Perfect (15 page)

“So what are we going to do now?” Jessica
asked.

I thought for a moment. “The creators are
still after me and by now, you guys as well.” Jessica swallowed and
Michael looked at his feet. “We’re still going to have to stay
hidden,” I said. Just then, my gaze shifted to the front doors of
the school. A large piece of paper was posted on the wall and I
started to walk toward it. Once there, I noticed the doors were
locked and I read the sign:
School Closed
. I frowned and
looked through the windows into the hallway. All the lights were
off and there was a chain and a lock hooked around the handles on
the door.

Jessica and Michael walked up behind me. I
turned around. “Why is the school closed?”

Michael stared at the sign. “They never
completely close the school, even in the summer. I’ve never seen
this sign before,” he murmured.

“And the chains?” Jessica rattled the door.
“It looks like they’ve closed it completely.”

“But why?” I asked, directing my question at
no one in particular, staring at the sign as if it would answer
me.

Michael frowned in thought. Jessica shook her
head. “Let’s get out of here.” She turned and started to walk away.
Michael and I followed her.

An uneasy feeling invaded my stomach and I
sensed someone was near. I turned my head, looking all around us,
searching, but I saw no one. I shook my head, making sure I saw no
androids or creators in sight, but I couldn’t rid myself of the
feeling that someone was watching us.

“Drew, come on,” Michael called and I hurried
to catch up with him, lacing my fingers in his.

We all walked for a ways until Jessica
finally asked where we were going. “We’re just aimlessly walking
around. We should probably have a destination,” she pointed out.
“Where exactly are we planning on staying?”

We stopped and were quiet, every one of us
thinking about our next move. We needed shelter and food. A group
of people caught my eye as they walked past us. Their perfect
appearance and posture caused me to look their way. The woman
looked down at me as she passed, her expression none too kind,
especially once it had moved to Jessica and Michael.
They’re
everywhere
, I thought, watching the perfected people walk away.
They were starting to become part of daily life, just what the
creators had wanted. The world was slowly becoming more and more
robotic, flawless and impersonalized. Or perfect, as the creators
liked to call it. All of a sudden I felt small and defenseless and
a pang of fear seized my heart. How was I going to stop all of
this? It was so big...and I was so small.

Suddenly, I knew how Yvonne had felt. She
hadn’t liked the idea of being one in a million. She liked being
different, perfect. And I now understood, spotting more and more
perfected people around me.

I was no longer special. I was just in the
way.

Chapter Twenty-Two

“
Drew?” I felt a
tugging on my sleeve. “Drew!” I was snapped out of my thoughts as I
turned to see Jessica frantically pulling my arm. “Drew, look!” She
pointed across the street and suddenly my heart started racing. Not
so much for me, but for Jessica and Michael, because across the
street, running our way were a half-dozen androids. Their eyes were
lined with bloodlust and determination and I knew they weren’t here
just to bring us back.

“Run,” I said, and Jessica and Michael wasted
no time arguing. I tried to keep myself between them and the
androids, but I knew they would catch up to us. It was just a
matter of time. Michael darted off into an alleyway and we
followed, the androids right on our trail. I was running slowly in
order to stay behind Michael and Jessica. I could hear the
androids’ footsteps dangerously close and feel their presence
looming behind me. It seemed as though we couldn’t even go one day
without being under attack.

Just then, I felt something reach out and
grab my wrist, yanking me to a stop and twisting me around to face
them. I looked into the android’s expressionless eyes and watched
as it lifted his hand. I blocked the blow, shoving him back a few
steps and looked around frantically for Jessica and Michael.
Michael stood a few feet away, trying to wrestle out of one of the
android’s grasps but Jessica was nowhere in sight.

Suddenly I heard a gunshot and looked up to
see that an android a few feet away had been aiming at me, but
Michael had kicked the gun out of his hand. I lunged for the
revolver that lay on the pavement while three other androids did
the same. I reached it before they did, as they clawed at my arms,
and flung the gun as hard as I could against the wall, watching as
it broke into pieces on the concrete.

