A/N: I didn't get to write what the story was about on the summery bit, so
instead I'll do it here. It's centered on Jondy and Zane, they're married
and they have a three year old boy called Corey. Manticore is after them (
or so they think ) and Zane gets recaptured. Jondy's past catches up with
her and it might lead to the death of Corey. It all has something to do
with Max and Ames White in the end, but I'm not going to tell you how. You
gotta read for yourself! Please read and review, as you probably know it's
very encouraging!
DISCLAIMER: The characters belong to James Cameron and Charles Eglee but their personalities belong to me. Oh, and Corey and Tyra belong to me too...all mine...MWAH HAHA...
************ CHAPTER ONE ************
ZANE
I woke up with a splitting headache. My muscles were so sore I could hardly move and I was weak and trembling. With my eyes closed, the only thing I could tell about my surroundings was that I was lying on a bed. For some reason I couldn't remember where I was, or what I had done to get myself like this. Had I gotten into a fight or something? I'm not bragging or anything, but it must have been one hell of a fight to make an X5 like me feel as crappy as I did right then.
There was a loud clanging noise and the sound of a door opening. My eyes flew open and I sat up a little too quickly. I gritted my teeth to stop myself from crying out with pain.
"Oh come on, it can't be that bad," said a familiar but unsympathetic voice.
I glanced up and my gaze met with a penetrating, almost scary pair of blue eyes. Suddenly it all came back to me, playing back like a movie.
Flashback
"Getting a little sloppy aren't you soldier?" the woman said as she grabbed my shirt with both her hands and forced me to stand up. She looked exactly like Jondy, from the golden hair to the blue eyes. For a moment I swore it was her, but a gut feeling told me they weren't the same person. Besides, she was wearing a red dress that was so short that it didn't look legal, and Jondy would never wear something like that. Unless there was something that she REALLY, REALLY wanted.
I grabbed her wrists and shoved her back, but she remained unfazed. "You didn't tell me that you were going on a solo mission, 206,"
I tried not to look surprised when she called me 206. But my designation was 205. Obviously she thought I was someone else..a clone of me. And as for her, she was a clone of Jondy. From Manticore, no doubt. Surprise surprise.
"What are you, my mommy?" I played along with her, pretending I was "206". Maybe I could get myself out of this one unscathed. I didn't know what she was going to do to me if she found out that I was one of the twelve X5s who escaped in '09.
End flashback
"Yeah, no thanks to you, bitch." I said in a deadpan voice. I wasn't in the best mood and I didn't feel like talking, especially to the woman who had just gotten me dragged back into Manticore, the place where all my worst memories and fears had originated.
Flashback
"Hey, I was just asking. You don't usually keep secrets from me," She pouted, looking hurt. Then she ran one hand through my hair and kissed me.
Uh oh, I thought to myself. I had kind of been hoping that 206 and the Jondy-look-alike didn't know each other very well, but from the way things were going it seemed like these guys were pretty close indeed. My hopes on getting away from this girl any time soon were suddenly washed down the drain.
As she pushed me up against a wall with her hands all over me I resisted the urge to kiss her back. This is not Jondy, this is NOT Jondy, I told myself over and over. I looked up at the window of the room that the real Jondy was in, and prayed silently that she couldn't see me.
I fought down the panic that was slowly rising in my chest when she starting kissing my neck. For crying out loud, if I could outrun a whole army of Lydecker's men when I was eleven, surely I could handle an X5 clone of my wife who was as sexy as hell and who was kissing me senseless, right? Wrong.
Slowly and deliberately, I unwound her arms from around my neck pushed her back a little, forcing her to stop kissing me. "Um, I need...to go. Sorry." I said quietly, losing my cool just a little. It was amazing how much she looked like Jondy, and usually I wouldn't be able to resist the seductive look that she was giving me right now.
"Oh, well, that's just too bad baby," she cast her eyes to the ground and shyly took both of my hands, pulling me closer to her. Then she tilted her head up so that our mouths were almost touching, and looked up at me expectantly.
"Yeah, well, this mission's important. They want me to terminate a guy who's close to finding out about Manticore." I replied smoothly.
She didn't say anything; she just lifted her hand to run her slender finger down my cheek. "Good luck then." She whispered. I could feel her breath on my face.
