Gene. Sys.

by Garcia, Aaron Denius

  “Hold your fire!” I yell.

  “Sorry,” Sil says as he steps out from behind a pillar.

  The rest of the Genesys step out from their hiding places and walk towards the center of the room. Rene begins to walk towards the middle, so I slowly make my way to the assembly.

  “Is everyone okay?” Rene looks around. He sees my bandaged leg. “What happened to you?”

  I look down at my leg and then towards Ev. “A hole blew in the wall as I was running towards the elevator and some shards hit my leg. Mag and the others took care of it.”

  “We will get you to the medical ward when we get out of here. Actually, all of you will head down there to get looked over.” Rene speaks with an authoritative tone that I have not heard in a while.

  “What happened?” Cal asks.

  “The outsiders attacked us with short range missiles. They caused a lot of damage but we have it all under control,” Rene explains.

  “Is everyone okay?” Hydro asks.

  “We lost a lot of drones, Dennis and a few others,” Rene says. I look over at Titan and see that he is hurt by the news of Dennis’ death. They must have gotten to know each other when I broke his arm.

  I start to feel a sadness grow within me too. Dennis is the first person I have known to die. Grant and 80 both left the compound, but as far as I know they are still alive. There is still a chance I will see them again and maybe talk to them. Dennis, however, is gone, and even though I didn’t know him well, I still knew him. I look at the group and see tears rolling down Ev’s cheeks. She knew him too.

  “Can we get out of here? I need fresh air.” Titan works hard to keep his composure and I am right there with him.

  “Yes.” Rene turns towards the elevator. “Stay close and don’t be distracted by what you see. Once we get to the medical ward you can ask questions.”

  We follow behind Rene without any protest. The drones that accompanied him downstairs surround us in a circle as we walk, their weapons raised and ready.

  “Half of you come up with me, the other half take the next ride,” Rene says as he enters the elevator. I follow in behind him along with half the Genesys and half the drones.

  The doors close and the ride up feels bumpier than usual. I’m not sure if it’s because of the weight from the crowded elevator or because of the attack. As the elevator doors open, the first thing I notice is the crisp air that sweeps in. My mind jumps to the blast in the wall that happened as Ev and I were running past and I immediately know that it’s the source of the breeze.

  A brightness blinds me as the doors open completely and I instinctively cover my eyes with my hands. As I pull them away and my eyes clear the red haze from their view, I see that the source of the light is the sun. Not only is it morning, there is a giant hole in what used to be the hallway. More than one missile hit this area.

  As I step out of the elevator I look around at the piles of rubble; I take a deep breath and the sting of smoke fills my lungs. My ears are filled with an abundance of sound, drones shouting at each other, machines moving into position around the perimeter of the compound, the gasps of the Genesys around me. I know that the second the others join us they will be experiencing the same sensory overload that we are having right now.

  The instant I hear the elevator doors open behind me, a cluster of the flying crafts streak overhead. They whoosh past and a sudden clarity invades my head. Even though I have already experienced some of what the world has become outside of the compound, I have been naïve to the extent and the desperation that exists. The world is at war with itself.

  The Ragnarok that the scientists are planning is only expediting the inevitable because this current version of humans is doomed to extinction. We Genesys are the next step in human evolution and we were created in a lab.

  “What are those?” Al says, snapping me out of my trance.

  “Flyz,” Rene responds curtly. He looks at the group. “Everyone’s here. Let’s go.”

  Rene walks us down the destroyed hallway. Aside from the sporadic gasps of shock and surprise, everyone remains quiet. We pass the area of the hallway that used to be the other boys’ rooms and mine. If it weren’t for the fact that I have been down the hallway hundreds of times and that I can see some of the beds under the rubble, I would have no clue that people used to sleep here.

  As we step over fallen pieces of the walls and roof, I take a look at what used to be my room. Right between the bathroom and the closet is a giant hole. Even the ground has been destroyed. It looks as though a missile hit my room directly. The charred remains of my bed lie in the small hole in the ground. I realize just how close we all were to being killed. If I had not gotten everyone into the simulation room we might not have survived. The mumbles I hear behind me tell me that the other guys are realizing how close they were to death.

  The second we reach the end of this hallway and turn the corner, the compound looks completely unscathed. Aside from the thin layer of dust from the rubble that has settled on the floor, this hallway looks as it always has. As we continue towards the medical ward, I feel a sense of calm creep in since it seems as though no other parts of the main compound were damaged.

  That calm rushes away the second we turn the corner to the hallway with the girls’ rooms. It too has been destroyed. I hear a couple of sobs behind me as the girls take in the destruction. I look over at Ev, who is checking out her room behind me. Her stare is stiff but the second her focus changes to make eye contact with me she looks away. She seems to be mad at me about something and I don’t like it.

  As we carefully step over the rubble and head for the door that leads us to the scientists’ quarters and the medical ward, a thought crosses my mind. This was not a random attack; this was targeted. They knew where they were launching.

  We pass through the doors and wind our way to the medical ward. Up until now, the hallways have been pretty calm. The medical ward, however, is a mess of activity. There are at least one hundred people running around, some are doctors, others are injured scientists and drones seeking medical attention. The giant room has a perimeter of drones ready for action.

