Gen One

by Amy Bartelloni

  More bots had joined the fight, but some of them were glitching like the one they’d seen outside. She didn’t understand why it affected some and not others, but the ones who remained were fighting hard. More animals had been let out, and they were angry. The remaining twenty or so humans ducked behind whatever they could, but bloody carcasses lined the floor of the arena. The whole floor had turned red.

  It was hard to tell one from another from this height. The two humans ahead of her dodged behind chairs and shot at the bot, and the bot responded with a laser shot close to Delilah’s head. Still, the scene faded into the background as Delilah’s attention focused on one person down in the arena. He wore a torn, bloodied muscle shirt and there was a large gash in his left arm. Dripping blood. He cradled it. Delilah held her breath until he turned around, and she was sure it was Brute.

  She lost her footing for a moment, and slipped down the stairs, and just in time because the bot saw her, aimed, and fired just over her head.

  “Luke!” She watched as he ran from a lion. The others covered him, but their exits were blocked, and the remaining bots took aim. The humans had no weapons. Delilah’s stomach fell. This was sick.

  She barely heard the shot when Whiskey took the bot out behind her, but Delilah had stood up. Whiskey pulled her back, she leaned so far over the seats.

  “Let’s go.” She gestured to the two men behind her. “This is Axe and Dagger.” The boys gave a half wave. They were bruised and bloodied, but wore Rank’s black uniform. She wondered if they’d been on the boat with her.

  “No.” Delilah looked around frantically. “I have to get down there.”

  “We need to get the others—”

  Delilah grabbed Whiskey’s shoulders. “Brute is in there!”

  Whiskey looked over Delilah’s shoulders. Her eyes narrowed. “Shit,” she mumbled. “Then we have to hurry.”

  She motioned to Axe and Dagger to get moving. They ran to the human cages to start opening them, but there must have been a hundred. It would take too long. Delilah turned frantically back to the arena. Brute was still on his feet, but barely. He wavered and dodged a shot, coming close to a lion. He rolled just in time to avoid being killed.

  “How do I get down there?” Delilah asked.

  “Dee—you have one gun,” Whiskey said, pulling at a lock.

  “Then I’ll make it count,” Delilah answered. She pulled out of Whiskey’s hold. “Whiskey, I only need to open the door to give them a chance.”

  Whiskey sighed, taking precious seconds they didn’t have. She looked at Axe and Dagger, who fought with the locks. The mechanics took more than a blaster shot to open. Dagger was kicking one of the doors and it remained stubbornly closed. “Okay,” Whiskey said. “It’s downstairs. But those doors are going to be guarded.”

  The floor under them rumbled, and Whiskey smiled. “Though they are probably under attack.” She pointed to the main entrance to the arena, which the bots had taken over. “You can try the other side,” she said unconvincingly.

  “I will.” Delilah instinctively pulled her into a hug. Whiskey froze, then hugged her back.

  “Be careful, Dee,” Whiskey told her.

  Delilah nodded, but she’d already turned to the exit. She checked Brute, who was still alive and fighting. She might only have once chance to save him, and she wasn’t going to blow it.

  For the first time since she’d been separated from Zane, Delilah was alone. Her heart pounded as she held the gun in front of her and looked around the corner that led to the curved hallway, but instead of being paralyzed by her fear, she fed on it. Zane was safe now, hopefully. She couldn’t allow herself to think otherwise. But there was a bigger world out there, a bigger mission which had come to be hers. It wasn’t just the bots’ control and the governor’s hive mind, though after seeing this place, she was inclined to want to burn the whole city down. It was Smoke, and Brute, and Whiskey, and all the others who had become family.

  And it was Zane. Wounded and struggling for his life. Zane, who tried to protect her but ended up opening an entire world. She needed to stay alive to kick him and thank him at the same time.

  The stairway wasn’t easy to find. She ducked past broken windows as laser guns flashed past her. Keeping to the shadows, she backtracked once when the fighting got heavy, following doors that led to offices and openings that led up, but none down. She was about to curse and go back when she located it.

