Elcon City (ON HOLD, Rewriting)

Chapter Seven

"Rosa, you're alive." She whimpered.

"I am, and you are too. But we need to take care of that wound of yours if you want to keep it that way." She smiled and pointed to the wound on Trisha's arm.

In all honesty, Trisha didn't realize she was bleeding until Rosa pointed it out. She was too panicked. And now that she noticed that she was bleeding, she began to notice the stinging pain too.

Rosa took out a cloth and a bottle of what Trisha assumed to be alcohol from her bag. She closed her eyes knowing what was to come. And as Rosa began to clean the wound, she scrunched her face and whined.

"Shhh. You don't want them to find us, do you?" Rosa whispered.

And she shook her head as an answer. She observed Rosa while she cleaned her wounds. Has her hair always been this dark? And was her skin this pale back then? She didn't quite remember. But logically, if Rosa was kept locked in a cell all this time then it would make sense that her skin got paler from the lack of sunlight. And for the hair, maybe it has always been like this.

Rosa looked up at her and smiled.

"I'm glad you decided to work with REX, how are your parents?"

Trisha cringed and looked down at her hands. And it was a clear enough answer for Rosa. She didn't need to say it.

"I'm sorry. I would have come back for you. I am so sorry, okay?" she whispered.

"It's not your fault. It's mine. I'm sorry, Rosa." She whimpered.

"Okay, I forgive you. But now we should leave. I know where to hide. Let's go before they find us."

Trisha got on her feet and followed Rosa. And for once, she felt truly relieved.

***

They walked up a spiral stair, everything was white. Just like in Elcon. It makes her sick. Rosa seemed not bothered by it, she just walked straight up.

"Hey Rosa, where are we going?" Trisha asked.

"You'll see soon enough."

Trisha grew uneasy. Something about Rosa is wrong. Rosa acted as if she knew this building like the back of her own hand. But wasn't she kept locked all this time? She should not be able to know this building this well. In fact, she is not supposed to know anything about this building at all. But Trisha needed to trust Rosa. She needed to believe Rosa would never betray her.

But she was wrong, because right after they enter that room, Rosa walked forward and stood beside the famous Gregory Vilch-the head of S.C.A.R.S and the clone of the original maker of the clones.

"Rosa, why are we here?" she asked, terrified.

Rosa stayed silent and then she knew. She knew she was alone.

"My dear, Trisha, you are here because you are special. And for Rosa, well, she's in her cell. This is just a systemic cloning of her." Gregory explained. "Deactivate."

Rosa's clone fell down. And Trisha was angry. How dare they clone Rosa? How dare they clone her best friend? Her only family?

"We didn't complete her though. We can still control her. Well, actually, all of us can still be controlled, but it's really hard to do so, you'd have to know what I know. It's very hard keeping the key a secret, did you know that? But my dear Trisha, you cannot be controlled. You are perfected."

Trisha was confused. What does he mean?

"What do you mean?" said Trisha, voicing her thoughts.

"Oh, Trisha, do you actually think you are one of them? Do you think you are human? Well, maybe you do think so. But you are not. You are one of us." Gregory explained.

"No, you're lying. I wasn't born from one of you. I was born by my human parents." But she wasn't so sure about that anymore.

"Oh come on, your sight, they get worse in the dark and you get dizzy, right?" He asked.

"That doesn't prove anything."

"Trisha, you were made. Your parents are your parents. Your mother can't have child due to her health problem. You were made from both of their genes combined. You are the experiment that succeeded. We now know how to perfect our clones."

She knew what he meant. Clones are controlled and easily persuaded. Their free will is not as strong as human's. That's why the citizens of Elcon never questioned the outside world or anything they were told to do. They believe they are the last human. Hell, they're not even human.

"If you know how to, then why do you need me?" she asked.

"We need you because the serum that made you completely human is all used to experiment on you. And so we have to harvest it from your blood. You need to make sacrifice for your people, Trisha."

No, no, no. Don't believe him.

But Trisha did believe him. Everything he said explained everything. From why her parents didn't have any pregnant pictures of her mother to the fact that they didn't have hospital record of her mother pregnancy.

But she is not going to sacrifice herself to them, even if she is one of them. She had to do the right thing. She had to warn the others and flee someplace else. She made a mental plan in her head and memorize them, making strategies.

Trisha took a deep breath and aimed her kick at Gregory. Trisha knew many combat moves taught to her by Jo. She had actually beat Jo once in a one-on-one combat. If not for Jo maybe she wouldn't have been able to do what she just done.

She managed to knock down Gregory and a few guards. She turned her back and tried to open the locked door so she could escape. But unfortunately, she wasn't fast enough. Because before she could escape, one of the remaining guards slammed her against the wall.

She was still conscious for a few seconds. But then everything just went out of focus and there was nothing else she could do until finally, she fainted.