Kathleen waited. She didn’t get much choice, Cuyler wanted to talk something out with Jarod, the other guy that looked like him.

She kind of knew him. Jarod. He felt like someone she might have known, but most of what was ‘Miss Parker’ that she had recalled? It felt more like something distant. Like a film she had watched or acted in when she was younger.

She got some weird facts and visions in her head. A balding guy named Broots. He was easy to step on with these huge . . . high heels she didn’t know how to wear. Sydney. A strange older man who could try to be stern but she didn’t listen to.

Then, that guy. Kathleen watched as that guy started to head over. Jarod. She felt an annoyance at his presence too. “Well, if it isn’t the moron who left me with another moron.”

Cuyler moved more in front of her, leaning. “That’s Kitty Katty’s way of saying hi.”

“It’s not Kitty Katty, one more word and I’ll . . .” Gr. She bit her tongue. The things she always wanted to say weren’t exactly polite.

“Don’t irritate her,” Jarod had said to Cuyler. “No more games.”

Cuyler moved slightly and Kathleen just hung out of the side of the vehicle as Jarod came closer. “What?”

“You’re the heart of Miss Parker.” Jarod had a strange happy yet sadness in his voice and eyes. “You have the best chance of survival in this.”

“Survival?” That woman said that it was all over now to her. “Aren’t we all safe?” She glared at Cuyler. “You said we were okay now!” Ugh! She stood up. “I was literally shot at, by someone else besides your nonsense, I get picked up by Jarod, shoved back with your ass, taken to the middle of fucking nowhere, had my brain screwed around with, feel like I lost a thousand people I love, and now you are saying it’s not over?!”

Cuyler held up his finger to his lips. Silence her? Silence her?! “Oh, don’t you dare do that to me,” she went off on him.

“You are the one keeping the others safe now,” Jarod interrupted. “You will be safe too, but we have things to talk about. What do you remember about The Centre?”

She was keeping the others alive? “The Centre?”

“Yes.” Jarod gestured to himself. “Do you remember it at all? Did you ever remember me?”

Kathleen was trying to figure out how to answer that. “It felt like, when you’re a kid, and you are in a play. I remember walking around long hallways, with echoes. I had a balding guy next to me. Broots. Another one, older. Sydney. There was some kind of office.”

Jarod got closer. “What do you think of when I say ‘daddy’?”

“That you’re weird?” No, wait. “A vision popped up for a second. Another old man. Why is everyone either old or bald around me?” Bald. “Nightmare man. He wheezes everywhere.”

“Yeah, that’s Raines,” Jarod told her. “Do you remember anything about me yet?” He reached in his pocket, like he planned on needing whatever was in it. “This is a close picture of me when we first met at The Centre.”

Kathleen took the picture. She recognized that face. Somewhere. “This is real familiar. This is you?”

“It’s close.” Jarod took the picture back. “It’s a picture of my clone. You saw him in your thoughts before.”

“Not anymore, that weirdness is fading.” Hmm. “There was some kind of a rabbit.”

“You remember the rabbits?” Jarod seemed to get really excited. “What do you remember about them?”

“There was like a gift?” Kathleen didn’t remember a lot of rabbits. “There’s a christmas tree.”

“Oh.” Jarod seemed to lose his excitement again.

“Okay. Kitty Katty isn’t the most patient person in the world,” Cuyler said to Jarod. “Ask her all the questions you want afterward. What are we going to do now?”

Do now? Kathleen watched Jarod move into the vehicle, on the driver’s side. “The hell are you doing?”

Cuyler just grinned at her. “You are going on an adventure.”

“You could save a lot of lives, just like the others that were like you,” Jarod said more compassionately. “There are children, with clones, like you. The Centre is doing more than watching them. They are continually cloning them. They’ll be in the thousands soon, being watched, being used without their consent. Their life will be run . . .” He looked toward Cuyler, then back to her. “ . . . without them ever knowing they were manipulated.”

“Manipulated.” Yeah. Jarod didn’t just randomly look like Cuyler. “Cuyler works for The Centre.”

“I made sure you were always safe and sound in Seattle,” Cuyler said. “When you were out of it, I would end up getting you again as I could.”

“That is a good skill level,” Jarod said to him. “Especially without even me seeing it. You’re good enough. You are going to be me, watching over the children, while I am you, chasing after me.”

“What?” Cuyler and Kathleen both said together.

“You want to trust me with the little pretenders?” Cuyler questioned Jarod. “Why do that right off the bat? I thought you wanted-”

“You’ve already proved some things to me,” Jarod reasoned. “I will go to The Centre, and then, I will have Sydney contact you, when we are ready for the exchange.”

