Silo 49: Dark Till Dawn by Christy Ann

Author:Christy, Ann [Christy, Ann]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Ann Christy
Published: 2013-12-29T00:00:00+00:00

Eleven

The unavoidable hubbub associated with the injury of a racing candidate and his subsequent withdrawal from the race kept Lillian and Leo within the confines of the training facility. By itself that wasn’t so bad. They spent almost all their time hard at work in the unseen depths behind IT on Level 34. But that almost didn’t mean always and those precious minutes when they stood on the landing and breathed the air and felt the breeze were sorely missed. Leo, in particular, grew increasingly bored and frustrated.

Eventually, the urgency of the news passed and the natural questions about why there wasn’t a new candidate being brought up were answered to everyone’s satisfaction. Throughout the silo the general consensus ran that it would be unfair to any candidate to run with so much less training time. A loss would be almost guaranteed and the opportunity lost forever. Even the betting groups got into the action, giving any runner brought up very long odds of a win even before the announcement was made.

The top two candidates not chosen on the original draft were consulted and both were more than happy to agree that waiting to try again next year was far better than trying to race at such disadvantage now. Stories were written up in the lift-post newsletter on both potential runners, whose names were released. Each had spoken well and wished the two candidates for this year the best of luck.

Back in the training area, their work was tough and getting tougher. Both were becoming accustomed to the punishment their bodies took. Lillian found that the weight on her back in the water didn’t bother her as much as it had at first. The promise that she would feel like she ran on air after a tank session turned out to be true. She felt as if she were flying afterward and should be tethered to the floor to avoid being lost. Leo said he felt the same and their laughter after a tank session as they ran the circuit of the training center drifted through the corridors and rooms until one trainer or another bellowed that they weren’t running hard enough if they had enough left to laugh.

Being around Greg was getting both more difficult and easier, as the days went by. She felt disturbed in a way that she liked when he was near. It was like an itch exactly in the center of her back, unreachable and maddening. But she was getting used to the feeling and found she could, if she tried, still concentrate on what was going on around her.

Leo had noticed, of course, and teased her mercilessly about it at night before they retired to their beds. Lillian was just grateful that he always did it when they were alone because he could have made her miserable with his remarks if others were around.

One evening his tone turned serious and he asked her, “Don’t you worry about his age? I mean, what if he doesn’t want to match up with a person half his age?”

“Then he doesn’t.

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