Sleepers Part 1

Seekers Episode IV

Chapter 4

She was drawn out of sleep by the sound of metal scraping against metal. A loud ‘click’ soon followed. The pattern of noise repeated over and over. She ground her teeth, giving up on drifting back to slumber. Opening her eyes made Jacob smile broadly in response to the glare.

He was squatted next to her bed less than an arm’s length away. Flipping the top of a zippo lighter open and closed as he watched her. Apparently, he hadn’t changed as much as it had seemed.

“Mom sent me in to tell you breakfast is about ready.”

“I’ll be out soon then.”

He made no movement to leave. Instead, he wondered around looking at everything. Ignoring him, Cora began her daily morning routine. All too soon she found herself seated at the kitchen table with the three other house occupants. Food was passed around as the trio talked idly amongst each other. She sat quietly eating feeling no need to visit with any of them. The meals at the apartment were preferable. No one tried to include her in the conversation either. At least not until the meal had been finished.

“We need to talk Cora.” She met David’s gaze across the table. His grey eyes weren’t hard, but they were stern. All traces of his earlier humor had vanished. It was down to business then.

“Alright, let’s talk.”

“Jacob, you too.” Instead of complaining he turned back to the seat he had vacated to reseat himself.

“School is starting in a few days and the two of you will be attending along with others like you.” Jacob’s eyes took on a vacant stare. She couldn’t tell if he was processing David’s request or remembering something. She, too, remembered what being in school with her pair was like. It had been the whole reason they had been uprooted before. He had been the reason. It didn’t matter as she had the ace.

“I already graduated some time ago.” The news seemed to startle David as his stoic mask slipped briefly. It was Jacob that addressed her, however.

“High school or college?” His mouth fell into a smirk. The older version of her thorn had developed an attitude in her absence.

“Both.” She offered the response with no inflection of emotion. It was, after all, a fact. Jacob’s face fell as he looked at her intensely. He clearly didn’t like being challenged. A landmine she would have to keep in mind in any of their later interactions. She was sure there would be many due to current circumstances.

“When did this happen?” David’s question gave her somewhere other to look than at the young man stewing in his thoughts. He didn’t seem to believe her either. Did he think she would go so far to create distance from her pair as to lie? There was no benefit in doing so. Instead of answering with words, she rose from her seat to retrieve the papers from her room.

She wasn’t gone but a few moments. Upon returning, she found Remi had joined the other two back at the table. Their current discussion didn’t concern the woman at all. A bit of an intrusion really. Laying the papers purposely in front of David alone, she returned to her seat to await what he would say next. He flipped through each piece, verifying its authenticity with each school before moving on to the next. By the time he was through the stack, disbelief filled his eyes.

“This messes with the plans.” It was Remi who had spoken as she too watched David from beside him. She had no business speaking about anything to do with Cora. The unwanted input tensed her shoulders as she fought back the urge to lash out at the woman. She had thought herself in complete control of her reactions. Remi’s very presence proved otherwise. It was a test of self-restraint. One that she was sure David had not intended. She would need to work on that. Especially if the two of them must live under the same roof together. It would take time balancing her reactions to both Jacob and Remi simultaneously. Now that she had acknowledged the problem, it would be easier to notice when she was about to slip. Glancing at the younger of the two adversaries, she noted that he had noticed her slip as well. Would he exploit it was the question? She had no idea what really went through Jacob’s head at the times he was out of control.

“We’ll need to regroup and take this into consideration.” Cora kept her mouth sealed as she took back the papers, he handed over to her. Of course, he was going to include Remi in whatever was decided on her behalf. She didn’t think she could safely sit at the table with the two of them any longer. Excusing herself, she headed back to her room for some distance. It would be sometime before she would be able to rejoin them.

“What’s the matter Cora? Mom too much for you to handle?” It would figure that Jacob would plague her. He had never had any semblance of control over himself.

“She’s not my mother, so why should she bother me?” It was too soon. Too much slipped into her tone of voice, giving herself away unintentionally. He knew he had gotten under her skin. Excitement sparked in his eyes. He had never been able to pull a reaction out of her before. It made her feel itchy. As if her skin had been pulled too tight. A sensation she was not used to at all. “Why are you like that?”

“Like what?” Confusion dimmed the maniacal light in his gaze. He really didn’t know.

“Why do you act without thought of consequences?”

“When have I ever done that?”

“You always have. When we were little, you used to attack other kids all the time. It’s like the outcome mattered very little to you as long as you got enjoyment out of the act.”

“We’re made to be that way.”

“No, we’re not.”

“Clones created from the very genetics of some of societies' worst criminals. You really think they didn’t intend for us to be beasts?”

“I would argue that while that may have been GenLife’s purpose in the clone program, that certainly wasn’t our path.”

“Just because we were raised outside of their control doesn’t change what we are.”

“Do you know anything about what we really are?”

“The compilation of notorious criminal duos. Mostly serial killers, from my understanding.”

“You know nothing then and, instead of trying to figure it out, you’ve debased yourself to the lowest possible genome.”

“Then what are we, Cora? If not monsters, then what exactly?”

“We are the first of our kind. Are there the genomes you speak of? Yes. That is not all though. We are a compilation of rare genetics mixed with the previous clone programs before us.”

“What other clone programs?”

“Have you never been told of the Adam project, the Eve project?” She purposely brought up the two genomes he should be the most familiar with. The blank look on his face was very telling though. He had been told about the worst of their DNA but not of the rest. What would be the purpose of keeping him in the dark? Unless the others were unaware of what all had been put into the mix. If that were the case, she would keep the rarest information to herself.

“What the hell are you talking about? There are no other clones besides our generation.”

“That’s funny considering you live with two of them.”

Remi had perfect timing as she had taken that moment to knock and enter Cora’s room. She glanced between the two teens but said nothing that gave away that she had been eaves dropping. She carried with her a binder and a drive. Circumnavigating to the desk, she placed the things onto the desk before turning to leave.

“That’s everything David and I were able to find of Astrid’s notes. We couldn’t figure out what all of it was as it appeared that every piece was incomplete. I have a feeling you may be able to make some sense out of at least some of it.”

It was all she said before she left the two of them alone once more. Cora watched Jacob gauging what his reaction would be to the intrusion. The blind adoration that he once viewed Remi with was gone. In its place was a weary mistrust. The blinders he had been unaware of had been ripped from him. If nothing else, it would give him a new target or two to concentrate on while she went over her mother’s binder. He may prove to be the perfect distraction while unknowingly giving her time.