Flawed Read online

  Flawed

  Mechanical #3

  by Pauline C. Harris

  Published by

  Fire and Ice

  A Young Adult Imprint of Melange Books, LLC

  White Bear Lake, MN 55110

  www.fireandiceya.com

  Flawed, Copyright 2013 by Pauline C. Harris

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should go to fireandiceya.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of the author.

  ISBN: 978-1-61235-735-5

  Names, characters, and incidents depicted in this book are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of the author or the publisher. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  Published in the United States of America.

  Cover Design by Caroline Andrus

  FLAWED

  PAULINE C. HARRIS

  With Yvonne in control, Michael perfected, and Drew and her friends having been captured by the creators, everything seems hopeless. But when a group of flawed androids rescue them, Drew is suddenly thrown into the middle of saving the world again.

  Drew buries herself in the elaborate planning and scheming, as well as vigorously trying to bring Michael’s memory back. But as Drew loses sight of what she cares about and her world seems like it’s being ripped in two, choices are needing to be made and Drew discovers many of the people she thought she knew weren’t as they appeared to be.

  Betrayal, sorrow, and passion drive Drew to the limit and she’s forced to choose, once again, between giving in to her desires and fears, or doing what she knows is the only right thing.

  Table of Contents

  "Flawed"

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Chapter Twenty-six

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-one

  Chapter Thirty-two

  Chapter Thirty-three

  Chapter Thirty-four

  Chapter Thirty-five

  Chapter Thirty-six

  Chapter Thirty-seven

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Previews

  Prologue

  He watched her from the doorway that led into the long, white corridor. She sat in her cell studying her hands that lay in her lap, her fingers laced together. A shadow fell across her cell leaving her in semidarkness. Her long auburn hair fell across her face, as she bent her head, not even bothering to swipe it away.

  Michael’s brow furrowed. She was pretty. No, he shook his head. She was beautiful. But what did that mean? The word was used for so many things, and although Michael understood the definition perfectly, knew exactly what it meant ... he felt nothing. It should have some significance, shouldn’t it? She should have some significance, shouldn’t she? She had called him by his name. She had said he knew her.

  But he didn’t.

  She had said he knew both of them, her and that other girl who was in the cell a few doors down from hers. But he had no idea who she was. He tried to remember. Tried to figure out if she was right. But whenever he tried, he came up with nothing. She was probably just confused like the creators said she was. That had to be it. The creators were always right.

  He went back to watching the girl in her cell. She sat there, staring down at her hands, and although it seemed like such a boring and irrelevant thing to do, Michael couldn’t seem to wrench his gaze away. Something about her held him there, something grabbed him and wouldn’t let go. Something inside of him screamed at him that he knew this girl ... but he didn’t. That was the truth. He didn’t know her. So why was he watching her?

  Suddenly the girl looked up, startling him. Her eyes met his, searching his face for something. Her face was even prettier than the rest of her. She had delicate features, and her eyes were blue, the color of the sky. They looked at him with some strange expression. Hope?

  “Michael,” she said quietly.

  At the sound of his name, Michael backed away, faster than he had intended, and in a second, he was out the door. He stood out there, staring at the wall. The color of her eyes, the sound of her voice, the way she had looked at him had brought on a strange feeling. A feeling in his heart that something had once been there. It ached with hollowness. Something inside of him screamed for him to remember.

  But remember what?

  Chapter One

  Yvonne was smiling smugly as Michael walked my way. He passed right by me despite my efforts to talk to him. He grabbed Jessica and pulled her into a cell, clanging the door behind her. She fell to the ground with a sob and stared up at Michael with a gaze filled with despair and horror at the sight of her perfected brother.

  “Michael, listen to me,” I tried to say. “It’s Drew and your sister Jessica.”

  He reached out and roughly grabbed my arm, pinching the skin so hard it hurt.

  “Let go!” I yanked my arm away, took a step back, and glared at him. “You know me!” I shouted. “You have to!” My voice choked at the last part. I stared into his eyes, trying to catch a glimpse of the real Michael, but all I saw was an emotionless android staring back.

  He grabbed me again and nearly threw me into the cell, slamming the door behind me. I fell against the wall and slid to the ground, rubbing my arm.

  “Michael, please.” My voice was a whisper.

  His eyes were indifferent.

  I woke with a start, tears pricking at my eyes. I sat up, rubbing my forehead. I reached over to rub my arm where Michael had grabbed me in my dream. This scene had haunted me for days—Michael staring at me, completely perfected. And each time I dreamt about it, I awoke, crying.

  I could hear others shifting in the cells around me—quiet movement and sometimes sobs. Most of them coming from Jessica, a few cells down from mine.

