The Dream Widow by Stephen Colegrove

Author:Stephen Colegrove [Colegrove, Stephen]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Hard Science Fiction, High Tech, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Science Fiction, Post-Apocalyptic, Adventure, Literature & Fiction
ISBN: 1490364242
Amazon: B00C2DG8CC
Published: 2013-03-26T04:00:00+00:00

WITH A LANTERN IN ONE HAND, Mary led a long line of women, children, and wounded men being carried on stretchers toward the Tombs.

Without the boom of gunfire their footsteps crunched loudly through the frozen crust of snow. The village women talked to cover their nervous energy. None were priests, so they had never been to the deepest level of the Tombs. This would be only the second time in their lives to see even the entrance room where the caskets were lowered underground.

Kaya and another girl carried Mina on a stretcher covered with blankets. The ugly black dog trotted beside them.

“This is so exciting,” said Kaya. “After all those stories about the machines underground, we’re going to finally see them!”

“Yes, dear, we certainly will,” said Mary.

She kept up a brave face for Kaya and the other women but her thoughts were on the spider-arms and the black caskets filled with the dead.

The outside door accepted the code Wilson had given her. The Medics with the stretchers entered first while Mary helped the others down the steps. The crimson light and close quarters in the small room hushed everyone. Children shuffled beside their mothers and stared wide-eyed at the warning labels around the wide metal square on the floor.

Mary led the injured across the room to the stairwell entrance. Nearby on the wall lay the yellowed name-tag board and the careful rows of “Founder’s Boots.” She punched the keys of the code and the metal door began to grind open.

Kaya touched Mary’s sleeve and pointed across the room. “What’s wrong with him?”

The mangy animal had curled up in a corner, muzzle on his paws. Kaya waved and called but he stayed in the dark, his eyes shining red circles by the lantern-light.

“Just leave him, Kaya. You can bring water and food up later,” said Mary.

The stretchers would have to be carried at a steep angle down the stairwell, so the severely injured were tied at the arms and waist to avoid sliding off. Mary checked with all the carrying teams then led the way into the black pit with her lantern. Hundreds of soft footsteps rubbed the metal steps in a flurry of sound.

At last the spiral ended in a slab of cracked concrete and a wide, sturdy door. Mary set the lantern down and pressed an ear to the cold metal. She heard nothing like before, when the out-of-control spider arms had crashed into each other and raced along the walls with mad abandon.

Kaya waited at the bottom step, a hand on Mina’s stretcher. “Is it safe?”

“Let’s hope so,” said Mary.

She strained with one hand at the handle and blue light streamed into the stairwell.

“Cubbie––!”

Mary jumped through the doorway.

“Wait!” said Kaya.

Janna helped her carry the stretcher through the hatch, and the two girls set it down a few steps from the entrance. Kaya gasped at the cavern’s vast open space and steadied herself against a nearby wall that glowed with soft light. Rows of shiny black rectangles stretched all the way to a high ceiling covered in dangling silver ropes.

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