Chapter Twenty-Three
Shelter 16 seemed like a completely different place since the night of the fire and near-meltdown of the reactor. The unpleasant, acrid smell from burned material remained in the air. The smoke smell would be nearly impossible to remove since it had permeated carpets and furnishings. Some walls still had smoke stains. Clean-up was moving slowly.
The feel of the shelter had significantly changed. Since the reactor wasn’t operating correctly, it wasn’t providing heat to the living spaces. The temperature throughout the facility had dropped by close to twenty degrees.
Job schedules changed, and Level 4 was still off-limits as emergency repairs continued. Critical work on the reactor and cooling system was ongoing, which led to frequent power outages.
The loss of life
