Mason and Dixon followed their father as he backed up. Penny finally smiled. Nodded.
Sam looked at the ragged scar on her sister’s scalp, a ripped river of pain where black stitches still ran like wildly drawn X’s.
Penny’s metal claw flexed open as she concentrated and let the ball drop at the same speed it had risen. It fell and smashed through the roof of the car with a boom. The guards applauded.
“Perfect,” Clint called. “Now…”
But before he could instruct her, Penny retracted her metal arm with her open claw pointed at the car, pulling the ball back to her. Its heft punched the driver’s side door open as it flew back to her to settle inside the round pocket of her metal palm. Now she turned to Sam.
“They’re calling you Wrecking Ball,” Sam said.
Penny shook her head. “Like that old song?”
Sam picked up her rifle. “I’d download it if we had access to the fucking internet.”
Penny dusted off her metal arm. “One reason to be grateful we don’t,” she said, holding the wrist of her metal arm with her natural hand. “That song’s annoying.”
Sam stepped closer, placing at her shoulder, the metal socket and irritated skin around it. “That getting better?”
Penny ran her eyes down the length of her prosthetic, from the shoulder joint to her claw. “Hurts less.”
Sam put her arm around her sister’s shoulder and hugged her. “You amaze me.”
Mason jogged to them with this brother lagging behind. “That was awesome.”
Penny’s typical bashfulness was replaced with a stiff jawed nod. “Yeah, I guess it kinda was.” She slipped out from Sam’s arm.
Mason hugged her, kissing her on the cheek. “I wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of that thing.”
“You take that off in bed, I hope,” Dixon joked as he approached.
“Dude. C’mon,” Mason said.
The technicians knelt by Penny’s side and inspected her arm, opening a curved panel on her bicep to access its internal components. All it took was the simple turn of an allen wrench to tweak whatever calculation they needed to make her prosthetic perform perfectly. “Great control, Penny. How’s the pain management?”
“Better,” she said.
“A few more weeks and you won’t feel a thing,” he said.
Clint leaned on his baseball bat like a cane. “I think it’s time we showed y’all something.”
The boys were quick to give him quizzical looks, both saying, “What?”
Clint looked down at the bat and the dirt that he was spinning a divot into with it. One technician nodded at the other and they walked back toward the base.
“Something we’re been working on, for a while I guess,” Clint said. “C’mon. Inside.”
Sam watched Dixon’s attention meander away from the conversation. He was the daydreamer of the two, always drifting. He scanned the treeline for movement, lifting the scope of this rifle to his eye to get a better view. She had all but given up on trying to date him. And it was a mystery how Mason liked Penny despite his brother and Sam having no chemistry. That went against everything she’d ever learned about Set relationships. The mutual attraction of all four of them should have either bloomed naturally or not happened at all. Sometimes Sam felt like she was the only person witnessing some of the most important happenings in the world—like she was the only two noticing these tiny shifts that would ripple through culture and change the world forever. Of course, as usual, she was the two that was left out.
“I hope…,” Clint said, but didn’t finish and started to walk to the base. “You’ll see.”
Jill was waiting for them inside as the massive gate closed behind them. The sound of concrete scraping concrete rumbled until the parted doors slammed shut. Darkness blanketed the open room. In the dim, Jill cradled the baby as if it were the most precious thing in the world because they all knew if probably was. Mason was the first to approach her, making Sam wonder if his attentiveness was a show for Penny.
“You name this poor thing yet?” he asked Jill.
She gently peeled back the blanket that covered the baby’s brow. “We’ve got a few names we’re mulling over. Nothing solid yet.” Jill looked to Clint. “We doing this now?”
Clint nodded. “They’re ready.”
“Ready for what?” Sam asked as she took off her heavy mag-vest.
Clint cycled his stare from one twin to the next. “This way.”
Sam hadn’t seen the RV since the night they arrived a month ago. She figured it had been hidden away so it wouldn’t remind everytwo about the violence that had taken place. When Clint brought them into the machine shop lined with jeeps and militarized pickup trucks, she realized the opposite was true. The RV was being given very special attention. The first thing she noticed was the side panel that had been removed. Behind where it had been was a laptop with a larger external hard drive attached to it. Everything was expertly secured with clasps and bolts. Cords snaked out from the laptop in every direction.
The vintage RV wasn’t what it seemed.
Sam and Penny shot Mason and Dixon baffled faces.
Always defensive, Dixon held up his hands. “Don’t look at us.”
“I hope y’all aren’t going to hate me,” Clint said.
“I don’t get it,” Mason said. “Were you…?”
“This is our security camera, right?” Dixon asked as he leaned down and inspected the inside of the panel.
Jill remained quiet, avoiding Sam’s eyes.
“Maybe like…” Clint said, removing his ball cap. “A lot of cameras.”
Penny and Sam turned to each other, grimacing.
“I noticed that camera,” Clint pointed to the small half sphere that poked out of the RV, pointed at the side door. “And the one inside, over the dash, but…”
“There’s more?” Penny asked, her face becoming more horrified.
