me. If they don’t, follow. If they do, get down and run.”
Rocky’s face clouded over with disapproval before he resigned himself to the plan. “Fine. If we get separated, meet me at the clock tower when you can.”
“Deal,” I replied.
All the feet on the street level were faced away from me, giving me some hope our plan might work. A shriek rang out from somewhere in the distance. The people stood on tiptoes and jostled to get a look at what was going on.
Then a gun went off.
One single bullet.
Everybody moved. I took the chance to wriggle out of the drain and stood as quickly as possible. Bodies were racing everywhere in all different directions. Nobody had noticed me joining them.
I risked a glance back at the drain and saw Rocky stand casually, like he might have been there all along. I grabbed his good hand and we joined in the mass panic of the crowd.
We had to get away from them all.
Weaving through the elbows and rushed feet, we kept our faces toward the ground and tried to be invisible. Anyone that looked for too long would easily peg us as Defectives. We weren’t allowed in Aria Square.
Whatever horror had occurred with the gunshot provided a lot of distraction for the crowd. People darted everywhere as they tried to put some distance between themselves and the square.
But it only took one.
One person to recognize me.
One person to point.
One person to shriek.
One trooper to pay attention.
One guard to look twice.
“Rocky, run!” I yelled, pushing my best friend forward. With our hands still twined together we pounded along the pavement. Fear could do a lot of things for a body. It could infuse blood with adrenalin, giving you strength you didn’t know you had. It could make you run faster than you ever had before.
I was scared of being caught.
I was scared of Rocky being caught.
My fear was off the charts, the emotion coursing through my limbs and heightening all my senses. I could see all the people move around me like they were a smudge written with crayons. They existed in blurred colors but were registered as little more than roadblocks in my way.
My lungs sucked in air, desperate for the oxygen that would fuel me. My limp foot threatened to give out and stumble over every crack in the pavement. The slightest excuse and it would give out on me.
I would not let that happen.
Holding on to Rocky like he was my lifeline, we ran through the crowds until we burst through onto a side street. The trooper was still on our heels, only slowed slightly by the crush of bodies trying to flee.
A pair of teenagers stood in our way as we turned a corner. Rocky’s hand slipped out of mine as we ran around them.
“Hey! Talk about rude!” one of them yelled after us.
We didn’t have time to apologize or care about manners. We were running for our lives. The trooper’s black boots thudded behind us, getting louder as he gained ground.
My chest was burning from the exertion, my foot so close to giving out that it was almost dragging along the road. I probably would have run faster with just one leg by that stage.
A group of people were spilling out from a side street, finding their way from the square. I tried to go around them, tried to beat them to the other side, but there were too many of them. Rocky and I both crushed into the swell, swallowed up in the sheer number of humans leaving.
Elbows, ankles, and angry expressions were everywhere.
I jostled through, trying to make what little progress I could. The only solace I took was that the trooper would be having the same trouble on my heels.
Grumbles were left in my wake as I trod on more feet than those I managed to skirt around. Their toes would recover, I wouldn’t if I were caught.
My gaze darted around me, trying to catch a glimpse of Rocky. The people had parted us but we were heading in the same direction so we had to find each other again on the other side.
I managed to catch sight of the trooper but not my best friend. It wasn’t familiar eyes looking back at me but those filled with determination and hatred. There was nothing more the trooper wanted than to catch me alive.
So he could bring me to my death.
I pushed another woman out of my way as I fought to get through the crowd. They were all moving in a different direction than I wanted to go, making our crossed paths almost impossible.
Finally, finally, I broke free.
In a small reprieve between the people rushing from the side streets, I could gasp in some fresh air. I changed direction and headed for the building, planning to hide. There was no way we could outrun a trooper. Our best chance was to outplay them instead.
They thought we were all stupid, I knew better.
Rocky was right behind me, I could hear his soft footsteps as he kept pace with me. The darkness inside the brick building was filtered by windows, enough sunlight still around to stream through and illuminate the dust particles we had disturbed.
I doubled back between some boxes and through a maze of doors before reaching a set of stairs. There was no hesitation before running up them, I needed to grip the banister to stop my fall downwards.
