Transmissions Echoing Away

The End Is Here

Morning came and they were so deep in their sleep that they didn’t register someone knocking on the door. After 5 minutes, Kasi awoke to the sound of the door creaking open and Frank stood there looking at them, eyebrow slightly raised. She frowned tiredly and suddenly realised the position she had slept in. Cuddled up to someone she had met the day before. She didn’t even remember moving next to him. “It’s not what you think. I don’t remember him coming up and I’m engaged anyway” she said, holding her hand up and showing him the ring. He nodded.

“It’s fine. I came to wake you guys up because we’re making a move soon” he said quietly. She nodded and started the glorious task of waking up Mikey. She started shaking him and poking him.

“Whadda you want?” he grumbled sleepily. She smiled softly.

“We have to get up now. The guys are planning on taking off soon and we better make a move” she replied, biting her lip slightly. He groaned quietly and his eyes fluttered open, squinting as the light filled the dust covered room. “Morning sunshine” she smiled.

“What time is it?”

“No idea but Frank just came up to tell us to get out of bed and go downstairs.”

“Gimme 10 minutes and I’ll be alive. And coffee. I need coffee” he said, turning onto his side. She chucked and got out of bed, pulling her now battered converse on and walked toward the door. She slipped out quietly and walked down the creaky stairs, praying they wouldn’t break under her.

She breathed a sigh of relief when she got to the bottom. “Good morning. Mikey up yet?”

“He said give him 10 minutes and some coffee if there is any going around” she said, making herself comfortable on the check in desk. Ray chuckled.

“Yeah there is I’ll take him some up. Want any?”

“No thank you I can’t stand coffee” she said, pulling a face. She heard someone gasp behind her.

“You don’t like coffee?! Are you an alien?”

“Nah. Just not a coffee person. Never have been” she shrugged. Gerard pulled a shocked face at her and she just laughed. “Sorry.”

“Nah it’s fine. I’ve never met someone who doesn’t like coffee” he replied, grinning at her. She smiled and almost screamed when the sound of an explosion ruined the happy moment. They got up and ran to the window, watching the smoke settle eventually and the flames reaching toward the sky just a block away from them. “We need to make a move. Now. Mikey! Ray! Get down here!” Gerard called.

They ran down the stairs and they gathered what they could in separate bags and headed toward the back door. “If we get separated, meet at the abandoned Starbucks where we used to hang out before all this shit went down. Agreed?”

“Agreed” the 3 men said. Kasi just nodded quietly, not quite sure where to go. They checked it was clear and than just ran as fast as they could.

“There is an underground bunker we should head there” Ray said. Gerard nodded and gave them the directions and they headed that way. Kasi kept with Mikey and Frank the whole time, feeling closer to them than the other two.

There was panic in the air around them as they heard cars heading toward them. “Fuck fuck fuck! Split up and hide!” Gerard hissed, heading toward a building that was ready to crash down around him. The group split up and Kasi headed toward a bright white building that was clouded in dust, dirt and debris. Unaware of what the building was, she ran inside, not realising the cameras on the building had tripped a silent alarm and she was being hunted down.

She managed to hide herself in a small, what she thought, was a cupboard. She panicked when lights came on and a voice came out of no where. “What are you doing in this building?”

“I th-thought it was a-abandoned. I’m sorry I’ll leave” she stammered, trying to get out and failing. The door had locked behind her and now, she was freaking out. She didn’t know where she was, where her friends were or what was going on. She just wanted out.

“You can try and get out all you want. You are in Better Living Industries and you are now our prisoner. You will join the other subjects in our underground bunker while the bombs fall and the purifying flames take over. Welcome to Better Living and soon, you will be welcomed into Battery City that shall be your new home.”

She screamed when she couldn’t get out and a masked face appeared through the glass, almost laughing at her and how pathetic she looked.

Frank peered out from the corner where he was hiding, only to notice Gerard and Ray searching for him, Mikey and Kasi. He stood up and dusted himself down and headed over to the two men. “What the hell was that?”

“No idea but they didn’t look friendly. Where’s Mikey and Kasi?”

“I’m here. Not sure where Kasi went though.”

“She headed to that building ov-- oh shit! She went straight into the BLI building!” Frank exclaimed. He broke into a run toward it, only to be pulled back.

“Don’t be such an idiot. The last thing we need is for you to go down as well! We’ll get to the bunker and plan from there but right now it’s too risky. If they’ve got her and their the ones behind these bombings, god knows what their capable of. Now move it soldier” Gerard said sternly. He sighed in defeat and nodded.

They headed briskly toward the bunker. The only recognisable feature on it was a Black widow with a lightning bolt through it’s abdomen. Ray pulled the doors open and they headed down the steps quickly, Frank pulling them shut behind him and locking them from the inside. “Okay. This is all the food we have so we better make it last. Frank? Are you okay?”

“No I’m fucking not! We lost her! I should have kept a closer eye on here because now she’s gone and we don’t know what hell they cause!”

“Calm down Frankie we’ll find her I promise but for now, their dropping more bombs which means more fires so where ever she’s hiding, if she’s in that building, she’s safer than she is hiding anywhere else. I promise we’ll find her as soon as this stops” Gerard said gently, calming his friend’s tension slightly. Frank nodded and went to a small camp bed and turned his back to the rest of them.

He was unhappy and it reflected on the lot of them. For someone who usually has so much energy and is always so hyper, when he was down and out, they really knew about it. Gerard knew he had to fix it and to fix it fast. The only question was, how did he do that and keep them all alive at the same time?