She continued on but I stopped listening, already knowing what had happened there. Rocky was mesmerized, staring at the woman and then the moving images of the report with rapt attention. His fingers were holding onto the sides of the chair, as if he needed the support to hold himself up.
I took a seat next to him and watched, trying to work out what was so fascinating. Xander Brown was on television now, standing next to President Stone as they admonished the attack and promised to hold those responsible to the harshest of punishments.
He was staring at his Maker – or his Maker’s clone – looking face to face with the man he would grow into, given enough years. Rocky was looking at his future, except his wouldn’t be as a senator but as the spare parts merchant.
While he was staring at his future image, I was staring at Stone. She was the woman Wren would grow into. Except I knew that was impossible. Wren would never have her cold stare or frozen heart. Wren brought beauty to everything she did, there was no way she would end up as hardened as Stone.
“We didn’t always know we were clones, you know,” Rocky said. His gaze was still fixed on the holograms, I wasn’t entirely sure he was talking to me.
Still, I took a punt and answered. “That must have been unsettling to find out.”
Rocky let out a small, sardonic laugh. “That’s an understatement. We thought we were ordinary kids, you know? Playing outside and then Sunny making sure we ate occasionally. When we found out we were defective it was bad enough, knowing we were different from everyone else and all. And then we were told we were only made for our spare parts so our Makers could use us when they needed to. It was like a nightmare. We didn’t know what to do.”
“How old were you?”
“Four. That’s when we first started to comprehend what was going on. Before that we didn’t really understand anything.”
I tried to picture Rocky and Wren as little toddlers, being told they weren’t human and their lives would only be as long as their Maker decided. It would have been horrific, I couldn’t imagine what ran through their young minds at the time.
Rocky continued, still staring forward. “We made a pact that we were going to run away then. I think we got to the edge of the village before we realized there was nowhere for us to go. From then onwards we tried not to think about it.”
“I can’t imagine what it must have been like,” I offered honestly. My life wasn’t exactly a bunch of roses but at least I didn’t have to deal with being a clone. I never had that kind of impending execution looming over me.
“No, you can’t,” Rocky said, not harshly just as a stated matter of fact that I agreed with.
I left him staring at the hologram, unable to read what was going on in his mind. It seemed like it should remain private anyway. He was Wren’s best friend, he didn’t need me prodding into his life like we were best buds. He needed her, not me.
Just like I needed her, too.
The sleeping bunks were in a room separated by tarpaulins strung along on long ropes and held up by poles at regular intervals. It wasn’t exactly the highest of technology but it worked well enough.
The mattress sagged under my weight as I fell into bed. It felt like the softest pillow I’d ever slept on, even though it was probably the opposite.
Still… I was alive.
I would live to fight another day.
Sleep came quickly and swept me away with it. I didn’t think, I didn’t feel, I didn’t dream. My body was switched off, numb to everything around it.
Morning came too quickly, demanding my attention which meant I had to get up. My legs swung over the edge of the bed, landing on the hard floor. I hadn’t even bothered to take off my boots the night before, I’d just slumped and forgotten about them.
Joseph was pleased to see me, shoving a plate of food in my hands and telling me to eat quickly. Apparently my next mission was calling and it wouldn’t wait for me.
The food was a hodgepodge of everything that could be vaguely classified as breakfast cuisine – powdered eggs, a few baked beans, and a couple slices of toast. I guzzled it down greedily, wiping my mouth and wishing we had enough for seconds.
“There’s a car waiting out in the street,” Joseph announced the moment my plate was clear. “You’d better hurry, they won’t wait forever.”
“And what am I doing, exactly?”
A sly, knowing smirk spread across his lips. Instantly, I dreaded what was about to come pouring from his mouth. “You’re rallying the troops, of course.”
He slapped me on the back and sent me on my way. Luckily, Samson, one of the other higher-up members of the Resistance was waiting in the back of the car for me outside.
I wasn’t just rallying troops, I was supposed to be inspiring people to pick up arms and join us in our fight against Stone and her establishment. Today was a day for Resistance recruitment, and apparently I was the man for the job.
How that happened, I didn’t know.
How I was going to do that, I didn’t know.
There were only sixteen minutes for me to work it out before we pulled up outside the Aria Community Center. According to Samson, people had been told to go there for an important announcement. They had no idea what we were going to be talking to them about.
We went inside.
Dread settled in the pit of my stomach and threatened to make its home there. This couldn’t end well, no matter how I looked at it and the various outcomes.
Before I could think any more about it, Samson stood on the podium in front of the crowd huddled inside the hall. We were in the area known at the Basin. It wasn’t an official title, but everyone called it that.
It was occupied by the poorest of the poor. All the people that Stone and her government decided they didn’t care about. They were too poor to make a noise, too uneducated to be given jobs. They existed on the kindness of others and whatever they could do as a community.
They were almost as badly treated as the Defective Clones.
