Gene. Sys. (26 page)

I take another running start to jump to the
balcony of the next building and I land the same way as I did before. This
time, my stomach takes the brunt of the impact and I have the wind knocked out
of me. Before I have time to react, the concrete gives way and I fall.

The sensation of falling stops and I look to see
that the strap of the rifle has caught on a large metal wire. It’s the only
thing holding me up from a thirty-foot drop.

“Up there!” I hear someone shout from beneath
me. I look down and see a few outsiders and drones run up and aim their guns.

I return my attention to the balcony I am
hanging from and instantly hear the snap of the strap from the rifle. My hands
shoot up and, luckily, my left hand grabs a hold of the floor of the balcony as
the rifle falls to the ground. Shots fire up at me from below and the bullets
spray around me. I use the strength that I have to get my right hand secured on
the floor and lift myself into the cover of the balcony. Bits of concrete fall
on me as the bullets hit the building around me.

They aren’t going to stop shooting and I need to
get to Fe. Plus, we are running out of time, and we have to get back to Rene
and the Fly before the Ragnarok starts.

I stand and run without thinking twice. As I
jump from one balcony to the next, I unwrap my chain. When I get to the gap
between buildings, I fling the chain as I jump, hooking it to the balcony above
my target balcony. The spray of bullets continues to be shot at me and a couple
actually hit the chain as I land safely on the balcony. I whip the chain to
unhook it and it lands in a pile next to me.

One building left. My legs are starting to burn,
something I’m sure the game of Breekbal yesterday contributed to. I jump from
balcony to balcony, but when I get to the last one, I stop. The final building
in front of me has a void where a balcony used to be. When I look down, I see
that the majority of the rubble from that balcony lies on top of the balcony
ten feet below.

I can make this jump, but with the added drop,
it’s going to hurt. I look back and see the outsiders and drones running
towards the building. They are running in. They must know what I’m after.

I scream as I jump off the ledge of my current
balcony and fall down to my target balcony. Shocks shoot up my legs when I
land. I feel the pain instantly and a cracking sound scares me into thinking I
broke a bone. When I stand without any further pain, I realize that the
cracking sound is coming from the balcony.

A fissure spiders out from the corner that
connects the balcony to the building and before I know it, the balcony gives
way and I fall. Ten feet below, the balcony and I slam hard into another
balcony. The familiar cracking sound lets me know that if I don’t react quickly
I will fall again.

I whip my chain at the glass door, shattering
it. I jump through just as the balcony falls away below me. My back stings with
a sharp pain and when I reach back I feel a shard of glass sticking out.
Breaking the skin on my hand, I pull the piece of glass out and get to my feet.

The sound of movement outside gets me moving to
the doorway and I stand, hidden next to the door. An outsider steps in with her
gun up. She spots the fresh blood on the ground, but before she can yell
anything, I’m on top of her and am covering her mouth with my hand. My other
hand is digging the shard of glass into her side.

“Where is the Genesys?” I apply more pressure
with the shard of glass.

The outsider’s body shakes and I can sense the
fear she is going through. Her voice pleads for mercy. “On the ninth floor with
the doctor.”

I throw the shard away and with a right hook I
knock her unconscious. She doesn’t need to follow me. I take her gun and head
out the door to the hallway. As I get to the stairwell, I can hear a massive
amount of activity. The outsiders and drones from the streets must be making
their way up.

Next to the stairs is the indistinguishable door
of an elevator. I use the barrel of gun to wedge the door enough to be able to
put my hands between the
gap
and pull the doors open.
Two chains hang in the middle of the dark shaft. I look up and only see
darkness.

“You can do this.” I try to motivate myself. I
need to climb seven floors.

I wrap my chain around me but when I pick up the
rifle, I notice that it doesn’t have a strap. I’ll need both hands to climb, so
I decide to leave the gun behind. With a powerful jump, I fly into the shaft
and grab a hold of the chains in the middle. Hand over hand I climb.

It isn’t until I’m around the fourth floor that
I hear noises below me.

“Hello?” someone yells up. The words echo their
way past me.

I stay as still as possible, hoping the moving
chain doesn’t alert them to my location. Shots go off below me, nearly causing
me to lose my grip. The bullets ricochet around me and the fear gets my hands
moving again.

My arms burn as I finally reach the ninth floor.
I swing myself back and forth, but when I reach the elevator doors, I realize
that I don’t have the leverage to be able to pull them open and still balance
myself.

I think for a moment and come up with what could
very easily be the stupidest idea I have ever had. I unwrap my chain and, with
one hand, I do the best I can to tie the end of my chain to the elevator chain.
The shoulder of the hand holding me up aches with pain; sweat drips down my
face and stings my eyes.

After testing the strength of the knot, I wrap
my chain around my waist and then the other end back to the elevator chain.
Slowly, I lower myself into a horizontal position. When I let go of the
elevator chain, my body drops a few inches, forcing a gasp out of my throat.

Once confident that it will hold, I swing myself
back to the elevator door. On the third try, I manage to get my fingertips to
latch on to the crack between the doors. It’s all or nothing, so I scream as I
use all the strength I can muster to pull the doors apart. I quickly unknot my
chain from the center chain and jump onto the ninth floor.

I jump to my feet the second I land, ready to
act, but there is no one around. Behind me, I hear a barrage of bullets
ricochet in the elevator shaft. It won’t be long before they realize where I
am. I need to act fast.

