Part Six

It's good to be back writing again ^_^ (I have a bunch of exciting posts coming up for the summer!)

(while DJ and Lui are escaping the foot soldiers near the destroyed bunker)

Two of Yashev’s surviving guards led the blindfolded clown down the rough path leading toward the river, each one holding one of his arms tightly. As they walked by the light of the moon, Yashev led out a long string of curses in Arabic. “We cannot allow the clone to remain blindfolded like this, or he might end up blind! I need this one at full strength if we are to use him for future experiments!”
The clone looked up toward Yashev and laughed sarcastically. “Yeah, you heard the man. I promise I won’t tell anyone where your destroyed playhouse is or anything…”
One of the guards slapped him in the face hard and said, “No talking, unless you have no sentimental attachment of that tongue of yours. It would make a delightful snack for the fishies.” The other guard laughed cruelly.
Yashev stopped suddenly and turned to face the guard. “And you will not lay another hand on him unless you would like to be fed personally to the lions back at my estate. Now, remove his blindfold and allow him to walk with me for a few minutes, if you would be so kind to our young guest.”
The guard nodded and replied, “Yes, sir.” He untied the blindfold and smirked at the clone. “Your master would have a word with you, boy. Hehehe.”
The clone smiled slightly. “Oh, thank you for telling me, mister. I hadn’t actually heard. By your leave then, good man.” He walked up to Yashev and grinned. “You might invest in trained monkeys next time…I’d say that they would be an improvement over what you have now,” he said mockingly.
Yashev laughed and said, “You have a sense of humor just like your Original. I trust that you’re doing all right with our little walk tonight?”
“I don’t know, I’m kinda new to all this walking stuff sir…yeah, I’m just fine thanks. What, exactly, were you expecting after half an hour?” The clone rolled his eyes and sighed.
The large man clasped his hands together behind his back as they walked together.” I was just checking up on you, son. I have read stories about similar experiments in which new clones become physically exhausted after being pushed too hard too soon after creation,” Yashev answered calmly. “Anyhow, we’re almost to the boat that we’re going to use on the river. We need to take a little trip to see my old Grandfather.” The guards behind Yashev and the clone smirked at the mention of Grandfather.
“I’m pretty sure I have no idea what you’re talking about, but sure…sure, let’s go,” the clone said. “Not as if I have much choice, right?” He grinned at Yashev as he shook his head.
“Exactly!” Yashev laughed again and said, “I think we’ll get along just fine, my young friend.”
The clone smiled. “That doesn’t have anything to do with the fact that I’m worth a whole lot of money to you, does it?” he asked.
Yashev grinned widely, revealing a row of gold teeth. “Like I said, we’ll get along just fine.”
“At least you’re honest about it,” the clone said, laughing. The guards walking behind both chuckled quietly. Yashev frowned and turned to give them each a harsh glance, after which they looked away quickly and kept their mouths closed for the rest of the walk.
Yashev turned back to EDJ, his light attitude suddenly gone and a scowl on his face instead. “The day I am dishonest will be the day this world is destroyed and all the infidels living here along with it.”
The clone blinked twice, and then allowed a slight smile. “In that case, may we both live long and prosperous lives, good sir.”
“Shorter than you might expect, with any luck, boy.” Yashev smirked sadly and shook his head. “At least if our plans actually work the way they’re supposed to.” He looked up and saw the glistening reflection of the moon out over the river. “Ah, here’s where the trail ends for us tonight. We’ll just be walking along the shoreline for a few minutes…the boat should be just around this bend in the river.”
The clone nodded politely and followed Yashev as they walked down the narrow path along the river bank. Despite the fast-moving current of the water, the river looked calm and serene. As the group walked single file downstream, the clone suddenly felt chills run down his spine and a voice came into his head. “What in the world was that?!” it asked incredulously. The clone held his head between his hands and shook it back and forth, as if he was in pain.
“I’m too young to be losing it already…so what’s going on here?” the clone demanded.
“Woah, it talks back! I have absolutely no idea what’s going on here either, so don’t ask me…”
Yashev looked curiously at the clone with a furrowed brow. The clone smiled back at him and swatted the air around his head. “Dumb mosquitos…” As Yashev turned back, apparently satisfied with that explanation, the clone thought, “Ok then, let’s just start with the basics here. Who, or what, are you exactly?”
The voice responded, sounding very close to offended. “I’m not a what! I’m the feared mercenary and epic hero, DJ! Who are you?”
“You mean to say that you’re actually ‘the’ DJ? As in my Original DJ?”
DJ thought, “You’re the other clone! Where are you? I have the first clone here with me!” And in a voice that sounded very staticky and far off, the clone could hear DJ say out loud, “Lui! The other clone and I can hear each other’s thoughts!”
“I’m with the weird crazy dude who thinks I’m the answer to all his problems…and we’re by the river heading to a boat, I think. By the way, is Lui the Other that’s with you?” Yashev looked back at the clone and asked a question that he didn’t catch because he was listening to DJ, so he just smiled and nodded his head, pretending to be tired.
Yashev said, “Well, it’s just a bit further, as soon as we get past this peninsula.” The clone smiled and nodded again, and tried to focus on DJ.
“Yeah, Lui’s the…other Other, I guess. Well, your friend Yashev there’s gonna get a nice surprise when he gets to that boat. You’re not going to get too far on it, courtesy of Jake.”
“Just lovely…let’s just say that he had better not take this out on me.”
“Oh, I’ll make sure you’re all right. We’ll head towards you, just keep him occupied and we’ll get there in a few minutes. From what I can tell, we’re just downstream of the boat’s position.”
“Sure, sure. Make it snappy, this guy’s creeping me out big time.” The clone rolled his eyes and pushed past a stray branch hanging over the path. “So, Yashev, what can you tell me about that grandpa dude you said we’re going to see?”
Yashev smiled slowly and said, “First, how is it that you know what my name is when I haven’t told you? And second, I think it’s fair enough for me to say that the less you know about Grandfather, the better off you’re going to be. At least for now.”
The clone blinked, caught in his mistake. “Um…I heard one of the guards say it earlier and I figured that it must be you. Is that ok?” “Remind me not to repeat things I hear you say again…you almost got me killed with that!”
“Not my fault there dude….who apparently needs a name after we rescue him…” came the response.
Just as Yashev was going to respond, they came around the corner and Yashev smiled broadly, the moon glinting off his metallic grin. “Ah! Here we are at the…boat…” he trailed off suddenly.