A round of applause erupted from the seats. I didn’t realize he had said something worth cheering for. I really didn’t belong in the Hills district. If there had been a choice of missions today, I would definitely have chosen something else.
Dr. Nielson waved his hand to quiet them down again. “Today I am going to tell you about the fantastic opportunity you all have to make a clone. We have a special offer for you and just you – two for the price of one clone. I know that kind of deal sounds crazy, but I want you to be protected if you fall victim to the Disease.”
I wanted to block him out, because I’d heard the speech before at another talk, but I couldn’t. His voice demanded attention and there wasn’t much else to do but listen. This crowd definitely wasn’t the type to lynch the good doctor.
“As we all know, Aria City has been plagued by disease for a very long time. It riddles the body and kills off the organs, one by one, until medical intervention stops it. Unfortunately, for those that don’t have a clone, there is nothing to be done. But, for all the lucky ones that do, we can simply replace your diseased organs with the fresh and healthy ones from your clone.”
All the faces were completely lost in his speech. They were probably ready to sign up right now, he could have saved a few hours and stopped right then.
Unfortunately, he continued on. “You can be back on your feet in no time and your clone will have had the opportunity to Serve Their Purpose. Say it with me now. Serve Their Purpose!”
The crowd were chanting along with him and my stomach was twisting with rage. They made it seem like a euphoric experience for the clones to experience.
It wasn’t.
It was murder.
Every Maker and scientist seemed to lose sight of the fact that the clone had to die in order for them to live. They never made it to old age, they rarely made it past their teen years before their organs were needed by their Makers.
After that, I did switch off. I couldn’t listen to him discussing murder like it was nothing more than a day at the park. The scientists would get dozens of new clients, there would be double the amount of clones, and then there would be murder.
It always ended with murder.
The speech went for two hours and that was more than enough time to accomplish a one hundred percent sign-up rate. We were excused from our duties after the scientist was safely ensconced in his armored vehicle and taken away.
Our mode of transport was far less appealing – even though it was also armored. The troopers’ truck rattled and shook over every bump.
We had to yell to be heard over the rumblings but that didn’t stop anyone from talking. I listened as the conversation swirled around me.
“Maybe I should get a clone of my own,” Watson said.
“Why stop at one? You could get a whole troop of them,” Riles replied.
“I could. Perhaps I should train them all so they can do my work instead of me.”
“You need a few clones to do your work. With the way you’re so slow at doing your drills, they’ll barely get anything done.”
“Clones of yours would end up as Defs. You’d only be able to get one and that would be it.”
“What do you think, Thompson? Do you think I should get some clones?” Watson and the others turned their attention to me. It was dangerous to say the truth so I had to play along.
“And have more of your ugly mug around? I don’t think so,” I said. The others all laughed and the pressure went off me. They continued on with their fantasies about having clones. They were all talk, there was no way a trooper made enough money to have a clone. Only the richest of the rich could afford it.
We soon arrived at our next mission location, the working-class district of the Scrubs. I knew it well, I’d grown up in the neighborhood and lived there until I was called into the President’s Trooper Division.
The Scrubs district was generally well behaved. Everyone was too busy working to put some food in their bellies to get up to mischief. Only those with a true hatred of Stone had any time to commit.
My parents had been the latter.
Our mission was to patrol the streets and keep our eyes and ears open for any sign of trouble. It wasn’t unusual to do these kinds of missions, Stone liked to ensure everyone knew she was watching them.
We drove past my old home to get to the empty block which would serve as our base for the afternoon. It was only a small house, three rooms with a rickety roof attached to the top. My parents always tried hard to turn it into something we could be proud of and I was. I wouldn’t have changed my family for the world.
But Stone had taken all that away.
The house had been sold to someone else now and they were trying to make the most out of it. To anyone else it would have been just another house like all the others. It was only me that felt the pang of grief as we passed it by.
The truck came to a shuddering stop as we pulled up. We filed out and formed our teams of four. Patrols were one of the boring jobs we had to carry out. We were to walk the streets for three hours before we could return back to base.
Anyone who reported a clone-sympathizer was given extra food portions at dinnertime.
People in the streets averted their eyes as soon as they saw us. Nobody wanted to attract the attention of a trooper. We were feared by those living in poverty because it was usually them that were reported for extra food portions. Nobody would miss a few poor peasants, they were nothing.
These people were my kin.
And tonight some of them would die.
Chapter 6: Wren
Only a few newspapers still printed on paper. Someone had thrown this one away. President Stone’s face peered out at me from the front page.
She had just approved the application to build another laboratory in Aria. That would bring the total up to fourteen. Why did they need so many? The city was already plagued with them, one more would crowd the landscape and result in more Defective Clones.
There seemed to be no logic to her madness.
