imperfect (5 page)

“
Do you really think I’m
stupid?”

“
No.”

“
Tell me the truth if you
know what is good for you!”

“
I did.”

“
Don’t sass me. I had my
gang try getting through the wall and that included searching the
wall for any hidden levers. How do I get into the hidden room
within the walls?”

Kristi debated whether she should lie and
please Wilson or continue telling the truth. She kept silent.
Technically, she wouldn’t be lying if she didn’t say anything; not
that lying to someone as vile as Wilson bothered her. Kristi
refused to admit it, but she was too scared to speak for fear of
infuriating Wilson.

“
Answer me, ignorant
child!” Wilson snarled.

She said nothing.

Wilson let out a yell of frustration.

She said nothing.

“
Speak!” Wilson got a bit
red in the face.

She said nothing.

Wilson’s face took on a dangerous hue.

She decided she better say something. Kristi
tried to string together some words, but was too terrified to
articulate any comprehensible sounds. Wilson mistook it for
defiance and kicked the chair Kristi was sitting on.

“
This isn’t over yet,” he
said. Menace laced the edge of his tone. “We’ll finish this
tomorrow.”

With that, he roughly shoved Steph aside and
stormed into a different room. Steph bolted the door to the
warehouse, followed Wilson and turned off the sole bulb lighting,
plunging the room into darkness.

Kristi experimentally tugged on the ropes
binding her wrists, but they were securely knotted. Exhaling, she
wondered how exactly did she land herself in this predicament. She
had received more than she bargained for by going back to the
hidden room.

Kristi spent the next two hours searching
for anyway to escape, but was unsuccessful. Eventually, her eyelids
drooped with exhaustion and she muttered, “This is going to be a
long night” before easing her way into an awkward sleep.

chapter five

[ Troop ]

Troop switched his
electro-slate into sleep mode, not wanting to
continue the pointless argument with Jennifer. Once she set
her mind on something, nothing could change her mindset. With no
annoying instafications to bother him, Troop’s thoughts wandered to
the topic of the upcoming VicDay.

VicDay—short for Victim Day—was a day of
entertainment for some. For others, it was a day of humiliation.
Troop had established VicDay a few years ago to secure his position
on the social ladder. Once a month, members in Troop’s circle would
cast names of students who had in one way or another crossed paths
unfavorably with them to be their next target. The purpose of
VicDay was simple: to send a clear message to everyone warning them
not to upset Troop and his crew.

Richie Honston was last
month’s victim. He had been caught kissing Darrel’s girlfriend. As
a result, Troop had sent Jack, the school’s chief hacker, to hijack
Richie’s electro-slate. All the answers of the test Richie
submitted for the next three days were misordered, thanks to the
virus Jack had implanted. Richie was expelled from Ludus High due
to the five F’s he received on his test. A Perfect failing a test
was frowned upon. A Perfect failing five tests in the matter of
three days was unacceptable.

“
Maya,”
Tompkins said. “That’s the
name of
the girl who I think should be the next VicDay target.”

Troop completed a
double-handed 360 on his snowboard then replied, “Did Jennifer set
you up with this?”

“
Yeah. How did you know?”
Tompkins cleared a wide gap jump, catching a lot of air as he did
so and obtaining a smattering applause from his peers.

Not to be outdone, Troop flawlessly
completed the same jump with a midair corkscrew. Darrel let loose a
wolf whistle and shouted, “I rate that a ten out of ten.”

“
So?” Tompkins
said.

“
Jennifer has a grudge
against Maya,” said Troop.

“
For what?”

“
Jealousy.”

Tompkins’s eyes boggled
and he almost swerved into another snowboarder. He veered away just
in time.

“
Jealousy?
What does Maya have for
Jennifer to be jealous of?”

“
Long story short: Jenn
thinks I’m into Maya.”

“
But you’re not,
right?”

“
Right.” Troop’s eyes
scanned the area, searching for his guys.

They skidded to a stop,
sending a wave of powdery snow spraying before them. Troop
unfastened his feet from the snowboard and ambled over to join the
rest of the gang, ignoring the sycophants trying to impress him
with their measly tricks.

“
Alright, does anyone want
to have one last go on their boards or are we ready to choose our
VicDay target?” said Troop.

No one answered so he took that as a sign
the guys were done snowboarding for the day.

“
Names?” said
Troop.

“
Elise Lighters,”
suggested Parker. “He wouldn’t let me copy his
homework.”

“
Samson Tuckerson,” said
Charles. “Because he took my lab partner on Wednesday.”

“
Timothy Garcia,” said
Bruno. He carelessly blew a spitball into the back of an
unsuspecting passerby. “Just because I hate his face.”

Troop inwardly frowned. Personally, he
disliked Bruno but kept him around for two reasons: 1) he helped
maintain Troop’s reputation and 2) more than once, Bruno had hooked
Troop up to useful connections. Bruno’s father owned Ludus
High.

“
Maya Abels,” said
Tompkins. “Because Jennifer said so.”

Some of the guys shot each other knowing
looks. The fact wasn’t lost on them Jennifer was one of the
prettiest girls in school and winning some favors from her wouldn’t
cause any harm.

“
Jay Allgood. She didn’t
turn off the lights in the study lab and Mr. Marlin blamed it on
me. Got an after school detention.” The corner of Mason’s mouth
twitched, the standard of Mason’s grin forming. Mason rarely smiled
outright. He paused, then said, “Actually, Jay’s pretty cute. Maybe
I can convince her to date me—I heard she just broke up with that
slug, Gary Whitman.”

“
So, do you want Jay to be
a VicDay candidate or not?” asked Troop.

“
No. I withdraw her name,”
said Mason.

