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

Store Shooting

He let me have a look around the corner. Hecto's whistle of awe was justified. The huge parking space in front of the mall ruin was protected with make-shift barricades and watch towers. Whoever lived inside the mall had a strict border protection policy.

"That looks more like a fortress than a mall."

Ceedee was right.

"But look," she pointed toward a line next to the east tower.

"There are holes in the defense. Looks like someone tried to invade the mall before."

"I don't like it," Hecto said.

He wasn't the only one.

On top of the suspicious setting, no one manned the watch towers. They stood around like idle monuments. Glitch's voice shivered.

"Maybe it's a trap. Maybe we should report to HQ and call it a day."

"No way. We're on a mission and we'll master it," Ceedee said.

"So, what's the plan, Hecto?"

He grumbled.

"I don't like the open space. Ceedee, I want you to man the house over there and provide overwatch, just in case. Don't hurt yourself on the way up."

"Roger that."

She vanished through the hole in the wall and targeted the house, avoiding the open parking space of the mall. With a well-placed shot of her grapple gun, she pulled herself up and climbed over the roof's ledge. Ceedee disappeared from my vision. Hecto's eyes followed ours.

"Here's the plan. We stay down and zigzag from one cover spot to another. You follow my lead and shut up. Whatever happens, you don't stop unless you're near a barricade, do you hear me?"

"Yes, sir," Glitch and Darwin said.

I simply nodded and inspected the perimeter. No movement showed up on my commchuff, but as Hecto had said earlier, enemy snipers could lurk everywhere. Passing a wide open field was always riddled with danger.

It was terrifying.

And exciting.

We snuck across the parking space and ducked in the shadows of the few car wreckages that still lay around. I snooped around the shredded trunk and observed the watch towers. No single human being was around.

"How's the view up there?" Hecto said via the intercom.

Ceedee answered.

"No target in sight. Motion scanners show zero activity."

"Let's hope it stays that way. Look out for roof campers."

We left the shadows and sprinted over the parking space. Craters littered the grounds.

"Are these from shell impacts?"

"No, they look like IED craters," Hecto said and pointed toward the skeleton bodies.

"Looked like someone tested the waters for us."

Unlucky bastards.

Half the bones had been shredded apart. Among the victims lay pieces of mechanized rubble I remembered from the ruin where I woke up. I couldn't pinpoint their origin—they were too big for weapon pieces, but didn't look like vehicle parts either.

Weird.

I tossed the sight away and focused on the path before me. Me, Hecto, Glitch and Darwin crawled through the holes in the barricades and reached the east side of the mall. Hecto stopped us for a status update.