Machine God: A Post-Apocalyptic Thriller

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1

If that was nowhere, I was in the middle of it.

Darkness ruled around me, with no sign of life in sight.

Not to mention that creepy fzzzz that permeated my ear channels. It seemed to hum forever, but then again, I had no feeling of time.

Months, days, hours and minutes mushed together. 

It sucked.

Until the light broke through the gloom. Flickers popped in and out on the inner skin of my eyelids. Muffled voices echoed from afar, but they increased in volume. One sounded like a woman, a voice both sweet and stern. The perfection of tonality.

I wanted to hear more from her.

Thankfully, she spoke.

And I think she was talking about me.

My favorite topic.

“I think he’s alive.”

Alive? Of course I was alive. My thoughts blasted at the speed of a bullet. If only I was able to move or a say a damn thing.

I remembered how to lift my eyelids. 

So I pushed them up.

Slow and steady. 

The light from far away reached my pupils, and I had to close my eyes again. 

“It’s okay, we’re not going to hurt you.”

The woman sounded gentle, and she meant it. How could such a voice lie?

I saw the face of a young female with freckles and chiseled features. Her icy-blond hair glowed like strings of neon lights, her azure eyes looked bluetiful. My mouth remembered how to form words again. 

“You’re dazzling.”

She smiled, and it was warmer than the rays shining through the remote all entrance.

“You must be hallucinating,” she said.

If that was the case, it was the best hallucination ever. The blonde averted her glance and talked to someone in the distance.

“Hecto, over here.”

Her hair floated over my face like an ice rain. My hand reached out and wanted to touch it. The blonde turned away.

My body protested.

“Wait. Don’t go away.”

She smiled at me.

“Don’t worry, buddy, we’ll get you out of here.”

Out of here?

Her statement sounded strange. Where was ‘here’ anyways? I regained control of my neck and twisted my head around. The ceiling above me was broken apart, the naked steel bars peeked through the coating. They carried an industrial touch. Was this some kind of factory?

Certainly smelled like it.

The air reeked of dank concrete, or maybe it was the dust devouring my tongue. Around me lay rubble and mechanical parts, long forgotten by time. This place looked and smelled bad, but where the hell was I?

A giant of a man approached the blonde and looked down at me. Like I was some kind of exotic animal.

With plum-sized zits on my nose.

“What did you find?” he said.

“A survivor.”

“He’s still alive?”

Said the big man seeing my mouth move. Of course I was alive, what kind of question was that? To be honest, I preferred the blonde over him. The man’s voice sounded scratchy and deep. And his build looked less pleasant. Action figure on steroids, blown up to a two-meter frame. The desert-colored armor and rifle didn't make him look friendly, either.

“Can he speak?” the giant man said.

“Oh yes, he just made me the nicest compliment.”

The man cocked his massive eyebrow. 

“This guy’s half a corpse.”

“And still going full chivalry,” she said.

They had a playful way of talking to each other. Either they were best friends or a couple. Didn’t matter. They sounded like good folks.

Folks that would help me.

With whatever I needed help with.

“Where am I?”

“Looks like you have a bad case of amnesia.”

I’d switch for a good case of amnesia any time.

“Let’s help him get up,” the big man said and grabbed my arms. Felt like a forklift propelling me into the air. 

Such strength.

The blonde pinched his biceps, and boy, what a biceps it was. 

A mountain of muscles.

“What?”

“Maybe he’s got broken limbs. Be careful.”

Maybe she was right, but it didn’t feel like it. I lifted my right arm. Raised my left, and then my feet. Felt like I was the puppet master pulling the strings again.

Breath after breath, the strength returned to my body. 

“I don’t know…but I think I am okay.”

The woman flicked me a suspicious glance.

“You were buried under a pile of rubble. You look like a tank rolled over you.”

“Really?”

Oh yeah. 

A thick layer of dust crusted my face. Brick pieces as well as rusty mech parts throned around my body. It looked like I was in some kind of broken-apart capsule, in the middle of nowhere.

Worst sleeping place ever. 

And now the man called ‘Hecto’ helped me up. I tried everything I could to ease the process.

“Will you manage?”

“I’m fine, really.”

Back on my feet, I stretched my limbs and moaned. A deep exhale awoke the rest of my body. The two strangers chuckled. I realized they both wore military grade armor with some kind of ammo belts. The man carried an assault rifle which had seen better times, the woman used a sniper rifle with a long barrel, and an attached mini-tripod for stabilization. Reminded me of models I had seen before.

I just didn't know from where.

So my attention leveled up.

“Well, good morning to you, sir,” the blonde said.

“It does feel as if I just woke up.”

“Can you walk?”

Time to find out.

I placed my first step. The pressure on the foot felt foreign, but I kept the balance and stepped forward. Staggered around and almost slipped on the pile of rubble beneath my boots, but the equilibrium returned. The two strangers watched me with awe. The blonde grinned all the way through.

“Looks like a corpse, walks like a marathon runner.”

She said it in a playful tone, but even if she made fun of me, I wouldn’t have minded. Everything out of her mouth sounded like air with honey flavor.

“Where are we?”

“You really have no idea?”

Although the power returned to my body, the memories didn't. My brain was as dark as this lonely ruin. 

“It’s a story that takes the better part of an evening.”

Pause.

“Make that two,” she said.

Her big buddy chimed in. 

“And we have no time to talk about it now, we’re still in the middle of an operation."

Operation?

Another military term. 

