by Aaron Denius
His words make me sick. I was going to let him die. He and others I cared about. How could I be so selfish? I step back up to him. “I didn’t have a choice!”
“Well, you do now,” he pleads. “End this.”
“It’s too late,” I respond. “There’s nothing I can do. Rene already started the sequence, and it can’t be stopped.”
80 lowers his head. Tears run down his face, and the fear behind them makes him more human than I have ever seen. It’s a far cry from the drone that expected to be shot right away after taking a bullet for me.
“Have you seen Fe?” I ask. I wish I could comfort him, but that is not my objective, and I don’t have time.
He looks up at me with some clarity in his eyes. He obviously knows something. “She’s in the city.”
I push him against the wall. “What did you do with her?”
“I didn’t do anything!” He brushes me back. “She was wandering around the city last night, and a few outsiders took her captive. They are holding her in one of the buildings by the pyramid.”
I grab him and look directly into his eye. “If she’s hurt…”
“I had nothing to do with it!” he asserts.
I push him to the ground and run back down the hallway.
“What are you doing?” he yells after me.
“I have to find her!” I keep running.
“You’ll get killed!” I hear him say as I turn the corner.
I run past the weapons cache and into the hangar. There is a small battle between the two sides on the ramp, but I know I have to go up there and get outside. I have to get to the city.
“Atom!” Dr. Cicca yells at me. She runs over.
“Fe is in the city. I have to get up there.” I look at her. “You aren’t going to change my mind.”
“I’m coming with you,” she insists.
I don’t object since I might need the extra firepower. I motion toward the battle on the ramp. “How do we get through there?”
“Follow me.” She runs to the door that leads to the Flyz hangar. Right next to the door are three rollpods. “We use these.”
“Do you know how to drive them?” I ask.
“About as much as you do.” She smiles.
Her smile is refreshing amidst the chaos; I smile back. I climb into one of the rollpods. “I guess we’ll figure it out.”
She climbs into the rollpod next to mine. I look down at the controls and see they are quite simple. Two handles with triggers attached to them. I look for a button or something to start the rollpod but don’t see anything. Suddenly, Dr. Cicca’s rollpod moves forward.
“Push the handles forward,” she tells me.
I do as she says, and my rollpod rolls ahead. When I turn the handles to the left, the rollpod rotates left, and I move in that direction. Soon after, we are both rolling toward the ramp. I pull on the triggers as we reach the battle, and the guns fire, clearing a path ahead of us.
We roll through the hole at the top of the ramp and come out on the field. A larger battle is being fought out here, and the attackers seem to be having more success against those defending the compound. A steady stream of outsiders and drones continues to run into the compound. It will only be a matter of time before the outsiders, drones, and Mutineers have seized control of the compound.
We blast our way through the battle with ease; the attackers are less concerned over anyone leaving the compound. They don’t realize that it’s too late. That even when they gain control of the compound, they can’t reverse what Rene has already set in motion. They are fighting for nothing.
Once beyond the chaos around the compound, the amount of activity we encounter is barely noteworthy—an outsider or two take a few shots at the rollpods, but we dispose of those threats with ease.
Dr. Cicca rolls up next to me. “How far do we have to go?”
“All the way to the pyramid,” I answer, pushing forward.
We roll past a dozen more blocks, the pyramid growing bigger before us until we reach a pile of debris that we can’t go over or around. We dismount our rollpods and head up the pile of rubble. When we get to the top, we crouch down to assess what lies ahead.
A few outsiders and drones are patrolling the streets. This has to be the center of their operation.
“Any ideas?” Dr. Cicca asks me.
I look around and see some metal steps on the side of the nearest building. They lead to a balcony about thirty feet up. I could then jump from balcony to balcony and stay above the activity, unnoticed. Dr. Cicca, however, would not be able to make those jumps.
“I’m thinking,” I say.
“Atom?” a soft voice calls out behind me. I turn and see Brianna standing next to the rollpods.
“Brianna?” Dr. Cicca turns. “What are you doing out here?”
“Janice! You’re alive!” Brianna smiles. “When the attacks started, I got scared, and I ran away from the compound. I’ve been hiding out here.”
Dr. Cicca and I slide down the debris pile. I check around and look at Brianna. “Have you seen Fe? She’s being held out here.”
Dr. Cicca runs over to Brianna and gives her a hug. Brianna returns the hug and instantly spins Dr. Cicca around, holding a knife to her throat.
“What are you doing?” Dr. Cicca screams.
“Let her go!” I shout, raising my gun.
“Put it down, Atom.” Brianna brings the knife closer to Dr. Cicca’s neck.
I can tell that she isn’t bluffing, so I lower my gun. “Why are you doing this?”
“To survive,” she responds. “That’s why I started the Mutineers. We needed to stop Rene’s plans.
“It’s too late,” I say.
“Maybe to stop it, but it’s not too late to ruin it.” She smiles. 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 whip the chain to unhook it, and it lands in a pile next to me.
One building left. My legs are starting to burn, something I’m sure the game of Breekbal yesterday contributed to. I jump from balcony to balcony, but when I get to the last one, I stop. The final building in front of me has a void where a balcony used to be. When I look down, I see that the missing terrace lies on top of the balcony ten feet below.
I can make this jump, but with the added drop, it’s going to hurt. I look back and see the outsiders and drones running toward the building.
I scream as I jump off my current balcony ledge and fall down to my target balcony. Shocks shoot up my legs when I land. I feel the pain instantly, and a cracking sound scares me into thinking I broke a bone. When I stand without any further pain, I realize that the sound is coming from the balcony.
