Tunnels 06 - Terminal

slowly. ‘It’s just that this bloody sun is roasting me alive.’
    ‘A little bit of sun never hurt anyone,’ she said under her breath, then did an about turn and began to jog down the side of the plaza.
    ‘But I’m not just anyone . I’m an albino!’ Will called after her. ‘And don’t go running off again. I need to fetch my Bergen first!’
    With the giant arch now behind them, they were making their way down one of the wide avenues that branched off from the central plaza like spokes radiating from the hub of a wheel.
    Will began to sniff as he caught the faint smell of burning in the air. Then they entered a section of the thoroughfare where the wind was swirling black ash over the chalk-coloured surface of the road. This ash grew ever more dense until their boots were leaving tracks in it.
    Neither of them saw fit to remark on this; some weeks before, they’d heard explosions and rushed to the top of the pyramid beside their camp. From there they’d watched thick yellow smoke billowing into the sky from a factory on the outskirts of the city, which had clearly overheated and gone up in flames. Spontaneous fires were commonplace in this inner world, where the unrelenting sun set whole swathes of the jungle ablaze almost on a daily basis. So there was no reason to believe that the same thing couldn’t happen in the middle of the city itself, particularly as it was completely unattended.
    Will drew to a halt by the central reservation in the middle of the six-lane avenue, Elliott stopping beside him. ‘Goes a hell of a long way,’ she said, trying to see to the end.
    Will was admiring the impressive facades of the buildings on the opposite side of the avenue. ‘They’d done so much here,’ he mumbled. He was suddenly struck by the dismal fate that had befallen the once thriving metropolis, built on the bare earth in less than seventy years. ‘You know this is just like a place in London that Dad used to take me some weekends. I think it was Kensington where the science and natural history museums are, but it was always so crowded with people and tourists,’ Will said, indicating the buildings that he’d been staring at. ‘I wonder if they’re museums too?’
    Elliott shrugged. ‘Whatever they are, something important was going on in this area according to the Limiter map.’ A building further down from Will’s supposed museums caught her eye. ‘What do you think that place is?’
    It was Will’s turn to shrug as he located the iron-framed building with large expanses of glass reflecting the sun. ‘Dunno. A damned big greenhouse?’ he suggested.
    Unbeknownst to Will and Elliott, it was the tropical greenhouse where Vane had been impregnating New Germanians in their thousands before the plague had struck. Will peered over his shoulder at the parade of shops behind him, his gaze coming to rest on a boarded-up shop with the words MOST – Confiserie emblazoned above it in large gold letters. This didn’t mean anything to him, but the model of a giant bar of unwrapped chocolate hanging from a bracket did. ‘That must be a sweet shop,’ he decided, then chuckled sadly. ‘Museums and choccies – Dad’s two favourite things in life. He would’ve loved it here.’
    ‘That’s odd,’ Elliott murmured, not taking any notice of what Will was saying.
    ‘No, I think it really is a sweet shop,’ Will replied, already making a beeline towards it.
    ‘Odd that there are far fewer bodies in this stretch,’ Elliott said, raising her rifle so she could use the scope to check further down the avenue.
    As Will reached the shop, he found that the main window was protected by lengths of timber nailed across it, although someone had had a go at an area towards the bottom. Here the planking had been prised off and the glass behind it stoved in. Will squatted down to peer inside, but couldn’t see anything much where the display of goods must have once been.

    As he stood up again, the soles of his boots crunched on boiled sweets all the colours of the rainbow, grinding them into the ash. ‘Someone got lucky,’ Will muttered under his breath. After weeks of eating little else but fish, his mouth watered at the prospect of finding something that came in its own packet.
    Wondering if there was anything left inside, Will went to the door of the shop. To his surprise, as he turned the handle and pushed, it swung open before him. He didn’t stop to consider why it should be unlocked as he tore