Gene. Sys. (23 page)

Ev looks at me. “This is why it seemed so quiet.
There weren’t very many drones out.”

It does make sense as to why there were less
tonight. I had never thought that any of them would be involved with the
Mutineers. Now it seems like they are working together with the Outsiders. With
all of them working together, we don’t stand a chance. We do have to tell Rene
to start the Ragnarok tomorrow.

“Atom,” Ev says, holding Dr. Kivuli. She seems
to be on her last breaths.

“Who shot you?” I ask her.

“80,” Dr. Kivuli gargles out.

My head spins. This can’t be true. Would he
really do that?

18

“Atom!” The voice seems far away.

“Atom!” Ev grabs me and snaps me back.

“Yeah!” I look at Ev and then look down at Dr.
Kivuli’s
body.

“She’s dead,” Ev says. “What do we do?”

I look around. I don’t see any activity and it
doesn’t look like we have drawn any unwanted attention. “Go get all the Genesys
and take them down to the simulation room.”

“What about you?” she asks.

“I’m going to get Rene.” I start to run but turn
back to Ev before I get too far. “Mag and Ox are in the medical ward.”

I run towards the door that leads into the
scientists’ quarters. Ev is not far behind me. In the panic I had forgotten
that the Genesys are staying in the scientists’ rooms. We enter and I head down
the left hallway as Ev continues forward.

After a couple of turns, I reach the corner just
before Rene’s hallway and a noise forces me to stop. I peek around the corner
and see two drones with rifles walking towards me.

“I think this is his room,” one of the drones says
as they stop in front of Rene’s door.

They slowly raise their guns and aim it at the
door. Before I know it, I am running down the hallway at them, my feet light
and quiet so they won’t hear me. It’s not until
I
’m
a few steps away from them that they notice me
.

“Stop!” one of them shouts.

I ignore him as I lower my shoulder and slam
into the closest drone. I keep driving my feet until I feel that we have
collided into the second drone. We all fall to the ground, but just as quickly
I am back on my feet. With a swift kick to the drone’s head, I knock the first
one unconscious.

The second drone has rolled over to his back and
has his gun pointed right at me.
 
“You are the reason we have to die.”

Just before he pulls the trigger, I jump to the
side of the hallway. A couple of shots hit the ceiling. I kick myself off the
wall and land on top of him before he can aim the gun at me again. I punch him
as hard as I can with both fists; his face becomes less skin and more blood. In
a last ditch effort, he swings his rifle and connects with my temple. Pain
shoots through my body and I use that rush of adrenaline to throw one last
knockout punch.

I grab his gun and stand, the blood streaming
from my temple stings the corner of my eye. I pick up the second rifle and then
slam my shoulder into Rene’s door. The door flies open and I step through.

The noise has obviously scared Rene out of his
slumber since he is sitting up in his bed with fear in his eyes. He removes his
breathing mask.

“What’s going on?” he asks as he shifts to the
edge of his bed.

“We have to go!” I grab him by his arm. “They
are all about to attack!”

“Who?” He stands and moves as quickly as he can
to the door.

“The outsiders, drones and the Mutineers.” I
hustle him through the door and he stops when he sees the two drones on the
ground. I push him forward. “They were about to kill you.”

Shock rises in his face. He looks at me as we
walk as fast as possible. “Who told you this?”

“Dr. Kivuli.” I try to get him to move faster.

“Where is she?” he asks.

“Dead,” I say flatly. He looks at me with horror
in his eyes. This is a lot of information for him to wake up to. I try to calm
him a little. “I told Ev to gather all of the Genesys and take them to the
simulation room.”

Rene stops. “No. No. No. That’s the wrong way.
We have to get you to the
Flyz
on the other side of
the compound.”

“What do you mean? Won’t we be safer
underground?” I look at him.

“Not if they are all attacking.” He grabs one of
the rifles from me.

“What are you doing?” I hold on to the rifle.
When I look in his eyes I see that all the fear, shock and horror are gone.
What I see is determination. I let him take the gun.

