Perfect (16 page)

“Drew...” Michael’s voice had an edge of
pleading to it. “You’re not fake.”

Just at hearing those words, much of my anger
washed away, and I realized it had never been Michael I was truly
angry with. I had been angry with the situation, with the
creators.

“You’re more real to me than any human I’ve
ever known,” Michael went on. “I didn’t mean what I said about
being something fake. I’m angry at them, not you, and I’m sorry
that I blew up.”

I shook my head, suddenly feeling guilty.
“No, I’m overreacting.”

“You’re not fake to me, you never were, and
you never will be,” Michael went on and all of a sudden he smiled.
“As a matter of fact...I think I’m....falling in love with you,
Drew. That can’t be fake.”

Suddenly, everything seemed to stop, and I
froze and looked at him. “What?” I asked, not sure if I had heard
him correctly. He had said it so fast and so...randomly. Had he
really said it?

He smiled again. “I said, I think I’m falling
in love with you.” He said it more confidently this time, no hint
of sarcasm or embarrassment.

I stood there for a second, completely
shocked. Slowly, a smile spread across my lips and I realized I had
never heard anyone say that to me before. Not a creator, not an
android, not a human. Just Michael.

I laughed. “I think I’ve already fallen for
you,” I said, feigning an expression of mock contemplation. He took
a step toward me.

Michael laughed also. “Good to hear.” And all
of a sudden, he was kissing me. He pulled me closer and my arms
found their way around his neck. I closed my eyes and kissed him
back, not wanting this moment to ever end, and thinking about
nothing but Michael. That is, until a loud cough came from across
the room.

“I am feeling
very
left out,” Jessica
said with a pouty face, although her eyes sparkled with amusement.
I pulled away from Michael and went to sit next to her,
laughing.

“Not that I have anything against you kissing
your boyfriend, Drew,” Jessica said. “But since he’s my brother.”
She imitated gagging and Michael rolled his eyes. “I would rather
not be a witness, if you don’t mind.”

I laughed. “Okay, I’ll keep that in mind next
time I think about kissing him.”

“Thank you,” she replied with a giggle.

After a few hours, when the house was too
dark to even see each other, we decided to go to bed. Michael took
the couch while Jessica and I slept on the mattress. I lay awake,
staring at the ceiling. Soon I heard Michael’s breathing slow down
and I knew he was asleep. Jessica rolled over to face me.

“I still don’t know what you see in him,” she
whispered and we both giggled. She sighed. “I guess I never
will.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

I slept that night,
but only because there was nothing else to do. I awoke as red
sunlight shined through my eyelids, forcing me awake. Jessica and
Michael were still sleeping so I just sat there, watching the sun
rise through the large, bare windows.

Once they finally awoke, Jessica sat up,
rubbing her eyes. Michael did the same.

“So far, no androids,” I told them with a
smile.

“I’m hungry,” Jessica replied, looking
around. “You got any money, Michael? We could walk to the store and
get something.”

Michael pulled a wallet out of his back
pocket. “Had it since we ran away, but there’s probably not much in
it.” He tossed the wallet to Jessica, who caught it and opened it
up.

“Twenty,” she said, sifting through bills.
She shrugged. “That’s enough to get breakfast.” She stood up from
the bed and walked to the mirror on the wall, adjusting her
hair.

“Wait, guys,” I said. “I don’t think all of
us should go.”

Jessica turned around to face me.

“The creators are looking for us to be in a
group. All the times they’ve seen us we’ve been together. I think
it would be safest if one of us went alone to get the food,” I
explained.

“Oh.” Jessica looked thoughtful for a moment.
“Okay.”

“I’ll go,” I said quickly, knowing that I
would stand a better chance than the others if I was to be attacked
by androids. “What do you guys want?”

Michael started to protest but I gave him an
exasperated look and he stopped. “Bagels,” he ended up saying, and
Jessica nodded in agreement.

“What kind?” I asked, taking the wallet from
the table.

“Blueberry,” Jessica called.

“Will do. See you soon.” And with that, I
left. I walked down the long dirt path leading away from the house
and soon was on the road that led into town.

