by Aaron Denius
“Why are we down here?” I ask. He doesn’t answer as he leads me down the steps to the floor. We pass the incubation tubes, but they are all empty.
“Where did they go?” I look around but, again, he doesn’t answer.
“Hawk. He doesn’t come out until I say so. Make sure of it.” Grant grabs a bag off of one of the tables and leads me into the back room. He hands the bag to me and shoves me into the room.
I turn, but before I can take a step, the door slams in my face, and I hear a series of locks click. “What are you doing? Let me out!” I slam my fists against the door. “Don’t kill him! It’s not his fault. Don’t kill him!”
I pound on the door until my hands and head hurt. Tears streak down my face, and I sit on the ground. I close my eyes and let the tears come until I fall asleep.
CHAPTER VI
I dream again of being in the white, cold abyss. This time I am entirely alone. I begin to walk, but no matter which way I turn, it feels like I am heading in the wrong direction.
When I wake, I pound on the door and call out for a few minutes but soon realize that no one is coming for me. A door on the sidewall catches my attention. I haven’t noticed it before. I open it but am disappointed to see that it’s only a bathroom. I give up and open the bag that Grant threw in with me. It’s stuffed with protein pouches, extra jumpsuits, and a tablet.
I walk to the computer on the table to see if I can access the camera feeds, but none of it will turn on. I’m stuck in here until they decide to let me out. I grab one of the protein pouches and the tablet and perch myself against the wall.
The tablet comes to life and begins to lecture me on Africa’s geography—the terrain, the weather, the animals, and the trees. It’s not really anything I want to listen to right now, so I put it down and stare at the opposite wall. My mind wanders from 80 to Rene, to Ev and the Genetic Systems. Finally, from the outsiders to the end of the world.
How will it happen? Who will survive?
Hours pass, and boredom leads me to engage with the tablet. I eat, sleep, work with the tablet, and think. A cycle that seems to repeat itself a dozen times before they let me out. I’m not sure how long they’ve kept me down here, but it feels like it’s been about four days.
The door opens, and Ev stands on the other side. “They wouldn’t let me get you until now.”
“What did they do with 80?” I push past her and head for the elevator to take me upstairs.
She follows close behind me. “I don’t know. I haven’t seen him.”
“Did they kill him?” I stop and look her right in the eyes.
“No. I don’t know. Things have changed, Atom.” She pushes past me and into the elevator.
“What do you mean? How long have I been down there?” I ask.
“A week.” She looks at me apologetically.
“What?” I shout. “How could you let them keep me down here for so long?”
“I didn’t have a choice!” She gets right back in my face. “You’re not the only one who’s had it rough, Atom. Do you have any idea what kind of pressure I was under because of your recklessness? I’ve had to deal with the Genetic Systems alone.”
“You’ve met them?” My tone calms as my thoughts are pulled to the bodies that once occupied the now-empty tubes.
The elevator doors open, and Ev steps out. “Just leave me alone.” She walks away.
I need to find 80, so I head toward the medical wing. Before I reach the end of the hallway, I hear Rene’s voice.
“Atom,” he calls out.
I turn, but I don’t move. “Where is 80?”
“He’s still alive.” He walks toward me. “Head back to your room and wash up. I’ll be there in a bit and will answer any questions you have.”
I stare at him as he approaches. I’m not really sure if I should trust him. He puts his arm on my shoulder and looks into my eyes.
“I’m glad you’re okay.” I force a smile and walk off to my room. The thought of standing under hot, streaming water sounds like a dream right now.
I reach my room and strip out of the same jumpsuit I’ve worn for the last week. I smell the horrid stench that I must have been carrying around as I lift my shirt over my head. My right arm feels sore as I do this, and I look to see that I have dried blood and the early hints of a scar. Everything catches up with me. I was shot, and I jumped off the roof of a building into a moving aircraft. The bullet must have just grazed me. I was lucky.
