Owl Light
Where Inspiration & Inquiry Converge
  • Home
  • Literary Journal
  • Owl Light Sponsorship
  • Digital Owl
  • Contact Us
  • Login
  • Home
  • Literary Journal
  • Owl Light Sponsorship
  • Digital Owl
  • Contact Us
  • Login
  • Home
  • /
  • Fiction

Drone Wars: Chapter 2

by Drew Glitch –

“Yes, there’s been a containment breach.” A familiar voice resonated down the tunnel towards Molly and me.

“Shit, my mom’s here” I hissed, pulling Molly to the side.

“Jenna look!” Molly pointed to the broken tube that led us down here to begin with. Green liquid flooded the ground around it and keeled over on the floor was one of the me’s. Yup, there are multiple me’s… still getting used to that one. “We have to help her.”

“Her?” I scoffed.

“Yes, Jenna they may be clones but they are still people” Molly said.

“Maybe…” I sighed.

My mother finally emerged from the entrance into the lab. Her phone was pressed against her ear and she moved towards the computer with a purpose. “4456 broke the glass on her containment. Yes, it looks like she has expired, I’ll need a clean-up crew tomorrow. We have bigger problems, 3878 made her way to the basement. I understand, I will find her and exterminate her. Yes, sir, I know you warned me about keeping one for myself, but- yes sir. I’ll take care of it.” My mother hung up the phone and placed it on the desk next to her.

“Jenna… Jenna we have to get out of here.” Molly whispered.

“She- she called me 3878.” I felt tears welling up in my eyes. My mother, the woman who raised me and who I thought loved me unconditionally, said she would exterminate me.

“Jenna, I’m sorry, but we really don’t have time to-”

“Jenna!” Called my mother, cutting Molly off. I clung to the concrete wall behind me, scanning the large space for hiding places. I noticed a small set of stairs leading off the metal platform and onto the main floor with all the tubes.

“If we can get to those stairs, we can hide behind the tubes.” I said, gripping Molly’s forearm to grab her attention.

“Great, so we’re running.” She huffed pulling off her heels and clutching them in her right hand, “Allons y” she smirked. With that we bolted for the stairs, ducking to try and remain as unseen as possible. I could see my “mother” scanning the room, but she was looking the wrong way.

“Jenna, listen sweetie, I can explain everything.” She yelled out over the lab as we ducked behind a tube. “I know it looks bad, but if you’d just trust me-”

“How am I supposed to trust you?” I called out. She whipped her head around trying to discern the origin of the shout, but she couldn’t see. She began to walk down the very same stairs that led us to where we were and approach us.

“What are you doing?” Molly hissed.

“I have an idea, the tubes, they’re reflective.” I started.

“Yeah, they’re made of glass.” Molly raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah! So you know in movies when the protagonist gets chased into the funhouse and the use the mirrors to confuse the villain?”

“Yeah, but-” she started, but I had already run off, “Jenna!” I ran behind a group of tubes and watched as my reflection ran through all of them.

“Mom!” I yelled. Through the glass I could see her spin around towards me. When she saw my reflection, she smiled.

“Oh, Jenna, there you are. Listen sweetie, you have to understand. I did all of this for us.” She started towards me.

“Oh, give me a break.” I huffed. My mother approached slowly, but she approached the wrong reflection. She smiled as she got closer and closer, but when she rounded the corner, I wasn’t there.

“Oh, you clever girl.” She sighed, “Unfortunately, I’m smarter.” a wicked grin crossed her face as she raised a pistol and started firing at all my reflections. I ducked as a bullet hit the tube in front of me, shattering it. A limp body fell on top of me and pinned me down. I squeezed my way out from under and looked back. The bottom of the tube read “8769” and laying behind me, was yet another me. I scrambled towards the nearest tube and rested my back against it. My mother made her way around the lab, glass crunching under heels as she walked. The crunching got closer and closer as she walked.

