Anpiel's frail arms wrapped around Clay's waist like a life raft as they bounced down the dirt road in the bed of Gabriel's pick-up. She faded in and out of consciousness. Clay's fingernails tore into the palm of her hands. The taste of copper filled her mouth. Her teeth had ground so hard together, she had bit into the side of her cheek.
We had to do this. There's no way I could have cared for her alone up there.
The truck drove them further away from the cover of the forest, and the ball of tension in her stomach tied into even more knots. When she first saw the two men in the clearing with Anpiel, she had been prepared to kill them, but when Anpiel's injuries became apparent, she thought better of it. Plus, people would notice them missing and she'd only draw in more attention. A murder case in the area would surely get the laboratory's attention. She rationalised that in the worst-case scenario, it wouldn't be hard for her to escape with Anpiel if she had to.
Soon the scenery changed from forest to pastures. They drove past fields of crops, cattle and sheep. She couldn't help it and stared with her mouth wide open. After the escape, they had been overwhelmed by the forest, but Clay had made do for the few weeks they'd been out there. She and Anpiel had come across a small hunting cabin where they had been able to hole up. After they ran out of the abandoned cans of food on the second day, they both foraged through the forest and camps for food scraps.
Though it had been nine years since Rachael had last taken her out, the woods had been at least semi-familiar to Clay. As they drove further away from the island, the change of scenery astounded her. She had only seen these crops, and animals from behind her television screen.
They slowed as they neared their destination. The front yard was overtaken by large oak trees. In the summer, the leaves would surely obscure the house from the road. The truck pulled down the long, winding driveway towards the small farmhouse. Some areas of the covered front porch sunk into the earth as the wood had begun to turn grey and sag into the dirt, while other sections were recently constructed and made of fresh, yellow pine. The second story only took up a small section of the top of the building. A little steel pipe chimney jutted out the top. When they got closer, a baby barn came into view accompanied by a paddock.
The property was surrounded on either side by wood lots, and a small forest further in the back. Clay's eyes darted around as she absorbed her surroundings. She noticed how large the backyard was, and could see what looked to be a chicken coop, a small pond, and a vegetable garden in the distance.
The truck stopped and Gabriel and Zach got out and came around to the back to speak to them.
"You guys stay there, I'm going to go on inside and give Sam a heads up," said Gabriel.
Gabriel disappeared into the house. Clay grasped at her thoughts. They raced through her mind, and she struggled to hold on to them.
What am I supposed to tell them? How can I explain about us without giving ourselves away?
During the 'real world' role-plays they drilled her with back at the lab, she was clearly instructed never to tell the truth about where she came from. When the time came for her to enter the wide world, they would give her careful instruction on what to say.
Now she was lost. The mock conversations she had with the orderlies, and often Smith himself, eluded her, and none of them came close to touching on this situation.
Her finger stung. She looked down to see she had absent-mindedly ripped most of the hangnail away from her thumb.
Zach peered up at them from the side of the truck bed. "How's she holding up?" he asked.
"Not good," Clay said simply.
He dug around in his pocket and brought out a cigarette. "Would you like one?"
She shook her head.
"Suit yourself," he said and lit it. "What were you guys doing out there?"
"I dunno. What were you doing out there?"
"He thinks you're aliens, you know."
Clay blinked, confused.
Zach exhaled a cloud of smoke. "Gabriel. He thinks the GreenerPastures laboratory contains aliens and alien hybrids, but I don't think so."
Clay bristled. "How do you know that name?"
"Everyone around here knows about it. Kids in school tell stories about it to scare each other, but the kosher talk around town is that they're a research centre that specialises in pine beetles and deer ticks. That's not entirely true though, is it?"
Clay's cheeks burned. Thankfully, she was saved from replying when Gabriel returned with a woman at his side. Clay saw concern shadow her hazel eyes. The woman wrangled her curly auburn hair back into a loose ponytail while she walked.
When she reached the bed of the truck, the woman reached out. "Give her to me, I'll do what I can."
Clay hesitated. Anpiel groaned in her sleep.
"We've got to get her looked after," the woman insisted, though her tone remained soft. "I promise, I'll be as gentle as I can. I only want to help."
"I'll carry her in."
"That's fine," said the woman. She stepped back so Clay could slide out of the truck bed with Anpiel still in her arms. Clay followed Gabriel, and who she assumed must be Sam, back into the house with Zach following behind.
