They could tell that it was coming. They could hear it in the voices.
Fire, end, fire, end, fire, end...
No one would listen to them, they just locked them away. They told them that they'd be sorry, and that locking away their only hope was a mistake. But still they would not listen. The walls listened though. For seven months they spoke with the walls. Screamed at them. They screamed so loud and long that their vocal cords had worn out. Speaking now was hard for them. However, in the occasion of the end of the world, they figured they should speak again.
——
Geoff rounded the corner of the fifth floor hallway. Outside, explosions and gunfire raged on. Overhead, the emergency lights flashed yellow. The speakers overhead blared a barrage of colour codes, not really sure what it was they were warning the staff about.
Code black...no no...code orange...code red...code white...code green..code silver...code orange: CBRN...
Geoff did his best to listen to all the conflicting information. As the security lead, he was responsible for dealing with emergencies, even if that meant ALL of the emergencies at once.
"Sir, what do we do?!" Alex blasted over the radio. Geoff pressed the button and leaned his head to the side, skidding into the nurses station.
"Right now we need to make sure everyone is accounted for, round up every one that you can, and get them downstairs."
"But sir," a younger voice, Diane, cut in, "we can't evacuate the building, have you looked outside!" Geoff glanced at a window to catch a missile making a home in a building a few blocks away.
"You're right, and that's why we're heading to B2." A few of the nurses working around him gasped. Basement level 2 was a high security psych ward. More akin to the outdated asylums of the past.
"But Geoff!" Alex cut in.
"Alex if you're about to lecture me about secrecy and security while the world is ending outside, then you best walk out the doors of this damn hospital." The silence on the other end hinted that Alex was, in fact, not going to lecture Geoff.
Geoff resumed, "Gather everyone you can, patients, doctors, nurses, cleaning staff. Leave no one behind. The elevators won't be working. If a patient can not walk, carry them. Everyone got that?" There was a mumble of several voices over the radio. It was go time.
——
They scrambled to their door when they heard the locks of the main doors disengage. Through the little window they had, they could see unfamiliar faces entering. Nurses by the looks of it, but, none that they could recognize. Except one. They slammed there fist against the window when they saw Geoff. He turned to looked at them, gave a wave, and then continued leading people in. They peered desperately around, trying to figure out who else they recognized. No one yet.
As time passed, They came to the realization that everyone was hiding.
They aren't safe here. Not safe here still. My room they're safe. My room they live. Geoff lives. Geoff, Geoff, Geoff
They paced anxiously, looking around for their favourite. They yelled and swung at the window.
"215 that's enough. Let's not scare our guests. Be a good girl." Dr. Krawetz spoke from the overhead speaker. They turned to glare at the black box in the corner. They hated him. They couldn't wait for the fire to consume him. They screamed at the speaker, their voice cracking at the end.
"Hey, Lily. Listen to the doctor, yeah?" Geoff said, tapping the window. They practically flung them self at the door.
Geoff, Geoff, Geoff
She mouthed at him, gesturing at the keypad she knew was there.
"Can't let you out right now, princess. Sorry." They growled and shook their head violently.
No no no no no, you come in here! They mouthed. Geoff tilted his head to the side in confusion. They grew impatient. They quickly signed you come in here now, and then ran to the other side of the room and sat on their knees facing from the door, following door opening procedure.
"Good girl 215, good use of your signs!" The doctor said overhead. They screeched and stood to challenge the box, but gave up when they noticed Geoff had left.
——
The kid gave him the creeps. Especially now that she was staring at him from her little window. Geoff didn't really know why she was down here. Nor did he know why she was the ONLY one down here. He just knew that she had grown a strange attachment to him, and it was unnerving. In any case, he had a job to do, and went about making sure everyone was settled. Two floors were not accounted for, but due to the silence and static on the radios, he figured the worst. B2 was large and spacious, with several rooms, and full of equipment. Overkill for only one patient. A few civilians that had been visiting patients, glanced nervously at the hydro tank and electric chair.
No, B2 was not ethical, and Geoff knew that better than anyone. He'd patrolled this floor for 10 years before being moved to the 5th floor psych ward. He'd seen what had gone on here. He never could bring himself to look at the patients that ended up down here. When they were cleared out it didn't bother him at all. It was only when he learned that they were moved because of someone new, he took interest. He met 215, Lily, when he was tasked with moving her to the hydro tank. She'd been there 2 months at that point. She still spoke back then too.
"It's coming." She'd told him one day, while he was moving her to the doctors office. When he asked her to clarify she just screamed. 4 months later, Geoff was moved upstairs. A chill ran down his spine as he wondered if this is what she'd been talking about.
The doors to his left slid open, and Dr. Krawetz strolled out. He was a cocky fuck, the power he got from tormenting an 18 year old seemed to have gone to his head.
"Geoff, my friend, it's been a while. How's the upstairs treating you?"
"It's treating me just fine, doctor."
"Please, call me Mike."
"Sure."
Above, there was a deep rumble. Dust from atop the light fixtures drifted down. Lily began screaming again.
"She's become deeply unsettled since you got down here." Mike said. There was another rumble.
"What was she saying to me? When she was moving her hands like that?" Geoff asked, chancing a glance at Lily's door. She was clawing at the glass.
"She asked you to go into her cell. It's like she wants to protect you. Strange isn't it? I see that month apart didn't sever her bond with you."
Another rumble, this time knocking both the doctor and Geoff off balance. A few people screamed.
"Geoff!"
He heard it. His name. It was soft, broken, but it was there all the same. He met Lily's gaze.
"Come. They're coming." She quietly screeched.
"Who?" He asked. Instead of answering, she screamed.
He never could have imagined what it felt like to have his skin melt off his body.
——
They opened their eyes, dust dancing in the flickering lights overhead. They sat up, unharmed. The door to their room was open. An alarm was sounding nearby. They stood, walking slowly to the door. They couldn't see anyone. Just black marks everywhere. A few white sticks laid in piles amongst the ashes.
Bones.
They knew Geoff was gone. They heard his soul screech off this universal plane into the next. They'd find him again. In the next cycle.
They took a tentative step out of their room. It would have been liberating, if that was a feeling they knew. They gazed up at the giant hole overhead. The sounds of war gently fluttered down to their ears. Humanity was doomed for a 5th time. And for a 5th time, they watched the human race crumble. Oh well, next time might be better. As they came out of the burning ruins, a song came to mind. They'd heard a young child sing the song back during the 2nd fall of humanity. Turning their face up to the sky, they watched fighter jets tear by. With a broken voice, they began to sing as they wandered down the road.
Ring around the Rosie
A pocket full of posies
Ashes, ashes
We all
Fall
Down
