The first barrage reached Route One as a low rumble from somewhere beyond the southern buildings.
Pip stopped near the rooftop railing.
A few seconds later, another series rolled through the distance.
Boom.
Boom.
Boom.
The sound had become almost continuous since morning. Below her, Route One looked very different from the receiving area she remembered.
Most of the longer-term residents had moved several hundred meters south into a cleared commercial block, taking over old stores, offices, and apartments that Engineers had inspected weeks earlier.
Windows had been replaced where materials allowed, laundry hung between two buildings, and the small gardens that once occupied containers beside the warehouse had spread into whatever open ground people could find.
Lights worked now too.
