Omega Plague: Collapse by P.R. Principe

Author:P.R. Principe [Principe, P.R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Grey Mountain Press
Published: 2015-07-17T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

January 23

The cool winter sun shone down, making the afternoon shadows sharp and movement easy to spot. Bruno darted into the alley behind his apartment building, hoping he hadn’t been seen. He heard them smashing windows, laughing. This wasn’t the first group Bruno had seen, here and there. Some looked like families and friends. Others looked like people together because they had no one else. Bruno didn’t go out of his way to hide, reasoning that if they spotted him hiding, they might think he was a threat. He kept weapons concealed, relying on the respirator and dark sunglasses to make him look alien, ominous. And he always moved with a purpose, never looking like he was just wandering. Even though he really was wandering, looking for some untouched shop or home, searching for food or equipment. He kept an eye out for antennas or something that would give away the location of the pirate radio broadcaster, who must have had quite a radio setup, and given his conspiracy-minded rantings, maybe other even more useful items as well, like firearms. But old antennas from another era littered the roofs of Anacapri, making the search difficult.

So far, when others saw Bruno, they avoided him. But this was the first group in Anacapri he’d seen vandalize for fun. Bruno needed to avoid them.

His pack was heavy with cans of soup and sauce and a book. A good haul. Carla would have liked that chickpea soup he found and—Bruno squeezed his eyes shut. Thoughts of her were a distraction; they would have to wait until he was safe.

When Bruno opened his eyes, the sounds of people were gone.

He crept out of the alley and around to the front of his building. The empty street stretched in both directions. That prick Battisti had broken the lock on the front door of his apartment building, so there was nothing to stop anyone from coming in. Bruno needed to find materials to fix that on his next run. He pushed the door open with one hand while he held his pistol in the other. Empty and quiet.

He took off his sunglasses and climbed the wide, flat stairs, making sure his footfalls were soft. He arrived on the third floor and walked off the landing. The light from the few windows in the stairway did little to illuminate the gloom of the hall.

He turned right and walked past poor Signora Locurto’s apartment. He thought about her corpse, probably still lying where he last saw it those long months ago. Her biscotti were the best he’d ever tasted, and he never had the heart to go back there after seeing her body, twisted and naked on her kitchen floor. But as he approached the door of his own flat, he noticed a bit of light coming from Father Tommaso’s door. After what happened on Tiberius’ Leap, Bruno had sought the old priest’s company. No one ever answered the door, no matter what time of day or night Bruno knocked, and he had given up weeks ago, assuming Father Tommaso must either be dead or gone.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.