Perfect (14 page)

I frowned in confusion. “Did you have trouble
finding us?”

She shook her head. “No. I was just busy
earlier.”

“Really?” I asked.

She stared at me angrily. “Yes,” she
snapped.

“Huh,” I replied, watching her expression
closely.

There was a moment of tense silence. “Well,
you guys seem to be fine. I’ll go now. I’ll check on you guys
tomorrow and bring food.” She turned toward the door and left.

I stared for a moment at the place where she
had just been standing. “Did that seem weird?” I asked, still
staring at the door.

“Yeah,” Jessica replied.

“She seemed nervous,” Michael added.

I nodded, turning around. “She seemed like
she didn’t really know where we were all along,” I said. “And she
claims to have a tracking device...” I trailed off, lost in
thought. Michael and Jessica were watching me closely and I lifted
my gaze to address them. “What if she’s lying?” I asked, wondering
why I had never thought of this before. It was such an obvious
explanation. Yvonne was a liar. It was the way she was, the way she
had always been. Didn’t it make sense that she would lie about
something like this to keep us where she wanted?

“Do you really think there’s no tracking
device?” Jessica asked, sounding hopeful.

“I don’t know,” I replied. “But I’m going to
find out.”

Soon Michael and Jessica had dozed off and I
sat patiently, waiting for morning and planning my next move. When
I noticed the light outside starting to change from black to a dark
morning blue, I roused them. They sat up groggily, looking around,
and I realized they had barely gotten a few hours of sleep.

“What are you doing, Drew?” Jessica asked,
watching me stand up and beckon them to follow me out the door.

“I’m going to find out if Yvonne really does
have a tracking device,” I replied, pulling a sleepy Michael to his
feet. “Come on.” I walked out the door and into the cold morning
air. Jessica and Michael followed me groggily as I hurried into the
woodsy area that surrounded the cabin. “She should be here this
morning with food, so I know she’ll try to look for us when she
finds us gone,” I told them. “If she really does have the tracking
device she’ll be able to tell exactly where we are and find us
immediately.” We walked farther into the woods, off the trails, and
started walking through the underbrush. I kept walking for at least
thirty minutes until Jessica complained and I was forced to
stop.

“This is far enough,” she told me, leaning
against a tree. “We’ve zigzagged and walked forever, I think we can
stop now. Besides, I might have a heart attack.”

I stifled a laugh, and sat, leaning against a
tree while Jessica and Michael sat beside me.

“I am
so
tired,” Jessica moaned,
yawning.

“Sorry,” I told her with a laugh. “But I have
to find out if Yvonne is lying.”

“S’fine,” she murmured, closing her eyes and
resting her head against the tree trunk. We sat there for hours,
watching as the purple-blue sky turned to baby blue with sunlight
streaking across it. Michael and Jessica yawned constantly, but as
sunlight streamed into the clearing they seemed to wake up a
bit.

“What if she’s not coming?” Michael asked,
looking uncertainly at the sun which had almost reached its zenith.
“It must be almost noon.”

I smiled. “She would’ve come by now.”

“So what does that mean?” Jessica asked.

I turned and smiled at both of them. “She
doesn’t know where to look. She doesn’t know where we are.” I felt
my heart skip a beat in excitement and I sent up a prayer, hoping
that what I suspected was actually true.

Jessica smiled beside me. “So what are we
going to do?”

I leaned back against the tree, settling
myself for a long wait. “We’ll wait for her to find us,” I
said.

It was almost an hour later when Yvonne came
stumbling through the underbrush and spotted us all talking beneath
the tree. Her previously anxious and worried expression changed to
one of incredible relief when she saw us and she stopped walking.
“Why are you
here?
” she spat, her eyes blazing anger. “I
told you to stay put.”

I met her eyes evenly and got to my feet. “We
went for a walk. I figured you’d find me, what with your
tracking device
and all,” I answered, my voice edged with
suspicion and my eyebrows raised, watching her face.

She shifted her feet nervously. “It didn’t
take me long to find you,” she said quickly. “I’m just angry you
didn’t tell me you were going to be on a walk that’s all.”

