Chapter 37

The copper tang of blood hit her senses before she'd even opened her eyes.

'It's done, sibling.'

The girl groaned. Her head ached as if it had been demolished by a sledge hammer. Her whole body felt like she'd slammed against a brick wall.

'It's over, ' repeated Matthias.

Renee bit her lip and forced herself to her knees. Her palm slipped in warm liquid, and for a moment she thought she was back in Sawyer's bathroom, wrists open.

She blinked back tears, and saw.

The scene was worse than the bathroom had been.

" ... jesus," she muttered, then promptly vomited.

Henry's corpse - and it was definitely a corpse, there was far too much of his blood outside of his body than in for him to be alive - was covered wounds, most of them bloody slashes. The face was unrecognizable.

From the blood all over her hands, Renee could only assume the damage had come from her fingernails. Blood stained the neck of her shirt, in the outline of a bib.

The girl wiped her jaw with her forearm, and it came away red.

" ... what the fuck did you do, Matt?" she whispered. If there was anything left in her, she would've heaved again.

'I murdered Henry Larson, owner of the synthetic Simons, as per our contract, dear.'

"Yeah, I can see that. What did you do to me?"

'Tch, ' said the AI. 'No lasting damage.'

"Matt..."

'Fine, fine, if you insist on explanation.' Sounded like a sullen teen, rolling his eyes. 'I simply examined the synthetic control software. Owners have the option of controlling their charges, much like a puppeteer. I... modified it a bit. AI's are much better than humans at controlling a second nervous system, at any rate.'

" ... you took over my body," she said, tried to sound neutral. "You took it over and killed him."

'With your consent, sister, ' he replied. 'I did ask-'

"Yeah," said the girl. Bile rose in her. "Why the hell didn't you get the gun? Why did you do it like..." Like a goddamn wild animal.

'Murder is still murder, dear. He's dead, either way.'

" ... I guess so." Renee pushed herself to her feet, joints creaking like an old machine. She didn't want to think about the violence. "What about Simon? Both of them."

'They are currently dormant.'

The two clones lay on the floor, the elder holding his twin in his arms - probably shielding the younger one from her apparent ferocity.

The girl swallowed a lump, and crouched before them. "Simon," she said. Maybe Henry remade his syn just to save himself the trouble of learning a new name. "Wake up."

Both of them flinched, but it was the older who opened his eyes.

They were bloodshot and tear-stricken, but Renee thought she saw the glimmer of recognition in them.

Or hoped.

"You ... really escaped," he said wonderingly. "And you came for me."

"Simon?" She wanted to believe it was him - with all of his memories intact. She had done too much to lose him, now.

The boy grinned and settled his charge onto the floor. He leaned forward and planted one kiss against her cheek, then rested his head against her shoulder. "I missed you so much."

Her eyes blurred and she pulled him close, forgetting the bloody picture she probably made.