Gen One

by Amy Bartelloni

  “I’m so sorry,” she breathed. At the same time, the story only doubled her resolve.

  Smoke cleared her face and wiped her eyes. “So you see what you’re up against?” She met Delilah’s gaze, both of them with a steely determination and refusal to back down. “If they catch you, they won’t just kill you. The stories that come out of Authority City are true. They kill people for fun. For experiments. For warning.”

  Charity’s body wasn’t the only one to wash up on shore. It happened so often in the Banks it wasn’t even a big deal. Someone just came around to collect the bodies, with little effort made to identify them. Until now, Delilah had never associated the bodies with an actual person. With a future that could happen to her, or Zane. She swallowed.

  “What are the chances he’s dead?” she asked. She hadn’t risked it until then, too afraid of the answer. She’d been the one to tell Brute there was a chance for his brother, but now her certainty faltered. What chance did any of them have?

  Gen took her hand and squeezed it. “We can’t tell you that, Dee,” she said. Delilah wondered if Gen were honest because of her programming, or her personality. She’d heard Gen lie, but she’d never seen her be malicious or cruel. It was the one part of her that wasn’t human.

  Gen continued, but she averted her gaze. “But we think they keep them alive. For amusement, or work. Zane is strong. I’m sure he’s still alive.”

  Brute snorted. She was sure his brother was strong too, but it had been months.

  “Thank you for that,” she said, squeezing Gen’s hand back and letting it go. Smoke retreated to the far side of the room, looking out the window. She braced herself with one hand, her back toward them.

  “So, when, then?” Delilah asked. Though all she’d heard for days were the various ways the bots would torture them if they were found, and the small likelihood of success, it did little to dampen her enthusiasm. If Zane were there, and Brute’s brother, and the others, they’d get them out. This had all become so much bigger than her in the last few days, but she’d grown to accommodate their cause. Zane’s cause. If she had to take out the whole bot army, she’d do it.

  Smoke sighed and turned around. She rubbed her chin. “Tomorrow, then.” She looked at Brute. “If you can get the word to Rank.”

  Brute nodded. “I’ll have to go now,” he said, backing up to the door. Shadow waved him off, and the door slammed closed behind him. Shadow spoke quietly to Smoke, and Gen hovered a few feet behind them, listening. The plan was set and in motion. They wouldn’t miss her. Delilah turned and ran out the door after Brute.

  The tiny fishing village had shrunk so no more than twenty people were left, but no one was outside at the moment. Delilah shivered. She’d forgotten her coat, but it wasn’t yet the time she’d get frostbite, not even in the twilight hours. More like really uncomfortable, and that she could deal with.

  Brute had already made it far up the street. He had a long stride and didn’t turn back. Delilah jogged to catch up, but he’d disappeared into one of the cabins before she could catch him.

  Delilah was winded when she reached the door. She knocked once, then opened it and went in. It took her eyes a moment to adjust to the small, cluttered space. Brute stayed here alone, she remembered. It was the way he liked it. She knew he was dealing with his brother’s loss, and maybe a lot more. He needed to grieve in his own way.

  She was surprised to stumble into a small table containing different religious relics. A wooden cross shared space with what she thought was a Buddha, and an elephant with many arms. There was even a small, unlit menorah. She ran her fingers over the edge until she heard a sound behind what she assumed was the bathroom door. Someone was crying, and not quietly. Brute took heavy breaths and sobbed behind the closed door.

  There was nothing she could say. She got down on her knees next to the door and pressed her hand against it and knocked lightly.

  “I’m sorry,” she said, softer than she thought he could hear, but the crying quieted. In a minute or so, the door opened, and she sat back on her knees.

  “You should learn how to knock,” he said, but he wasn’t angry. He had the shadow of his usual grin as he wiped his face with a cloth. He sat cross-legged on the floor next to her. “It’s still fresh, I guess. They say grief goes away in time, but…”

  “It doesn’t,” Delilah finished. She looked away, to his wall, where there was a picture of two boys taped up. She thought of her father. “Sometimes I don’t want it to, because that will mean I forgot.”