When she finally pivoted on her heel and started to walk away, I barely had time to let out a sigh of relief. She whipped around again and as quickly as lightning grabbed my hair, wrenching my head back.
"Liar," she sneered into my ear. I was stunned at how quickly she had changed from a seemingly harmless girl to a ruthless soldier once again, but I recovered quickly.
I brought my knee as hard as I could into her stomach, which caused her to let go of my hair. Wasting no time I somersaulted over her head so her back was to me, but she hit me with a backward roundhouse kick, the chunky heel of her boots smashing into my jaw.
As she turned to face me again, we both stood in a fighting stance glaring at each other, ready to pounce in a second. At first I was a little reluctant to fight with her, considering she looked exactly like Jondy and usually I would never even think of hurting Jondy unless it was some kind of life or death situation. But then she blurred towards me and knocked me back with a series of punches and kicks that would have killed a normal human.
Right, I thought as I managed to dodge a few of the attacks. If it's a fight you want then I'll give you one.
Then I turned around and ran as far away from her as I could at a speed that no human could possibly reach. No, I wasn't being a chicken; I just wanted to lead her away from Jondy and our son Corey who were hiding in an abandoned building nearby, because we were on the run from Manticore.
"Going so soon?" the X5 taunted me from behind. "Come back and fight like a man!"
I heard the WHOOSH sound of her speeding to catch up with me, and before I knew it she was standing in front of me. Not bothering to stop running, I stampeded into her. As she fell to the ground with me on top of her, I thought I had a good chance of knocking her out and then getting the hell out of there.
But I underestimated her; she was strong, really strong, even in that short dress that she was in. I guess that the fact that she had been training at Manticore for about ten years more than I had kind of gave her an advantage.
She punched me in the stomach, then in the face, and somehow maneuvered herself so that she could slam me onto the floor. She sat on my stomach with one leg on either side of my body, pinning my arms and legs so I couldn't move.
I looked up at her helplessly and all I could do was struggle a little as she drew back her fist and started slugging my face, over and over. As she did it she wore that classic Manticore mask, a completely expressionless look.
"You're one of those X5s that escaped in '09, aren't you sweetie?" she said, the look in her eyes evil. "Don't answer that. I've seen your picture in the slides they used to brainwash us." She slid her hands over my chest until she reached my neck. Then she wrapped her fingers around my throat and squeezed.
I let out an incoherent noise as I lay there being choked. I could go for about six minutes without air, but I can't say that it didn't hurt. Besides, she didn't look like she was in a hurry to move her hand any time soon.
".And yeah, you looked a lot scrawnier in that picture, but don't worry, you're actually quite attractive now." She continued, as if we were having a pleasant conversation in the park rather than a punch up at 3am in a dark alley. "It's really lucky that I ran into you. I've failed my mission, I'm sorry to say. I lost the guy that I was supposed to be terminating, but I think I could make up for it by bringing a rogue X5 like you back to Manticore right? Maybe I'll get two weeks in solitary instead of three."
Goody for you, I thought. But I didn't say anything. I COULDN'T say anything. Her fingers were still wrapped firmly around my throat, and I could taste blood in my mouth from when she punched me. And all I could think about was that I was probably going to end up in Manticore.
The sound of someone loading a rifle from above me interrupted my thoughts. For a second I thought the Jondy-clone was going to shoot me, but when I looked at her I noticed that she was searching the rooftops of the buildings around us. She had heard the noise too. I concentrated harder and saw that there were about seven or so soldiers dressed in black standing on the edges of the rooftops, with their guns pointed directly at us.
Great, I thought. Manticore has come to get me. But to my great surprise the Jondy-clone let go of my throat. Our eyes met and for a brief second I saw confusion in her eyes. Something was seriously wrong here.
"Move out!" she hissed, leaping off me. As soon as we got up the soldiers on the roof started firing. The soldiers were amazingly accurate, the perfect Manticore standard. I got hit a couple of times before I could even get up. I blurred towards a window, zigzagging wildly so that I wouldn't be such an easy target, and dove through it. Glass shattered everywhere, adding to the wounds that I already had.
I didn't have any time to stop the blood that was flowing freely from all my gunshot wounds or survey my surroundings; I could already hear the foot steps of the soldiers coming down the stairs to get me. Strangely enough I found out that I could limp just as quietly as I could walk as I made my way out of the room that I had leapt into. I opened the door and after looking around to make sure no one was there, I snuck out.
