All Systems Red Novels & Stories

"What is happening in this house? What are these things?" Milana stepped in front of him, still trying to stay in control. "Get to the lower bunkers!" she shouted. "Secure the backup area and stop asking questions! This is high-level protocol!" That mistake cost them everything. The last three enemy players lined up at the far end of the salon. They went completely still, eyes rolling back as they gathered power together. Ara’s system flashed a bright red warning. **CRITICAL WARNING: INCOMING DEADLY SYSTEM ATTACK.**

"Joel, I regret everything. I miss her so much!" I missed Anna too. But everything was over now. There was no going back.

I hid in the men's restroom, gazing out the window. In the darkness, the lights dotted the paths of the hospital. I'd been here for over a decade, and I had died here too. Over all these years, I'd worked diligently and had never crossed anyone. If the medical dispute wasn't something the hospital could control, then the false accusation was downright suspicious. Who was trying to set me up? "Dr. Garrison, you need to come now! I can't hold on much longer!" Scarlett called me for help. She was performing CPR on the patient and had already pushed herself to the point of exhaustion.

Every screen in the room lights up. Every monitor. Every system. And they all display the same thing. A single line. “…new hosts required.” My blood runs cold. Because now— it’s not just about us anymore. It’s about everyone. And it just decided— love is the key to taking over the world.

Before Elias could process the sudden, violent inversion of the corporate war, the terminal phone in his hand suddenly went entirely black. The screen didn't display the Bloomberg terminal or the commercial loop. The operating system overrode itself, rendering a single, high-priority system notification that flashed across the glass in primary, warning red. It wasn't an alert from the compliance attorneys, and it wasn't a message from Rafe Morale.

No red hoodie tossed over the chair or the bed’s railing or even balled up in the corner of the room. She had never desired so badly to see something balled up in the corner of the room before. “Aleta isn’t here,” she whispered, and her hair rose, her eyes dilated, her breath hitched. “Of course not, darling. You look unwell. Shall I call the nurse?” “She never made it.” Her skin crawled, blood froze, her heart stood still. They were true. All of the clichés were true. The way her heart pounded, her mouth went dry, her blood boiled, her mind shut down when she saw her second husband hovering over her tiny, little, shivering Aleta so long ago.

Dante's expression fell immediately when he saw a red laser light dot appear on Rose's forehead. She was obviously not aware of what was happening. As a reflex, he snaked his arm through her waist and pulled her away from the spot to his chest. Almost that instant a bullet went off and Rose screamed at the sudden fire. She was surprised at what just happened and looked baffled seeing the bullet that was now stuck in the middle of the same wall she was standing in front of, not seconds ago.

To answer his question, I tell him, "We wait." ***** ALPHA LUCIAN: "You told me they all died, Arnold. Every last of them. Isn't that what you said? So what is this crap about one of Denver's sons surviving?" I throw that question at my Beta, barking at him as I speak. "I thought they did. I'm surprised as you are, believe me. I checked for myself before locking the door on them. They were all in before we set the place on fire. If someone had escaped or had been left out, I would have known," he explains.

"It’s drawing power! It knows what we’re doing! It’s fighting back!" "Let it fight," Pim spat, her jaw set. "Upload the kill-code. Now!" The terminal chirped—a sound of electronic finality. Then, the screen turned a stark, warning red. ERROR: SECURITY BREACH DETECTED. SYSTEM PURGE IMMINENT. "Is it done?" Chalida screamed over the rising roar of the cooling fans.

A strange, heavy heat started rising up from the damp concrete ground, almost like someone had just opened a massive oven door deep under the earth. The blue system screen flashed wildly right in front of my face, its light turning from soft blue to a bright, blood-red warning message: [CRITICAL SYSTEM ALERT: REGIONAL TECTONIC ANOMALY DETECTED!] [DISASTER TIMELINE ACCELERATED BY 24 HOURS!] [IMPACT COUNTDOWN: 23 HOURS, 59 MINUTES, 59 SECONDS...]