Free Only Human by Maria Bradley

shying away from me. ‘I am sorry, so sorry. I will stop; you are ok, you will be ok.’
    What kind of a monster am I , that I could frighten these innocents? My anger is melting into shame and I huddle next to them, with my head bent.
    When I next look up , Garok is gone and I am glad. I am not ready to hear his words, or his remorse. Maybe I never will be, but I do know that he is not a threat. Anne has explained that he is an outcast now, the same as the rest of us. She thinks the vamp’s had something over him; they blackmailed him somehow, and that’s what made him betray me. I don’t know and I don’t care. He is dead to me.
    I feel so weary, I want to sleep again , but my curiosity won’t allow it as yet.
    The Clones are the same, their eyes are half closed, with their heads nodding into sleep when they suddenly realise, and consciously force themselves awake again.
    I can ’t begin to imagine what they have been through, or for how long each one was subjected to it. They have no language whatsoever, but communicate with their hands and eyes, and it is possible to understand some of their gestures. I suppose it is logical that they would have no language; they were grown as adults and intravenously fed, at the same time as being drained of blood. That was it Amica, that was their existence; they must never have touched another living soul, plant or animal, the entire time!
    Anne is extremely fond of all of them , given the short time of two nights in which she has known them. Two nights friend, which is how long I have been here, slipping in and out of consciousness. The Clones were freed with me, and I believe more would have been rescued if they had had enough time and larger transportation.
    I still have so many questions , but I find it difficult to unravel and separate my thoughts. A side effect from the draining procedure maybe, or perhaps there were some kind of tranquilizing drugs in the intravenous food tube I was also attached to.  I’m just going to rest for a while longer and see if I awake a little more lucid. I’m glad I have you to talk to or I believe I would certainly be in an even worse state of mind. Goodnight (or is it good morning) for now. X
    My Uncle is here, I am just waking up and it is such a comforting, familiar sound to wake up to! ‘Uncle!’
    I feel strong enough to give him his usual bear hug today, tonight , or whenever this is. It’s impossible to distinguish between night and day since I have been living in this cave. Uncle will clear out the flotsam in my mind and help me to finally understand exactly what has happened to me, Anne, and my Clone friends. Also my own family; I hardly dare to ask him, but I must. The agony of not knowing is worse than the sea of pain and guilt, I will surely be drowning in when I discover their fate.
    ‘ Uncle, my mother and father? Oh and poor Zak? What has happened to them? Is there any way we can rescue them and bring them here? What has happened to the rest of the clan? Are they safe?’
    As I am speaking to him I can see that he has minor burns on his face, his skin is more yellow in colour , and his eyes are red rimmed, sore, as if he had been crying. What did they do to him? I can feel the flame of anger that I never knew existed within me, begin to inflame my soul, but before I can explode my uncle takes my hand.
    ‘ Calm yourself child, I am fine; the whereabouts of your parents, Zak, and some of our clan are unknown as yet, but you will be the first to know.’
    ‘ Some of our clan? Weren’t they all interrogated together? I thought when one member was criminalized or shamed, the rest of us bore the consequences, no exceptions!’
    ‘ No exceptions, unless certain of our clan members decided to co-operate, and help the Elders find the answers to their questions!’
    ‘ Gita!!  That big nosed bitch! She was always jealous of mother, I’d like to….’
    ‘ Aecia! What has happened to your language? Don’t allow recent events