The last man in the infested ruins

chapter 5: the infested radio station

As the trio reaches the radio station, they can see it in the state of disrepair. The plaster on the walls are chipped away to expose the bricks, weeds grew from the cracks on the parking lot, the radio tower is covered in dead vines, the metal door of the entrance has long since broken away and rusted, and the top section of the wall has a  hole as if explosives were used on it. They entered the radio station, and inside, they can see few skeletal remains of the employees of the radio station were sitting next to the sound equipment as if working to make the music sound better.

"I feel sorry for whoever these employees were, they could have evacuated from the city when they had the chance" said Cooper.

"Yeah, perhaps they were forced to stay here when the war began" said Dawson.

The trio split up to look for a transceiver that the military used for communications, and in each room they can see traces of activity back when the radio station was in use. Luckily, Cooper found the transceiver over at the room in the back of the building. He took off his oxygen mask for him to sound clear, before turning on the transceiver.

"Hello? My name is Cooper, rank: Sergeant. I have woken from hypersleep and found that this city is infested with mutants, and I've woken up two soldiers to help me come here. I'm requesting a rescue from this city, if anyone in the military is still alive, please bring back up!" He said to the transceiver.

He waited for a response, but all he can hear is static coming from the receiver. Suddenly, he heard a muffled voice coming from the reciever.

"Sergeant Cooper? The one that was put into hypersleep in the city of Eastpoint? If you want us to send the rescue team, explain why because the transceiver that I am using is damaged and I can barely hear anyone using it" replied the voice coming from the receiver.

He repeated what he said loudly, so whoever was communicating him can hear him clearly.

"Alright, alright. I'll see what we can do. In the meantime, look for any survivors in the city or look for a bunker that has civilians put into hypersleep whike you wait" said the voice.

Then he heard the transceiver clicked off, giving him some relief that he and the twin brothers weren't the only ones left. Dawson and his brother came over to the room to see what he was doing, and he explained to them about what he said on the transceiver and how the rescue team is coming. The twin brothers felt relieved, after what they had been through, they and Cooper will be glad to leave the ruined city that is infested with mutants.

"What will we do now?" Asked Lt. Kevin.

"Now that I contacted the rescue team, I plan on to look for the bunker that contains the civilians. It would be wise for them to rebuild this city once the mutants have been neutralized" replied Cooper.

"Have you gone insane after waking up from hypersleep!? If you were to wake up the civilians and escorted them out of the city, they'll be easy prey for the mutants! Just imagine: the mutants smelled the scent of people, and the people that you have woken up don't have any clue about the city having mutants prowling around, then the mutants show up and attacked them!" Dawson pointed out in a fearful tone.

"They might as well stay in the bunker until the rescue team and reinforcements arrive, don't you worry" reassured Cooper.

"If you're going to the bunker, and as it pains for me to say it, let us come with you. We'll protect the civilians that have woken from hypersleep, but we have to find some weapons to kill some mutants. We just can't use our kicks and punches, there might be some powerful mutant with rock hard shell that can defend itself from our attacks" said Lt. Kevin.

Cooper nodded before leaving with the twin brothers to locate the second bunker, and lucky for him, Dawson studied the map and explained that the second bunker is north from here in the industrial district. As they walk through the street that leads to the industrial district, they can see many cars that were damaged and abandoned buildings of small business (including the auto parts store). Once they reached the industrial district, they saw numerous factories that are utterly abandoned. Couple of the factories were reduced to the front part with visible metal beams, as if to hold whatever's left of its metal skeleton in place. Some of the factories are intact, but broken  windows and missing pipes. This was once a bustling industrial district where factories produces metal parts for vehicles, now almost destroyed by the war.

Suddenly, Cooper stopped the moment he saw three skeletons wearing familiar clothing. He took out the photo of his family, and looked at it for comparison. The skeleton was wearing the same dress that his wife was wearing in the photo, and the small skeletons (no older than five) were holding holds with the female skeleton. This was no doubt that this is his wife and two sons who were newborns at the time before he went into hypersleep. He bared his teeth as he fell on his knees, trying to hold back his anger and grief. Then he breakdown in tears, wailing in grief as he repeatedly slams his fists on the sidewalk. This was so bad that Dawson and his brother had to comfort him, knowing that there's no one to blame but the war that took untold numbers of lives and mutated the rest.

"No!! No!! My wife and my two sons should've evacuated the city, or put into hypersleep!!" Wailed Cooper, venting his his grief and anger at the war that took his family.

"Its alright, sir. You can start over again. Besides, we're almost to the bunker" reassured Dawson.

Cooper wiped the tears from his eyes, and hugged the skeletal remains of his wife while whimpering. After that, he requested the brothers to bury his family in a makeshift grave, and so they did.

Authors note: what do you think of the part of Cooper discovering skeletal remains of his family?