When I reached the top, Rocky wasn’t with me. The stairs were clouded in darkness but there was no familiar silhouette. No trace t
hat Rocky had been with me at all.
No.
No no no.
I rushed to the window and peered out, trying to stay cloaked in the shadows as much as possible. I needed to see Rocky, to know we had been separated but he was still okay. That he was still evading the troopers like we were supposed to be.
The number of people in the street below had doubled as more and more people found their way from the square. Everyone was out for their own self-preservation, vying for distance without a thought for anyone who got in their way.
Much like me.
And Rocky.
My eyes scanned the street, alert for any troopers as well as desperate to see the face I knew so well. The face I had woken up next to for most of my eighteen years. The kindest soul in the world. The only person I truly trusted.
There.
He was still outside. I would be able to find Rocky anywhere, even in a million people. I was certain of it.
When my eyes fell on him this time, I wished I hadn’t seen him. His arms were pulled behind his back, held together and restrained by a trooper.
Rocky had been caught.
His deformed arm would be in terrible pain being held like it was. The trooper didn’t care, he had his prisoner and that’s all that mattered. We weren’t human to them, our pain didn’t count.
Rocky’s upturned face scanned the crowd like he was searching for me too. I willed him to look up, to see me in the window so I could tell him that I wasn’t going to let them take him.
Our gazes locked.
For just a moment I could see only Rocky and he could only see me. He gave me a small nod before mouthing, “Run”.
I couldn’t run away from him.
I couldn’t let them take him.
I was the reason he was in danger, that he had been pursued and then caught by the troopers. It was all my fault. Rocky’s only crime had been to be a wonderful best friend. He didn’t deserve anything. I could not let him die for me.
My feet moved before my brain caught up. I sprinted down the stairs, grabbing the railing only a few times when I stumbled in my haste. I had to get to Rocky, I had to save him from the troopers. They could take me instead of him, we could do an exchange so they would spare his life.
The dust mites were kicked up again as I ran through the old building. I pushed through the broken door I had used to enter the property and merged into the crowd.
My heart screamed in my chest, louder than any of the people surrounding me. It cried for my friend while it felt like someone was squeezing it until it was nothing more than a tiny ball a human child might play with. The beats were mere moans, going through the process like it was made for but feeling nothing more than an obligation.
One more person was pushed aside and took me to the space where I thought Rocky would be. I expected to run straight into him with visions of tearing him from the trooper’s grasp and throwing myself in between them.
What I didn’t expect was to run into the heavy metal of a patrol vehicle.
The door to the side banged closed with a definitive click as all the locks were bolted tightly. They had Rocky inside, they were taking him away.
They would kill him.
No no no.
My head was shaking from side to side, not wanting to believe what my eyes were telling me. Rocky couldn’t be inside. Even the scruff of his brown hair at the window couldn’t convince me.
The vehicle exhaust rattled and spluttered as the engine whirred to life. The crowds parted to make way for the imposing armored vehicle as it took off.
I banged on the metal siding as hard as my fists would go. I bashed and screamed and cried as I tried to stop it from leaving with my best friend inside.
It paid me no attention.
The troopers took Rocky away.
I staggered back toward the building and ran inside once again. I bounded up the stairs and stared out the window. I needed to see where they were taking him. They wouldn’t kill him until they handed him over to the authorities. Where was that? Where did they detain the Defectives while they waited for their murder?
The horrible black vehicle made slow progress due to the sheer number of people still in the streets. The driver beeped the horn, quickly losing patience as they tried to make better progress.
I watched the troopers until I could no longer see the black metal hovering through the people.
He was gone.
Rocky didn’t deserve to be captured. He’d done nothing wrong except show more humanity than most humans. Perhaps that was his crime, showing up the humans and putting their kindness to shame.
That was something he was guilty of.
It should have been me being hauled away by the troopers. It was me President Stone wanted and me who had the largest reward in history on her head. My capture would make the troopers rich. Not Rocky.
It should not have been him.
I slumped against the wall and slid all the way down to the dirty floor, my sliding feet making a mark in the dust. My knees drew up to my chest and I cradled them against me. I wanted to crawl into a ball and pretend I was a rock. The gaping, empty hole where my heart used to be ached more than any physical injury could.
