Page 38 of Sixty Meters Under

Lennart’s brows furrowed. “What was the last news we received?”

“Only about the second attack, and then it all went dead. Whatever happened after, it seems it happened during the night.”

Lennart pulled the keyboard closer and started typing, thinking about possibilities to regain the signal.

?

Ayame and Ryosuke entered the canteen to get their breakfast when they noticed an unusual commotion.

“What’s going on here?” Ayame asked, looking from side to side.

“I have no idea,” Ryosuke replied, and looked around the room as well.

People were talking louder than usual, and the space was full, as if it was a meeting again and not a quiet breakfast time.

“Did something happen?”

“It seems so.”

As they walked through the room they could hear bits of conversations.

“They attacked again.”

“The nuke probably fell close.”

“This will be the end of humanity.”

“What are we going to do now?”

“The whole world is probably destroyed.”

Ayame and Ryosuke exchanged glances and stopped at the counter.

“Good morning,” the older woman greeted them as she did every morning.

“Good morning,” Ayame greeted back. “What’s going on?”

“This?” The woman seemed pretty much unaffected by the noise. “Just another meeting. We lost signal with the outside or something. I dunno.”

“Really? How did that happen?”

“They suspect another attack.” The woman shrugged while filling their plates.

“Another attack?” Ayame exclaimed, her eyes going wide. Ryosuke turned pale.

The woman filled their trays then put them on the counter. “Here you go. And, yeah, it seems so. I wouldn’t be too surprised.”

Ayame stared at her in disbelief, so Ryosuke spoke instead, “Thank you. Let’s go, Ayame.”

?

Lennart and Liam were tweaking the radio signal when they heard a knock on the door.

“I’ll get that,” Liam spoke and got to his feet while Lennart carefully listened through the headphones.

Liam opened the door, and he was bombarded with questions: “Did you manage to find out what happened? Was there another bombing?”

“No, Edvin. Nothing but static,” Liam said, and sighed. Their friends entered the room.