While I was walking, though, I couldn’t shake
the feeling that someone was watching me. I turned around and
looked. No one was there. I scanned the area around me multiple
times, but saw nothing, not even an animal. I tried to shrug the
thought away, dismissing it as being overly anxious, but the
feeling still remained.

After about fifteen minutes of walking I
reached downtown. There was a grocery store around the corner and I
hurried inside, not wanting to be out in the open longer than I had
to. I kept my head down and didn’t look at anyone, hoping no one
was looking for me, but if they were, that they wouldn’t notice who
I was.

I grabbed two blueberry bagels, and walked to
the cash register. Once I had waited in line, I purchased the
bagels and was on my way. But as I was leaving the store I felt a
pair of eyes watching me and turned just in time to see someone
darting behind a magazine stand. I walked faster, practically
running, but before I could reach it, the person had scurried away
and was out the door. All I saw was a flash of long red hair. I
raced after her, out the doors, and down the crowded street. I
tried to hurry through the thick mass of people as I saw the
redhead dash away. Soon I came to a stop, and just stared down the
street where she had vanished. She was gone. I noticed my heart was
pounding. Not from exertion, I knew, but from fear.

I made my way back to the house as quickly as
I could, hoping, praying, that no one was following me.

Once the door was shut behind me, I breathed
a sigh of relief, handing the bag of bagels to Jessica.

“What’s wrong?” Michael asked me.

“I think someone was watching me,” I
said.

Jessica looked up, alarmed. “Watching you?
Did they follow you here?”

I shook my head, making my way to the couch.
“No. I chased after her, and she ran away from me,” I told them,
frowning in thought.

“She ran away from you?” Michael asked. “But
aren’t the androids supposed to bring you back? Why would they
run?”

I nodded. “That’s what I’m wondering.” I
shook my head. “She couldn’t have been from the Institution.” My
brow furrowed in thought. “I don’t know if she was scared of me,
but she definitely didn’t want me to see her.”

“But why would someone from outside the
Institution want to spy on you?” Jessica asked, taking a bite of
her bagel.

“I don’t know.”

Jessica held up a piece of bagel from where
she was sitting on the bed, across from me. “Want some?”

I shook my head. “No thanks.”

The room was silent for a few minutes while
Michael and Jessica devoured their breakfast. I stared out the
window, in thought. Who could have been following me? That red hair
had looked familiar, but from where? I sat there for a few moments,
trying to figure it out until my head hurt and I eventually gave
up. Maybe she was a human, trying to spy on the android side. After
all, there were two sides to this battle, and I hadn’t gotten a
good enough look to be able to tell whether she was human or
android. The humans had to have some idea that something wasn’t
right by now. Things were changing rapidly, everything was
changing. They had to know, and most of them had to be against
it.

I thought about all the people I had helped
to bring in. Those people I had helped become changed into
androids. I cringed at the thought. I felt awful for what I had
done, and I felt awful that I had let the creators use me that
way.

I fiddled with a spare thread on my jeans,
lost in thought until I heard a startling knock on the door.
Adrenaline shot through me and I leapt to my feet, Jessica and
Michael following my lead, their breakfast forgotten. The silence
following the knock was almost worse as we stood in the quiet, not
even daring to breathe. And then I heard the voice. Glen’s voice.
And my heart froze.

“Drew?” I fought the urge to curse, wondering
at their maddening ability to
always
find us. I could
understand Michael’s anger. It felt as if we would never get away
from them. The thought was both aggravating and terrifying.

Suddenly the door was kicked down and Michael
was screaming at Jessica and me to run. I began to turn, reaching
for Michael to pull him along, but he brushed me off.

“Go!” he shouted.

I suddenly realized that we were too close to
the door for all of us to get away safely. Panic raced through me
and I wished more than anything that he would run after Jessica and
leave me to hold off the creators. But with one look in his eyes I
knew he would never let me. My heart screamed at me to stop and
stay with him, but my mind reminded me of Jessica and how she
needed someone. She wouldn’t be able to do it alone. I glanced into
Michael’s eyes, wishing it could last so much longer, before
turning and racing after Jessica. I could hear the creators’ and
Michael’s shouts behind me as Jessica and I fled out the back door,
and I felt hot tears pouring down my cheeks as I thought of Michael
and what would happen to him.

