Perfect (12 page)

“What is the big deal?” Yvonne snapped,
turning around to face Michael. “She’ll just be perfected. It’s
better than being human.”

Michael glowered at her. “We’re getting my
sister back,” he said slowly and firmly.

“Please, Yvonne,” I said beside her.

She turned to me. “I don’t need her. Or
Michael,” she told me sharply.

“Please
,” I reached out and touched
her arm.

She met my gaze for a moment, her dark eyes
staring into mine then she heaved an irritated sigh. She suddenly
hit the gas pedal, sending us flying into the backs of our seats.
“Fine,” I barely heard her mutter. “But first I need to get you and
Michael to another place to stay.”

We sat in silence as Yvonne sped her way to
another hotel. It was smaller than the one we had stayed at before
and somewhat hidden in a clump of trees a few miles away from the
highway leading into town. We walked inside and Yvonne got us a
room, ordering them, in a not very polite way, to keep it a secret
that we were staying here.

“When are we leaving?” Michael asked Yvonne
barely a second after we had stepped through the door into our
hotel room.

She turned back to look at him incredulously.
“You want to get her out
today
?”

Michael gave her a “no, duh” look. “Of
course. We don’t know how much time we have, and we can’t waste a
minute of it. We need to get to her as fast as possible.”

Yvonne rolled her eyes and sighed irritably.
“Fine. You wanna go now? We’ll go now,” she snapped and headed
toward the door. Michael and I had to practically run to catch up
with her.

“Wait, how are we going to get her?” I asked
Yvonne, walking quickly beside her.

She shrugged. “
I’m
not going to be
doing anything. You guys wanna risk your necks, then be my guest.
I’m not going to risk everything just for some girl. I’ll keep a
lookout while you get her, sound okay?” She shoved the hotel door
open and walked outside.

“Okay,” I said quickly, silently wondering
how on earth we were going to pull this off.

We all got into Yvonne’s car and were soon on
the way to the Institution. “I’m going to drop you off a few blocks
away so they don’t see you getting out of my car,” Yvonne explained
when we were about five minutes out. “Keep a watch on the back
door. When you see me walk through and then walk back in that means
it’s clear. The keys for the cells are in the room at the end of
the hallway. Got me? Oh, and by the way. They’re keeping the keys
in a different area. A closet in the back room where they used to
be. The code for the keypad is 3765.”

I nodded my thanks from the passenger seat
and shot Michael a nervous glance through the rearview mirror. Soon
Yvonne pulled up to the curb and Michael and I jumped out. She
didn’t even utter a word before speeding away.

I looked at Michael and he gave me an
expression I guessed that was trying to be supportive, but ended up
as a grimace. We started walking. Once the Institution came into
view I had to use all my self-control to keep my legs from turning
around and running full speed as far away as possible. By the time
we were within twenty feet of the building, my heart was pounding
with the fear that someone might see me through a window.

We waited in the parking lot adjacent to the
back door of the Institution. I watched the entrance and finally,
after about fifteen minutes, Yvonne emerged from the door and
immediately went back inside. I nudged Michael. We got up and
quickly made our way to the entrance.

Once inside the long hallway, I started
running. I tried to make my footsteps as quiet as possible, but I
wanted to get in and out of there as fast as I could. But as we
raced down the hallway, I noticed the door to Glen’s study left
open. As we passed, I saw that the room was empty. I stopped,
Michael nearly running into me.

“Drew,” he whispered. “What’s wrong?”

I didn’t answer, only walked cautiously into
the study. The lights were on, but no one was there. I guessed Glen
had just left on one of his errands or something. I hurried over to
the desk and snatched one of the framed pictures he always had on
display. They always faced him, but I had glanced at them a few
times. One was a row of the creators, standing together in a group.
The woman who had found me at the hotel sprang to my mind and for
some reason I couldn’t get rid of her. I scanned the photo looking
for her bright blue eyes that had struck me as so strange. It
didn’t take me long to find her—she was standing next to Glen,
smiling in an oddly familiar way. She hadn’t been lying. She
had
been a creator. But was she still one? I stared at her
for a moment, lost in her expression before Michael grabbed my
arm.