From all the shelves, racks and the cash register in the front, it looked like I was standing in the middle of a pre-pulse supermarket. Of course, the shelves had no food, the racks were empty and the cash register had been raided of all its money. Trying to ignore the wrenching pain in my gut, I searched for a place to hide. The footsteps, which were surprisingly quiet, were getting closer by the minute. Suddenly a door caught my eye. I crept over to it and put my ear against the surface of the door, listening for any sign of movement. When I couldn't hear anything I opened the door and scooted inside, closing the door quietly behind me.
I found myself inside a cramped, musty broom closet. I thought I would be safe for a while, but for some reason warning bells were ringing inside my head. There was a creepy sensation on the back of my neck, telling me that someone was watching me.
"You idiot!" a voice snarled. "You're going to lead them straight to us, with that trail of blood you're leaving behind!"
I froze in a mid-punch, my fist stopping about an inch from the person's face. It was really dark in there, but with my enhanced vision I could see the Jondy-clone's smirking face. "Isn't that what you want? You just said that you'll get two weeks in solitary instead of three if you bring me back to Manticore!" I more confused than angry. Why was she hiding from those soldiers from Manticore?
"They aren't from Manticore, you moron," she hissed angrily, leaning back onto a shelf filled with detergent and rags. "What?" I said, stunned. "You're lying!"
"Oh, sure I am." She snapped sarcastically. "I've got one of the precious X5s that escaped in '09 right under my nose, so now I'm gonna hide with him in a broom closet. Yeah." She paused for a second to look at the pool of sticky blood that was forming at my feet from my gunshot wounds. "Believe me, 205, if they were Manticore, I'd be parading you around very proudly." Then she pointed to a gunshot wound on her left shoulder. "And besides, Manticore wants us back ALIVE."
What she said made sense, but I still didn't trust her. "So, what, am I supposed to be glad to see you?"
"After what I'm going to do, probably not." I didn't like the tiny smile that was forming on her lips. The next thing I knew my head felt like it was exploding and everything went black.
End flashback
"Hellooo." Her voice disrupted my thoughts and snapped me back into reality. "Earth to 205."
"DON'T BLOODY CALL ME THAT!" I yelled at her furiously. "I'M ZANE, MY NAME'S ZANE!" I knew where I was now, and I wasn't too happy about it. The room I was in was small and rectangular, with one bed hanging from chains off the wall. It was plain, simple and full of Manticore gloom.
Images of Jondy and our son Corey raced through my mind. How was I going to protect them if I was at Manticore? I should have fought harder, I thought. If they get hurt, it'll be my fault. The guilt was eating away at me, and the fact that the woman standing in front of me looked exactly like Jondy was making it even worse. I just wanted her to go away.
The Jondy-clone just raised her eyebrows at my sudden outburst. That just pissed me off. Was this girl capable of any emotion? "Well, geez, ZANE." She emphasized my name. "Don't want to say that too loud, do we? If one of the guards hears you..well, you know what'll happen."
"Don't you have a name?" I lent back onto the bed I was sitting on and stared up at the gray ceiling. My wounds still stung a little when I moved, but it was nothing compared to yesterday. I figured that I must have been fixed up in the infirmary.
"I don't have a name. Just a number. X5 211." She answered automatically. Just like a good little soldier.
I rolled my eyes. "Don't give me that crap. What was your alias on your last mission?"
"Tyra."
"Then that's your name from now on."
"Whatever you say."
"Good. Now that we've got that sorted out, I have a few questions to ask you." I said. I was still confused about what had happened last night.
"Mmm." Tyra mumbled, sounding a little bored. I glanced at her, only to see that she was inspecting her nails. Yeah, can you believe it, and X5 inspecting her nails?!
"What in the WORLD did you hit me with?" I demanded, wincing at the memory of what happened in the broom closet. "And how'd we get out of there?"
"Oh, that was a fire extinguisher." She laughed, sounding extremely proud of herself. "And when you were knocked out I picked up some rags and wiped up the blood trail that you left. Very careless of you. And then I just waited till they left and called Manticore to pick us both up." Suddenly she lent over me and her face filled my vision. "I forgot to thank you." She whispered, as if we were two school girls telling each other who we had a crush on. "Because I found you, I don't get ANY punishment for failing my mission. Renfro was really pleased."
