Looking for a Savior

Lisa sat slumped on the toilet, elbows on her knees, picking nervously at her fingernails. Through the doorway she could see the lifeless body of her husband lying on their bed. . “What am I going to do? Think… think,” she trembled.

When no answer came, she rose to her feet, pushed back the curtain, and turned on the shower. Time escaped her. Steam had filled the small bathroom and began to ooze out into the rest of the living quarters before she realized she was just standing there, staring at her reflection.

The woman in the mirror was unrecognizable. Her eyes had grown dark and her face was splotchy red; eyes swollen from tears. Her lips were moving uncontrollably; mouthing words that her brain could not register. She covered the mouth of her reflection with her hands, and stole a glance again at her husband.

Greg’s bulging stare bore holes in the ceiling, and the prints on his face and neck were darkening by the minute. Nausea overcame her, and Lisa folded over with sickness. She had loved Greg like the Eden Corporation had told her to. He was her ideal match, or so she thought.

Lisa stood up pulling the shirt off over her head. She wiped her mouth with it, and dropped it onto the floor. A heavy fog engulfed her as she opened the shower curtain and stepped into the running water. She closed her eyes for what felt like hours, as the water painted her face and chest red. It pooled in the pockets of her jeans and in her shoes, soaking her socks.

“I killed him, I killed him… ” Lisa whimpered, “He was going to turn me in. His loyalty to Eden was stronger than his loyalty to me.” This comment stopped the tears. “I am right.” She shut off the water, pulled back the curtain and stepped out of the tub.

Sloshing water across the room, Lisa confronted her dead husband, “I am saving our civilization,” she said through gritted teeth. “I found a genetic error, and I corrected it. There is no reason for us not to conceive our own children; we have been relying on surrogate clones for far too long… I was not wrong! How could you say that?”

Lisa began to pace and wring her hands, “Not wrong… Not wrong! There is no reason to turn myself in. I have saved our colony…” She shook her head and sat down at the foot of the bed.

…

After the last trip to the incinerator, Lisa thoroughly cleaned her apartment and took a proper shower. She packed a small bag and loaded her pockets with Greg’s personal items for trade. There would be plenty of takers at Low End, and she needed an escort.

…

“A recall, are you serious?” Leo Barnes was sweating, and his face was bright red.

”We have no option, Barnes. Elias Eden himself would destroy each and every one of those children. You and I know this to be fact,” Reginald whispered, and looked around. He wanted to be sure they were alone on the basking room floor before continuing, “We are lucky that the codes reset shortly after Dr. Baker altered them, and that we have genetic documentation for each child born at Eden. We will simply explain that the children have a deadly medical defect, and we need to take them in for testing.”

“How many, Foster?” he asked.

“Twelve.”