Mari

The storage container of the carrier shifted as Ky tried to lift himself up. I had watched him scramble around, lift his trembling fingers to his head to realize the visor he wore to help himself see wasn’t working. I hadn’t meant to break it when I hit him, but as I tended to my bruised and broken fingers, which throbbed painfully in my lap, I figured I had probably done more damage to myself than him. The hit had disrupted his visor's connection to his brain, the shock likely the reason for him passing out.

I had no idea why I had brought him along.

I used my good hand to keep him steady as the carrier lurched, the remote pilot flying it caring little about making its course smooth. The liquor contained in the cases stacked around us were in unbreakable glass containers, and could handle getting tossed around a bit. The only time they had to care was when transporting human cargo. Little did they know, this carrier currently had two very living stowaways, though most would argue that only one of us was actually human.

Ky.

Ky fucking Edden was there in front of me.

“You’re awake.”

I stared down at him, sensing him hone in on my voice. He froze, and I saw his expression mask over, the almost vulnerable pain he had been displaying disappearing from his face.

I saw his throat bob as he swallowed, and he shifted away from my touch. Ky reached out in the opposite direction from me, his fingers eventually meeting the exterior of a crate that sat beside us. He felt up the side then slowly moved himself up to sit up against it. I glared at him.

I didn’t give a shit if he was feeling a little bit light headed.

“LoreLei,” he finally said, spinning his head around to direct his voice in my general direction. One side of his face was covered in dried blood as it slowly seeped down from under his visor. The burn scars on his face where the skin had been too damaged for cosmetic nanosurgery to fully erase peeked out the side of the metal, twisted pink lines against his too-pale skin. His almost black hair stuck to his face, long strands falling over his brow in a disheveled mess.

He didn’t look anything like the cool, composed, monster I knew he was.

“Ken,” I drawled at length. “So that’s what you hide under your mask.”

He gave a short laugh, then winced, his lips forming a straight pained line.

“Looks like I wasn’t the only one trying to hide who I was.”

I scoffed. “I wasn’t trying to hide. The game is the only place I can actually be myself.” I looked away, somehow feeling his eyes on me even though that was impossible. “Not that you would understand.”

Ky was silent, his lips lifting in contempt as he propped his head back against the container.

“Where are you taking me?”

“Wouldn't you like to know," I drawled. "I consider it need to know, and right now you don’t need to know shit.”

Ky sighed, and I figured my response hadn't surprised him. He lifted his hands in front of him as if he was trying to look at them, but then he balled them into trembling fists.

“You haven’t even tied me up, you idiot. You should have killed me. There’s no way you are going to get far, Marilyn. Whatever asinine plan you concocted this time, I can promise you it's as shitty as every other one you’ve ever come up with.”

Anger boiled inside of me, and I had to clench my fists to resist giving him another punch in the face. But I resisted—not to pay him any favor, but because I needed at least one functioning hand when we got to Los Malvados.

Because that was where we were headed.

I nodded after a moment, mostly for myself since Ky couldn’t see it. “Yeah, I should’ve. I wanted to kill you. After what you’ve done. You’ve destroyed everything. Sentenced me and my family to death for nothing more than existing.”

And I had considered it. I had made it to the loading area, carrying Ky’s heavy body. I remembered throwing him on the ground, watching as the carriers loaded up their wares. Then I saw this one, the booze stacked in crates as the androids prepped them to be sent to Los Malvados. The bots would be easy enough to get past, just mindless service droids. The one human I had seen was more concerned about a carrier heading to Vedris.

I needed to get my chip dealt with, something their notorious enhancement dealers in Los Malvados would be better able to handle, anyway. And there was nowhere better for me to blend in with then among the various other criminals that lurked the sinful City’s streets. It wasn’t the safest or maybe even the wisest choice, but it was the first one that presented itself with the best options, and I didn’t have time to wait for a better one.

I had stared down at Ky, looking at him laying there. Helpless. Completely at my mercy--I could’ve killed him. I could’ve covered his mouth and nose and kept him from breathing. He wouldn’t have been able to stop me as he was. Blood that had been dripping down his face coated my fingers, hot and sticky.

But the longer I waited, the more full the carrier got. Until finally, time was running out and no matter how much hatred and fury trembled in my heart…

I just couldn’t.

I couldn't kill Ky, and I hated myself for it.

Instead, I’d half dragged him on to the carrier with me. Sneaking past the droids as they went around the front to start their last maintenance checks. IFf I couldn’t kill Ky, I had to take him with me. If I left him behind alive, my next option was gouging my own eye out.

Which, it turned out, I had even less nerve for.

As I returned my thoughts back to the present, I fond my gaze drifting over Ky again.

He didn’t reply to my accusations, pressing his lips tightly together and moving his face away from me. I stared at him, feeling more venom collecting on my tongue. I wanted to lash out and take out all my agony on him. Shake him until he understood that he hadn’t just recalled clones—some manufactured product that was bought and sold—but living breathing members of my own family.

Yes--that was how clones were treated. Ky wasn't the only one responsible for seeing us as things instead of human.

But, despite all the labels they gave us, we were people. I had feelings, I had a family. And he had taken it all from me. I might never see Linnie, Rilyn, or RiRi again. Not even Meryl, despite how much she frustrated me. I hurt for all of them.

Angry tears started to run down my face against my will. I wiped at them furiously, refusing to let Ky know just how much he had hurt me. But he only sat there silently, ignoring my muffled sniffles just like the coward he was.