Including Wren.
My fingers skimmed over my lips, touching them gently and remembering how they had felt on Wren’s beautiful mouth. I don’t know what came over me when I kissed her. All I knew was that there was nothing more I wanted in the world than that kiss and I wasn’t leaving until I got it.
She had kissed me back, I was sure of it.
I’m not sure what that meant.
But I wanted to get back to the bunker to find out. More than anything, I wanted these clones to be rescued so we could all return to her. I wanted to see the smile on her face when we did the impossible, see the hope flicker in her eyes that everything would actually be alright.
Wanted her arms around me.
Her lips on mine.
I needed to stay focused or it would all be just a dream. I checked the view through the binoculars again. Nothing. Just as quiet as it had been since we arrived.
All of a sudden the communications device George was holding crackled to life – scaring the living daylights out of me.
“Group Three, safe to report? Over.”
George pressed the button and spoke into the device. “Safe to report, state your findings. Over.”
“We are currently at Laboratory Foxtrot and there is a lot of movement here. It looks like it’s a full house here today. Over.”
“Hold position. We are on our way. Over.” George flicked the communicator off, the orange hologram dissolving into thin air. “We need to move. Everybody over to Lab Foxtrot. It seems things are more exciting over there than here.”
He waved for us to follow and we piled into the white vans we’d used to travel from the bunker. We all crouched low in the back, the only one of us visible was the driver. The van was just like thousands of others in Aria, designed to blend in and hide in plain sight.
The road was rough and bumpy as we lay on the floor. Not being able to see out the window meant time seemed to stand still for the entire journey. Lab Foxtrot was to the north of Alfa, sixth in line in the ring of labs dotted around Aria.
The driver parked a considerable length from the target. We didn’t have the luxury of hiding next to an abandoned strip mall here, Foxtrot stood out in the middle of nothingness. All we could rely on was a small ditch to crowd in, our feet muddied with the stagnant water still clutching to the bottom.
I instantly knew what the scouts had seen to make them think this was where the clones were taken. A plethora of guards were standing sentry around the perimeter, holding higher range assault rifles than they normally would.
No doubt they would have a shoot-to-kill authority in their back pockets.
If any of them caught a glimpse of us, they wouldn’t hesitate in dealing with the intrusion. Technically we weren’t trespassing or breaking any laws, but nobody would care when it came down to it. Stone’s precious labs came above everything else.
They were supposed to be untouchable.
The roar of a truck’s engine rumbled up the road. I knew without looking it belonged to the troopers. You heard something long enough and it became a part of you. I could be dropped into the trooper base blind and still be able to find my way around just by using my ears.
I tapped George’s shoulder and pointed, mouthing ‘troopers’ in the process. We all huddled down a bit further, making sure our heads didn’t peek over the top of the ditch. The roar of the engine grew closer, rattling over the road with all the grace of a hippopotamus on tiptoes.
The noise rumbled away until it stopped all together. I risked a look, seeing it being waved through the security gates at the front of the lab. All the other security checkpoints were already being opened for it to pass through.
I wondered how many Defective Clones were shoved into the back of it. How many were they delivering to their deaths? How happy would their Makers be when they knew their organs were safely preserved for them?
The whole thing made me sick.
I bit back the bile and tried to focus on the mission at hand.
The truck came to a final stop outside the building, the driver and another trooper jumping out to head for the back doors. I had to look through the binoculars to see anything more. They pulled open the double doors and barked orders until a line of clones were pulled out – one after the other.
Fourteen of them.
Their faces were grim, their bodies shook from fear, and they were caked in a mixture of blood and mud. The unwelcome image of Wren being one of them made my fingers twist into fists. She could have easily been amongst them.
They were marched inside the lab, one trooper at each end and not afraid to use force when they stepped out of line. They knew where to land their blows so that it wouldn’t affect the clone’s organs. They were monsters, I couldn’t believe I used to be one of them.
I had to tear my eyes away before I did something stupid.
George and Joseph were whispering quietly amongst themselves, their heads bowed together for privacy. I shuffled over to them, determined not to be left out of the loop. I was more invested in this than they were, I’d made a promise for our success. I wasn’t going to stand by passively.
“This has to be where they were all taken,” I whispered, grabbing their attention as they immediately hushed. “We need to go in and get them out. They’ll be taking them to the cells on the lower levels. If we can—”
Joseph held up a hand to stop me. I had to bite my tongue to stop myself from continuing on anyway. He blinked slowly to give me a moment before speaking himself. “This is the lab we planned on attacking. The place is riddled with C-4 explosives.”
“That doesn’t change anything,” I said. “We go in, get the clones out, and you can continue on with your ridiculous plan another time.”
“It will ruin everything,” George interrupted. For the first time I noticed how angry he was. His hands were bunched tightly around his set of binoculars, his jaw was tense, and sweat was beading on his brow.