Despite herself, Clay's hands shook. Other than her brief time in Rachael's house, she had never set foot in one before. They climbed up to a small porch and manoeuvred around the plastic deck furniture and barbeque as they all crowded through. Gabriel held the door for them and Sam ushered them forward into the kitchen. A sense of claustrophobia took over Clay. Her mouth and throat became puffy and swollen. She struggled to catch her breath.
What have I done? What did I get us into?
Sam guided them from the kitchen, through the living room and into the master bedroom. The queen-size bed nearly took up the entirety of the room and was perfectly made up with a pink and purple floral duvet and pillows to match. At Sam's direction, Clay placed Anpiel down on top of it. Her left wing draped over the side of the bed, while the other spread out behind her. She whimpered, and her eyelids fluttered, but she did not wake up.
Clay ground her back teeth together and wrung her hands. Every muscle in her was tense, ready to run, but she knew she had no choice but to trust these people.
What else am I supposed to do?
Gabriel and Zach squeezed into the tiny room, just so Sam could turn them out again. "There's not enough space, go make yourselves useful and bring me the first aid kit, warm water, boards, rope and some towels."
Gabriel and Zach hustled back out of the room to do as she asked. All Clay could do was stand back and watch, her heart in her throat.
Sam stripped away Anpiel's pants and for the first time, Clay saw her wound fully. Anpiel's flesh was torn away from the muscle. White bone appeared between chunks of gristle. Anpiel began to shiver, and her jaw chattered. Her face turned grey, and the cracked skin of her lips took on a light shade of blue.
Sam patted down Anpiel's hair and gently hushed her. Suddenly, Anpiel's torso lurched forward as she vomited down herself. A thin sheen of sweat glistened across her forehead.
"What's wrong with her?" Clay asked. She picked at the frayed skin around her thumb and shifted her weight from foot to foot.
"She's going into shock. We need to get this taken care of quickly." Sam did her best to clear away the majority of the vomit with a spare throw blanket. She took another quilt that had previously been draped over the headboard and used it to cover Anpiel from her chin to her waist.
Gabriel and Zach returned with the requested supplies and passed them over to Sam.
"Gabriel, I'll need your help to hold her steady," Sam said. "You guys should leave. I'll let you know when we're done."
"I want to stay," said Clay. "What are you going to do to her?"
"We're not going to hurt her," Gabriel assured her.
"What are you doing to her?" Clay repeated, this time more slowly, in case he hadn't heard her in the first place.
Gabriel met her brown eyes with his deep green. They unsettled her, and not for any reason that would have made sense to her. It was because they were utterly calm, but not in the cool, confident and cruel way she was used to. Instead, she found compassion.
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"The bear trap crushed her leg and fractured the bone. Sam and I have to clean it up, stitch it and set it. I won't lie to you, it's going to hurt, but it has to be done. She's already going into shock. You can either stay here while we work or go in the living room. It's up to you. Either way, we have to get to work."
Clay hadn't expected his blunt honesty. At the lab, she learned quickly not to ask about Anpiel or many other questions for that matter. She stepped out of the room and allowed Gabriel to close the door behind her.
The walls of the narrow hallway closed in on her, her vision swirled as her stomach rolled. Her clenched jaw zinged pain and pressure into her temples. She rolled her shoulders back, straightened up and joined Zach in the living room.
Zach sat on the couch, fidgeting. When Clay entered, he half stood, then sat back down. He looked anywhere but at her as he fiddled with some of the books left out on the coffee table.
Clay gingerly sat down in the armchair across from him. The neat room made her painfully aware of her own appearance. Her jogging suit was stuck to her skin with blood and dirt in some places, while other stains had become crusted and hard. The damp scent of dirt mingled with the sickly-sweet smell of old blood. In the woods, there had been too much going on to pay attention to anything else but survival. Now, it was all too evident how wild she must look. Not to mention the stench. The most pressing thing on her mind was how could she possibly explain this situation.
Then Zach finally asked the question she had been dreading; "Where did you guys come from?"
Clay shook her head. Her hands were clenched firmly together in her lap to stop from trembling. "I can't say."
"Was it GreenerPastures?"
She bristled. "You already asked."
"You didn't answer."
"I can't. Please understand, I can't tell you." These people had been so kind to her, she did not want to put them in any more danger than they already were. Plausible deniability could be the only thing that stood between them and death, and even that was not a certainty.
"We just want to help you. My friend and I have been researching GreenerPastures for a long time now. When we heard about the sightings..."
Her heart sank. "The sightings? Who else knows we were out there?"