“There’s…” Clint could barely look at them. “A few others. Nothing personal was recorded and all of you can look through what we captured.”
“What?” Penny almost yelled. Her claw tensed to a pointed fist. “Why did you do this? This is our lives. Our privacy.”
“Penny,” Jill said. “It wasn’t just Clint’s decision.”
“What?” Sam said as she stepped into the RV. “Are there cameras in the back?”
Jill said nothing and covered the baby’s head.
“Yes,” Clint said.
Sam rewound her brain to all the private things she had done in the few days they were on the road—things she never wanted Penny to see, things she done at night she’d never want on tape. “What the fuck?”
“No one has seen the footage yet,” Clint assured them. “Only one of the media people here. She’s a social engineer. She wants to meet with all y’all.”
“This is… I don’t even know what to…” Penny looked like she might tear sometwo in half. Sam watched her through the back window as she turned to Jill. “Did you know?”
Jill nodded. “We had no choice. This footage, it’s the only real weapon we have.”
“She’s right,” Clint said. “All these trucks. Our armor. Your fancy arm. None of it stands a chance against Gray Altar. They can come in here anytime and kill us all.”
“And a bunch of home movies does?” Mason said, looking to Penny. “Did you film us? Me and Penny?”
“Like I said, I haven’t seen any of that. I’ve watched the battle footage of that night, the last night. We even hacked some of the drones that Gray Altar was using. We’ve got that footage too.”
Sam stepped out of the RV and next to Mason. “You have us killing Prince? Me and Penny shooting him?”
Everybody looked at each other, shocked, elated, saddened.
“Yes,” Clint said. “I’m not sure if you want to see it.”
“I do,” Sam said. “I definitely do.”
Jill held the baby tight. “Honey, I don’t think you do.”
A One Nation operative met them in front of the media center as if scripted. He handed both Sets of twins lunch on steel trays—each of their favorite sandwiches accompanied by their their favorite potato chips and fruit. “You like kiwis, right Penny?”
“Ah, yeah,” she said, taking her tray.
“This feels like a set-up,” Dixon said, unfolding the wax paper of one of his sandwiches.
“Alix is going to explain everything,” Clint said as the door slid open to the media center.
The same team that Sam passed earlier watched them enter the large room. As they were led through the room, she wondered what One Nation’s motive could be. Were they making sure she and Penny weren’t spies? Had they recorded everything as insurance against a security breach?
Penny turned to her and whispered, “This is insane. They were watching us? Like, studying us?”
“No one was watching anything,” Jill said, stressing the one like some Singulars like to do. “I haven’t even seen the tapes.”
Sam glared back at her. “You could have told us.”
“No,” Jill said softly. “I’m sorry, but I couldn’t have.”
At the end of the room, a door opened into a private editing room with multiple screens and a long console of switches and dials. A woman with salt and pepper hair greeted them with handshakes, smiling and saying, “I’m Alix. I’m the communications director here. You’ve probably seen me around the base, definitely in here if you’ve been hanging out using the computers.”
Clint stood close to her. “These are my sons, Mason and Dixon. And you know Jill and her daughters.”
Alix nodded at Sam and then Penny. “Heroes. Both of you. Defending yourself against a Gray Altar assault and killing Emmett Prince. That was… astonishing. Really. We’re all honored to have you here.”
Sam tried not to roll her eyes. This was something she’d heard so many times before. In her mind, they weren’t heroes at all, just two girls who were caught up in one of the most important discoveries in twenty years.
Alix turned to Mason and Dixon. “And you two, everytwo would be dead if you hadn’t taken out so many mercenaries that night.” Alix, though she was older, used the modern plural vernacular created by Sets. It was awkward hearing a Singular speak this way and it made Sam suspicious—was this woman trying too hard to get on their good side?
“Let’s sit,” she said. “What we’re going to discuss might sound weird and you’ll probably be upset at first. I want to say that up front.”
“Because you filmed us,” Penny said. “Secretly. Recorded. Us.”
“Penny,” Jill said. “Blame me and Clint, not her or One Nation. It was our choice.”
“Please, have a seat. All of you,” Alix said as she took the chair at the editing console. “When I explain it all, I think you’ll be relieved.”
Sam watched Mason sit next to her sister. His love for her had only grown since that night, but Sam had come to terms with this. Penny needed all the support she could get.
Alix leaned in once they were all seated. “I want you to know that I joined One Nation three years ago. I was a tenured professor at Duke. I left my life behind when I walked through those doors and I’ve never looked back because our mission here is vital to restoring balance to the nation.”
Clint nodded and watched his sons’ reactions.
“I’m not going to get all preachy and I don’t want to make this about me. It’s about your future and the country you deserve, not one run by corrupt politicians and a private military. Penny, you paid a high price, one of the highest prices, for the policies that are in place.”
Penny scoffed. “You guys aren’t recording this now, are you? There’s no cameras in here, right?”
Alix breathed deep and shook her head. “No. I understand why you’re upset. I would be too.”
“Pissed is the word,” Penny said.
“Pen, please,” Jill huffed.
