The Saviour Machines, Part One

This the first part of a rough rough rough draft of what I hope will be a very long story. If you guys hate it I'll stop right here and hedge my bets with something else. Enjoy...or not.

The Saviour Machines

"President Joe once had a dream
The world held his hand, gave their pledge
So he told them his scheme for a Saviour Machine

They called it the Prayer, its answer was law
Its logic stopped war, gave them food
How they adored till it cried in its boredom

'Please don't believe in me, please disagree with me
Life is too easy, a plague seems quite feasible now
or maybe a war, or I may kill you all'"
David Bowie - Saviour Machine

Chapter 1 - Gathering
Part 1 - Elegant Eddy dances with the fearsome three

Eddy pulled on his cigarette till there was nothing left and then threw it in the gutter. Then he stood, his cheap trench coat billowing around him, almost as if he was eying the city up. His super sensitive sense of smell picked up the almost overpowering stench of garbage and dirt that normals could pick up as well as the underlying odor of decay and rot that the they usually couldn't. His ears could pick up sounds from many miles around: gunshots, screams, barking stray dogs, and many many cars. His hawk-eyes took in the old dilapidated buildings, rusty street signs, and piles of filth. He smiled slightly and marveled at how little had changed since the time he had left for clean air and quiet countryside, back when he was only twelve years old. The buildings were a little more decayed but their residents were still pretty much the same. It was almost nightfall and the people who actually worked during the day hurried to get locked into their apartments before the sun completely set and the scum of the night took over. They hurried past him and their tired strained eyes didn't even see him. One by one he heard their doors slam and the locks snap shut. Not that they would really keep anyone out, but if it helped them sleep better at night...
Eddy sighed and walked down to the corner of fifth street. He pulled out another cigarette and lit it as he turned onto Smut Avenue.

Smut avenue was just what it sounded like. That wasn't really it's name, but it had been called that for so long that no one really cared what its name really was. For miles and miles along the street filthy adult video stores, porno theaters, and peep shows set up shop. There were also hookers here, lots of them. There were hookers everywhere in the city but Smut ave. was where you went when you were desperate. They didn't look very nice but they were cheap and sometimes thats all that mattered, that is if you didn't mind a missing eye or the occasional lost limb. You also had to be careful choosing a girl if you didn't want to end up with one that used to be a man, or one was really was a man after all.
Ed smoked as he walked along the grimy street, the neon lights of the shops making his face glow weird shades of green and red. Some of the girls tired to hustle him a bit, most of them didn't bother. Everyone knew they were here and they didn't have to try very hard to drum up business. He thought it might be nice to spend a night with one of them, it'd been a very long time since he'd had even a little company, but the Oracle had told him where to go and who to look for and he didn't like to think what would happen if he failed or even stopped for a brief moment. He was on a mission from God after all.
He smiled at the pimps lurking in the shadows, the real money making business men of the ave. They practically ran this place and if you messed with any of the girls, your best bet was to get out of the city or wake up one morning missing several organs. Or worse. Not that they were adverse to harsh punishment themselves as one could plainly see by all the bruises and scars visible under the neon lights.

After about a mile of seedy shops and beat up hookers he turned down a side street. He had quite a bit of walking to do yet but he wasn't tired. It took a lot to wear out an immortal. Even before he hit the section of the street where almost all the street lamps were out, he knew someone was following him. Not just one somebody, but two. By the sound of it, two males about mid-twenties, both wearing beat up old sneakers. He threw out his cigarette and kept walking, giving no indication that he heard them at all. Ed also knew that someone was going to jump out of the alleyway before it happened and he stopped short just as someone did. His steely eyes adjusted to the dark and he could see the youth perfectly: long dirty blonde hair, ripped up t-shirt and Glasgow smile along both corners of his mouth. The youth laughed and pulled out a long switchblade.
"I don't have any money, so just let me through, I don't want any trouble." said Ed giving no indication that he knew there were two more people behind him as he heard them sneak up. The youth give a low sort of laugh.
"We don't want your money man, we're out for kicks tonight." The youth said as a pair of arms circled around Eddie's neck. Dirty blonde laughed hysterically and plunged the knife into his stomach, twisting it with a manic sort of glee. Eddie didn't flinch but grabbed the testicles of the youth behind him and squeezed, feeling them pop like a pair of ripe grapes. He felt the arms let go and in one swift motion he grabbed the blade out of his guts and sliced the dirty blonde who fell to his knees, clutching his throat, blood seeping through his fingers. One swift kick from Eddie's beat up army boots and the head was off, rolling down the filthy pavement before running up against a dumpster and stopping. He turned and picked up the boy who had grabbed him, a dirty piece of shit who looked about 18, and very neatly put him out of his misery with a well practiced jab to the brain stem with the switch-blade. The third punk stood watching with his mouth open till Eddie lunged at him and he ran as fast as he could back down the street. Eddie stepped into the weak flickering light of the street lamp and watched the slit in his stomach slowly heal itself up. Bastard kids, he thought, put a fucking hole in my coat. He gave the dirty blonde head a swift kick as he walked past. Just a few more miles, he thought, and I can find the old man and get the Hell out of this cesspool. Although he had to admit, he hadn't had this much for a long time, the smell was starting to get to his head.

More tomorrow if you guys want it!