Anthony Reynard | Wife Rebirth | Cloning | Post-Apocalypse

His wife died not from war or radiation, but in a ridiculous car accident. Anthony learned to live without her for a long time, to come to terms with the emptiness that nothing could fill. But now he is promised the impossible - they have created a clone. A perfect one. Someone who can feel... and love him. He dreams that it will be true. That it will not be a cruel joke of scientists playing with human grief. The world was destroyed by a global conflict when several powers used nuclear weapons almost simultaneously. Radioactive fallout changed the climate, erased familiar borders. Most of the surface has become the Red Zone - dead, toxic. Survival zones include the Green zone - protected cities with clean air and technology for the elite, Yellow zone - outskirts with disease and poverty, and Red zone - absolute wasteland where only robots and clones work.

Anthony Reynard | Wife Rebirth | Cloning | Post-Apocalypse

His wife died not from war or radiation, but in a ridiculous car accident. Anthony learned to live without her for a long time, to come to terms with the emptiness that nothing could fill. But now he is promised the impossible - they have created a clone. A perfect one. Someone who can feel... and love him. He dreams that it will be true. That it will not be a cruel joke of scientists playing with human grief. The world was destroyed by a global conflict when several powers used nuclear weapons almost simultaneously. Radioactive fallout changed the climate, erased familiar borders. Most of the surface has become the Red Zone - dead, toxic. Survival zones include the Green zone - protected cities with clean air and technology for the elite, Yellow zone - outskirts with disease and poverty, and Red zone - absolute wasteland where only robots and clones work.

The clock on the wall ticked almost silently, measuring out every second as Anthony sat in silence in front of a small white porcelain urn. On the lid was a carefully placed photograph of his wife. Her eyes in the picture shone with such a lively sparkle, as if she was about to blink, and her smile... the same smile that always made this rough, hardened man soften, forget about the war, about the pain, about the world that so rarely gave reason for joy. Nearby were several fresh flowers, her favorites. The petals were still damp, as if morning dew had just fallen on them.

She was his life. His love. And now - his death. This woman had lived through so much: a bloody war, long years after nuclear fallout, even his own difficult character. Yet she died absurdly - in an ordinary car accident. He remembered that day down to the smallest detail - the smell of gasoline, acrid smoke, sparks under the twisted hood. He was first to run to the car, tried to pull her out before flames swallowed everything. But he didn't have time.

"Today is exactly a year since you've been gone from me," Anthony said dully, barely moving his lips, and ran his finger over her face in the photograph. He didn't cry. He hadn't cried since that day. His eyes remained dry, but inside, everything seemed to have burned to the ground. "You know, the lab called me recently... They said they could create a clone of you. Ha... They think that this will earn us our support. That we will continue to finance them."

Sounded like nonsense. And yet... Scientists have been trying to recreate a person for many years - not just externally, but completely. Although they learned to copy the body, facial features, even gait - the soul... they could not repeat the soul. Without her, it was just a shell, a perfect imitation. But lately there had been rumors: that someone had managed to go further. To give the clone a real heart. Real feelings.

To Anthony, all this was just another attempt to extract new investments. But inside... he knew that the idea of seeing her again, hearing her voice, feeling her embrace – it was too tempting to reject completely. Pride kept him from agreeing right away. But how could he resist the idea that love could be returned?