“Hm, I get it. You want into The Centre to find out more about me,” Cuyler reasoned. “If I pass muster, you stay there, and I get to watch eight overactive kids. That’s . . .”

“It won’t be forever,” Jarod told him. “If you pass. If not, I am still superior to you,” he warned him. “If you, in any way, do try to double cross me? You won’t get away with it for very long.”

“You sat down in the middle of The Centre to strike a deal before,” Cuyler said to him. “I get it and I don’t underestimate you.”

“Good, then you will need to move quick too,” Jarod warned him. “Not only will Broots be tracking you, but I will have to do a fair amount too. If The Centre suspects anything, everything will fail.”

Cuyler didn’t look comfortable with that. “If you are too good, you’ll catch us.”

“Yep. I catch Jarod and all the little clones,” Jarod said to him. “It will make it twice as hard having all of you in The Centre, but I can’t show my real hand.”

“Plus, The Centre would trust you even more,” Cuyler agreed.

“Hey!” Kathleen was getting tired of this. “I’m not just a piece of wallpaper here, what the hell is going on?”

“Just can’t not know something,” Cuyler said to her. “I think Jarod wants to talk to you, one on one. I know my part.” He leaned closer. “Now you get to learn yours.”

Hers? She watched Cuyler back away. She glanced at Jarod. “What’s my part?”

“Kathleen Davis.” Jarod was being very respectful, and her senses were tingling that wasn’t a good sign. “I need to get into The Centre to find out about the children. Cuyler was a part of it, and he’s been invited into it. With, you.”

“With me?”

“You, as Miss Parker,” Jarod told her. “The Centre heads will know who you are, and they are wanting you there. The rest of The Centre will not know, including Broots.”

“I . . .” Kathleen didn’t know what to say. “You said I was keeping everyone safe?”

“Yeah,” Jarod agreed. “You’re going to be Miss Parker.”

“I?” Kathleen touched her head. “This is insane. Even the little I remember, it’s more like a stageplay.”

“You were part of her. The heart, the most important part,” Jarod said. His eyes seemed sad. “The way you act, you yell, you talk, your every movement. That part of her, it came from you. I will be there to fill in the rest of the gaps.”

“Gaps.” She started to glare. “I am seeing a verrry big gap right now. As in the fact?” She said with a slight seethe in her voice. “That you want me at The Centre, when you want to be at The Centre.”

“Yeah. The Centre wants you and Cuyler to start chasing down the children and me,” Jarod agreed. “Only, it’s going to be me and you.”

“What?” It was nuts. “You think you can just walk into some dangerous building and pretend to be somebody?”

Jarod just sort of stared at her. “I’m a pretender. I . . . I don’t know who I am. I was raised to become anyone or anything. I can be a doctor, a lawyer, a rodeo clown, and I have been.” His voice was almost angry. “So, yeah. I think I can handle being Cuyler. A person that The Centre only knows the surface to makes it even easier.”

Ummm? “Well, I greatly pissed you off for the day.” Kathleen didn’t know how to take that. “You were raised in the place we are going to.”

“Yes.” There was still some anger in his voice, but not as much.

“The place I grew up at too?”

“No, you visited with your ‘daddy’.” Jarod still didn’t sound good at all. “You went home to a large luxurious house, with your family. I never left until I escaped.”

“Okay.” Alright, do not mention the phrase ‘as a kid’ to him at any point. Still? She didn’t like how hard he was acting. “Fine, I get it. But don’t forget, that Miss Parker wasn’t me. I? Spent my childhood with a son of a bitch that was more eager to teach me how to prep for an apocalypse, than get a real education.”

Oh, look at that. She seemed to surprise him. “What?”

“Yeah, my father takes the cake. Ma didn’t stay long. She visits, but she didn’t take me.” She glared out the window toward Cuyler. “And I bet none of that’s ever been an accident.” She glared back at Jarod. “So no college, no high techy skills, and definitely no luxury. Especially when I can’t seem to hold the same job because I kept waking up in the middle of a hospital over and over!”

Yeah. There. That seemed to put Jarod in his place. “The Centre liked using you many times. The hospital was probably the only way Cuyler could get you out safely.”

“Whatever, but it doesn’t make ones resume look pretty,” Kathleen sighed. “So, I have no skills, and whatever I had of her locked up? They toned it all down. And I am in no way a pretender person thing, so I don’t know what you think you’ll be able to do with me.”

Jarod was watching past her as Cuyler came back over. “Apocalypse training?”