I stood and kicked an android when he tried
to come at me again, and tried to punch the other one that had run
up to me. One had grabbed both of my wrists and was holding them
behind my back, but I kicked at their shins, causing them to loosen
their grip enough to let me yank free. I whirled around and hit the
other android in the face with the back of my hand, causing her to
stagger backward a few steps.

I tried to run my way toward Michael but
another android had grabbed me around the waist and was lifting me
up before I could even take a step. I sensed him turn sideways and
felt the momentum before I was flung at the brick wall. I hit it
hard and let out a small cry of pain before standing up and glaring
at the android, anger boiling inside of me. I ran at him, punching
him in the face and he stumbled backward.

I could see that Michael was putting up a
good fight and that only one android was dealing with him, while
five were trying to subdue me. “Leave us alone,” I spat, kicking
one of them, but seeing that it did barely any good.

“We have orders to kill you,” one replied in
a frightening monotone. “We cannot fail. They don’t accept
failure.”

I punched that one in the mouth as she
reached forward to grab me.

Just then I heard a car and looked up to see
a black jeep racing our way. It lurched to a stop a few feet from
us and the passenger door was thrown open, revealing an empty
seat.

“Get in!” I heard Jessica’s familiar voice
shriek. I almost laughed from relief, watching as Michael ran
toward the door. I grabbed the android that ran after him, kicking
his knees, and causing him to fall. I raced toward the backseat
door, and jumped in, but not before another android had grabbed my
arm. Jessica hit the gas pedal and the car shot forward. I let out
a cry of surprise as the weight of the android almost yanked me out
of the car, and I held onto the headrest in order to keep myself
in. I tried to pull my arm out of his grasp but he held on
tight.

“Jessica, go faster!” I heard Michael say
urgently, crawling from the front seat to the backseat to sit
beside me. He put his arms around my waist and pulled me farther
into the car, making it possible for me to let go of the headrest
and start scratching and pulling at the android’s hand. I felt the
car lurch forward and go faster. Suddenly, the android’s grip on me
loosened and then it was gone completely. I reached out and slammed
the car door shut, and everything seemed quieter. I turned to look
out the back window and saw the android getting up from the
pavement in the alleyway, watching us as we rounded the corner.

I breathed a sigh of relief and leaned my
head against the seat.

“Jess, where did you get the car?” Michael
asked after a pause.

I could hear the smile in her voice. “Like
it?”

“Where’d you get it?” Michael repeated.

“It’s on a test drive.” She turned around and
smiled at us.

“Test drive?” I asked her.

“Yeah, you know, before you buy a car they’ll
let you test drive it. I got it at the dealership around the
corner.”

“Yeah...” Michael started, watching her
suspiciously. “But usually they come with you, and they usually
don’t let teenagers drive, especially alone.”

Jessica laughed. “Yeah, the guy in there
seemed a little spaced out. He’d been perfected.” She turned around
and looked at us knowingly, before returning her eyes to the road.
“He looked confused.”

I nodded and stifled a laugh. I knew what
that felt like.

“I just ran in there, asked if I could test
the car outside. He gave me a funny look and said sure.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “I’m so glad he
did. If he hadn’t, those androids might have completed their
mission,” I said, thinking about what might have happened.

“Were they really going to kill us?” Michael
asked.

“I don’t know about you and Jessica, but they
would’ve killed me. You saw, they had a gun.”

Michael was silent.

“Thanks, though,” I said, turning to look at
him.

“For what?”

“Causing the android to miss his target. I’d
be dead if you hadn’t.”

He shook his head. “Don’t thank me. You’ve
saved me before. And besides, what else could I do?” He looked at
me.

“Well, thanks anyway.” I smiled. “And thank
you, Jessica, for saving both of us. I still can’t believe you got
away without them noticing you.”

She shrugged. “I don’t think God was ready
for our lives to end just then.” She grinned at us from the
rearview mirror.

