Hey, guys. I know I haven’t updated in a while, but a number of things have happened. Now, seeing as this all happened before I was able to update, and the events were too big too fit into a small mini update, I decided to just compile them all into here. Okay? I doubt there will be many more updates after this, because I definitely feel like this is all going to be over soon, but until this all ends, I’ll keep you guys posted. I should let you know now that this post won’t be as outwardly scary as the other ones, seeing as some light has been brought to the situation in recent days, but it should be quite interesting for those of you who have made it this far. Let’s just say I have a few more answers now.

There hadn’t been a sound from outside in more than a couple of hours when I decided to go upstairs again. My power is still out, and my phone’s battery isn’t getting any fuller. But I don’t think I’ll be in my basement much longer. I even considered letting the dogs outside, but I’m not rushing into anything.

I went upstairs and looked out the window. The girl I had been seeing was crouched on my front steps, wet from the dying rain and extremely thin from malnourishment. I still felt a shudder travel up my spine upon seeing her, but I felt she had lost some of her ability to fill me with fear. I now knew who she was, assuming I could trust the transcript from the alert message.

I knocked three times on my front door. Through the glass part of the door, I could see her stand up and turn around. She looked at me, silently pleading, and I did what you’ve been warning me against doing this whole time. I let her in.

She walked in without saying a word, walked past me, and looked around. “Hungry?” I asked, and I noticed my voice was dry from barely speaking for several days. She turned to me and nodded.

Knowing full well I didn’t have much to spare, I opened a cabinet and took out a bag of marshmallows. She tore it open and began eating it faster than I could imagine. Funny, I don’t even like marshmallows. That’s why I never took them downstairs. I filled a cup of water from the tap, an ability I had previously forgotten I possessed, and put it in front of her–she downed it in one gulp.

“Did you change my alert message?” I asked.

She nodded.

“Have you been hearing what I have on the radio?”

She nodded again. “They aren’t cops.” I noticed that her voice was raspy–she probably rarely spoke.

“I figured. Are you trying to run from them?”

“Yes.”

“Okay,” I said. “You can stay here for now. Do you have a house?” I’m a dumbass, by the way.

“No.”

“Family?”

She shook her head. I walked over to the door and closed it. “Did you kill my neighbor?” I asked.

“He tried to hurt me. I didn’t want to. I told him to stop but he had a shotgun.”

“So you went to him for help. Okay. How long have they been keeping you locked up?”

She shrugged. “It was 2014 when they got me.”

Two years. Shit. “OK. I can help you. I don’t know if these people work for the government or not, but…If they don’t, I can have them arrested and put away for good. If they do…I don’t know.”

“Thank you.”

“I’m just about out of food,” I said. “I’m going to go get some from my neighbor. He won’t need it anymore where he’s gone.”

“Okay.”

“Help yourself to whatever.”

I left my house, despite every warning I had been given, and went across the street. I pushed open my neighbor’s door, went inside, and stepped over his body. His neck was turned at an awkward angle, a shotgun lying next to him. I picked it up, cleared the chamber, put the shells in my pocket, and decided to keep it incase the MEW Foundation came a-knocking. I stuffed the big pouch on the front of my hoodie full of food and left, placing a washcloth over his eyes.

When I got back, 013–sorry, Liz? Betty? Beth? Lizzie? Just Elizabeth?–was passed out on my couch. I put a blanket over her and put some of my old clothes next to her. Then I locked the door and went back downstairs with my dogs.

I turned on the radio and waited to get a signal from MEW. It only took about five minutes.

-“Kowalski?” -“Yes? Over.” -“This is McClellan. Sloan and I are headed to [withheld] Street. Wanted to check the status on the radio disturbance examinations. Over.” -“Well, they were coming from…I want to say house#[withheld]. Over.” -“Interesting. We’ll be sure to pay a visit. It looks like this may be finally over. …Over.” -“I don’t know. What if 013’s escape gave the others ideas? The entire [withheld (name of my town)] Project could be compromised. Over.” -“They know nothing about it. Those clones are idiots, Kowalski. Except 013…She’s an exception, but that’s probably because she’s from a different person. At least, from what I gather. I never saw 14-26. Over.” -“They’re not idiots, McClellan. Just uneducated. Over.” -“Yeah, you say that. What about 002? Strange things that went on, huh…? That one, though, man, was the dumbest of all. Over.” -“Say what you want. I have my own opinion. I happen to think the clones should be treated fairly. And 002…That was unfortunate, to say the least. Over.” -“I’ll say. Didn’t 002, like, die? Just…Out if the blue, right?” -“McClellan…What are you getting at?” -“Nothing. Over.” -“Hmm.” -“Hey, what happened that day? If I remember correctly, you got knocked out for a little while. Over.” -“I was working with 002. He came up behind me and hit me, and then everything went black. Over.” -“OK. Kowalski? Why are you hear, man? You don’t need this job. Over.” -“I made a promise to Whitfield. I can’t break it. Over.” -“What kind of of promise? If I remember correctly, you didn’t want to be here at first. Over.” -“Irrelevant, McClellan. Over and out.”

After that, the channel went silent. I went back upstairs to find 013 awake. “Did you ever meet McClellan, Kowalski, Sloan, Jones, any of those?” I asked.

“All but Jones.”

“Do you know why they hate Kowalski so much?” I asked.

“Because if the 002 experiment,” she said.

“Did he mess it up?” I asked.

She furrowed her brow. “No,” she said. “Well, they think so. But I know what really happened, because I stole the master file.”

“Do the other people on the radio know about it?” I asked.

“Just Kowalski, because in a way he’s just like me.”

“How so?”

“Well, take a look at the file. It has the names of all the people used for the cloning process.”

She took a black binder out of her shirt and handed it to me. “Here.” I opened it up. On the front page, there were four columns. In the first column: 001-006 Second: 007-012 Third: 013 (she was the only one not adapted from another person) Fourth: 014-026.

At the top of every column was a name.

1: Michael Kowalski

2: Sean [withheld]

3: Elizabeth Keller (too late to censor this one)

4. Henry [withheld out of respect–this is the boy who drowned and was declared dead later on]

“Kowalski was the person used to make 001-006,” Elizabeth said.

“Was?”

“During the 002 experiment…He was attacked from behind. 002 killed him and assumed his job, his life, everything. He said the dead one was him–002–and not the original. I said so, but nobody believes me, and I didn’t care. Why would I? “Kowalski’s” almost as dangerous as me, but I think he’s like-minded…Are you okay?”

I gulped. “My name is Sean [withheld].”

As of now, were waiting on edge for McClellan and Sloan to arrive, me holding a shotgun in hand, Elizabeth holding her powers in her mind. Until next time, wish us luck. Assume were alive.

UPDATE: Upon further studying the book, I found that it names everyone in this town as pending cloning subjects. Apparently, in this town, they must take samples of your blood at birth or something. We’re all ready to be cloned, but only a few already have.