Clone Village

Chapter One

Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!

I groaned, rubbed my face with the heels of my hand, and slowly opened my eyes to look up at the gray metal ceiling. Why they insisted on blaring the alarms at six in the morning, I don't know. But of course, I didn't have much time to think about it. After the alarms started, we had ten minutes to get up, get scanned, and get outside. I had to get going.

I sat up and pushed my scratchy blanket down by my feet. Then I scooted to the edge of the three person bunk bed and started climbing down the ladder. I got lucky with my bed - I'm at the very top. It's warmer up there in the winter, and if your bunkmates are sick, they're a lot less likely to throw up on you. I've seen it happen before with other girls. In the middle of my bunk is Antoinette - she's in her thirties and always gets up late, and sure enough, when I pass her, she's got her blanket pulled up over her head and she's groaning, as if that will keep the incessant beeping away.

"Antoinette," I say, shaking her foot, "You've got to get up. You don't want to be late." She just kicks at me, and I hear a muffled, "Leave me alone, Brie," with a sigh. I decide that if I keep trying to get her up, I'll be late myself, so I continue down the ladder.

When I reach the bottom, I see that Etta is waiting for me at the edge of her bunk, like she does every morning. She's my age, seventeen, but she looks it more than I do. She's got beautiful honey blonde curls down to her waist and intensely blue eyes, while I have straight brown hair that barely reaches my shoulders and pale green eyes. She's also taller and more feminine looking that I am. At first I was really intimidated to talk to her or spend time with her because she seemed so much better than me, but now we're pretty good friends. I smile at her, and she smiles back with a sweet, "Good morning," and we both walk off on the cold metal ground towards the doors, into the sunlight.