Yay for chapter 13. Not much more to say than R&R and enjoy!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
13
"What do you mean?" I asked Ari, slowly helping him off the ground. "25-B?"
Ari wiped his muscled arm across his swollen, red eyes, and then began. "I'm…I'm part two of the Ari you knew when he was a child. I still have all the same memories as that Ari, but I'm just…" Ari sighed and almost began sobbing again. "I'm inferior to him. Just like 26-B is inferior to you. Get it?"
It hit me then, and I remembered the other Max. Wow, had I completely forgotten about her with all that had been happening lately? Apparently so.
Ari continued. "Look at these files. I found them on Jeb…I mean Roland's computer a few days ago. As you heard them saying, Roland's been tricking us into thinking he's Jeb, and we were stupid enough to believe him. I thought he was the father I loved! But I guess not, he's a traitor." Ari pulled out the last three papers in the file I had seen on the desk. Each of the other three only had one picture on them; first a picture of Ari, then a picture of the other Max, then a picture of Jeb. Well…Jeb Batchelder, not that Roland guy. "These are pictures of what they like to call Section 2-B. All of us are inferior; your copy, me, and Roland's copy who took the name Jeb. And we're all to be terminated."
Ari was completely silent as he handed me the three files and I read them. Without going into too much detail, I'll say this much. Basically the files all stated exactly what Ari had just told me, that all of them were clones and that they were part of something called 2-B, and they were all scheduled for extermination.
But then a thought occurred to me and I had to ask Ari. "Ari, what about my copy? She was with us that day back at Itex. How come they didn't kill her then?"
Ari sighed and looked away from me. "They were messing with you. Roland wanted to see if you were truly superior to the copy he'd made. And I guess you proved him right."
"Okay, how does this all fit in with anything else?" I realized how odd that must have sounded, but I didn't care. This was waaay too much information to take in at one time, what with all the clone and Eraser talk, and…
"Ari, why am I becoming an Eraser?" Saying it in my head had made me remember that I was still morphed.
Ari looked at me with sadness in his eyes, and I knew what he was going to say before he said it. "I don't know." Yep, just as I thought. "But we can find out if you'll help me. I think this is all part of how we're supposed to 'save the world' Max. You and I and your flock. You becoming an Eraser is all part of Roland's plan, but we can change it if we find out enough. We can save the world…from Roland."
And in that moment, something that had been plaguing my mind for the last few minutes finally made sense. I don't know how or why, but it just hit me right then and there, and instantly I was mentally picturing those files Nudge and I had read on a computer at a school in Washington D.C. not so long ago. Roland ter Bocht. A crazy man sent to prison for illegal human experimentation. But he wasn't really sent to prison…was he? He created me, and he created a clone of himself that I learned to love. Jeb Batchelder. Suddenly tears formed silently in my eyes again as a wave of guilt flooded my senses. I thought Jeb was evil the last few weeks. All he wanted to do was save me and help me live.
I mentally made a note to tell the flock about what Ari had told me, just as I looked at my hands and noticed they were normal again. Weird thing was, that was the least of my concerns at that point in time.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, think you're keeping up? If so, that's good. If not, you maaaay wanna read it again, cos it's only gonna get more chaotic from here on out, lol