But when I stared into this Drew’s eyes there was nothing. Nothing at all. Just a glossy blue.
I slowly turned back to Glen. “What ... is she...?” My voice was barely a whisper.
A smile spread slowly across Glen’s face, distorting his features into something terrible and sickly. “She’s perfect,” he replied. “Really perfect. Incapable of flaws. This time I made a truly perfect android.”
I opened my mouth, but no words came. I looked back at the robot Drew, knowing there was no human hiding beneath her perfect features. “She’s not real,” I whispered, not taking my eyes off of her.
“But she is,” Glen protested. “She’s more my daughter than you ever were.”
My breath caught in my throat, although I wasn’t even facing Glen. Those words hit me like a slap in the face even though I had only now realized the truth beneath our relationship. The father I had always imagined was kind and loving, not this monster standing behind me. “So what are you going to do now?” I asked quietly, although I knew the answer. I had known the answer since the day I had decided to first go against Glen’s rules. Deep down I knew he would never stand for this betrayal. Not without getting his payback.
“You know the answer to that,” he replied, his voice strangely expressionless. “We can’t have two Drews.”
My heart seemed to stop beating at the sound of those words; my blood freezing to ice in my veins, and my mind denying the idea that those words could be true. They sounded more terrible than I had ever imagined them sounding. Evil, inhumane, and sickening.
Glen grabbed my arm from behind me and pulled me toward the door. I didn’t struggle or even say a word. I knew it was no use. Before I left, I took one last look into the robot Drew’s eyes. They sparkled as she slowly opened her mouth to speak.
“Goodbye, Drew,” she said.
Chapter Thirty-one
Her voice had sounded like mine. Her eyes had looked like mine. But at the same time she was nothing like me. Her voice had been monotone, and her eyes were strangely blank.
I let Glen pull me along down the hallway until we entered the familiar setting of the lobby. I let him lead me down the hallway and through a door to the right. With a sickening realization, I recognized this room to be the place where I had seen the boy so long ago. The unconscious boy lying on an operating table.
My heart was pounding, and I clenched my fists. Glen locked the door to the hallway and walked over to the counter at the far end of the room. I heard a click and looked up to see two androids enter the room from another doorway. They stationed themselves around the room, watching me closely, and with a jolt I recognized one of them as Michael.
I opened my mouth to say his name, but the word disintegrated at the tip of my tongue. Why try? After all those months, why try again now?
His expression showed recognition, but not the kind I was looking for. He recognized me as the girl who had held him captive for so long, not the girl he had once loved. Tears sprang to my eyes, but I refused to cry. Not anymore. Never again. I knew I only had minutes to live, and I didn’t want to spend them feeling sorry for myself.
Glen jerked his head in my direction, and Michael and the other android walked over to me. My first reflex was to back away, but they firmly grabbed my arms and pulled me over to the table. I struggled, but only halfheartedly.
“Michael,” I said, in one last plea for him to remember, but he didn’t respond. He only picked me up and hoisted me onto the table while I kicked and squirmed, the other android holding down my arms.
They had a firm grip on either side of me, pinning me to the table. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Glen adjusting something into a small syringe. My heart was racing. I was on the verge of crying, but I tried as hard as I could to hold it back. Calm down, Drew, I told myself. It’s okay...
I closed my eyes and thought about God. I thought about all the times I had prayed. I thought about everything I had done. I thought about my actions, and I hoped they were good enough. I thought about shooting Glen in the leg, and the hatred I had harbored no longer felt so strong. I felt a tear slide out of the corner of my eye. Forgive me. Another tear escaped.
My eyes opened to see Glen coming my way. I didn’t look at the needle. I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to break the fleeting moment of serenity I had.
“It’s just an overdose of pain medication,” Glen’s voice said quietly. “You won’t feel anything.”
Was that sorrow I heard in his voice? It couldn’t be. Glen wasn’t the type.
I turned my head in the other direction and looked at Michael. I stared into his dark brown eyes, and I smiled slightly. He stared back at me, a puzzled expression painting his face; watching.
I closed my eyes, no longer wanting to see anymore. No longer wanting to see Michael’s face indifferent and no longer wanting to see Glen stare at me with the hatred I knew he felt. I was done. Right as my eyelids slid shut I thought I saw a word form on Michael’s lips. I thought he had just mouthed something to me. I thought he had just said, “Drew.”
Just then I felt the needle slide into my skin, and I held in a gasp. A gasp of horror, shock, and fear.
Take me home.
Chapter Thirty-two
The needle stung as is slid under my skin. I heard a noise, although I couldn’t tell what it was. A hand that had been holding me down released me, and I heard Glen’s voice; strained, angry, frantic. I felt the needle being quickly removed from my skin, and I wondered how many seconds I had to live.
I felt arms slide under my back and knees, lifting me from the table. I vaguely wondered what was going on, but realized I couldn’t open my eyes. I tried to make a noise, but my mouth didn’t seem to be working either. My arms and legs were tingling and my breathing was slow. My head fell to the side against something firm and solid and I felt myself being jostled around as I was being carried.
