Machine God: A Post-Apocalyptic Thriller (26 page)

Ready to aim his rifle arm.

Fat chance.

I unleashed the rest of my mag into his helmet. The pieces shred apart, the hostile fell to his knees and collapsed. The last living Technoid crouched away but I wouldn’t let him. My hands grabbed his helmet and smashed it into the steel ground until the strangely-colored blood seeped out. With Naif by my side, I approached the armory gate and shouted.

“Orden, I know you’re in there. It’s me, the stranger who once pointed a Dust Viper at you. Let us in.”

The second I said it, I wanted to punch myself. Reminding Orden of the time where I threatened her was hardly a trust-enforcer. 

As expected, there was no reaction.

“Jeezus, let us."

The battered gate opened sideways. 

Chief Orden, Glitch, and a handful of guards pointed their AK-BL8s at me.

Konforma manifested herself next to Orden and waved at me with the charm of a lollipop girl.

"You've re-earned the right to enter our glorious armory."

76

Chief Orden glanced at me the same way she’d look at a sand rat masturbating during a table dance.

In short, flummoxed face deluxe.

“Is that really you?”

“Unfortunately. I’m like those cockroaches, you know, throw sandstorms and snipers after me and I’m still coming back for more.”

Glitch grinned like a kid.

“Man, you’ve really come back.”

He approached me first and hugged me like a long lost brother.

“I’m so glad you returned. How the hell have you made back here?”

“Later. This cluster is on lockdown. The rest of the Technoid platoon will arrive soon.”

My glance swung to the chief who still wrestled with her emotion. 

“Orden, give me permission to access all tiers of the locker. Me and my soldier friend need to armor up.”

She caught herself and slipped back into her old role, the notorious iron bitch.

“But you’re a low-ranking digger with minimal permissions. You don’t even have the right to access a tier one firearm.”

This woman.

Was the U of unbelievable.

We were in the middle of a hostile siege, and she still made love to bureaucracy. Why didn’t the Technoids take her hostage? That would have been a bright spot for once.

“Konforma, care to help me out here?”

The hologram girl nudged the iron lady with her digital finger.

“Chief Orden, given the extraordinary situation that could threaten the future of our beloved Bulwark, I believe we can make an exception.”

Orden pondered her suggestion with steady eye contact.

“Fine. I grant you a temporary tier two permission.”

Better than nothing. 

I said,

“Tell your soldiers to guard the entrances while we take care of the weapon load-out.”

“I know basic urban tactics myself.”

She then instructed the soldiers with my suggestion. I walked toward the showcase that opened its armored hull.

The wonderland of weaponry unleashed before my eyes.

But given the time pressure, I went basic.

Grabbed the AK-BL8 with the crystalline blade. 

Took four mags with fifty rounds each.

A handful of EMP grenades.

And two flashbangs.

“Don’t forget the armor,” Glitch said.

He pointed toward the armor locker and took out a state-of-the-art armordillo.

Helped me undress myself from the blood-and sweat-soaked digger gear and wrapped the armor around my body. In less than thirty seconds, I was back to being a heavily-armored and weaponized soldier.

And guess what?

I loved every second of it.

“Hostiles approaching from the east wing,” the guards said via the intercom on our commcuffs.

“Let them come. We’re ready.”

Orden still looked as if she was chewing on nails.

“I hope you do have a plan besides blasting everything to smithereens."

“We’re liberating the commons section where dozens of soldiers are located.”

“Very primitive.”

“Orden, the simpler, the better. We don’t have time for quality planning. It’s shoot ’n’ run.”

My neck craned toward the geek.

“Glitch, take the military gearback and stuff it with as many firearms, assault rifles and EMP grenades as you can.”

Orden swallowed hard as Glitch tore through the weapon’s showcase.

“Please respect our resources.”

I had to intervene.

“Chill out, Orden. We're going to save lives here."

The guards moved into position. 

The tension tripled.

“Hostile contact. Waiting for orders.”

