esse dropped his latest location, pushed the satellite phone into his utility belt, scanned the area and, finding nothing out of the ordinary, moved stealthily toward the pickup point. Something was wrong about this whole situation. Instinct screamed not to trust anything he saw, and something was different about his abilities. He could sense things never sensed before; he ran faster and thought more quickly and clearer. His already sensitive heart seemed to be on steroids, and he had been able to evade four patrols already. The vibration on his belt echoed against his wrist; glancing at it, Jesse noted the coordinates. It was close; it was …. his head followed a very tall tree a few feet from him … up there. The only problem was the possibility of tripping a motion sensor in the open space. He could only think it was something like that drawing the patrols to his location.

Scanning the area, he waited a moment; he couldn't hear, see, or feel anything. It may be a trick, but he didn't have a choice. That tree was where he needed to be, and he needed to get there quickly. A countdown appeared on his watch screen … three minutes before he lost his ride. Crouching in place, he smelt the air. Someone was nearby, and he hoped it wasn't someone with super abilities like he had. Pushing to his feet, he ran as fast as he could. A gunshot was heard, but he continued moving, vaulting into the lower branches and climbing the tree as quickly as possible.

The stinging in his thigh and his pant leg feeling wet had him glancing down; he noted a red dot blooming on the material covering his thigh but felt no pain. Getting to the top, as the sound of rotors could be heard, Jesse moved to a point on the branch, waiting. The helicopter dropped suddenly to his level, and he lept the astonishing gap, grasping the rail just inside the open door as it lifted once more into the air; dangling dangerously from the door, he worked his way into the empty space and sank onto the floor, breathing heavily but not exhausted. Looking down at his leg, Jesse sighed, pulling his knife from its sheath and quickly cutting a hole in his cargo pants. Blood oozed from a jagged wound in his leg; pulling a small first aid kit from the large pant pocket lower on his leg, he pushed gauze against the wound, pasting a large padded bandage over it and quickly sewing the hole closed over the bandage. The helicopter was moving away from the drop-off coordinates, Jesse's original destination. A glow of heat caught his eyes, and glancing out the open door, his abilities kicked into high alert, and he found himself scanning the area, locking onto a weapon signature of a body showing up as foe, the bright red hue through the trees, was undeniable. Pulling his sidearm, Jesse took aim and fired as they passed the point. The unmistakable sound of a ground-to-air motor resounded around them; it was close to being hit. But the pilot climbed quickly at an angle, and the motor skimmed under the helicopter, grazing the undercarriage; he waited, but they didn't go down … not yet anyway. Looking out the door, Jesse found the target lying motionless among the undergrowth; his weapon looked as though it had tumbled out of the limp grasp and lay beside the rapidly disappearing body. A buzzing in his belt had him automatically reaching for it as he blew a breath out through pursed lips and read the incoming text. Raising his narrowed eyes in the direction of the pilots, Jesse slowly got to his knees as he replaced the phone and crawled toward them; one glanced his way, startling him.

"Who are you?" Jesse asked, swallowing hard. The face looked like him, but the eyes gave it away as not being him.

"We are you," the fake Jesse said, "we are you … and we will be you when we've delivered you."

"Delivered me where?" Jesse asked.

"To our creators," the other fake Jesse said, smiling coldly, "it's time we lived your life."

"Whose life will I be living?" Jesse asked.

"No one's life …" the laugh was creepy and evil, "… you'll be dead. You have a flaw."

"Right, then perhaps I should say goodbye now," Jesse said, quickly getting up and heading to the open doorway; as one of his doubles tried to grab at him, the helicopter swayed precariously, toppingly him out and causing him to hang from the rail as one of his doubles clambered toward the open door, "oh boy," Jesse hissed, as he noticed the damage done to the undercarriage and the leaking fuel running toward the sparks of the electrical system. A small fire flared; this helicopter was about to become a ball of flames … looking around to see where he could find somewhere to jump to, Jesse noticed a tall tree top coming closer and flung himself into the branches, trying to hold onto anything as the double grabbed at his falling body. Coming to a sudden and complete halt wedged into a fork of two branches, Jesse grunted, gripping the tree and watching the helicopter continue flying and try to make a turn to return for him, only to explode into a ball of hot, blazing flames. Covering his head, Jesse waited for the debris to fall before slowly moving himself to a lower branch and looking around his area. He had no idea where he was, and there was no satellite coverage wherever he had ended up, or it could be a signal jammer. Fortunately, the last message had arrived, making him wonder where his actual ride had gone or if it had been redirected.

