Free Gene. Sys. by Aaron Denius Garcia Page A

my life. I will never forget that.” I walk on and he jogs
up next to me. We weave our way through the city and past the party.
    “Hang on a second.” 80 runs off towards the party, leaving me alone. I stand off to the side to try to
avoid any attention.
    Just as 80 turns the corner an older man with
spotted facial hair steps in front of me. “Where did you get those shoes?”
    I look down and see that the brightly colored
shoes are in complete contrast to the rest of the clothes I’m wearing. “I found
them.”
    The old man studies me. “Where?”
    My heart races because I know whatever answer I
give him will be the wrong answer. “I don’t remember.”
    “You’re lying.” The old man pins my shoulders
against the wall and then looks back. “ Petros !”
    A giant man walks out of the shadows, his face
covered in scars. “What?”
    “I think he’s from inside the walls.” The old
man grabs the staff out of my hand and tosses it aside.
    Petros steps right up to me.
His face close enough that I can smell his breath .
“He’s too young to be one of the scientists. He must be one of the clones.”
    “You think he’s one of the guards or one of the
Genesys?” The old man prods at me.
    “I don’t care.” Petros turns to walk away. “Kill him.”
    The old man pulls a gun from his pants and aims
it at my head. My eyes go wide and my instincts take over. I kick off the wall,
knocking the old man back. His gun goes off but misses me by a few feet. I grab
the arm with the gun, sweep my leg over his head and arm and take him down to
the ground. With one quick motion I break his arm over my leg and pull the gun
from his hand. The old man screams in pain, pulling Petros ’
attention, as well as a few others.
    They all pull their guns on me so I duck behind
a barricade of rubble as they fire their rounds in my direction. Pieces of
glass and concrete fall on me as I try to recall my training with Grant. I wish
he was here to tell me what to do but I know all he would say is to figure it
out and use my head.
    I look up and spot a dragonfly hovering above
me. I know now that all I have to do is fend them off long enough and help will
be here. I look at the building behind me and see in the reflection of the
little glass left that there are about nine people shooting at me. It won’t be
long before more join in. Off to the side I see another reflection, 80. He’s
hiding behind a building a half block down and is signaling something with his
hands. I look closely and realize that he’s telling me to go into the building.
    I do my best to stay low and I crawl in through
one of the broken windows of the building. The floor is littered with rubble
and old office paraphernalia. A buzzing by my head causes me to flinch and I
turn to see the dragonfly camera. It’s following me.
    “He’s inside!” the old man yells.
    I look around the floor for a way out when the
dragonfly takes off and hovers towards a door against a far wall. I run to the
door and push but it catches on some rubble on the
other side. The opening is big enough for the dragonfly to squeeze through but
I can barely get my arm through. I push as hard as I can against the door and
it begins to slowly move. A shot goes off by my head and I turn to see the
outsiders streaming in through the same window I came through. I fire a couple
of shots in their direction and crouch low for cover.
    “Come out, come out,” Petros sings from the other side of the floor. “We promise to kill you nice and
quick.”
    Bullets whiz by me and I know that I have
nowhere else to go. I lean my back against the door and it flies open, causing
me to fall to my back. 80 stands above me and he
shoots his gun at the outsiders.
    “Go!” he yells. “Up the stairs!”
    I crawl through the door and see that I am in a
stairwell. The dragonfly hovers on the first flight of steps and then takes
off. I follow it up the stairs as fast as I can; 80 trails behind me, turning
from time to