Three Fates Entwined (The Defectives Book 0) Read online

  Three Fates Entwined

  Three Fates Entwined

  JAMIE CAMPBELL

  Section 183(b)(ix) A Maker can choose to make as many clones as they require, unless their cloning process results in a Defective Clone. At that time, all cloning activities must cease. All cloning procedures must be paid for up front. No refunds are given for a Defective Clone.

  - Excerpt from Clone Legislation, 2056 Edition

  Chapter 1: Wren

  The boy was going to kill me.

  “Rocky, come on. I’m hungry but I’m not going to eat that,” I said, with a few giggles that refused to be suppressed. He was holding up a suspect piece of brown goo. It could have been anything from mud to something much, much worse.

  Rocky dangled it over his mouth. “I’m sure it tastes better than it looks.”

  “I’ll go on a raid, try to get some real food from a house in the Hills.”

  “It’s too dangerous.”

  Yes, it was. But that had never stopped me before. When there was no food left in the village and the trash cans in the city had been emptied, we had little other choice.

  Eating brown goo was not a good option. Still, I’d eaten worst. Every Defective Clone had. But that didn’t mean I would let Rocky poison himself.

  I stood, trying to get purchase with my limp foot. I stomped it on the ground a few times, trying to at least get some feeling back in it. I hated my defective foot, but I still needed it in order to walk.

  Rocky pushed up to a standing position. “If you’re going to risk being caught, then I’m going with you.”

  “No you’re—“

  My words remained stuck in my throat as someone shrieked, “Troopers!” Everyone in the Defectives’ village sprung to life as we ran.

  Running for me wasn’t an entirely good option. With my gimp foot, I was unlikely to be able to outrun a trooper. They had been trained and were in peak physical shape, I was barely surviving. I needed to hide.

  Rocky was by my side as we frantically searched for a hiding place. Unfortunately, the alleyway was our only real option. We dived into the damp and slimy place, the brown goo now forgotten as it fell to the ground.

  We squished ourselves against the wall, hoping to be as small and invisible as possible. I could hear Rocky’s sharp breaths as he gasped for air while the pounding of my heartbeats echoed in my head.

  The troopers were searching through the village. It was something they did regularly, but lately it had been upgraded to often. Nearly every day they did a walk-through as a minimum.

  They were searching for me.

  For my organs.

  My Maker had called me in to Fulfil My Purpose. I was to lay down my life so she could cut me to pieces and freeze whatever organs she didn’t need at the moment.

  I didn’t want her to have any part of me. From the soles of my feet to the tip of my head, I hated her. For creating me, for casting me out when I had a defect, for keeping us hungry, for making sure we suffered, and for ensuring our murder was legal.

  My Maker was the most powerful woman in the country.

  And I was her exact genetic clone.

  When I turned eighteen, she had put the bounty on my head. I was fully grown, ready and prime to be sliced and diced. The searches of the village had been frequent ever since. One of these days I wasn’t going to be able to hide from them.

  They would find me eventually.

  It was inevitable.

  But I would fight like crazy to make sure that moment was as far away from now as possible. Rocky’s good hand lightly brushed mine, reminding me I wasn’t alone. He was a good friend, continually going above and beyond to protect me. We had been cast out of the laboratories at the same time, two Defective Clones that nobody wanted.

  One day I was going to get him killed and then I would be begging for the scientists to take me so I didn’t have to live with the guilt and grief any longer.

  The pounding of the troopers’ footsteps rung out through the village as they made their way through the shanties. Somewhere in the distance a baby screamed, too young to realize they were risking their lives by not being quiet when the troopers were near.

  I sucked in a breath and hoped it was that child’s lucky day and they wouldn’t be taken. Troopers had little patience for Defectives and they always carried guns which they enjoyed using.

  The stomping grew louder as they neared the alleyway. I slumped to the ground, hoping it would be my lucky day too. The moment I was caught, the countdown on my life was going to spin downwards very quickly.

  Rocky stiffened, his hand now gripping mine. We were going to be caught, I needed to figure out a way to keep him from suffering the same fate as me. His Maker hadn’t called him in yet, he could have at least a few more years of life left.

  Boots came into view, the black leather shining in the sunlight. It would only be another few seconds before they saw us. They knew to look in all our hiding places, the troopers were relentless in their searches. I wished we had had more time to run, to find a place that would be safe for a few minutes more.

  But there was no time. One glance down the alleyway and they would see us hiding. Our defects – my foot and Rocky’s arm – made our identification as Defective Clones easy. One short look, that was all it would take.

  “Over here!” someone yelled.

  The boots stopped.

  So did my heart.

  Chapter 2: Wren

  The footsteps started up again, but this time they grew fainter with each one. I let out the breath I was holding and prayed that whoever had saved my life today wasn’t on the troopers’ hit list.

  “We need to get out of here,” Rocky whispered. I nodded, standing again and preparing my bad foot for the onslaught of pain it was going to be experiencing in the next few minutes.