Mason put his arm around Penny’s shoulder, leaning on the cold metal of her arm. Sam noticed Penny had her open claw aimed almost directly at Alix as if a simple gesture could send her wrecking ball straight into the woman’s face.
“I’ve only watched a little bit of the footage. No two else has at all. We want all of you to approve it before we release it.”
All four twins turned to each other in disbelief.
“What?” Sam said.
Alix picked up a steaming mug from a holder in the console and steeped the teabag inside it. “I know. It sounds crazy, but what we want to do is this. With your permission and help, we want to slowly release footage of all of you, from the beginning of the trip all the way to the end, the battle and the baby’s birth.”
The four teenagers shifted glances at two another. Sam was speechless.
“Online?” Penny said, her mouth open as if she had more words to say but couldn’t form them.
“Yes,” Alix said.
“Why?” Dixon scoffed, looking at his brother. “Who cares about us?”
“That’s it. The world doesn’t know who you are yet,” Alix said, sipping her tea. “If we do this right, telling your story and Jill’s at the same time, if we do that and lead up to the baby’s birth, then Gray Altar will have no authority or power over the child. Or you. You’ll all be free. All we have to do is make people care.”
“A lot of people,” Jill added.
“It’s the best way,” Clint said. “The public already knows Gray Altar is corrupt. They have more congressmen in their pocket than any political party and they act with immunity abroad. All the people need to see is how Gray Altar wants to control the cure and profit off it. People won’t stand for that.”
“Then why can’t you just tell them?” Penny asked, shifting her weight and wincing at the lingering pain of her missing arm. “We don’t have to be part of it.”
“You don’t have to, you’re right,” Alix said. “But what if we used the videos to make the public empathize with you? See that you’re victims just like the thousands of other victims out there? I know this is hard to hear, but Gray Altar considers you all enemies of the state. Once they find you, they can do whatever they want to you.”
“We know,” Mason said with a darkness each of them shadowed in their faces. “News reports about One Nation are always negative. More and more.”
Alix nodded. “It’s true. But we can fight that with broad public opinion. There must be some really compelling footage on those cameras we can edit together.” She said this in a way that made Sam think she had watched the dozens of hours of video.
“So this was all a setup,” Penny said and turned to Jill. “You wanted the four of us to get together? To like each other?” She turned to Alix. “And One Nation was happy to have Prince’s death on recorded.”
Jill held the baby tight as she looked directly at Penny. “No. Stop. None of this was set up. All we wanted was to get here, to safety, and we taped it as a backup. What if Gray Altar took us all that night? The RV’s tapes would be the only proof.”
“They would’ve destroyed the RV or found the videos,” Dixon said.
Alix was smart to sit back and listen. Sam watched her dip her teabag over and over, analyzing the dynamics of the group.
“Either way, we tried,” Clint said. “There’s too much at stake not to.”
Penny stood, nudging Mason off her. “This is fucked up.”
“Penny!” Jill said.
The baby started to cry.
Penny pointed her claw at Alix. “My life isn’t some web series for One Nation to profit off of.”
Clint scowled. He had warned her about pointing at people—it wasn’t just an arm, it was a weapon. “Penny, we meant no harm.”
“Harm?” she laughed and slapped her metal shoulder joint. “Harm doesn’t need meaning to hurt, does it? What do you know about harm?”
“Penny, you’re being rude,” Jill said, hu
shing the baby.
Sam knew there was nothing to say to calm her sister. When Penny tensed, all they could hear in the quiet room was her metal arm humming with urgency. Its hydraulic tendons hissed and she flexed its joints. Mason stood next to her.
“Yeah. Right,” Penny said and walked out.
“Pen!” Jill called.
“Let her go,” Alix said, making sure Penny heard. “She has every right to be mad.”
The door slid shut behind Penny and Mason, leaving Sam to speak for them both. Alix turned to her and Dixon. “What do you think? What if we told your story to the entire world, starting with the night you left home on the first day of summer vacation.” She turned to Jill. “Spliced in with testimonial from your mother, how she volunteered for genetic therapy almost twenty years ago, how you two—Sam and Penny—were products of that successful test? We’ll hook the audience in with the emotional and relatable hook of you and your sister while informing the public about the facts. That the cure should be free, for everytwo.”
There it was again, everytwo. From the lips of a Singular older than her mom.
This was so much to take in. Sam thought back through the trip and what she had done. Did she want Penny to see that she drew her while she was sleeping? Was there anything else shitty she did to her sister that she was forgetting about? How much of Prince’s death was actually recorded?
Alix waited for her to react.
Sam liked the feeling that so much of this hinged on her decision. And maybe this was okay, exposing the truth. How many thousands of people would watch? Millions, even. The thought was enticing. The little time she’d spent at the base away from the internet had been torture enough. Living underground required total anonymity. She felt like she had been erased.
“Would we help you edit? Pick out what we wanted to show?” Sam asked.
It was obvious that Alix was surprising her excitement. “Yes, of course. Sam, you’re naturally artistic. We’d need your eye and sensitivity.”
Two Girls Book 2: One Nation Page 2