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

Into the unknown

Not looking good.

We were down in some industrial tunnel, surrounded by trash and darkness. Up high, dust snowed as the sandstorm raged around the sector we were entrapped in.

The howling increased, and so did the fear.

Not looking good.

At all.

When Ann-Lyze finished treating her father, I asked him again.

"How long does the storm last?"

Nathan sounded so weak.

"I'm no meteorologist, but it can take hours, sometimes days. These storms are unpredictable."

He squeezed out every word, sounded as if his stomach twisted inside out.

"How are you?"

"I try to make it."

Ann-Lyze chimed in.

"You're going to make it."

Daughter-father affection.

The warmest thing going in the dark down here.

"What now?" Ann-Lyze said.

"Don't know. We could either wait for the storm to reside or..."

I turned toward the dark corridors in the tunnel system.

Nothing but moist and obscurity awaited us.

"We could walk around here and see if there's an easier exit to the top."

"Well, I'm too weak to lead," Nathan said while his daughter supported him.

The soldier from before and a couple of diggers staggered toward us. For some reason, everyone looked at me with expecting eyes.

"What's the verdict?" one of the diggers said.

My eyes closed as I listened to my instinct. Despite all the crap that happened to me, my inner feelings never led me astray. There was a compass inside of me which always showed me the way.

The second I looked into the obscure corridor up ahead, my skin crawled up and a feeling of familiarity overcame me.

I had never been here.

I had no clue where I was.

But the tunnels were calling me, so I said,

"We check the corridors."

No one protested, no one intervened.

Even wounded Nathan accepted my decision with a faint nod. All animosity between us had vanished, and only the will to survive remained.

At least for now.

I took charge and entered the nearest tunnel with the survivors behind me.

We stepped into uncertainty.