“Fire at will,” I said over the intercom. 

I had suddenly upgraded from lone survivor to squad captain.

Why not?

I seemed to be the only one capable of taking back the cluster.

“Orden, you stay inside the armory and keep it shut from the outside. Make sure no Technoid gains access to it.”

Obviously, she did not like that decision.

“You may not believe it, but I went through Basic training as well. I’m a terrific shot. And I have a permanent tier three license.”

“No doubt about that, but I need people to follow my commands without question. One protest, and we're deadmeat."

She grimaced, which made me smile inside. She deserved getting put into her place.

“It’s for the greater good."

Oh yeah.

Now the action started.

“Fire.”

The gunshots rang through the hall. 

The war for the Bulwark Cluster had begun.

77

The world erupted in fire.

A volley of energetic javelins pierced the hull of the entrance and ripped the nearest guard apart.

“Taking casualties,” his comrade said.

Even with my armament, I had to stay alert. 

Technoids weren’t regular soldiers.

One false step and their energy blasts would cook through my armor, turning me into a metal meat corpse like the guard rolling before my eyes.

“Advance to the next floor. We’re taking back the commons.”

“Roger.”

Naif nudged my rear.

“Whatever happens, I got you covered. Even though you probably need no help on my side.”

“I’m afraid I do.”

We marched up the stairs. A new fireteam of Technoids emerged from above. They ran down and shouted in their mechanical voices. 

I didn’t bother to waste any bullets, primed one of the two EMP grenades and threw it into the floor. The cylinder-shaped device bounced off the walls till it entered the hostile space and exploded. An electro-magnetic pulse jerked up the attackers.

Sparks shizzled.

My kind of cooking.

“You’re scoring high, man,” Glitch said.

“I’m saving lives.”

We stormed toward the commons hall and experienced heavy resistance. One of our guards got headshot, I bounced back and hit the staircase wall.

Thank tech the armor mitigated the impact. My battered meat couldn’t take another direct hit. Naif helped me up and gave me an approving nod.

“Don’t give up now, you have come so far.”

Right. 

It was me, him, Glitch and two more guards left.

We took cover at the entrance gate of the third floor.

The gate opened up, I pushed into the open hall.

“Cover me,” I said.

Primed my last EMP grenade and tossed it at the Technoids coming through the opened gate. They scrambled for cover but reacted way too late. The EMP blast knocked four or five out. Shivering puppets tumbled to the ground. I pushed myself to the left side of the commons entrance.

Made sure no one burst through the frame.

“Clear.”

Waved the rest of my team over and told them to take position.

“What are we dealing with?” Glitch said, now hunkering down near the wall.

He schlepped the gearpack with the dozens of firearms and sweated a waterfall of salty pearls. He was soon going to deliver the goods.

“Konforma, how many Technoids are in the commons?”

“Seven. Two behind the showcase, two on each rear guarding the hostages and three approaching your position. It looks like they’re opening fire.”

With everyone of us pushed against the back of the wall, the Technoids had no clear line of fire.

Which meant they used thermal detection vision or something similar.

Shit.

“Scramble for cover. Incoming.”

Burrrrn.

As the energy blasts ripped through the hull and tore Naif's armored shoulder apart. He flipped over and pushed himself up, ready for battle.

I yelled at him.

“Are you okay?”

“The flesh is weak. My will isn’t.”

“Good.”

I had one flashbang left, but they were useless against enemies with heat vision. Naif moved on the opposite side of the commons entrance and pushed himself to the edge of the frame. Readied his AK-BL8 and held it in front of the entrance, ready to fire it blindly.

“No,” I said and waved him down.

“They’re hundreds of hostages inside. You’re going to kill them by accident.”

He hesitated, but retreated his rifle.

“Then how do we get inside?”

“Move out of the line of fire.”

My sense tingled as another volley of energy blasts ripped through the hull. 

The insane energy melted the steel hull around the gate into a steaming liquid. The hole increased as the substance ate itself through the material.

Think.