“
Any other nominees? No?
Alright, send me your votes.”

Troop waited for a minute then checked his
instafication. Scrolling through his inbox, he ignored the fifteen
instafications from Jennifer and opened up the instafications
containing the votes.

Maya

Maya

Samson

Maya

Elise

Timothy

Maya

Maya

Elise

chapter six

[ Kristi ]

Someone was breathing
heavily into Kristi’s left ear. She slowly
peeled opened her eyes and turned her head towards the source
of the sound. Amber eyes locked onto her gaze. Before she could
make a sound of alarm though, someone shoved a hand into her mouth.
She bit down hard and drew blood. A girl’s voice swore in the
darkness.

“
I’ll really appreciate it
if you would stop chomping my hand off my arm,” the girl’s voice
whispered. “Just don’t scream or else we’re both done
for.”

The hand extracted itself from Kristi’s
mouth and she spat out blood. The metallic, salty taste lingered in
the back of her mouth.

A solar lamp flickered on and shed some
light in the darkness. Kristi squinted to make out the person in
front of her. A girl about Kristi’s age held the lamp above her
head and the droid-leopard Kristi saw earlier stood beside her.

“
Who are you?” Kristi
whispered.

“
Chelsa. Chelsa Bright. We
can talk more once I get you out of here.”

Chelsa removed a knife from her boots and
swiftly cut the ropes Wilson used to secure Kristi with. Kristi let
out a small gasp of pain as the blood rushed back to her
fingertips.

Chelsa grasped one of Kristi’s swollen hands
and silently led her out of the warehouse, relocking the latch on
the door after they passed through. Kristi ran behind Chelsa, not
knowing where they were headed. The droid-leopard loped gracefully
besides them.

The once-familiar streets became an alien
landscape at night; Kristi had never ventured outside after curfew.
The whole experience was rather dreamlike. Acquainted statues of
the city’s founder turned into unrecognizable figures, waiting for
the right moment to spring into action.

Chelsa threaded her way through the maze of
streets with confidence, often doubling back as if to shake off any
pursuers. She slowed to a walk and Kristi recognized where they
were: the alley where all the trouble started.

Chelsa placed her hand over the indented
brick. As soon as the gap appeared, she stepped through the
opening, motioning for Kristi to follow. Chelsa unlocked the
padlocked door at the back of the room with an old fashioned key.
It was the same door Kristi had tried to open earlier.

“
After you.” Chelsa
gestured for Kristi to pass through the door before her.

So she did, with Chelsa and her droid-pet
trailing behind her. Chelsa flicked on a switch and five muted
bulbs lit up the room they were in.

It was a modest, little room, with few
pieces of furniture scattered about. In one corner was a bed with a
quilt neatly folded on it; in another corner were a desk and chair.
An old—but clean—rug rested in the center of the wooden floored
room. Last but not least, a wardrobe squatted beside the bed.

“
Welcome to my humble
home,” Chelsa said, dropping onto the bed. She waved for Kristi to
sit on the wheelie chair tucked beneath the battered
desk.

“
Thanks for rescuing me.
My name’s Kristi Shea.”

“
Any time. After all, how
could I let someone like you get hurt? You’re too much like
me.”

“
Too much like you?”
Kristi asked.

Chelsa explained, “We’re both not
Perfects.”

Kristi momentarily lost the ability to
speak. She had lived her whole life believing she was the only
living Accident in the world. Her brain tried to process what
Chelsa said, but couldn’t seem to quite grasp the words.

“
Yeah, I know how you
feel,” Chelsa said, petting the leopard. “I was beyond shocked when
I saw you leaving the hidden room. To get into the room, you have
to place your hand on the sensor I installed outside. The sensor
checks your DNA for any artificial changes and only allows people
with no DNA alterations to pass through the wall. I thought only I
could get past the sensor. Apparently I’m wrong.”

“
This is crazy,” Kristi
said.

Yet she believed Chelsa at the same time.
Looking at her closely, Kristi could tell that she didn’t have DNA
alterations. Yes, Chelsa was pretty, but not pretty the way
Perfects were. Her facial features weren’t exactly symmetrical.
Chelsa’s eyelashes weren’t as long and exaggerated like the eyes of
perfected females. (Lavish lashes and eccentrically colored irises
were the “in thing.”)

“
How did I not know you?”
Kristi wondered.

She felt like her world was being turned
upside down and twisted inside out. First she’d been stalked by a
droid-leopard, next she’d watched an illegal movie, then she’d
barely escaped some electro-slate thieve abductors and now she just
found out she wasn’t the only Accident alive.

“
I didn’t know there were
others like me until today,” Chelsa pointed out. “I just moved into
North Region a few weeks ago and have been trying to keep a low
profile.”

“
Where were you originally
from?” Kristi asked.

“
East Region.
You?”

“
Born and raised in the
North Region. Do you have an electro-slate I could borrow? I need
to give my parents an instafication to let them know I’m all
right.”

Chelsa handed her an old electro-slate,
giving Kristi the impression times were hard on her. Chelsa’s
belongings supported this assumption; everything looked either
second-hand or timeworn.

Kristi dialed Maria’s ID number. A notice
popped up:

This is not a registered number. Please try
again with a valid ID number or contact the Communication
Headquarter for help.

Frowning slightly, she entered Don’s number.
The message popped up again:

This is not a registered number. Please try
again with a valid ID number or contact the Communication
Headquarter for help.

Now she felt disturbed and
uneasy. Kristi nervously punched in Jaiden’s ID number, praying he
would pick up even though she was sending him an instafication at
one-thirty in the morning. To her relief, Jaiden’s ID number
was
valid. However, he
must’ve muted or turned off his electro-slate because she had to
leave him a message.