Molly - Part 4

Chapter 35

The bells tolled.

Bobby King let himself fade into the mainframe. Closing his eyes. Listening.

Here, time and space ends. All that could ever exist was the mainframe. So as Bobby casted along those vistas he found himself lost to the ebb and flow. The bells hounded him until soon he had to adhere to them.

There, a single belltower. Bobby approached it, he thought that he knew it. Some addled place in his head had stored the memory and when he tried to reach it--only static. The mainframe burning.

He cast a long shadow, and wherever he went misery followed.

Maxis.

No, this was not a good place, so Bobby left, time and space smothered by the white.

***

Landry keyed in the last piece of data then leaned back in her chair, pushing back her mane then picking up and smoking an electronic cigarette. The thing barely worked; the primer had broken after Landry had accidentally dropped it.

She watched the sun fall over London. Leaning against the scaffold, birds singing. Strokes of clouds cast over the sky. Searchlights everywhere; Landry sniffed the air as she took another pull. Her receiver lit up, a name hovering in the air, the name making Landry smile.

"Hey," she said, lowering her wrist and taking another pull.

"Hey yourself." His voice like all their voices had grown more faint over the receivers. "What are you doing after curfew?"

"Not hanging around this fucking place, I'll tell you that much."

He laughed. "I'll see you soon then?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. I love you."

Beyond, Uncle Ben shivered, made fifteen times over now but still standing.

Landry hated it with every fiber of her soul. But at least London was still standing.

***

The bells tolled:

"All citizens return to their homes. This is for the good of the nation."

Apartments snapping shut. Even the tubes were blocked off, those still outside slithering back into the dark. Landry looked over her shoulder and began counting to one-hundred. As she did this, she listened.

Only a step--a clink. It should have been enough to deter Landry but she wanted to see him so badly she'd risk it.

Silent streets, but this was the norm now. A ghost town with a million living souls. Landry kept to the edges, running below tarps, wires stringing London together. Landry smiled; all someone had to do was go outside and cut a few of the wires and the whole thing would surely fall.

A whir. Landry fell back, running behind a red-metal door and molding herself in the dark.

The ground shook. Landry focused on taking one breath, then another.

She ran the last part of the way. She could still hear it, parsing through the streets.

He was waiting for her; she would have kissed him if she wasn't so scared, running through and helping him close the latch.

"Did it--"

"Yeah," Landry said, sighing sharply.

"Sorry. I swear to god--"

She hugged him.

"I know."

They lingered for a while, then Hunter scooped up his pack and motioned down the way. They went on, Landry letting the silence of the streets follow them. Sometimes it would get so quiet Landry would scream, alone, in her apartment.