The Condemned

by Claire Jolliff

  As they entered a man at a desk in the centre of the room glanced up from his paperwork and frowned. Alecia assumed that the only thing stopping him from reaching for the gun at his hip was the suit that the unnamed man still wore. He reached up and pulled off the hood. She took the opportunity to study his face.

  She had only ever really seen his eyes and they had always comforted her. The combination of bad lighting and panic in her cell had meant she hadn’t really been able to get a good look at the rest of him and her attention had been more focused on looking to see if he were a clone.

  She found herself pleasantly surprised by his features. He reminded her a lot of Xavian in that his face had a strong, set quality about it. His jaw was square and looked solid, his nose slightly crooked as though it had been broken at some point in the past. His eyes were a beautiful shade of blue, like she remembered the sky to be when she had last seen it. Dark brown hair stuck to his forehead, matted with sweat from being inside the confining hood. At the back it curled around the nape of his neck in a way that strangely made her want to run her fingers through it.

  When he spoke she found her eyes drawn to his lips. His mouth was surrounded by rough looking stubble.

  ‘Bringing back a Clone.’ He reached out, grabbing hold of Beriael by an arm and pushing him slightly towards the man at the desk who looked uncertain and glanced to Alecia.

  ‘Who’s the girl?’

  ‘Her? She’s nothing to worry about, just a Firebug... Hey, why don’t you show him what you can do?’

  Leci tilted her head to one side in mild puzzlement, not sure she understood his intentions correctly. He grinned and tipped her a wink. It was all the permission she needed and without hesitation she set the man on fire.

  He launched from his seat, his shriek of pain hurting her ears.

  ‘Fast, shut him up. Now.’ He hissed at her impatiently, watching Beriael as the man scanned the cages of watching Clones. Alecia did as she was told, intensified the flames to scorch the man. He died quickly and his screams were cut off abruptly as he fell to the floor in a crumpled heap.

  ‘Holy Fuck!’

  ‘A Firebug! A fucking Firebug, they’ve sent her in to torch the fucking lot of us!’

  ‘Bastards! You can’t do this to us, treating us like animals!’

  As the Clones one by one found their voices the shouts mingled into a noisy mess. Alecia held her hands over her ears and closed her eyes, trying to block out the commotion. Beriael was halfway down the room urgently trying to find the woman they were here to retrieve.

  ‘SHUT THE FUCK UP RIGHT NOW BEFORE I HAVE HER BURN THE FUCKING LOT OF YOU.’

  His voice rose above the yelling and almost instantly the clamouring clones fell silent. Some stared at the suited man who seemed to be in charge, some watched Alecia with unmasked wariness and a few seemed morbidly fascinated with the smoking remains on the floor. Most of them ignored Beriael, until one woman called his name.

  ‘Beriael?’

  She sounded confused, uncertain and disbelieving. Alecia and her new friend ran quickly to ‘their’ Clone who was reaching through the bars, a woman on the other side wrapped in his embrace.

  She was a small redhead, about Leci’s height and build, pretty, with piercing green eyes that seemed even sharper right now than they probably were because they were brightened by unshed tears.

  Scanning the pen that held her, the man with the key card motioned for a tall man to come to him. The man didn’t argue, he approached the bars quietly and listened as instructions were given.

  ‘I need to open this cage. The woman is coming with us. I don’t have time to go through the whole fucking building releasing all the clones.’ He held up the card and moved it from side to side; the tall man’s eyes followed it as though it were some sacred object.

  ‘These babies are fireproof. When I let you out, if you have any interest in freeing your friends that’s entirely up to you. Our dead Official over there will have one nice and intact on him somewhere. Give me 5 minutes to get my people out of here and then start letting yours out. Got it?’

  Tall Man nodded evenly and held a hand through the bars.

  ‘I can do as you say. We owe you our lives, giving us an opportunity; you can have your five minutes. Thank you...’ He tilted his head questioningly and the other man grinned, taking the hand and pumping it once in a solid shake.

  ‘Amato.’

