26 #2
“We lost electricity. Everyone hoarded food. Boarded up their doors. People killed over a drop of water in the cold desert. I watched my family wither away until it was only my sister and I left. We were but skin and bones back then, too weak to even lift our heads off the mattress. We held each other until we took our very last breaths. I saw my soul leave my body, reaching toward a distant light. My eyes closed for the last time. Until one day, when someone opened them.”
Khalani didn’t breathe, hanging on to every word.
“I woke up naked in a glass container. A young man stood over me. I’d never seen him before, but he ordered me to speak.
For some reason, my lips wouldn’t move. I tried so hard, but it was like they were glued shut.
He wrote something down before pulling a lever.
I screamed in agony as he electrocuted me until my heart stopped. That was the second time I died.
“The third time, I woke up and he asked my name. But I couldn’t remember it. When I said I didn’t know, he killed me again. This happened for days. Maybe even years. I don’t quite remember.” The Chief’s voice cracked, her hands trembling.
“It wasn’t until I was able to fully recount my life that he told me why I was brought back.
I wasn’t alive. Not really. He recovered my decomposing body and made an exact clone of who I used to be.
That was the easy part, he said. The hard part was bringing back all my memories.
Parts of my brain were still preserved, and he worked tirelessly, day and night, to re-create me until I was a picture-perfect version of my original self.
But the most important thing he wanted me to remember was that I wasn’t human. I was something much better.”
“Who was he?” Khalani asked.
“I don’t know.” The Chief frowned. “The only name I was ever allowed to call him was Father. I don’t know where he came from.”
“But why did he bring you back?” Winnie asked.
“So we could repopulate the earth.”
Her jaw dropped, but the Chief continued.
“I was the first clone he created. Once he perfected me, he brought back others. We were instructed to build Desert Spring as our first city. He gave us all the supplies, food, and medicine we’d need.
And our orders were to build more cities across the Death-Zone.
Peace was in our code. That’s what separated us from the humans,” the Chief reiterated, like she’d been told that many times before.
“But what we didn’t expect was a group of fifty humans to find our city.
They were descendants of people who used to live in Las Vegas, the Sin City.
I didn’t know what to do. I reported back to Father through a fax machine he gave us.
He advised caution and warned that if they learned who we really were, they’d try to kill us.
I didn’t believe him. His lessons of peace were ingrained in me, and we did everything to welcome the Sinners into our community, hoping we could repopulate the world with them.
But young Ansel had his suspicions and broke into my library.
That’s when he found the photos. When I told him the truth, Ansel and the rest of the Sinners stole our guns and killed most of my people before escaping.
After that, we built a wall, and our only goal since then has been survival. ”
The Chief shook her head, as if that moment was the biggest regret of her life.
“When I told Father what happened, he sent Patreus to teach our people how to fight and kill the Sinners. But our people were built for peace, not war, and I never gave the order to attack Ansel. When I told Father, he was furious and stopped sending plant seeds and the rest of our supplies. He said that we were just like the humans…and he abandoned us.” The Chief’s chest heaved, and she covered her face, heavy breaths leaking from her.
Khalani sat there, stunned.
The unbelievable story took flight within her, spinning off a thousand new questions.
Who was this “Father” she spoke of?
Where had he come from?
How many clones were there?
As Khalani stared at the broken-hearted Chief, her heart ached to reach out and hug her. But the thought immediately made her want to bang her head against the pole.
What the fuck was wrong with her? The Chief had them tied up and spied on them.
She wasn’t human. Khalani repeated the mantra to herself.
But if she wasn’t, then Khalani might not be either.
“Why was my picture down there?” her voice echoed out, barely above a whisper.
“I told you, I don’t know.” The Chief lifted her stark gaze. “Father left that album in Desert Spring because he said he didn’t want it found in his own city.”
“But am I like one of you? Am I a…clone?” Her fingers trembled, not wanting to hear the answer but needing to.
“Do you have memories of a previous life?” the Chief asked.
