by Aaron Denius
“What do you mean you don’t know?” Sil blurts out.
“Grant didn’t reveal anything. I’m assuming that it’s going to be a battle against holograms,” I say.
“Thanks for stating the obvious, genius,” Titan says as he nudges Sil. Sil and Sodi laugh. A few of the other Genesys stifle their laughs with smiles.
I glare at Titan for a moment before a smile covers my face. I really did just state the obvious. “Anyway, all I can do right now is just turn the simulation on and see what happens.”
“Are we splitting up into teams?” Al speaks. I look over, and he and Hydro are already leaning on each other. They are starting to straddle the line between cute and vomit-inducing.
“I don’t know. I don’t think so. I believe we will all have to work together on this,” I say as I turn to the control panel. “Grab your preferred shorthand weapon and long-range weapon.”
The Genesys all move toward the weapons cache and equip themselves. Fe walks over to me. “Hey, Atom. What can I get you?”
I look into her eyes and feel the beating in my chest quicken. “A rifle and my chain. Thanks.”
She walks off, and I begin to enter the necessary data into the control panel. Just before I enter the last key, I look around to make sure everyone is ready. All of the Genesys are equipped and look eager for battle. Fe brings me my gear, and I wrap the chain around my shoulder and hold the rifle in my opposite arm.
“Everybody stay close. Let’s do this!” I turn and hit the last key.
A few gasps escape some of the Genesys as the entire room goes black. I try to look around, but my eyes aren’t adjusting to the darkness. Dead silence fills the room.
“What’s going on? Is it working?” A voice I recognize as Cal’s breaks the stillness.
“I don’t know.” I turn back to the panel, but a giant cliff appears in front of me just as I do. I am mere inches from stepping off the edge. Even though I know I won’t fall, it is so realistic that my heart jumps up to my throat. About five hundred feet below me is an unforgiving ocean.
“Ow! What the hell?” Al screams. I turn to see that he is already on the ground and disabled. He has been taken out.
Many of the Genesys have already scattered away, but a few remain by my side. As I scan the scene before me, I see a plateau with a few giant boulders and a forest in the distance. What I don’t see is anything that would be attacking us.
Before I can take anything else in, I am thrown to the ground by a flying body. When I turn my head, I see Ox lying on top of me. “What the hell, man?”
“Look.” He points to the forest. I follow his finger and notice a red light hovering in the darkness of the woods.
The light flickers and, without warning, Ox rolls in front of me and is struck by something. He’s been knocked out.
“Thanks,” I say before I run off. As I make my way to the boulder closest to me, I see that Titan, K, and Sodi have gathered behind it. I slide behind it and rest my back next to Sodi.
“What do we do?” K looks at me.
“Yeah, leader, what do we do?” Titan adds mockingly.
“Where is everyone else?” I ask.
Titan points to a boulder to our right. “That one has Ev, Sil, and Cal. The other three are at a boulder on the other side of that one.”
“Okay, good.” I see that the group at the next boulder is waiting for me to make a move. I look around for ideas, but nothing comes. Finally, I spot Sodi’s gun. It’s a sniper rifle. “Titan, what kind of gun did you grab?”
“An assault rifle. Why?” He holds it closer to himself.
“Sodi, give Titan your gun so he can shoot what’s behind the red light,” I demand.
“No, I can take the shot,” Sodi snaps back, and pokes her head around the boulder.
“I’m not asking. I’m telling you to give him your gun. He’s a better shot.” I stand firm. I can see Titan smile from the corner of my eye.
Sodi looks at K for support. K shakes her head. “Atom’s right.”
Sodi lets out a frustrated huff and slams her gun into my chest. I wince at the quick jolt of pain but then hand the gun to Titan. “One shot. Don’t miss.”
Titan lies on the ground close to the boulder and sets the gun on the floor. He looks through the viewfinder and, after a deep inhale, pulls the trigger.
