羊毛战记 Part 4 The Unraveling 48

　　48,　　Poor living corpse, closed in a dead man’s tomb!,　　Juliette followed Solo through the hole in the server-room floor. There was a long ladder there and apassageway that led to thirty-five, a part of thirty-five she suspected was not accessible from thestairwell. Solo confirmed this as they ducked through the narrow passageway and followed a twistingand brightly lit corridor. A blockage seemed to have come unstuck from the man’s throat, releasing alone-stricken torrent. He talked about the servers above them, saying things that made little sense toJuliette, until the passageway opened into a cluttered room.,　　“My home, ” Solo said, spreading his hands. There was a mattress on the floor in one corner, atangled mess of sheets and pillows trailing from it. A makeshift kitchen had been arranged across twoshelving units: jugs of water, canned food, empty jars and boxes. The place was a wreck and smelledfoul, but Juliette figured Solo couldn’t see or smell any of that. There was a wall of shelves on theother side of the room stocked with metal canisters the size of large ratchet sets, some of thempartially open.,　　“You live here alone?
” Juliette asked. “Is there no one else?” She couldn’t help but hear the thinhope in her voice.,　　Solo shook his head.,　　“I don’t think so, ” he said. “Sometimes I do. I’ll find a tomato missing, but I figure it’s the rats.
”,　　He stared at the corner of the room. “Can’t catch them all,” he said. “More and more of them— ”,　　“Sometimes you think there’s more of you, though? More survivors?
” She wished he wouldfocus.,　　“Yeah.” He rubbed his beard, looked around the room like there was something he should heshould have been doing for her, something you offered guests. “I find things moved sometimes. Findthings left out. The grow lights left on. Then I remember I did them. ”,　　He laughed to himself. It was the first natural thing she’d seen him do, and Jules figured he’d beendoing a lot of it over the years. You laughed either to keep yourself sane or because you’d given upon staying that way. Either way, you laughed.,