Heavy duties

End of the world...again

- '' Citizen Z, Citizen Z, do you copy?'', Warren spoke to a radio that Lily managed to put together. It was silent for a moment, just the sound of the radio buzzing. Warren repeated the call again.

- '' DXD, this is Citizen Z, do you copy?'', we heard the familiar voice from the other side of the radio.

- '' Oh, good! Look, we don't have much time but we heard a broadcast saying you have something to tell us. Be quick'', Warren said.

- '' Okay, okay. So I have been researching this whole thing with Zona and the visions you said you've had and everything Dr. Teller managed to tell us, and the news is not very bright. It's called '' The black rainbow'', and it's a weapon of mass destruction. That's right, but it's even worse than a nuclear weapon. It's meant to kill everything living on earth. Everything'', Citizen Z explained over the radio. We all stood there quietly, taking in what he had just told us. 

Warren had been leading us with her visions, but it was a challenge when even she didn't know where we were heading and what we were supposed to do. 

- '' Warren? Do you copy?'', Citizen Z asked.

- '' Yeah I copy you. How can we stop this black rainbow from proceeding?'', Warren asked.

- '' It's a bit tricky. You'll have to go to Washington to change the coordinates of the weapon. And to do that, you'll need the president's thumbprints''. We all stood there quietly for a moment again. Then the radio started to buzz again and we lost contact. 

Nobody dared to say anything. This mission given to us was really hard if not impossible. But if we wouldn't try, our death would be certain. We all stood there and waited for Warren to say something. 

- '' Alright...We'll split. Me, 10K, and Lily will head to find the president. Murphy, Doc, and Y/N go find the headquarter where we have to do all this'', Warren finally said. 

- '' And how are we supposed to find that huh?'', Murphy asked.

- '' Washington. That's your cue''. 

- '' And what do we do if you don't succeed in your mission?'', I asked Warren.

- '' We will. Don't worry about that''. 

We wasted no time getting in our cars and driving different ways. This time Murphy was driving, I and Doc were just thinking about all this.

- '' A weapon of mass destruction. That does sound apocalyptic'', Doc broke the silence. 

- '' Yeah just when we thought the apocalypse couldn't get any worse'', Murphy grunted out of frustration. This situation was very stressful, but the will of staying alive was pushing us forward. There was little to no time to waste. 

- '' Do you ever wonder what would you be doing if the apocalypse didn't happen?'', Doc asked.

- '' Easy. I'd probably still be in prison. Or maybe not, who knows? In that sense I'm grateful this happened; at least I get to spend the last moments in freedom with people I care about. And that means just the two of you. The rest...'', Murphy explained his feelings about Doc's question. 

- '' I doubt I'd be a mom. I never really thought about it before. But right now I'd give anything if I could have my child back'', I said. 

- '' Yeah that really sucked. But you're still young, if we somehow succeed in this mission, there's no saying you couldn't be a mother again'', Doc answered. 

- '' Alright now old man, stop bothering the lady'', Murphy said to Doc. Doc looked at Murphy before speaking again.

- '' But if you want to have kids with Murphy, you should hurry up. He will soon run out of his elixir of life'', Doc said, and for the first time in a while, I laughed. It didn't last for a long time, but it still happened. Murphy started to defend himself and then they were fighting with Doc about it. I never really thought about having more kids since I didn't even plan the first one. I wasn't sure if motherhood suited me or if I even did a good job. Maybe things would have been different if the baby would have been just an ordinary child. Or if we'd actually had a place to raise the baby and not just run around trying to survive. Go figure. 

We arrived at the area where Warren guided us. She told us to look for a sign with a dog on it and that the headquarter should be somewhere near it. Simple instructions, hard job. There were so much scrap metal and other materials that were left behind from buildings breaking apart that finding a sign was not easy. We were wandering around and lazily checking every piece of metal we found. 

- '' You know, what Doc said, I don't want you to stress about it. Or I mean, don't feel pressured'', Murphy walked behind me, hardly even looking for the sign.

- '' Out of all the things, what part exactly do you mean?'', I asked in return. 

- '' The part about having more children''. 

- '' Oh, don't worry. I am currently more worried if we even survive alive'', I said. Murphy nodded.

- '' But just so you know, I am not running out of '' elixir of life'' or whatever Doc called it. You know men are able-'', Murphy kept going.

- '' I know, I know'', I said but found the situation quite funny. I guess talking about something like this was taking the stress off the fact that there was soon no left of humanity whatsoever. Then none of this would even matter. 

- '' You know, I quite enjoyed fatherhood. I mean, the small amount of it I got to experience. It really changed everything'', Murphy continued.

- '' It sure did. But don't forget you were the one to offer me a hanger when I told you about the pregnancy'', I snapped back.

- '' Yeah, that was...I'm sorry''. 

- '' It doesn't matter anymore. Let's just try to save ourselves now''. 

- '' Hey! Over here!'', Doc yelled and we turned to look in his direction. He was holding up a sign with a dog in it. We walked up to him, but there were no buildings nearby 

- '' Alright, now what?'', I asked as we looked around.

- '' I think we are thinking about this wrong. It could be a secret underground quarter'', Doc continued.

- '' Not those again'', Murphy sighed. We spent another hour searching the area for anything that could be a door to an underground quarter. 

- '' Hold on, what about this?'', I asked once I removed all the scrap from a big, round, metal circle that seemed to be dug under the ground. I carefully pulled from its handle, revealing a tunnel with stairs.

- '' This must be it'', Doc said, peeking down the tunnel.

- '' Now let's just hope Warren and her team make it here''.