  The busted door hung on one hinge. The smell of smoke and burned flesh rose from below. She even heard the roar of a lion, but it may have been coming from behind. All the noises of fighting amplified and sounded like they were coming from every direction at once. It wasn’t something anyone would want to go in. The stairs were dark and smoke got heavier the farther she went. She felt along the wall as the stairs curved, running her hands along something wet that smelled like blood. She wiped her hand on her pants, and continued down.

  Light from two small windows illuminated a wide room, but that was enough to see the carnage in there. Delilah paused by the door. The bots were long gone, but they’d done enough damage. There were more bodies in there than Delilah could count. She squeezed her eyes closed. Two crossbars held the door closed, but she had to get past the bodies to get there.

  She stepped lightly, but by this time her tears had begun to fall and she could do nothing to stop them, only blink them away and keep her eyes trained on the door. Only twenty more feet. She stepped between two bodies, and a hand jerked out and took her ankle. She cried out and almost fell, but when she turned around she wasn’t prepared for what she saw.

  Gen had grabbed her, or at least the body that was once Gen. The bot’s eye had been shot out; it was hanging out and sparking. The rest of her face didn’t look much better, with pieces of flesh torn off. Blood matted her blonde hair, someone else’s, Delilah assumed. Delilah bent down.

  “Gen.” She took the bot’s head in her hands. There was nothing to be done. This was beyond even Zane’s ability to fix.

  Gen’s mouth moved, but her voice box was damaged. Delilah leaned in.

  “The hive,” Gen whispered. Her beautiful voice had gone metallic, taking the last of her personality with it. “You have to take out the hive.” She handed Delilah a piece of paper, then her head lolled to the side. With a flash of light, Gen’s one good eye closed. If she had a heart, it would have stopped beating. Whatever the essence of Gen was, left at that moment. There was a lot of debate about whether the bots had souls, but seeing Gen die, Delilah knew it was true. It had to be. Gen was more than a bot. She was a friend, and a loyal one. She’d died in a room full of humans, fighting the hive. Delilah glanced at the paper Gen had given her. It was a map. Delilah folded it and put it in her pocket.

  Something thumped on the door, and Delilah stood up. She slipped the rest of the way across the room, wiping her tears with the back of her hand. By the time she got to the door, she fell right into it.

  “I’m coming!” She banged back with both palms, but the steel beams were wedged in deeply in the shape of an X. They were heavy and hard to move. Delilah threw her whole weight into it and only shifted the beam an inch. She screamed in frustration, but when she turned her head to look in the room, the sacrifices of the many dead humans and bots pushed her on. She used her shoulder to wedge under the bar and lifted it from the door jamb. It went crashing on the floor, narrowly avoiding her feet.

  The door pushed in again. Someone was pushing it from the inside. Brute, she hoped, or the humans, or else she’d be dead. She didn’t allow herself to think as she repeated the same procedure for the other bar, making sure to move her foot at the last minute as the beam fell with a crash onto someone’s body. The dead body let out a thump as it cushioned the beam’s fall. Delilah pulled at the doors. They opened inward, but not far. The pile of bodies blocked them from opening all the way. Still, she could see enough with just
a couple inches. The fight still raged, but they hadn’t noticed her. Bodies thumped against the door as a giant bot joined the fight.

  There weren’t many humans left. Delilah frantically searched the survivors and found him on the left side, parrying a lion.

  “Brute!” She cupped her hands and called. She hadn’t otherwise been seen and thanked heavens for the scramblers. The giant bot picked up on her call from the other side of the arena and zeroed in on her. She just had time to jump to the side as it fired on her. She landed on top of a body and scrambled up. The doors blew open, at least, and she made eye contact with Brute. His eyes widened, but as he tried to make his way toward her, one of the lions ran between them. It opened its massive jaw and roared at Brute. Delilah tried to climb over bodies to get to him. It had become mass hysteria leaving the arena. The giant bot was chasing humans, and the lions rushed past. Delilah fought the crowd. She’d crawled up and over a barrier when she saw the lion rush at Brute.

