Chapter 1 I'LL KILL THEM ALL
Karl Arden hit the ground hard enough to think his spine had snapped.
Pain exploded through his side as his body skidded across the soot-covered ground. He heard a sickening snap somewhere in his ribs, but he didn’t stop.
Karl forced himself onto his elbows, coughing as ash and blood filled his mouth. The sky above him was a dull, lifeless gray, thick with smoke that never cleared anymore. The world had plunged into permanent darkness since the AIs took over. Only burning cities gave light now.
Metal parts littered the ground around him. A severed robotic arm twitched weakly, sparking before finally going still.
But Karl wasn’t looking at any of that.
“Mara…” His voice barely audible.
A few meters away, his little sister struggled, trying to push herself up with shaking arms. Her small frame trembled as she coughed, and a dark bruise dotted beneath her left arm.
Karl crawled forward, ignoring the grinding agony in his ribs until he finally reached her. “Mara,” he whispered. “Hey… I’m here.”
She turned her dirt-streaked face toward him, her messy braids sticking to her cheeks. She tried to smile.“I’m okay, Karl… don’t look like that.”
He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close and pressing a kiss to her dusty forehead.
Then he heard it: boots crunching slowly against the ground.
Karl’s body went rigid as he looked up.
Selene stopped beside the transport truck, adjusting the rifle slung over her shoulder. Her combat jacket hugged her slim frame, spotless despite the ash-stained wasteland.
The truck itself groaned under its rusted wheels, engine growling like a beast. His colony’s insignia, a dragon’s head, coated the armored exterior, half-scratched away.
Even at the end of the world, Selene Voss still looked flawless.
Standing by the door was Jace Foxx, his former best friend, the new leader of the colony’s raiders. Taller, broader, he wore a sly smirk as he looked down at Karl.
This was the only man Karl had trusted with his life. And yet, the same man dropped from the truck and grabbed his girlfriend by the waist, kissing her right in front of him.
His stomach twisted. The person he had starved to keep fed, the woman he nearly died for…
Karl’s blood boiled.
Jace lifted a hand and flipped Karl off as they pulled apart, laughing. “You really thought someone like you could keep her?” He laughed over the roaring wind as he walked back to the truck. “You were always dead weight. Even your sister eats because of me.”
Selene followed behind him. “Try not to die out here, Karl.” She smirked. “Or do. Either works.”
Rage flooding his vein, Karl pushed himself up and rushed at them despite the pain tearing through his ribs. But before he could move any further…
CRACK!
Jace’s fist connected with his jaw, sending him flying back. You should thank me.” He wiped his knuckles “I’m giving you a hero’s death out here.”
Mara rushed to Karl’s side, crying as he tried standing again. But before he could move, Jace slammed the truck door shut, the tires tearing the ground in a spray of ash and gravel as the vehicle sped off into the wasteland. Silence returned as their laugh faded into the gray horizon.
Karl stared after them, chest heaving.
Fucking traitors.
Every time he stood by them. Every beating he’d taken for Jace when he broke the rules. Every promise of loyalty Selene gave him during the shared nights. Now it all meant nothing.
“Karl,” Mara whispered, clutching her worn teddy bear, the only thing she had left from before the world ended. “How… do we get back to the colony?”
Karl swallowed, his throat dry. “I…”
He looked out at the endless wasteland surrounding them. Highways were up in flames and a building collapsed in the distance. Patrol drones and hunter units sometimes passed through here.
They were not safe.
“I don’t know,” he managed to say as he looked at her.
Her fingers tightened around the teddy bear, her nails digging into the faded fabric as she nodded like she understood. Guilt riled in his chest.
The AI uprising began five years ago. Machines created to serve humanity turned overnight. Cities were wiped out in hours, networks brought down and satellites turned into weapons. Before anyone understood what was happening, more than half the human population was gone.
The remaining survivors formed colonies, built walls and created ranks. Raiders like Karl scavenged the city ruins for food and items, and fought outside the walls. Soldiers guarded the inside.
Everyone had a role, but Karl was deemed the weakest raider. He had to be saved countless times, was denied food and always laughed at. Jace and Selene were the only people he trusted.
And they had just left him and his little sister to die.
Karl dragged Mara to her feet. She winced at his arm but shook her head when he looked at her. “I’m fine,” she insisted, keeping her warm smile.
“Alright,” he whispered. “We’ll get back home. Somehow.”
A low rumble suddenly tore across the landscape, followed by a low hum. He paused as the earth began to vibrate. He recognized the sound immediately.
“Oh, no.”
A towering machine emerged from the gray haze beyond, its armored body scorched black and lined with glowing red sensors. Its thick limbs creaked as it moved, crunching the rubble underfoot, as a rotating cannon mounted on its back shifted toward Karl.
A Demon-Class Reaper.
Karl pulled Mara behind him, pushing her toward the husk of a collapsed vehicle. “Stay behind me,” he whispered urgently.
The Reaper’s sensors beeped, locking onto them with cold precision. Karl yanked out his pulse breaker, an EMP blaster meant to stop machines, but the charge was nearly dead. He cursed under his breath, pressing the useless device’s trigger against the charging frame. Nothing.
But then something moved behind Mara.
Before Karl could react, a second machine tore from beneath the ash-covered ground, a Hunter Drone, sleek and skeletal. Its claws shot forward and grabbed her.
“KARL!!” she screamed as the machine lifted her off the floor.
Karl rushed at her as her teddy bear slipped from her grasp, landing softly in the ash. But he was too slow.
The drone slammed her against the ground, again and again.
Until she finally went still.
Karl’s mind went blank. His pulse raced in his ears as he stared at Mara’s body, then he screamed.
He lunged forward toward her, but a massive metal arm caught him and pulled him back. He thrashed wildly, punching at the machine holding him. His fists kept on colliding with the solid steel, bones shattering instantly as blood coated the metal surface.
But his rage blinded the pain.
He kept punching but the machine didn’t even react. Finally, the Reaper lifted its arm and drove a heavy punch into his chest.
His head snapped back, hitting the ground hard as darkness crept into his vision.
His eyes dropped to the side where Mara lay motionless nearby, her teddy bear rested beside her small body.
His chest tightened with guilt.
He couldn’t protect her. Couldn’t save her.
Faces flashed in his mind. Jace. Selene. Everyone who had mocked and betrayed him.
If only…
If only he had power. If only he could go back, he’d tear them apart. Every liar, every traitor, every hand that hurt Mara… they would pay.
Karl’s lips moved faintly.
“I’ll… kill them… all…”
The darkness closed in completely.
But then.
\[ERROR… HOST VITALS TERMINATING\]
\[REVENGE PROTOCOL DETECTED\]
\[RESTARTING TIMELINE…\]