I heard a voice, deep and worried. It said my name a few times, and I could hear his breathing in my ear as he carried me along. Michael? I thought vaguely. My ears told me it was so, but my mind refused to believe it. My reasoning told me that Michael no longer remembered me, no longer loved me.
But that voice had sounded a lot like him.
My mind was wandering. Where was I? Why wasn’t I dead? I wondered, vaguely, if I was dying. Everything was so hazy.
I rested my head against his shoulder as my mind slowly lost its reasoning, understanding, and consciousness; as the drug took over and my mind went blank.
The last thing I remember was the beating of Michael’s heart.
* * * *
It was quiet. There was a small rustling noise that made me wonder where I was. Slowly, feeling was beginning to come back to my arms and legs. My head throbbed, and I felt nauseous. There was tingling in my toes and the tips of my fingers. I heard another noise and then a voice. It said my name, but I couldn’t open my eyes. It was the same voice. The same voice I had thought was Michael’s. Was it really him? My heart leaped, wanting to believe it.
I felt something touch my shoulders and then fingers brush against my forehead. My eyes hurt, but I forced them open.
“Drew!” the voice said again, and this time, I was sure it was Michael’s. I wanted to leap up and throw my arms around his neck, but everything hurt so badly I could barely manage to open my mouth and reply. “Michael,” I said, a smile slowly starting to creep into my expression. His lips formed into a smile I hadn’t seen on him in what seemed like years.
I had almost forgotten how beautiful his smile was. The way the corners of his mouth looked like they might dimple, but they didn’t fully, and the way his nose crinkled slightly when he laughed.
I realized I was partially sitting up and leaning against Michael. I looked around to see trees in every direction and snow covering the ground. The morning sun was beginning to rise, sending yellow and pink streaks of light through the trees.
I was smiling so wide I thought I might never stop, and I didn’t
care if everything hurt. I sat up straighter, leaned toward Michael, and pressed my lips against his. He immediately kissed me back and I hadn’t realized how much I had missed this, how much I had missed him, until that moment. My arms found their way around his neck, and I was hugging him so tightly I was almost surprised he could breathe. His arms wrapped around me as well and hugged me back.
All those months of devastation, waiting and hoping for Michael to come back to me, seemed so far away. Here I was, in his arms, and never had I felt safer; more at home.
Eventually we broke away, and I leaned my head against his shoulder, his arms still wrapped firmly around me. We sat there, holding on to each other and just listening to our breathing and beating hearts until the tingling left my limbs and my strength returned.
Michael helped me to my feet and I found that I was still a little unsteady. “I don’t know how much of that stuff got into your system,” Michael told me. “I pulled it out pretty fast, but you still got way more than you ever should. I tried to get you out quickly, but Glen and that other android made things a little harder.”
Nothing he could say would make my smile disappear so I merely grinned at him. He smiled back for a moment and then his smile faded. I gave him a questioning look.
He frowned, and he looked down at his feet. “I’m sorry, Drew,” he said quietly. “All those days you sat there...” he trailed off, and I took a step closer to him.
I shook my head. “It’s not your fault,” I said.
There was a pause. “I thought you were dead,” he said finally. “You were out for a while. I thought that I hadn’t gotten the needle out in time.” There was pain in his eyes, and I wanted nothing more than that pain to be gone.
“Michael,” I said firmly. “You saved my life. You’re back, and I’m alive.” I smiled at him and watched the light slowly return to his eyes. We stood there for a moment before I broke the silence. “Wait, how did you get out?” I asked, realizing that there must have been guards or creators.
Michael shrugged. “There was a woman in the lobby. At first, I thought she was a creator, but she just disabled the alarm and let me through the door.” He seemed just as confused as I was about the circumstances until a thought dawned on me.
“We need to find the others,” I declared, and Michael nodded.
“Should we go back to the flawed camp?” he asked.
I thought for a moment, wondering if the creators had already gone there, but then I nodded. “We need to see who’s there,” I told him.
Michael clarified exactly where we were, and I decided we should start walking in the direction of the camp. We trudged through the deep snow and found our way to the road.
“I didn’t know you could draw,” I said quietly as we walked, remembering the drawing on the stone floor of Michael’s cell.
Michael was silent for a moment before he nodded. “I don’t do it much,” he finally said. “Once in a while.” He turned to look at me. “You saw the picture?”
I nodded, still watching him. There was a pause. “Why’d you draw it?” I asked.
It took Michael a moment to reply and when he did he seemed unsure, as if he didn’t even know himself. “I knew I was supposed to remember you. Something told me that I knew you, but I didn’t know how and I didn’t want to believe it,” he added. I was quiet, waiting for him to go on. He shrugged. “I don’t know why I drew it, I just wanted to.” He turned to look at me again, his expression telling me more than his words ever could. “You seemed important to me, but I didn’t know why.”
I looked back at him, my expression melting into a small smile.
We walked for about five minutes before I broke the silence. The realization had been haunting my mind for a while, and I needed to share it. “Glen’s my father,” I said quietly and Michael turned to look at me in shock.
“He’s your what?” he asked, looking completely dumbfounded.