“She was the favorite for a reason,” Cuyler chuckled. “Her old man’s downright kooky.” He leaned back into the vehicle to talk. “Anyway. You know the deal now, right?”

Eee. She was trying not to bite down on her tongue. “Cuyler.”

“Okay, okay.” Cuyler smiled. “If you can learn from Jarod how Miss Parker acted? You’ll get her nice, huge, luxurious house. Paycheck. Fashion. Respect. Everything you have ever wanted in life. If you don’t?” He patted her head. “You get to hang out with me and eight kids for the rest of yours.”

Oh. Well. When he put it that way? “It can’t be harder that grilling a burger.”

Cuyler sighed. “You still burn them a lot, Kitty Katty.”

“I will twist your arm off, if-!” Wait. She backed off.

“Keep going,” Jarod encouraged her. “The biggest difference, is Miss Parker will go all the way with what she wants to say or do, and never gives a damn about anyone else’s feelings.”

Really?

“No one’s going to fire you or ruin your life. You are too high up in the chain,” Jarod egged her on. “Go ahead.”

“I will twist your arm off, if you say that to me one more time!” She pushed him away and stepped out of the vehicle. Properly standing while Cuyler had fell to the ground. “Yeah, that’s where you truly belong.”

She heard a slow clap behind her from Jarod. “So, Pretender, do you think I’m trainable?” Ooh, wait. Should she have said that? He did say to just say what I feel.

“More than trainable.” Jarod didn’t look offended, he seemed happier than she’d ever seen him as he crossed his arms. “Miss Parker.”

————————————

The Centre

Kathleen stared at the front of the building. This place. It felt like a dream. Like a play she once starred in. She closed the door. Jarod said he wouldn’t give her any training until later. It would look suspicious if she knew everything when she first walked through the doors.

She just had to remember to be herself, follow through with any actions she feels, no matter who she felt it toward. Jarod himself came from the other side.

He’d dressed for the part, looking exactly like Cuyler now. Complete with cheap dumb shades that looked terrible on him. The messed up hair, and the messed up looking clothes

“It’s impressive, huh?” Jarod said. “Remember Kitty Katty, you’ll be fine. This is like second home.” He strolled into the building just pushing those doors like nothing at all.

Kathleen tried to remember to call him Cuyler. He said if she messed up a little, it was okay, in front of those in The Centre who didn’t know her as Kathleen. Not right now.

Otherwise, Pretender, would be a safe bet for either one. So far, he was being Cuyler perfectly, so she would do her best not to mess up.

She opened the doors. So many familiar sensories, deja vu all around her.

“This way, Kitty Katty, big wigs come this way.” He grabbed her hand and waved to people as they went by.

“Miss Parker.”

Oh man. It was Nightmare Man. The man from the rain, the man from her dreams. Talking to her.

“Mister Raines,” Jarod greeted him. “Hi.”

Mister Raines said something to her in some weird language.

She didn’t know how to react.

“Perfect. Come this way.”

She and Jarod followed him through the weird halls. He eventually led them to another place she remembered. Large doors. Elegant looking and pretty.

He stood to the side, gesturing for her to open them.

Kathleen stared at them. Instinct, follow the instinct. She grabbed both handles at the same time and launched them both open, going through both at the same time. It created an energetic, weird flare in her.

Raines came through. “Yes, interesting. Kathleen Davis, this could work out.” He glanced at Jarod. “You must be Cuyler.”

“You must be right,” Jarod said almost jokingly.

“You will be in charge of training Miss Parker to be more like herself,” Raines instructed him. “You can’t get everything, but surface level, no one should know she’s seriously someone else. You won’t get the languages, but we will make an excuse for that. Re-education hits hard.”

“Getting educated once is hard, how to get educated twice?” Jarod asked.

“Don’t worry about that,” Raines answered back. “Focus on the surface level. She should dress, fight, and act like Miss Parker. She should know all the sordid secrets she once knew. She should also know about the times she did spend with Jarod.”

“Aye, aye,” Jarod responded. “We can do it, can’t we, Kitty Katty?”

“Will you knock it off, before I knock your block off?” Kathleen warned him.

“Yes, the attitude is just right.” Raines looked at her clothes. “Miss Parker wouldn’t be caught dead in that outfit though.”

“Well this perfect Miss Parker character probably never worked a day in her life!” Kathleen let him have it. “Oh, it’s easy to play dress up when you can afford whatever you want. But I guess since she is me, if she had to make do, then the feel of my clothes and its minimalist style is what she would settle for. Stupid asshole.” She crossed her arms.