I really didn’t care how irate he was. This wasn’t about him and his plans, it was about doing the right thing. “It doesn’t have to ruin anything. Rescuing the clones won’t alert them to the fact you’ve rigged the place. They won’t suddenly go looking for explosives.”
“They will tighten security,” he shot back quickly. “They will put our men on the inside into terrible danger. We cannot risk the bigger picture for a few Defective Clones.”
My jaw hung open for a few minutes to make sure I was getting the facts straight in my head. Because surely, surely, I hadn’t just heard those words coming from a member of the Resistance’s mouth.
“You can’t be serious,” I said.
“We have to think of the bigger picture. Sacrificing a few for many will all be worth it in the long run. The Defs would understand.”
My blood was boiling to the point of no return.
If George thought he was angry, he hadn’t seen anything yet.
“Do not call them Defs. They are people, their lives matter just as much as ours do. They probably would understand, they would probably tell us to do exactly what you’re saying. But that is what makes them better than us and we will not do that to them. There is only one way this is going down and it is by rescuing them all.”
The men exchanged a look I couldn’t read. They shifted uncomfortably while I crouched completely still. I had never been more certain of something before, I needed to save all of them otherwise I would never be able to live with myself.
I couldn’t look Wren in the eyes and tell her I’d let them all die.
I just couldn’t.
I wouldn’t.
“We need to come up with a plan,” I reminded them, reiterating the point that I would not accept their poor excuse for a playlist. Walking away now, only to blow up the lab later on, was not going to happen.
Not on my watch.
Not while I still had a beating heart.
I turned my attention back to the lab, making sure nothing had changed since starting our conversation.
The troopers’ truck still sat outside the front doors of the building and all the guards were still stationed around the perimeter.
All the action was inside, not out.
When I turned back around to the others, Joseph and George were whispering to each other again. I didn’t like their secrets, they could be conspiring against me, coming up with more stupid ideas than we had time for.
I frog-walked over to them so they had no choice except to include me in their conversation. I was trained to follow orders but those instincts had clearly gone out the window – sometime ago now.
“Do we have anything?” I interrupted, adding, “Sensible?”
“We can detonate some of the explosives laid in the building,” George replied. “It will create a diversion so we can go in. The guards will all converge on the area and give us an opportunity to get in and find the clones.”
“Not all guards will race to the area,” I explained.
“What’s the protocol?” Joseph asked.
I ran through everything I knew about the guards, figuring it would be similar to the troopers. Ultimately, the lab guards, the President’s Personal Guard, or the President’s Trooper Division, were all put together by the same high-ranking officials. We may have worn different uniforms, but our protocols were all the same.
If there was ever an explosion at a place where the troopers were stationed, only half of us would head toward the noise to investigate. The rest would stay put and continue to protect our area in case it was just a diversionary tactic. Those high-ranking officials had probably not spent one day as a guard, but they were smart.
Running through our options of using the C-4 explosives, I tried to find a way around the protocols. There had to be a tipping point, something that would confuse the guards enough so they weren’t thinking about all the rules. We had to thin their numbers or we’d never get through the first security gate.
I played the strategies over in my head, running through and applying the protocols to dismiss all those that would fail at first instance. Plays, strategies, plots, they all whirled through my mind as fast as lightning. Most were dismissed just as quickly.
There had to be a way.
I had to find it.
All eyes of the waiting Resistance members were on me, drilling into me and hoping for the magic plan that would make it easy for us. Nobody wanted a fight, nobody wanted to rush through those gates just to be shot for our troubles. If we didn’t make it, the clones inside wouldn’t either.
Finally, something came together in my head, a plan that might actually give us a shot at pulling this thing off.
“It’s going to be dangerous,” I warned.
That caught their attention.
Chapter 18: Wren
The tunnel was dark and it smelled funny. Something had died down here a while ago and its rotting corpse was still haunting the small space.
I breathed through my mouth, trying not to taste the stench. It made a small difference but my hand covering half my face seemed to be more effective.
We only had a few flashlights to light our way. They were handed out along the long procession, trying to make it illuminated enough so we didn’t all trip over the random rocks and other debris scattered across the floor.
The explosions were quieter down in the tunnel, they didn’t extend this far underground. The floor had a slight slope to it, like we were descending down to the very center of the world. It wouldn’t have surprised me if we came out on the other side of the universe.
Along with the tunnel being dark and smelly, it was also cold and the air seemed thinner. It was difficult to walk, not just because of our combined defects and injuries, but because the air made us work for every breath.
To say I was scared was an understatement.
But I was also determined.
And stubborn.
All these people had listened to me when I said we needed to go down the tunnel. I couldn’t let them believe I had led them astray. I would take them to a safe place, there was no option for failure. Not with this many lives at stake.
