Imitation (33 page)

Joey groans in protest as I move away from
the car and close the door. He finally opens his door and glares at
me over the top of the car before reluctantly joining me at the
edge of the forest. “Just so you know, if we die…I’m going to be
really pissed at you,” Joey whispers.

I laugh off his comment. “Aren’t you the
least bit curious about what caused this?”

“
Sure, but I can’t help
thinking of all the movies that have taught me
not
to do this,” he replies
wryly.

“
News flash, this isn’t a
movie. It’s real life, and if it was the Bringers, don’t you think
we’d already have run into them by now?”

“
Fine, we’ll go check it
out. But I’m definitely still on team ‘this is a bad idea,’” Joeys
states huffily.

As we make our way down the path, the smell
of burnt wood and melted metal assaults our senses. The remnants of
the trees crunch under our feet with every step we take. I jump
when I see a tree in the distance smash into several others around
it, sending them crashing to the ground in front of us.

“
Whoa, that was close,” I
say breathlessly.

“
Uh, you think?” Joey
replies sarcastically.

Reaching the end of the path, we come upon a
crater in the ground with some kind of large shiny object at the
center of it. It’s still on fire, and black smoke billows from it
into the air.

“
Is that a wingtip from a
spaceship?” Joey points to it.

“
Possibly. I think it
might be one of ours. It has the logo of the Federation on it,” I
reply.

“
Whatever it is, it
definitely did some damage when it crashed here.”

“
Yeah, you can say that
again.”

The trees around the edge of the crash site
were barely there anymore. Most of them were shadows of their
previous selves. I reach out to touch a branch and it crumbles into
a pile of ash onto the ground. A gust of wind blows through the
area and sweeps the pile of ash up into the air, swirling it around
in front of me. It’s oddly beautiful.

“
Could you imagine the
whole world ending up like this?” I ask Joey as he stands there
continuing to examine the object in the deep craterous
hole.

“
No, no I can’t. These
bastards need to be stopped, and we’re going to be the ones to do
it.”

“
Agreed.”

I grab Joey’s hand and pull him in the
direction of the car. He pulls me to a stop in order to take one
last look at the destruction behind us.

Our attention is drawn to the sound of
sirens in the distance. “We better get going. I knew it’d be only a
matter of time before the Federation showed up,” I say and then tug
on Joey’s hand.

Standing in front of my house, I hesitate
putting the key into the lock on the front door. It feels heavy in
my hand as it hovers there just in front of the lock. I know that
the moment I open this door, I’ll have to lie to my mom, to my
little brother, and I dread doing that.

When I finally decide to place the key into
the lock, the door suddenly flies open and I see my little brother
Gavin standing there, biting his lip. He flings his arms around me
and grips me tight in a hug. I’ve never been happier to see him.
Maybe it’s because of the finality of my current situation, or the
fear that these next couple of days might be the last I get to
spend with him.

He backs away and looks up at me with
sadness in his eyes. I push back his dirty blond hair that hangs in
front of his face to see him more clearly. “Hey, Little Bit,” I say
with a half-smile, hoping that I sound cheerful.

“
Mom’s out back if you
want to talk to her.”

“
Thanks. How was school
today?”

“
It was okay.”

“
Only okay?” I ask as I
put my arm around his shoulder and begin walking with him toward
the kitchen. Over the past year he has grown so much, and soon,
"Little Bit" will be taller than me.

“
You know just as well as
I do it’s not school anymore. They’re training us for the war,” he
replies, taking a seat at the kitchen table. “I mean, look at these
uniforms we have to wear now. They’re black and gold. They even say
Allied Federation on them.”

“
It won’t be that way for
long, we’re going to change that,” I reply while rubbing his head
and messing up his hair.

He pushes my hand away, and his boyish face
with his bluish-green eyes that match Dylan’s, turns serious. “I
don’t see how.”

“
Don’t talk like that.
This war will end, and things will be back to normal before you
know it.” I try to reassure him, even though I’m not sure of my own
words.

“
I hope so,” he
replies.

I see my mom out in the garden through the
kitchen window. She has her light blonde hair pulled up into a
ponytail, and her usual navy blue headband is resting atop her
head. “Hey, I’m going to go talk to Mom real quick, and let her
know I’m home. When I get back we’ll play some video games, okay?”
My brother nods with a strained smile and leaves the kitchen.

