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

Two outsiders turn the corner at the end of the hallway and are immediately met with a barrage of bullets. Titan and Sodi each connect with a lethal shot. A third person turns the corner but dives back for cover. He pokes his head around, and I immediately recognize him as Joey, the guy Dr. Kivuli talked to a couple of nights ago.

“The Genesys are here!” Joey yells back down his hallway.

He pokes his head around the corner again but is instantly met with a bullet. He falls to the ground.

“Got him,” Sodi says coldly.

“Nice shot.” Cal smacks her on the shoulder.

“Titan, Sodi. Get in front. You will lead us down the hall. Shoot at anything that turns the corner. Keep your ears open,” I order.

We make our way down the hallway, and it isn’t until we are halfway there that we hear footsteps coming. There are so many that it sounds like an army. I look around and see that our only options are to turn back or to fight our attackers.

“Cover me,” I shout as I run toward the two fallen outsiders. When I reach them, I grab their rifles and pull them off. As I run back, Titan and Sodi begin shooting. The bullets fly past my head.

The other Genesys have scattered against the walls and are shooting their non-lethal guns as well. Something bites my left arm, and the warm sting reminds me of when I was shot on the roof of the outsiders’ building. I ignore the pain and run back to the group.

“Hydro! Al!” I yell out as I toss each of them the rifles I collected.

They catch the guns and step up to the front where Sodi and Titan are. Together, we shoot and take out the first few outsiders that come around the corner. There are a couple moments of calm, and then two small canisters bounce off one of the hallway walls and roll toward us.

Instantly the canisters release a gas that fills the hallway.

“Cover your faces!” Dr. Metzger shouts.

I pull my shirt over my mouth and nose. When I look around, the few Genesys that I can see have done the same.

“Everyone down!” I shout as I get flat on my stomach. This will reduce the amount of surface area that can be hit.

We all shoot toward the end of the hallway, hoping that it will buy us time. With the smoke filling the hallway, we are easy targets. Bullets fly over my head, and after a few pass by, I hear a grunt behind me. Someone was hit.

The grunt was definitely male, and I find myself hoping that it didn’t hit anyone anywhere vital. I shift to get into a better shooting position when a sharp pain in my arm reminds me that I was shot too.

If the smoke doesn’t lift soon, we are all dead. I think about telling the Genesys to retreat back into our old hallways, but a surprising noise stops my thought. A barrage of shots is being fired from the opposite side of the hallway ahead of us. After a few deafening moments of gunfire and screams, it all stops.

“It’s all clear,” a voice calls out ahead of us.

I look around, but I can’t see anyone, not even the Genesys next to me. None of us are moving, though; we are cautious.

“We are here to help, Atom,” the voice calls out again.

“We’re coming,” I say.

“Atom, no,” Ev calls out.

“It’s okay. If these guys wanted us dead, they would have shot at us while we’re still in the smoke. They don’t have time to play around.” I stand up and can hear everyone else doing the same.

As I walk toward the end of the hallway, the smoke gets lighter, and I can tell that the people calling us forward are a group of about a dozen drones. My thoughts return to the grunt I heard, and I wonder who it was that got shot.

One by one, the Genesys make their way to the end of the hallway and join me with the drones. Titan and Sodi raise their rifles when they see them, but I push their rifles back down. After Ox walks out, carrying Mag, there is a long moment of inactivity.

“Where’s Cal?” Al asks.

My heart races, and a lump jumps up in my throat. He was the one who was shot. “Cal!”

A few others join in shouting his name. Just as I’m about to go back into the smoke to find him, a silhouette appears. It’s one person dragging another. After a couple more steps, I see that Cal is dragging Marco.

Dr. Metzger runs over and checks on Marco. “He’s dead.”

“Damn,” Cal says as he drops Marco’s body.

“We need to go,” one of the drones says.

I look around and see about thirty outsiders lying on the ground. We wouldn’t have stood a chance if these drones hadn’t shown up.

“If you don’t have a gun, grab one!” I shout. I run over to the closest outsider and swap his gun for mine. The remaining Genesys do the same.

Once we are all equipped with lethal rifles, we follow the drones back down the hallway they came from. They lead us down a couple more hallways and finally through a set of doors that takes us to the fields behind the scientists’ quarters.

As we pour out into the open, I see that there isn’t much activity back here. The majority of the fighting is happening inside and in the front of the compound.

A missile hits the ground to our left, where the corn and other vegetables are. Where Dr. Kivuli is. My thoughts jump back to what she said, that 80 had shot her. It still doesn’t make sense. It can’t be right.

“Let’s go!” a drone orders.

They jog ahead, and we do our best to keep up with them. Ox is slowed by having to carry Mag, and none of us wants to leave them behind. Sil is the only one keeping pace with the drones.

Before