The pavement has long disappeared nearly twenty miles ago.
As the tires crunch over packed dirt, Jax guides the car into what can only generously be called a parking lot. A faded wooden sign leans precariously beside the road.
LAST STOP OUTPOST
I notice how several letters have long since fallen away. The building itself looks like it has survived decades simply because no one had bothered to tear it down. Weathered boards cover the walls, the tin roof sags in places, and two rusted fuel pumps stand near the entrance, looking more decorative than functional. A handful of dusty pickup trucks and older utility vehicles sit scattered around the yard.
"This is it," Jax announces as he shuts off the engine. "Last known location for Elara."
I study the place through the windshield. "This is where she lives?"
"If the records were right," Jax says, leaning back in his seat.
"If."
Jax shrugs, "That's all we've got."
Silence settled over the car.
Ping.
I hear a soft electronic chime echo from the tablet resting on the center console. Looking down, I ask, "What's that?"
"My remote connection," Jax says, reaching for it.
"You left your system running?"
"I had to."
He unlocks the tablet and lines of code immediately begin scrolling across the display.
“I've still got my servers working on wiping your records,” he continues, still searching through the tablet. “I connected everything through this tablet before we left.”
He taps another screen. "I've got it programmed to notify me anytime something changes."
"Changes?" I ask, not sure what to make of what he’s saying.
"Warnings. Discoveries. Progress reports. Completed wipes," he smiles faintly. "If something breaks, I know about it immediately."
I watch him work and realize that even now… even this far from the city… he is still trying to protect me.
He frowns, "That's strange."
"What?" A chill runs down my spine. What has he found out and will this make things worse for me?
He shakes his head. "I finally got into one of the sealed government archives."
Rian leans forward from the back seat. "You actually got through?"
"Barely." Jax’s fingers fly across the screen. "They encrypted this deeper than military files."
He stops and his expression slowly changes. "No..."
"What?" I ask quietly.
Jax doesn’t answer. He simply stares.
Rian finally reaches over his shoulder, shifting the tablet so he can see too. "What is it?"
Jax swallows, "You don't exist."
My heartbeat skips. It’s over… they know now. I’m unsure what to do at this point, so I just remain silent.
"What?" Rian whispers, as though someone else would hear.
Jax continues to speak to me, "You have a citizen file..."
He taps, "A school file..."
Another tap. "A medical file..."
Then he pauses. "But there's no clone registry. No replication history."
Silence fills the car with that last piece of information.
He taps the screen again. "No origin record."
I see Rian frown from the corner of my eye. "That's impossible."
"I know," Jax agrees.
Is this the first time that Jax and Rian have agreed to something? Now I know I’m in dire straits.
Jax zooms farther into the classified section.
"There are only fragments" his voice becomes quieter. "Every note is sealed."
"What do they say?" Rian asks.
Now I wish we had left him back at that gas station. Now I bet he will hold this over me at some point.
Jax looks at the screen one more time before reading aloud.
"Naturally Viable Subject." He blinks. "That's it."
"What does that mean?" Rian asked, searching the screen.
Jax glances at Rian, and says, "I have no idea."
The phrase repeats again farther down the file.
Naturally Viable Subject.
Then again.
Naturally Viable Subject.
Again, it shows up and nothing else. Just those three words. The silence inside the car becomes suffocating.
Jax slowly turns toward me. I don’t move. I don’t even gasp and I’m pretty sure that I don’t look surprised. I simply stare out the windshield.
"Felicity," Jax says, as he looks over at me.
I look back at him.
"You already knew," he says.
It’s not a question. My stomach tightens.
"I didn't," I say, looking back out the windshield.
I’m not actually lying. I actually didn’t know what those files said, let alone that they actually exist.
"You didn't?" Jax says, his voice getting slightly irritable.
"It... probably has something to do with the scanner malfunction."
He shakes his head, clearly not believing my excuse.
"No."
I force myself to smile, as I look at him again. I can only hope that it’s believable. "It was an error."
"That’s not it."
"The system obviously mixed up—"
"You asked me to erase your identity!" His voice grew sharper. "Before I found this."
I look away.
“Wait… you asked him to erase your identity?” Rian asks, turning to look at me.
