Survival Game by Gary Gibson

Author:Gary Gibson [Gibson, Gary]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780230772786
Publisher: Tor

We followed the arc lights past the statue and over the bridge. I hadn’t quite understood just how much the rate of collapse had accelerated until we were most of the way to our destination; many of the buildings I saw, and which I felt sure had been intact on my first visit, had by now fallen in on themselves.

When the pillars supporting the roof of the artificial sea finally came back into view, I could see huge, gaping cracks in many of them I also felt quite sure hadn’t been there on my last visit. To my dismay, much of the vast ceiling mural had also crumbled and fallen.

We passed the site where the first body had been found, but it was gone, along with the ancient transfer stage. It had all, Jerry explained, been transported back to the island at last.

We soon reached the crumbled remains of the building where I had found the beads. ‘Here,’ I said, looking all around as I shone Jerry’s torch onto the dust-shrouded cobblestones. I felt a rising sense of panic when I couldn’t see them. ‘They were right here, I swear!’

‘Take it easy,’ said Jerry, putting a hand on my shoulder. ‘They’ll be around somewhere. If the retrieval teams had found those beads, sure as shit I’d have heard about it. We just need to take our time and look carefully.’

A distant boom rolled through the still air, and Jerry’s hand stiffened on my shoulder. We waited, but heard nothing more.

Jerry shrugged. ‘See what I mean? Sooner we get started, the sooner we can get out of here.’

We got down on hands and knees and began sifting through the dust with our gloves. After a while, we took turns holding the torch while the other sifted through the dirt. I was very nearly ready to give up when Jerry spotted something.

‘Hey, is that . . . ?’

I held the torch higher as he squatted lower on his haunches. He pulled a glove off, then reached down, his fingers folding around something I couldn’t see.

I opened my mouth to shout a warning, but it was too late. He became quite still, his face turned towards the ground in such a way that I couldn’t see his expression.

‘Jerry?’

I moved closer to him.

He took a sudden, sharp breath, falling back onto the dusty cobbles and blinking hard.

‘What?’ I asked in alarm as he scrabbled upright once more. ‘What did you see?’

He pressed a wrist to his eyes. ‘I’m . . . I’m not sure. Look – there’s more of them.’

I kneeled by his side, and saw nearly a dozen more beads scattered all around, dully reflecting the light of our torch. I took off a glove and used it to carefully sweep them all into the box.

‘My turn,’ I said, nodding at the bead Jerry still held in his hand.

He dropped it into my hand, and I was somewhere else.

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