You bitch, I thought. The only thing that stopped me from leaping up and whacking her over the head were my injuries. BECAUSE OF YOU I DON'T GET TO BE WITH MY WIFE AND KID! I wanted to yell. But I just lay there, seething in silence. Tyra might have looked like Jondy, but she was absolutely NOTHING like her. She didn't know how to love, and she certainly didn't care about anyone. Other than herself that is. She just did what ever she had to do to get herself out of trouble, consequences be damned. I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised; that was the way Manticore had intended for all of us to turn out. Zack had also brought up me and my brothers and sisters differently. He'd taught us to care for one another and he'd always look after us. And if we did something to get ourselves into trouble, he'd even make up excuses to take our punishments for us, rather than see us get hurt. I guess the other COs weren't so sympathetic.
When I didn't answer Tyra continued talking. "Oh, and we're going to get debriefed soon. Renfro didn't want to debrief us before 'cause we were pretty much half dead when they brought us in." That was true - I couldn't even REMEMBER them bringing me in.
Suddenly someone pounded their fist on the door. We both looked up and saw a guard peering in through the small barred window. "Come on 205 and 211. Get on with it!" the guard ordered.
"Get on with what?" I said curiously, sitting up.
"Well what to you think I came in here for, to have a good gossip?" Tyra got up and started to remove her clothes - which were typical army clothes, I was wearing the same thing - while I watched, horrified. "I'm your breeding partner. Let's do this quickly, ok?" "Wait, hold on a second!" I leapt up and waved my hands in front of me, while she stopped in a mid-strip. "...WHAT?!"
"Look, I don't like this either, ok?" Tyra said, annoyed. "But some of your X5 buddies blew up the DNA lab last night. So that's bye-bye to cloning and hello to doing it every night until I get pregnant. It's not my fault. So deal."
Wow, they did it, I thought. Zack, Maxie, Krit and Syl actually blew up the DNA lab. It took all my willpower to stop myself from dancing around the room with crazed happiness. But a few seconds later the "hello to us doing it every night until I get pregnant" part sunk in.
I folded my arms across my chest and backed away. "Hell no. I'm not gonna have sex with you."
"Hello?! Did you not hear what I just said? We don't exactly have a choice here!"
"'Course we do! I don't want to do it!" I didn't mention why though. I knew heaps of guys who would love to be in a situation like this, especially with such a beautiful girl, but hey, I'm married. And I didn't want to endanger Jondy or Corey by saying exactly who I was married to.
"What is your problem?" she asked incredulously. Then suddenly she got angry, her voice rising with every word. "You're going to get us both in trouble! I can think of a million things that are harder than what we're supposed to be doing. And besides, you were perfectly fine with kissing me last night!"
"I thought that you thought I was someone else! You called me 206! I was playing along, 'cause I wanted to get out of there without any trouble. Fat chance there." I snapped.
Tyra groaned as if she were talking to a brainless idiot. "You look exactly like 206. But I knew he wasn't on a mission so I put one and one together and...yeah. I was just having some fun with you."
I gave her a scandalized look. Great, I thought. Now all I am to her is a toy for playing with.
"Well? Are you going to co-operate or not?" She said bossily.
I shook my head stubbornly.
"What do you expect we should do now?" her voice was dangerously quiet. "I'm not gonna lie for you at drill tomorrow."
"So what are you gonna do, rape me?" I sneered.
For a few seconds we just stood there glaring at each other, equally furious. Then at the top of her lungs she yelled "GUARD!"
"What are you doing?" It was really a pointless question, I already had a feeling that I knew what was going to happen next.
Tyra sighed, feigning disappointment. "It's just too bad. I don't like getting you into trouble. Really, I don't. You're actually quite cute."
I opened my mouth to say one of the million comebacks that had popped into my quick X5 brain, but the guard appeared at the door.
"What is it, 211." He barked.
She gave me one of those evil looks that I was already getting used to seeing. "205 refuses to cooperate."
"Right." The guard unlocked the door and pointed a gun at me, motioning for me to get out. "Looks like you won't be seeing the light of day for a while, 205."
