Gene. Sys. (7 page)

“Let’s go.”
80 heads into the
city.

I follow. “How do you know which way to go?”

“I’m just walking to the giant structure in the
center of the city.” He puts his arm around my shoulder and I smile. For a
moment I feel we are brothers.

As we walk deeper into the city the density of
people increases. 80
was
right, no one is paying
attention to us. My nerves calm and my senses seem to kick into high gear. The
first thing to hit me is the smell. It is one of the most pungent odors I have
ever experienced. There is a hint of sweat and smoke, but the main culprit
seems to be rotting flesh, much like from the dead body whose clothes I am
wearing. My skin feels clammy and I realize that it is at least fifteen degrees
hotter here than at the compound.

The only thing that seems to be pleasant in this
repulsive city is the sounds of a steady beat I hear. “What do you think that
is?”

“I don’t know.” 80
turns
down a street and heads towards the sound. “Let’s find out.”

I would be turning away from the pyramid, which
is what I really want to see, but I am just as curious to explore the sounds.
It doesn’t take us long to get to the source as we are suddenly greeted by a
wall of people all looking towards the center. “I think it’s a party.”

80
looks
at me with
dead eyes. “I don’t know what that is.”

I’m surprised by what he just said. Then I
remember that there are many things that I am sure he hasn’t experienced. “It’s
a gathering for a celebration.”

“Ok,” he responds, unsure. “What about the
sound? And the smell?”

“The sound is music. Nothing I have heard
before.” I listen closer. It’s very drum heavy and rhythmic. Suddenly a second
smell hits me. It’s a type of burning, but this one is making my mouth water.
“I don’t know what that smell is.”

We try to look around the crowd but my gaze is
pulled away when I hear a buzzing by my head. I look and spot one of the
dragonfly cameras. They are much smaller in person and had I not seen one
before I wouldn’t be any wiser to what it is. I swat at it but it doesn’t move.

“They found us,” I say.

80 turns and looks around. “What do you mean?”

I point to the dragonfly. “That’s a camera.”

Before I know it, the staff has been pulled from
my grasp and 80 smashes the dragonfly camera. “Run. Go!”

We take off towards the pyramid. If I am going
to get caught, I want to be able to see the pyramid before they reach me. As we
run a few more dragonflies give chase. We do our best to avoid being spotted,
but there are too many, so we decide to just run straight for the pyramid.

Everything slows down as the majestic structure
that I have been coveting reveals
itself
to me. I had
seen many pictures but none of them prepared me for the way I would feel. There
is obvious wear on the pyramid and one of the corners seems to have been blown
off, but I still can’t help but feel humbled. Humans built this stunning work
of art over fifty centuries ago and no one in this city seems to have even an
inkling of respect for it. Suddenly, my purpose seems clearer. I wasn’t created
to only save the human race; I was created to also preserve its history.
    

“It’s amazing,” 80
says
and he snaps me out of my head.

“It truly is. Thank you for bringing me out
here, but we need to get back.” I turn to head back to the compound.

80
doesn’t
move. “What
do you think they’ll do to me?”

“What do you mean?” I look at him.

“I brought you out here. They are not going to
be very happy about that.” He looks up at me and for the first time I see a
fear of death in his eyes.

“I won’t let them do anything to you. You are my
friend and you saved my life. I will never forget that.” I walk on and he jogs
up next to me. We weave our way through the city and past the party.

“Hang on a second.” 80
runs
off towards the party, leaving me alone. I stand off to the side to try to
avoid any attention.

Just as 80 turns the corner an older man with
spotted facial hair steps in front of me. “Where did you get those shoes?”

I look down and see that the brightly colored
shoes are in complete contrast to the rest of the clothes I’m wearing. “I found
them.”

The old man studies me. “Where?”

My heart races because I know whatever answer I
give him will be the wrong answer. “I don’t remember.”

“You’re lying.” The old man pins my shoulders
against the wall and then looks back. “
Petros
!”

A giant man walks out of the shadows, his face
covered in scars. “What?”

“I think he’s from inside the walls.” The old
man grabs the staff out of my hand and tosses it aside.

Petros
steps right up to me.
His face close enough that I can smell his
breath
.
“He’s too young to be one of the scientists. He must be one of the clones.”

“You think he’s one of the guards or one of the
Genesys?” The old man prods at me.

“I don’t care.”
Petros
turns to walk away. “Kill him.”

The old man pulls a gun from his pants and aims
it at my head. My eyes go wide and my instincts take over. I kick off the wall,
knocking the old man back. His gun goes off but misses me by a few feet. I grab
the arm with the gun, sweep my leg over his head and arm and take him down to
the ground. With one quick motion I break his arm over my leg and pull the gun
from his hand. The old man screams in pain, pulling
Petros
’
attention, as well as a few others.

They all pull their guns on me so I duck behind
a barricade of rubble as they fire their rounds in my direction. Pieces of
glass and concrete fall on me as I try to recall my training with Grant. I wish
he was here to tell me what to do but I know all he would say is to figure it
out and use my head.

I look up and spot a dragonfly hovering above
me. I know now that all I have to do is fend them off long enough and help will
be here. I look at the building behind me and see in the reflection of the
little glass left that there are about nine people shooting at me. It won’t be
long before more join in. Off to the side I see another reflection, 80. He’s
hiding behind a building a half block down and is signaling something with his
hands. I look closely and realize that he’s telling me to go into the building.