My mom turns to look at me when she hears
the back door open and close. At first she smiles at me, but it
fades quickly as she goes back to watering her flowers.

“
Please tell me they gave
you a nice cushy desk job to work at for the next two years,” she
says as she wipes the sweat from her brow with her gardening
glove.

I hesitate to answer. This is a lot harder
than I was expecting it to be. I hate that I can’t be honest with
her. Somewhere, though, I find the strength and reply. “Yep, a real
nice cushy one.”

“
I’m so torn up by this,
Kenley. You have no idea. I’ve been losing sleep for months now,
anticipating this very moment…when you’d return with your
assignment. I hate the Federation for taking my baby girl away from
me,” she explains as tears come to her eyes.

I grab her in a hug and she wraps her arms
around me tighter than she ever has. I have to do everything in my
power not to break down. “Mom, I’m going to be all right. You have
nothing to worry about.” That lie resonates deep within me and my
heart breaks at the thought of possibly never being able to see her
again.

She releases the hug and pulls away from me
while wiping away her tears. “You’ve been my saving grace ever
since we lost Dylan. It’s going to be very tough around here, but
at least now I’ll be able to get some sleep at night knowing you
won’t be in harm’s way like your brother was,” she states, a sad
smile returning to her face.

“
Here, I got you
something.” I pull out a small pot of flowers wrapped in a plastic
bag from my backpack. “It’s some blue poppies for your garden. I
had Joey stop by your favorite flower shop in town before he
dropped me off.”

“
Oh, these are lovely,
Kenley,” she replies, giving me another hug and taking them from my
hands. Tears come to her eyes again and it suddenly dawns on me
why. “They’ll go perfectly with the red ones your brother gave me
before he went off to war.”

“
I’m so sorry, Mom. I
didn’t even think about that,” I reply with sadness in my voice. “I
just wanted to get you some of your favorite flowers.”

“
It’s all right, dear. I
love them, and I know exactly where I’m going to put these. Right
next to your brother's.”

“
So, have you heard from
Dad lately?” I ask, trying to change the subject before I start to
cry.

“
No, but you know your
father’s busy with this project of his. He’ll call when he has
time, dear. I can’t wait to tell him the good news about your new
assignment, though. I think he’ll be relieved to hear you’ll be
safe for your two-year service with the Federation. Are you hungry?
I was planning on making your favorite tonight, eggplant
parmesan.”

“
I’m actually kind of more
tired than anything else, but that sounds great, Mom.”

“
Well you go rest up a
bit, and then let’s plan on having dinner at around
seven?”

“
Okay,” I reply, trying to
keep my emotions at bay. I’m bawling on the inside and it’s so
difficult not to just burst into tears. I’ll be leaving my family
soon, and my dad and I are the only ones who know the
truth.

After giving my mom another hug, I head up
to my bedroom. On my way, I pass by Dylan’s old room. The door
hasn’t been opened for months, and my mom has kept it just as he
left it the day he went off to war. I realize the door is slightly
ajar and hear noises coming from inside. My heart skips a beat as I
push open the door the rest of the way and see Gavin sitting at the
edge of Dylan’s bed holding something in his hand. I sit down next
to him and he doesn’t say a word. He just continues to stare at a
photo of him, Joey, Dylan, and me. It was taken the day after
Dylan’s assignment. All of our faces are strained in the picture
even though Mom had told us to smile. Tears come to my eyes as I
remember back to the day a soldier brought this picture to our
front door with a message. A message that would change our lives
forever.

“
Don’t go, Kenley,” Gavin
whispers.

“
I have to,” I reply as I
wrap my arm around his shoulder, pulling him close. “I’ll be okay.
You don’t have to worry about me or Joey, all right?” I feel him
nod into my shoulder and hear him sniffle. Wiping away my own
tears, I look into his eyes as he raises his head to me. “Mom says
dinner will be ready at seven, so that means we’ve got an hour to
play some games. What do you say?” He nods. “Well, go set it all up
and I’ll be in soon, okay?”

“
Okay,” Gavin replies,
wiping his eyes and handing me the picture.

I go to put the photo back onto the mirror,
but then stop to look at it once more. Tears begin to well up in my
eyes again as I look at Dylan’s handsome face. He almost looks like
he knew this was the last picture he would take with us. “I’ll make
them pay, Dylan. You have my word.”

To keep reading and
purchase The Modified, Book One in the Biotics Trilogy,
click here.