  ‘Thank you, Amato.’

  Leci finally had a name for him, for her saviour. Amato.

  She had no idea if it meant anything or not, but all the same it seemed to fit. She felt sort of foolish for not having thought to just ask him herself, it wasn’t as if he would have denied her the information.

  Amato ran the card through the slot; Tall Man kept his side of the bargain and held back his people. They had heard the terms of their freedom and they were willing to wait another five minutes for it after having waited years already.

  The redheaded woman was reluctant to let go of her husband but they parted briefly for her to exit the cell and then she was in his arms, sobbing, her face buried in his chest. He held her and rubbed her back and Leci was torn between wanting to get the hell out of here and wanting to allow them their reunion.

  Amato had no such worries.

  ‘Ok, that’s it? No kids, fucking... aunt, uncle, pet fucking hamster? Can we get the fuck going?’

  Beriael raised his head. His cheeks were wet with tears but he grinned and nodded.

  ‘Fuck yeah, thanks man, come on, let’s blow this shit-hole.’

  Amato tugged off the bulky gloves and didn’t bother putting the hood back on. He pointed to Tall Man.

  ‘Five minutes.’

  Who nodded. ‘It’ll take that long for him to cool down enough for me to find the card anyway.’ He reasoned quietly with a nervous glance towards Alecia who flashed him a bright smile.

  The woman was in no condition to run, she clung to Beriael like a lost child and her tears seemed to be uncontrollable. Normally Leci would have told her, perhaps unsympathetically, to pull it together, but given the circumstances she knew that if she were in the position of the recently reunited Clone woman, she’d be a wreck too. Beriael held her against him and scooped her legs from the ground, carrying her in his arms, cradling her against him like a baby. It must have hurt, both arms were badly burned and one had had the flesh stripped from it but he never so much as winced. She supposed he’d had plenty time to build up a relatively decent threshold to it, or maybe there was just so much nerve damage that he really couldn’t feel anything.

  Amato set off at a run, heading back for the door through which they had entered the Clone room. Alecia followed, hampered at first by the over large trousers until she let go, allowed them to fall to the ground and stepped out of them. She was naked below the baggy prison shirt but it was far too big for her and draped her to mid-thigh length like a short dress. Now was not the time to be concerned with modesty, speed was suddenly very important. The illusion of a guard escorting prisoners would no longer hold and so there was no need for her to attempt to fit the part anymore.

  Amato halted at the doorway, glanced out and to either side and then turned back to Alecia as she caught up to him.

  ‘Anyone at all tries to stop us, you light them up, got it?’

  ‘Got it.’ She wasn’t going to argue. She’d happily fry as many of these bastards as she could. The fact that now it had become necessary for their escape was irrelevant. She’d probably have done it even if he had not told her to.

  Beriael, carrying his wife, took the rear and Alecia followed Amato as he once again took to leading the way through the prison.

  They came across nobody while they walked in silence, constantly on the lookout for guards, and Alecia was starting to feel fairly confident once again. The woman had calmed down enough to walk on her own and she’d fallen into step behind Leci, Beriael still trailing behind to guard them from the rear as Amato led the way.

/>   Roughly ten minutes after they fled the Clone Enclosure a siren began to blare around them. Alecia clamped her hands over her ears; it was loud enough to drown out her own thoughts and could only mean one thing.

  She looked up at Amato.

  His lips were moving but she couldn’t tell what he was saying. She dropped her hands from her ears but the siren was too loud and she couldn’t make out what he was trying to say, she held her hands up in a gesture of helplessness. He shook his head in frustration and then turned and broke into a run. The others followed with a sense of heightened urgency. The whole of the prison staff would now be on the lookout for renegades on the run and if their fortune didn’t hold and they were spotted, there would be trouble.

  Whether the alarm had been raised because their own escape had been discovered or due to that of the Clones, Alecia wasn’t sure. The fact that they had earlier seen suited men hurrying in the direction of her cell but that they had heard nothing until now implied that the people who had the power were trying to keep her newfound freedom as quiet as possible in an effort not to raise panic. Even the Officials could not sweep out of sight a few hundred Clones running loose throughout the building.

