Read Online Gray (Book 3) by Lou Cadle - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Lou Cadle
Tags: post apocalyptic
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matter what happened. Keep a brave front. Don’t seem vulnerable. Watch your back . Trust no one but Benjamin. Those were the rules of survival.
They walked farther and farther into a ghost town. Brick and concrete buildings had survived, and the tidy lines of streets were still obvious between them. The cars had been buried under snow by now, but every so often the top of a truck poked up out of the drifts. Metal poles that had held streetlights still stood. Two stories of a chain hotel stuck out of the snow, its sign a reminder of the old world.
How long before all this was gone? Twenty-five years? A hundred? How long before every building and the asphalt below them crumbled into dust? Would the buildings outlast people? Was there anything that anyone could do to keep humanity alive that long?
Coral was having a hard enough time keeping herself alive. The rest of the species would have to fend for itself. She glanced at Benjamin. Except for him, of course. She’d do whatever she could to keep him alive, too.
For the hundredth time that day, she hoped that following these strangers into their home was not going to be something she’d regret.
Then she glanced at the hands gripping rifles and shotgun, and she remembered it wasn’t her choice at all—not any longer. She had seen their city. The choice had been made. She would have to see it through.
Chapter 8
The street curved at the ruins of a tall building, now merely a grid of steel girders.
“Student union on your right,” said Doug, pointing to it, as if he were a campus tour director on orientation week.
Coral had another flash of her old life, when a campus tour wouldn’t have been a bizarre thing to do, the way it was today. They turned after the ruin, where a smokestack poked out of the snow to their left.
Benjamin asked, “Is that for a furnace?”
“Not working now, but yeah, it was,” Doug said.
“They weren’t coal-fired, I take it.”
“Natural gas,” Doug said.
“A shame,” Benjamin said.
Another turn, and they were approaching an intact brick building, four stories tall. The snow had been shoveled away from the walk and entrance. They walked down a slope of snow and onto pavement, the first her boots had touched in many months.
At the entrance, in a shaded area under a concrete overhang, there was an armed guard. Kathy greeted her by name, explained the situation, and the woman went inside.
Kathy said to Coral and Benjamin, “I’m going to go home now. But I’ll see you both later—at supper, probably.”
Martin said, “Me too. See you both around.” He and Kathy walked off to the end of the walk to the southwest, and then they split apart and headed to different destinations.
Doug leaned against a brick column. He said, “I’ve been noticing your boots are coming apart.” He was pointing down to Coral’s boots.
“Yeah,” she said. “A lot of miles on them.” She glanced back at the door to the brick building, nervous about what was coming.
“Don’t worry,” Doug said.
“Okay,” she said.
“Levi will want to meet you.”
“Right,” she said. “Of course.” Realizing she was feeling the urge to chatter from her fear, she bit down on her lower lip to keep herself silent.
Benjamin said, “Was Levi a city leader? Or someone important at the university?”
Jamie said, “He was a businessman and was—is—used to organizing and supervising people. We had an election for mayor. There wasn’t any real opposition to him.”
Benjamin nodded. The guard came back and said, “Go on in. Parnell said it might be a few minutes.”
Jamie led them through the front doors and into a wide hall, filled with dead computers and a few tables stacked against outside walls. Doug trailed them up flights of stairs. There, the doors opened up and revealed a library—or what had once been a library. There were metal shelves, and some books were still on the shelves. Others were in piles on the floor, tumbling
They walked farther and farther into a ghost town. Brick and concrete buildings had survived, and the tidy lines of streets were still obvious between them. The cars had been buried under snow by now, but every so often the top of a truck poked up out of the drifts. Metal poles that had held streetlights still stood. Two stories of a chain hotel stuck out of the snow, its sign a reminder of the old world.
How long before all this was gone? Twenty-five years? A hundred? How long before every building and the asphalt below them crumbled into dust? Would the buildings outlast people? Was there anything that anyone could do to keep humanity alive that long?
Coral was having a hard enough time keeping herself alive. The rest of the species would have to fend for itself. She glanced at Benjamin. Except for him, of course. She’d do whatever she could to keep him alive, too.
For the hundredth time that day, she hoped that following these strangers into their home was not going to be something she’d regret.
Then she glanced at the hands gripping rifles and shotgun, and she remembered it wasn’t her choice at all—not any longer. She had seen their city. The choice had been made. She would have to see it through.
Chapter 8
The street curved at the ruins of a tall building, now merely a grid of steel girders.
“Student union on your right,” said Doug, pointing to it, as if he were a campus tour director on orientation week.
Coral had another flash of her old life, when a campus tour wouldn’t have been a bizarre thing to do, the way it was today. They turned after the ruin, where a smokestack poked out of the snow to their left.
Benjamin asked, “Is that for a furnace?”
“Not working now, but yeah, it was,” Doug said.
“They weren’t coal-fired, I take it.”
“Natural gas,” Doug said.
“A shame,” Benjamin said.
Another turn, and they were approaching an intact brick building, four stories tall. The snow had been shoveled away from the walk and entrance. They walked down a slope of snow and onto pavement, the first her boots had touched in many months.
At the entrance, in a shaded area under a concrete overhang, there was an armed guard. Kathy greeted her by name, explained the situation, and the woman went inside.
Kathy said to Coral and Benjamin, “I’m going to go home now. But I’ll see you both later—at supper, probably.”
Martin said, “Me too. See you both around.” He and Kathy walked off to the end of the walk to the southwest, and then they split apart and headed to different destinations.
Doug leaned against a brick column. He said, “I’ve been noticing your boots are coming apart.” He was pointing down to Coral’s boots.
“Yeah,” she said. “A lot of miles on them.” She glanced back at the door to the brick building, nervous about what was coming.
“Don’t worry,” Doug said.
“Okay,” she said.
“Levi will want to meet you.”
“Right,” she said. “Of course.” Realizing she was feeling the urge to chatter from her fear, she bit down on her lower lip to keep herself silent.
Benjamin said, “Was Levi a city leader? Or someone important at the university?”
Jamie said, “He was a businessman and was—is—used to organizing and supervising people. We had an election for mayor. There wasn’t any real opposition to him.”
Benjamin nodded. The guard came back and said, “Go on in. Parnell said it might be a few minutes.”
Jamie led them through the front doors and into a wide hall, filled with dead computers and a few tables stacked against outside walls. Doug trailed them up flights of stairs. There, the doors opened up and revealed a library—or what had once been a library. There were metal shelves, and some books were still on the shelves. Others were in piles on the floor, tumbling
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