"Why?" Jax asks, ignoring the fact that Rian just asked me a question.
"I was scared." That’s my answer for both of them.
Jax doesn’t seem to except that answer though. "Why weren't you shocked?"
"I am." I need to convince him of this, so we can move on.
"No you’re not," he says, his voice going down an octave. He leans toward me. "What does 'Naturally Viable Subject' mean?"
"I don't know."
"You're lying."
"I'm not."
"You are."
His words come one after another at a fast pace like an interrogation. "When did you find out?"
"I didn't." Why won’t he accept my answers?
"Felicity! What aren't you telling us?" he’s starting to yell now.
"Nothing!"
"Felicity—"
"Enough!" Rian finally steps in, glaring at Jax. His voice cuts through the tension and both of us look at him. He meets Jax's eyes steadily. "Back off, man."
Jax frowns, "She's hiding something."
"Maybe," Rian agrees, glancing at me.
He nods in my direction. "But don't you think she's probably just as confused as we are?"
Jax doesn’t answer.
Rian continues, "If you were in her shoes and everything you believed your entire life suddenly stopped making sense..." He looks toward me again, "would you know what to say?"
I meet Rian’s eyes for only a second, but it’s enough.
He knew.
Not everything, but enough. Enough to understand I am protecting something. Enough not to force it out of me. I silently thank him.
Jax sighs heavily and leans back in his seat again. "Fine."
The tension lingers. No one speaks.
Finally, I open my door. "We came here for Elara."
I step out, as I say, "We're not leaving until we find her."
Rian and Jax follow suit. Together we walk toward the weather-beaten outpost.
The inside of the outpost somehow looks older than the outside. The wooden floor creaks beneath every step. Dust hangs in shafts of afternoon sunlight filtering through crooked blinds. The bar itself has not probably been polished in decades. Not only that, but its surface is scarred by deep scratches, burn marks, and countless rings left behind by forgotten mugs. The mismatched tables and chairs look as though each have been rescued from a different abandoned cabin.
Mounted deer heads and faded antlers cover one wall, while animal pelts hang beside cracked landscape paintings. Fishing nets, rusted lanterns, old wagon wheels, and worn-out snowshoes fill every empty space causing the room to resemble less of a business and more like the home of a mountain trapper who refuses to throw anything away.
As we enter, all conversations stop. Everyone seems to look up, and why not? We were three strangers… outsiders who don’t belong here, unlike the patrons here.
The customers match the surroundings. Some sit slumped over half-empty glasses. Others wear patched coats, dusty boots, and wide-brimmed hats that make them resemble caricatures of Old West outlaws. A gray-bearded man laughs loudly at something no one else seems to hear. Another customer quietly whittles a piece of wood near the fireplace.
I suddenly feel every pair of eyes on me. I pull my hoodie slightly lower, hoping it will hide me from everyone.
The bartender, a broad man with weathered skin and a beard nearly reaching his chest, looks up from polishing a glass.
"What'll it be?"
I approach cautiously. "We're looking for someone."
The man snorted, "Ain't everybody." His expression remains unreadable.
"A woman named Elara." I try again.
He snorted again. "Never heard of her.”
I’m not convinced, "My parents said…"
"I said I never heard of her."
I don’t know what to say. I look at Jax and then to Rian. They don’t seem to know what to do or say either.
"Who wants to know?" A woman's voice drifts from somewhere near the back.
We turn towards her. The woman steps out from a booth tucked into the shadows. She looks every bit the mountain frontier woman. Heavy boots and a weathered leather coat. She has a long gray braid hanging over one shoulder and a hunting knife rests comfortably at her belt. Her sharp eyes study us carefully.
I take one cautious step forward. "I... need to speak with her."
"About what?" she asks sharply.
"Something important."
"To who?"
"To my family."
The woman folds her arms. "Family's important to everyone."
"I can't explain here," I say, looking around me. Some of these people, if not all, look way too shady.
"You just did."
I hesitate. Was she right? Either way, the woman isn’t making this easy.
Rian quietly leans toward me, lowering his voice. "I think… that's Elara."
I look again at the woman more carefully. Something in the woman's expression… the way she watches every exit, every movement. Once I saw it, I began to realize how he was probably right.