My body begins to shake, and I just make it into the shower before I collapse to the ground. Fear has overtaken my body, and I feel weak. I put myself in danger, and regardless of how liberating it felt, I was inches from death. I don’t care what my purpose is; I shouldn’t be so reckless.
I let the water cascade over my curled body as I try to mentally prepare myself for everything I want to ask Rene. 80, the Genetic Systems, his plans for me, the end of the world. He said he would answer anything, and I’m going to hold him to that.
I remain in the shower until I feel the heat leave the water, and it becomes too cold for me to handle. I stumble to my room, throw on a jumpsuit, grab a protein pouch, and fall onto my bed. I lie on my back and close my eyes. The bed feels blissful after spending a week on the hard concrete.
Rene knocks on the door as I feel myself drifting to sleep. I want to tell him to come back later, but I know I might not get another chance to ask him what I want, let alone get answers to those questions.
My body won’t allow me to get up, so I call out from my bed. “Come in.”
He pushes through the door and takes a seat at the edge of my bed. “How are you feeling?”
The grunts I let out as I prop myself into a seated position should be enough, but I oblige him with an answer. “Overwhelmed.”
Rene stares at me, his eyes searching for recognition. “You’ve aged.”
I’m not sure what to say, so I keep quiet.
“I’m sorry, Atom. Please understand that I withheld all this information for your safety. I didn’t do it to be deceitful.” He looks regretful, and a part of me feels for him. I want to apologize back, but as I think about what I would be apologizing for, I realize that I’m really not sorry for it. Everything I did was in search of knowledge of things that were withheld from me.
“Where is 80?” I’m not going to waste any more time. I need to know that he’s safe.
“He got shipped out,” Rene replies.
“What do you mean? What did you do to him?” I try to sit up more, but my muscles betray me.
“He’s fine. Nothing is going to happen to him, at least not by our hands. We just sent him to one of the construction sites to be put to work.” He looks away, perhaps trying to avoid the question I ask next.
“Construction sites? What construction sites?” This time my will overpowers my muscles, and I lean closer to him.
Rene sighs. “We’re building six bunkers that will withstand the Ragnarok. The final battle before the Regenesis. These bunkers are intended to hold you, Ev, and the rest of the Genetic Systems.”
“What about everyone else?” I ask, even though I’m pretty sure I know what the answer is going to be.
“They must fend for themselves.” Rene shifts at the end of my bed. He’s not comfortable with this conversation.
“Why are you ending the world?” I press on.
Rene sits and thinks for a bit before he answers. A few tears roll down his cheeks. I realize that the reason he is uncomfortable talking about this is that he’s in pain. “Understand, Atom, I don’t believe I have a choice in what I’m doing. Humans as a species are on the verge of extinction. If we just sit back and let things play out as they have been, famine, disease, and war will wipe us off the earth. We need to restart.”
“You don’t know what is going to happen,” I exclaim.
He looks at me. “No, I don’t. But I know that as long as the ice age is still here, things will worsen before they get better. By that time, it might be
too late. You twelve are our best hope. You are the next step in evolution. We created you that way. You are smarter, healthier, physically advanced. Your body can withstand extreme weather conditions and nuclear fallout. Your offspring will be even stronger.”
Offspring? My palms begin to sweat. I had completely forgotten about that part of the plan. It was never really spelled out to me, but I understood. Ev and I are supposed to have offspring. I’m not sure what to ask next. My cheeks feel flush, and when Rene looks at me, I look away.
He must sense my embarrassment, because I can see him smile. “Don’t be nervous about that, Atom. It will happen naturally. Your bodies will tell you what to do.”
“I don’t want to talk about that.” I avoid any kind of eye contact, but I can see him holding in laughter from the corner of my eye.
“Do you have any other questions for me, Atom?” He stands.
I do have more questions, but I’m too embarrassed. “No.”
