Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 5

"No."
    The man spared a glance towards where Lukas and I stood obediently. It had been the first time since the conversation started that he looked at us with something worse than objectivity. Like I was a bug to be crushed.
    I kept my body as still as I could while he passed his sentence. "He can't shift. Follow the orders that were given a year ago. Terminate him. Tonight."
    ****
    I hid in the bowels of the washing room, behind the glass of one of the showers, curling myself into a ball of flesh trapped in a corner. I don't remember exactly how I got there or much of what happened after the man I now knew was a General called Tarques ordered my death like it was nothing. The countdown had ended.
    Lukas found me there. He kneeled next to me without saying a word and his fingers tried to ease my sorrow, pressing gentle caresses against my cheeks. "You are going to be late for your test," he reminded me, trying to pull me into compliance.
    I shook my head. "There's no point. I can't do it. I won't be able to do it. They will just drag me away and I'll never come back."
    Lukas's touch stopped being gentle, his fingers firm and sure against my skin. "You have to stop saying you can't do it. You've seen the data. There is very little difference between what makes me me and what makes you you . You can do this." He rested his forehead against my own, his knuckles brushing my cheek.
    My eyes opened in wonder. All this time I had thought it was me that needed to see Lukas every day to have something to look forward to. He was the only person to make this ivory prison I existed in - home . But with the feel of his forehead on mine, his breath gentle against my face, I realized that he may need me just as much I needed him. After all, it was just the two of us that stood apart from everyone else. The only ones who understood each other in ways that human's never would.
    "Please try, Gabe. Don't leave me alone with them," Lukas whispered and the words shook me to the core. I couldn't give up. Not before I had tried until the very end. If I didn't succeed in shifting in the next hour I would be taken out to be erased. But if I shifted - if I succeeded - I could stay with Lukas. How could I not try?
    ****
    Dr. Mercier was very gentle as she pasted the sticky sensor pads over my body. Her eyes shimmered with unshed tears and I tried to smile for her sake. Unlike the other times, Lukas was not allowed to be present. Instead of letting that fact cripple me, I used it to my advantage, telling myself that if I shifted I could see Lukas again.
    Dr. Mercier nodded that everything was ready. I held the vial in my hands and downed the liquid in one gulp. Opening my body and my senses just like Lukas had taught me, I searched for that hint of fire I could grab onto and exploit. I took deep, even breaths; my eyes closed tight. Searching for it. Waiting for it. But – nothing. I didn't feel a thing. Just like all the other times. I had failed.
    Sorrow quickly replaced my determination. My soul cried with the knowledge that not only was I going to die very soon, but that it was very likely that Lukas's fingers against my cheeks less than an hour ago – that lingering memory still warming me - were the last touches I would ever receive from him.
    "A failure."
    I snapped my head up to see General Tarques inside the room.
    Dr. Mercier seemed startled. "One more week. I guarantee you he will shift."
    "You've been given too many of those already. You allowed yourself to get emotionally attached. That is the only reason he has not been terminated."
    "He is a boy. Not a thing." Dr. Mercier lost her composure then, knowing her words were a grave misstep in the presence of this man.
    Without preamble General Tarques made his way next to me, grabbed my arm and pulled me off the medical table, snapping the sensors away from my body.
    "General Tarques!" Dr. Mercier raised her voice, following us with hasty steps. "At least let Lukas say goodbye to him. They are good friends."
    "This isn't a place for friendship. It's a place to create weapons. It's time you learned that lesson and your son as well."
    "Sir!"
    The increase of noise caused a ripple across the staff, each immediately stopping their work to look at the source of the disturbance. General Tarques dragged me by force to the center of the facility where everyone could see and tossed me to the ground next to the painted symbol on the floor. I immediately tried to rise back up but froze when I