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

room. Everything seems pretty normal. Drones are patrolling the compound; scientists are going about their business.

I’m about to roll back over when I spot 80 on one of the monitors. He’s standing just to the bottom right edge of the frame. A couple of seconds later, Brianna walks into the frame and exchanges a few words with him. Just as I adjust myself to get a closer look, 80 looks directly in the direction of the camera. He says something to Brianna, and they both walk off in a hurry.

The meeting is peculiar, and I am unsure what it was for. How do they know each other? Have they met before?

Another monitor catches my attention. I look to see Dr. Kivuli walking down a hallway with Hawk, Dr. Metzger, and a fourth scientist I recognize from the picture I saw with Ev and from the Center for G.O.D. He is very tall and thin with light brown hair. They are not a combination of people I would expect to see walking together. They are in the middle of a very heated conversation, and at one point, Dr. Kivuli turns to shout something at the tall scientist.

The man stands his ground but doesn’t reply. When they walk out of this camera frame, I look around to try to spot them in another, but I can’t find them.

After a few more moments of watching the monitors with no activity, I head to the shower and try to wake my body up before I head to class. The cold water is initially painful but soon turns refreshing, and I force myself to turn the water off and get out.

I get ready and head down the hallway to my class. As I turn the corner, I run into Ox, standing in the hallway.

“Hey, Ox!” I greet him.

“Hey, man. How’s it going?” he asks.

“Pretty good. What are you up to? Aren’t you heading to class?” I stop next to him.

“Yeah. I’m just waiting for Fe to come out.” He says nonchalantly.

A hint of rage and jealousy rises up within me. Why would he be waiting for Fe? My thoughts are broken up when Fe opens the door and gives me a big smile and hug.

“Atom! Why are you here?” she asks cheerfully.

“I was on my way to class,” I say.

“Us too,” she replies as she starts walking down the hall. “Walk with us.”

It suddenly hits me that I put both Fe and Ox in the same Mechanical Engineering class. I feel my breathing ease up as we walk. “Sure. How do you guys like the class?”

“Love it!” She takes my hand. My breathing increases again but for entirely different reasons. My mind, however, shoots to Ev and her reaction. Suddenly my hand feels awkward in Fe’s hand, and it begins to sweat.

“It’s pretty good. I’m not a big fan of the teacher,” Ox says, snapping me out of my thoughts.

“Really?” Fe looks at Ox. “I think he’s great.”

“What’s he like?” I ask.

“His name is Hawk,” Fe responds.

I’m surprised by this revelation. I wouldn’t have thought of Hawk as someone who would be mechanically literate, but then again, I don’t know anything on the subject myself, so I’m in no place to make the assumption. “I know Hawk. I don’t really like him.”

“See?” Ox adds and looks at Fe.

“Why not?” She looks at me with concern in her eyes.

“We have a history, and it’s not pretty,” I say, my voice hard. It’s not a subject I want to talk about.

“Besides, what kind of name is Hawk?” Ox whispers to us as we approach the classrooms.

“Says the guy named Ox.” I smile at him. He laughs, so Fe and I join in.

Fe pulls me close and gives me a hug. “See you later.”

Down the hall, I spot Ev looking right at us. She turns her head in disgust. I frown, and I feel my heart drop. I don’t want her to be hurt. As Fe pulls away, I put on my best smile. “Have a good class.”

“You too.” She walks into her classroom, and Ox turns to step in after her.

“Ox, wait a second.” I put my hand on his shoulder.

He turns. “What’s up?”

I look around to make sure no one can hear me. “Let me know if Hawk does anything weird.”

Ox raises an eyebrow at me. “Why?”

“Just do it, please,” I say as I turn to head to my classroom.

When I walk in, Hydro, K, and Dr. Cicca are already there.

“You’re late.” Hydro pokes me and smiles.

“Sorry about that.” I look at Dr. Cicca.

“It’s alright.” She smiles. “Okay. Today’s class will be outside.”

She hands each one of us a tablet, and we head out of the classroom. We turn down a couple of hallways and exit through a door that I have never been through before. We are in a part of the compound that I haven’t seen. I can only assume that it is somewhere in the back.

When we turn the corner, I see the tall plants behind the library that I hid in when Dr. Kivuli talked with Joey. I didn’t notice that night the sheer variety of plants arranged in perfect sections.

Dr. Cicca stops us just short of the first set of plants and turns to look at us. “Today, we are going to learn about agriculture and farming. You’ll learn how to decontaminate soil, how to choose and cultivate crops. You will be getting your hands dirty.”

I look over at Hydro and K. They both have giant smiles on their faces. We spend the majority of the class going back and forth between the tablets and the plants. We use the tablets to learn about the plants we are working with.

Dr. Cicca encourages us to try a lot of the fruits and vegetables. My favorite by far is the corn, which happens to be the tall plants I hid in. I also like the grapes, the watermelon, and the carrots. My least favorite is probably the tomatoes.

Tasting all of these fruits and