I nodded. “Yeah. Well, I thought you were
going to be coming this morning?” I looked at the sun which had
passed its noon point in the sky and was heading back down toward
the horizon again. “It must be late afternoon.”

“I got busy,” she snapped, her voice just
angry enough for me to tell that she was lying.

“Why couldn’t you find me, Yvonne?” I asked
her frankly. “Tell me the truth.”

Yvonne glared. “I
did
find you.” Her
teeth were clenched.

“With the tracking device that you’re so
proud of?” I replied.

“Yes.” Her eyes were narrowed, daring me to
contradict her. “Now, let’s get out of here, these mosquitoes are
irritating,” she snapped, turning around the way she came. Jessica,
Michael, and I followed her and after a long walk we made it back
to the cabin.

“Your food,” she said, expressionless,
pointing to a bag on the couch. I reached inside and pulled out
breakfast sandwiches that she had obviously gotten at some drive
through. They were cold. I stuffed them back in the bag.

“How long did you look for us?” I asked
Yvonne, suddenly becoming angry and sick of her games.

She turned around sharply. “The time it took
me to walk from here to where you were,” she said evenly, her eyes
narrowed. I saw Michael and Jessica shift uncomfortably beside me.
Jessica was staring at me with a hopeful expression and Michael was
glaring at Yvonne.

“Then why are these cold? Why did you come
late in the afternoon?” I asked harshly, tossing the bag of
sandwiches to her.

Yvonne shrugged, trying to feign
indifference. “I got them early this morning and didn’t have time
to drop by until later.” Her body was relaxed and she faked a
casual expression, but her tone of voice tilted upward slightly.
She was a good liar. I had to give her that. But I knew Yvonne. I
knew her too well.

“Why did you look so relieved to find us?” I
asked, watching her face closely.

“I was glad to know that no creators had
found you,” she snapped back.

There was a tense pause while Yvonne and I
glared at each other, and I couldn’t help but remember the times we
had played together as children, when we had been best friends
instead of enemies. I still wondered if those memories were
false—given to us by the creators. But they felt so real. They
were
real. I felt a pang of sorrow. How could this have
changed so much?

“I know when you’re lying, Yvonne,” I said
slowly. “Whenever you lied to the creators, I could tell. You were
the one who taught me how. I knew your tricks and even though you
had everyone else fooled, I knew when it was you and when it was
just a front.”

Yvonne’s glare left her face, replaced by
nothing, just empty and expressionless. I could tell she knew that
I was right. She stood there for a moment, staring away from me at
the ground, but then her gaze shifted back to mine again and the
glower returned. “Then I never should have taught you.” Her voice
hardened.

I ignored the statement. “Tell me about the
tracking device,” I told her, not letting my guard down, not
letting my expression or tone of voice slip, even slightly, because
I knew that if I did, Yvonne would take that chance and twist
everything around to her advantage. “Tell me.”

Yvonne glowered. “Seems to me you already
know all there is to know. Smart little Drew figured it out all on
her own,” she spat. “There isn’t one.”

I felt as if a weight had been lifted off my
chest and I wanted to sigh in relief, but didn’t dare do it in
front of Yvonne. “So, you were
lying
,” I replied. “The
androids don’t have tracking devices.”

She laughed a humorless laugh. “The others
do. The newer additions. But we, the lucky first ones to be made,
weren’t equipped with tracking devices. The creators thought of
that later.”

I stood there for a moment, thinking. Why was
it always Yvonne who seemed to have the answers? Why didn’t I know
these things? Why was it only her? I looked up at her. “How do you
know all this?”

She smiled. “Well, I was brought back before
you were. I was Glen’s prized android, and I knew what to do to get
the information.” She shrugged. “I play it right to get what I
want. Like I’ve said before, I have my ways.”

I nodded, looking over at Jessica and
Michael. All of a sudden I felt free. Well, not completely free,
but free from Yvonne. I could walk away, and she had no power to
stop me. I turned back to her. She stared back, her expression
changed slightly and I knew she could tell what I was about to say.
I was done. With all of it. The creators, Yvonne, the
androids—anything that had ever connected me to the Institution. I
was leaving it all behind and I was never looking back. She started
to shake her head, but I talked before she could open her mouth.
“Goodbye, Yvonne,” I said, and with that, I turned and ushered
Jessica and Michael out the door.

