• My eyes fluttered open slowly and I must tell you. I did not expect anything remotely interesting or exciting to happen to me this morning. My life is remarkably ordinary. If you were to look up the word boring in the data archives, you probably would have come across my face in one of the entries. Fortunately or unfortunately this streak of flatness in my life was about to end. Who knew that a shooting halfway across the city would throw me over the precipice?

    I climbed into the cleaning chamber and allowed the sweat and grime that had accumulated during my sleep to be removed. The warm air washed over me and I closed my bright silver eyes holding still waiting for the beep that confirmed that the process was complete. The door opened quickly and I climbed out starting to get dressed. As I slipped on my shoes, I glanced over at the screen of my communicator. The message alert was blinking. The lit screen was turning on and off. This puzzled me slightly because not that many people contacted me in this manner. At least not since I had the communicator installed into the base of my brain.

    As slowly lifted the device closer to my face to examine the monitor, it began to emit a tone that signaled an incoming voice call was being requested. Slightly surprised I compressed the accept button. ”Hello?” I asked while fumbling with the device my voice hushed and confused.

    ”This is Mister Reed am I correct.” The Female voice inquired her stern voice echoing in my ear. I glanced out the window biting down on my lower lip.

    ”Yes this is August Reed, Who am I speaking with?” I asked lowering the phone from my ear ever so slightly.
    The woman on the other line ignored this question brushing it aside. ”Young man I do not think it is necessary to exchange pleasantries now. We do not have much time. You need to get out of your apartment. They are coming for you.”

    The communicator fell out of my slim fingers as the last statement met my ears. ”What!?” I shook my head. How did they know it was my time? I fell to my knees and scrambled for the phone. I juggled it in my weak hands before putting it back up to my ear. ”What do I do? Where should I go?” I stammered. My heart rate was quickening. I had always known a day like this might be coming but I had not expected it to come so soon. My footsteps echoed as I paced the luminescent floors. I could feel my hands shaking. Inhaling sharply I grabbed a bag from under my bed and began to stuff things inside it. The things I chose happened to be rather random and were likely not going to be any use to me.

    ”Mister Reed just calm down you need to listen to me. Get out of that apartment immediately!” I held by breath trying not to hyperventilate, as the woman demanded I leave my home. I swung the bag I had been filling over my shoulder before opening the door to my small little home. I took a left heading for the emergency exit. Had I not been so focused on leaving I would have noticed the elevators were all headed up to my level. Signifying that more than one person was headed for me.

    Upon reaching the bottom floor, I shoved the door open pushing my thin frame against the metal. The exit opened up into one of the cities many alleyways. I did not live in a bad section of town but it wasn’t the best place to live either. As I said, my life was remarkably mediocre. Sprinting down the alley I looked for some place to hide Then I noticed a round circle in the middle of the street. I was not exactly sure what it was. I remember they could be found nearly everywhere in the older part of the city. It was made of metal and had the letters XCWW. I was sure the first two letters meant Xeial City as for the other two W’s I had no clue. Wrenching the circle up and open, I peered down the hole beneath it. A ladder led down into the darkness. A foul stench hit my nostrils as I leaned forward over the dark hole. I crinkled them up for a moment. Behind me, I could hear the sounds of scanners buzzing about so making a quick choice I dropped down into the hole pulling the metal circle over me. It was so dark as I climbed down the ladder. I set my foot down onto the cylindrical shaped floor. It was surprisingly slippery so I lost my footing. Catching myself with my hands, I immediately drew back. ”Ughh! What is this?” I said fumbling around in my bag for some more light.

    My hand closed around a light. I tapped the end softly and gazed around my surroundings, when they were illuminated. I wasn’t sure what it was but It looked like one of those old water based waste removal systems. A sewer? was that the right word? Wading through the ankle deep gunk I moved forward through the strange pipe trying to keep as quiet as I could. What I was doing right now was a major crime. After all clones are not supposed to abandon their duty. They were living off borrowed time. We do not have the same rights as humans did. Sure, we could live a normal life but when our time came to assist our originals, it was not right to back down. Perhaps I should have just turned myself in then. The other me was in trouble. I did not know what was wrong but without me, he would obviously die.