Among the Dead, and Other Events Leading Up to the Apocalypse by Edward Bryant

Author:Edward Bryant [Bryant, Edward]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: .ISBNincl, Horror, Science Fiction, Fantasy
ISBN: 9781482684247
Publisher: Macmillan
Published: 1973-01-02T05:00:00+00:00

Sunrise poured over the clouded eastern mountains like a spill of wet concrete. Both Mardin and Foster went up to the observation level to watch the morning, while Connie busied herself in the kitchen, preparing breakfast.

“You know,” said Mardin, resting his forearms on the chill metal rail, “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the world without green.”

Foster was vaguely surprised. Mardin hadn’t spoken to him in six days. Sometimes he suspected Mardin didn’t exist at all. “Yeah,” he said, looking out over the barren Rockies. “It isn’t so much the plants I miss. It’s the things that move—the birds and animals and things.” He considered. “I never figured I’d be lonely for a goddamn robin.”

Mardin snickered. “The only reason you want a robin is to roast him on a spit.”

“You’re a lousy comedian,” said Foster.

“No,” said Mardin. “No, I’m not. I’m a bald, skinny ex-file clerk who’s probably got pellagra and beri-beri and God only knows what else; and I’m standing out here under a starving sky talking about what I miss to a man who isn’t my friend while a girl who also isn’t my friend is down below in the kitchen frying up a fellow man I never knew, as something I’ll try to imagine is Canadian bacon.” Mardin’s voice stopped like a mechanical toy running down. His lips quivered slightly, and Foster hoped the man wouldn’t cry. Mardin had been the most unstable member of the trio from the start. Oddly, it had been he rather than Connie who had been the last to eat the meals culled from the vaults. Mardin had held back until his ribs etched tight against stretched skin while Foster and eventually the girl assuaged their hunger. Then, after days of self-denial, he had broken and gorged himself on chops and steaks and filets. But the breaking had snapped something besides Mardin’s hunger, Foster thought.

Mardin gestured toward the dark river. “What started it?” he said loudly, and his voice echoed toward bare hills where nothing moved except the wind.

“Not ‘what’,” said Foster. “Who.” He pointed downward. “Them.”

Mardin looked at him curiously.

“The dead,” said Foster. “The people frozen in the vaults. The ones who didn’t plan for the future—the jerks who didn’t believe in birth control or who piped their sewers into the oceans. So what else could they expect, letting people breed up toward infinity in a wasted world? The birth rate went sky-high and biological pressure made the death rate compensate drastically.”

“Well, we overcompensated,” said Mardin.

“You have a gift for understatement.” Foster chuckled. “The silent spring, sprang. Hell—once we were worried about H-bombs and nerve gas. Then they let the bio-bombs loose...”

“Okay, breakfast’s ready.” Connie’s voice echoed up the concrete shaft to the observation level.

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.