The Overlord: A Post-Apocalyptic Novel Read Online Free PDF Page A

breathing as I waited for the impending moment of destruction. The internal combustion came soon enough. Just in time, the shield glass broke open above me as my seat shot wildly into the sky.
    Elevating with me, an enormous explosion of seawater and fire gusted up from below. My celestial ship had imploded, swallowing those awful beasts in its ruin. Split off from the discharge seat, a silver parachute then plumed out from by back, suspending me in the air. As I hung above the smoldering wreckage beneath my feet, I floated over to the shoreline and plunged down into its sticky sand.
    Stumbling up to find my footing, I was suddenly yanked backward. Those blasted creatures were still alive! One of them had my silvery chute in its grip, tugging me toward its gooey black jaws. A female, it carried an appalling smile and a set of seaweed hair that went down below its shoulders.
    I unclipped myself from the parachute cords and strung her neck with its silver sail. With one free hand, I reached for my knife, but it was missing from its sheath. Where had it gone?
    Opening up my palm, I allowed my magnetic glove an opportunity to retrieve the blade, wherever it was. After several fraught moments, there was still no sign of it and I couldn't hold the distorted woman any longer. Her friends had come to her rescue, ganging up and surrounding me without a survivable exit.
    Amazingly, from out of the seething wreck in the waves, a steaming object came flailing toward my hand. I grabbed ahold of something red and hot. It was my knife! I swung out the searing blade into the soft, slimy flesh about me and carved my way free from their entrapment. Coated in sand, goo, and grime, I raced to put my back to the dunes. Facing the ocean, I then stood to meet the evils that lurked at water's edge.
    Before another move could be made, the creatures fled most unexpectedly. In despair, they swam back into the deep as I caught wind of a familiar sound. It was a loud, mechanical hum. I knew exactly what it meant. Humans were here. Humans were coming. They were coming for me. In that instant, my desire to see a living person vanished as a part of me truly wished I had returned to a barren and lifeless world.
    Though it was a clear day, there was a dark cloud hovering over the dunes behind me. Slowly, I swung around to behold the sight. Strokes of lightning were shrieking out from the swelling fume. The mechanical hum was coming from within its cloudy presence. I sifted through the sand and proceeded to mount a dune to get a closer look.
    Summiting to the top, a beautiful ambiance of colored lights popped through the veil before me. There was something behind this foggy curtain. Wild currents of air then shook my overgrown mop and beard. Before I knew it, the air went still and the clouds settled peacefully to the ground. Something had landed.
    From the foggy apparition before me, three figures marched out in specialized battle armor, translucent and impenetrable to most anything. They were armed with technologically advanced weapons of glassy construct. These were my people. These were my followers. These were Thralls.
    The three approached me with ceremony. Two at my side. One directly in front.
    "The area is secure, but I wouldn't want to hang around here for very long," said the operative at the center.
    I could tell by the voice that it was a girl. Though all of their faces were hidden beneath their helmets, I could tell that this girl in front of me was young, too young. Along with the other two fledglings at either side of me, I presumed that they were all probably no more than a year outside of being teenagers, if even that.
    I tried her knowledge, "What were those things in the water?"
    "Echoes," she groaned. "Forgotten folk. Out here in the wasteland, we all have to learn to stay alive in our own way. Some of us have survived while others have evolved. Those things you saw were just like you and me once, only now they're hungrier."
    "Quite the