  “Ready?” I asked. Rocky conjured up a smile, one I hoped I would be seeing for many more days yet. I crept to the edge of the alley and risked a peek around. The path appeared clear.

  Rocky tugged on my arm. “I’ll go first.”

  They weren’t looking for him, it was the safest thing to do. Still, that didn’t make me any happier about him risking his life. But arguing would only delay the inevitable. “Fine. Be careful.”

  Rocky crept out, one limb at a time. I could see the shaking of his hand, reminding me what danger I constantly put him, and other Defectives, in. The troopers wouldn’t come around searching even half as much if I wasn’t there.

  The guilt was a heavy burden to bear.

  If I could find a way to leave and never come back, I would have done. Unfortunately, no matter how many times Rocky and I stared at the wall surrounding our city, we could never find a foolproof plan to get through it.

  “It’s clear, come on,” Rocky urged. He was still whispering so it couldn’t have been too clear.

  I followed him out of the alley. Other Defectives were starting to emerge from their own hiding places. It was always the same process we went through after a raid of the village. First we would do a headcount, trying to determine if the troopers took anyone.

  So far, it seemed they’d made it out emptyhanded.

  Good.

  I had enough blood on my hands, I couldn’t handle much more.

  Daisy bounded up to me first. “Spider says we should go get some food, he thinks the troopers won’t make their usual monthly drop. Are you in?”

  I nodded. “Of course.”

  The one act of kindness the troopers showed us was delivering some rotten and moldy food at the end of each month. But it wasn’t for our benefit, it kept us nourished enough to stay alive – so our Makers could use
us when they needed our organs.

  Spider caught up with us. “Is Rocky coming?”

  I cast a glance at my best friend, silently hoping he wouldn’t. But, like always, I didn’t get my wish. “Sure, let’s go.”

  Our food expeditions were always carried out in the Hills district. They were the only ones with money in Aria City. We would never take food from anyone else, they didn’t have enough for themselves, let alone us as well.

  It was the rich ones that ruled our city and they had the money to ensure it remained that way. President Stone also had a mansion in the Hills, bigger than anyone else in the city. Nobody was allowed more than Stone.

  We had to keep to the shadows while making our way through the city. Humans didn’t appreciate seeing us and we were supposed to remain unseen. Wouldn’t want to spoil their day by reminding them of the bottom dwellers.

  The Hills district was easy to spot as we walked. Just as if someone had drawn an invisible line around it, everything sparkled with its newness and neatness. The high fences around the properties were always freshly painted, the trees all neatly clipped, and the houses as pretty as pictures.

  It was a nightmare.

  Reminding us all of our place in Aria.

  Defective Clones were the mud caught on their shoes, Valid Clones were their hope for survival. There was no way we could pretend we were otherwise, not with all our obvious defects.

  “The house on the corner hasn’t had anyone come home for four days now,” Spider explained as he pointed to a yellow fence at the end of the block. “We should try there first.”

  “Where’d the humans go?” Daisy asked, a question we were all wondering.

  Spider shrugged. “Don’t know. Maybe Stone killed them.”

  We would have laughed if the idea was ridiculous.

  With President Stone, nothing was unbelievable.

  Rocky and Spider went over the fence first, the sound of their thudding shoes on the other side telling me they made it. We waited for a few minutes for them to double check that the house was empty before they called us over.

  Daisy went first, helping me up when she could sit on the top. My gimp foot didn’t make it easy to climb fences but I eventually scrambled enough to get over.

  The house was stunning.

  Pale yellow rendering covered the brickwork, each and every window polished and perfect. The yard hadn’t been mowed in a little while, making the grass taller than all the others we’d passed. It was unusual to see any unkempt lawns in the Hills.

  We found a way inside at the back of the building, a window slightly ajar gave us an opportunity we couldn’t pass up. Spider went in first and signaled for the all clear before we followed.

  The house was equally as beautiful on the inside. The walls were painted crisp white, matching the furniture and chandelier. It looked like a house from a storybook.

  Daisy whistled her approval. “Nice digs. Why would someone leave all this?”

  “Maybe to go somewhere even nicer,” Spider shot back as he rifled through the kitchen drawers.

  I wandered into the pantry, amazed to see the shelves laden with food. It would have been enough to feed the village for a month. For humans it was probably only a week’s worth.

  I didn’t realize Rocky had followed me in until he spoke. “Can you imagine living here?”

  “Honestly, no. I have no idea what I would do with all this space. All the Defectives could live here but only one family does. What do they do with all these rooms?”

  “Maybe they have a lot of visitors.”

  I slipped a can of carrots into my bag. “Maybe a lot of dinner parties too. What do you think really happened to them?” The wall around the city ensured nobody could leave so it wasn’t like they could have gone on holidays to some exotic location.

  “Nobody leaves their home for four days,” Rocky replied. He didn’t need to elaborate. If the homeowners were missing, there was only one place they could be and that was the morgue.

  Perhaps they crossed President Stone.