  It occurred to her that perhaps the siren was neither an alert regarding themselves or the Clones, but was a warning for them; ‘we know you’re on the run, we’re coming for you. There is no escape.’

  She pushed the unsettling thought to the back of her mind. If she were forced to start assessing their chances of getting out she might lose all motivation to carry on trying. She poured her faith blindly into Amato and hoped that it wasn’t misplaced.

  It felt as though they had been running through this maze forever. The endless corridors melded into one, they all looked the same, stark white walls and harsh glaring lights that hurt her eyes, reflections bouncing from the shiny marbled floor. The combination of that and the blaring alarm caused her head to ache, a throbbing just behind her eyes that made her feel a little dizzy and sick. Not wanting to hinder their progress, Leci didn’t complain. She very much hoped that the apparent randomness of their flight was not so and that they weren’t just running in the hopes of stumbling across a door that led to the outside. When Amato paused before yet another door she almost ran into him.

  She managed to stop herself and leant against the wall, grateful for the opportunity to rest a moment. She closed her eyes to stop the floor from swimming in front of her and allow a sudden wave of nausea to pass. When she opened them again it was to find the other three all watching her. The Clone woman looked concerned and offered a tentative smile, Beriael looked impatient and annoyed but she was getting used to seeing that expression on his angry face, Amato was watching her closely.

  ‘You OK there Firebug?’ He had to shout to be heard above the siren, the four of them stood in a tight circle in order to be able to hear one another speaking.

  ‘Leci.’ She offered.

  ‘Leci. You OK?’

  She nodded. ‘I’m fine. I just... I dunno, it’s kinda scary an’ at the same time I don’t really believe it’s happenin’, y’know?’

  He grinned and nodded, confident she was alright and could pay attention, he addressed the group, he was yelling at the top of his voice but there was no fear of him being overheard by anyone stood more than two foot away. Leci had trouble making out his words and she was stood with her body pressed against his as the four of them crowded together in a huddle.

  ‘This door leads to the outer compound. It might be clear if they’re nice and busy running about trying to round up their runaway Clones. But it might not be. If they’ve got anyone posted out there we’re fucked, cos they’ll start shooting the second this door opens. When I trip the lock I want you’ he pointed to Beriael’s wife ‘and Leci behind it as it swings in. Use the door as a shield. I’ll be just behind you and down low.’

  Alecia understood, the door wouldn’t protect him because she and the other woman’s safety were being assured by it, but if he stayed low he might avoid any bullets that came their way. She looked at Beriael, who was watching Amato.

  The two men’s eyes met and Amato’s jaw tightened, something like shame crossed his features for a second and when he spoke his tone was apologetic.

  ‘I’m sorry man, but... You’re sort of... disposable, with the whole... not being able to die thing.’

  ‘I can die. I just come back and get to fucking die all over again.’ Beriael’s tone was soft, almost haunting, despite being raised out of necessity but his words were scathing. He glanced at Alecia as he spoke and she cast her eyes down, unable to meet his. When she raised her head again the two men were once again occupied with one another, Beriael steadily meeting Amato’s gaze. He knew what was coming and he knew they really had no other choice. The only conceivable alternative would be to allow his Clone wife to die in his place. For Beriael that wasn’t an option at all and so he quietly accepted his role while the other man spoke.

  Leci felt eyes on her and looked to the other woman, disconcerted by the intensity of the green eyes that studied her thoughtfully. She offered a weak smile, which wasn’t returned, and she self-consciously turned her attention back to the men. She needed to hear this and to understand what would happen; it was just distracting to feel the other woman’s curiosity crawling over her skin like some slimy, mutated bug.