I smiled back, leaning my head against the
seat.
Thank you.
I prayed.
Thank you that we’re
alive.

Chapter Twenty-Three

After driving around
for almost an hour, making sure the androids had left, Jessica
drove the jeep back to the dealership. Before leaving the car, we
decided we would stay the night at an old abandoned building a
short ways out of town. We left the dealership, feelings oddly
exposed as we walked down the sidewalk, and were soon on a small
dirt road leading to the building.

“We used to play here as kids,” Michael said
as we caught sight of the house.

Jessica laughed. “Yeah, I remember that. A
bunch of your friends used to tell me it was haunted.”

Michael laughed also. “Yeah, I sorta put them
up to it.”

Jessica punched Michael in the arm. “You did
not
.” She stared at him in shock. Then laughed again. “I was
terrified of this place for years because of that.”

I watched them and a small feeling of envy
started to creep over me. Jessica and Michael had a past. I didn’t.
At least, not much of one. Most of my past consisted of being “shut
off”—years of blackness, soundless, nothingness. I wasn’t even sure
if my memories of Yvonne and me as children were real. They felt
real, but the idea had always seemed impossible. How could an
android have a childhood? Then again, everything had changed since
I found out I had been human.

We approached the house and walked inside. I
was expecting it to seem creepy since Jessica had described it as
haunted, but it didn’t strike me that way. Some old pieces of
furniture were still there, dusty and worn out. Sunlight streamed
through the windows onto the white tiles on the floor which I was
sure must have once glistened under the sun’s bright gaze but were
now covered in a thick layer of dust. There were no staircases and
the house was small, consisting of a tiny kitchen, a bathroom, a
small bedroom, and a living room.

Most of the furniture was moth-eaten, and
some of the wood was rotting away.

“I think the living room feels the least
creepy,” Jessica said with a laugh. “Let’s move the bed from the
other room in here so we don’t have to separate.” She said with a
nervous look on her face. I could tell she hadn’t gotten over her
brother’s ghost stories. Michael and I headed into the bedroom. We
picked up the bed mattress, one of us on either side and turned it
sideways so it fit through the doorway. We carefully carried it
through and into the living room, setting it down beside the
couch.

“I hope the androids don’t find us here,”
Jessica said nervously after awhile.

I nodded. “Yeah.”

I heard Michael sigh angrily from beside me
and I turned to look at him, surprised. “Why won’t they just leave
us alone?” he murmured sadly, glaring down at the sofa beneath
him.

Jessica and I were silent.

“They chase us and taunt us and ruin our
lives!” he cried, standing up and suddenly kicking the wall. He put
his head in his hands. “I’m tired of running. I’m tired of being
afraid.”

“Michael, they’re determined. We have to keep
running,” Jessica told him.

He turned around. “Determined to turn us into
something fake!”

The room was silent, his last words ringing
through my mind. My breath caught in my throat and my chest hurt. I
knew Michael was only voicing his anger and I knew that it was the
creators he was angry with, but those words still felt like a slap
in the face. I looked down at my hands. “So you think I’m fake?” I
asked quietly, my voice piercing the silence like a blade.

I saw Michael’s expression change from anger
to realization about what he had said. “Drew, I didn’t mean—”

“Then what did you mean, Michael?” I asked,
standing up, suddenly feeling very hurt and angry. “Admit it. Admit
that you think the androids are fake. Admit that when you were
fighting them today, you didn’t think of them as real people.”

“But they...” He shook his head. “You’re
different, you’re not—”

“I’m not fake, but they are?” I asked him,
shaking my head. “Michael, we’re the
same.
There is no
difference between us, except the difference you would find between
people.”

Michael looked upset as he raked his fingers
through his hair.

“Once I realized how different I was from
humans and I started finding out how people thought about me, I
spent every day feeling like a monster,” I cried. “You were the
only person I told who didn’t immediately look at me differently,
who didn’t treat me like a machine.” I stared at him. “Like
something fake.”