Chapter 23

Jake was standing in front of a set bolted to a corner of the ceiling on the far side of the room, maniacally pushing the buttons of the remote control.

“What’s happened to the reception?” he asked, waving the remote as if it were a magic wand.

“The transmitter’s probably been knocked out,” Jade said.

“What?” he yelled, never turning around.

“The transmitter,” Jade shouted at him. “You know? On the top of this building? Whatever happened probably knocked it out.”

With that, the TV and all the lights went out, the background whir of the air conditioning was stilled, and the place became eerily silent and dark, save for the emergency lights.

“Like a tomb,” Lowell whispered.

“Don’t say that,” Jade said.

“Oh God, oh God, oh God,” Phyl cried.

She and some of the others were gathered at the windows, rectangular slits that had always obscured the view. They used to joke about it: “Here we are on the eighty-second floor, and we can’t see a damned thing.”