sadDenver was burning. From where Dr. Wells sat, in the front room of his mountain home, it looked like the entire city was on fire. That couldn't possibly be true—Denver was too large to burn that easily—but oh, it looked that way.
In the house behind him he could hear the sound of shuffling, uncertain footsteps as his wife and children made their way down the stairs to the hallway. He didn't move. Not even to shut the door connecting the living room with the rest of the house. He was lonely. His city was burning, his research was over, and he was lonely. Couldn't a man be lonely, when he was sitting at the end of the world, and watching Denver burn?
Daniel Wells lifted his scotch, took a sip, and lowered it again. His eyes never left the flames. They were alive. Even if nothing else in the city he called home was alive, the flames were thriving. There was something comforting in that. Life, as a wise man once said, would always find a way.
A low moan sounded from the hallway right outside the front room. Daniel took another sip of scotch. "Hello, darling," he said, without turning. "It's a beautiful day, don't you think? All this smoke is going to make for an amazing sunset..."
Then his wife and children, who had finished amplification some time before, fell upon him, and the man responsible for Marburg Amberlee knew nothing but the tearing of teeth and the quiet surrender to the dark. When he opened his eyes again, he wasn't Daniel Wells anymore. Had he still possessed the capacity for gratitude, it is very likely that he would have been grateful.
***
Please return to your homes. Please remain calm. This is not a drill. If you have been infected, please contact authorities immediately. If you have not been infected, please remain calm. This is not a drill. Please return to your homes...
When will you Rise?
May 27 2011, 06:01:41 UTC 6 years ago
May 27 2011, 06:24:57 UTC 6 years ago
May 27 2011, 07:20:03 UTC 6 years ago Edited: May 27 2011, 07:20:22 UTC
(Oh, and Orla? I'm gonna pick it up and love it and pet it and then wait until all my North American friends can read it too, then read it. I'm enjoying the countdown way too much to open my Christmas gift on December 20th, as it were.)
May 27 2011, 13:59:46 UTC 6 years ago
May 28 2011, 02:01:38 UTC 6 years ago
I need to talk to them about promotion and support for NaNoWriMo anyway, so I might as well pester them with all the questions at once :D
May 27 2011, 13:30:55 UTC 6 years ago
May 27 2011, 14:01:14 UTC 6 years ago
I am so eager to read it, I sent Orbit an email asking for a review copy. They didn't even dignify my request with a response.
I would've bought it righteous when it came out. I have 3 copies of FEED. One on ebook, 1 I bought dead tree type, and the copy I won in a giveaway. They do not know the breadth of my fandom and my devotion to Seanan being successful.