I was created from her, I shared the exact same genes as the president. In theory, I should have been able to put some reason into her plans but I just couldn’t. We may have shared genes but we certainly didn’t share the same mind.
“Hey, what are you doing? Get out of here,” a skinny shopkeeper called out to me. “I don’t want the likes of you standing outside my stall.”
He started approaching as he continued to scream at me. I dropped the newspaper and ran, not wanting anyone to look twice at my famous face.
I sprinted for as long as my gimp foot would let me, which was about three blocks. It was enough to get me out of the shopkeeper’s line of sight so he wouldn’t come after me. His actions were nothing unusual, nobody welcomed Defectives. I just wondered what had given me away.
My stomach growled loudly as my heartrate slowed down again. I needed some food but it wouldn’t help returning to the village. The few pieces we stored in our hut were there for Rocky. I wasn’t going to take his food.
I wandered through the back alleyways until I found some trashcans. The garbage behind restaurants and cafes were always good for something to eat. Whatever I could scrounge from the refuse wouldn’t taste good but it would sustain my body for a few hours more.
Toward the bottom of a can was half a bread roll. It had lipstick marks on it and it was about a week old but I didn’t care. I pulled off small pieces and popped them in my mouth.
The newspaper article had said Stone would be attending a college opening today. The university had burned down about a year ago and they rebuilt it on the same site. Today was its grand reopening, a ceremony fit for a president.
Without thinking much about it, I ended up walking to the college. People spilled out from the grounds, everyone keen to catch a glimpse of our leader. It was easy to see what kind of people attended the college.
There wasn’t a speck of dirt amongst them.
They were all rich.
Nobo
dy in Aria went to college unless they came from the Hills district. Some families from other districts saved for their whole lives to gather the tuition for their children, but they were never accepted. Stone wouldn’t want the masses educated – that was when they were most dangerous.
I hung back underneath a tree and focused my gaze on President Portia Stone. She looked better in her newspaper picture, the living version had sunken cheeks and eyes that never trusted anyone. I wondered if that was my future I was staring at. Was I going to look like that in thirty years?
Probably.
Whatever genes had made Stone so hard would get to me eventually, too. I would twist into that horrible woman and never be myself again. Providing I didn’t Serve My Purpose first, of course.
I would never grow that old.
President Stone would make sure of it.
Her guards and troopers stood at all edges of her podium to make sure nobody got too close to her. She wasn’t being paranoid about security, she really did need to be protected. There were many people in Aria that wanted to kill her.
Defective Clones were at the top of the list.
All of a sudden someone tapped on my shoulder. I spun around quickly, ready to run at any chance I got. But there was nobody there. Another tap on my other shoulder had the same effect.
Then realization hit me. I relaxed and looked back over my shoulder. “I know you’re there, Rocky. Quit playing games with me.”
Rocky stepped into my vision and moved to stand beside me, a goofy grin on his face. “What are you doing here?”
“I could ask the same about you.”
He shrugged, shoving his good hand into his pocket. “I was in the neighborhood and saw you come this way. I thought I would see what was so interesting that you didn’t even notice your best friend as you walked by him.”
“I didn’t see you.” I racked my brain and I couldn’t remember passing him at all. I was getting bad with my observation skills. It would only take one mishap to get myself killed.
“What are you doing here, anyway?”
It was my turn to shrug. “I thought I’d see what all the fuss was about. Then I thought I might enroll in some classes. Do you think I’d make the grade?”
Rocky gently elbowed me in the ribs. “They’d be lucky to have you.”
I let out a sigh underneath my breath. Clones weren’t allowed inside any educational facility. That included all kinds of schools and colleges. So many times I had dreamed of going to classes but it wasn’t possible.
Humans didn’t know how good they had it.
“Stone’s riled up today,” Rocky commented as her speech continued on. “Must have woken up on the right side of her lush bed.”
“I think she just likes the sound of hearing her own voice. Kill me if I ever become her, Rocky. Please?”
“You’ll never be like her.”
“How can you be so sure?”
Rocky’s face split into a grin. “Because I know you, Wren. If she wasn’t trying to kill you so badly, I wouldn’t believe she’s your Maker. There is nothing similar about you two except for your genes. And perhaps the color of your eyes.”
I smiled to myself and decided to believe him for now. I knew they were just sweet words, little lies to make me feel better, but I didn’t care. President Stone was a hard woman and I would do everything I could to make sure I didn’t become her.
“Let’s get out of here,” I said. I’d had more than my fair share of President Stone for one day. There was only so much I could take before I started throwing rocks at her.
I was about up to that stage.
It was better if I left.
The crowd around us suddenly erupted into a loud cheer and round of applause. They then started disbursing, some going into the college and others heading for the city’s subway system. Only the exceedingly wealthy had cars of their own.
