Page 38 of Maverick

“Sorry,” she said softly.

“I was just trying to convince Stephanie to tell me her birthdate,” smiled Kelsey. “We’re pretty big on celebrating around here and wouldn’t want to miss yours.”

“I don’t have one.”

“Everyone has a birthday,” said Mav, trying to make her feel better.

“I don’t.” She looked at the men, then targeted Brax. “Are you really going to help me?”

“I swear to God, I am going to help you. All of us will,” he said, swallowing as he stared at her strange blue eyes. “It’s just a birthday. Won’t you share it with us?”

“I don’t have one. I’m not real.” Brax frowned and took the seat next to the bed. He reached out for her hand, noticing the clean nails, now clipped neatly.

“You feel real to me,” said Brax. “Soft skin, warm hand. You told them you were twenty-eight. That means you have a birthday.”

“No. That means I had a creation date. I was created in a lab. I am the clone of someone’s dead daughter.” Katelyn and the other girls pushed through the door, staring at the young girl.

“It’s really you,” said Katelyn. “I remember you.”

“Katelyn,” she whispered.

“You’re real, Stephanie. You’re as real as I am.”

“No. You were born from a mother’s womb. I wasn’t.”

“You’re just as real,” said Katelyn, taking her hand. “We’re all here to help you and to make things better. These people are incredible, and you’re safe here. No one will find you.”

“How did you survive out there?” asked Mav.

“When they drugged the other girls and carried them out, I snuck down the backsteps and hid in the woods. I stole one of the men’s coats from the truck and stayed until they were gone. I followed the tire tracks to the other house. When I got there, there were cars taking girls away two and three at a time.”

“Did you see anyone? Could you identify anyone?” asked Mav.

“It was dark,” she said, shaking her head. “All I heard was that they were glad I was missing. I was an experiment gone wrong and would die without the meds.”

“But that was six or seven years ago,” said Chelsea. “Where did you get the medication?”

“Some of it was left behind in the infirmary. After that, I had to steal it. I’d break into a pharmacy and take what I needed. The seizures were an unfortunate side-effect of the cloning.”

“No, they’re not,” said Riley. “We think it’s something else. Something highly treatable. The medication is what’s giving you the seizures. Whether it was always that way, planned that way, or it became an issue over time, I don’t know. We’re going to take you off that medication and put you on something different.”

“You mean, I won’t have seizures anymore?”

“I hope not,” smiled Riley. “You’re far too pretty to keep hitting your head like that.” She touched her head, feeling for the inevitable bumps that were always there.

“I don’t have any bumps.”

“Oh, that’s because Brax put your head on his legs. You didn’t hit your head on the floor, honey,” smiled Pax.

“Am I normal?” They all stared at her inquisitively. “I mean, is everything inside of me normal? They would never tell me if I were the same inside or not. I was the only one that I know of.”

“You’re as normal as me or Cruz or Doc over there,” said Gabi.

“Why are you all so pretty? That’s not normal,” she said. Gabi laughed.

“It is around here. Another reason you’ll fit right in. Stephanie, what was it they had you working on? We know what Katelyn and Chelsea were asked to do. What about you?”

“Cloning. I was asked to recreate myself. They were going to force me to clone myself.”

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