  Perhaps they said something they shouldn’t.

  Maybe they stood up for the poor.

  Anything could have brought about their executions. The only odd thing about it was that they were from the Hills district. They rarely felt Stone’s grip around their necks like the rest of us. It was going to stay a mystery we wouldn’t solve.

  “Maybe we should move in here,” Rocky suggested, instantly grabbing all my attention in the palm of his hand. “What? Maybe nobody would notice for a while.”

  There were so many things wrong with his idea that I didn’t even know where to begin. “Firstly, Defectives aren’t allowed to own anything and this house would definitely not be something we could have. Secondly, someone will eventually sell this house to another human and they would not want to be sharing it with a bunch of Defs. Thirdly—”

  Rocky held up a hand to stop me. “I know it’s impossible. I was just dreaming, that’s all. Can you imagine if this was our house?”

  I could.

  In vivid color.

  I could picture being seated at the large dining table with all our friends around us. Something yummy would be cooking in the oven and I would serve it to everyone. We would laugh and talk and pretend somebody else didn’t own us.

  The image was perfect.

  But also impossible.

  Being human was the thing I wanted most in this world. Being human meant freedom, being safe instead of being hunted. It would mean I could stop running, stop wondering every morning if it was my last day on earth.

  It was silly.

  Clones were not human.

  Chapter 3: Reece

  The Defectives’ village was a ramshackle mishmash of small huts the clones had built themselves. Everything was filthy with dried mud and there was a stench to the place that was unique.

  They were all hiding from us. Hiding and waiting until we left so they could come out and continue their poor excuse for a life. The mission brief was to find one clone in particular and she wasn’t there.

  President Stone’s clone might live to see another day.

  Maybe.

  Not if my comrades had anything to do with it.

  “We should do the city a favor and kill the filthy lot of them,” Trooper Hamilton said, kicking an empty can so it skittered away. “We would be saving us all a whole lot of hassle.”

  “There’s talk of that, you know,” Trooper Watson added. “Did you hear that, Thompson?”

  All eyes turned to me. I had heard it. The fact everyone wanted to kill hundreds of clones so we didn’t have to hunt or feed them anymore should have been appalling.

  They didn’t think so.

  “The soon the better, if you ask me,” I said.

  The words tasted like sawdust on my tongue. I was lying. The thought of hurting the Defective Clones made me sick to the stomach. We should have been helping them, not dreaming up ideas to murder them.

  I was outnumbered in my beliefs.

  My beliefs would get me killed one day.

  “Let’s get out of here,” Hamilton said, using the tip of his gun to knock bottles of water onto the ground until they bled into the mud. “I don’t want to catch something from this godforsaken place.”

  “Your brother would have loved this place,” Watson piped up again, throwing his words at me like they were bullets. “Being the Def-lover he was. Isn’t that right, Thompson?”

  I wanted to shoot him. Put a bullet through his head so I didn’t have to listen to him any longer. What happened to my brother was public knowledge in the trooper base but that didn’t mean anyone could talk about him.

  “Go to hell,” I muttered. My hands had clenched into fists without me realizing it. One good punch to the jaw would be enough to shut him up permanently.

  But it wasn’t time yet.

  I still had much more to do.

  Acting rashly now would ruin a lot of plans I had already started to implement. For
now, I would ignore Watson, knowing he would get what he deserved when the revolution came.

  My angry sneer turned into a sly smirk. It wasn’t going to be the troopers that won the war, they were going to be on the losing side. And I was going to be on the winning one.

  Triumphant.

  It would be a very happy day when Stone and all her supporters got what they deserved.

  A happy day indeed.

  I was still seething the next day when I was assigned Recruitment duties. Other troopers didn’t mind it so much, they thought it was easy work. I, on the other hand, hated it.

  All the troopers of Aria City were taken from the poorest districts. If they didn’t agree to serve their president, they were imprisoned for treason. If they were lucky. Those that bothered the recruiters were sent to their deaths instead.

  So while the rich people of Aria continued to rake in the money and live their luxurious lifestyles, those that had no money lost their sons to the army.

  I signed up before they recruited me. I had business with the troopers that my brother had left unfinished. I wanted to find out what really happened to him, how he ended up lying dead in the Killing Field without so much as a trial.

  Someday, someone was going to find out about all the treasonous things I was up to and I would suffer the same fate as he did. But I wouldn’t let it happen until I got some answers. I needed information and then I would get my vengeance.

  Our president didn’t allow us to take trooper transport if the area of our mission was within walking distance. So, as hot as it was, we walked the six blocks to stand directly in the middle of the Sink. It was a district where the rich would never go. According to them, only criminals, the diseased, and the evil dwelled there.

  It was the poorest district of Aria and we were about to steal their young men. Not only would their families miss out on the income they could bring in, but they also knew they would probably never see them again.

  Troopers were paid a pittance, barely enough to survive on. It was hard, back-breaking work, and it was a commitment for life. Only death released a trooper, and even then, they were buried on the base.