Their situation was that bad.
Everyone hushed their conversation when they noticed Samson. A thousand or two dirty faces all stared up at him expecting something bad. I knew that for certain, nobody here expected anything good to come from anything.
Samson cleared his throat. “Thank you for coming here today, we won’t take up much of your time.”
As he spoke, I noticed all the doors to the hall were now closed. Locked, too, no doubt. We obviously had people from the Basin community working with us already, working away in the shadows without being noticed.
“I think you will find what we have to say very interesting. I will hand you over to my colleague for more information.” Samson stepped away from the podium, with its fading and cracked fake wood paneling, and gestured for me to take his place.
The only problem was I didn’t know what I was supposed to say. How did I get these people to listen to me, let alone trust me when I promised a future that was uncertain at best? They had no reason to hear me, no reason to believe a word I said.
It seemed impossible.
It was impossible.
My gaze scanned around the room, seeing the desperately poor citizens of Aria. Stone had failed them, in every way possible. There was enough wealth in the city to take care of everyone, yet it was all owned by a tiny portion of the population. The city’s riches were skewered in one direction.
Their eyes were hollow, their bellies hungry. They needed something to believe in, something they could hold onto and restore their hope.
I knew what I had to do.
“Hello, everyone,” I started, finding that the words were ready to flow smoothly from my lips now. All I had to do was speak from the heart, not just tell them what they wanted to hear. That was what Stone did, and that wasn’t me. “My name is Reece and I used to be a trooper and then a guard. I know those words will instill fear in you, make you feel unsafe when troopers and guards are supposed to make you feel secure.”
You
could have heard a pin drop.
Their eyes just stared.
I had to keep going. “You have been failed in the worst possible way. By President Stone, by her members of parliament, by every other person in this city. They have forgotten about you and you have suffered great losses and misery as a result.”
Stealing a glance at Samson, he was nodding along to everything I said. I wasn’t sure if that was because he agreed with me or because I was doing a decent enough job.
I had to lick my lips for them to have any moisture for me to continue. “I have come to offer you a chance to fight back. I am part of the Resistance, we are against everything Stone stands for. We want everyone to have a voice in parliament, we want to give everyone their chance to fight for what they believe in and not bow down to the wealthy. The odds are already in their favor, and now we need to take them back.”
A part of me expected everyone to have lost interest by now. Perhaps searching for the doors and wanting to get away from the try-hard at the front of the room.
I was expecting it.
But it didn’t come.
I actually had their attention and they were listening. I couldn’t stop now. “To get what we rightfully deserve, we need to fight back. We need to take down Stone and restore the government to how it was before the wall was built. Everything we’ve been told is wrong, it doesn’t keep us safe and protected. The wall keeps us segregated and controlled.”
“Here, here!” someone from the back hollered. I couldn’t be sure if it was already a member of the Resistance or not.
“I am here to ask you to join us today. Not as a new government ourselves, but as part of a team to fight back. Once we have dethroned the president we can start to rebuild our city and break down the walls surrounding us. Our numbers are only small, we need to band together so we can grow bigger and stronger. So I’m asking you today, as someone who has seen the suffering in this city and wants it removed, to fight with us. To join us and take back Aria.”
It was everything I had in me. Everything I had to say I had let bleed from my lips and spread over the crowd. If I hadn’t convinced them, then nothing else I could do would.
“Thank you for your time today,” I said, finishing my speech. I stepped back from the podium and watched everything around me carefully.
Many of the people were talking amongst themselves, most with frowned faces and some gesturing wildly. I couldn’t tell just from looking at them what they were saying or thinking.
Samson took to the podium, just in case there were questions, I supposed. He didn’t seem to be preparing to say anything in particular. Just watching, like me.
“Are you really going to fight back?” The question came from the middle of the crowd. An older man, holding up his arm to get attention above the others.
Samson nodded. “Yes, sir, we are. We have already commenced our work. We are the ones responsible for the demise of Laboratory Foxtrot.”
That confession caused a bigger stir than I imagined. It impressed most of the people there, evident with their rapt attention. Samson took it as his cue to continue. “We have more plans for the laboratories. We will take them all down as we take down the government. The Resistance is a force to be reckoned with and it’s only a matter of time until Stone realizes this.”
It suddenly occurred to me that neither of us had mentioned the Defective Clones in particular during our speeches. I had done it on purpose, understanding that there was a stigma of fear attached to them. Stone had spun enough lies about the Defectives that most people believed them evil or contagiously ill.
Hopefully, in time, they would see how wrong they were about them.
From the back came another question. “What can we do to help? How can we join?”
Samson’s face lit up, he knew he had them in the palm of his hand now. All he had to do was hold them there and not crush them between his fingers. “Commit to our fight, attend our meetings, offer your time. We will train anyone who wants to join so that you can each play your part in the revolution. I will be taking names and details after the meeting.”