Zach shrugged. "I'm not sure, really. We were getting messages on our blog off and on about a winged creature stealing food out of trash cans and bear hangs. We weren't sure what to make of it, of course. Then, when it got mentioned on the local radio and news station we had to check it out."
Then they know. We have to get out of here as soon as possible. The moment Anpiel is fixed, we're leaving. If they come for us, it's over. I've betrayed them and they'll kill us both for it.
Though the thought scared her, it felt logical. She had turned her back on the lab and crossed a hard line. There was no going back from here.
For my disloyalty, I certainly deserve death, though I wish they would let Anpiel go. She didn't do anything wrong. If only for her sake, I have to keep us safe.
The sudden opening of the bedroom door made them both turn to look as Gabriel stepped out.
"How is she?" Clay asked.
"She's doing a lot better than she was. Sam managed to set the bone and sew her back up, but she's still in a lot of pain. All we have here to give her is some Tylenol I'm afraid. I'll have to see what I can do to find something a little bit stronger." He paused and pushed his long dark hair out of his eyes. "There's something else I wanted to ask you about."
Clay felt her muscles tense, but she kept herself steady, and let Gabriel continue.
"While Sam was cleaning her up, and helping her into some fresh clothing, we found something between her shoulder blades. I think it might be an RFID chip. I have a reader from when I tagged the goats last spring. I may or may not be able to read this one, but it would be worth a try."
Clay froze. The chips had been placed in them both shortly after birth as a matter of record-keeping, and she hadn't given them a second thought any more than she thought of the project title tattooed on her ankle or a mole.
"My question is," Gabriel continued, "before I try and scan it, did you want to tell me what I might find?"
She stared blankly at him. It hadn't occurred to her to question the contents of the chip, so she wouldn't have been able to tell him what was on there even if she wanted to.
"Ok, I'll just have to do it this way then."
"You won't hurt her though?"
"No, of course not. It's just a scanner, it's not invasive at all."
Clay relaxed her shoulders, but only a little. Her anxiety began to mount as she thought of what they might find, and then she'd have to explain. Gabriel left to grab the scanner from the barn, and her heart pounded until it crashed against the base of her throat. Everything happened so fast, and it was all out of her control. If Anpiel wasn't immobilized, she would have grabbed her and bolted.
Sam emerged from the room next and closed the door softly behind herself. Her freckles stood out against her pale face, and her hands shook. All the steadiness she had commanded of them earlier had disappeared. The cool, confident woman Clay had encountered in the driveway had crumbled into exhaustion. Sam opened a narrow closet door and gathered large bath towels into her arms.
"Here you go," she said and passed them over to Clay. "You're welcome to use our shower. I'm not sure if any of my clothes will fit you, but Gabe's might. I'll see what I can find for now, and then at some point, we can go into town and get things for you."
Clay took the towels into her arms and stared at Sam in confusion. She scanned her face for any hint of motive.
Why are they being so nice to us? Are they trying to make us comfortable just to spring some agents on us when we drop our guard?
Sam smiled wanly back at her. "Oh, I'm sorry honey, I didn't tell you where the bathroom is at." She pointed down the short hallway to a door across from the bedroom. "It's right in there. The shower is pretty straightforward. You can help yourself to anything, shampoo, soap, whatever. If you need anything we'll be right out here."
In a daze, Clay followed her direction. The bathroom, though cramped, was wondrous to her after a lifetime of the clinical laboratory showers. Clay analysed the taps, too awkward to go back out and ask Sam how they worked. She tried to recall what she had seen on television and fumbled around with the taps. When the water first came out, she jumped back, then slowly dipped her hand under the stream. Clay eventually found the correct temperature and figured out how to get the shower on.
She pulled off her jogging suit. The blood and grit had stuck the material to her skin and it came off like a peal. Clay stepped into the tub under the stream. The warm water soothed her aching muscles, but the knife wound in her side continued to burn. Luckily, there was no sign of infection. By now, the scab had hardened but hurt at the slightest pressure. It would form a scar shortly, as all the others had before it.
Her body was a tapestry of scars. Most had long ago turned shallow and white, while others were raised, pink and angry. The largest, most jagged ran vertically down her left deltoid and into the bicep. Even as she washed, she couldn't bear to look at it. The feeling of raised skin under her fingertips threatened to conjure up the memory of how it got there and she urgently pushed the thought away.
When finished, she towelled off and stepped out of the tub. A sudden knock at the door startled her.
"It's just me," called Sam. "May I come in? I got some clothes together for you."
"Uh sure."
