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

into their respective rooms. I can hear gasps and some sniffles from both rooms, and I remember all the emotions I dealt with when I stepped back into my room. They hadn’t lived in their rooms as long as I had, but I’m sure they still developed a few memories.

After a few solitary moments, the two girls walk out and join me back in the hallway. Hydro wipes her cheeks with her hands.

“Are you two okay?” I ask, trying to be as gentle as I can.

“Yeah,” Hydro responds. K nods her head in agreement.

We walk the rest of the way to the simulation room in silence. I figure that they want to be alone with their thoughts to process what they just saw. Besides, I need to think a little more about this Hologram Battle I’m about to put the Genesys through. I really don’t know what to expect.

When we get out of the elevator at the simulation room, I see that everyone else has already arrived. Their classes must have ended early, but by the looks of it, they all enjoyed them. They are all enthusiastically sharing the information they learned with each other. It’s not until I pass them that they finally quiet down and look at me.

I take a deep breath and look at all of them. “I hope you all enjoyed your classes.”

They all mumble affirmatives. I look at Fe and then Ev. Both of them have smiles on their faces. Fe adds a wink when I look back at her, and I try not to let it affect me as I begin to speak. The last thing I need is to be blushing while I introduce the Hologram Battles.

“Okay, today we are doing something different, and to be perfectly honest, I don’t really know what it is,” I start off.

“What do you mean you don’t know?” Sil blurts out.

“Grant didn’t reveal anything. I’m assuming that it’s going to be a battle against holograms,” I say.

“Thanks for stating the obvious, genius,” Titan says as he nudges Sil. Sil and Sodi laugh. A few of the other Genesys stifle their laughs with smiles.

I glare at Titan for a moment before a smile covers my face. I really did just state the obvious. “Anyway, all I can do right now is just turn the simulation on and see what happens.”

“Are we splitting up into teams?” Al speaks. I look over, and he and Hydro are already leaning on each other. They are starting to straddle the line between cute and vomit-inducing.

“I don’t know. I don’t think so. I believe we will all have to work together on this,” I say as I turn to the control panel. “Grab your preferred shorthand weapon and long-range weapon.”

The Genesys all move toward the weapons cache and equip themselves. Fe walks over to me. “Hey, Atom. What can I get you?”

I look into her eyes and feel the beating in my chest quicken. “A rifle and my chain. Thanks.”

She walks off, and I begin to enter the necessary data into the control panel. Just before I enter the last key, I look around to make sure everyone is ready. All of the Genesys are equipped and look eager for battle. Fe brings me my gear, and I wrap the chain around my shoulder and hold the rifle in my opposite arm.

“Everybody stay close. Let’s do this!” I turn and hit the last key.

A few gasps escape some of the Genesys as the entire room goes black. I try to look around, but my eyes aren’t adjusting to the darkness. Dead silence fills the room.

“What’s going on? Is it working?” A voice I recognize as Cal’s breaks the stillness.

“I don’t know.” I turn back to the panel, but a giant cliff appears in front of me just as I do. I am mere inches from stepping off the edge. Even though I know I won’t fall, it is so realistic that my heart jumps up to my throat. About five hundred feet below me is an unforgiving ocean.

“Ow! What the hell?” Al screams. I turn to see that he is already on the ground and disabled. He has been taken out.

Many of the Genesys have already scattered away, but a few remain by my side. As I scan the scene before me, I see a plateau with a few giant boulders and a forest in the distance. What I don’t see is anything that would be attacking us.

Before I can take anything else in, I am thrown to the ground by a flying body. When I turn my head, I see Ox lying on top of me. “What the hell, man?”

“Look.” He points to the forest. I follow his finger and notice a red light hovering in the darkness of the woods.

The light flickers and, without warning, Ox rolls in front of me and is struck by something. He’s been knocked out.

“Thanks,” I say before I run off. As I make my way to the boulder closest to me, I see that Titan, K, and Sodi have gathered behind it. I slide behind it and rest my back next to Sodi.

“What do we do?” K looks at me.

“Yeah, leader, what do we do?” Titan adds mockingly.

“Where is everyone else?” I ask.

Titan points to a boulder to our right. “That one has Ev, Sil, and Cal. The other three are at a boulder on the other side of that one.”

“Okay, good.” I see that the group at the next boulder is waiting for me to make a move. I look around for ideas, but nothing comes. Finally, I spot Sodi’s gun. It’s a sniper rifle. “Titan, what kind of gun did you grab?”

“An assault rifle. Why?” He holds it closer to himself.

“Sodi, give Titan your gun so he can shoot what’s behind the red light,” I demand.

“No, I can take the shot,” Sodi snaps back, and pokes her head around the boulder.

“I’m not asking. I’m telling you to give him your gun. He’s a