Khalani thought long and hard before she spoke.
She had nightmares of nuclear bombs descending over cities, but nothing like what the Chief had described. No clear life she remembered before the Great Collapse.
“No,” she finally said.
“Then I don’t think you are.”
“But that still doesn’t explain why my picture was down there! Or why you were spying on us.”
“I had to make sure you weren’t going to hurt my people. After what Ansel did, it was necessary.”
“But you have to know something!”
“I don’t know anything!” the Chief yelled, her hands trembling.
They reared back at the outburst.
“This wasn’t supposed to happen.” The chair fell over as the Chief stood, her face completely ashen.
“I’ve died a thousand times and wished I died a thousand more.
The only reason I accepted my new life was because I wanted peace.
But now, Ansel is right outside the city, we’re all alone, and my people are going to die.
If I’d never been born, this wouldn’t have happened. ”
Tears poured in a torrent down her face, her cries eclipsing the room.
“It’s not your fault.” Winnie’s whisper flew on invisible wings, cutting through the pain.
The Chief’s stricken gaze slid to her. “What did you just say?”
“What happened to you wasn’t your fault,” Winnie repeated in a steady, commanding voice. “The man you call ‘Father’ isn’t your father. No parent would ever give their child so much pain. He’s the one who’s different from us. Not you.”
“But how can that be? He’s the one who brought me back and told me that I’m not human anymore.” The Chief’s chin trembled, like she never wanted that to be true.
“Does your heart beat like us?”
“Yes. But even animals have hearts.”
“But when you see someone hurt. When you experienced the sun for the first time. When you smile at your sister, where do you feel it?” Winnie prodded.
The Chief didn’t answer, but her throat bobbed.
“You know what I’m talking about.” Winnie’s eyes glistened. “And wouldn’t you do anything for your home? For your people?”
“Of course.” The Chief lifted her chin.
“You see?” Winnie smiled, untold warmth in her gaze. “It’s not just your memories that kept you alive. You never stopped caring or trying to do the right thing. The human parts of you were what drove you the whole time, and you didn’t even know it.”
Khalani’s lips parted at the power in Winnie’s words, introducing ideas she never dared dream about.
It wasn’t the blood running through her veins or the legs she walked on that made a difference. Maybe it was the connection she shared with Winnie. The way she looked at her friends. The intimacy between her and Takeshi when no one was around that made her the most alive.
The Chief sniffled, sobs tearing through her, like that same growth lived inside her too.
Khalani’s gaze flittered to the ceiling, the answers written above her. And for the first time, she knew what to do.
“What’s your name?” She cleared her throat. “The one you were given before the Great Collapse.”
“Penny,” the Chief whispered. “My name was…is Penny.”
“If you release these bindings, Penny, we can help you.”
Penny paced about the room, her movements erratic. “The last time I told someone the truth, they killed us. Why wouldn’t you do the same?”
“Because Winnie’s right.” Khalani glanced over at her second mother, who gave her a nod, her own eyes twinkling with love and guidance.
“Maybe we’re not so different because there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for my family either.
When I was with Ansel, they hurt us for information, but you never did.
You sheltered us, saved Winnie when you didn’t need to.
I don’t care if you weren’t born in this century.
Even when you were given terrible orders, you still did what was right.
You’re better than most people I’ve met.
So if I have to pick between Ansel’s side and yours, I’m choosing you. ”
She meant it.
No one could ever decide their beginning. Or how they left this world. It’s the person they chose to be that made a difference.
Penny studied Khalani and Winnie, testing the sincerity of their words. After a minute, she exhaled heavily, like she’d been holding that breath in for a very long time.
Penny pulled out a pair of bronze keys and undid Winnie’s chains first. When she unhooked Khalani’s chains, Khalani rubbed her wrists and peered up in surprise when Penny extended her hand.
She eyed it for a moment, realizing the impact of what a handshake would mean. But Winnie was right.
A new dawn was coming, and what she chose now would change everything.
Khalani clasped Penny’s forearm.