Saturnalia by T W M Ashford

Author:T W M Ashford [T W M Ashford]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9798397969420
Google: CsgC0AEACAAJ
Publisher: Amazon Digital Services LLC - Kdp
Published: 2023-06-10T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER

FOURTEEN

Main Street remained deserted. The same classical piano music playing perpetually in the atrium was also piped through here, but now that Holly noticed it she realised the track was slowing down and lowering in pitch, as if the wax of the vinyl record were melting.

She double checked the decorative wooden signpost. Its overly embellished arm pointing to the right read suites. They followed it.

The speakers hidden in the façades weren’t the only things failing. One of the lights nestled amongst Main Street’s rooftops cut out, spluttered out some nonsense in morse code, and then reluctantly returned to life. Water trickled through the open door of the coffee shop and transformed the cobbles outside into an orderly archipelago.

A series of ominous clunking sounds ran down the length of the promenade’s painted ceiling. Fritz stopped walking and listened with a growing expression of concern.

“The station is starting to lose power,” he mumbled. “Things will begin to shut down, sector by sector.”

“Will we run out of air?”

“Life-support systems will be the last to go,” Fritz replied, shaking his head without much conviction. “There’s always plenty of juice in reserve in case the generators die. It won’t last forever, though.”

“How long?”

“A few days? If the population of Saturnalia has been drastically reduced, maybe as long as a week.” He shrugged. “I don’t think it’s something we’ve tested.”

“So we’d better get that message out to Flynn Industries,” Holly said, continuing her trek down the street. “Even if the remaining survivors manage to stay hidden, they’ll suffocate to death if we don’t get things under control.”

“As will we,” Fritz reminded her.

Heated conversation from back in the tunnel. They darted inside the nearest store and hid behind the low walls of its street-facing windows. The bottom half of the glass had been painted in bright colours. Holly didn’t think they’d been spotted, but the three people in the atrium had burst out from the security office. She and Fritz could have been caught on camera. Hell, somebody could be watching the two of them right now.

Holly ducked down further as the same group from earlier strolled past the windows. It looked like they were headed for the Residential Suites as well. They still wore mad grins as fake as Main Street, but Holly felt some measure of relief that they didn’t appear to be on the hunt for anyone in particular.

Or perhaps they just weren’t in any rush. With the pilots dead, nobody was going anywhere.

Holly sank down with her back against the wall. A fresh itch crept over her skin as she realised where she was hiding. Bean bag chairs and plastic stools made up most of the room’s furniture. Overlapping hills of green felt formed a 3D landscape along the right-hand wall. Children’s drawings had been pinned to it. Soft balls and plastic trains spilled out of an overturned toy box. Retro videogame consoles and arcade machines from before even Holly’s time lined the rear of the room, as did an array of television screens.

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.