Who was this person they were delivering him to?

Did they have a place around here?

What equipment must they have to intercept and change messages and locations?

"What is really going on?" Jesse muttered, hiding between heavily leaved branches as voices came to his hearing. Peaking between the leaves, he took in the small patrol coming his way. Frowning, Jesse closed his eyes, shook his head and narrowed his vision, hoping he was wrong.

"That looks like Craig and his patrol," Jesse whispered, "how? Where is this happening? Damn, I feel like I've stepped into the twilight zone."

"Why do we always get the after-lunch patrol," one of the men said, "it's not like anything is going to happen, and we've already been walking ten minutes with no one in sight. We never see anyone, so why do we need to patrol?"

"Orders," the man looking like Craig said, "and we obey orders."

"Sure, but that woman has no idea what is going on," another man said, "or does she and we're the ones kept in the dark?"

"One day we'll be in the real world we're meant to be," the one looking like Craig said, "until then we do as we're told."

"Sure," the third man nodded, "but when are we going to be … what is that term she likes to use … deployed."

"How the heck should I know," the Craig look-alike stopped staring at each man until they looked away, "do any of you really know why we were created? "

They shook their heads, "Well, neither do I, and frankly, I'd prefer to stay here at the home I know."

A murmur rippled as the patrol moved past without looking up. Jesse remained in place, waiting until everyone had disappeared before slowly moving from tree to tree toward what he hoped would be answers and wherever they had come from.

If he could find a place to lay low for a short time, he could use the cover of night to see the facility these people were being created and end this part of the insane plan.

Darkness enclosed him, making his position undetectable. Jesse would have felt uncomfortable, but this place felt like the area where his cabin had been built. Quiet, with the occasional nocturnal animal or bird sound, the soft hush of the trees as a breeze rustled through them. It hadn't taken long to find the compound, built into the wild as it was. Although every effort had been made to ensure it blended, something about it didn't fit the surroundings. Jesse sensed this was where he would find whoever was doing this, making these people, threatening those he loved and their way of life. A soft chuckle rumbled through him. Way of life. The way they were currently living was no way of life. It was a fight for survival, finding more and more evil that originated with one person having an idea and her obsession with having an army of her making to do her bidding. Sighing as his thoughts wandered, Jesse couldn't blame all of this on Darcia; sure, she started the madness, but her choice of partner continued it. Now, he needed to find a place to place the device he had cooked up with a few items on him. What you could create was terrific, with a few necessities in your pockets and around you.

Voices from a nearby path alerted Jesse to the returning patrol; it was the same he had seen earlier, and he wondered how far they had to patrol to get back at this hour. It had been dark for a few hours. The softly spoken words filtered to him as they moved cautiously closer.

"What do you think caused those accidents?" one of the men asked, his hushed words filled with apprehension as he gazed around, taking in every noise and movement.

"I don't know," the man that looked like Craig said, "a truck and a helicopter … and those charred bodies."

Two men near the patrol's back shuddered as the third shook his head, "Who would do that?"

"Did you see those tags hanging on the one pilot in the helicopter?" the one near the front whispered, "he came from the lake facility, which means that the guy next to him must have been his double."

"I'd like to know, not particularly who did it, but why?" Craig look-a-like asked, "Why on our side of the compound?"

"Do you think anyone knows about us?" the man next to him asked, "it's not as if what we're doing here is humane or right."

"Nothing about these places is humane and right," the Craig look-a-like said, "perhaps someone knows someone who came from here and decided it wasn't a place anyone should live."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

"They would be correct there," another man said, "hey … do you smell that?"

"Smell what exactly," Craig look-a-like stopped, looking back at the man who sniffed the air, "I'm smelling a lot of pine, water, animals and stuff I would rather not be smelling."

"Huh, maybe I'm just being overly cautious," the man said, shrugging, "but I really thought I smelt an outsider."

"Are you designed to do that?" the man beside him asked.

"I have no idea," he sighed, "it's frustrating cause I don't know what to believe or depend on …" he shook his head, "telling you, man ... it no way to live."

"True enough," the Craig look-a-like said, "I'm starving … let's go get dinner and some shut-eye."

