Read Online Gene. Sys. by Aaron Denius Garcia - Free Book Online Page B

wall, checking his surroundings as he goes.
    “For what? What are we doing?” I mimic every
action he does as he ducks his way to the corner of the wall.
    “Going to the pyramid.” He shoots a giant smile
at me and I can’t help but reciprocate. “Everyone will be focusing on and
paying attention to Rene, so no one will notice us leaving.”
    What we are about to do is so wrong and will get
me in so much trouble but ever since I saw the top of the pyramid from my
vantage point on the roof I have wanted to see it up close. Before I am able to
even think about objecting I see 80 scaling the corner of the wall like a
spider. He places his hand on one stone and then his foot in another. I do my
best to follow his path as we climb the thirty-foot wall.
    He is every bit as physically able as I am but
he seems to possess a lot more fearlessness. My hands shake as I look down at
the drop beneath me. One miscalculation and I could very easily fall to my
death. 80 makes it to the top and looks around.
    I’m about to reach up for the top of the wall
when my foot slips on one of the stones. My heart stops as I begin to fall and
the only thing that crosses my mind is that I failed Ev. I am snapped back into
the moment when 80’s hand grabs mine, stopping my 30 foot plunge. He pulls me
up and I regain my bearings at the top of the wall. That close brush with death
has made me reconsider this adventure. “I shouldn’t be doing this. We should go
back.”
    “Stop!” Three drones are running at us from
different directions.
    “Too late. Go!” 80 has ushered me to the edge of
the wall and before I know it I’m climbing down on the other side. 80 is on the wall right behind me. We make it to the ground and
run in the direction of the first place we can find cover. It appears to be an
old metal shack that has had most of its metal rusted, stolen or blown off. We
crouch behind it, both breathing heavy and trying to catch our breath. We look
at each other and laugh.
    We barely have time to think before we are off
and running again, this time in the direction of the pyramid. The bottom is
obscured by the city before us but I see more of the top than I ever have. The
city is a mix of steel and glass buildings with stone and metal huts. It’s a
plethora of juxtaposition with no middle ground. The only thing that they all
have in common is that they have been worn down, torn apart or blown apart.
Anxiety grips me, as we get closer to the border. The outsiders do not seem
like a welcoming people and we are running into unknown territory for both of
us.
    “Come over here.” 80 waves me over to a pile of rubble. “We need to change out of these clothes. We’ll
stand out to the outsiders if we don’t.”
    “What would happen if they spot us?” I step next
to 80 as he bends down and grabs something.
    “They’d kill us.” 80 pulls the body of a young man from under the rubble. The smell coming from his body
is repugnant. His entire left arm is missing and his face is covered with
blood. Through the blood his dead, empty eyes stare up at me. My stomach
tightens and I look away.
    “I’m not wearing a dead man’s clothes.” I try
hard to keep everything in my stomach.
    “Atom, it’s the only way. Nobody outside of the
compound wears what we have on,” he says. “Just don’t look at their faces.”
    I take a deep breath and turn to see that 80 has
already pulled a second body and is midway through changing. I walk over to the
first body and slowly pull off his outer layer. “How are you able to do this?”
    “I have been around death since I was created.
The integers are expendable, so they wouldn’t even bother fixing someone with a
broken leg. They just replace them with someone new. I’m not the first one
named 80.” He jumps back into the rubble and scavenges.
    This reminder of the lack of humanity the
scientists show towards the drones reignites my anger towards Rene. It confirms
my resolve to make it to the pyramid