  The Clone knew that there was something between her husband and the blonde Firebug. She wasn’t stupid enough to ask questions right now but Alecia was certain that they would come later and she didn’t want to find herself surviving four years at the hands of torturous captors and a harrowing escape effort only to be killed by a woman wanting revenge for the injustices done to her husband. She had burned Beriael too many times. The past could not be undone, her deeds, though always conducted against her own wishes and under forced conditions, were still her deeds, and the guilt of them lay with her. Whatever this man had done in his life she was sure it could not warrant endless torture to the degree he had suffered at her hands and although she would not hesitate to protect herself against him if he decided to try and retaliate for the months of hurt, she knew, strangely, that she would be unable to bring herself to harm the woman.

  She did not understand this logic or reasoning but she knew it to be true. She was grateful when Amato spoke again and she felt the gaze of the woman lift from her as all attention turned to the man issuing the commands.

  ‘Keep your back to the wall man, as flat as you can, when it swings in don’t be stood there to give em a clear shot. We want to find out if they’re out there, we don’t want to lose you if we don’t have to.’

  The thought of using human bait to find out whether or not it was safe for the rest of them seemed abhorrent to Alecia, but since she was unable to come up with a better plan she remained quiet. Beriael accepted his role without question and she found herself respecting him for that. Sure, if he died all he had to do was wait until the technology in his body kicked in and created a duplicate, a process that took roughly thirty seconds, she’d watched it happen many times after torching the man. An image of him would flicker into existence stood beside the old, used body. While this new shell gained consistency the old would turn to ash and by the time the regeneration was complete there was no evidence remaining to suggest there had ever been a body other than a small pile of dirt. The first time she had seen it happen she had watched, mesmerised by the process. The enormity of what she was seeing never really failed to impress her, though over time the awe it inspired had dwindled somewhat.

  Amato was looking at her again.

  ‘Leci, you’re the only weapon we have right now. When I say move I want you girls to get close to Beriael, keep behind him. I’ll be in the back an-‘

  ‘No.’

  ‘Huh?’ Alecia looked around in surprise as the other woman spoke up.

  Why was she interrupting?

  Amato and Beriael both watched her and she shook her head slowly, a strand of hair fell across her e
yes and she brushed it aside impatiently before tugging slightly at the neck of her overall to reveal the top of her scar, showing them what they already knew, that she was a Clone.

  Leci flinched back slightly when the woman reached for her, pulling down the baggy shirt enough to see that she was no clone and then repeating the move on Amato. She shook her head again.

  ‘No. You’re not going in the back. I am.’ Her tone was firm and her gaze was steady, almost challenging as she looked between the three of them. Beriael opened his mouth as though he planned to argue but closed it again wordlessly, clearly knowing that it would do no good. Leci offered no resistance, just a small shrug that conveyed her lack of an opinion on the matter, and the woman turned her attention to Amato, waiting for his reaction.

  Plainly uncomfortable, either with having his decision questioned or with having his conscience wrestle with the idea of allowing a woman to place herself in danger, Leci wasn’t sure which, but he didn’t look happy.

  It was evident to all of them why the Clone was insisting on this, the same reason Amato had placed Beriael at the front of the group. It made inarguable sense to Alecia, the two vulnerable ones sandwiched between the Clones who would act as a shield for them...

  Ok so it didn’t really seem all that chivalrous but right now wasn’t the situation to be arguing for or against equal rights.

  After a slight hesitation Amato reluctantly agreed with a small nod.

  ‘Alright. You in the back. Leci, stay as close to him as you can. Attach yourself to his ass if you have to, don’t make a fucking target of yourself. If anyone shoots at us, you burn them, got it?’

  She answered with a quick nod. Flexing her fingers and running her tongue across her dry lips, she was nervous. If they were going to die it would probably be within the next few minutes and though death may not be final for half of their small group, for herself and Amato it was a pretty permanent deal. There was no going back, but what lay ahead scared her. She reached out briefly and slipped her hand inside Amato’s. Her small fingers entwined with his and she squeezed gently, seeking reassurance from human contact. He looked down in surprise and then up at her with a smile. He squeezed back and then pulled free from her grip, gently pushing her against the wall that the door would swing towards.