“Very well. Be smart, Atom. You are very important to the success of this project. There are reasons we’ve made these rules, and you need to adhere to them.” Rene walks to the door and looks back at me. “No more secrets, I promise.”
“Promise me something else,” I say back.
“What?” He leans against the doorframe.
“No more drones get killed because they can’t protect,” I demand.
Rene thinks for a second. “I promise. We will mend them and send them to work on the bunkers.”
I look at him and see the sincerity in his eyes. He smiles and walks away, but I know that I shouldn’t put too much weight on his promises. I shift my body back into a lying position on my bed and close my eyes for a quick nap.
A knock wakes me from my slumber, which must have been quite deep, as I’ve lost track of time. It feels like I was asleep for both twenty minutes and six hours. I feel refreshed even though my body feels slow. A second knock gets me up and moving to the door. I open it and see Ev.
“Come to the simulation room. Grant wants us for training.” She walks off toward the simulation room. I realize that she’s still upset with me, so I chase after her, grabbing a protein pouch on the way out. We reach the elevator at the same time.
“I’m sorry.” I try to catch her eyes, but she won’t look at me.
“Not now, Atom.” She has a very determined look on her face.
I press on. “I am. I’ve been selfish…”
She enters the elevator. “I need you focused. We don’t know what we are about to face.”
I enter behind her. “It’s just a simulation, Ev. Nothing we haven’t faced before.”
“It’s different today,” she says as the elevator reaches the bottom floor. She pulls me to the side of the elevator as the doors open. “It’s the Genetic Systems’ first time, and we are facing off against all of them.”
Through the open door, I see the simulation that we have to battle in. It’s one that I haven’t experienced before. The room is white from top to bottom, and snow is blowing heavily. A gust blasts cold air into the elevator, and I feel my flesh contract around my muscles. I look at Ev and notice that both of our jumpsuits are very bright colors. After unzipping my top, I see that the interior of the jumpsuit is a light gray.
“Turn your jumpsuit inside out.” I start to remove my pants.
She does the same. I feel my heart racing, so I look back out of the elevator as she finishes redressing.
“Smart idea,” she says.
I smile. “We are most likely going to have to hide in an open space, so it’s best we don’t stand out. Any ideas?”
“We stay close and keep our backs to the wall. That means we only need to focus on 90 degrees each.” Her eyes narrow with intensity.
“I agree. Stay low. We don’t know what weapons they have.” I crouch down and wrap my way around the elevator door and into the simulation room. The floor feels very slick underneath me. Ev joins me, and the door shuts behind her, enclosing us in an abyss of white. I have a quick flash of my dreams, but it’s instantly snapped away when I spot two figures ahead of us. Both of them appear to be men. I signal for Ev to take the one on the right as I go for the left.
We stay low as we sneak up behind them and grab our marks by their heads to pull them down. Ev grabs a knife from the hand of her pale, redheaded target and plunges it into his chest. I struggle to hold mine down as my feet slip underneath me. He has dark skin, similar to Grant’s. Just as I’m about to lose my hold on him, Ev plunges the knife into his chest. I search his body but don’t find a weapon. The shock in his eyes reminds me of how I felt the first time I was knocked out of a simulation. The jolt that runs through your body is less than pleasant.
We stand, and I look around. No one else is coming, but we still keep ourselves close to the wall and shuffle along. There are eight left.
After a few moments, Ev points to the center of the simulation. “There are four coming toward us.”
Through the snowfall, I make out four shapes approaching. They weren’t aware enough to have flipped their suits inside out, so the bright colors make them stand out. “Think they spotted us?”
“Doesn’t look that way,” she responds.
“Perfect! Go lie on the ground over there, and I will do the same over here. Wait for the first two to pass, and then we’ll jump at the last two.” We both move to our spots and lie down.
