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

Dr. Cicca’s eyes grow wide with shock. Blood starts to trickle from her neck.

“Where is Fe?!” I demand.

Brianna looks right at me. “I know where Fe is, but you won’t find her.”

I slowly bend toward my gun. “If anything has happened to her…”

Brianna’s eyes grow fierce. She pulls Dr. Cicca in closer. “Sorry, Janice.”

“No! Don’t!” I scream.

In one quick motion, Brianna slits Dr. Cicca’s throat and takes hold of the rifle that she was carrying. Dr. Cicca falls to the ground, and Brianna shoots at me.

I jump to the side, avoiding all the bullets. I continue running just in front of the stream of bullets. When I get to one of the rollpods, I kick off the front with a backflip. While in the air, I unwind the chain from my body.

The second I land, I spin and whip the chain at Brianna. It connects hard with the side of her head, and she screams as she falls to the ground. The impact has caused her to drop the rifle. I use the opportunity to run at her and wrap the chain around her neck.

I pull hard and bring her to her feet. She gasps for air, and when I raise her off the ground, she gurgles and kicks.

“Where is Fe?” I demand.

I set Brianna down to give her a moment of reprieve. When she doesn’t answer, I lift her off the ground again. She struggles to breathe once more.

“If you want to live, you tell me where she is!” I shout.

When I set her down, she points to the last building on the right. It’s right before the pyramid. “She’s in there.”

I loosen up the chain, and she falls to the ground, grasping for all the oxygen around her. I walk over to pick up the two guns, and as I pick up the second, I hear Brianna scream. When I turn, I see her charging at me with the knife she used to kill Dr. Cicca. I forgot she had it.

I set the guns on the ground, plant hard with my feet, and just before she reaches me, I jump and spin in the air. As I fly above her, I twist the chain around her neck. I use the momentum as I fall to fling her over my head at one of the rollpods. Brianna flies through the air, and her head connects with the side of the rollpod. The crack of her neck as it breaks against the rollpod nearly causes me to throw up.

I wrap the chain around me, pick up one of the rifles, and fling it over my shoulder. Now that I have to finish this on my own, I can jump from balcony to balcony. I look over at Dr. Cicca. A pool of blood surrounds her. The sheer number of people who have sacrificed themselves to ensure our success is not lost on me. I am resolved to make sure that I don’t fail them.

I run up the right side of the debris pile, and when I get to the top, I jump and grab hold of the metal steps. A couple of moments later, I am standing on the balcony, thirty feet up. As I look down at the ten or so balconies that I need to progress down, I see that most are in worse shape than the one I am standing on right now.

The first couple of leaps from one balcony to the next are actually pretty easy. It isn’t until I reach the gap between buildings that the space between them looks farther than I can jump. I take a deep breath, back up, and then run as hard as I can down the length of my current balcony and jump off the ledge.

I land hard against the side of the balcony on the new building. My feet dangle off the edge, but I have enough of a grip to pull myself up. Still, my heart stops and then kicks into high gear at the prospect of falling. I make it to the last balcony of this building without incident. The outsiders and drones roaming the streets beneath haven’t noticed me, and my target building is three away.

I take another running start to jump to the balcony of the next building, and I land the same way as I did before. This time, my stomach takes the brunt of the impact, knocking the wind out of me. Before I have time to react, the concrete gives way, and I fall.

The sensation of falling stops, and I look to see that the strap of the rifle has caught on a large metal wire. It’s the only thing holding me up from a thirty-foot drop.

“Up there!” I hear someone shout from beneath me. I look down and see a few outsiders and drones run up and aim their guns.

I return my attention to the balcony I am hanging from and instantly hear the strap from the rifle snap. My arms reach up, and my left hand grabs hold of the floor of the balcony as the gun falls to the ground. Shots fire up at me from below, and the bullets spray around me. I use the strength I have left to get my right hand secured on the floor and lift myself into the cover of the balcony. Bits of concrete fall on me as the bullets hit the building around me.

They aren’t going to stop shooting, and I need to get to Fe. We are running out of time, and we have to get back to Rene and the Fly before the Ragnarok starts.

I stand and run without thinking twice. As I jump from one balcony to the next, I unwrap my chain. When I get to the gap between buildings, I fling the chain as I jump, hooking it to the balcony above my target balcony. The spray of bullets continues, and a couple actually hit the chain as I land safely on the balcony. I