Gene. Sys. (8 page)

We land in the middle of the field and two
drones run up and take 80 away. I give chase but Grant pulls me back by the
collar.

“Let him go! He’ll be fine,” he says but I’m not
sure if I can believe him. He leads me into the building and straight for an elevator.
I’m too preoccupied to realize that I have been in this elevator before. When
the doors open I recognize that we are in the Center for G.O.D.

“Why are we down here?” I ask. He doesn’t answer
and leads me down the steps to the floor. We pass the incubation tubes but they
are all empty.

“Where did they go?” I look around but, again,
he doesn’t answer.

“Hawk. He doesn’t come out until I say so. Make
sure of it.” Grant grabs a bag off of one of the tables and leads me into the
back room. He hands the bag to me and shoves me into the room.

I turn but before I can take a step the door
slams in my face and I hear a series of locks click. “What are you doing? Let
me out!” I slam my fists against the door. “Don’t kill him! It’s not his fault!
Don’t kill him!”

I pound on the door until my hands and head
hurt. Tears streak down my face and I sit on the ground. I close my eyes and
let the tears come until I fall asleep.

6

I dream again
of
being in
the white, cold abyss. This time I am completely alone. I begin to walk but no
matter which way I turn it feels like I am heading in the wrong direction.

When I wake, I pound on the door and call out
for a few minutes but soon realize that no one is coming for me. A door on the
side wall
catches my attention. I had not seen it before, so
I open it and am instantly disappointed that it’s only a bathroom. I give up
and open the bag that Grant threw in with me. It is stuffed with protein
pouches, a couple of extra jump suits and a tablet.

I walk to the computer on the table to see if I
can access the camera feeds but none of it works. I’m stuck in here until they
decide to let me out. I grab one of the protein pouches and the tablet and sit
against the wall.

The tablet comes to life and immediately begins
to lecture me on the geography of Africa—the terrain, the weather, the
animals and trees. It’s not really anything I want to listen to right now so I
put it down and stare at the opposite wall. My mind wanders from 80 to Rene, Ev
and the other Genetic Systems, to the outsiders and the end of the world.
 
How will it happen? Who will survive?

Hours pass and boredom leads me to engage with
the tablet. I eat, sleep,
work
with the tablet and
think, a cycle that seems to repeat itself nearly half a dozen times before
they let me out. I’m not sure how long they have kept me down here but it feels
like it has been about four days.

The door opens and Ev stands on the other side.
“They wouldn’t let me get you until now.”

“What did they do with 80?” I push past her and
head for the elevator to take me upstairs.

She follows close behind me. “I don’t know. I
haven’t seen him.”

“Did they kill him?” I stop and look right at
her eyes.

“No. I don’t know. Things have changed, Atom.”
She pushes past me and into the elevator.

“What do you mean? How long have I been down
there?” I ask.

“A week.” She looks at me apologetically.

“What
?!
” I scream. “How
could you let them keep me down here
?!
”

“I didn’t have a choice!” She gets right back in
my face. “You’re not the only one who’s had it rough, Atom. Do you have any
idea what kind of pressure I was under because of your recklessness? I’ve had
to deal with the Genetic Systems alone.”

“You’ve met them?” My tone calms down as my
thoughts are briefly pulled to the Genetic Systems.
    

The elevator doors open and Ev steps out. “Just
leave me alone.” She walks away.

I need to find 80 so I head towards the medical
wing. Before I reach the end of the hallway, I hear Rene’s voice.

“Atom,” Rene calls out.

I turn but I don’t move. “Where
is
80?”

“He’s still alive.” He walks towards me. “Head
back to your room and wash up. I’ll be there in a bit and will answer any
questions you have.”

I stare at him as he walks towards me. I’m not
really sure if I should trust him. He puts his arm on my shoulder and looks
into my eyes.

“I’m glad you’re okay.” I force a smile and walk
off to my room. The thought of standing under hot, streaming water sounds like
a dream right now.

