Neighboring Silo Staircase
The neighboring silo’s staircase bears traces of the collapse and flooding; Jimmy and Elise now start downstairs from a landing with a failed emergency light.
Story so far
During the silo’s collapse, the spiral staircase shook under a stampede. A dead man lay on level thirty-one and a fallen woman was trampled. Later, cold air moved through stairs lit by green emergency lights, while rising floodwater eventually submerged even the level where Jimmy rescued Shadow. Jimmy’s fishing left only about a dozen fish in the flooded stairwell.
When Juliette worked to drain the lower levels, oil and gas coated the flood and emergency lights still glowed underwater. Two weeks of early pumping lowered it less than a foot. Solo secured a rope to the railing for her descent; air trapped beneath the hollow stair treads later helped her escape. She and Solo rested on landing one-thirty-two during their difficult climb, and she subsequently hauled herself upward using the railing. An old bloodstain remained above the receding water.
Now Jimmy and Elise begin another descent from a landing whose emergency light is out.
Appearance
A spiral metal staircase with railings and green emergency lights, including one failed light at the current departure landing. Its hollow stair treads held pockets of air when submerged.
Role
It connects the neighboring silo’s levels and has served as a route of flight, flooded worksite, and path for the survivors’ movements.
Relationships
Earlier in this series
Also appears in books you've already read — spoiler-safe to their endings:
Sources — 1 recorded facts, by chapter
- An emergency light is out on the landing from which Jimmy and Elise begin their descent.