We sit on the floor, eating what's left of the food. We're running out of supplies, but can't go anywhere else. Why are we living this way? This wasn't supposed to happen, we were supposed to have a better life. Now there are clones everywhere trying to destroy us and we have to hide in an abandoned building, hoping they won't find us; we have to fight them, so we can finally have normal lives again. I don't know what was wrong with that cloning machine, but we all made a huge mistake going there; they copied us perfectly on the outside, but the minds and feelings became our opposites. Now they want to destroy us, the original humans, so they can take our lives; but tomorrow, that's all gonna change. We have trained months for tomorrow, to destroy those machines and the savages it created.

I walk around the hospital, trying to calm my nerves. What if we lose the battle? What will become of the world? A million questions come into my mind, but I suddenly hear a noise coming from outside the hospital. I take a look at what's outside and see a woman trying to get in; then, I realize I've never seen her before.

 

"It's a clone!" I shout.

We all grab our weapons and wait until she finally breaks in, only to find us pointing at her with every gun or knife.

 

"What are you doing here and how did you know of this place?" I demand.

"Speak now!" Another man screams.

 

The woman is shaking, terrified but manages to speak with a little voice. "My name is Lily and, I am a clone, but I didn't come here to harm you." Her voice gains more confidence. "Listen, not all, of the cloning machines are damaged, outside this city, all of them work perfectly. I ran away from my original because she was treating me like a slave, but then I heard rumors that humans were hiding somewhere near, so I searched for you until I finally found you. Look, I understand you all are not very trusting, but I know something you don't." We all wait eagerly for her to continue. "You might think the bad clones are exactly like you on the outside, but there is one thing they have in common; they have a mark, like a scratch on their forearm. If you see it, it means they want to destroy you."

 

We all lower our weapons and I tell them to go back to doing their activities before the clone’s arrival. I walk towards Lily and explain, “My name is Drew and I’m the leader of this group. Since you are a clone, many of them won’t trust you, but I do, so you’re safe.”

 

“Thank you for everything, but why do you trust me all of a sudden?” she questioned.

 

“Because I know if you were a clone, you would’ve tried to kill us right in that instant,” I respond, “but anyway, have you come here to fight with us?”

 

“I didn’t come all the way here for nothing,” she replies, “and besides, you could use a skilled clone like me to fight with you” I laugh and tell her I have to go.

                                                           

The next day, everything is ready for the battle. We all gather in the first story of the building. I prepare to say a few words; “I’m not a speech person, so I’ll make it quick. We’ve trained hard for this day and if we succeed, we can take our normal lives back again. The plan is simple; destroy all of the cloning machines in the city; luckily, our city isn’t that big, so there aro only two. We have to be quiet and fast, so the clones won’t see us and that’s why there are two groups; each heading for their respective machine. You already know what to do, so let’s go.”

 

The city feels dark and cold, with clones everywhere. We split into two gorups and my group starts heading towards the building where one of the cloning machines is. We find it and make sure no clones are on the street. There are two guarding the building, so we kill them and then get inside. Another clone walks to the room, but manages to press a security button before we kill him. We have to move fast, or else they’re going to come before we destroy the machine.

 

   We run up the stairs and when we get to the last floor, we see the machine and head towards it. At that very moment, we hear them; their footsteps, running up the strairs, just as we did a moment ago. We hide and wait for them to show up. As quickly as they go through the door, we start shooting, but they’re fast and only a few are killed. We keep shooting, but run out of bullets, so we take our knifes. I run towards a few of them and start fighting, the others following my lead. Next to me, I see a man who’s having a hard time killing a clone. I help him and we move on to help others. But I start to worry. We have heard nothing from the other group. I see a fast, strong clone about to kill a helpless man and I run up to them. I start strucking the clone with my knife, and he lets go of the man. I try to hit him, but he is too fast. He waves his knife towards me and I feel a sharp pain in my chest. I try again, but he throws me to the ground; this clone is too fast, too strong. I force myself to get up and manage to make an injury on his leg, but he keeps hitting me and cuts me again; this time on the stomach. I am bleeding too much, but I have to keep going, or else he will kill every human in the room. He starts choking me and I try to fight back, but nothing works. I can’t keep fighting anymore. This is it; I’m going to die. My vision starts to blurr, but I manage to see a group of people going into the room we are in; could they be the second group? I start getting dizzy, but I force myself to focus on the group. They run towards the cloning machine and start cutting cables, smashing parts of the machine, and I feel the clone’s grip loosening. He lets go, and I see Lily standing behind him with a knife in her hand; she saved my life. We turn towards the machine, and it’s almost completely destroyed, but as they keep destroying, clones start to lose strenght. We take that to our advantage and help those who have trouble. When I finish killing a clone, I notice there are no fighting sounds and I realize; that was the last evil clone.

 

We head out of the building and go to the hospital in the city to take care of our injuries and when I finish with mine, I see Lily standing near.

 

“Thank you,” I say, “for everything”

 

She nods gratefuly and we both look for injured people to help. We don’t speak much, but we’re both comfortable with the silence. I start thinking; how are we going back to normality, the everyday life? But then I think again, if we managed to get through this, we will know how to restore our lives and go back to life without the cloning machines. I look around and see all those people helping each other and I just know we are going to be okay.