  I still couldn’t believe what had happened. Every time I thought about the idea of Michael, the only person I had ever loved, being turned into a mindless android and locking us up, my mind refused to believe it. It was true; so horribly true. And I didn’t even want to think about what lay in store for Jessica. She was sitting in her cell waiting to be taken away and turned into a robot like her brother.

  They’re going to kill you. Yvonne’s words rang through my mind, and I rubbed my forehead. My fate would be completely different from Michael’s and Jessica’s. I had already been perfected; turned into an a
ndroid. But I had gained my individuality back and, according to the creators, I was now flawed; something to be discarded. They were going to kill me. I had told myself that I wouldn’t let them. That I would get away with Jessica and we would be free, but after days of sitting here, and finding no way of escape, I was beginning to doubt whether or not I would make it out of here alive.

  I tried to hold back the tears. Tears of hurt, anger, and frustration, but it was getting harder and harder. A single tear slid down my cheek and dripped off the edge of my jaw line.

  I wanted out. I wanted out so badly. I wanted Jessica to be free and for Michael to come back to me. But all these things, I knew, were impossible.

  The creators wanted a perfect world, filled with what they considered perfect people: androids. I was in their way. I was the one who opposed them and wanted things to change. I had rebelled and now I was paying the price. I was flawed and therefore needed to be eliminated.

  My thoughts floated back to Yvonne. Where was she now? Probably sucking up to the creators, getting on their good side, while she planned their annihilation. Although, I realized, she was a flawed android like me, she would never let the creators know. She claimed to be smarter, and while I sat here in this cell, I wondered if that was true. Sure she was ruthless, mean, and greedy, but she had ended up on top, right? She had turned me in because of the wrongs I had done against her, mostly for her benefit with the creators, and now she had what she had always wanted: power.

  I heard Jessica call my name from her cell. “Drew?” Her voice rang through the silent corridor.

  “Yeah?” I replied, hoping that my voice didn’t give away the fact that I had been crying.

  There was a sniffle. “Um ... I don’t even know what I was going to say. What can I say? I mean, what can we do about this?” Her voice choked. A tear rolled down my cheek.

  I desperately wanted to say something comforting, but nothing came to mind. I wanted to fix this so badly. I wanted to say something that would make everything better; that would make the problem go away, but there were no words that could do that. We sat in silence for a few moments.

  “I don’t know,” I finally replied. It was barely a whisper, but I knew Jessica had heard it. And for me to hear it, too, seemed to tear me apart just a little bit more. Somehow, saying that out loud was admitting that there actually was a problem; a problem from which I couldn’t run away.

  I leaned my head back against the wall and closed my eyes. My brain hurt from trying too hard to find a solution that wasn’t there. I let out a sigh.

  Hours went by and even though there were no windows or clocks, I knew it had to be late. Less people wandered past the door to our hallway, and although as an android I needed no sleep, other humans in the cells around me were slowly nodding off. I remembered the last time I was here, waiting for Yvonne to let me out. Now, I had no one upon whom to hope. There was no one out there waiting to set me free. Frustration clung to me like a virus, but I couldn’t let myself lose hope yet. I couldn’t do that to Jessica.

  I leaned against the wall, listening to the silence around me. Everyone in the cells around me had to be sleeping by now. But suddenly the door creaked open, sending a burst of light down the dark hallway. I squinted and watched as a figure approached, female, but obscured by a large hood over her head. I had no idea who she was, and it took me a few seconds to realize she was walking straight toward my cell. I opened my mouth to ask her who she was and what she was doing here, but before I could utter a sound, she slid her hands through the bars and dropped something small and metallic onto the floor beside me. I squinted up into her face, my eyes still adjusting to the lighting, but I only glimpsed a flash of blue eyes before she turned and hurried away. I stood, ready to call after her, but she was already gone.

  I stared down at the ground and kneeled, feeling around for the object she dropped. As my fingers brushed the small metallic item and I brought it closer to my face, my heart nearly stopped. I gripped it tighter into my fist and stared down the corridor where the woman had vanished.

  A key.

  Chapter Two

  I stared down at the key in shock, every muscle frozen. Who had she been? My first thought was Yvonne. She had access to the keys, to the cells, to the whole Institution. But it couldn’t have been her. She’d turned in Michael, captured Jessica and I. And when I had looked up into the face of the woman who dropped the key I had seen blue eyes, not Yvonne’s black ones.

  But before I could think any further or come up with a plan, the door opened once again, and the corridor flooded with light. I squinted and turned my head away, stuffing the key into my pocket. The footsteps walked down the aisle and I waited ... wondering. It took me a few minutes to realize that there was more than just one person, and in fact, there were multiple people.

