There was no denying the truth.
Yet she did it anyway. “I don’t know what you think you saw, but you are wrong. All clones are created in a petri dish, grown in a sterile environment until they take form. Then the scientist awakens them and they are considered born. Everybody knows this.”
“It’s what everyone’s been told. But it isn’t the truth. Human women are implanted and then they make the baby. We are born, just like every other human in the world.”
Stone closed her eyes and took a breath, as if having a real conversation with me was too tiring and frustrating for her to handle.
Good.
I wanted her to suffer.
Maybe then she’d get a taste of what my life was like.
She finally looked back up at me. “Clearly your defect doesn’t extend only to your foot. You must also have brain damage.” She took a sip from her tea.
“My brain works perfectly fine.”
“I’m sure you think it does.”
She put her cup onto the saucer and wiped her mouth with a cloth napkin. She stood. “Well, this has been… inconsequential. You will be returned to your cell.”
I made a point of staring at the teapot rather than acknowledging her.
Stone made it to the door before she spoke again. “Oh, and Clone?” she said, sneering. “We’ll never be friends.”
Good.
With a friend like her I didn’t need enemies. At least with enemies you knew what you were getting. There was no need to find an ulterior motive to every one of their words and actions. You knew they were going to hurt you.
I was escorted back to my cell a few moments later by two guards. They left no room for any chance of escape, holding my arms so tightly I thought they might snap me in two.
The lock of my cell door echoed around the room.
Nothing more happened for the rest of the day. I was given my carefully controlled meals and noticed how much bigger they were getting. It was subtle, the change so different that I didn’t notice it at first.
I ate until I was full now. The constant hunger that I lived with all my life had disappeared. It was strange to have a full belly, to not have to think about the next meal and where it would come from. I couldn’t help but think this was how humans ate and I would never get over how envious I was of them for that fact alone.
Going to bed, I drifted off easily.
If it wasn’t for my impending death, I could probably get used to the lifestyle.
Pity about the death part.
When I awoke the next morning, Doctor Wagstaff was standing at my cell door. He held his black bag in his right hand, giving me a wave with the other. “Good morning, Wren.”
I pushed myself up to sit on the bed, stretching and yawning before running fingers through my hair to try to tame it. There were no mirrors in my cell but my appearance didn’t really matter anyway.
“Morning, Doctor,” I replied.
A guard let him into my cell, locking it behind his entrance. For some reason the doctor wasn’t scared of me. He trusted me not to attack him. He was either a fool or just kind. I hadn’t decided which yet.
“We have a few tests to run through this morning. I hope you’re up for it.” He smiled and I decided he was kind, not a fool. He had shown me nothing but kindness since I met him. He also hadn’t betrayed my real name to Stone. That alone made me like him more.
“Do whatever you have to,” I sighed. There was no point arguing, it would only ensure the guards would hold me down while he worked. I may not have been allowed any dignity but I could still cling to what I did have.
“Stand up, Wren. I want you to do some exercises for me.”
I followed all of his orders, moving this way and that while the doctor tested my flexibility and muscle strength. He recorded everything in a black moleskin notebook, giving nothing away about his findings.
Finally, he weighed me and pinched the skin around my arms and stomach. Those numbers went into his notebook too.
“What’s the verdict?” I asked, needing to know what was going on. If this was my final checkup, it would be nice to know my time was limited.
We sat on the bed together. I curled my legs up, hugging them against my body like a security blanket, preparing to hear news I didn’t want to.
Doctor Wagstaff smiled again but I could see the evident sadness behind his eyes. “You are much healthier than when you first came here, Wren.”
“It’s because of the food, right? They feed me really well.”
“Yes, mainly. The vitamins and minerals placed in your food have helped significantly to improve your overall good health. I suspect not having to live in conditions of poverty also assists in warding off diseases.”
They were fattening me up like a prized pig. Was I supposed to be grateful for that? Stone had said as much but somehow I couldn’t summon the emotion.
Mainly, I just felt used.
“How much longer will it be?” I asked quietly. It was the answer I didn’t want to hear but I had to.
I just had to.
Otherwise my imagination would fill in the gaps and every noise would be my executioner coming to collect me for my final walk to the death room.
Doctor Wagstaff shifted like he was uncomfortable. “If you continue to improve as you are, then maybe a week. You are doing a very good job of getting healthy.”
A week.
Seven days.
The words bounced around in my brain, shattering any semblance of hope I still clung to. A week was nothing. It was the blink of an eye in a lifetime. Even less for a human.
“Thank you, Doctor.”
He stood. “I will see you again in a few days, Wren. Try to stay calm and eat well.”
I couldn’t look at him as he left. In seven days’ time he was going to inject me with a substance that would end my life. He would then cut me open and take out all my organs, placing them in a deep freeze so President Portia Stone could use them if she needed to.
He was only doing his job, I knew this. But it didn’t change the fact that it was difficult looking into the eyes of the man who would take my life. Even if he was just as trapped as I was.