With a subtle nod to the others in the room, the doors were opened around the hall again. The people were free to leave if they wanted to, free to join if they wanted to stay.
Samson stepped off the podium and nudged me with his shoulder. He handed me an electronic notebook from his messenger bag. “Take this, hopefully you’ll need it.”
When I turned around again, I had a queue of people lining up to sign their names to our cause.
The Resistance was growing.
I just wished Wren was here to see it.
Chapter 7: Wren
Time never moved more slowly than it was right now. The guard’s footsteps echoed in the bed of the truck as he stepped between boxes to inspect the contents.
He was going to find me.
Any minute now he would shine his flashlight my way and illuminate my hiding place.
I would be killed.
I was tired of being scared for my life.
Really, really tired.
Maybe death would be a sweet relief. Perhaps it would be, but I wouldn’t go without seeing Reece again. I refused to die until I had kissed him again, this time knowing what he was thinking and what was behind the kiss.
I just simply refused.
The guard moved slowly, being thorough in his inspection. He picked up a carrot and bit down into it. I could hear the crunch echoing around the small space.
And then he spat it out. “These taste like shit.”
“Just delivering what was ordered,” the driver replied. I could imagine him shrugging nonchalantly, not giving a damn what was in his cargo as long as he got paid at the end of the day.
The footsteps grew slightly fainter as the guard headed away from me. “Stone’s going to flip her lid if she has to eat these things. But that’s her problem, not mine. Hurry up and get on your way.”
The truck groaned and then bounced a little higher as the guard jumped from the back and onto the ground outside. I didn’t dare breathe yet.
Someone closed the doors, the compartment returning to complete darkness once more. A few moments later and the engine roared to life.
We rumbled through the gate.
We were back in Aria.
I allowed myself a small triumph, a small moment of relief before I had to think about how to escape from the truck. Surely, out of everything, that had to be the easy part.
Right?
God, I hoped so.
The truck continued to find every single corner to race around too fast, crushing me between boxes and then releasing me again – only to go around yet another corner.
I hoped the driver was having fun.
Because I wasn’t.
Finally, he took his foot off the accelerator and slowed down. The truck came to a complete standstill, the sound of a heavy door outside going up before we crept along much slower for only a short period.
He turned the engine off and everything went so quiet all I could hear was a buzzing in my ear.
The sound of silence.
It would only be a matter of time now before someone opened the back of the truck and started removing the contents. Take away enough boxes and they would discover me.
All I had in my arsenal was the power of surprise.
It had to be enough.
I crouched onto my ankles, teetering on the balls of my feet and waiting for my opportunity. I would be discovered before they discovered me. I would take them by surprise and then I would run.
Run faster than I’d ever run before.
Dodge anything that got in my way.
Silently, I crept closer to the doors. My footsteps were light, barely making an audible sound as I moved. I kept my body springy, ready to pounce at any moment. My heart beat out the seconds, my breath choking in my throat.
Someone pulled on the door handle, the metal screeching as it was opened. I didn’t give them a chance to
open the doors, I pushed through them, lunging to the ground in one giant leap.
The shock of the concrete jarred my joints, sending a new wave of pain through my gimp foot. I would have to deal with the ache later. Right now I needed to move.
Two men shuffled backwards, pushed off their feet by the force of the truck doors. They quickly recovered as I wasted a few moments trying to take in my surroundings.
I was in a warehouse. Concrete walls and other trucks surrounded me. They didn’t bother me, right now I needed an exit and I needed it in a hurry.
Without having any clear path, I ran for the closest wall and hoped something would lead me outside eventually.
“Stop!”
“Get her!”
“What the hell was she doing in there?”
“How would I know?” The men shouted back and forth as they took off after me. Both of them were middle aged, taller and stronger than me. The fight was going to be heavily swayed in one direction if it came to that.
I hit the wall with them gaining speed behind me. I skimmed along it. “Come on, come on, come on,” I continually repeated under my breath.
My brain was screaming at me, unhelpfully telling me to find an exit without explaining to me how to do it. Panic was fueling me, a sense of survival pushing me forward.
Finally, the green neon ‘Exit’ came into view above my head. I sprinted toward the door, the heavy breathing of the men practically at my back now.
I pushed on the handle and it stuck.
I tried again, praying and hoping and cursing everything I could think of under my breath. The handle rattled under my pressure, finally rattling enough to click open.
The door swung out into the light of the day. I ran through, my feet barely touching the ground as I flew across the concrete expanse underfoot.
Unfortunately, the warehouse was surrounded by a chain-link fence and the only way to get out was going to be to go over it. Climbing was not my strongpoint but I had no choice.
“Stop!”
“Bloody stupid girl. I’m going to get you!”
I jumped at the fence at the last minute, my defective foot slipping a few times before it found purchase. Somehow I moved up the fence, the wire biting into every one of my ten fingers as I did.
One Spark of Hope Page 6