We wait as the group gets closer. It’s three girls and one guy. The first two of the group pass—a blond-haired guy with dark eyes and a chiseled jaw, and a stunning dark-skinned girl with short but thick hair. The two in the back are a redheaded girl and a girl with light skin, narrow eyes, and hair as black as night. They are both equally beautiful.
When the girls are directly in front of us, Ev and I reach out and drag them to the ground by their legs. Their bodies hit the ground with a thump, and their screams draw the attention of the first two. We make quick work of the girls. Ev plunges her knife into the redhead, and I wrestle the knife away from the black-haired girl and plunge it into her chest.
We manage to roll off of them before the other two jump on top of us.
“I’ve got him, Titan!” the dark-skinned girl yells at the blond-haired guy, whose name I can only assume is Titan. Before I know it, Ev and I are both engaged in knife fights.
The dark-skinned girl is quite reckless with her knife, which makes her unpredictable. After a few attacks, I realize that she relies too much on her left side, and I disarm her by countering one of her attacks. I spin into her as she swings her left arm, knocking her back, and before she can recover, I kick the knife out of her hand.
Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Ev holding her own with Titan, but I also see two figures approaching fast from behind her. They must have been drawn by the commotion.
“Ev! Behind you!” I yell.
She plunges her knife into Titan just as the figures arrive. Before they can grab her, she takes off running into the white abyss. I look back at my attacker and knock her to the ground before she can retrieve her knife. I kneel down and plunge my knife into her chest. I grab the extra knife as I stand and run in the direction where I saw Ev disappear.
After a few moments, I stop to realize that I’m standing alone and vulnerable in the middle of the white, snowy expanse. I tread carefully as I look around for Ev. During a pause in one of the snowdrifts, I spot a figure ahead of me and slowly walk toward it. With quiet stealth, I get close enough to see she has blonde hair. She turns, and I freeze. It’s the girl from my dream. My heart slows to a whimper as I take in the beauty that my dreams did not do justice. Her near-platinum hair whips in the wind, and her blue eyes pierce through the snow.
I’m snapped out of my trance when a figure speeds through the white abyss and knocks the girl to the ground. It’s Ev. After plunging the knife into the girl, she stands.
“What are you doing?” she screams at me. “You were just standing there!”
I know that I will neve
r be able to explain what happened. She wouldn’t understand.
“I’m sorry,” is all I manage to say. I search for more words, but none come.
“Behind you!” she yells as she runs toward me.
I turn and spot a guy charging hard at me. Before I can react, he rams his shoulder into my stomach and drives me to the ground. My head bounces off the hard surface, and a shot of pain moves right to the front of my head. His momentum carries him over me, and I kick him the rest of the way off. The blow to my stomach was much harder than I would have thought; I struggle for air as I stand.
When I square off against him, I get a better look and see that he and I are built similarly. In fact, all of the boys have similar builds. This guy’s skin tone resembles mine, but his eyes are darker and narrower.
I look down to see that he has a knife in each hand, so I brandish both of mine. He throws one at me, and as I dodge it, he charges again. I’m impressed by his strategy because it isn’t unlike what I would have done had he not done it first. I’m assuming that he does not yet know his physical limits or mine. As he nears me, I jump and twist over him. I grab his head in midair and flip him to the ground. I land on top of him and plunge both my knives into his chest.
“Any more?” I call out to Ev.
“That’s it,” she responds.
“Apokalupto,” I hear Grant call out.
The simulation disappears, and I see the training room again. The knives in my hands have turned back to retractable pegs. I look around and see the Genetic Systems standing from where they fell and walking toward us.
Grant walks up and puts his arms on Ev’s and my shoulders. “Not bad, but I know you can both do better.”
The Genetic Systems all gather in front of us, but they keep their distance. Now that I can see them all, I notice that they are all attractive and built like Ev and me. A hint of jealousy climbs up in my throat.
“Ev.” Grant breaks the silence. “If you were these ten, what would you have done differently?
Ev looks them over. “I would have made sure we all stuck together.”