“You get them and bring them back to the other
side of the compound. It’s past the surveillance room you followed Grant into,”
he orders.

Did Grant tell him about that? “How did you…
”

“Listen to me carefully.” He grabs my shoulders.
“We have six
Flyz
ready for you. Al and Hydro in one.
Ox and Mag in two.
Titan and Sodi in three. Cal and K
in four. Sil and Fe in five.
You and Ev in six.
There
will be a scientist that I trust flying each one.”

“What are you going to do?”
 
I ask.

“I need to start the sequence for the Ragnarok,”
he states.

“Okay.” I feel my heart pound even faster than
it already has been. This is actually happening and now I have to lead. I start
to jog away.

“Atom!” Rene calls after me.

I turn and look at him.

“Once I start the sequence it can’t be stopped.
We’ll only have an hour to get into the air if we want to be ahead of the
blasts.” He turns and walks briskly away.

I turn and run at a full sprint down the
hallways. As I run I can’t help but think of Rene’s choices for the
Flyz
. Why would he put Fe with Sil? Why wouldn’t he put her
with Cal? I guess it does make sense that he would put Ev and I together.

An alarm going off snaps me out of my mind. Rene
must have set it off to warn the others of the impending attack or perhaps that
the Ragnarok is about to happen. I weave down a couple more hallways, pass my
old bedroom and reach the elevator to the simulation room.

When the elevator opens in the simulation room I
see chaos. The Genesys are panicking. Some are shouting and others are crying.
They all look at me. I look around and count eleven heads, but one of them is
unfamiliar. It’s Dr. Metzger. Someone is missing and when I realize who it is,
my heart drops.

“Everyone quiet!” I yell and they all go silent
and look at me. I look at Ev. “Where is Fe?”

She steps up to me. “I couldn’t find her. No one
knows where she is.”

I do my best to hold my composure. We will find
her, but right now I need to get everyone here ready. “Everyone listen up. This
is it. We are about to be attacked and Rene is going to start the sequence to
set off the Ragnarok.”

I look around at all their faces. They all are
scared. “We have to get to the other side of the compound where Rene has six
Flyz
waiting for us. Al and Hydro you are in one.
Ox and Mag in two.
Titan and Sodi you’re in three. Cal and K
in four.

“Sil and Fe in five.” A knot in my stomach
tightens. We will find her. I look at Ev. “You and I in six.”

A small smile graces Ev’s face and it makes me
wonder if she had anything to do with the pairings.

Suddenly a loud boom resonates above our heads
and the room around us shakes. A few screams escape from some of the Genesys.
There’s another boom and more shaking. It’s obvious that the attacks have
started.

“What do we do?” Ev shouts over the shaking.

“Everyone grab a close range and a short range
weapon,” I yell.

“Those are non-lethal,” Sodi says. “They won’t
do much damage.”

“It’s better than no weapons,” Cal answers for
me.

We all scamper to the weapons cache and grab our
choice weapons. I pick up my chain and fling it around my shoulder. When I look
over, I see that Mag is still on the ground in the middle of the simulation
room. Dr. Metzger is by her side.

Ox steps up next to me and grabs his ax. “We had
to pull her out prematurely and she hasn’t healed completely. Dr. Metzger also
said that forcing her out of that induced dream state might affect her brain.”

“We’ll get her there safely,” I comfort him.

After a few more moments, all of the Genesys are
geared up. I even give Dr. Metzger a rifle. The booms over our heads are
happening more frequently and the shaking of the room has become so consistent
that it no longer startles us.

“Let’s go!” I shout.

We head to the elevator as one big group. Ox
picks mag up and carries her in his arms. We all cram tightly into the elevator
and ride it up.

Just before we get to the top, I hand my rifle
to Titan. “This one is real. Switch with me, you are a better shot than I am.”

Titan smiles and we exchange rifles. His eyes
show a focus I have never seen before. “Thanks.”