"Sounds good to me," a team member murmured as they all trooped toward an entrance which would have been unseen and typed in a code, "thank heavens no one needs a code to get to the trash area …. oh, did you know I found it easier to get to the vent through the trash area?"

"Oh yes, I used to use that to get out of the compound, but they moved the furnace room under it, took the lid off the furnace so the trash can be disposed of, and the place heated and/or powered, so it's going to be difficult to get in and out again."

"Darn, that is harsh; that vent was open-ended, which means that you'll end up being charred human if you use it," the team member grumbled.

"Yep, who leaves a furnace top open," his teammate shook his head as he followed him through the door, "it's elementary to set it on fire."

"You've thought of doing that?" someone asked as the door was unlatched, and they began to push it closed.

"Of course, but it would be fatal for everyone; the whole place would go up," Jesse heard the words fade as the door closed, leaving him in an eery silence and a way to get rid of at least one compound. One would be gone, but there was another … on the lake.

Carefully, Jesse moved from his hiding place in the tree, stretched out his stiff limbs and moved toward the wall of foliage, looking at it carefully before following a path around the side of the building.

Would there be any guards?

Would they know he was the original, the one with the flaw?

Many questions ran through his mind, some stalling to a halt and coming to the fore, others gathered in the nether regions waiting for his mental attention.

Easing around a corner, Jesse scanned the area, finding the trash area but the smell of decomposing matter. Checking the area with his ability, he found no signatures telling him anyone was there. Quickly moving toward the wall where the air vents were found, Jesse placed his hand in front of each, pausing when locating the one emitting heat instead of cool air. Pulling his device from his pant pocket, he wedged it between the vent slats, getting most of it through, but it wouldn't budge any further. If it was left there, someone would see it. Looking around, he grimaced before he slammed his hand, palm open, against the grid, sending the device flying down the air vent. Hopefully, it would get to the boiler room or be close enough to heat up and do the job it was meant for. Running feet caught his attention as he made for the exit.

"I heard it in the trash room," he heard someone shout. Quickly checking both directions on the path and seeing no one, he disappeared into the forest opposite his location, "hurry … I hear movement. Someone is there."

Spinning behind a tree as two groups from opposite ends of the path converged on the trash room, he could hear gasping and muttering about the stench as he looked around for an escape. The tree next to him would work brilliantly, but the ground between the two trees was muddy and would give away his way of escape. Turning toward the lowest hanging branch, Jesse swung himself up and edged toward the broader branches of the other tree. All this high-level work would make him ache tomorrow; thank heavens Breanna made them train this way daily. Swinging himself into a sitting position and glancing back toward the trash room, as he heard the trash bags being thrown around, he had seconds before someone checked the grounds next to the entrance. Easing over to the opposite branch, Jesse swung two branches higher into a thick cluster of leaves and pressed his back against the trunk. He could still hear them searching and moaning about the trash not being burned.

"There is no one here," someone called, "he must have escaped … you two burn this trash before we have wild animals drawing attention to us."

Closing his eyes, Jesse could hear the grid removed from the vent and trash bags shoved into the vent. They sprung open suddenly… he needed to move or die in the blast. Checking the area below the trees, Jesse spotted bodies moving through the immediate area. Silently, he moved up the tree into the darkness until he was high enough to move from tree to tree, hopefully without being spotted. He had sprung to the fifth tree when a cry went up from below, and almost simultaneously, a large explosion ripped through the air, rolling out toward the men below. Jesse swung himself to the opposite side of the large trunk and clung to the bark with all his strength as the heat from the blast rolled beneath him, scorching the bodies below and leaving a trail of burnt grass and shrubs in its wake.

Gritting his teeth, Jesse waited until the heat had subsided before gingerly moving to another tree and painfully and slowly making his way toward the safety of the section of forest untouched by the blast, making his way without looking back as the night around him lit with the explosions heard ripping through the air in a domino effect. How big was that compound?

Resting on a broad branch, Jesse caught his breath, flexed his hands and got his bearings. The direction he was being flown was toward the lake. Standing on the branch, keeping his back against the tree trunk, he gazed across the land, finding a large body of water to his left.

"Time to go hunting," he murmured, pulling his sat phone from his belt; he discovered his signal had returned, sending off a quick message, location pin and returning the phone to his belt, Jesse rolled his shoulder, flexed his hands and moving to another tree as he made his way to his next target.

