The Elementals

Doppelgangers And Handcuffs

"Coal!" I leap up from the chair and dash out of the room. "Coal!" I stop screaming because I don't want to be found. I duck around a corner, breathing hard.

That wasn't Coal. It looked like Coal, sounded like Coal, and even acted enough like Coal to make my heart race, but it wasn't. I know it wasn't.

She did it, I think to myself. She really did it. Izila cloned him. I creep down the hallway, and to another bend. I stiffen as I hear a voice. My voice to be exact.

"One noise and you're dead, kapish?" It growls.

I step lightly over to the edge of the wall and peek around. My breath leaves me as I see myself in a doorway. Izila cloned me too, the evil demon spawn. Oh, and one other thing. The clone is pointing a gun at whoever is inside. It has to be Coal.

Oh, god what now? I hop from foot to foot in nervousness. Then I come to a snap decision as I hear a click. I run out and slam into the clone, sending us to the floor and the gun skittering away. I scramble to the weapon and furiously try to take it apart, like Owen had showed me once, but my fingers are shaking. Half-way through I give up and rush over to Coal. His hands have been handcuffed to a chair.

"What do I do, what do I do, what do I do?" I mutter unhelpfully.

Take the tape off his mouth, right, right, that would be useful.

"Duck," he commands as soon as he can speak.

Without hesitation, I crouch and hear a piece of gun whistle over my head and smash into the wall. I see the firing pin on the ground and grab it, trying to pick the locks on the handcuffs. I get the parts attached to the chair off first, then the one on his right, because I know that's the hand he favors, while Coal dodges more flying pieces of weaponry.

Suddenly, there's a sharp clack and I'm roughly shoved back to the floor. I twist around to see the Coal clone. He has a satisfactory bruise on his jaw, but he's grinning evilly at me. I look down at my left hand and see the other part of the cuff locked onto my wrist. Now Coal and I are stuck together.

Well, isn't that just perfect.

One look at each other and we both take off running. We race around a corner and then Coal yanks me into a closet. I close the door hurriedly behind us, even though the cramped space isn't big enough. I'm squished on top of Coal, forced to press my back against his chest so neither of us has to break their arm.

"Why does it look like he got punched in the face?" Coal asks quietly, right next to my ear.

"Probably because I punched him in the face." I reply.

"What if that was me, like, the real me?"

"It wasn't."

"How could you tell?"

"I just could, okay?" I snap, cheeks heating. "How could you tell it wasn't me?"

"Well, I started to figure it out when she pointed a gun at my face."

"Oh yeah, how did that happen?" I ask, teasing him. "Because it sure looked like a girl had you beat until I came along."

"She had a gun." He says tersely. Apparently I've hit a nerve.

"Did you figure that out before or after she flirted with you?" I continue to bother him.

"How did you know that?"

I smirk, though he can't see it in the dark. "I didn't."

"Well-"

"Shhh!" I hiss, shoving myself roughly into his chest to keep him quiet. I hear pounding footsteps running past, though how they've missed the classic 'duck into the nearest closet' technique is beyond me.