Gene. Sys. (21 page)

I land hard on my shoulder and look to see 80
breaking away with the ball straight to our pit. When I turn to get up, a foot hits
me swiftly across my face and I fall back to the ground. I roll away and stand
to face my attacker. It’s 13.

He stands tall, anticipating my move. He plants
his foot to charge, but just before he does, a large portion of the crowd
erupts in cheers. I look around and see the drones watching this game, on their
feet and yelling. 80 must have scored.

The drones on the field all walk back to
their
side of the field and I see the Genesys slowly picking
themselves up. I start to walk back to join them on my side when 13
sticks
his foot out and trips me. I land flat on my face and
get a mouthful of dirt. Its dry chalkiness is horrible in combination with the
saltiness of the blood in my mouth.

80
reaches
me and helps
me up. He smiles. “Give up yet?”

“No.” I spit the dirt and blood out to the side.

“Good. Next round starts the second you grab the
ball.” He jogs to his side of the field.

I head back to join the rest of the Genesys who
have gathered around the pit. They all look defeated. I realize that we need a
strategy if we are going to have any kind of chance at this.

“Okay, well now we know how to play.” I smile,
trying to get their hopes up.

“Ass,” Sodi mutters. A few of the other Genesys
laugh.

“You’re right.” I play it off. “We need to have
some strategy, so what I would like to do is attack like an arrow. Ten of us
will form a ‘V’ and wedge our way through them. Knock them over, get them to
the ground.”

“What about the other two?” Fe asks, panting
through her words.

“One person will be in the middle of the ‘V’
with the ball and the other person will stay back and guard the pit,” I state.

“I’ll guard the pit,” Ox says.

“Okay, good.” I look around at the group and
spot Mag shying behind a couple of the others. She will be too timid to be part
of the ‘V’ and take out a drone. “Mag, you carry the ball.”

“Okay,” barely escapes from her mouth.

“Let’s do it!” I shout, trying to get the
Genesys pumped up. It doesn’t seem to be working.

Mag grabs the ball from the pit and the screams
from the other side of the field tell us that the drones are on their way. They
are running at us perfectly spread out in a line. I take off towards the middle
and four Genesys flank me diagonally to my left and the other five are to my
right. Mag stays perfectly paced in the middle of us.

I scream as I run full speed at the drone in
front of me. At the last second I spin around him, grabbing his arm, and I
fling him to the ground. I quickly stand on both his arms while he is on the
ground so he can’t get up. He thrashes his legs and curses at me, but he’s not
able to shake me off.

I look around to see how the strategy is paying
off and if anyone needs any additional help. As I scan the field I see most of
the Genesys engaged in fights with a drone. They all seem to be holding their
own. Out of the corner of my eye I spot the two unaccounted for drones heading
directly for Mag. It’s 13 and a second drone with longer hair.

“Mag! Watch out!” I scream as I jump off my
drone. He swings his legs, connecting with my side, and I fall.

When I look up, I see 13 and the longhaired
drone knock Mag to the ground. She drops the ball and 13 scoops it up. I get up
and start running after him. A few steps into it I am tackled to the ground
from behind.

The drone steps on my shoulders, preventing me
from getting up. “Now it’s my turn.”

All I can do is watch what happens next; the
drone with the long hair jumps up and stomps on Mag’s leg. A slight crack
followed by her loud scream fills the air and silences the crowd.

“Mag!” I hear Ox yell as he leaves his post,
defending the pit and runs straight for the longhaired drone. He passes 13 on
the way, completely ignoring him. I can see the red in his eyes where I lay.

Ox reaches the drone, grabs him by the hair and
flips him over his head by the handful of hair. The drone lands hard on the
ground and Ox stands with a handful of hair. He rears back and, with as much
force as he can, he kicks the drone in the head. The drone’s body goes limp.

My attention is squarely on that exchange so I
don’t notice that 13
has
scored. A hushed applause by
the drones on the sideline lets me know that we are one goal away from losing.

I and the other Genesys run to Mag as the drones
run to their fallen teammate. When I get to Mag, Ox has already scooped her up
in his arms. She moans through the tears running down her cheeks.

Ox looks at me. “This is your fault!”

I back up and sense a few others’ eyes on me.
They share his sentiment.

“No it’s not,” Mag struggles to get out.

We all look at her. Ev starts to say something but
stops herself.

“Put me down. I can walk,” Mag demands.

Her resolve has not only surprised me, but
everyone else as well. A few of the scientists applaud as Ox gently sets her
down. Mag lets out a yelp as she puts weight on her leg and draws it back into
a moan.

“Let’s play,” she says as she gingerly takes a
step towards our pit. She uses Ox for support.

I can tell that Mag’s toughness has rubbed off
on the other Genesys because they are starting to get hyper.

“We can do this!” Al blurts out. The other Genesys
shout in agreement.

When we reach the pit, I look back to assess our
opponent. I only count eleven drones and when I look to the side I see the
longhaired drone lying on the sideline. Dr. Peters is tending to him.

“Okay, it’s eleven on eleven.” I turn to the
group.

“Twelve. I’m still playing,” Mag says defiantly.
“I’ll guard the pit.”

“What about your leg?” Ev asks.

Mag smiles. “Don’t let them get the ball and it won’t
be an issue.”

“Deal.” I chuckle and then remember what Dr.
Kivuli suggested. “Does anyone have any ideas?”

“That last strategy almost worked,” Titan speaks
up. “I think we just need to add a little twist to it. Maybe some deception.”

Everyone’s attention turns to him.