  Brute put his hand over hers. “We’ll find Zane,” he promised. “He’s my friend, too.”

  She nodded and leaned her head back against the wall. The wave of despair that had come off Brute washed over her. She didn’t want to fight the bots. She didn’t want to get involved in this war, but there was no choice now. She couldn’t ever forget about him. Even if it were possible to go back to the Banks. and live her life in quiet poverty, under the thumb of the bots…that was no life. She’d had a taste of freedom. She’d had a taste of love. And that was worth fighting for. The bots wouldn’t change or back down, and she couldn’t let more families be torn apart.

  Brute had gotten so silent she forgot he was there, and when she turned her head, he was looking at her. The only evidence of his emotional state was the red in his eyes.

  “Thank you,” he said. He climbed up and offered her a hand. She got up unceremoniously and wiped a tear off her own cheek. The realizations had come hard and fast, the last one being she was ready for whatever was coming.

  “I have to meet someone to deliver the message to Rank,” Brute said. His voice changed pitch. It was softer, concerned. This wouldn’t be the Brute she’d see tomorrow on the mission. She was sure of it. There had been a deepening of their friendship, almost something more.

  “Thank you,” she said, though she knew he was going for his own reasons.

  “Go get some rest.” He stepped back, almost like he was pulling himself away. “I’ll see you at daybreak.”

  “Brute,” she called after him. She took two steps toward him, but stopped several paces off. “You should use your real name. Luke. Brute—it doesn’t fit you.”

  He smiled sadly. “We’ll see about that tomorrow,” he said. He turned and disappeared out the side door. She watched him walk out, then followed him into the empty street. He was right. She’d need to get some rest for the next day, even though she thought she was too keyed up to sleep. She walked out the front door, walking the length of the camp a couple times before returning to her cabin to try to sleep.

  Delilah could tell the day of the raid would be unusually warm before she even got out of bed. She kicked the covers off during the night, and a layer of sweat covered her body. Smoke and Shadow had moved to one of the empty cabins, but Gen stayed. Even the fabricated skin on her cheeks flushed when Delilah got up before the sun rose. An omen, she thought, but of what? Unseasonably warm weather meant nothing except they wouldn’t have to pack heavy jackets. With any luck, they wouldn’t be in Authority City long enough to need them.

  Delilah had already packed a small backpack and went out to meet the others in the meeting hall. Even in the low, dawn light, a long, white trail of smoke came from the direction of the Rez. A trace of smog hung in the air, too. The smell made her uneasy. Fires were devastating for the little shanty residences, and the Authority could be brutal in rooting out traitors. Were others suffering for their plans?

  General Shadow met her outside the meeting hall and handed her a bottle of water and a roll of bread. “It’s the Banks.” She nodded toward the smoke and took a long drink of her own water. “Burned overnight.”

  “Was anyone hurt?” Delilah wasn’t hungry, but she forced the food down. It might be the last time they ate for a while. They were unable to pack much, since the bots would be checking them, but Brute had messed with the scramblers enough that h
e was confident they wouldn’t find them. He and Delilah would be wearing one in their back teeth, which blended seamlessly. It was a risk they had to take.

  “Probably.” Shadow shrugged the question off. “Many more people will die before this is over. You need to be ready for that.”

  Delilah sensed the woman was looking for an argument. She was familiar with the tactic from the Banks and backed off. Delilah wondered what Shadow was looking for? Delilah to back down, or step up? Shadow looked Delilah up and down. She’d dressed in the plain brown cargo pants and long-sleeved shirt, rolling the sleeves up in the warm air. She wasn’t backing down, but she’d save her fighting for when it really mattered.

  Brute stepped out from the hall and Delilah walked out from under Shadow’s gaze to meet him. “How long to the rendezvous point?” she asked.