“Got him!” Titan stands in triumph. He steps out from the cover of the boulder and throws his arms up in celebration. Just as soon as his hands go up, he flies back and has been knocked out.
“Titan!” Sodi yells after him.
I look around the boulder, and my jaw drops in shock. The one red light has been replaced with hundreds of red lights. Within a blink, the red lights begin marching toward us. Once clear of the darkness from the forest, I can tell that the lights are laser sights attached to guns carried by outsiders.
At the next boulder, Ev and Sil are both looking around their boulder. Ev looks at me and communicates, as quietly as she can, “What do we do?”
I shrug. It’s probably not the answer Ev wants from me, but I am not prepared for this type of simulation. That’s when I remember that it is a simulation, so I can take some risks. I don’t think we have much of a chance against the sheer number of outsiders coming at us. Then again, 80 and I were outnumbered, and we survived.
I scan my surroundings and notice that there are two more boulders in our immediate vicinity. I wave to get Ev’s attention.
“How many?” I ask, pointing to the boulder behind them.
She checks and looks back at me. “Two.”
That means that Fe, Mag, or Hydro have been taken out. I figure that our best plan of attack will be to have two people per boulder shooting on either side. Hopefully, the cover will protect us as long as possible.
I turn back to Sodi and K. “You two stay here. Each of you take a side of the boulder and shoot as many as you can.”
“Gotcha,” K obliges. Sodi just stares defiantly at me and picks up Titan’s old gun.
I look back at Ev and point to her and then a boulder about twenty-five feet in front of us. She nods her head, and I count down from three with my fingers.
The second I reach zero, I run. When I look over toward Ev, I see Sil push her out of the way and run up to the boulder with me. I reach it and look back just as Ev is getting to her feet. She’s immediately hit with a bullet and is taken out.
I push Sil against the boulder. “What the hell did you do that for?”
“I… I…” Sil stumbles over his words. Fear glazes his eyes.
“You cost us a life!” I scream.
“What about Titan?” he shouts back.
I grit my teeth. Sil’s right, I did hang Titan out to dry, but he also got cocky. I take a deep breath. “Just take that side and start shooting.”
He lies on the ground to the boulder’s right, and I lie on the ground to the left. I steady my rifle and look down the crosshairs. There are easily a hundred outsiders marching toward the seven of us who remain.
“Fire!” I yell. I pull my trigger, and the Genesys around me follow suit. Bullets fly past my head in both directions as the outsiders return fire.
I hear a couple of grunts and screams behind me that tell me a couple more of the Genesys have been taken out. Still, we are definitely causing a dent in the outsiders. About half of the outsiders are down.
“Ow,” Sil says next to me, and when I look, I see that he has been taken out.
I roll off the ground and sit with my back to the boulder. This feels like an insurmountable challenge. I look at the other boulders and see that only three of us are left, Sodi behind my original boulder and, surprisingly, Mag behind the farthest boulder. She may be quiet, but she never fails to surprise me.
Just before I can get back into position to resume shooting, two outsiders pop around Sil’s side of the boulder and shoot me. The shock spreads from my chest to the rest of my body. I really hate this feeling. Not only is the pain uncomfortable, but I will always associate
this shock with failure.
As I lie on the ground, with the faint sound of Mag and Sodi’s bullets flying by, I think about what I could have done differently in this simulation. I wasn’t ready, and if I am supposed to lead them, I need to be prepared for all situations that might come up. Everyone is most likely going to be taken out in this one but if we had to deal with something like this for real, we can’t afford to lose a single one of us.
One stream of bullets remains and based on the direction they are coming from, Sodi is the only one left. Perhaps I should have let her take the shot with the sniper rifle. She has proven herself capable with a gun otherwise.
The simulation room goes black, and I know that we failed. I failed. A loss for any of the Genesys is a failure on my part. I realize that now. Though the pressure I was already under is multiplied now, I also feel a sense of pride. We will succeed. I will make sure of it.
