Sol Arbiter: A Military Scifi Thriller by J.N. Chaney & Jia Shen

Author:J.N. Chaney & Jia Shen [Chaney, J.N.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Variant Publications
Published: 2019-10-05T16:00:00+00:00

13

From where we stood, the death of Frank’s home was oddly fascinating to watch. The flames grew and spread, crawling out from the center of the building until every window roared with fire like the mouths of dragons. If the surrounding buildings had been a little bit closer, they would have gone up too. As it was, burning embers drifted down in all directions, risking an uncontrollable conflagration.

I wanted to get out of there but getting Frank to open up was mission critical. He wouldn’t talk till he was ready, and he had to get ready in his own way. We stood in the shadows, and the light from the flames played across his face. He looked so desolate, the last thing I wanted to do was intrude on his grief. But I had no choice, and the only reason I hadn’t done it yet is because I didn’t want to spook him.

He stood there watching, and I could imagine what he was thinking as the flames scoured every inch of his life away. Ophelia was dead, but it wasn’t just Ophelia. It was all their memories, every memento of their life together. Every souvenir and every scrapbook, every book in his library, everything she’d ever touched.

The building shuddered, and a high-pitched squealing sound suddenly filled the street. It was like the sound a man might make if he was burning alive, just before he fell down for the last time.

And that was close enough, because the part of the building that was still standing had only seconds to live. The plasticrete walls suddenly sagged and buckled, and the top half of the structure plunged into the collapsing bottom. I stepped back instinctively into the relative safety of the alley, but Emmet didn’t budge an inch. He stood there staring at it, and the rubble poured out into the street like some kind of strange liquid. It rolled out almost as far as his toes, and if he’d been even a foot closer to the falling building it would have bowled him over.

And maybe he would have been happier if that had happened. As it was, he just looked down at the wreckage for a moment and then turned to me. “Let’s go. I know a place where we can take cover.”

Emmet liked to be in charge, so I let him lead me. Before we crawled out of the emergency shelter room, he had retrieved his shotgun from the shelf where he’d left it. Now he held it comfortably and scanned the street with his eyes, looking for cover in the deepest shadows. When he found a place he approved of, he melted into concealment like a predator sinking down into the tall grass. When he saw another place to move to, he crossed so quickly and quietly it was like he wasn’t even there.

It was probably the first time in many years that he had used these skills, but they were still there when he needed them. We weren’t outside for long.

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