The Bon Voyage prompt from Life, Muse, Coffee.

In reaction to yesterday's post, Claire from Life, Muse, Coffee posted the prompt 'Bon Voyage'. To write about any location of your choosing.

Well, I did exactly that. Based on Sanctuary, here is a piece from Captain Matthews' POV.

--
This London is a far cry from the London I once knew. It’s eerily quiet and nothing more than varying shades of grey. As I sit here, it’s growing dark but even the orange of the sunset seems muted. I can see Big Ben just ahead of us. Despite knowing that it hasn’t worked for 25 years I still glance up at the hands of that clock and half expect it to tell me the time. It’s been quarter to three for a very long time.
 
Long shadows are being cast down the road by the sun dipping behind what buildings are still standing. It looks like the tops of the smaller ones are on fire.

My home lies almost directly beneath where I sit. You can’t tell there are 500 people down there. From here it all seems so still.

I can smell the river from here. It smells awful, like rotting flesh and excrement. Whatever measures were once in place to keep it clean, they’ve been neglected for a long time. The smell is worse on the bridge, the stagnant water just seems to waft straight up into your nostrils. I suppose that’s another reason we are supposed to wear gas masks out here. Luckily, its not too warm today. They last thing we need is for the smell to be amplified by the heat.

There’s a light breeze in the air, I can just about see the trees of Green Park from here. They’re swaying so lethargically. Heavy under the weight of the dying city.