A New Divide (Science Fiction) Read Free Page A

side.
                  Only one remained, we fell to the ground and I once again tapped the back of the heel on his gravity boot. We shot like a rocket across the floor, and flew into the wall right beside Mickey and the child.
                  I used the soldier's body to absorb the impact, but Mickey still had to lift me to my feet when the struggle had subsided.
                  "Collin, that was freaking incredible, man! Those reflexes are on point!"
                  "That's why they call me the juggernaut, Mick." I wiped the blood off my face and removed the boots from the first soldier I had just killed.
                  "What are you doing?"
                  "Terrible waste of good boots, don't you think? Here." I threw him the pair I removed from the soldier beside him. "He's a size 10½. That's you, right?"
                  "Yeah, a perfect fit."
                  I moved back over to the first soldier, and as I began to remove his boots we felt the entire platform quake below our feet.
                  "I want my daddy!" the child cried.
                  "Collin, let's get going, man."
                  "I'm done here, just let me latch these." As I tied my boots I heard a laugh coming from behind us; it was the only soldier left alive, a broken arm and paralyzed by the TNC.
                  "And where will you go, heathen?"
                  "None of your business, asshole. Come on, Mick, let's get to the atrium."
                  I found myself unable to leave, gravitated to the cackling laugh of the soldier. "It doesn't matter where you go, our King will find you. His Grace will burn all of you to ashes, destruction is our only way to salvation."
                  "Shut up!" I kicked him in the head rendering him unconscious. As we made our way to the atrium something deeply concerned me that I never shared with Mickey. Every time I had killed, or mortally injured, another PGL athlete in a match my hands would shake. Eventually I got used to it. Fatalities are common in a PGL match, but no matter how many times it did happen, my hands would always shake.
                  They didn't this time, and even more so—this wasn't gravball, this was my home. And my body was aching, it felt like spiders were crawling across my nerves. I couldn't help but think it was a reaction to the genome, even though it was a one in a billion occurrence. So I stayed silent until we had finally made our way to the atrium, which was overflowing with desperate souls.

CHAPTER 2 – PLANETFALL
     
     
                  "Daddy!"
                  "Oh thank god, Kevin!"
                  I couldn't help but smile as Mick returned the child to his parents, but I was getting very impatient. We only had an hour before we would plunge to the surface.
                  "Thank you, oh thank you so much. You are a godsend."
                  "I couldn't leave him alone."
                  "You two have to get out of here, this place is falling."
                  "Trust me, pops, we know." I replied.
                  "Follow me, boys, the escape pods are filling up fast."
                  We made our way through the crowd-infested atrium, above you could see the light of one of the suns and the incredible warzone that Raydenite space had become. We waited to enter an escape shuttle for about fifteen minutes and when it finally got to be our turn, there were no more seats to be had.
                  "What do you mean?"
                  "Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached full capacity! Please take an oxygen mask and head to Vault 4! We will evacuate everyone in an orderly manner."
                  "This is madness! You're just going to leave us here to