In the Red by Christopher Swiedler

Author:Christopher Swiedler
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2020-01-21T00:00:00+00:00

10

MICHAEL STARED AT him. “What are you talking about?” he asked. “Where is everyone? Where is my dad?”

“At Milankovic Station, I assume,” Randall said. “That’s the rendezvous point for an evacuation. I was holed up in a cave most of the day. I only made it here a little while before you did.”

“Wait,” Lilith said. “What do you mean, you assume? Didn’t you talk to them?”

“I couldn’t get a signal through,” Randall said. “The interference was too heavy.”

Michael’s mouth fell open. If Randall hadn’t been in contact with anyone at the station, then his dad didn’t even know they were here.

Randall read Michael’s expression. “Please tell me you told someone back home where you were going? Left a note, or something?”

Michael and Lilith looked at each other. “My brother knows we went outside,” Michael said heavily. “But not that we were coming here.”

“You drove out to the station, on your own, and didn’t tell a single person?”

“It was kind of a last-minute decision,” Lilith said.

Randall exhaled slowly. “Well, that complicates things.”

“They know you’re here, right?” Michael asked. “Won’t someone be coming back to search for you?”

“Yes and no,” Randall said. “The good news is that this is probably one of the first places they’ll look.”

“What’s the bad news?” Lilith asked.

“The bad news is that it may be a while before they even get the chance to look. Days, at least, and maybe weeks. This is a planetwide emergency, and the Rescue Service has got their hands full right now. Looking for me isn’t going to be high on their list.”

“Oh, that’s just fantastic,” Lilith said, leaning her head against the wall.

“Count your blessings. You’re lucky to be alive. Now, first—are either of you hurt?”

Lilith flexed her shoulder. “Just sore.”

“All right,” Randall said. “There are some supplies in the kitchen. Let me see if I can whip up some dinner.”

“I’ll eat anything as long as it isn’t energy gel,” Lilith said. “But I’ll love you forever if you tell me there’s a working bathroom in this place.”

“Right over there,” Randall said, pointing. He stood up with some difficulty and hobbled into the kitchen area.

“I can make dinner,” Michael offered.

“Moving around is probably good for me,” Randall said. “I don’t want it to stiffen up too much. But if you want to help, grab that pot.”

Lilith opened the door Randall had pointed to. “All I have to say is: between real food and a working toilet, I think I’m in heaven.” She wrinkled her nose. “On the other hand, bathrooms in heaven probably don’t smell like someone died in them.”

After a quick inventory of the cabinets and some experimentation with the ancient-looking stove, Michael and Randall set out three cups of water and three steaming bowls of vegetable curry with rice. “No utensils, unfortunately, but now’s not the time to stand on manners.”

They slurped directly from the bowls, getting curry all over their chins and noses in the process. It tasted bland and a little sour, and Michael guessed that it had probably passed its shelf life at least a decade ago, but at least it was real food.

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