“Drew, what is it?” he asked urgently. “We
have to go.”

I shook my head, immediately putting the
photo down. “Nothing,” I said quickly. “Nothing. Let’s go.”

We hurried out into the corridor and set off
again. Once we were at the end of the hallway and saw the lobby
coming into view, I noticed a creator at the front desk. I pulled
Michael back behind the wall. “How about you find Jessica in the
cells while I take care of the creator and get the keys?” I
whispered as quietly as I could.

At first Michael seemed as if he didn’t
understand me, but then he quickly nodded.

I stared at the creator for a moment from
around the corner, watching her. After a moment, I realized she
wasn’t going to turn her back and the best chance I had was to run
at her as fast as I could and disable her. I took a deep breath,
glanced at Michael, and then ran.

The woman saw me first, but before the
bewildered expression could change into fear or anger, I had
grabbed her arms and covered her mouth. I quickly hit her in the
head in a place I knew wouldn’t kill her but would just leave a
headache after she woke up. I grimaced as she slumped to the ground
and then ran after Michael down the corridor leading to the
cells.

The room at the end of the hallway had a
closet that held the keys, like Yvonne had said. I hurried through
the doors and, thanking God that there were no creators there,
punched the number on the keypad and grabbed the pair of keys
hanging on the wall, before running back down the hallway to the
door that led to the cells. Michael was waiting outside and I
quickly unlocked the door. My heart was pounding so loud I thought
the whole Institution might hear it.

We ran inside and scanned the cells until we
found Jessica and were soon at her cell door. “Jessica.” I said
quietly when I saw her, relieved to find her unscathed. I fumbled
with the keys for a moment until I found the right one and soon we
were all running back down the hallway.

But suddenly a large siren sounded throughout
the whole building, making us all jump. I heard a stampede of
footsteps as dozens of androids and creators swarmed through the
doorway.

Chapter Eighteen

My eyes widened at
the sight of so many people running toward us through the lobby of
the Institution, my body tensing, my mind screaming. I panicked,
pushing Jessica behind me as I turned to face them. Three androids
came at me at once. I punched one in the face, stopping him for
only a split second. I kicked another one and yanked my arm from a
different one’s grasp. I saw Michael out of the corner of my eye,
trying to hold off one on his own and barely making it.

All of a sudden I heard a voice and
everything immediately stopped. I froze as Glen emerged through the
crowd of androids, his penetrating gaze pinning me to the spot. He
looked at me for a long moment and then smiled. “Drew.” A
statement. “I knew you’d always be trouble. You were always so,” he
paused for a second, “independent,” he said, giving me a look of
regret. He started to walk slowly toward me. “Why are you fighting
it, Drew?” he asked solemnly. “You’re flawed. Don’t you want to be
perfect again? Don’t you want your friends to have a chance at
perfection? After all, thousands already have.” He smiled.

I took a step backward.

“Listen, Drew, if you would only agree to
what we are trying to do, I could forget about all those things you
did. You know, helping the humans escape and all.”

I watched him suspiciously, the way his gray
eyes twinkled with deception.

“What do you say?” he asked.

I backed toward the doorway slowly, trying to
get away from him, knowing Michael and Jessica were behind me.

His smile faltered slightly. “Well?” he asked
again. “I’m only going to give you this one chance.” His voice was
hardening.

I met his eyes steadily, with a glare. “No.”
Before I could say more, Glen’s smooth features reddened with fury,
his eyes darkening as his hand shot out to grab my neck. I gasped
as he shoved me against the wall, locking my throat in a tight
grip.

I clawed at his hands and found, to my
horror, that Glen was no longer human. Only now, I noticed the
slight paleness to his skin and the new strength he had. Glen had
been perfected. He was no longer just making toys to order around.
He was willing to become one himself.