“We’ve been walking for a long time,” Autumn whispered to me, leaning over so nobody else could hear. We were still carrying our box of supplies, the weight getting heavier and heavier in my arms.
“We might have to walk for twice as long yet,” I replied, refusing to let the fear cloud my judgment. This was a one way walk, turning back and confronting the troopers was never going to be an option. Our time for a show down would come eventually, but now was not that time.
“I’m getting worried,” she confessed.
I didn’t like to tell her I was too. “This tunnel has to lead somewhere. If it is putting as much distance between us and the troopers as possible, then it’s a good thing.”
Autumn was quiet for a very long time. So long I thought our discussion was over and she was silently saying her prayers for safety and a good outcome.
Our feet beat out a steady rhythm, far slower than the beating of my heart. If I could move as fast as my blood, we would already know what was at the end of the tunnel.
I remembered Reece telling me once that attitude was as important as any action. He told me that anything I thought about hard enough could materialize into real life. As if I could just think about something and it would come true.
When he said those words to me, I thought he was insane. I literally thought he had fallen off the deep end and was lost to me forever. Because surely just thinking about something couldn’t make it come true?
In the rank darkness of the tunnel, I decided it wouldn’t hurt to believe him now. Maybe I was on the brink of insanity myself but I imagined the end of the tunnel, a bright white light that would deposit us somewhere safe. There would be shelter there, food, a place to rest.
I pictured it all.
Reece and Rocky would be there too.
I wanted it so badly. I wanted to reach out and touch it with my hands, feel the sunshine on my face and know that we had done it. That we hadn’t let all these people down. That we were going to be okay.
It was all wishful thinking.
But it was all I had.
My gimp foot was in so much pain that it was starting to go numb. I welcomed it. There was no way I was going to stop walking so the numbness would make a nice change from the aching throb in the twisted limb.
Many of the other Defective Clones would be in the same position with their own medical problems. It wouldn’t be only feet but deformed backs, arms, and internal issues. We weren’t cast out as defective for nothing.
Nobody complained, though. Everyone walked largely in silence, only a few managing to hold a conversation in the darkness. The box of supplies I was carrying was getting heavier by the second. It kept slipping through my fingers, making it even more difficult.
Still, we trudged along like we weren’t uncomfortable, tired, hungry, and scared. We walked like soldiers, going into battle and determined to win.
We must have been walking for a few hours before those at the front of the procession came to a standstill. Everyone bunched up as Autumn and myself weaved our way through to see what the problem was.
There was a fork in the tunnel.
The darkness branched off in two different directions, giving us two options. I tried to keep the new panic from my face and set my features into a mask. Any weakness in front of these people would throw away any confidence they had in me.
Autumn’s brows were pinched together when she shot me a look. If she was looking at me for answers, she was going to be disappointed. I was fresh out of solutions.
I shrugged and tried to peer down both of the tunnels. The flashlight beam danced along the walls and into the dark depths of the length. No matter how many ways I shone the light, the result was continually the same.
Nothing but darkness.
All the way down for as far as I could see.
We had a fifty-fifty shot at making the right choice. But either or neither o
f the tunnels might lead somewhere safe. They could loop back and take us right into the heart of the bunker again for all I knew.
Maybe they led right to the guards’ base.
Maybe they led to the laboratories.
Maybe they led right back to President Stone.
There was so much uncertainty that it was impossible to make a decision on behalf of all those people. But we were all in the same boat, nobody knew where we were going or which way was the right one.
“What’s the hold up?” a man asked, he was a member of the Resistance. He stood at least a foot taller than everyone around him.
Autumn and I turned at the same time to face them. I was waiting for her to speak. The silence told me that she was waiting for me to say something.
What could I say?
Did I apologize now for leading them astray?
I cleared my throat and swallowed down the fear, I couldn’t let them know we had no idea what we were doing. “We are just trying to orientate ourselves to determine which tunnel is the correct one for us.”
Sighs and sputters of disbelief raced through all the waiting people. Their eyes were focused on us, even if I couldn’t see them all in the darkness.
“Maybe you should all take a five minute break,” Autumn suggested. At least she’d said something, so she wasn’t completely mute all of a sudden, then.
Feet shuffled as people tried to get comfortable. A few of the braver ones sat down on the dank and dirty concrete floor. It had a layer of dirt spread across it, probably from rain water that had rushed through the tunnel at some point in the past.
I leaned in toward Autumn, whispering, “Do you have any idea where we are or where these two tunnels lead?”
She shook her head, not exactly what I wanted to see at that moment. “The tunnels aren’t straight, I’m all turned around. I have no idea where we are underneath the city. I never imagined we’d have a choice of tunnels.”
In my mind I tried to place the bunker underneath Aria. It was below the Defective Clones’ village so I knew exactly where it was. From there, I tried to trace the track of the tunnel we’d already walked.
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