I nodded. “I was the first person he tested it on—the whole android thing. I was the first,” I explained, watching the ground we were walking on.
“But...” Michael trailed off.
“I don’t know what to think,” I told him truthfully. “I want to hate him but at the same time I don’t.
Michael still looked surprised, and I almost dreaded to tell him what I was about to say. But someone besides me needed to know, or I would burst.
“And since I betrayed him by running away,” I said, then paused a few seconds, “he created a new me.”
Michael stopped walking, and I was forced to stop with him. “A new you?” he echoed, as if uncertain about whether he had heard it right.
I nodded slowly. “She’s not real,” I said, thinking back to the Institution when I had stared into her blank, lifeless eyes. “She’s a genuine android. She’s a real machine.” I wasn’t looking at Michael. I was staring off into the trees, reliving the scene in my mind, including the pain and horror I had felt upon this realization.
“We’ll stop him,” Michael said firmly. “He’s done with being ‘king’ and ‘creator’.”
I nodded absentmindedly and we continued on our way.
* * * *
It took us about two hours to reach the flawed camp, and by then, it was still only mid morning. When it first came into view, I felt a surge of excitement, but then immediately realized that something was wrong.
Michael and I walked cautiously into the clearing, looking around at the deserted tents and buildings. “Where are they?” I asked quietly. A few tents lay sideways and bent, and there was no sign of anyone around.
“The creators,” Michael replied. “They got here first.”
I stared around at the deserted area, thinking of the people we had left behind when we had set out on our mission; Jessica, Marian, and dozens of other names and faces I had grown accustomed to over the past months.
Suddenly I remembered my cell phone, and it felt hot in my pocket at the realization. I reached in to grab it quickly and punched in the number to the cell phone that had been given to Jessica. I prayed she still had it with her and that she hadn’t been abducted by the creators. I listened as the phone rang once, twice, five times, and then Jessica answered, her voice scratchy.
“Jessica?” I asked quickly, gripping the phone to my ear.
“Drew!” I heard her exclaim. “Are you okay, where are you?” she asked frantically. “We got attacked!”
“I’m fine,” I replied, looking over to see Michael watching me and my phone conversation. I smiled. “I’ve got good news.”
“Good news? At a time like this?” Jessica asked incredulously. “Well, don’t go back to the camp, the creators were there,” she added quickly. “We spotted them before they reached us, and we managed to get away just as they were coming. We’re about five miles away from camp, out in the woods.”
“We’re already at camp,” I replied. “But we can probably find you.”
“You’re with the others?” she asked.
“No, we got separated,” I explained. “I had hoped they had gone to find you.”
I heard Jessica make a clicking sound with her tongue. “No, they haven’t come back.”
“We’ll try to find you,” I answered. “You said five miles? In which direction?” I asked her.
“The opposite direction of the road,” Jessica replied with a laugh. “Couldn’t tell you the real direction for the life of me. Oh, and who’s we?”
Her voice paused on the line, and I waited for a moment, staring at Michael with a smile. I laughed softly. “Michael.” There was dead silence over the phone, and for a moment, I thought we had been disconnected. “Jessica?”
“Is he...?” Her voice was quiet.
“Yes,” I replied, nodding at the same time, although I knew she couldn’t see me. “He’s himself again, and he’s standing right here.”
I heard something that sounded like a sigh and a sob from the other end of the line and then I heard Jessica laughing. “Can I talk to
him?” she asked, her voice overflowing with excitement and joy.
I smiled and handed the phone to her brother.
“Michael!” Jessica shrieked so loudly I could hear it from where I was standing. Michael laughed his smile widening. I watched them talk for awhile, all the time a grin etched on Michael’s face. After a few moments, they ended their call, and we started on our way to find the flawed.
I took my cell phone back and dialed Beatrix’s number, hoping that she’d answer. She picked up the phone immediately, and her voice sounded desperate. “Drew?” she asked breathlessly.
“Yeah,” I replied. “Where are you guys, are you okay?”
“We’re fine, how are you?” Her voice sounded close to panic, and I wondered how much time she had spent worrying.
“I’m fine, believe me,” I said with a smile, casting a sidelong glance at Michael.
“We’ve been worried sick about you,” she answered, sounding relieved. “Where are you?”
“We’re at the flawed camp, but they evacuated,” I explained. I quickly relayed the crude directions Jessica had given me, and Beatrix promised they’d meet us there.
“Who are you with?” she asked quizzically. “You implied someone was with you.”
I couldn’t hold back my grin. “Michael,” I replied, and I saw him turn my way with a smile. I could hear Beatrix’s shock over the phone as she sputtered for an explanation. I laughed. “I’ll tell you all about it when we meet.” After a few more exchanges, we hung up, promising to meet up with the flawed.
Michael and I trudged through the deep snow and quickly entered the woods surrounding us. The forest was eerily quiet; all the life smothered out by the fresh layer of snow, and our footsteps seemed loud and intruding as we blundered past.
Suddenly I heard a noise, and I stopped. Michael turned in the direction, apparently hearing it as well.
I didn’t even have time to open my mouth to suppose what it had been before I saw a pack of androids running through the trees.
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