I couldn't stop the sinking feeling in my chest. Solitary confinement. This was not good at all. As I walked outside I looked down at Tyra with so much hatred in my eyes, I could have sworn that she flinched. "Bitch." I hissed, my voice so soft that only she could hear. No, she wasn't like Jondy at all.
DISCLAIMER: The characters belong to James Cameron and Charles Eglee but their personalities belong to me. Oh, and Corey and Tyra belong to me too...all mine...MWAH HAHA...
************ CHAPTER ONE ************
ZANE
I woke up with a splitting headache. My muscles were so sore I could hardly move and I was weak and trembling. With my eyes closed, the only thing I could tell about my surroundings was that I was lying on a bed. For some reason I couldn't remember where I was, or what I had done to get myself like this. Had I gotten into a fight or something? I'm not bragging or anything, but it must have been one hell of a fight to make an X5 like me feel as crappy as I did right then.
There was a loud clanging noise and the sound of a door opening. My eyes flew open and I sat up a little too quickly. I gritted my teeth to stop myself from crying out with pain.
"Oh come on, it can't be that bad," said a familiar but unsympathetic voice.
I glanced up and my gaze met with a penetrating, almost scary pair of blue eyes. Suddenly it all came back to me, playing back like a movie.
Flashback
"Getting a little sloppy aren't you soldier?" the woman said as she grabbed my shirt with both her hands and forced me to stand up. She looked exactly like Jondy, from the golden hair to the blue eyes. For a moment I swore it was her, but a gut feeling told me they weren't the same person. Besides, she was wearing a red dress that was so short that it didn't look legal, and Jondy would never wear something like that. Unless there was something that she REALLY, REALLY wanted.
I grabbed her wrists and shoved her back, but she remained unfazed. "You didn't tell me that you were going on a solo mission, 206,"
I tried not to look surprised when she called me 206. But my designation was 205. Obviously she thought I was someone else..a clone of me. And as for her, she was a clone of Jondy. From Manticore, no doubt. Surprise surprise.
"What are you, my mommy?" I played along with her, pretending I was "206". Maybe I could get myself out of this one unscathed. I didn't know what she was going to do to me if she found out that I was one of the twelve X5s who escaped in '09.
End flashback
"Yeah, no thanks to you, bitch." I said in a deadpan voice. I wasn't in the best mood and I didn't feel like talking, especially to the woman who had just gotten me dragged back into Manticore, the place where all my worst memories and fears had originated.
Flashback
"Hey, I was just asking. You don't usually keep secrets from me," She pouted, looking hurt. Then she ran one hand through my hair and kissed me.
Uh oh, I thought to myself. I had kind of been hoping that 206 and the Jondy-look-alike didn't know each other very well, but from the way things were going it seemed like these guys were pretty close indeed. My hopes on getting away from this girl any time soon were suddenly washed down the drain.
As she pushed me up against a wall with her hands all over me I resisted the urge to kiss her back. This is not Jondy, this is NOT Jondy, I told myself over and over. I looked up at the window of the room that the real Jondy was in, and prayed silently that she couldn't see me.
I fought down the panic that was slowly rising in my chest when she starting kissing my neck. For crying out loud, if I could outrun a whole army of Lydecker's men when I was eleven, surely I could handle an X5 clone of my wife who was as sexy as hell and who was kissing me senseless, right? Wrong.
Slowly and deliberately, I unwound her arms from around my neck pushed her back a little, forcing her to stop kissing me. "Um, I need...to go. Sorry." I said quietly, losing my cool just a little. It was amazing how much she looked like Jondy, and usually I wouldn't be able to resist the seductive look that she was giving me right now.
"Oh, well, that's just too bad baby," she cast her eyes to the ground and shyly took both of my hands, pulling me closer to her. Then she tilted her head up so that our mouths were almost touching, and looked up at me expectantly.
"Yeah, well, this mission's important. They want me to terminate a guy who's close to finding out about Manticore." I replied smoothly.
She didn't say anything; she just lifted her hand to run her slender finger down my cheek. "Good luck then." She whispered. I could feel her breath on my face.
When she finally pivoted on her heel and started to walk away, I barely had time to let out a sigh of relief. She whipped around again and as quickly as lightning grabbed my hair, wrenching my head back.
"Liar," she sneered into my ear. I was stunned at how quickly she had changed from a seemingly harmless girl to a ruthless soldier once again, but I recovered quickly.