  She jumped over, but it was over too fast. From the seats above, someone shot down. The laser hit the lion in the side. It roared up, giving Brute enough time to scramble out of the way. She pulled him over the barrier, but there was no time for a reunion. Most of the others had made their way out. The sounds of intense fighting and screams blocked their exits.

  Brute looked up to where the laser shot came from. Whiskey made her way from the top of the cages to the edge of the arena, where Brute and Delilah met her.

  “What happened?” Delilah asked. Whiskey reached as far down as she could. Someone held Whiskey’s legs, and she pulled them up. Whiskey had a long cut down her cheek. She wiped blood off with the back of her hand.

  “One of the prisoners attacked me,” she said, as someone else pulled Brute up. “I don’t know if he was part bot, or just crazy. We had to take him out.”

  She’d freed twenty or thirty prisoners. Too many to sneak out. Not enough to fight, not without weapons. Delilah’s gun was still tucked in her pocket, but what good would one gun do? The floor shook and a piece of the ceiling fell in.

  “Rank’s bombing,” Whiskey said. “Let’s go.”

  She started to lead the ragtag group. They ranged in age from children to older adults. Delilah shivered when she realized they were the ones waiting to be experimented on. She had to wait for Brute. He’d ripped a piece off the bottom of his shirt and wrapped his arm while watching the cages on the other side, the ones with the horrible human/bot experiments.

  Delilah laid a hand on his shoulder. “We can’t take them,” she said. She was suffering with the same guilt. “Whiskey says they’re attached to the hive. It’s too late for them.”

  Brute grunted. “Seems savage to leave them. Couple more days and I’d have been there.” His shoulder slumped. “They only let us out because they knew people were coming. Wanted to confuse them, or maybe they’re just sick.” He shook his head. “There’s a guy in a cowboy hat…” he began.

  Delilah pulled him along. Whiskey’s group filed out the exit doors. “The governor,” she said. “I know.” She paused at the door.

  “He’s a sick bastard,” Brute said. Whiskey had stopped by the door, and it looked like she met up with more of Rank’s men. Delilah took the break to look at Brute. He’d been hurt almost as bad as Zane. A gash cut across his arm, and he held his stomach with his other hand.

  “Jesus, Luke.” She tried to bunch up his shirt to staunch the flow of blood. He closed his eyes and rested his head on the wall.

  “It’ll be okay,” he said, but she wondered. He’d need stitches, at least. She was still pressing the fabric to his stomach when Whiskey approached from behind. As soon as Whiskey put a hand on her shoulder, Delilah knew it was bad.

  “We have a problem,” Whiskey said. The men behind her were restless. One had staked out the exit, a broken hole in the glass windows that used to line the center, and called the others over.

  “I can’t hold them off for long. They want to get to the meeting point.”

  Delilah tried to help Brute stand, but he waved her off. “Then let’s go.”

  Whiskey shook her head. “It’s Leo. And Zane.”

  Delilah’s stomach fell. “What about them?” This time Brute held her up.

  “They were captured.”

  Delilah turned to look in the arena behind them.

  “They’re not here,” Whiskey told her. “My contact said something about the hive. Where it’s located.”

  Delilah flexed her fist. “I think I know where that is.” She looked from Brute to Whiskey, and pulled out the map Gen gave her, unfolded it, and handed it to Brute.

  “The hospital,” Whiskey commented.

  “I heard them talking about the hospital.” Brute took the paper and examined the route before folding it back up. “It’s where your crazy governor holes up to do his experiments.”

  Whiskey shook her head. “It’s bound to be heavily guarded,” she cautioned. The people behind her shouted, and shots echoed from outside.

  Delilah took Whiskey’s hand. “That’s why I should go alone.”

  “Like hell,” Brute piped up, only wincing slightly.