  Brute rubbed his chin. “It was moved,” he responded. Smoke came out behind him, and Gen joined them from their cabin. “I had to chase down my contact last night. Almost missed him. Rank usually sends a handful of men from the Banks each morning, but given what happened…” He gestured in the direction of the Banks, where the smoke thickened.

  “What did happen?” Delilah asked.

  “Depends who you ask,” he answered. He had chosen a short-sleeved white shirt and black pants, and rubbed his arm while he watched the smoke. “My contacts say it was arson.”

  Delilah sucked a breath in. “Someone sabotaged Rank?” It was a risky move. The Human Coalition needed his help, and even the Authority looked the other way. Whoever burned down the Banks would have enemies on all sides. Brute lowered his voice. “My contact said that a fringe group found out Rank was working with the Authority to provide them with slaves. This group wanted to make it public, and they did, in a big way.”

  Delilah had seen a lot of unsavory things in the Banks, things she didn’t even have names for. She’d never seen slavery, but then, she never looked for more trouble than she could handle. Zane would know. He’d know about this fringe group, too. She shifted uneasily on her feet.

  “And the Authority?” she asked.

  “They say they did it to punish the humans.” He met her gaze. “They’re one step away from declaring war.”

  She swallowed. The Banks could be shady and rotten, but it provided a lot of work. Without it, many people would go hungry tonight.

  Smoke stepped between them. She wore her usual gray t-shirt and cargo pants, but there was already a line of sweat on her brow. “The new meeting point is closer. Rank’s boat will dock a mile south of here. We can walk.”

  Shadow and Smoke fell into a low conversation about the path they’d take, but Delilah still felt uneasy. Brute was Rank’s spy, and he arranged this mission, but there were so many factions involved now she didn’t know who to trust.

  Gen led the way through a small path by the shore. Smoke and Shadow followed, carrying small backpacks, and Delilah and Brute went last. Others had volunteered, but they decided smaller was better, and left a contingent back at the village. Delilah waited until the others were out of earshot to talk to Brute. “The thing about the slave labor…” she began. She’d been turning it around in her head.

  Brute’s shoulders drooped. “I don’t know anything about it,” he said. “But I know people volunteer. Like we’ll be doing. It’s supposed to be a two-year stint, building and repairing, but the thing is—why would they need us to build and repair their city when they’re so technologically superior? Why don’t they just make more of themselves?”

  He held a branch back for her to duck under. “Maybe they don’t have the resources,” she guessed. It was a discussion she’d had with Zane many times. “The war took out much of their capacity.”

  “That was a long time ago,” Brute responded darkly. “They’re rebuilding. Just look at the warehouse.”

  “What happened to the warehouse?” she asked. She walked a little faster to catch up, catching snippets of Gen’s conversation with Smoke about their direction. A warm breeze blew in from the sea, and across the dunes, waves crashed on the shore. The bugs were thick, and Delilah swatted them away.

  “From what I hear, it burned,” he replied. “Remember, the bots can’t exactly turn on a hose to put out a fire. Once it started on the walls, they were screwed.”

  She took a breath. Taking out the warehouse was big, but she wondered if the Authority had retaliated by taking out the Banks. Were they unwittingly setting a war in motion, just to rescue Zane?

  “The thing is,” Brute continued, “once these people Rank recruits go over to Authority City, they don’t come back. The Authority tells their families they signed longer contracts, some disappear. But there’s no contact and they don’t return.”

  Delilah stepped over a thick root. “What do you think is really happening?” she asked. She’d tossed and turned the night before, worrying about the worst possible scenarios. Monster bots. People zoos. Horrific human/bot experiments. Whatever they were walking into, it wouldn’t be pretty.

  Brute didn’t have a chance to answer. Gen slowed down and shushed them. They’d been walking in light woods, on the other side of the dunes from the water. The others had reached a clearing. Smoke ducked back, but Shadow had taken a few tentative steps onto the beach. Her shadow was long on the sand.

