Gene. Sys. by Aaron Denius (best ereader for comics txt) 📕

barricade of rubble. 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 turn to the building behind me and see in the dirty reflection of the little glass left that about nine people are 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 crawl in through one of the building’s broken windows. 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 for a way out when the dragonfly takes off toward [A5]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. 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 for a moment on the first flight of steps and 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 is 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 about 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 jar it open. We’ve 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 toward 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, fixed wings. Each wing and the tail has a glowing green circle that appears to be the source of 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 toward 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 toward him because he and Grant are firing at the outsiders. There are definitely more than there were before. The outsiders turn their fire toward the craft, causing it to back away. I use the opportunity to run to 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