When I was alone again, I pinched my skin like the doctor had done. My fingers didn’t meet like they used to. I was fatter. Not overweight by any means, but there was meat on my bones now. I had filled out, grown bumps where there wasn’t any before. I had hips, I had breasts, I had a waist.
I looked human.
I had never yearned for a mirror before but I did now. I wanted to see what my new body looked like from someone else’s perspective. I wanted to see my fuller face instead of only feeling it. I wanted to see my curvier bottom and how I now filled out my clothes.
It would be strange to look more like a human than a mere bag of bones.
It was also dangerous.
My fleshy curves were proof of my health. Every time I ate I only added to my weight, bringing me closer to my death.
How could I have been so stupid?
I had to eat less, starve myself so my health declined. It would have to be subtle, I’d have to hide the food so they didn’t work out what I was doing. My declining health had to be a mystery, something they didn’t know how to fix.
Looking like a human was going to be my death sentence.
I could not let that happen.
Chapter 6: Reece
Stone returned to Parliament and we resumed our guard duty at the perimeter. If this was the life of a member of the President’s Personal Guard, I was going to go insane.
At least in the Trooper Division we patrolled all over the city. Being confined to one place like this was monotonous. I needed to get out, stretch my legs, breathe.
When the straight line of my patrol brought me back to the guard’s hut at the entrance of the property, I took my chance to do something different.
“I need to use the restroom,” I told the supervisor. His gray hair didn’t match his wrinkle-free face. Either his ha
ir had prematurely aged, or he was addicted to the cosmetic procedures the labs provided.
He looked me up and down as if that would tell him whether I really did need to piss or not. He finally shrugged. “They’re inside, first room to your right. Be quick and then return to your post.”
I saluted and hurried inside.
I turned left.
The restroom wasn’t required but it was an opportunity to walk around Parliament without having a three-man escort. My time was limited but I had to know if Wren was there.
Stone had taken her from the labs, she had to have sequestered her somewhere. Parliament was a big building, full of areas off limits to the public and most members of the government. That left a lot of rooms where someone could hide a clone.
The building was three floors high. If I was holding someone, I wouldn’t want them anywhere near a window. Not only would that give them a chance to escape, but they could also use it to attract attention from someone outside.
Areas that didn’t have windows were all underground.
So that’s where I went.
The stairs to the basement rooms were located by the back, I remembered this from my short stint at protecting Stone a few weeks back. We’d all been given a quick tour of the place when Stone walked around going about her business.
I had made sure to pay particular attention. At the time I thought it might help the Resistance. I never thought I’d be looking for Wren somewhere in the labyrinth of corridors and darkened hallways.
The basement area was off limits to most people, signs warned to turn back now as this was for those with proper clearance only. With that kind of warning, I could only guess at what else they held down there.
A central corridor ran down from the staircase. Rooms were to both the left and right, those with open doors had the lights switched off. It wasn’t the rooms with the doors open that concerned me. Wren wouldn’t voluntarily stay in a place where she could escape. I might not know her very well, but I knew she was a fighter. Given the chance, she would get the hell out of there.
The doors I tried were all locked. Keypads requiring pin codes were affixed to the walls, securing them. There was going to be no way to break in without setting off a dozen alarms and attracting attention I didn’t need.
Still, I checked every door there was, acutely aware of the time ticking away as I did. It didn’t take this long to use the restroom and the guards were watching me carefully.
They were probably timing me.
I wanted to scream out Wren’s name, alert her to the fact I was there and searching for her. But it was pointless, I didn’t even know if she was there for certain.
She could have been anywhere by now.
Stone had unlimited resources, it would be easy for her to hide a clone. Hell, she didn’t even need to hide her. Clones belonged to their Makers, she had every right to hold her for as long as she wanted.
“Hey, you’re not supposed to be here.” The male voice boomed along the hallway until it hit my ears, making me freeze in place. “What’s your name and rank?”
My arms went up in surrender, just in case he was planning on using his gun for some target practice. “Cadet Guard Reece Thompson, sir.”
“Cadet Guard? You have no clearance to be down here.” He strode over to get closer, getting a good look at me so he could sear my image into his brain. Exactly the opposite of what I needed. “State your business.”
“I got lost, sir. I was trying to find the restroom.” I offered a bemused smile, trying to convince him of my stupidity. It wasn’t really a lie, I was stupid – for getting caught.
The guard eyed me suspiciously, walking a circle around me while appraising my words for the truth. “This is a long way from the restrooms, cadet.”
“All the corridors looked the same to me, sir. This is my first day patrolling for the Guard.”
He snapped his gun to the side, a signal that he saw me as no threat… for now. “The restrooms are on level one. Use them and then get back to your watch. Now. I don’t want to find you down here again, understood?”
“Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.” I saluted and hurried away. For good measure, I did visit the restrooms. I didn’t want to be caught out on my lie if someone was keeping tabs on me.