“Wait!” Jessica shrieked as I followed her
out and she realized that Michael wasn’t with me.

“He’ll be fine,” I told her, not having time
to explain, and pushed her to continue running. While we sprinted
down the driveway and away from the house, I prayed that Michael
would be all right. That he would be fine and eventually get away,
or that we could save him. I didn’t want to think about the
alternative.

I heard shouts behind us while Jessica and I
hit the pavement running. I immediately scanned the area around us
for signs of more creators and thankfully didn’t see any. I could
only hope there weren’t more stationed down the road. Jessica was
still looking back, urgently murmuring something about Michael, but
I pulled her along.

“Where is he?” her voice was starting to
sound frantic.

“He’ll be fine,” I said again, trying to
convince myself as well and keep calm. “We need to get away. Once
things have settled down we’ll find him,” I said, pulling her to
run faster. We hurried off to the side of the road, darting into
the trees and through the underbrush. I could hear the creators
behind us, but surprisingly, not for long. It was only a few
minutes before their footsteps ceased and I knew we were alone.

We stopped, panting, the forest around us
seeming calm and covering. I wondered why they hadn’t tried as hard
to chase us this time, but I pushed the thought away. My stomach
felt sick. Michael.

“We need to find Michael,” Jessica whimpered
from beside me. “What if they got him? What if he’s hurt?”

“Jessica!” I hissed. “No. Don’t talk like
that. Michael will be fine. We will find Michael,” I told her
firmly, hoping I sounded more confident than I felt.

She nodded slowly and let out a breath of
air. “When are we going to go after him?”

“I don’t know,” I told her. “We need to wait
until things settle down, and then we can go back. If they did get
him and he didn’t get away,” I started, realizing that was the most
likely outcome. “He’s probably at the Institution.”

Jessica let out a shaky breath and seemed
near tears. She sat on the ground, leaning against a tree. I sat
next to her. I reached out to grab her shoulders in a sideways hug.
“We’ll find him,” I told her, and I sent up a silent prayer, hoping
I was right. I shook my head, wishing I could say more, wishing
that my words were more powerful and feeling that if somehow I
could say more with more force and repetition, it would assure
Michael his safety. I leaned back against the tree beside
Jessica.

And we waited.

Chapter Twenty-Five

“
So, what are we
going to do?” Jessica asked, her voice shaking. It had been almost
an hour since we had run away and as each second passed, my panic
rose.

“We’re going to the Institution to get him
back,” I stated. “We have to.” Determination filled me, but it was
more desperate than confident. I could think of no other solution.
Or at least none that I ever wanted to entertain.

“But how?” Jessica’s voice was frantic and it
was scaring me as well.

“We’re going to need to distract the
creators’ attention away from the humans being held captive,” I
eventually replied. “He’s going to be held where the rest of them
are.”

“And how will we do that?”

“We’ll need to disable the security cameras
somehow,” I said, thinking. I tried to remember all of Yvonne’s
strategies and plans. I was surprised to realize that I wished she
were here to help me now.

“Well, how did Yvonne do it?” Jessica
replied, echoing my thoughts. “They were off when we all went in
there.”

I shook my head, suddenly remembering. “She
had taken out the camera batteries days before, and then had the
codes to the computers to cut off the power. We don’t have the
ability or time to do that,” I explained.

“Oh.” Jessica looked dejected. “Then how on
earth...wait, I know,” she said suddenly, her thoughtful expression
turning into a relieved smile. “Paint.”

I threw her an incredulous look. “What?”

“Spray paint. Or a paintball gun.” She smiled
at the last part.

It took a moment for my expression to change
to understanding and suddenly I knew what she was talking about.
“Oh, yeah, that might work.” Excitement filled my chest. “The gun,
I mean. It would hit it so fast that it’ll just look like the
screen went black. Like it lost its battery or something stopped
working.” But then I trailed off, my expression furrowing into a
frown. “Great idea, but where are we going to find a paintball
gun?”