Sam opened the door and immediately closed her eyes. "Oh, I thought you'd be covered, sorry." She quickly dropped the clothes and left.
Clay was confused, but got dressed regardless. Sam had given her a pair of jeans, and a black tank top to wear. The jeans must have been Gabriel's as they were about a size too large and she had to keep hoisting them back up.
When she emerged from the washroom, the others except for Anpiel were waiting in the living room.
"We were able to scan the microchip," said Gabriel. "It listed a lot of basic information such as height, eye colour," he put the next one in air quotes, "and extraction date. The most interesting bit was that it claimed her to be the property of SST inc, and I'm wondering what this means. Can you elaborate?"
The acronym was all over the laboratory and plastered on all of the equipment and paperwork, even the pillowcases, sheets and clothing, but it hadn't occurred to her to question it.
Clay shrugged. "I don't know."
"Look, here's the deal," Gabriel began. "We want to help both of you, but for us to do that, we have to know what we've gotten ourselves into."
It was on the tip of her tongue to remind him that he had found them, not the other way around. She had been prepared to live out the rest of their days in the forest, living off the land if she had to. Then she reminded herself that if they hadn't come along when they did, Anpiel probably wouldn't be here. She sighed and ran her fingers through the tangles of her wet hair. Her throat became so dry it nearly impacted her ability to speak. When she opened her mouth and took a deep breath, she found her voice again. Anpiel was much too weak for them to leave anytime soon. She knew their only hope was to hide, at least until Anpiel was able to walk again.
"We'll leave as soon as Anpiel is better," Clay said. "I'm only going to tell you what you need to know to understand the danger you're in by having us here. Please understand. I don't want you to be in any more danger than you already are. Anpiel and I escaped from the GreenerPastures facility." As she said it, she felt a flush of relief that was quickly replaced by guilt.
There, I've done it. I've told them the truth. There's no going back now for any of us.
"I knew it!" Zach exclaimed. Gabriel gave him a look and he settled down.
"How did you get out?" Sam asked. Her eyes were like saucers. "That must have been awful for the both of you."
Clay shook her head. They can't know what I can do, or what I've done.
"I can't say the details."
Gabriel leaned forward in his chair. "Ok, so I'm going to be real with you. For us to help you, we will need details. It doesn't have to be today, it doesn't have to be tomorrow, but at some point, we need to know. Zach and I have been trying to research GreenerPastures for a while now. We'd like to compile an article that exposes them and gets them shut down once and for all."
"I can't talk about them. Just by leaving, I've thrown mine and Anpiel's lives away. It may already be too late to keep you all out of it, but on the off chance that it's not, I don't want to make things worse. As soon as Anpiel gets better, we'll be out of here."
"No, don't leave," said Zach. "You guys are the missing pieces we need to put everything together to blow everything open. No one will believe us if we only have rumours and theories and not any actual evidence. With your help, we can get them shut down."
"What if I don't want them to get shut down? They gave us a home for nineteen years, we should be grateful." An unexpected mass of emotion welled up in her chest and she struggled to push it back down. "They gave us everything, and we betrayed them. I accept that I deserve whatever I get, but Annie doesn't and neither do any of you."
"What are you saying?" Sam asked. Her sharp tone took Clay by surprise. It seemed ill-suited to her previous sweet, caring demeanor. "They must have tortured you and Anpiel for years. I don't need to hear details, it's easy to see by looking at the both of you, especially Anpiel. She's merely skin and bones. They may have been giving you food and clothing, but it doesn't look like they were doing jack shit for her."
Clay cringed. It hadn't occurred to her before, it was simply the way things were. Intense guilt burned through her that she hadn't noticed the inequality before.
"If we don't stop them they'll continue to operate and replace the two of you with others," said Gabriel.
"That's not my concern."
"It should be. As long as they go unchecked, they will hunt you down."
She crossed her arms. "I know that, but you don't realise the risk public exposure poses to us. Especially for Anpiel."
"I think we can have a pretty good idea," said Sam. "I mean it's hardly rocket science..."
"What do rockets have to do with this?"
"Nothing, just forget it," said Sam. "What I mean is that it's easy to see that public exposure could end badly, but there's also a good possibility GreenerPastures will be shut down in the process."
"Fine," Clay said sharply. "I'll think about it."
"Ok, good enough for now," Gabriel agreed. "We'll need time to do more research on this SST company, and for Anpiel to heal and get her strength back anyway."
Clay's hands shook and she tucked them into the pocket of her jeans to hide them. She felt as though the ground slipped away from beneath her, and she was powerless to catch herself.