I move quickly down the hallway, checking every
room I pass. Most of them are filled with debris and dusty office furniture. I
get to one that surprises me. It’s clean and filled with makeshift monitors and
tablets. The monitors display different parts of the city, but also display a
few areas around the compound. I can see that the fighting is still going on at
the compound. It’s sad to see them all fighting for something that can’t be
changed anymore.

I continue down the hallway and near the end I
hear muffled sounds along with some peculiar beeps. When I poke my head around,
I see Fe strapped to a chair. Her head is down and she has a tube and other
wires attached to her body. The tube is pumping her blood out and into a pouch
that hangs on a stand next to her.
The stand is surrounded by
machines that are the source of the beeps
, they seem like really old
medical devices.

Just as I am about to step in, a man walks
towards Fe from the back of the room. It’s Dr. Peters. He checks her pulse and
then checks the machines around her.

“Let her go!” I step through the door.

Dr. Peters jumps. When he sees me, he grabs a
sharp object and holds it to Fe’s throat. “Don’t come closer.”

I stand my ground but slowly grab hold of my
chain. A quick flash of the same situation with Brianna and Dr.
Cicca
speeds through my head. I can’t let the same thing
happen to Fe.

“What are you doing to her?” I ask, trying to
sneak a step closer.

“You guys are built to be able to withstand the
nuclear fallout. It’s built into your DNA. I’m taking her blood to be able to
meld her DNA with ours. Hopefully it will give us a chance for survival,” he
responds. I notice that the fear in his eyes has less to do
with
me being here and more to do with the Ragnarok
.

“
Who
else are you
getting the blood for?” I step closer, hoping that the questions will distract
him from my advancements.

“Stay back.” He brings the sharp utensil to the
side of Fe’s head. “It’s for Brianna and I.”

This surprises me. Either they must have been
together or Brianna was smarter than I gave her credit for and seduced him. Whichever
it was, I can tell that he has affections towards her. I smile.

“Why are you smiling?” He brings his utensil
back to Fe’s neck.

“She’s dead,” I say flatly. “I killed her.”

In a brief moment of shock and grief, Dr. Peters
lets down his guard and drops his hand. I take advantage and whip my chain at
the chair. The end wraps around one of the legs and before Dr. Peters can
react, I pull the chair and Fe away from him.

Dr. Peters now stands completely exposed. He
looks around for cover but can’t find any. He throws his sharp utensil at me.
“Help!”

I whip my chain at him, wrapping it around his
waist. With my left hand, I pull him hard towards me. As he approaches, I swing
with my right fist and connect right between his eyes. I can feel his nose
break under my fingers.

His head falls back and I can tell that I have
knocked him unconscious. I hit him a couple more times to make sure and then I
let him fall to the ground. I don’t kill him because I want him to experience
the Ragnarok.

I unravel my chain and tend to Fe. “Fe! Wake up.
It’s me.”

Her eyes open slowly and a glimmer shines in her
eyes when she recognizes me. She struggles to speak. “Atom.”

“I’m here.” I rip the tube and wires off of her
body. “We have to go.”

She tries to get herself up from the chair, but
can’t. I’m going to have to carry her. I wrap my chain around my shoulder and
lift Fe from the chair. If we are attacked, I will have no way to defend us.
All I have left now is speed.

I run into the hallway, hoping that it’s still
empty. Luckily it is. I run down the hallway, every muscle in my body screaming
with pain. When I get to the elevator shaft, I realize that the only option I
have is the stairs.

I slowly push the door to the stairs open and
look down. About three floors below me are maybe a half dozen outsiders and
drones waiting. I look up and see that there are about nine more floors to the
top of the building. If they spot me, there is no way that I can outrun them
while carrying Fe.

As quietly as I can, I step into the stairway.
I begin my ascent, but the second I am free from the door
,
it slams behind me
.

“Up there!” I hear an outsider scream. Shots fly
by me.

“Damn it!” I run as fast as my legs will carry
me. Fe moans at each hard step I take.

After about two floors, I look back down and see
that my pursuers have gained on
me,
they have also
doubled in number. There is no way I will make it to the top before they catch
us. Regardless, I press on, even though my pace has slowed.

After another floor I hear activity above me and
see two drones making their way down towards me. They are only about a floor
above. There is no way out.

I set Fe down on the stairs and unravel my
chain. If we are going to die here, I will make sure that I do all I can to
make it hell for them to kill us.

Fe looks at me. “I’m sorry, Atom.”

“What are you talking about?” I say as I ready
myself.

“I was mad and hurt that you rejected me. I ran
off. I wanted to see the pyramid up close because of how you described it.”
Tears are streaking down her face. “I wanted to have that connection with you.”

“I didn’t reject you, Fe.” I look at her. “I had
things I needed to deal with and focus on.”

“I know. I should have trusted you.” She wipes
her eyes. “Instead, I got myself captured and dragged here. This is my fault.”

I want to respond, but I don’t have the time.
The two drones from above are only a few steps away. I ready myself. Right
before I can do anything, the two drones open fire, deliberately missing Fe and
I. I look at their targets and see that they are shooting the outsiders and
drones beneath us.

“Go! Get to the roof!” one of the drones yells.

It takes me a second, but then I realize that
they are on our side. I throw the chain over my shoulder and pick Fe back up.
With a
new found
energy, I run up the stairs.

“Thank you!” I yell back at the drones.

As I make my way up, I see that Fe has lost
consciousness,
she must have lost a lot of blood. “Stay with
me, Fe. We are almost there.”

When I’m a floor away from the top, I see the
door being held open by a scientist. I slow down, unsure of
who
it is. Suddenly it clicks. It’s the scientist who was in the pilot seat of the
Fly Ev and I
were
supposed to take.