"You are Elara," I say in a loud whisper.
The woman's face remains perfectly still, "No."
"I think you are." I insist, stepping forward again.
"I think you're mistaken." she says, again.
I take another slow step.
"My parents sent me.”
Nothing. She doesn’t even say a word.
After a few moments, she finally says, "I can't help you."
"They told me to find you." I keep on going.
"You need to leave."
"They said…"
"Leave!"
I try to swallow. Then, I quietly speak two names. "My parents are Daniel and Sofia Ponce."
The woman's eyes widen as color drains from her face. "What?"
"They told me to find you," I say, shrugging.
She’s quiet for a long moment, then she says, "Come with me."
She turns immediately.
Ping.
She stops.
Jax looks down at his tablet.
“Oh, no!” Elara spins around and points her finger at Jax..
We all freeze.
"No technology," she says sternly.
"It isn't connected to…" Jax tries to explain.
"I don't care." Her voice became firm. "If you're coming with me..." She pointed toward the parking lot, "that stays behind."
Jax hesitates. "My work…"
"Leave it."
He looks at me, and I shrug again before nodding.
Reluctantly, he returns to the car and locks the tablet inside. It’s only when he does this does Elara continue. We follow her to her old utility vehicle and climb in. It takes nearly fifteen minutes deeper into the mountains. The roads narrow and trees thicken. I’m starting to get nervous as civilization disappears.
Eventually we reach what looks like an abandoned ranger station hidden among towering pines. However, it isn’t abandoned. Solar panels blend into the trees. Cameras, carefully hidden, track every approach. As we walk toward the building a low hum fills the air.
Pain.
Jax winces sharply. Rian grabs his wrist, both of them gasping simultaneously.
"What was…" Rian asks, still holding his forearm.
"My marker," Jax mutters through clenched teeth. "It burns."
I blink. I feel almost nothing. Only a faint itching beneath the artificial clone marker on my wrist. It’s gone almost immediately.
Elara notices. Of course she notices, yet she says nothing. Not yet.
The pain fades within seconds.
Jax straightens slowly, "What was that?"
"A marker signal disruptor," she says, without looking at him.
Elara unlocks the cabin door. "It interrupts communication between implanted clone markers and government tracking grids."
She glances toward me. "Temporary discomfort is normal."
Inside, the cabin is surprisingly modern. Bookshelves line the walls. Maps cover a large table. Medical supplies sit neatly organized beside old computer equipment that looks permanently disconnected from any network.
Elara motions toward several chairs. "Sit."
We do as we’re told, but it’s uncomfortable. However, Elara remains standing.
Her eyes settle on me. "I knew your parents."
My throat tightens.
"They were right to send you."
Relief washes through me, but only briefly.
Then Elara frowns. "Though, they should also have told you not to bring anyone."
I lower my eyes, "They did."
"Yet here they are."
"I needed help." I look towards Jax and then Rian, "Without them… I wouldn't have made it."
Elara studies both boys. However, neither spoke.
She sighed, "We'll discuss that later."
She pulls up a chair. "Tell me everything."
We recount the previous twenty-four hours: the graduation scan, the escape, the hologram, the house, Director Kane, the chase, the gas station, and the sealed files.
When we finished, Elara leans back quietly.
"You've all been taught the history of cloning."
Jax nods, "Humanity was dying."
Rian continues, "Cloning preserved civilization."
"It saved the species," I add automatically.
Elara smiles sadly. "That's what they taught you."
We don’t say anything. Of course that’s what we learned. Every child and teen know the history of our society. How is it that it’s a surprise to her.
"They lied," she continues, looking from me to Jax and to Rian.
It’s too quiet. I look over to Jax and Rian, who were looking at me.
“Cloning wasn't created to save humanity.” Elara continues, leaning forward and resting her forearms on her legs. She folded her hands. "It became the perfect way to control it."
We didn’t speak. How could we? Everything she says is hard to believe. The words settle heavily over the room. Elara looks directly at me.
"I suspected it the moment you walked through my disruptor."
She paused. Then, quietly finishes the sentence that changed everything.
"You weren't copied..." I hold my breath. "you were born."
The room falls into stunned silence, and I just know Jax and Rian will have a hard time believing this one.