“Such a waste of R&D. No matter, they are replaceable. As are you.” She whipped around the corner to where I was sitting. With a shriek, I scrambled to my feet and made a break for it. Bang. Another gunshot resounded throughout the lab, followed by a volley. Bullets whizzed by me, just barely missing the most vital parts of my body. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Molly dash towards the console. You go, Molly I thought I’ll keep her occupied.

I weaved between tubes and the sound of shattering glass followed me wherever I went.

“You stupid girl! You’re going to get me fired!” The gun-toting maniac formerly known as “Mom” shouted from behind me.

Finally, I made my way behind a tube and Dr. Vasquez, it seems inappropriate to continue calling her mom at this point, went in the other direction. Gasping for air after the marathon I felt like I had just run, I turned to look at the tube I rested against. This one, however, was empty and labeled on the base was “3878”.

“Oh my god,” I threw my hands over my mouth to quiet my outburst, “It’s my tube. I- I.”

Chills ran up my spine as the warm barrel of my mother’s pistol stabbed into my back. “You were never born, never raised. You came out of a tube just like all the rest of them. You aren’t special, you just got lucky.”

“Then shoot me. Just kill me, what’s the point.” I sighed, accepting my fate.

Just then, an automated voice resounded, “Security systems activated.”

“What?” My mother looked up towards the ceiling.

The automated voice continued, “Target acquired.” With that, red lasers started firing towards me. I bolted out of the way, but the laser didn’t strike me. As my mother tried to dodge the bolt, it hit her directly in the leg. She screamed out in pain and I looked up at Molly, who was giving me a big thumbs up. I ran towards her, but my mother grabbed my ankle and tripped me.

“You’re not going anywhere, 3878!” she wailed.

“Her name is Jenna!” screamed Molly, holding my mother’s pistol. With a final BANG! a shot fired directly into her forehead. Molly dropped the gun and helped me up. “It’s ok, we’ll be-” I cut off with a kiss. Her hand nestled into my hair on the back of my head and held me close. She pulled away and met my gaze, we stood in silence for a moment. A beautiful moment. “I’ve been waiting for you to do that.” She smiled grabbing my hand, “Now let’s get out of here.”

“What about my mom?” I stopped suddenly. Even after she tried to kill me, I still was kinda sad about her, you know, dying.

“Oh, yeah don’t worry. She’s a robot.” Molly smirked casually.

“What?” I gasped.

“Oh yeah. Your real mother is in Chicago, like she was supposed to be. That robot was sent here by her to deal with the containment breach. It’s all there on the computers.” Molly led me towards the main console. “There’s something else you should probably see too.”

“Like what?”

“Well, you being a clone comes with some, uh, special powers…” Molly turned on the console. “Apparently, the whole point of this project was to create a-”

“Police Force?” I interjected in awe.

“Yeah, sure, I was gonna say that, but you can take my moment its fine.” Molly sighed.

“So, what does this mean?” I stepped back.

“It means we’ve got some bad guys to find.” Molly smirked, taking my hand, “Allons y!”

Clone Wars first appeared in Owl Light News on August 10, 2018.

Chapter 1 can be found at www.owllightnews.com/clone-wars-chapter-1/

Posted on October 16, 2018 by owllightnews.com. This entry was posted in Fiction. Bookmark the permalink.
Spider Tale
In a corner…

    Recent Posts

    • Visual Studies Workshop Announces Project Space Residency Open Application Period
    • West End Gallery showcasing Brian S. Keeler, Treacy Ziegler
    • Hard
    • Eye-Magine – Future Youth Art Exhibit
    • “These Wilds” Announcement

    Recent Comments

    • Darlene on Let’s Talk About Beep!
    • Darlene Bentley on Hello! from a new Guest Editor, and Finding Joy in Hardship.
    • owllightnews.com on The Farm
    • Douglas Morgan on The Farm
    • owllightnews.com on Energizing and Engaging Fun at GEVA

