Machine God: A Post-Apocalyptic Thriller (Final Draft)

I will survive

"Are you guys okay inside there?"

Ceedee's voice echoed through the intercom. I wanted to drop out of the current mission and listen to her on endless loop. Hecto replied first.

"Everything's in the green. We had a bit of a misunderstanding with a local."

"Do all your misunderstandings end in gunfire?"

"You know me."

The usual banter between the two.

The boy ushered us into the back of the former sportswear store.

"We're hiding in the storage hall. The walls swallow our sounds in case enemies walk through the mall's corridors."

"Good hiding spot," Hecto said.

He winked at Glitch and Darwin, who hovered their fingers around the trigger of their UMP and scattergun.

"Don't worry about them. They're comrades...friends."

The boy knocked on the door in a specific pattern. Three short knocks, two long, and another four in rapid succession. We heard the opening on the other side.

"I've brought help," the boy said to the disgruntled old man.

Our team stepped inside and scanned the perimeter. The storage hall looked like a refugee camp. Beds made out of ripped clothes and boxes littered the ground, as well as shelves full of custom tools and cans. Hecto told us to lower our guns.

We abided.

The boy introduced us to a group of middle-aged men who regarded us with dismissive glances.

I listened to Hecto and planned to intervene in case his appeasement failed. My eyes analyzed the people of the makeshift shelter. No one looked or acted like a soldier. Everyone was scared, hunkered down and hid behind their DIY beds.

Threat assessment: low.

It increased our chances of leaving this place unscarred.

Good.

"We're really here to help you," Hecto said.

The middle-aged man with the shotgun grimaced.

"That's what they said, before they slaughtered half of our people."

"Who's they?"

"The other armored soldiers with their strange guns. They found our main hiding spot on the west wing of the mall and paid us a visit. We paid the price."

He swallowed his spit to make room for the next words.

"And then they took some of our people and killed the rest. We were the only ones that survived and relocated here."

"Whoever they were, they didn't come from our cluster. Our kind doesn't kill the innocent."

Unless they rebelled against the rules, I added in my mind.

Hecto possessed the uncanny ability of making the Bulwark sound like the promised land. If I hadn't known better, I would have fallen for his words.

Maybe.

A little girl walked me up. She wore a mix of dirty clothes, hastily sewn together.

"Are you gonna help us free our friends?"

I didn't know what she was talking about, but I offered her a neutral 'we'll see'. She looked as if she had survived two wars in a row.

"What's your name?"