Emerald Dusk - Chapter three: Two of a kind

I think I must have blacked out after that because I woke up in a tent. There was no one around but I could hear guns, a lot of guns. I jumped out of bed and ran out of the tent. There was smoke and fire everywhere. I could not see five feet in front of me. I started walking towards what looked like a control tent. There was a few there from the plane that I recognized, including the guy who stopped Jade from jumping out.

-You’re Xander, right? Jade’s twin? I’m Rok, nice to meet you.

Rok held out his hand to me.

-Ya, I…

I was about to shake Rok’s hand and thank him but a gun was shoved in my hand and I was pushed to the side.

-Take this and head north.

I ran up the hill and stop dead in my tracks. There were bodies everywhere. Blood was all over the place. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. All I could smell was blood. My stomach started to turn. I was push forward again by someone behind me but this time I stumbled and fell to my knees. I was face to face with someone. That girl that was crying in the corner of the plane all alone, she was dead. From the looks of it, she did not suffer all that much. Not much of her body was left intact. My stomach turned again and I threw up. I got myself together and got up. I looked around again and saw Rok not too far ahead. I ran to catch up with him. He was lying on the ground in a ditch. I laid down beside him and to a look around. From where we were, the smoke was less thick and I could see where we were. It looked like a post apocalypse town. Buildings where half burned down and the streets were full of broken glass and metal. All the stores had nothing left inside like they had gotten robbed.  

-Wwhat happened here Rok?

-Not a clue man, but I over herd the general say something about bio-hazards. Didn’t hear much else though.

-Bio-Hazards? Like military weapons and things like that?

Rok didn’t have time to answer. There was a big blow to the left of us and I could not see or hear anything. I’m guessing it was a bomb or something but there was smoke all over the place again. The green hue to the sky was turning darker with all the smoke and fire in the air. I tried to get up but I was so disoriented from the smoke that I stumbled back down. Rok handed me something.

-Put this on you head, you’ll be able to breath and see.

It was a bio mask. They had handed some out to the cadets but had skipped me because of my face to face with the corpse. I put it on and right away I could breathe easy. But I did not like being able to see things that the smoke was hiding. There was even more bodies then I thought.   I did not even know that was had so many cadets that were shipped out. They must have come from somewhere else. Our town did not have the population to produce such a mass pile of people. It was weird because we were told we were the only town left over still at war. I notice that some of the others had a blue scarf tied on their arm. Some had a red helmet. We had green masks. We all had something different to identify each other. I looked up at Rok he was smiling and ready. I could tell that he would not be doing this the easy way. He got up from the ditch and started running. I followed as fast as I could. He started shooting but I could not see who he was targeting. So I started shooting in the same general direction. We finally found a building that was decent. I opened the door as Rok hand my cover. We got in and closed the door behind us.

-Who were you shooting at?

Rok looked at me like I was stupid.

-You did not see them?

Something banged on the door. It was so loud. I was starting to think that the door might explode off and we would be dead in a matter of seconds. Then it stopped and the door opened. It was Jade. I was never happier to see her.

-JADE!! You’re ok.

But she looked off. She had a look in her eyes that made me worry. She looked up at me and smiled a wicked grin. It looked weird on her innocent face.

-Hey Xander, why are you so surprised to see me? Did not think I would make it?

She sounded different too. She had a bitter tone o her voice and she looked mad.

-Jade, what’s wrong?

-I’m feeling fine Xander, just great. In fact, I’ve never felt better.

Then just like that she was gone out the door as quick as she came. I got to the door to close it but stopped in shock at what I saw. The door was not opened with the handle but busted through. Jade could not have done that, she was not strong enough. So how did she get in? The lock and handle were broken off.

-What the fuck, how did she do that?

Rok was looking at me like I was supposed to know and explain everything.

-I don’t know, she must have an adrenaline rush buzz or something.

I told him that but I did not believe it, there was something about Jade that was different then this morning on the plane.

I closed the door by blocking it with some scrap metal and started looking around the building we were in. It looked like a lobby to a hospital or a clinic. There was a big desk and a door behind it. I jumped over the desk and tried the door. Of course it was looked. I banged on it a few times then I heard I big bang and the door knob blew up. I turned to see Rok aiming his gun at the door. At least his shot opened the door and missed me. I pushed the door and backed up. I took off the mask right away and took a deep breath. The air was so fresh

White.

All I could see what white, a color I could only remember in my dreams now. There was a long hallway and doors along the sides. All was clean and dust free. I had never seen anything like it. There was no trace of green anywhere. I had to cover my eyes with my hands at first. It was so bright. At the end of the hall was a big metal door with a bio-hazard sign on it. I started walking down the hall. Rok was screaming at me to come back. I could hear more banging on the front door and Rok shooting a lot.

-Rok, come see this.

He got to the door behind the desk and saw the white hall and ripped off his mask. He looked mesmerized. He starting making his way around the desk and walked into the hall. But he did one thing wrong. He shut the door behind him. I ran back to him but the door was already locked. With the door knob shot off the door was locked shut. We were stuck in there.

-Holy shit, why is it so bright in here?

Rok had his eyes completely covered by his arm. I continued my way to the final door at the end of the hall.

This time the door was unlocked. I took the handle and turned it.

Behind the door was a gigantic dark lit room. There was these clear egg shaped orbs hanging off the ceiling. I walked up closer to the nearest one.

-What the fuck is this place? What the hell are those?

-Rok, stop screaming, someone will hear us.

I would have screamed or maybe fainted but my blood was pumping with adrenaline. I did not understand what I saw. Those orbs were pods and in those pods were bodies. They were hooked up with tubes and had a bunch of metal on their skin. They looked like half man half metal machine.

I got real close to one and felt the egg. As soon as I touched it, the body inside came to life and started moving around. Then it looked straight atme. I backed up and started to scream. Rok ran over and put a hand over my mouth.

-Shut up dude, we’ll get caught!

-What the fuck is going on? What..wh..

I pointed up at the egg and Rok looked up to see what I wanted him to see. The egg with the moving body was still looking at us and Rok finally understood why I was freaking out.

-Is that..how can you….is that…

-Ya, Rok,..it’s a clone… it’s me.