Think.

Think.

One glimpse at my armordillo equipment gave me the eureka moment.

The grapple gun.

Glitch looked at me.

“These are not for indoor use.”

“You have to break the rules to win.”

“Back me up while I swing inside.”

“You’re cuckoo,” Glitch said.

“Sanity is for the weak.”

A giggle appeared on his face.

I said,

“There’s no more time. Lay down suppressive fire and cover me.”

“Roger.”

All three upped from the melting hull cover and fired at the incoming Technoids.

I peeked around my corner, shot the grapple gun’s dart into the ceiling over the food's showcase and watched the cable unwinding itself. The dart pierced the ceiling, clicked and pulled me from the cover spot.

Straight into the commons hall.

Like a monkey, I swung through the air going yooohoooooo. One unfortunate Technoid stood in my way and received a head kick of a lifetime.

The sucker flew over the ground and rolled sideways.

At the end of the swing, I let go and burst through the glass of the showcase, rolled on the ground behind and took cover next to the steel crates.

I updated my team via the intercom.

“Let’s flank those sons of bitches.”

My three comrades entered through the entrance hole while I shot from the other side of the commons and flanked the remaining Technoids. Dozens of citizens squealed in unison and pushed themselves to the ground. Two Technoids approached me from the left side of the hall. They shot at least fifty meters across the distance and killed four citizens who stood in the way, screaming.

Bastards.

No respect for life.

I wanted to shoot from my cover spot but a burst impacted the surface and shredded the metal. 

The pieces bounced off my armor but caught me by surprise. The two soldiers split up and tried to flank me.

The one on the left opened some kind of disc device from his armor. It buzzed through the air like a mini-drone.

Homing grenade?

What the—

I ducked for cover when the disc hovered in mid-air before me, beeped and detonated. 

A sonic explosion emanated from it and spread out in 360 degrees. The shockwave sent me flying over the showcase and shredded my back armor plates. Blood pieces splashed out. 

The glass case ‘absorbed’ my fall and shattered under my weight.

I was still in one piece, but started to bleed on my back. 

Didn't matter, the fight wasn't over yet.

Thank tech I wasn't the only brave warrior around.

In the periphery of my left vision, I saw the one and only Hecto sneaking through the hostage crowd, choking one of the Technoids from behind. 

I staggered toward the intact part of the showcase and tried to support my weight with my left arm. Which made me realize I had forgotten about the right Technoid who now reached the point-blank space and aimed his arm-pulsar at me.

78

The sound of a head getting decapitated. 

Thankfully not mine.

The head-less Technoid, who was about to shoot me, fell over like a sack full of rations and went ‘plonk’ on the metal ground. Behind him stood Naif with his AK-BL8, the crystalline blade under the barrel covered with the artificial-looking blood from the Technoid. 

He smiled, well, I couldn’t see that, but based on his composure, he had to smile.

“I told you, the odds are in your favor.”

“Looks more like the comrades are in my favor.”

“Maybe.”

Glitch finally dragged his crammed military rucksack to our position.

“Wow, wow, you freaking shot your grapple gun at the ceiling and swung like Tarzan through the commons jungle.”

“Who?”

“Tarzan. Some fictional character I once discovered in a book.”

“Pay more attention, Glitch. This is real life.”

“Yessir,” he said and gave me a melodramatic salute. 

This kid could never stay serious, but maybe it was his strategy to cope with the war. My eyes inspected the perimeter. All Technoids within the hotzone were killed, but more would come soon. This wasn’t over yet.

I shouted at the masses getting up from the ground.

“Citizens of the Bulwark, this is a rescue mission. We’re taking back the cluster.”

The crowds cheered and hugged each other. 

It was an encouraging sight.

“It isn’t over yet,” Naif said.

“I know.”

I silenced everyone.

“All the soldiers, please line up near the showcase. We have weapons for you.”

In half a minute, the crowd split. Dozens of soldiers lined up to receive the weapons Glitch had brought from the armory.