I reach my room and strip out of the same
jumpsuit I’ve worn for the last week. I smell the horrid stench that I must
have been carrying around as I lift my shirt over my head. My right arm feels
sore as I do this and I look to see that I have dried blood and the early hints
of a scar. Suddenly everything catches up with me. I was shot and I jumped off
the roof of a building into a moving aircraft.

My body begins to shake and I barely make it
into the shower before I collapse to the ground. Fear has overtaken my body and
I feel weak. I put myself in danger and, regardless of how liberating it felt,
I was inches from death. I don’t care what my purpose is; I should not be so
reckless.

I let the water cascade over my curled body as I
try to mentally prepare myself for everything I want to ask Rene about—80,
the Genetic Systems, his plans for me, the end of the world. He said he would
answer anything and I’m going to hold him to that.

I remain in the shower until I feel the heat
leave the water and it becomes too cold for me to handle. Barely able to stand,
I stumble to my room, throw on a jump suit, grab a protein pouch and fall onto
my bed. I lie on my back and close my eyes. The bed feels blissful after
spending a week on the hard concrete.

Rene knocks on the door just as I feel myself
drifting to sleep. I want to tell him to come back later but I know I might not
get another chance to ask him what I want, let alone get answers to those
questions.

My body won’t allow me to get up so I call out
from my bed. “Come in.”

He pushes through the door and takes a seat at
the edge of my bed. “How are you feeling?”

The grunts I let out as I prop myself into a
seated position should be enough, but I oblige him with an answer.
“Overwhelmed.”

Rene stares at me. His look is very similar to
that of someone witnessing something for the first time. “You’ve aged.”

I’m not sure what to make of this so I just
remain quiet.

“I’m sorry, Atom. Please understand that I
withheld all this information for your safety. I did not do it to be
deceitful.” He truly looks regretful and a part of me feels for him. I want to
apologize back, but as I think about what I would be apologizing for, I realize
that I’m really not sorry for it. Everything I did was in search of knowledge of
things that were withheld from me.

“Where
is
80?” I decide
not to waste any more time. I need to know that he’s safe.

“He got shipped out,” Rene replies.

“What do you mean? What did you do to him?” I
try to sit up more but my muscles betray me.

“He’s fine. Nothing is going to happen to him, at
least not by our hands. We just sent him to one of the construction sites to be
put to work.” He looks away, perhaps trying to avoid the question I ask next.

“Construction sites? What construction sites?”
This time my will overpowers my muscles and I lean closer to him.

Rene sighs. “We are building six bunkers that
will withstand the Ragnarok.
The final battle before the
Regenesis.
These bunkers are intended to hold you, Ev and the rest of
the Genetic Systems.”

“What about everyone else?” I ask, even though
I’m pretty sure I know what the answer is going to be.

“They must fend for themselves.” Rene shifts at
the end of my bed. He is definitely not comfortable with this conversation.

“Why are you ending the world?” I press on.

Rene sits and thinks for a bit before he
answers. A few tears roll down his cheeks. I realize that the reason he is
uncomfortable talking about this is because he’s in pain. “Understand, Atom, I
don’t believe I have a choice in what I’m doing. Humans as a species are on the
verge of extinction. If we just sit back and let things pan out as they may,
famine, disease and war will wipe us off the earth. We need to restart.”

“You don’t know what is going to happen,” I
exclaim.

He looks at me. “No, I don’t. But I do know that
as long as the ice age is still here things will get worse before they get
better. By that time it might be too late. You twelve are our best hope. You
are the next step in evolution. We created you that way. You are smarter, healthier,
physically advanced. Your body can withstand extreme weather conditions and
a nuclear
fallout. Your offspring will be even stronger.”

Offspring? My palms suddenly feel incredibly
sweaty. I had completely forgotten about that part of the plan. It was never
really spelled out to me, but I understood. Ev and I are supposed to have
offspring. I’m not sure what to ask next. My cheeks feel flush and when Rene
looks at me I look away.

He must sense my embarrassment because I can see
him smile. “Don’t be nervous about that, Atom. It will happen naturally. Your
bodies will tell you what to do.”