We were caught up in the rush of the crowd as they all headed toward elsewhere. Out of the corner of my eye, a man caught my attention. He was standing as still as a sentry in the courtyard, not paying any attention to others as they were forced to step around him.
With his face tilted upwards as if in defiance, he crossed his arms over the front of his chest to form an X. He held it there for a few moments before his arms fell away and he turned to join the masses. The whole thing had happened in the blink of an eye but I had definitely seen it.
What I didn’t know was what it meant, if anything.
He was probably just saluting the college or the president in his own silent way. I hadn’t seen anyone else doing it but that didn’t mean it didn’t happen. I wasn’t going to believe I knew everything that went on.
Far from it.
Nobody told Defectives anything.
We weren’t even supposed to be able to read. Our minds weren’t to be used for our Makers, they meant little more than a vessel that moved around the bag of organs.
We started moving back to the village where we could rest a while before we decided where to spend the night. If there was a particularly strong presence of troopers around the area, I wouldn’t stay there. They were usually looking for me, and that put everyone else in danger.
Whether it was Stone’s public appearance at the college or some other reason, troopers were crawling all over the streets. We had to weave our way down alleyways and through shadows to avoid their attention.
“I heard some of the humans aren’t too happy with President Stone’s actions,” Rocky said unexpectedly.
“I can’t imagine they were the people at the college today,” I replied, remembering how they all looked at her with adoration. If there was an election today, they would have all voted for her.
Not that there were any elections. Stone had come to power thirty years ago and never let anyone else contest her. If anyone tried, she would have them jailed for treason.
Rocky continued, the beats of his words matching his steps. “Not the people today, but there are plenty of others that would fight against Stone if given the chance. There are plenty more poor people than rich.”
“That’s true. But do you really think anyone would be brave enough to fight her? She is so quick to lock people up or sentence them to death.”
“I don’t know. Maybe. Possibly. There’s a lot more that goes on in this city than we know about.”
That was the truth.
But a group ready to take her down?
It was the kind of things dreams were made of.
Chapter 7: President Portia Stone
Today was a breeze. Someone wrote my speech for me so all I had to do was talk and smile before I had the whole crowd eating out of the palm of my hand.
They were all so gullible.
I’d learned a long time ago that I only had to tell the idiots what they wanted to hear and they would love me. They were all little more than brainless drones.
And that’s the way I liked them.
“Where is my vehicle?” I demanded from my guards. They were all standing around, none of them willing to take responsibility for causing me to wait. “Well? Where is it? I don’t have all day, I am very important.”
“It is two seconds away, ma’am. Please accept my humble apology. It will not happen again,” one of the guards said. I didn’t know his name, they all looked the same to me.
“You’d better make sure it doesn’t happen again or I will be forced to show you what happens to guards who don’t do their job.”
He had the decency to look scared, which was exactly what I’d hoped. You didn’t rule a city with compliments and niceties. You ruled with an iron fist or you wouldn’t rule for long. My people were terrified of me.
The armored vehicle pulled up and I climbed in, along with a few of my guards. I hated having them constantly shuffling around me but there wasn’t much I could do about it. Sometimes idiots decided they would like to kill me. I’d rather one of my guards took the bullet instead of me.
I had a perfect recor
d for catching every single person that had said a bad word about me, let alone try to kill me. They all begged for mercy in the gas chamber.
Fools.
I could barely tolerate most of them at times.
People needed to realize I was always going to win and they may as well accept that fact or they would lose their lives. I thought I had made that quite clear over the years but there always seemed to be one with enough arrogance to think they were special.
Nobody in Aria was special.
Except me.
I’d proven that at the college today. There was nothing I couldn’t say to them that would lessen me in their opinion. They took everything I said and felt grateful to have been in my presence.
We arrived back at my mansion and I left the guards at the door. They were finally able to leave me alone now I was in my personal fortress. Nobody could breach my security measures here. Electric fences, guards patrolling the boundary, and a safe room would all ensure my heart continued to beat.
I headed for my office but never got that far. “Excuse me, Madam President, would you have a few moments to speak with me? There is something I would like to show you,” the guard said.
“Is it important?” I asked tersely. I’d worked all day, I didn’t need to get involved in whatever mundane task he was undertaking. If it wasn’t important, I didn’t want to know anything about it.
“I believe it is something you will want to see,” he replied. What they assumed and what was reality, was often quite different. If he was simply wasting my time I would ensure he was properly reprimanded.
Nobody did it twice.
I made sure of it.
“Fine, show me what it is and be quick about it.”
He led me into the main security room where one wall was covered in screens. They all showed different parts of the city, monitoring our people and looking for security threats. I had them working on adding sound to the surveillance so they could also listen for talk that wasn’t permitted.
Three Fates Entwined (The Defectives Book 0) Page 3