“I have had enough of you,” he spat. My
throat throbbed and my lungs screamed for air. I heard a moan
escape my mouth and I started scratching at Glen’s hands.

All of a sudden, I noticed a flash of someone
running toward me and saw Michael shove Glen as hard as he could,
with a shout of anger. The direct assault surprised Glen enough to
loosen his grip on my throat so that I could squirm out of his
hold. I trotted a few steps away, gasping for air, but suddenly I
saw Glen strike Michael, sending him flying across the hallway and
hitting the metal bars of a cell. There was a loud clang as Michael
crumpled to the ground and I couldn’t tell whether he was still
conscious or not.

“Michael!” I cried, trying to run toward him,
but Glen caught my arm and yanked me backward.

Furious, I spun toward him and slammed him
across the face as hard as I could. “Don’t touch me,” I spat.

Glen staggered backward, looking alarmed, but
his cheek only looked like it had suffered from a mild slap. If he
had been human, his jaw would have been smashed to pieces. He
glared at me as I ran to Michael. I knelt down beside him and found
that he was still conscious, although barely.

I let in a sharp intake of breath when I
noticed the side of his head was bleeding. Jessica was there in a
second, kneeling beside me, saying Michael’s name. I looked up and
shot daggers at Glen. “Why are you doing this?” I nearly screamed.
“Just leave us alone.”

Glen met my gaze. “To create a perfect world,
we need perfect people,” he said evenly.

“But, we’re not perfect!” I shouted. “How can
you create a perfect being when you’re not perfect to begin
with?”

Glen’s expression didn’t change. “I am
now.”

I stared in shock and horror at the thought
of this man controlling the whole world, and the thought that he
was so close.

“Now, you and your friends need to be
perfected as well,” he explained.

I saw the androids advance on us and a cloud
of despair settled around me. How were we going to get out of this
one? My mind raced, but I couldn’t think of a solution. I hung my
head and stared at Michael, who had managed to pull himself into a
sitting position.

I watched as the androids walked toward us,
but suddenly they slowed and eventually stopped. I blinked in
puzzlement. The one closest to me turned her head and squinted, as
if in thought. Others were shaking their heads as though trying to
rid their minds of something. Some were staring around blankly.

I sat there for a moment transfixed, utterly
astounded by what they were doing, but then I noticed the door
leading out of the hallway had been left unguarded. Glen was
shouting at the androids, yelling at them to grab us, but I didn’t
wait to hear more. I hauled Michael to his feet and Jessica and I
both pulled him toward the door.

Glen lunged for us, but I slammed the door on
him, knowing he couldn’t unlock it from the inside without the
keys. After a few steps, Michael was able to run and we took
off.

One last glance back down the hallway made my
heart sink as I saw Glen’s arm break through the six-inch metal
wall and turn the doorknob. I let out a gasp, knowing that however
hard I tried, I would never have been able to break through six
inches of metal.

I urged Jessica and Michael forward and soon
we were out the back door, running across the parking lot. Halfway
through the lot we heard a honk and I noticed Jeremy in Yvonne’s
old car, motioning for us to get in. We hurriedly climbed in and
Jeremy ducked until we were far enough away from the Institution so
no one would recognize him.

I breathed a sigh of relief and leaned back
against the seat. “What happened back there?” I asked no one in
particular, thinking back on the blank faces of the androids.

“That was really weird,” Jessica stated.
“What were they doing?” She looked past Michael at me. Michael,
Jessica, and I were all sitting side by side in the backseat.

In the front seat, Jeremy laughed. “The newer
androids are more controlled than we are,” he explained. “They’re
programmed in a way. They still have parts of their personality
left, but the creators have more power over them. They can be
programmed from a computer. They can be individually programmed or
all together.”

“So?” I asked. “What happened?” I leaned
forward so I could see him.

“Yvonne confused them. She hacked into the
computer and sent them multiple orders all at once, many of which
didn’t even make sense. And since they’re still somewhat
independent, they have to stop and think about what they’re doing
sometimes,” Jeremy explained.