  The wall opposite to where we enter has a giant hole in it and I can only assume that it’s where Dennis lost his life. A lump forms in my throat and I try hard to hold back my emotions. Through the hole I see more drones patrolling. Another group of Flyz passes overhead. I’m so focused on the activity going on outside that only now I notice that the entire medical ward has stopped and is now looking at us.

  “I would like to speak with Bruce and Ivana. Everyone else can return to what they were doing,” Rene shouts over the crowd. His voice is authoritative and it’s the first time I realize how much power he has over the people at this compound.

  Two people in medical scrubs appear from the sea of people and they make their way towards us. The man is about my height with a sharp jawline and a well-groomed head of hair that juxtapose his bloodied attire. The woman is fit with short, black hair and her petite frame gives her a cute, spunky appearance. Both seem to be relieved at being pulled away from their previous task.

  Rene turns to us. “Everyone listen up. Dr. Bruce Peters and Dr. Ivana Metzger will look you all over. Do as they say. When they are done with you, come find me and we will assign you new rooms.”

  Rene walks away as Dr. Peters and Dr. Metzger arrive. They walk around us and scan our bodies for any surface injuries. Dr. Peters spots my bandage.

  “What happened to your leg?” he asks.

  “I was hit during one of the explosions. Mag took the pieces out of my leg.” I glance at Mag and she gives me a small smile.

  “We’ll do a scan,” he says as he walks back around to the front of the group.

  “Ladies, come with me.” Dr. Metzger walks off and the girls follow. Dr. Peters heads off in the opposite direction and I walk after him. The other boys come along as well. The ocean of people seem to part as we walk through.

  Cal catches up to me. “I ca
n’t believe they destroyed our rooms.”

  I look at him. “I’m glad we weren’t in them.”

  “Yeah, thank you for that. My pillow was saved too!” Cal smiles.

  I can’t help but smile. I had forgotten that I told them to take their pillows to the simulation room. It seems so trivial now.

  “So where do you think we will be sleeping now?” Al jumps in as he steps forward.

  “I really have no clue. Hopefully a room with a roof.” I smirk; Cal and Al laugh but I notice a few looks of disgust from some of the people we pass. The joke was certainly in poor taste.

  We reach one of the larger rooms in the medical ward and Dr. Peters walks through the door. The room has three operating tables with glass lids. As I walk in I bump my bandaged leg into the first operating table and a searing pain rushes through my body. I wince as I gently rub my leg.

  “Atom. Lay in that first bed. I’ll be there in a second. Titan and Ox, lay in the next two,” Dr. Peters orders. We all do as we are told and he closes us in with the glass tops.

  As he secures the glass top over my body, I can’t help but realize how confined I feel. He presses a button on the side of the table and the glass comes to life. A series of different colored scans pass over my body. I turn my head and see that Titan and Ox are going through the same set of scans.

  Dr. Peters walks back over to my table and reads some information that has appeared on his side of the glass top. He frowns and walks back to the other two, opening their lids and having Sil and Al switch places with Titan and Ox. He runs them through the scans and it isn’t until he lets them out and puts Cal in one of their tables that I begin to panic.

  Why isn’t he letting me out? What happened to me? As tight as I had felt a moment ago in this confined space, I now feel as if the space has gotten smaller. The glass seems to be moving in closer to me and wrapping itself around my body.

  I feel around with my hands, looking for a way to open the top, but I can’t. I watch as Cal gets released and he joins the other guys by the door. Dr. Peters speaks to them and the boys all walk away. The glass is soundproof so I don’t know what he is saying to them. He turns his attention back to me and walks over to my operating table.

  “Let me out!” I pound on the glass.

  Dr. Peters looks at me and raises a finger, telling me to hold on. After reading some more information on the glass, he finally opens the lid.

  “What are you doing? Let me out of here!” I sit up but he pushes me back down with surprising strength.

  “You have a hairline fracture in your leg and you have lost a good amount of blood.” He looks at me.

  “Oh.” I settle down.

  “This should only take a couple of days.” He enters some information into a pad next to the table.

  “What will?” I ask, but before I get my answer, the glass closes back over me. “Hey!”

  I pound hard on the glass and as I do it turns into a light blue crystal color. I can no longer see through it. My eyes begin to get heavy and just before they close I see a white gas cover my body.

  The dream comes right away. I’m standing in the middle of the same white abyss as before but this time I hit a wall or a force field when I try to walk forward. I put my left hand on the invisible wall and I walk along, making sure to keep the wall to my left. After hitting my nose on a wall in front of me a couple of times, I learn to have my right hand up in front of me. I’m in a labyrinth.

  Far ahead of me I see the same blonde figure as before. I can only assume is Fe. When the next wall forces me to turn right, I see a different figure far ahead and this one resembles Ev. Another right turn and I am staring down the massive Pyramid of Giza. I pick up my pace, wanting desperately to get out of this maze.

