"What do we do with the body? If we leave it here, they'll find it and they'll know it was me." The tears were back, seeping up from inside Chloe. She waved at the scanner. "My ID."
David lay down on the scanner bed beside Ana.
Henry took the memory vial out of the encoding machine behind the scanner and pulled at David's arm. "We have to go."
"I'm not leaving Ana."
"That isn't Ana anymore." Henry held up the vial. "Ana's in here."
David nestled Ana's head in his arms. "This is the only real Ana. That is some copy that you fabricated."
"Because you asked us to," Chloe said.
"If you stay here, they'll think you killed her," Henry said.
"I did kill her."
Henry bit his lip. "Let's go without him. They must have some rules here about killing people." He pushed against the door but it didn't move. Chloe tapped the bioreader next to the door jamb. It flashed red. The door stayed shut.
"Let us out," she said.
"Ana is the only one with access."
"Ana's dead," Chloe screamed. She pressed her hands against her head and tried to think. There must be some way to turn the bioreader off. She tried to rip it off the wall, hanging her whole weight on the small black box. It stuck there, silent, laughing at her.
Henry lifted her down and grabbed both her hands. "It's okay," he said. "We have her DNA, a whole body filled with it. We'll get out." He opened drawers and cupboards, searching. When he found what he wanted, he moved over to David and Ana.
"What are you doing?" David said, looking at the scalpel in Henry's hand.
Henry laid Ana's right hand flat on the scanner bed and brought the scalpel down in a sharp cut through the middle knuckle of her index finger. David yelped and blood dripped from the severed finger. "I'm sorry," Henry said. He pressed the finger tip to the bioreader and it clicked open.
Chloe stood, mouth open.
Henry held out his hand. "Are you coming?"
She looked at David, face grimacing as he wrapped Ana's stump in his shirt. Ana lay there beside him, staring, staring at the white ceiling. Chloe looked back at Henry, halfway out into the corridor, one hand reaching for her, the other holding half a bloody finger.
How did she get here?
Where should she go?
Her stomach flipped. She took Henry's hand.
YOU ARE READING
Immortal Mistakes
Science FictionThis is what Chloe remembers. She isn't sure if this is what happened but she's given up trying to work that out. It doesn't matter after all. If this is what she remembers, this is what happened. When her best friend Henry's brain explodes inside h...