I brought my knee as hard as I could into her stomach, which caused her to let go of my hair. Wasting no time I somersaulted over her head so her back was to me, but she hit me with a backward roundhouse kick, the chunky heel of her boots smashing into my jaw.
As she turned to face me again, we both stood in a fighting stance glaring at each other, ready to pounce in a second. At first I was a little reluctant to fight with her, considering she looked exactly like Jondy and usually I would never even think of hurting Jondy unless it was some kind of life or death situation. But then she blurred towards me and knocked me back with a series of punches and kicks that would have killed a normal human.
Right, I thought as I managed to dodge a few of the attacks. If it's a fight you want then I'll give you one.
Then I turned around and ran as far away from her as I could at a speed that no human could possibly reach. No, I wasn't being a chicken; I just wanted to lead her away from Jondy and our son Corey who were hiding in an abandoned building nearby, because we were on the run from Manticore.
"Going so soon?" the X5 taunted me from behind. "Come back and fight like a man!"
I heard the WHOOSH sound of her speeding to catch up with me, and before I knew it she was standing in front of me. Not bothering to stop running, I stampeded into her. As she fell to the ground with me on top of her, I thought I had a good chance of knocking her out and then getting the hell out of there.
But I underestimated her; she was strong, really strong, even in that short dress that she was in. I guess that the fact that she had been training at Manticore for about ten years more than I had kind of gave her an advantage.
She punched me in the stomach, then in the face, and somehow maneuvered herself so that she could slam me onto the floor. She sat on my stomach with one leg on either side of my body, pinning my arms and legs so I couldn't move.
I looked up at her helplessly and all I could do was struggle a little as she drew back her fist and started slugging my face, over and over. As she did it she wore that classic Manticore mask, a completely expressionless look.
"You're one of those X5s that escaped in '09, aren't you sweetie?" she said, the look in her eyes evil. "Don't answer that. I've seen your picture in the slides they used to brainwash us." She slid her hands over my chest until she reached my neck. Then she wrapped her fingers around my throat and squeezed.
I let out an incoherent noise as I lay there being choked. I could go for about six minutes without air, but I can't say that it didn't hurt. Besides, she didn't look like she was in a hurry to move her hand any time soon.
".And yeah, you looked a lot scrawnier in that picture, but don't worry, you're actually quite attractive now." She continued, as if we were having a pleasant conversation in the park rather than a punch up at 3am in a dark alley. "It's really lucky that I ran into you. I've failed my mission, I'm sorry to say. I lost the guy that I was supposed to be terminating, but I think I could make up for it by bringing a rogue X5 like you back to Manticore right? Maybe I'll get two weeks in solitary instead of three."
Goody for you, I thought. But I didn't say anything. I COULDN'T say anything. Her fingers were still wrapped firmly around my throat, and I could taste blood in my mouth from when she punched me. And all I could think about was that I was probably going to end up in Manticore.
The sound of someone loading a rifle from above me interrupted my thoughts. For a second I thought the Jondy-clone was going to shoot me, but when I looked at her I noticed that she was searching the rooftops of the buildings around us. She had heard the noise too. I concentrated harder and saw that there were about seven or so soldiers dressed in black standing on the edges of the rooftops, with their guns pointed directly at us.
Great, I thought. Manticore has come to get me. But to my great surprise the Jondy-clone let go of my throat. Our eyes met and for a brief second I saw confusion in her eyes. Something was seriously wrong here.
"Move out!" she hissed, leaping off me. As soon as we got up the soldiers on the roof started firing. The soldiers were amazingly accurate, the perfect Manticore standard. I got hit a couple of times before I could even get up. I blurred towards a window, zigzagging wildly so that I wouldn't be such an easy target, and dove through it. Glass shattered everywhere, adding to the wounds that I already had.
I didn't have any time to stop the blood that was flowing freely from all my gunshot wounds or survey my surroundings; I could already hear the foot steps of the soldiers coming down the stairs to get me. Strangely enough I found out that I could limp just as quietly as I could walk as I made my way out of the room that I had leapt into. I opened the door and after looking around to make sure no one was there, I snuck out.