  Just as I feel like I am making progress, the floor gives way from underneath me. I fall, or so it feels. My heart jumps and I struggle to grab at something to stop my fall. My hands swing around but aren’t making contact with anything. As I begin to hyperventilate, I look around and see that even though I feel like I am falling, everything remains in the same location. I’m still on the same plane as I was before.

  I need to regain control of the situation, so I close my eyes and focus on my breathing. Slow and steady. When I open my eyes I am no longer in my dream. I am lying on the operating table and the glass lid is opening up. Dr. Peters stands above me.

  “What happened?” I ask.

  “You are done,” he responds.

  “I thought you said it would be a couple of days?” I’m confused. I can’t have been in there for more than five minutes.

  “It was,” he says as he walks away.

  “Trippy, isn’t it? Almost like time doesn’t exist in there,” a familiar voice says to my right.

  I roll my head to the side and see him sitting in a chair. He winks at me from the one eye without the patch. “80!”

  “Hey Atom.” 80 smiles.

  12

  80 and I walk through the hole in the wall of the medical ward and out to the open area of the compound. I hadn’t spent too much time out here before, but looking around now it looks unrecognizable. What was once grass is now a mix of dirt and rubble. Drones have overrun the compound. Hundreds of them are patrolling while others work on cleaning and fixing the walls.

  “This is crazy,” 80 says as he leads me next to a pile of rubble with blood stains on parts of it.

  “Yes it is.” I look around and see that the wall that used to be in front of the Drones’ quarters is gone. “I’m guessing this is why they brought you back.”

  “Yeah. We were pretty much done building the bunkers and they said that they needed reinforcements here. They left a few of them back to finish up the work.” He climbs atop one of the larger piles of rubble and sits.

  I climb up and sit next to him. “Where did they send you?”

  “A place called Kenya,” 80 says nonchalantly as he points towards the wall.

  I look and beyond the large opening in the wall, rising above the rubble of the city, is the Great Pyramid. It has never appeared as imposing as it does right now. The shadow looming over the city, swallowing blocks into darkness.

  “It was even worse down there,” 80 adds.

  “What was?” I ask as I adjust myself on the pile of rubble. The shift has somehow made my vision clearer because I spot about a dozen Flyz hovering above the city.

  “The people, the outsiders. They were all living in filth and days from death. Most of them were either covered in sores or nothing but bones.” 80’s eyes have glossed over. There is a hurt deep within him that I hadn’t seen before.

  “Did the outsiders attack down there as well?” I’m curious because I haven’t heard much about what the humans are like in different parts of the world.

  “They couldn’t. They were way too weak. Most of them wouldn’t even move when we walked by. Some would try to attack us individually, but it was more because they had lost their mind from malnourishment.” 80 stares at the pyramid beyond the wall. I can tell he doesn’t want to talk about it anymore, which makes me realize that things really were worse out there.

  After a few moments of silence, I decide that I should probably go back inside and find the other Genesys. I stand and he looks up at me. “I’m glad you’re back, 80.”

  “Me too.” He smiles. “I’ll catch up with you later. You gonna be up on the roof?”

  “I’m not even sure if the roof is still there.” I force a smile. “How about I meet you back over here?”

  “Sounds like a plan,” he says as he jumps off the pile and jogs over to a group of drones working on the wall.

  I watch him as I climb down and see him barking orders at the other drones. He must have been given a promotion while he was in Kenya. I’m glad to see that he has done well and more importantly I’m glad that Rene made sure 80 was taken care of.

  A crisp breeze has started up, blowing in from the city and causing me to shiver. The breeze carries with it a hint of
smoke, so I look back towards the city and see that the Flyz are actually firing into the fallen city.

  I turn and walk back towards the compound. I know I should be mad about the fact that we are attacking the outsiders, but I just don’t know what to think anymore. There are many innocent people out there who have done nothing more than try to survive. They care for one another and struggle together, but at this point they are only buying themselves a couple of months.

  I’m numb and I realize that what I saw in 80’s eyes wasn’t hurt but numbness. It’s hard to care anymore when you know the outcome is dire. I think that, with the recent events, I have switched my focus to the survival of the Genesys.

  The second I climb back through the hole into the medical ward I am greeted by Rene. “Did you two have a good chat?”

  “You were watching us?” I snap at him.

  “I had told him he could be there when you woke up. I knew you’d be happy to see each other.” Rene smiles as he walks towards the doors leading out of the medical ward.

  “Thank you.” I jog to catch up. “So where are our new rooms?”

  “We’ve placed you all in some of the old scientists’ rooms,” he says as he heads down a separate hallway that I have not been down before.

  “Where is everyone else?” I look around at the new hallway. It’s in very good shape and looks like it has been recently cleaned.

  “The other Genesys are meeting with Dr. Kivuli right now for a group session. You can meet up with them later. I want to talk to you.” He stops at a door at the end of the hallway, right where it intersects with another hallway. “This is your new room.”

  He opens the door and I walk in. The room is twice the size as the one I was in before. Monitors cover the left wall as they did in Rene’s room and on the opposite wall is a bookshelf with a mixture of books, journals, trinkets and pictures. I take a closer look at one of the pictures and a rush of excitement runs through my body. “This is Grant’s room!”