“I don’t want to talk about that.” I avoid any
kind of eye contact, but I can see him holding in laughter from the corner of
my eye.

“Do you have any other questions for me, Atom?”
He stands.

I do have more questions but I’m too
embarrassed. “No.”

“Very well. Be smart, Atom. You are very
important to the success of this project. There are reasons we’ve made these
rules and you need to adhere to them.” Rene walks to the door and looks back at
me. “No more secrets, I promise.”

“Promise me something else,” I say back.

“What?” He leans against the doorframe.

“No more drones get killed because they can’t
protect,” I demand.

Rene thinks for a second. “I promise. We will mend
them and send them to work on the bunkers.”

I look at him and see sincerity in his eyes. He
smiles and walks away but I know that I shouldn’t put too much weight on his
promises. I shift my body back into a laying position on my bed and close my
eyes for a quick nap.

A knock wakes me from my slumber, which must
have been quite deep because I have lost track of time. It feels like I was
asleep for both twenty minutes and six hours. I feel refreshed even though my
body feels slow. A second knock gets me up and, moving to the door, I open it
and see Ev standing before me.

“Come to the simulation room. Grant wants us for
training.” She walks off towards the simulation room. I realize that she’s
still upset with me so I chase after her, grabbing a protein pouch on the way
out. We reach the elevator at the same time.

“I’m sorry.” I try to look into her eyes but she
keeps them facing forward.

“Not now, Atom.” She has a very determined look
on her face.

I press on. “I am. I’ve been selfish…”

She enters the elevator. “I need you focused. We
don’t know what we are about to face.”

I enter behind her. “It’s just a simulation, Ev.
Nothing we haven’t faced before.”

“It’s different today,” she says as the elevator
reaches the bottom floor. She pulls me to the side of the elevator as the doors
open. “It’s the Genetic Systems’ first time and we are facing off against all
of them.”

Through the open door I see the simulation that
we have to battle in. It’s one that I haven’t experienced before. The room is completely
white and snow is blowing heavily in the room. A gust blows a cold air into the
elevator and I feel my flesh contract around my muscles. I look at Ev and
notice that both her and my jumpsuits are very bright colors. After unzipping
my top I see that the interior of the jumpsuit is a light grey.

“Turn your jumpsuit inside out.” I start to
remove my pants.

She does the same and I can’t help but peek at
her exposed body. I feel my heart racing so I look back out the elevator as she
finishes redressing.

“Smart idea,” she says.

I smile. “We are most likely going to have to
hide in an open space, so it’s best we don’t stand out. Any ideas?”

“We stay close and keep our backs to the wall.
That way we can each focus on only 90 degrees.” Her face grows with intensity.
I can’t help but think how cute she looks.

“I agree. Stay low. We don’t know what weapons
or instruments they have.” I crouch down and wrap my way around the elevator
door and into the simulation room. The floor feels very slick underneath me. When
Ev joins me, the door shuts behind her, enclosing us in an abyss of white. I
have a quick flash of my dreams, but that is instantly snapped away when I spot
two figures ahead of us. Both of them appear to be men. I signal for Ev to take
the one on the right as I go for the one on the left.

We stay low as we sneak up behind them and at
the same time we grab our marks by the head and pull them down. Ev grabs a
knife from the hand of her pale, redheaded target and plunges it into his chest.
I struggle to hold mine down as my feet slip underneath me. He has dark skin
similar to Grant’s. Just as I’m about to lose my hold on him, Ev plunges the
knife into his chest. I search his body but don’t find a weapon. His eyes show
a hint of pain and surprise and I remember how I felt the first time I was
knocked out of a simulation. The shock that runs through your body is less than
pleasant.

We stand and I look around. No one else is
coming. We keep ourselves close to the wall and move cautiously. There are
eight left.

After a few moments Ev points to the center of
the simulation. “There are four coming towards us.”

Through the snowfall I make out four shapes
walking towards us. They weren’t aware enough to have flipped their suits
inside out, so the bright colors make them stand out. “Think they spotted us?”

“Doesn’t look that way.” she responds.