The Machine God

Chapter 11 - Surviving is Winning

Chapter 11

Surviving Is Winning

The woman called out.

“Annette Sheridan! You have an active bounty, and we are officially registered collectors. Surrender and—”

Really? Get the drop on me and start monologuing? My turn.

Annie charged.

She went for the wiry guy, deciding he was the easier target. That was a mistake.

He shoved his palm toward her, mimicking a palm strike, but the poor form told her it wasn’t a practiced motion. The ra...

Chapter 10 - Wanted

Chapter 10

Wanted

ONE WEEK LATER

Routine, especially as a part of recovery and keeping oneself busy, was damn good for the soul, Alexander decided. It was important to have enough variation to hold boredom at bay, though.

They had stayed up late into the night, that first night when Frank had burst into the workshop, Volt Cannon waving like he was ready to unleash life lessons in regret upon anyone foolish enough to have trespassed his domain.

...

Chapter 9 - Home Sweet Workshop

Chapter 9

Home Sweet Workshop

Alexander woke to the slight jolt of the hovercar touching down. The machine’s gentle hum faded into silence.

His neck ached. A fresh pain, late to the pity party. So did his shoulder, his ankle. Really, his whole body. The last couple of hours, going from chaos with a side of near-death, to Annie’s driving, and finally leaving wilderness for long, uninterrupted stretches of highway, had given him a chance to get some rest.

Not good ...

Chapter 8 - Cognitive Resonance

Chapter 8

Cognitive Resonance

“I saw him.”

Officer Talia Kim stood ramrod straight, hands clasped behind her back. Her braid brushed the curve of her hips as it swayed, threaded with fine metal wiring from a clasp at the back of her head down to a spiked tip.

Director Li didn’t look up from his tablet. “You saw Annette Sheridan escaping. That has been confirmed. We have already issued the standard bounty package.”

“She wasn’t alone,” Talia insis...

Chapter 7 - Class R

Chapter 7

Class R

Annie’s driving, Alexander decided, was not good for the soul. Or his stomach. Or his ankle. And his shoulder had already filed multiple complaints, too.

He was sure the experience had shaved a few years off his life expectancy, assuming it hadn’t already been shortened by train collisions, chemical injections, repeated beatings, and just the worst luck in the world. In the galaxy? Whatever.

Hovercars were a marvel of modern engineering. Gracefu...

Chapter 6 - First Spark of Will

Chapter 6

First Spark of Will

Annie had been hauling ass for the nearest exit when she heard fighting in one of the rooms she passed. Sliding to a stop, she turned to investigate.

Two corporate bullies were beating on a wounded patient. Despite his obviously medicated state, and the fact that the attack must have been going on for some time, the poor bastard was holding on.

I am a goddamn superhero, she told herself, planting her feet shoulder-width apart, h...

Chapter 5 - Pick On Someone Your Own Size

Chapter 5

Pick On Someone Your Own Size

Alexander hesitated, inexperience costing him the initiative.

The guard’s foot lashed out, slamming into his shin. Pain flared, and his leg slipped out from under him. He hit the ground hard, jarring the shoulder wound he’d already half-forgotten.

He scrambled backwards, but the guard lunged, dragging himself forward with a single good arm. If he hadn’t known better, Alexander might have thought the man was a zombie. The ...

Chapter 4 - No More Chains

Chapter 4

No More Chains

Alexander no longer bothered counting the days. Exhaustion had taken up permanent residence in his bones, and his routine, if it could be called that, had long since turned into something others might call madness. Still, it had kept him grounded. For a time.

He broke each day into three activities.

Sleep. Exercise. Meditate.

Each activity revolved around the slop delivery pipe. During his sleep, it was a repetitive disruption, never al...

Chapter 3 - When the Sky Shattered

Chapter 3

When the Sky Shattered

SIX WEEKS LATER

Specter whistled tunelessly, helmet tucked under his arm, as he made his way towards the uppermost level of the prison. It was ironic to him that wearing the black helmet, with its intimidating black face guard, made it harder for him to slip through the prison unnoticed. Two of his powers didn’t really work properly if his face couldn’t be seen.

He’d spent the last few months in this shithole, a...

Chapter 2 - The Collar

Chapter 2

The Collar

The routine Alexander had been forced into over the past several days was nothing short of torture. He couldn’t say how many days had passed. The only clues came from the cell itself: the pipe embedded in the rear wall, and the toilet tucked into its shallow cubicle. Both activated on what he estimated to be an hourly schedule.

He’d started counting the subtle vibrations that preceded each cycle. A few seconds later, a thin stream of watery slop wo...

Chapter 1 - REDACTED

Chapter 1

Redacted

Boredom was not good for the soul. Alexander Rooke reminded himself of that every morning, but his routine was a means of survival. Of keeping the intruding need to make decisions simple and sane.

Shower. Dress. Eat. Leave.

Making his way to work through the bustling city, he sidestepped a man about to slip on some wet trash. The dull thud of a body hitting the pavement behind him was proof of Alexander’s real problem.

He saw too much. All ...

Continue the Dream

Thanks for being here at the very beginning. This Patreon exists for one simple purpose: publishing chapters of The Machine God as I write them.

The Machine God follows Alexander Rooke and his team of unlikely supervillains as they navigate a world where reality itself is becoming the gameboard for an entity that is breaking all the rules. The System is waking up, transforming Earth into just one battlefield in a multiversal war where Dreams collide and only the strongest survive.