Before I could follow up with a question, the woman smiled past my shoulder.

“Finally decided to join us?”

The big man called Hecto looked at the same direction, but with less enthusiasm.

“I told you not to wander off. We haven't cleared this place yet."

I rotated my head to see whom they were talking to.

A shadow of a figure entered my view.

2

The blonde addressed the person staggering toward us.

“Glitch, we’re returning to HQ. You can stop jerking off now.”

“You just know how to talk to men,” Hecto said.

“If you know one, you know them all.”

“No need to complain, you guys, I found lots of stuff,” the new guy called Glitch said.

He waddled toward us with a military rucksack, consisting of gearbacks, filled to the brim. A lanky guy, wearing a similar armor which was covered with cartoon stickers and quotes I didn’t understand. Sort of the kid-friendly version of a desert warrior.

Hecto spoke.

“I hope your rucksack’s not filled with bricks.”

“This structure is a scavenger’s wet dream. You won’t believe the kind of tech I found.”

“Tell us later,” Hecto said, “we’re already behind schedule, and the sun’s not staying up forever.”

The trio nodded and marched in formation. They neared the broken entrance gate where the light shone through. I stood on my spot and watched their backs.

“What about me?”

The blonde turned around. The light from the entrance illuminated her silhouette and gave her a holy vibe.

Fitting.

“You’re coming with us, of course.”

Of course. 

No doubt in her voice. 

These were the coolest people.

I accompanied them and walked outside. The second my boots passed the doorframe, the sun flushed my face and drowned everything into a glowing white. The view was so bright I yanked away by instinct.

“Are you anti-sun?” the gawky guy called Glitch said.

“My eyes are. Feels like I was stuck in the darkness since birth.”

Hecto wasn’t happy.

“Then shield your eyes. We’ve got to keep moving.”

I nodded and avoided the sun stare. The trio stormed alongside the broken wall in front of the hall we just had left. The blonde and the big guy Hecto clutched their firearms, always on the lookout. Their fingers hovered over the triggers, ready to squeeze at will. Hecto waved me over and told me to hunker down next to a ruin. 

Were we at danger? I couldn’t hear anyone around here except for the wind whining through my ear channels. I looked back and realized my eyes adjusted to the light. 

What a sight.

Sand drowned the streets. Car wreckages protruded from the dunes, torn-apart houses and skyscraper ruins pierced through the wasteland.

A concrete graveyard of metropolitan size. 

Scary and fascinating. 

What was this place?

The blonde must have read my worries, because she touched my shoulder.

“You want to keep your head down and watch out for anything suspicious.”

“Like what?”

“Any kind of attacker with a firearm in his hands.”

“Got it.”

We slipped out the cover and hurried to the next spot—a blown-apart truck with a fortified steel-structure. Didn’t help much—half the chassis was ripped-off. My eyes swung around the rear and gazed into the forsaken main street. The wind brushed sands off the ground and blew it around like mini tornados. 

Whooosh.

A beautiful ballade of dust.

And not a single human being in sight. 

My glance turned back to the trio that held onto their MPs and rifles like addicts.

I didn’t feel threatened, but if they had arms, maybe it was vital to arm myself.

“Do you have a gun for me? I’m a decent shooter.”

Was I?

Didn't know, but the sentence felt right.

The blonde pondered my statement. She retrieved something from Glitch's rucksack but Hecto stopped her arm in mid-motion.

“No, you know we can’t.”

The woman gave me an I'm So Sorry glance.

“We have tight rules. But don’t worry, if there's a shootout, we’ll cover you.”

Said the stranger to the stranger.

Hecto took charge and led us around the empty intersection. My legs worked like the wind, but the gangly Glitch had trouble keeping up with us. He was carrying an MP and his ginormous military rucksack, which looked like a boulder dragging him down. Since I seemed to be the last wheel of the team, I wanted to make myself useful.

“Can I help you carry something?”

Glitch swapped glances with Hecto and the blonde. 

“Dude, we just found you half-rotten in a ruin. I think you’re too cranky to carry my pack."

“No, really. I’d love to help you.”

Glitch exchanged a confused glance with his peers. They shrugged. For some reason, they thought I was about to collapse to the ground. 

That wasn't going to happen.

“Let me try. At least for a couple hundred meters.”

“If you say so.”

Glitch unstrapped his rucksack and needed both of his hands to pass it on to me. 

“Be careful, it’s very—”

I swirled the rucksack around my back, adjusted the shoulder straps and walked on.

“Bulky,” Glitch said with eyes bulging out.

I had to admit, it looked heavier on him. It wasn’t exactly paper weight, but I managed, easily. 

The blonde smiled.

I couldn’t get enough of it.

“Were you lifting bricks in the ruin?”

“Not that I can recall. Guess I’m a natural.”

Natural born rucksack schlepper? 

What a useless line, but hey, my mouth wasn’t adapted to speaking yet.

We dashed past the blown-out store windows and zigzagged from one cover to the next, avoiding the main streets. Everyone shut up during the sprint, but curiosity whirled around my head like a sand tornado. While Hecto spearheaded and the blonde guarded our rear, the second most burning question bubbled out.

“By the way, where are we going?”

3

“The LRV,” Hecto said.

I was dying to know what LRV stood for, but with the ongoing tension in the trio, and my endless array of questions, this had to be the worst timing. So I shut up and followed them along. Something in this ruinous city freaked them out, and it wasn’t me.

We hushed around the corner of a factory-style building and entered some kind of compound.