I do my best to stay low and I crawl in through
one of the broken windows of the building. The floor is littered with rubble
and old office paraphernalia. A buzzing by my head causes me to flinch and I
turn to see the dragonfly camera. It’s following me.

“He’s inside!” the old man yells.

I look around the floor for a way out when the
dragonfly takes off and hovers towards a door against a far wall. I run to the
door and push but it
catches
on some rubble on the
other side. The opening is big enough for the dragonfly to squeeze through but
I can barely get my arm through. I push as hard as I can against the door and
it begins to slowly move. A shot goes off by my head and I turn to see the
outsiders streaming in through the same window I came through. I fire a couple
of shots in their direction and crouch low for cover.

“Come out, come out,”
Petros
sings from the other side of the floor. “We promise to kill you nice and
quick.”

Bullets whiz by me and I know that I have
nowhere else to go. I lean my back against the door and it flies open, causing
me to fall to my back. 80
stands
above me and he
shoots his gun at the outsiders.

“Go!” he yells. “Up the stairs!”

I crawl through the door and see that I am in a
stairwell. The dragonfly hovers on the first flight of steps and then takes
off. I follow it up the stairs as fast as I can; 80 trails behind me, turning
from time to time to shoot at our pursuers. Our enhanced genetics are definitely
an advantage as we create distance between the outsiders and us. Most of them
have slowed to a walk up the stairs while 80 and I continue at a jogging pace.

“Go as fast as you want. Eventually the stairs
will end and we will catch up,”
Petros
screams up to
us.

We reach the top of the stairs and push through
to the roof. “He’s right you know,” I say.

“Don’t worry about that. Help me find something
to block the door.”
80 searches around the roof.

The dragonfly hovers by my head and I look
around at the skyline. We must be around forty floors up. To the north I make
out the smoke from the party and behind it the pyramid. In the other direction
I can spot hints of the compound. I wonder how Rene is doing. Has he been told
that I snuck out? What will he do to 80, knowing that he put me in danger?

Gunfire snaps me back to the current situation.
I turn to see 80 shooting at the base of a giant exhaust vent. He waves me
over. “Help me push this in front of the door.”

I run to his side and see that he shot off the
rusted parts around the bolts that held the vent down. We push the vent
together and get it in front of the door as the first outsider attempts to push
it open. We have bought ourselves some time, but not much.

“What now?” I realize that I should have been
the one with the plan. That’s what I have been training for. Grant would be
disappointed in me, but I also understand that to 80 it’s just instinct.

“We wait.”
80 looks off
towards the compound.

“For what?” I ask.

“That.” He points to a craft that is coming out
of the field to the compound. I can’t quite make it out but I know I have never
seen it before.

More outsiders have reached the door and are
slowly pushing the vent out of the way. 80 and I lean against the vent but I
know that we won’t be able to hold them all off for too much longer.

The dragonfly takes off to the edge of the
building. The craft that approaches us resembles the dragonfly but with
smaller, stationary wings. Each wing and the tail have a glowing green circle
that seems to be the source for its power and ability to fly. It reaches the
building and hovers right next to the dragonfly. The side door opens and I see
Grant standing inside.

“Run!” Grant yells.

We take off towards the flying craft. Behind us
we hear the vent scrape as the door gets pushed open. Bullets fly by us and hit
the ground at our feet. Suddenly I feel a painful sting on my right arm and I
fall to the ground. I look up to see 80
jump
onto the
craft.

“Atom! Get up!” he screams.

I do but I can’t run towards him because he and
Grant are firing at the outsiders. There are definitely more than there were before.
The outsiders turn their fire towards the craft causing it to back away. I use
the opportunity to run towards the other side of the building. A few outsiders
spot me and fire; I duck and dodge as best as I can. In front of me the craft
is making its way back to the building.

My body seems to have taken over because,
instead of slowing down as I reach the edge of the roof, I’m speeding up. I
need to make the leap from this building into the moving aircraft. My speed and
timing need to be perfect because if I miss, I’m dead. As I charge forward I
push the fear back and jump off the edge. Nothing is in front of me and for a
moment I feel that I have made a mistake. Before my body starts its descent,
the craft pulls up in the path I anticipated and I hit the ledge of the side
door. 80 and Grant grab my arms and pull me in as the craft heads back to the
compound.

Grant closes the side door and heads for the
front of the aircraft.

“I’m sorry,” I cry out before he disappears. I
look at 80. “Why did you leave me back on the ground?”

He smiles. “I went back to the party because I
had seen them eating something. I wanted to get us some. They were calling it
chicken.”

I remember learning about chickens. They are a
flightless bird. The thought of eating one did not sit well in my stomach. “I’m
glad you didn’t…”

“
Here.
” 80 hands me a
small, greasy bone with meat on it. It feels dirty in my hand and it reminds me
of the dead bodies we saw. I look up at 80 and he’s tearing a piece of the meat
off in his mouth. He speaks as he chews. “This is amazing! So much better than
those pouches.” He tears off another piece.”

I smell it and the odor is actually quite sweet
with a bit of a kick. Staring scared at the meat, I chuckle because I realize
that I just jumped off of a building into a moving aircraft and I am afraid to
try this. I take a bite and instantly fall in love with the taste. The juicy
texture floods my mouth and the sweetness has a hint of orange. There is an
aftertaste that is not unlike smoke but it’s perfect. “Do you have more?”

80 pulls two more from his pocket and hands me
one. We laugh as we eat the bones clean.