When the lights went out, Wolfgang felt a stinging in his side. Paul had cut him, with what? Wolfgang let go of the man’s wrist in shock, swearing and stumbling to the side.
Why didn’t I see if he had any more weapons? The blood ran hot over his hand; it was a slim, deep laceration.
He flailed around in the dark, hearing footsteps and other people cry out. He recognized Joanna. Katrina made a strangled, surprised sound. Wolfgang ran forward two steps and tripped over the bottle of whiskey. He landed hard, his side throbbing. The blood was slick and copious. He had no idea how much he was bleeding but he guessed it wasn’t a little bit.
“IAN, lights now!” he called, impotently.
His hands fell on an arm, he followed it to find a woman’s shoulders and hair. The hair was sodden, and he felt toward her neck to find it slit. The hair was straight, though, not Joanna’s curly hair. He felt the bandages on the face. Katrina, then. The blood from her neck was flowing at a trickle; she was nearly dead.
Joanna screamed again, an angry sound, and he heard struggles. A few thumps that sounded like punches. Paul cried out in pain, and then Joanna’s voice stopped.
Wolfgang stumbled toward the sounds and caught a boot in the face. He didn’t know whose, but he grabbed it and tugged.
The leg was flesh, not prosthetic. The body came with it. Wolfgang climbed on top of Paul and closed his hands around his neck. Paul lashed up with the cleaver, slashing Wolfgang’s arms, unable to reach his face.
Paul stopped struggling suddenly, and Wolfgang’s hands and face were suddenly very wet. He blinked, realizing he could see, barely. Paul was under his hands, unmoving, his throat slit.
Joanna sat to the side as the light increased, a bloody knife in her hand. Her jumpsuit was worryingly wet, and she smiled at him weakly.
“Thanks for the rescue,” she said. “What was that you said about sacrifice?”
“The greatest gift one creature can give another is that of sacrifice. Clones can’t sacrifice,” he said, crawling off Paul’s body to go to her. He took her hand.
“Right,” she said. “Our deaths mean nothing because the next day we can wake up and do it all over again.”
He remembered these words and suddenly he wanted life to matter again, for death to mean something.
He wanted to tell Joanna something, but her eyes were closed. She gripped his hand once, and then relaxed.
“No,” he said. “Not you. Don’t go.”
His vision swayed and he realized he was very cold. He leaned against her, knowing it wouldn’t be too long for him either.
He could use a rest.
Maria carried guilt on her shoulders.
She also carried Hiro on her shoulders.
Everyone else was dead. She would take care of them soon.
Minoru had unlocked the door on her request when he had let the sun rise again. She carefully climbed the ladder with Hiro over her shoulders in a fireman’s carry toward the higher deck where the gravity was easier to deal with.
Hiro was bleeding from a deep cut and his bullet holes. Her own wounds had opened with exertion and her bandages were soaked through with blood.
He was bleeding badly, but he wouldn’t die. She wouldn’t let him.
“Come on, we can make it. We’ll get you to medbay and the doctor will stitch you up until you’re irritating the hell out of all of us again,” she said.
She was hoping the playful barb would get him moving, but he didn’t respond. She didn’t know if he knew the doctor was dead or not, but hope might help keep him going.
She was grateful that he was a small man, and that the gravity was lighter with each step up the ladder.
Hiro’s blood ran down his side to soak her neck where she carried him, and she wondered how much he had lost.
That asshole Paul. No. It went deeper. Sallie had caused all of this. Sallie and her twisted desire for revenge and reach for power.
Poor Hiro. Poor Hiro with his fractured personality. That she had caused. She and Sallie.
Maria muttered to herself, part apology, part chant to keep herself going. One more step. Now another one. Now another.
They reached the hallway of the clones’ quarters. The entire floor was quiet. Minoru hadn’t said anything since she had left the gardens. She looked behind them, wincing at the trail of blood they had left. When this was all over, someone would have a mess to clean up.
No, wait. She would have a mess.
“Who were you talking to?” Hiro asked sleepily.
“No one. Myself. Nothing important. Don’t worry about it, just try to hold on.” She adjusted her grip on him. “Can you walk?”
“I don’t think I can do much of anything,” he said. “Listen, just let me die. Then you can clone me again. It’ll be okay. I have faith in you.”
She shook him gently. “Hey, no, don’t leave me. I can’t clone you again, remember? Paul fucked with all the machines. We don’t have any new bodies. This is the last one, you better take care of it.”
“A clone without a body. A rebel without a cause. A horse with no name,” he said in a singsong voice. “You’re nice.”
“You talk all you like, Hiro. Just remember to hold on, all right?” she said.
“Sorry,” he mumbled into her ear. “This must be hard. Want me to carry you for a minute?”
She choked out a laugh. “That would be nice, but you’re the one here who paid for the pony ride, and you’re getting your full money’s worth.”
“Wanted a pony with white spots,” Hiro complained. “You’re just one uniform color.”
“We must all live with disappointment. This is the pony you have, so it’s the pony you will ride. Let’s go.”
“Giddyap,” he whispered, sounding far away.
She slapped his leg. “Hey. Come back. We each have our different jobs here. I can’t do mine if you won’t do yours.”
“Sorry,” he said. He began to hum a tuneless song.
She began to list what she needed to do. Get Hiro’s DNA matrix from the medbay. Figure out a way to mindmap him. Then fix him. How to fix him, though?
She thought of Mrs. Perkins, the keeper of her secrets, rocking away in her library. The hacked mindmaps nested inside her, locked away for posterity, like vials of smallpox. The clue to fix Hiro was actually inside her.
“You had the power all the time, Dorothy,” Maria said to herself, imagining red shoes clicking together.
“You’re Maria,” Hiro said.
“And you’re Hiro,” she said, realization giving her new energy. “And you’re going to be okay.”