When the lights come back on, everyone gets up, rubbing their aching bodies. I walk to the control panel to be able to see them all and address the defeat. Right before I get there, chaos erupts.
Ev runs up to Sil and pushes him. “Why did you do that?”
“Don’t push me, favorite!” Sil yells and pushes her back.
To my right, Fe and Hydro are getting into a heated argument.
“You were supposed to cover me!” Fe gets into Hydro’s face.
“I don’t take orders from you!” Hydro screams back.
I see Cal and Al run over to them, so I pull my attention back to Sil and Ev. I run over and get between them. “Calm down. It was an accident.”
“It was not an accident, and you know it!” Ev directs her screams at me.
Ev pushes against me to get to Sil, and as I hold her back, Sil gets a shove in. I turn to him and push him back. When I do, Titan comes to Sil’s side.
“Let him go!” Titan stares at me, and I pull up.
As Titan pulls Sil away, Sil shouts at me. “Everything is about Atom and Ev. You are the favorites. It doesn’t matter if we live. We are just collateral!”
I’m hurt by his words. We are all in this together. “That is not true!”
Before I can say another word, a fist connects with my jaw. As my head whips to the side, I taste the saltiness of blood. When I look back up at my assailant, I see Sodi staring me down and rubbing her fist.
The entire room goes quiet, and I sense everyone’s eyes on me. I get a quick flash to when I was in the same situation with Titan just weeks ago. They are all anticipating my next move, and I know that what I do next will dictate the kind of leader I will be.
I take a deep breath, and then, as calm and stern as I can, I look at each Genesys. “All of you sit against the wall.”
Shock fills most of their eyes and, without second-guessing, they all move to the wall. The tensions between them make them all keep a healthy distance from each other.
“If we are all going to survive, we have to work together.” I pause. An idea has just filled my head, and I give myself a mental reminder to find 80 after this.
“Not a single one of us is more important than the other,” I continue. “The goal is for each one of us to survive, not just me or Ev. All of us. We are all Genesys. We are all the new beginning. If one of us doesn’t make it, we all fail. We were all created for the same purpose, and once the scientists decide to start the Ragnarok, it will be solely up to us. So we have to be a team, and if you are not okay with that, then we don’t want you.”
I look around at the group sitting on the floor. A few of them have smiles on their faces; Sil has his head to the ground. Fe and Hydro exchange apologies and embrace.
“Tomorrow’s training will be outside by the drones’ quarters.” With that, I turn and head to the elevator. I drop the chain I had wrapped around me on the way. I figure they will tidy up. Besides, I have something important to ask 80.
CHAPTER XV
The part of the compound that houses the drones has a static feeling to it. It doesn’t really appear different from the other areas, but the parts that have been exposed by the explosions are barren. The open rooms I see have beds with gray sheets on them and nothing else. There are no signs that any of the rooms had decorations or any other furniture. A few drones are asleep in some beds, and I realize that they weren’t relocated.
I find myself getting angry with Rene again. How could he so unapologetically mistreat the drones like this? I turn the corner to the open field in the middle of the drone quarters, and I’m blinded by the low sun that is beginning to turn the sky orange.
When my eyes adjust, I see a drone standing right in front of me. The sun reflects off his shaved head, making his scar even more ominous.
“What do you want?” 13 demands. He steps up close enough to block the sun from my face.
“I want to see 80.” I stand my ground. He has obviously been through a lot, but it’s not enough to ease my disdain for him.
13 stares at me, thinking about what he wants to do. He lets out a long huff and turns back toward the field. “80, the chosen one wants to see you.”
His words sting and remind me of what Sil yelled just moments ago. “I’m not the chosen—”
“Save it.” He cuts me off and walks away.
A sour taste has built in my mouth. Why can’t they understand that I didn’t choose to be in this position? If I ran this compound, I would do things differently.
“Hey,” 80 says behind me.
