I swung my torch beam across the empty building, dust motes glinting in the harsh light from the bulb. The huge metal machines, long since rusted away, didn’t sparkle nearly so much. ‘I think we’re clear,’ Roland whispered from behind me, his own torch sweeping the area. ‘No sign of any… others.’ I suppressed a shiver at the hushed name – it had been so long since we’d seen any of them. Some people back at camp took this as a good sign, had started to walk around with actual smiles. Me? It only made me more nervous. ‘Check…

                        ‘I just don’t see it, Diane,’ I sighed, walking back to my office. I’d been forced to sit through an intra-company seminar on sustainability in the workplace, and the number of crazy, whack-a-doodle ideas that my best and brightest had cobbled together was truly surprising. I didn’t even know I had that many eco-hippies on my payroll.          ‘Sir?’ Diane frowned, walking slightly behind me with her tablet and diary. ‘I thought you liked those presentations, sir?’          ‘Liked them?’ I scoffed. ‘Which one, the ridiculous carbon-offsetting scam or the guy who thought he could run the mill…