A fissure spiders out from the corner that connects the balcony to the building, and before I know it, the balcony gives way, and I fall. Ten feet below the balcony, I slam hard into another. The familiar cracking sound lets me know that I will drop again if I don’t react quickly.
I whip my chain at the glass door, shattering it. I jump through just as the balcony falls away below me. My back stings with sharp pain, and when I reach back, I feel a shard of glass sticking out. Breaking the skin on my hand, I pull the piece of glass out and get to my feet.
The sound of movement outside gets me moving to the doorway. I stand, hidden next to the door, as an outsider steps in with her gun up. She spots the fresh blood on the ground, but before she can yell anything, I’m on top of her, covering her mouth with my hand. My other hand is digging the shard of glass into her side.
“Where is the Genesys?” I apply more pressure with the shard of glass.
The outsider’s body shakes, and I can sense the fear. Her voice pleads for mercy. “On the ninth floor with the doctor.”
I throw the shard away, and with a right hook, I knock her unconscious. She doesn’t need to follow me. I take her gun and head out the door to the hallway. As I get to the stairwell, I can hear a massive amount of activity. The outsiders and drones from the streets must be making their way up.
Next to the stairs is the indistinguishable door of an elevator. I use the gun barrel to wedge the door enough to put my hands between the gap and pull them open. Two chains hang in the middle of the dark shaft. I look up and only see darkness.
“You can do this.” I try to motivate myself. I need to climb seven floors.
I wrap my chain around me, but when I pick up the rifle, I notice that it doesn’t have a strap. I’ll need both hands to climb, so I leave the gun behind. I fly into the shaft with a powerful jump and grab hold of the chains in the middle. Hand over hand, I climb.
It isn’t until I’m around the fourth floor that I hear noises below me.
“Hello?” someone yells up. The words echo their way past me.
I stay as still as possible, hoping the moving chain doesn’t alert them to my location. Shots go off below me, nearly causing me to lose my grip. The bullets ricochet around me, and the fear gets my hands moving again.
My arms burn as I finally get to the ninth floor. I swing myself back and forth, but when I reach the elevator doors, I realize that I don’t have the leverage to pull them open and still balance myself.
I think for a moment and come up with what could be the stupidest idea I have ever had. I unwrap my chain and, with one hand, I do the best I can to tie the end of my chain to the elevator chain. The shoulder of the hand holding me up aches with pain; sweat drips down my face and stings my eyes.
After testing the knot’s strength, I wrap my chain around my waist and then the other end back to the elevator chain. Slowly, I lower myself into a horizontal position. When I let go of the elevator chain, my body drops a few inches, forcing a gasp out of my throat.
Once confident that it will hold, I swing myself back to the elevator door. On the third try, I manage to get my fingertips to latch on to the crack between the doors. It’s all or nothing, so I scream as I use all the strength I can muster to pull the doors apart. I quickly unknot my chain from the center chain and jump onto the ninth floor.
I jump to my feet the second I land, ready to act, but there’s no one around. Behind me, I hear a barrage of bullets ricochet in the elevator shaft. It won’t be long before they realize where I am. I need to act fast.
I move quickly down the hallway, checking every room I pass. Most rooms are filled with debris and dusty furniture. Then I get to one that surprises me. It’s clean and filled with makeshift monitors and tablets. The monitors display different parts of the city but also show a few areas around the compound. I can see that the fighting is still going on at the compound. It’s sad to see them all fighting for something that can’t be changed anymore.
I continue down the hallway, and near the end, I hear muffled sounds along with some peculiar beeps. When I poke my head around, I see Fe strapped to a chair. Her head is down, and she has a tube and other wires attached to her body. The tube is pumping her blood out and into a pouch that hangs on a stand next to her. The stand is surrounded by machines that are the beeps’ source—they look like ancient medical devices.
Just as I am about t
o step in, a man walks toward Fe from the back of the room. It’s Dr. Peters. He checks her pulse and then looks at the machines around her.
“Let her go!” I step through the door.
Dr. Peters jumps. When he sees me, he grabs a sharp object and holds it to Fe’s throat. “Don’t come closer.”
I stand my ground but slowly grab hold of my chain. A quick flash of the same situation with Brianna and Dr. Cicca speeds through my head. I can’t let the same thing happen to Fe.
“What are you doing to her?” I ask, trying to sneak a step closer.
“You guys are built to be able to withstand the nuclear fallout. It’s built into your DNA. I’m taking her blood to be able to meld her DNA with ours. Hopefully, it will give us a chance for survival,” he responds. I notice that the fear in his eyes has less to do with me being here and more to do with the Ragnarok.
“Who else are you getting the blood for?” I step closer, hoping that the questions will distract him from my advancements.
“Stay back.” He brings the sharp utensil to the side of Fe’s head. “It’s for Brianna and me.”
This surprises me. Either they must have been together, or Brianna was smarter than I gave her credit for. Whichever it was, I can tell that he has affections toward her. I smile.
“Why are you smiling?” He brings his utensil back to Fe’s neck.
“She’s dead,” I say flatly. “I killed her.”
In a brief moment of shock and grief, Dr. Peters lets down his guard and drops his hand. I take advantage and whip my chain at the chair. The end wraps around one of the legs, and before Dr. Peters can react, I pull the chair and Fe away from him.
Dr. Peters now stands completely exposed. He looks around for cover but can’t find any. He throws his sharp utensil at me. “Help!”
I whip my chain at him again, wrapping it around his waist. With my left hand, I pull him hard toward me. As he approaches, I swing with my right fist and connect right between his eyes. I can feel his nose break under my fingers.
His head falls back, and I can tell that I’ve knocked him unconscious. I hit him a couple more times to make sure and let him fall to the ground. I don’t kill him, because I want him to experience the Ragnarok.