Breanna was woken by the constant thudding on her bedroom door, "I'm coming … I'm coming," she grunted as she pushed herself out of bed, taking in the luminescent time glowing in the darkness of the room, "heavens, did someone die? Its two in the morning. The way you're pounding someone would think a war had broken out or we were sinking," she muttered as she pulled open the door. Finding Michael on the other side, with a raised fist about to pound on the door again.

"Oh good, you're up," he said, striding into her room, "please explain why you're not taking my calls."

Breanna rubbed her eyes, frowning, "What are you talking about? We spoke two days ago," she said, striding to the bed, scooping her phone from the bedside table and finding the string of calls from two days previously, "here, look."

Michael observed her while taking the phone from her, "What was the first toy you played with as a child?"

"Excuse me," Breanna frowned, staring at her brother.

"Answer my question," Michael said, glancing down at the phone, "you heard the question. You should remember it. Please answer it."

Breanna shook her head, "The first toy I played with …." she cleared her throat, "… it could have been one or two choices … either the fire truck you got one Christmas or the detective set that Dad bought Darcia and myself, hoping we'd bond over it."

Michael raised his eyes from the phone, keeping his sister's gaze connected as though he was trying to find something. Breanna guessed he must have as he nodded and cleared his throat before returning her phone.

"Whoever is contacting you wasn't me," Micheal said, "I've just gotten back from a two-week conference and found somebody who looks like me sitting at my desk. The answer was incorrect when I asked the same question I asked you. He must have realised I was the real deal because he tried to kill me."

"You're standing here, so I think you killed him," Breanna said, "Mike, whoever that was sent us to coordinates for a prison holding people like us."

"Bre, we don't have a prison for people like us," Michael said, "the one we did have was destroyed by Darcia. Where was this supposed prison, and who did you send with prisoners?"

Sinking to the bed, Breanna rested her hands on her head, "Jesse drove the prisoners," she murmured, "we were able to tell him of the incoming mortar and had him on satellite for a while, but we haven't heard from him for several hours."

"Where was he headed?" Michael asked, squatting beside his sister, "Do you remember?"

"It was near a large body of water," Breanna said, rubbing her hands over her face, "surrounded by a large forest. There were some heat signatures but no names."

Frowning, Michael pushed to his feet, "Was there a mountain range?"

"I think so," Breann said, pushing from the bed and slipping her feet into her trainers, "why Mike?"

"It could be the forest area most of the people at the conference showed concern over, so much that was brought up at the conference ... several times," he said, "I'll have to look for the coordinates, but let's see what you have in the meantime."

"Hey Mike," Breanna turned toward her brother as she opened the door, "what was the reason you chose the career path you did?"

Michael looked at her, "I deviated from Science because I wanted to find my brother and you," he said, "but most of all, I didn't feel like I fitted into Mom's plan for my life."

"What was that plan?" Breanna asked.

"Everyone of us becoming scientists in one area or another," Michael said, sighing, "satisfied."

Breanna held his stare, his irritation replacing his enquiring gaze, "So far."

Nodding, the siblings left her room and headed toward the operations centre.

"You're telling me there is a place out there where doubles are being made," Breanna said, "to do what? Replace us?"

"Correct," Michael said, "and it worked so well my fellow colleagues didn't even know it wasn't me.'

"No one suspected?" Breanna asked.

"No one I spoke to," Michael said, following her into the operations room.

"Over here is the information we have …." Breanna said, "…. yes … these are the coordinates."

Michael ran his eyes across the page before pulling up a document on his phone and looking between them; he sighed, "They're identical."

An alarm startled them in the room's silence, "Jesse," Breanna said, moving toward the computer bank, "he is operational. Wow, but that level is high. Oh man, the fault has kicked in permanently."

"Is that bad?" Michael asked.

"Very, very, very bad," Breanna said, "it means that every ability he has is permanently on overdrive and super heightened."

"You're right….that is not what he'd want," Michael said, "where is he?"

Breanna pulled up the map and glanced at her brother before returning to the screen, "That large orange flash is explosions … large ones."

"What has he gotten himself into?" Michael asked.

"Whatever it is, we need to get him out," Breanna said, turning as the operation room doors opened.

"Tina, Daisy, Iris, Calla, Rose, what are you doing here?" Breanna asked.

"We're here to help," Tina said, nodding to Iris, "We're here to get the correct Jesse home."