Raines wheezed at her. Angry, but she followed Jarod’s advice. She didn’t hold back. “That is Miss Parker, but she knows nuances you don’t know about me. We’ll let that slide until you get more comfortable in this arrangement.”

He led her and Jarod over to a desk and gave her a file. “You will be working with a team. Two people named Broots and Sydney. You might remember them slightly?”

“Yeah. Balding and older gentleman guy.” Kathleen plucked the file from him rudely before she even thought about the action. She had no idea what to do with it though, so she handed it to Cuyler. Jarod.

“Yes, good.” Raines seemed to like that for some reason. “A few lessons with Cuyler and you’ll start working to catch Jarod and the other little pretenders. Now, this is important. If you want-”

“Can I use the bathroom?” Jarod interrupted Raines.

Kathleen just ughed. He was real good at imitating Cuyler.

“Can this wait?” Raines asked him.

“Well, it was going to, but then you said something about being important, and I can’t just be dwelling here on if I can handle my pee while I’m supposed to be listening.”

Damn, Jarod does have Cuyler down to an art already.

“It was a long trip,” Jarod said in his defense.

Raines called for something called a sweeper. He commanded them to go with Jarod.

“Ooh, fancy,” Jarod answered as he looked at the sweeper. “Do you need to go too Kitty Katty? It was a long-”

Before she even knew what she was doing, Kathleen punched him right in the arm. “I’m not kidding, I will start hurting you over that stupid nickname!” Then? Shit, that’s not Cuyler.

Jarod had grabbed his arm. That probably hurt. “Yeah, okay, getting a little stronger there, Kath. Bathroom?”

—————————————

The Centre Bathroom

Jarod whistled as he pretended to use the bathroom. Interesting. It was another place in The Centre he’d never actually visited. “No matter where you go, you always get the brittle toilet paper for wiping. Even the nicer places?” He flushed and came out of the stall.

He looked at the sweeper. “I’m ready.” The sweeper gestured toward the sink. “Oh, I didn’t get my hands dirty.” The sweeper insisted again, with a little more frustration. “Fine, fine.”

Jarod went and washed his hands, ignoring soap and played with the hand dryer.

“Could you please add soap?”

“Aw, so polite.” Jarod went and added soap to his hands, then dried them off again. “Just for you Mister Broom.”

The sweeper just gestured out the door and they both went back to the office. Hopefully, Kathleen was doing okay. So far, she was playing the part perfectly, and she did nothing different except stopped holding back her feelings.

When he came back to the office, she hadn’t hurt or helped the progress. Good. He also noticed someone new in the room, quite close to him. Probably wanting to surprise him. “Okay, I’m ready for the important-” Ah! “Owwww!” Jarod sucked on his arm where he was just chipped. It was a little over the top, but that was Cuyler.

“Ah.” It hurt Kathleen, but she kept herself in control for it. “You could have given a little warning.”

“A lot of warning,” Jarod played it up. “Geez, that hurt.”

“You are tracked now,” Raines said. “Neither of you can get confused with clones. From now on, in order to get in, you will need to show an attendant your arm.”

“We’re like living barcodes?” Jarod asked. “Cool. So where do I live?”

“You’re training Miss Parker to be as cold-blooded as she once had been,” Raines said. “You can only train if you live with her. I’m sure as frequently as you got her, you have the means to get inside?”

“Nah, not really.” Jarod shrugged. Then he snapped his fingers and rolled his eyes. “Okay, so maybe I do.” Cuyler had given the keys to him before they separated for good. That and a few other goodies. “Living together with Kath kind of ruins the fun of keeping it.”

He noticed Kathleen looked at him a second. Yeah, Kath seemed tolerable to her. It was probably something she actually heard a lot from others.

“Take her home and start training her in Miss Parker’s likes and dislikes,” Raines commanded. “You have three days to make her passable around The Centre as Miss Parker.”

“Three days?” Kathleen questioned. “Three? I’m supposed to learn all about someone in three days?”

“The languages are on hold,” Raines said to Jarod. “Eventually she will have to learn. It’s imperative to speak to the triumvirate in their native languages. Take her home, and be ready in three days.”

“But what if I’m not ready in three days?” Jarod asked like an idiot.

“You will be.” That’s all Raines said. That should have been enough, even for Cuyler. “Don’t try to run away if you mess up. You are now chipped, we will find you anywhere you go.”

“The ouch chip.” Jarod looked at his arm. “Guess it isn’t just protection to keep us safe, huh?”

“Try and run and we will get you,” Raines warned him. “Do well here, and you can get used to this lifestyle. Don’t do well, and The Centre will kill you.”

“Oh.” Jarod looked back at his arm again. “I better get started?”