Chapter Twenty

I heard Yvonne yell
my name. Once I turned around and saw that she had run out the door
after me and was coming our way, I knew she wasn’t going to give up
that easily. I turned to Michael and Jessica quickly as we started
to run down the dirt path leading away from the house.

“Go, we need to split up. I don’t want you
guys to get hurt. Yvonne’s after me, not you. I’ll be able to get
away from her faster if I’m alone,” I told them.

Michael gave me a concerned look and I
thought he was going to protest, but I interrupted him. “I’ll meet
you at the school.” I said the first thing that came to my mind,
quiet enough so that Yvonne couldn’t hear me ten feet away. Then I
sprinted away from them, fast enough so that I knew they wouldn’t
be able to catch up even if they tried. I heard Michael call my
name and then a car engine start. I turned around just in time to
see Jessica and Michael disappear into the trees. Yvonne started to
drive after me. I swallowed and ran. I kept to the side of the road
and after a few seconds, ran off into the woods, on the opposite
side of the road that Jessica and Michael had disappeared through
only moments before.

In my peripheral vision, I saw the car swerve
after me through the underbrush. The sound of sticks snapping in
protest followed me as I ran. After about ten feet, the trees
thickened and I knew the car wouldn’t be able to follow me any
longer. I heard the car stop. The door opened and then footsteps
raced after me. From the corner of my eye, I could see Yvonne
running after me and my heart quickened. I knew she was fast.

I wondered how long I would be able to keep
this up. I knew I could run fast and I knew I could run for miles.
But so could Yvonne. It boiled down to whoever tired out first. It
was a race. Whoever had the stamina would win.

It seemed like we ran for hours. All I could
hear was the frantic and unnaturally fast pace of our footsteps and
the beating of my heart. I knew we had to be close to town now and
I hoped I could last longer, suddenly feeling a wave of tiredness
start to trickle its way up my legs and into my lungs. I darted
sideways into a clump of trees, trying to lose Yvonne. I knew she
was right behind me, but all of a sudden her footsteps ceased. I
slowly came to a stop, and looked cautiously around, straining my
hearing and sight for any sound or movement. I heard nothing, just
the racing sound of my heart beating against my chest. I quieted my
breathing so that I only inhaled through my nose, practically
silencing it completely.

Suddenly, I saw a flash of something darting
toward me and I instinctively pulled away, but not before Yvonne
had grabbed my wrist in a hard grip. Instantly I lifted my arm to
smack her hand off of mine, but she reached out with her other arm
and grabbed my other wrist.

“Listen
, Drew,” she said. “I can’t let
you just run away. First of all, I need support, and secondly, you
know too much
.” Her eyes were searching mine for a sign of
submission, but I stared back at her evenly.

“What?” I asked. “Know too much of what?”

“You know what I’m trying to do. You know I’m
trying to overthrow the creators. How can I be sure you won’t just
run back there and turn me in?” She narrowed her eyes
suspiciously.

“You think I’d just walk into the Institution
and tell on you?” I asked her incredulously. “First of all, they’d
kill me and second, they would never believe me over you. Remember?
You’re their precious little angel android.” I tried to yank my
wrists away, but she held her grip firmly. “I don’t want to be part
of your plan to overthrow the creators and take over the world. I
want nothing to do with you or the creators.

Chapter Twenty-One

As I walked back to
town, I knew Yvonne wasn’t following me. It took me about
forty-five minutes to reach the school where I met Michael and
Jessica outside by the parking lot. I saw a wave of relief wash
over both of their faces once they saw me heading toward
them.

“I didn’t know what was going to happen,”
Jessica told me. “Yvonne looked so angry.”

“I wanted to stay with you,” Michael said. “I
felt awful leaving.”

I shook my head. “No, it was good that you
guys didn’t get hurt,” I said, remembering Yvonne’s threat about
turning Michael in and glad he hadn’t been there. We stood for a
moment in silence.