From all the shelves, racks and the cash register in the front, it looked like I was standing in the middle of a pre-pulse supermarket. Of course, the shelves had no food, the racks were empty and the cash register had been raided of all its money. Trying to ignore the wrenching pain in my gut, I searched for a place to hide. The footsteps, which were surprisingly quiet, were getting closer by the minute. Suddenly a door caught my eye. I crept over to it and put my ear against the surface of the door, listening for any sign of movement. When I couldn't hear anything I opened the door and scooted inside, closing the door quietly behind me.
I found myself inside a cramped, musty broom closet. I thought I would be safe for a while, but for some reason warning bells were ringing inside my head. There was a creepy sensation on the back of my neck, telling me that someone was watching me.
"You idiot!" a voice snarled. "You're going to lead them straight to us, with that trail of blood you're leaving behind!"
I froze in a mid-punch, my fist stopping about an inch from the person's face. It was really dark in there, but with my enhanced vision I could see the Jondy-clone's smirking face. "Isn't that what you want? You just said that you'll get two weeks in solitary instead of three if you bring me back to Manticore!" I more confused than angry. Why was she hiding from those soldiers from Manticore?
"They aren't from Manticore, you moron," she hissed angrily, leaning back onto a shelf filled with detergent and rags. "What?" I said, stunned. "You're lying!"
"Oh, sure I am." She snapped sarcastically. "I've got one of the precious X5s that escaped in '09 right under my nose, so now I'm gonna hide with him in a broom closet. Yeah." She paused for a second to look at the pool of sticky blood that was forming at my feet from my gunshot wounds. "Believe me, 205, if they were Manticore, I'd be parading you around very proudly." Then she pointed to a gunshot wound on her left shoulder. "And besides, Manticore wants us back ALIVE."
What she said made sense, but I still didn't trust her. "So, what, am I supposed to be glad to see you?"
"After what I'm going to do, probably not." I didn't like the tiny smile that was forming on her lips. The next thing I knew my head felt like it was exploding and everything went black.
End flashback
"Hellooo." Her voice disrupted my thoughts and snapped me back into reality. "Earth to 205."
"DON'T BLOODY CALL ME THAT!" I yelled at her furiously. "I'M ZANE, MY NAME'S ZANE!" I knew where I was now, and I wasn't too happy about it. The room I was in was small and rectangular, with one bed hanging from chains off the wall. It was plain, simple and full of Manticore gloom.
Images of Jondy and our son Corey raced through my mind. How was I going to protect them if I was at Manticore? I should have fought harder, I thought. If they get hurt, it'll be my fault. The guilt was eating away at me, and the fact that the woman standing in front of me looked exactly like Jondy was making it even worse. I just wanted her to go away.
The Jondy-clone just raised her eyebrows at my sudden outburst. That just pissed me off. Was this girl capable of any emotion? "Well, geez, ZANE." She emphasized my name. "Don't want to say that too loud, do we? If one of the guards hears you..well, you know what'll happen."
"Don't you have a name?" I lent back onto the bed I was sitting on and stared up at the gray ceiling. My wounds still stung a little when I moved, but it was nothing compared to yesterday. I figured that I must have been fixed up in the infirmary.
"I don't have a name. Just a number. X5 211." She answered automatically. Just like a good little soldier.
I rolled my eyes. "Don't give me that crap. What was your alias on your last mission?"
"Tyra."
"Then that's your name from now on."
"Whatever you say."
"Good. Now that we've got that sorted out, I have a few questions to ask you." I said. I was still confused about what had happened last night.
"Mmm." Tyra mumbled, sounding a little bored. I glanced at her, only to see that she was inspecting her nails. Yeah, can you believe it, and X5 inspecting her nails?!
"What in the WORLD did you hit me with?" I demanded, wincing at the memory of what happened in the broom closet. "And how'd we get out of there?"
"Oh, that was a fire extinguisher." She laughed, sounding extremely proud of herself. "And when you were knocked out I picked up some rags and wiped up the blood trail that you left. Very careless of you. And then I just waited till they left and called Manticore to pick us both up." Suddenly she lent over me and her face filled my vision. "I forgot to thank you." She whispered, as if we were two school girls telling each other who we had a crush on. "Because I found you, I don't get ANY punishment for failing my mission. Renfro was really pleased."
