Power Rangers: Burning Earth

Thank You (3)

Billy Cranston P.O.V.

George Strait is easily one of the best country music artists ever. Or at least in my top five. In no particular order, my list is George Strait, Brad Paisley, Alan Jackson, Reba McEntire, and the legend Johnny Cash. I know it may seem a little basic, but it's just a preference on my part.

As I tinkered on things in my basement with my dad's tools, George was serenading me about how all his exes live in Texas. It's kinda hard to pinpoint where exactly I found love for country music, but I think it mainly comes from my mom. She has vinyl records of John Denver, Kenny Rogers, Johnny Cash, you name it. When I was a kid, she would play them for me and we'd dance around in the living room while my dad just watched with that big smile on his face.

I heard the front door open upstairs, assuming my mom was going out for a grocery pick-up or dinner for tonight. Now that I think of it, I'm in the mood for some Mexican right about now. My hypothesis was proved wrong when the basement door banged open.

"Billy?" I heard a frantic voice.

That's so cool! He decided to show up!

"Yes?" I called.

"Billy?" he called louder.

"Yes?" I responded louder.

Rounding the corner was Jason Scott, panting like a dog after a hard game of fetch. He had his hand on his knee, rubbing it intensely.

"Come on, man it's 6:56-" he told me.

"6:56, I know," I said, getting up and starting to grab the necessary tools for the job I'm about to do. "Pull up that chair."

He grabbed a seat as I rummaged through countless belongings and tools I kept since my dad left. Most of the tools belonged to him.

"Is this...is this all yours?" he asked.

"Yeah! Well, actually no. It kinda belongs to my dad." I answered, grabbing a small roll of chicken wire. "Here, put your foot in this."

"What is it?"

"It's a faraday cage. It should stop the cell signal if we're lucky." I explained. Right as the words left my mouth, his ankle monitor started beeping rapidly. It was accompanied by a flashing red LED light.

"Shit! Billy, that's the three-minute warning!" he panicked.

"I know, I know." I mumbled.

"Dude, if it goes off, I'm-"

"My dad's been dead for a while, now." I randomly said, grabbing my laptop.

Jason went silent.

"Uh...O-okay?" he said.

"Yep. 7 years, 4 months, and 2 days? Yeah, I think it's 2 days." I double-checked myself.

"Um...okay." he hastily responded as I typed away.

"Yeah, we used to do all sorts of things together. We'd go to the mine and search for junk, but it like, wasn't junk." I multitasked.

"Uh, Billy, I think we should focus on the-"

"Oh! Kinda like that show 'American Pickers' on History!" I pointed.

"Billy, we don't have time for-"

"I still go there and look for stuff as if he were still here with me, ya know?"

"Billy! Come on!" Jason yelled, derailing my train of thought.

I looked at him with eyes of confusion. Did he not know?

"What?" I questioned.

We both looked down at his ankle. The tracker was still beeping and flashing red. Glancing at my watch, I counted down the time.