  “What’s out there?” Delilah asked. With the breaking sun it had become warm enough to sweat, or maybe that was nerves.

  Gen looked down and shuffled her feet. “A body,” she admitted.

  Brute pushed his way past her, out of the woods, and to the shore. Delilah followed close behind. She had the horrible suspicion it was Zane, and suspected this didn’t get easier for Brute, or Smoke for that matter, any time.

  It wasn’t Zane, or Brute’s brother, because the body belonged to a child. And a child whose body was so mutilated Delilah felt sick looking at it. The girl wore a long, tattered brown dress, but that wasn’t the worst of it. Her body was a mass of electronics and flesh. Whatever they’d tried to do didn’t work. The flesh had swollen and infected where it met with metal on her arms, legs, and even face. A long section of her cheek puffed and oozed. Her eyes were open, staring vacantly back at Authority City, barely visible in the distance. Delilah had to look away, but even when she closed her eyes she could see the girl’s face.

  Brute knelt next to the girl on the sand, gently closing her eyes. “We should bury her,” he said, but Shadow cut him off.

  “We don’t have time. The rendezvous…”

  “Screw the rendezvous,” Brute spit out. “She was a human once, and she’s a child. We should bury her.”

  Smoke put a hand on his shoulder. “We’ll bury her. Shadow and I.” Shadow’s eyes widened, but she didn’t argue. They hadn’t planned on being at the meeting point, anyway. It was too dangerous.

  Brute nodded. He picked up the girl’s lifeless body. Her arms and legs fell, and the metal glinted in the sun. Pieces of flesh had sagged off her arms and the muscles underneath were gruesome and ragged. He placed her in the soft grass, and they all gathered around her for a moment, until Gen gently moved them along.

  “We should go,” she gently prodded. Delilah took a step off, wondering who this girl was and how she’d come to this end. Was she a prisoner, so young? Or traded away? It gave her a chill to think of children being tortured. Zane should have gotten her involved a long time ago.

  “She’s not the first, and she won’t be the last,” Smoke commented. Brute stalked off. “We’ll take care of her,” Smoke added. “I promise you that.”

  Delilah wiped away her own tears, holding back her questions. She couldn’t think about them now. There was only the mission. She nodded.

  “You have your instructions,” Shadow told them. “Gen knows where the meeting point is. Try to get there quickly.”

  Delilah nodded. Her heart beat fast. She was starting to realize what a foolish m
ission they’d taken on, but there was no turning back. She wouldn’t even if she could.

  “We’ll see you again, and soon.” Smoke surprised her by pulling her into a hug. She smelled of soap and shampoo and earth. Delilah buried her head in Smoke’s shoulder. In just a few days, she’d become more of a mother figure for Delilah. She’d become family.

  “I hope so.” Delilah pulled away, purposely not looking at the girl’s body. That could be their fate, and they all knew it.

  “You ready?” Brute asked. He’d pulled himself together, but he was pale. Gen led the way across the clearing.

  “Only another half a mile up the coast,” she said. “But it might get rocky from here. Be careful.”

  “Yeah,” Brute joked. “You don’t want to die before you can die.” He fell in line behind Gen.

  “You’re not going to die,” Smoke said, softly, but she wasn’t very convincing. Still, Delilah knew what she was walking into. She’d proceed carefully, but fiercely. Even an army of bots couldn’t stop her now. Her nerves turned into confidence. Getting on this ship was just one more step, and if they could do this, they could pull off the rest. She hoped, anyway.

  She left Smoke and Shadow behind and walked forward to the meeting point.

  Gen wasn’t exaggerating when she described the rest of the route as tough and rocky. The rugged terrain cut off the possibility of conversation. The girl’s body on the shore, alone and mutilated, bothered Delilah more than she let on. She’d seen death in the Banks, usually as a result of a fight. She’d even seen washed up bodies, but none so abused. It doubled her resolve. More than rescuing Zane, she had to see what was happening in Authority City with her own eyes. She had to see if these zoos and experiments were real.