MELT: A Psychological Thriller by Shane M Brown

Author:Shane M Brown [Brown, Shane M]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2013-11-17T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

'What's she doing?' Megan asked suspiciously. 'We said two minutes. She's already taken five.'

Chrissie's turn at using the phone to record a message had Megan on edge.

'Maybe she's listening to our messages,' said Alex.

Megan stood up, about to investigate, but Chrissie appeared with the phone.

'What took you so long?'

Chrissie sounded tearful. 'I didn’t know what to say.'

Megan looked up from checking her phone. 'Oh, sorry. I didn't....'

Chrissie walked around her.

Alex asked, ‘Why today, Victoria? Why record your message today?’

Victoria stood near the ice watching a drop of melt water descend. She followed its wet path down the ice.

'Victoria?’

'I heard you, Alex.'

Victoria sounded different. Her voice sounded empty.

'I told you all not to touch the ice,' she said vacantly. 'I warned you, but you wouldn’t listen.’

Carl didn't overly like Victoria, but he respected her intellect. She'd earned that. The profound resignation in her voice worried him.

'I knew it was coming,' she said. 'I just...I don't know. I prayed. I really did. Maybe even God can’t hear me through these walls.’

'What do you mean?' asked Megan.

‘This is it,’ said Victoria. ‘We’re leaving the goldilocks zone.’

Carl felt too sick for fairy tales. ‘Just tell us what you mean, Victoria.’

Alex said, ‘The goldilocks zone. It’s the temperature zone suitable for life. Not too hot and not too cold. Like our planet.’

Victoria said, ‘But you’ve all been destroying it. Look at you. You’re not even moving to keep warm now.’

‘She’s right,’ said Megan. ‘It’s not as cold. We would have been shivering and turning blue like this two days ago.’

‘Because you fools have been digging.’

'It was already melting,' countered Alex.

‘And you sped it up,’ said Victoria. ‘How many days have you stolen? Without this ice, we're locked inside a giant solar oven. You’ve been killing us!’

'Enough!' yelled Carl. ‘Alex measured the ice. It’s only dropped forty one centimeters since yesterday. It’s still over five meters high. It’ll take weeks to melt.’

Victoria shook her head, exasperated. ‘You people can’t even do the simplest math, can you? The ice is just a heat sink. It's just been draining away heat as melt water. Now with less ice surface to sap away the heat, the temperature is increasing. The heat will build up exponentially.'

'How hot will it get?' asked Chrissie.

'Well,' said Victoria. ‘I'd guess about—’

'No!' yelled Megan. 'Don't tell us. I don't want to know.'

'Well, I do,' insisted Chrissie.

'No, you don't,' said Alex. 'You won't be able to stop thinking about it.'

‘Four hundred degrees Fahrenheit,' blurted Victoria. 'Maybe more.'

No one spoke for some time.

Alex finally said. 'In the fairy tale, Goldilocks jumped out the window and ran away. I wish we had a window.'

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