The elevator door opens and we pour out into the
hallway. The distinct smell of burning fills the air. The booms that were
muffled before are deafening. There isn’t much activity in our area of the
compound, which makes sense since most of the area has already been destroyed.
All that remains in this area is the library and the simulation room, hardly a
threat to the attackers.

I motion for the Genesys to follow me down the
hallway. We move together and quietly as a group, making our way past the boys’
rooms and then the girls’ rooms. As we walk I am careful to check my
surroundings for any threats and for any signs of Fe.

Just as we reach the hallway that leads to the scientists’
quarters, shots fire to our right. I raise my hand to get the Genesys to stop
and I look around the edge of the fallen wall. Drones are firing on other
drones. This means that some are fighting to protect us, but when I look, I
can’t tell which ones are which. A bit further behind them, closer to the
exterior wall of the compound, I see outsiders attacking drones.

I turn back to the Genesys and signal for them
to move forward. Suddenly, a bullet flies by my head. I look up and notice
Titan aiming the rifle I gave him at my head. A noise behind me gets me to turn
and I see a drone fall to the ground. Blood seeps out from his forehead.

I look back at Titan and he winks at me. I smile
back and motion for him to check around the corner for any more. He steps past
me and peeks around. I grab Sodi by the shoulder and point for her to grab the
fallen drone’s rifle. She slides down and switches the drone’s gun for her
simulation gun.

When Titan and Sodi return to the group, I
huddle everyone together.

“There are four more at the end of the hallway.
They are checking each room,” Titan says under his breath.

“Okay. It seems like some drones are still
trying to protect us.” I look at the Genesys and then make a very difficult
decision in my head. “If you have even the slightest doubt as to what side
someone is fighting on, shoot them.”

Ev looks at me, surprised.

I look her in the eye. “We don’t have the time
for a conscience.”

I pat Titan and Sodi on their shoulders and they
walk over to the corner of the hallways. Sodi crouches down and Titan remains
standing. They both peek around the corner and take two shots each. After a few
seconds, Titan looks back at me and waves us over.

We quickly walk over and make our way down the
hallway to the door to the scientists’ quarters. Ev, Cal, Sil and K grab the
rifles from the ground. We push through slowly and enter an empty hallway. Just
as Ox passes through the door, carrying Mag, I see a scientist run around the
corner and head straight for us. Titan raises his gun.

“No!” Dr. Metzger shouts.

I put my hand on Titan’s rifle and force him to
lower it.

“Marco. What’s up there?” Dr. Metzger asks as
the scientist reaches us.

“They are coming!” Marco says, hiding behind the
group.

Titan and Sodi raise their guns. The rest of us
do the same. They don’t know that most of these guns will only leave a welt.

Two outsiders turn the corner at the end of the
hallway and are immediately met with a barrage of bullets. Titan and Sodi each
connect with a lethal shot. A third person turns the corner but dives back for
cover. He pokes his head around and I immediately recognize him as Joey, the
guy Dr. Kivuli was talking to a couple nights ago.

“The Genesys are here!” Joey yells back down his
hallway.

He pokes his head around the corner again but is
instantly met with a bullet to the head. He falls to the ground.

“Got him,” Sodi says coldly.

“Nice shot.” Cal smacks her on the shoulder.

“Titan, Sodi. Get in front. You will lead us
down the hall. Shoot at anything that turns the corner. Keep your ears open,” I
order.

We make our way down the hallway and it isn’t
until we are halfway there that we hear footsteps coming. There are so many
that it sounds like an army. I look around and see that our only options are to
turn back or to fight our attackers.

“Cover me,” I shout as I run towards the two
fallen outsiders. When I reach them I grab their rifles and pull them off. As I
run back, Titan and Sodi begin shooting. The bullets fly past my head.

The other Genesys have scattered against the
walls and are shooting their non-lethal guns as well. Suddenly something bites
my left arm and the warm sting reminds me of when I was shot on the roof of the
outsiders’ building. I ignore the pain and run back to the group.