  At first, I had thought it was the creators, or some androids, but when once my eyes had adjusted to the light, I looked up and couldn’t believe what I saw.

  Beatrix was smiling down at me as she calmly unlocked the door to my cell. My mind flashed back to the day when I had met her at a café and how she had explained to me her association with the flawed, a group of rebel androids.

  “What...?” I barely managed to say.

  She shook her head and put her finger to her lips. I scrambled to my feet, and hurried out of the cell, noticing the half-dozen others who had come along with Beatrix. I glanced down the hallway and saw Jessica’s cell door being unlocked.

  Jessica ran over to me, giving me a confused and frightened look. She looked relieved, though, once she saw Beatrix. Beatrix beckoned for us to follow as she started toward the door at the end of the hallway.

  “Wait.” Jessica reached out to touch Beatrix’s arm. “We can’t go without Michael,” she whispered, her eyes fearful.

  Beatrix’s brow furrowed, and her eyes glanced to mine and then back to Jessica’s. “But isn’t he...?”

  “He’s been perfected,” I whispered hesitantly, “but we can’t leave him.”

  Jessica was staring at Beatrix with an expression mixed with stubbornness and pleading.

  Beatrix glanced at us and then at her partners. She looked at me for a long moment, opened her mouth, shut it again, and finally uttered, “Okay.” She sighed. “Where is he?”

  I thought for a moment. He would probably be housed where all the androids had been when I had lived here. I told her so, and we started down the hallway as quietly as we could. Beatrix tapped Jessica’s arm. “Go with them while we get Michael,” she whispered.

  Jessica looked at me briefly and then she and a few others disappeared into the shadows. Beatrix, three of her companions, and I walked on down the hallway. I gave them a quick description of where to go, and we were soon jogging along. We hit twists and turns in the hallways, and soon we were in the corridor where the androids were housed. I prayed that there wouldn’t be many around as we ventured in. I leaned over to voice my concerns to Beatrix when I saw her pull a gun from beneath her large coat. My eyes widened, and I looked at her. “Where...?” I started.

  She held up a finger. “I’m not going to shoot anyone; it’s just to scare them.”

  I shrugged, still a little surprised, and started down the hallway. I peered into one of the rooms, found it empty, and went on to the next. I knew that a lot of the androids spent their nights in the game room, as I had when I had been here. After three rooms we finally found one that contained an android.

  Before I even had time to think, Beatrix had shoved the door open, aimed the pistol, and fixed the android with a steely stare.

  The girl was sitting on her bed reading and dropped her book to gaze up at us. She opened her mouth as if to call out, but Beatrix gave her a warning look, and the girl closed her mouth.

  “We’re looking for an android named Michael,” Beatrix said quietly but firmly. “He’s new.”

  The girl looked at us, an expression of uncertainty on her face. “I...” she trailed off.

  Bea
trix shifted, repositioning her fingers around the trigger of the gun. “Where is he?”

  The girl swallowed. “His room is number 37. Down the hall.” She pointed. “I don’t know if he’s in there.”

  “If he’s not in there, where would we find him?” Beatrix questioned.

  The girl’s brow furrowed, and she shrugged. “I really don’t know. I don’t know him that well. He might be in the game room.” She was talking quickly, her eyes meeting each of ours. “You’re flawed,” she stated so calmly it sent shivers down my spine.

  Beatrix ignored her. “Go,” she said to one of the androids that had come with her. “See if he’s in there.”

  The android turned and walked down the hall, and I quickly followed him. We scanned the numbers on the doors, ducking beneath the windows, and finally found number 37. I peered in and felt my heart skip a beat when I saw Michael sitting on his bed, looking up at the ceiling.

  Suddenly everything came flooding back to me. How life had been at the Institution; how I had spent many boring hours doing exactly what he was doing now; looking for shapes in the drywall ceiling.

  I saw this android pull out a gun as well, and I cringed at the thought of a gun being pointed at Michael. But I stood aside as he opened the door and aimed at Michael, sending my heart racing. Michael sprang to his feet and glared once he saw there was no way to stop us.

  “Be absolutely quiet, or I’ll shoot you,” the android boy said to Michael and it sounded like he meant it. “You need to come with us, quietly,” he explained.

  I felt the presence of someone coming up behind me and turned to see the other android that had come along with Beatrix.

  “What if I say no?” Michael asked evenly, and my heart ached at the sound of his voice saying those words.

  “Then I’ll shoot you.”

  I took in a quick breath and restrained myself from doing anything stupid. He wouldn’t kill Michael, he wouldn’t kill Michael, I kept telling myself.