“When we did this last time, the drones left one
half of the field wide open. I say we attack as we did, but just as we engage
with the drones, the last wingman peels off and takes the ball from the person
in the middle. They then sweep around to the other side of the field that’s
wide open,” Titan says, exhausting
himself
.

I look around at the other Genesys. “What do you
all think?”

“I like it,” Hydro says.

“Okay. Titan, do you want to be either of the
ball carriers?” I look at him.

“Nope. I’m having too much fun fighting,” he
responds.

“I think Ox should do the sweep,” K adds. “After
what he did to that drone, they might think twice about standing in his way. I
can start in the middle.”

“That sounds like a plan. Are you ready?” I ask.
Their reaction isn’t quite what I want. I want them to scream.

“What are we?” I demand.

“Genesys?” Sil mutters.

“Come on. We are smarter! Faster! Stronger!” I
shout. “Who are we
?!
”

“Genesys!” They all yell.

K grabs the ball and we take off in the same
formation as before. The drones charge at us as they did before. We collide
into them and I ram hard into the drone in front of me. We both fall to the
ground.

As we grapple on the field, I hear a loud roar
come from the scientists’ side of the field. I look up and I see Ox running
alone with the ball towards the drones’ pit. A couple of drones chase after
him, but they aren’t fast enough.

Ox drops the ball into the pit and yells. Just
as I stand to cheer, I feel a hard kick to my thigh. I’m too excited to care so
I push the drone away and head towards my side of the field.

I get back to a cheering group and I high five a
few of them. “Be ready everyone. The second they grab the ball we start. Be
smart and use your speed.”

The second I turn around I see that 80 has
already taken the ball out of their pit and they are weaving in and out of each
other towards us. As they weave they pass the ball back and forth amongst
themselves.

“Let’s go, guys! Spread out and don’t let anyone
get behind you!” I run off towards the middle and the rest of the Genesys
spread out to my left and right.

This go around there is a lot less contact and
more passing by the drones. A couple of times we just barely miss getting the ball.

“Now!” 80 yells.

Instantly all the drones drop and roll at our
legs, knocking us down. I manage to keep some of my balance and fall to my
hands. I push myself up quickly and look around. 80
is
running straight at our pit.

I kick the drone
who
rolled
in front of me in the stomach to make sure he doesn’t get up, and then I take
off towards 80. I catch up to him pretty fast but, just as I tackle him, he
passes the ball to another drone charging from the other side.

Right before he catches it, I see Mag launch
herself at the chest of the approaching drone and knock him hard to the ground.
The ball bounces off them and back towards 80 and I.

We jump up to our feet and I grab 80 by his
right arm. I spin and fling him in the opposite direction. The ball bounces a
few feet away from me so I pick it up and look out at the playing field. A few
fights are happening in the center, but I notice Cal and Sodi are relatively
unengaged. Sodi is to my far left and Cal to my right.

“Sodi! Cal!” I yell, signaling them to run
towards the opposite pit. They take off and I hurl the ball towards the pit.

Both Cal and Sodi have no trouble outpacing
their accompanying drones. Cal gets to the ball first and when the drone
trailing Sodi peels off towards him, he passes her the ball. She drops the ball
in the pit, igniting a roar of cheers from the scientists.

Just as Cal turns to walk back, 13 levels him
with a shoulder to his head. Cal immediately gets up and throws a punch at 13,
connecting with his jaw. They attack each other, causing the drones and the
Genesys to run over and break them up. Al and Sodi pull a screaming Cal away. A
few drones hold 13 back.

80 and I, being so far away, only get to
midfield when the fight is broken up. 80 steps up to me and puts his arm on my
shoulder.

“You having fun?” He smiles.

“You guys created an insane game.” I smile back.

“Oh we didn’t come up with it. Grant and Rene
did to help weed out the weakest among us. We just learned to enjoy it,” he
says.

It really shouldn’t surprise me that this was
made by Rene to get rid of the weakest, but Grant’s involvement has me
bewildered. I feel the anger towards Rene resurface because of his constant
mistreatment and indifference towards the drones.

“It’s two to two.” I change the subject. I need
to focus on the game.

“Yup. Next point wins,” he says as he catches me
off guard and pushes me to the ground. He winks at me and runs off towards his
pit.

The other Genesys have caught up to me and we
jog back to our pit. When we get there, I walk right up to Mag and give her a
giant hug. “That was amazing!”

“Hell yeah it was!” Ev adds. The rest of the
Genesys congratulate her as well with hugs and high fives.

Ox walks up to her last, takes her in his arms
and kisses the top of her head.
The rest of us quiet down as
we witness this exchange.
It’s certainly surprising.

“Let’s focus. They can be starting any moment.”
I try to break the awkward silence.

“Hey Atom, what if I hide in the pit to give us
added protection?” Fe asks.

“Actually, that’s brilliant.” I smile at her. I
can feel Ev chiding me with her eyes.

Fe drops into the pit and is instantly hidden so
well that I can barely see her. The rest of us spread out along the field.
After checking to make sure that we are all in position, I look up and see the
drones making their way to us.

They are running in a single file line down the
middle of the field. They are so closely packed together that it’s hard to see
which one of them has the ball.

“Titan. K.
Ev
. Al. Stay
wide in case any of them peel off,” I order. “The rest of us will attack the
line from the front.”

 
The
four of us take off towards the line. Ox takes the lead with Hydro, Sil, Sodi,
Cal and me right behind him. Ox rams into the first drone, knocking him back
into the two drones behind him. Hydro attacks the drones that Ox knocked over
to help keep them down. Two drones from the middle peel off to the sides and I
catch the Genesys on the wings tending to them.