    Archives

    • May 2025
    • April 2025
    • March 2025
    • February 2025
    • January 2025
    • December 2024
    • November 2024
    • October 2024
    • September 2024
    • June 2024
    • May 2024
    • April 2024
    • March 2024
    • February 2024
    • January 2024
    • December 2023
    • November 2023
    • October 2023
    • September 2023
    • August 2023
    • July 2023
    • June 2023
    • May 2023
    • April 2023
    • March 2023
    • February 2023
    • January 2023
    • December 2022
    • November 2022
    • October 2022
    • September 2022
    • August 2022
    • July 2022
    • June 2022
    • May 2022
    • April 2022
    • March 2022
    • February 2022
    • January 2022
    • December 2021
    • November 2021
    • October 2021
    • September 2021
    • August 2021
    • July 2021
    • June 2021
    • May 2021
    • April 2021
    • March 2021
    • February 2021
    • January 2021
    • December 2020
    • November 2020
    • October 2020
    • September 2020
    • August 2020
    • July 2020
    • June 2020
    • May 2020
    • April 2020
    • March 2020
    • February 2020
    • January 2020
    • December 2019
    • November 2019
    • October 2019
    • September 2019
    • August 2019
    • July 2019
    • June 2019
    • May 2019
    • April 2019
    • March 2019
    • February 2019
    • January 2019
    • December 2018
    • November 2018
    • October 2018
    • September 2018
    • August 2018
    • July 2018
    • June 2018
    • May 2018
    • April 2018
    • March 2018
    • February 2018
    • January 2018
    • December 2017
    • November 2017
    • October 2017
    • September 2017
    • August 2017
    • July 2017
    • June 2017
    • May 2017
    • April 2017

    Categories

    • #2021
    • Agriculture
    • Animals
    • Antiques
    • Art
    • Astronomy
    • automobiles
    • Beekeeping
    • Birthday
    • Boating
    • books
    • Botany
    • Broome County
    • Buffalo
    • Canadice
    • Canandaigua
    • Cartoon
    • Children
    • Civics
    • Collecting
    • Comic Strip
    • Community Information
    • concert
    • Covid-19
    • Creative non-fiction
    • Dansville
    • Death
    • Democracy
    • Dogs
    • Editorial
    • Education
    • Environmental
    • Essay
    • Family Fun
    • Fantasy
    • Fiction
    • film
    • Finger Lakes
    • Food and Beverage
    • gallery
    • Gardening
    • Gender Rights
    • Great Lakes
    • Health
    • History
    • Holiday
    • Honeoye
    • Human Interest
    • Human Rights
    • In Memoriam
    • Innovation
    • Interview
    • Leisurely Pursuits
    • Literary Arts
    • Little Lakes
    • Live Theatre
    • Livingston County
    • media
    • Monroe County
    • Movies
    • Museums
    • Music
    • Naples, NY
    • Nature
    • Night Sky
    • No. 1
    • NYS
    • Obituary
    • online
    • Ontario County
    • Opinion
    • Outdoor Sports
    • OWL Light
    • Owl Light News
    • Owl Light Newsstand locations
    • Owl Light Sponsor
    • Owl Sponsor
    • OwlLight Blogpost
    • OwlLightNewsArchive
    • Performing Arts
    • Photography
    • Poetry
    • Politics
    • Press Release
    • Recipe
    • Reviews
    • Richmond, NY
    • Rochester
    • Satire
    • Science
    • Scifi
    • Seniors
    • Shop Local
    • Social Justice
    • sports
    • STEM
    • Steuben County
    • Sustainability
    • Theatre
    • Tioga County
    • Tompkins County
    • Travel
    • Uncategorized
    • Veterans
    • Weather
    • Women's Rights
    • Wood working
    • writing
    • Wyoming County
    • Yates County
    • Young Adult
    • youth
    • Zoom

    Meta

    • Log in
    • Entries feed
    • Comments feed
    • WordPress.org
Powered by