You bitch, I thought. The only thing that stopped me from leaping up and whacking her over the head were my injuries. BECAUSE OF YOU I DON'T GET TO BE WITH MY WIFE AND KID! I wanted to yell. But I just lay there, seething in silence. Tyra might have looked like Jondy, but she was absolutely NOTHING like her. She didn't know how to love, and she certainly didn't care about anyone. Other than herself that is. She just did what ever she had to do to get herself out of trouble, consequences be damned. I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised; that was the way Manticore had intended for all of us to turn out. Zack had also brought up me and my brothers and sisters differently. He'd taught us to care for one another and he'd always look after us. And if we did something to get ourselves into trouble, he'd even make up excuses to take our punishments for us, rather than see us get hurt. I guess the other COs weren't so sympathetic.
When I didn't answer Tyra continued talking. "Oh, and we're going to get debriefed soon. Renfro didn't want to debrief us before 'cause we were pretty much half dead when they brought us in." That was true - I couldn't even REMEMBER them bringing me in.
Suddenly someone pounded their fist on the door. We both looked up and saw a guard peering in through the small barred window. "Come on 205 and 211. Get on with it!" the guard ordered.
"Get on with what?" I said curiously, sitting up.
"Well what to you think I came in here for, to have a good gossip?" Tyra got up and started to remove her clothes - which were typical army clothes, I was wearing the same thing - while I watched, horrified. "I'm your breeding partner. Let's do this quickly, ok?" "Wait, hold on a second!" I leapt up and waved my hands in front of me, while she stopped in a mid-strip. "...WHAT?!"
"Look, I don't like this either, ok?" Tyra said, annoyed. "But some of your X5 buddies blew up the DNA lab last night. So that's bye-bye to cloning and hello to doing it every night until I get pregnant. It's not my fault. So deal."
Wow, they did it, I thought. Zack, Maxie, Krit and Syl actually blew up the DNA lab. It took all my willpower to stop myself from dancing around the room with crazed happiness. But a few seconds later the "hello to us doing it every night until I get pregnant" part sunk in.
I folded my arms across my chest and backed away. "Hell no. I'm not gonna have sex with you."
"Hello?! Did you not hear what I just said? We don't exactly have a choice here!"
"'Course we do! I don't want to do it!" I didn't mention why though. I knew heaps of guys who would love to be in a situation like this, especially with such a beautiful girl, but hey, I'm married. And I didn't want to endanger Jondy or Corey by saying exactly who I was married to.
"What is your problem?" she asked incredulously. Then suddenly she got angry, her voice rising with every word. "You're going to get us both in trouble! I can think of a million things that are harder than what we're supposed to be doing. And besides, you were perfectly fine with kissing me last night!"
"I thought that you thought I was someone else! You called me 206! I was playing along, 'cause I wanted to get out of there without any trouble. Fat chance there." I snapped.
Tyra groaned as if she were talking to a brainless idiot. "You look exactly like 206. But I knew he wasn't on a mission so I put one and one together and...yeah. I was just having some fun with you."
I gave her a scandalized look. Great, I thought. Now all I am to her is a toy for playing with.
"Well? Are you going to co-operate or not?" She said bossily.
I shook my head stubbornly.
"What do you expect we should do now?" her voice was dangerously quiet. "I'm not gonna lie for you at drill tomorrow."
"So what are you gonna do, rape me?" I sneered.
For a few seconds we just stood there glaring at each other, equally furious. Then at the top of her lungs she yelled "GUARD!"
"What are you doing?" It was really a pointless question, I already had a feeling that I knew what was going to happen next.
Tyra sighed, feigning disappointment. "It's just too bad. I don't like getting you into trouble. Really, I don't. You're actually quite cute."
I opened my mouth to say one of the million comebacks that had popped into my quick X5 brain, but the guard appeared at the door.
"What is it, 211." He barked.
She gave me one of those evil looks that I was already getting used to seeing. "205 refuses to cooperate."
"Right." The guard unlocked the door and pointed a gun at me, motioning for me to get out. "Looks like you won't be seeing the light of day for a while, 205."
I couldn't stop the sinking feeling in my chest. Solitary confinement. This was not good at all. As I walked outside I looked down at Tyra with so much hatred in my eyes, I could have sworn that she flinched. "Bitch." I hissed, my voice so soft that only she could hear. No, she wasn't like Jondy at all.