When I returned to my post, I purposefully avoided the guard station. If my superior asked me why I didn’t check back in, I’d make up an excuse about him being busy, that I didn’t want to disturb him and went straight to my patrol.
It sounded plausible.
I was building up a house of lies.
Hoping they didn’t crash down around me.
The rest of the afternoon was as mind-numbingly boring as the morning had been. If it wasn’t for the trip to the labs, nothing would have broken up the day.
It was just on sundown when we returned to the base. All the government workers had returned home, living to see another day of corruption and unfairness in their roles.
Guards were going about their business, mostly filling in time until chow. I was looking forward to dinner myself, but I had something else on my mind that needed to be dealt with.
I needed to find a way out of the base, a weakness in their system like at the troopers’ base camp. It had taken me a good month of recon to work out my last means of escape and there had to be one here too. No place was perfect.
After all, they weren’t trying to stop the guards escaping. They were trying to make sure the public stayed outside the base. If any civilian could break in there, they could access the armory. Wouldn’t want to arm a group of angry rebels, would they?
My long strides took me all around the base. It was far smaller than the troopers’ so it didn’t take as long as I’d been expecting. A ring of fences circled the buildings. The faint hum of electricity said they were alive and would deliver a hell of a shock if anyone touched the metal.
Guard posts were set up in nearly-equal intervals. One guard on each post. It looked like they communicated with an earpiece, able to request help within a second of needing it.
There were no blind spots that I could find. Even with the guards spread out, they could each see one another. To slip past them they would have to all be looking in the same direction, something would have to distract them.
Then there was the problem of the electrified fence. To get over them I’d need some Electro Gloves. They absorbed all electrical shocks and weren’t something that you could stumble upon out in the open. The armory probably had some but I wouldn’t have a legitimate excuse to check out a pair.
If they wouldn’t even give me a gun, I doubted they would give me a pair of Electro Gloves.
Failing digging a fifteen foot tunnel and going underneath the fence, I was staying put on base. It did nothing to ease the tightness of claustrophobia holding onto my lungs and squeezing them tight.
I trailed behind some guys and joined their group while we walked to the mess hall. It didn’t look as suspicious if I wasn’t alone. Skulking around the base was something likely to get me into trouble if they realized what I was trying to do.
Parsons was at a table with a few empty seats when I picked up my meal. I carried the tray over and sat beside him. He nodded his head in greeting. “Good day?”
I shrugged. “As good as it gets. Was on Parliament detail. Walked in a straight line most of the day. You?”
He swallowed down his bite of food. “You got lucky man, I was on wall duty. We don’t even get to patrol, just stand there all day looking at gray concrete.”
Perhaps my day could have been worse.
“Is all guard duty like this?” I asked, desperate for some good news. If this was going to be my life from now on, I was going to be very bored with such mundane tasks.
“Mostly. Only the elite get to guard Stone personally and have more movement. Until then, we guard everything the government owns and put up with it,” Parsons said, before grinning. “Protect and serve, right, buddy? It’s what we signed up for.
”
I snorted. I didn’t sign up for anything. However, they did save my life from the firing squad so I guess I did owe the Guard for that. Being bored was definitely preferable to being dead.
The conversation drifted to other items as more guards joined us and the general din in the hall grew louder. I did a lot of listening, it was far safer than talking. I wanted to get a feel for the guys, work out if anyone else worked for the Resistance.
Joseph had once told me that he had members in all levels of Aria. He’d implied that meant the President’s Personal Guard as well. While he wouldn’t give me any details, he’d pretty much confirmed it.
I only had to work out who it was and they’d be able to help me work out a way to speak with him. Joseph would give me guidance about what I needed to do in my new role, give me some direction. Right now I was only treading water, I needed to be swimming toward something.
If the lone wolf was sitting at my table, he didn’t give himself away. There was nothing unusual about the conversations swirling around me. It seemed the guards were even more devoted to Stone than the troopers were.
Surely they couldn’t see her the way I did. Otherwise they would never be able to lie so convincingly like they did.
When most of the guys had trailed off to their own missions or lodgings, I leaned in a little closer to Parsons so we couldn’t be overheard. I needed to ask him something before we returned to our rooms where the listening devices were waiting.
“Hey, do you know of a way to get off base?” I asked quietly, quickly adding, “I have a girl I see sometimes. It would be nice to pay her a visit, if you know what I mean.”
Parsons’ face split into a wide grin. “Yeah, for a cuddle, right? Just to check in on her? Make sure she’s not cheating on you? I got ya, dude.”
Better he think I was itching for the company of a woman rather than planning to meet with the leader of the Resistance or search for the Defective Clone of the president.
“So… is there a way?” I prompted.
He looked around to make sure we had no eavesdroppers before he deemed the conversation safe and he could reply. “There’s a loose board in the back of Lodge House Bravo’s attic roof. Time it right and you can jump over the fence without losing an arm.”
Hundred Stolen Breaths Page 6