  Whiskey hesitated, and Delilah jumped in. “You have to get these people to safety.” She squeezed Whiskey’s hand and turned her attention to Brute. “And if Luke knows where this hospital is, maybe we can get in and do some damage.”

  She didn’t like the thought of taking Luke wounded, but she couldn’t do it alone.

  “Okay.” Whiskey pulled her into a quick hug, then retreated. “You know the meeting place.”

  Delilah cracked a smile. “Whiskey, by now, everyone knows the meeting place.”

  Whiskey saluted her. “Head to the shore. We’ll have people watching for you.”

  Delilah saluted back, but she didn’t have time to answer before the prisoners swarmed Whiskey, and they all followed her out the broken window and into the street. For a minute, it was quiet. The sounds of gunshots and fighting faded. And Delilah was tired.

  “Dee.” Brute touched her face. Delilah squeezed her eyes closed for just one second of peace. “I can go alone.”

  She opened her eyes to the horrors around her. She couldn’t ignore it. She couldn’t escape it. “No,” she told him. “We go together.”

  Brute shook his head. “Okay, soldier.” He flexed his hand again, then crossed the empty hallway to the glass. He held his good hand out to her to help her over the glass. She took it, but not for the help. Just for the company.

  “Which way?” she asked. She looked outside at the destruction. Bodies, both bot and human, littered the street.

  Brute let go of her hand and pointed up the street. He hopped down a small height to the sidewalk, and she followed. “Not far,” he said, but his tone indicated that while it might not be far distance-wise, they might run into any number of other dangers. He kept to the side of the building, and they walked slowly and cautiously.

  Laser shots crisscrossed the air above them, and screams followed Delilah and Brute as they left the arena, but the noises slowly lessened farther into the city. Brute made them stop at something that was once a café. They stepped over the smashed front window to raid the canned goods in the back. Delilah sat on a stool while Brute took a bag of something that was once cereal, opened it, and sniffed it.

  “This shit lasts forever,” he said about the colorful O’s. Delilah popped a handful in her mouth. They were stale and lacked flavor, but she didn’t detect anything that would kill her. She took another handful and bounced her foot.

  Brute found a first aid kid and water and hastily cleaned out the wound on his side and bound it. Delilah watched him pat dry the gashes on his arm.

  “From the lion?” she asked quietly. Heavy footsteps shook the store, and Delilah climbed off the stool and hid behind the counter until the giant bot past.

  Brute winced as
he stood up. “Yeah.” He put a cloth over the scratches and bound them with tape. “She was just a little too fast for me. The poor thing.” He shook his head. They both knew the animals wouldn’t last long out here, but then again, none of them might last very long.

  Delilah wrapped the cereal bag closed out of habit, and threw it under the counter. Now that his injuries were bound, Brute walked steadier toward the front of the store. He looked out the door and motioned it was safe.

  “You know,” he began, but an explosion behind them cut him off. Delilah instinctively cowered but only a handful of debris drifted by. From the area of the arena a large plume of white smoke rose. They exchanged wary looks, and he continued. “You’re the only one I let call me by my real name.”

  He ducked under a pole that had fallen across the road, then circled around a bus lying on its side, an advertisement for a lawyer across its side. There was more destruction on this side of the city.

  “Didn’t seem like Brute was a fit,” she said. They were walking away from the fighting, a troubling fact. If the governor had holed up somewhere here, why hadn’t they run into more guards? Brute had pointed out the hospital, only a few blocks away. Lights blazed from all the windows, but the area was eerily quiet.

  “It had to be.” He pulled her into an alley and they hid behind the shell of a car. They heard the giant bot’s heavy footsteps before they saw it. Delilah made herself as small as she could behind the car’s flat tires. The bot passed slowly, as if it were scanning the area. It paused at the end of the alley, washing the walls in red light, and Delilah caught her breath, but then it continued on. They waited a full minute after the footsteps passed before venturing out.

  “Rank doesn’t let just anyone into his inner circle,” Brute explained. Their movement was slower. There were more bots closer to the hospital, but not as many as Delilah expected. A few here and there, making them circle around.