Only Rocky could plug that hole and I got the feeling my heart would never be whole again.
My tears would not fall.
Because there was something I knew for sure.
I was going to find Rocky and I was going to get him back. Stone and the troopers were not going to win. They were not going to kill my beautiful Rocky.
Only over my dead body.
Chapter 12: Reece
One foot in front of the other, that’s all I had to do. Training had been particularly brutal this morning. Sometimes I was certain Sergeant Malone was trying to kill us. We didn’t need enemies when our superiors were happy to cull our numbers for them.
I normally enjoyed the morning training routine, especially the five mile run around the barracks. It made my head clear and was predictable. As long as I kept putting one foot in front of the other I would eventually finish. I would achieve the goal we were aiming for.
This morning my head was far from clear.
It was full of a Defective Clone named Wren. I tried to pound thoughts of her away in the first mile. It didn’t work. She was still lingering, there on my eyelids every time I blinked.
The girl needed to get out of the city and she didn’t have a chance without help. If the Resistance wouldn’t aid her then I had to find another way. Otherwise she would continue to haunt my every thought until the end of my days.
The problem was all the eyes on me. If it wasn’t my superiors or comrades, then it was all the cameras that watched twenty-four hours a day.
Watching, watching, always watching.
We weren’t entitled to privacy, we were owned by Stone and had no life away from the one we dedicated to her servitude. It was what I had signed up for. What I needed to do to escape the ghosts of my past. I knew I was signing over my life, I just didn’t realize how much impact one clone would have on me.
I needed to get her out of my brain.
I was going to continue to trip up and be noticed unless I kept my head in the game. By helping the Resistance I was helping her too. I couldn’t forget the bigger plan.
The job offer from Stone was the other big issue playing on me. While she didn’t say it, I knew there would be a time limit on the offer. If I didn’t do something about it soon the opportunity would expire.
It was another reason why I needed to speak with Joseph again. He would be able to tell me if it would be beneficial to the Resistance if I accepted. My gut told me that getting closer to the president could only be a good thing but my instincts had let me down before.
My gut couldn’t be trusted.
Sergeant Malone blew his whistle as we passed the last marker. Only half a mile to go now. We sprinted toward the finish line, putting the last of our lingering energy into the efforts.
I was one of the first few to cross the line. I slowed down, preparing to come to a stop cautiously. It was just as likely for Malone to scream at us that we were pansies and have to do the run all over again as it was for him to let us go.
I waited.
Hoping for his mouth to remain set in the grimace he perpetually left it in.
He took a deep breath.
“Thompson,” he called out.
I didn’t let him see the momentary look of dread that ghosted across my expression. Turning to face him, I stood at attention and remained stoic. “Yes, sir.”
“You’re up for a mission. Report to Briefing. Now!” There wasn’t one sentence my sergeant said that didn’t end with an order or insult.
Most of the time, both.
“Yes, sir.” I saluted him before using my shirt to wipe the sweat from my face. If they wanted me on a mission, they were going to have to take me as I was.
Smelly.
Didn’t bother me.
I legged it over to the briefing room, sliding through the slightly ajar door. Three of my superiors were standing at the front of the room, nothing pleasant in their expressions.
Standing at the back of the dozen troopers, I tried to focus on the mission details.
Sergeant Washington was speaking, his short blond hair and bulky frame made me think of an action figure. He took everything so seriously there were rumors he didn’t even have a funny bone, that he’d had it removed as a baby.
He let go of his crossed arms and they fell to rest on his hips. “The incident in Aria Square has made the citizens uneasy. We need to quash whatever thoughts are in their mind so President Stone can feel better about the situation again. We cannot have her safety compromised.”
His gaze waved across all of us, like we were each personally responsible for the chaos that had taken place in the square. I might have had a small reason to feel guilty about it but I doubted any of the others did.
If he asked me, it wasn’t the citizens of this city that were to blame for the incident but the troopers who decided to make an example out of the Resistance member. Had they not shot and killed him, nobody would even have noticed he was there.
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