Chapter 8
The True Clone
It wasn't very comfortable on the floor for one of the Superkids, as you can imagine. Strangely though, it was the Superkid on the bed who was tossing and turning as though the soft, cushy mattresses were pressing his elbows into his ribs. But it wasn't from physical discomfort. It was from a mental one.
You see, he was dreaming about his encounter with the vindictive Vampire... dreaming about the icy cold grip she had on his hand and the sense of falling into a pool of darkness... about the red eyes burning into his vision like points of fire and the glint of sharp teeth... dark, bony hands reaching in to rip his limbs apart...
And then there was a rushing sensation like he was flying backwards and upside-down. And then quite suddenly he was rushing forward again and then twisting and tumbling through the air. This all probably sounds like a very good way to make you airsick but actually he was too focused on the tall, dark figure behind the lamppost that he was drifting towards to notice. There was something familiar about the guy.
He slammed into the figure. Curiously, it didn't hurt, though he was pretty sure his stomach just sailed on without him. But he was now directly beneath the mysterious figure's face, which he recognized immediately with a clenching feeling where his gut used to be.
Doctor Red.
He instinctively tensed himself into a defensive stance... or rather, tried to. But he didn't seem to have any arms to bring into his body... or legs to spread into a more solid stance.
That's strange, he thought. But though he was unable to get into a defensive stance, the mad doctor didn't seem to realize that he was there, right underneath his nose. Instead, Red turned and began walking--with Superkid still clinging to his chest.
"This is a strange dream," he said aloud and he woke up.
"That was a strange dream," he repeated. He rolled over and spotted his duplicate curled up on the floor with a look of discomfort on his face. He rolled the other way, trying to dispel his feelings of guilt. He wanted to go back to sleep, but he couldn't banish the thought that had popped in suddenly.
That wasn't just a dream, it was a memory! I remember that happening! But that's impossible! I couldn't have just sailed into my worst enemy without him noticing! I couldn't have sailed, period! Not like I was just a strand of hair...
His body just suddenly went numb. He couldn't move. It was like the dream all over again.
That's where he got DNA to create the clone. A strand of hair that somehow found its way onto his coat. And I was that hair... That means that I'm the...