I turn, half startled. “How’s it going?”
“What do you need?” he asks curtly. My facial expression must have surprised him, because he quickly changes his tone. “Sorry. I just have a lot of work to do.”
“No worries,” I say, a smile creeping up on my face because of what I’m going to ask next. “Can we set up a Breekbal game between the Genesys and you guys?”
80 thinks for a moment and then turns toward the field. He walks to the middle, and I hustle to keep up. “Why do you want to play? It’s not really the best of times with all the attacks.”
“I need them to learn to work as a team. I thought this would be a good way to do that,” I answer.
“None of us have played since we were brought back.” 80 stops in the middle of the field. “I suppose it could be good for morale.”
“Awesome!” I can’t hold in my excitement. I have wanted to play since 80 first told me about it. “Would we be able to do teams of twelve instead of ten?”
“Sure. When?” He grabs a couple of smaller pieces of rubble from the ground and tosses them off the field.
“After our classes tomorrow,” I say.
“Fine.” He walks toward the far end of the field and looks into a hole. I had previously thought that this hole was from the attacks, but now I realize that they are actually part of the playing field. He looks at me. “Anything else?”
I look around to make sure no one is close by. “Actually, yes. I was hoping you could help me with something more important, but you have to promise to keep this to yourself.”
He turns to face me and raises an eyebrow. “Yeah?”
“So there is a group of scientists who are planning to sabotage Rene’s plans,” I begin.
“Really?” 80 asks, surprised. He looks around to see if anyone is watching.
I continue, “Last night, I saw two of the scientists meeting outside, on the opposite end of the compound, by the library. I was hoping you could maybe have the drones—”
“Don’t call us that,” 80 cuts me off sharply.
“What?” I’m caught off guard.
“We are Integers. Drones makes us sound like we are incapable of our own thoughts,” 80 states definitively.
“Okay, sorry.” I agree with him, but the education came out of nowhere and seemed aggressive. “Well, I was hoping the other Integers could let you know which scientists have been meeting, and then you could tell me. Don’t tell them why they are gathering this information, though.”
80 looks into my eyes as he t
hinks. A slight hint of compassion graces his face, but it quickly disappears as he makes a decision in his head. “Yeah, that’s fine. I’m afraid many of us don’t know the scientists by name.”
“That’s okay. A description will be enough. We have a database of pictures that we can reference.” I’m excited to have 80 helping me out. I feel we have lost a connection since he’s been back, and this will be a great way to get it back.
80 puts his hand on my shoulder and smiles. “I’ll see you tomorrow, buddy.”
“Yes you will.” I smile back. He runs off, and I head back toward my part of the compound.
As I walk back, I cut through the hole in the wall of the medical ward. When I step through, I spot Dr. Peters working in one of the rooms. We wave at each other, but just before I get to the medical ward’s exit, I realize that it would probably be best to have a doctor at the Breekbal game. 80 mentioned before that the games could get physical.
I turn back toward the room with Dr. Peters. He spots me, turns off what he was working on, and meets me outside of the room.
“Can I help you, Atom?” he asks.
“Actually, I was hoping that you could oversee a game of Breekbal that myself and the Genesys are having against the drones.” I instantly apologize to 80 in my head for using that term.
“I would strongly advise against doing such a thing. Most of the games cause multiple injuries, and some of them severe,” he warns me.
“I understand that, but I need to do something to get all the Genesys working as a team. I feel this would be a great opportunity to do that,” I plead.
“Did you ask Rene?” he presses.
“I’m not going to,” I say defiantly. “He’s put me in charge of the others, and this is my decision.”
“Very well,” he says as he walks past me.
“The game is after our classes,” I shout after him.
He walks out of the medical ward and leaves me alone in the giant space. When I look around, I realize that most of the time I have spent here has been during utter mayhem. Chills creep over my body, and I take that as my cue to leave. I jog out of the medical ward and through the hallways to Ev’s room.