The Bird at the End of Time by Scott Neil

Author:Scott Neil
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, azw3
Publisher: Elvin Books
Published: 2022-12-01T00:00:00+00:00

Opening her good eye, Anna saw blue sky through the thin branches of casuarinas. Her head throbbed, as did her arms. She was lying on her back and could feel cool sand against her hands. Cautiously she sat up, rubbing a swollen lump at the back of her head. Charlie and another man walked towards her. The stranger was heavy-set, bare-chested, with unkept brown hair reaching his shoulders. Charlie knelt beside her.

'How are you feeling?' he asked.

'I've been better. What happened?'

'Troy hit you.' Charlie's eyes gestured towards the other man standing a few paces away. 'He mistook you for an AI.'

Troy muttered an apology. Anna swiveled her right eye towards him.

'We have to get into the shelter. There are storm clouds approaching. We don't have much time,' said Charlie. On cue, a crackle of thunder rippled through the air as the fringes of dark clouds peeked above the trees. Anna looked around. The boat had been pulled clear of the water and now rested on higher ground, camouflaged by a scattering of broken branches and palm fronds. The boxes of supplies were gone. There was an indentation in the sand where Lightfeather had lain.

'Where's Lightfeather?' she asked.

'In the shelter. We've taken everything there,' Charlie said, reaching down to help Anna to her feet. She managed without his assistance and stared at Troy, who responded with a nod of embarrassed acknowledgment. They walked for ten minutes through overgrown trails. Claps of thunder grew in volume and frequency as clouds snubbed out the sun and cast a twilight pall. Anna felt spits of rain on her head and hands and hoped it was not toxic or radioactive, but she knew it was probably both.

At first Anna didn't noticed the shelter. She, Charlie and Troy had emerged from a thicket of vegetation. Between two crooked casuarinas was a circular outline: it was the edge of a metal bunker, its outward facing wall flat and unadorned. A rusty iron door with peeling faded blue paintwork was the only indication that anything lay beyond. Troy pulled it open and ushered Anna and Charlie inside.

It took a moment for Anna's good eye and her partially swollen left eye to adjust to the dimly lit interior. A curved metal roof arched above, reaching a height of twenty feet. Suspended at regular intervals were a dozen florescent light tubes; three were illuminated. The cavernous shelter was sixty feet long and almost as wide. Stacked in small piles around the walls were the boxes that had been carried from the boat. Troy led the way to the far end of the shelter and another metal door. Rust scarred its hinges and edges. The word Nasa and the number 263 were stenciled on it. Anna wondered how long it had been since the old space agency had used the bunker.

Troy heaved the door open. 'Be prepared,' he said.

Anna followed Charlie into the next section of the bunker. As her sight adjusted to the darkness she saw the reason for Troy's warning.

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