Sing

Chapter 14: Disaster (Pt. 1)

"Okay, boys," Steve said. "We're leaving tomorrow. Do you have that map memorized?"

I nodded and handed it to him. "What are you doing?" he asked. He looked at the map of BL/ind headquarters, confused, then pushed it back at me again.

"Keep that," he instructed. "You'll need it."

"Well it's not like we can just pull it out in the middle of the place," Gerard said. "We aren't dealing with that kind of time."

Steve sighed. "Okay."

"We'll keep it," I said, glancing at Gerard.

Mikey and Ray appeared in the doorway. "Keep what?" Mikey asked. I held up the map and he nodded. "We'll need it." Gerard rolled his eyes.

"Hey Steve," Ray said. "We're leaving tomorrow, right?" Steve nodded. "You ready?"

The four of us exchanged glances.

We thought the same thing.

"No."

~

"Gerard and Frank," Steve said. Gerard and I looked at each other. We each took a deep breath. This was starting with us.

He reached out and took my hand, squeezing my fingers gently. "You got that radio?" he asked quietly. I smiled slightly and patted my pocket.

"Alright, you know the plan," Steve said calmly. He patted our shoulders. "We'll be at the van in thirty minutes at most. Ricky and I are bringing the angel last, simply because we have to get the radio stuff, too. If something happens, I'll broadcast it to you. And remember: if something... goes wrong, you report back here. Okay?"

We nodded. Steve shook our shoulders. "Good luck."

Gerard and I walked outside. It was going to be a while before we got to the van, anyway. We had a specific route to follow to get there, but we'd never been out to trace it.

"He said to the third tree out here, right?" Gerard asked. I nodded. "I think that's what he said. Then take a right and keep going until we get to an old... silo? Then take another right and find the van."

"What's a silo?" he asked. "I think it's one of those really tall round things that, like, farmers use?" I said. "But I'm not totally sure. I think that's right though."

Gerard nodded. "We'll figure it out," he said.

We counted two trees, but we couldn't find a third anywhere.

"Are you sure he said 'third?'" I asked. "You said so," Gerard said. "Like, five minutes ago."

"Let's keep walking," I said. "We'll figure it out."

"I said that," he said. "Like, five minutes ago." I rolled my eyes.

We walked for what felt like forever, but was in reality probably only ten minutes.

"Is that it?" Gerard asked suddenly. He pointed out in front of us. It was dark, so it was hard to see anything, but I thought it looked a little like a tree.

"I think so," I said. "Let's go find out." Gerard nodded, and we walked up to the shape. Sure enough, it was our third tree. "Thank Christ," Gerard said. I grinned as we turned to the right to find the silo.

"A silo," Gee said slowly. "I don't..."

"Yes, you do," I said. "You have to have seen them. They're always tall, and they're usually silver?" I wasn't really completely sure what bullshit was falling out of my mouth, but it sounded okay.

"I might know what you're talking about," he said. "Well, even if you don't, it's going to be the only thing we can find out here," I said. "So we'll find it."

We didn't have to walk nearly as long to get to the silo. But it wasn't just one, it was a cluster of them.

"Why did Steve say 'silo' if there's more than one?" I asked. Gerard shrugged. "He has some weird ways of talking." I nodded.

"Okay," I said. "So now we-"

I was cut off by a gunshot. Gerard and I swore and drew our pistols. "You don't think they know where we are, do you?" I asked. He shook his head. "There's no way," he said. "Unless I was right and Steve and Ricky and Ray set us up. And oh my God, they have Mikey and the girl, and-"

"Wait," I said. "Why haven't there been any other shots?"

"Should we... look around?" Gerard asked slowly. "I... I don't know," I said. "How about we walk around this... setup and then we can turn on the radio..."

Gerard nodded. He leaned down and gave me a quick kiss. "Meet you on the other side."

I walked cautiously around all of the silos. There had to be at least eight on my side alone. I didn't like being split up from Gerard, especially not when we were in situations like these.

Gerard was already on the other side when I got there. "Hey, Frankie," he said. He kissed me again. "Anything over there?" I shook my head. "Over there?" He shook his head.

"So what was that noise?" I asked. "I don't know," Gerard said. "Let's just... get to the van. We can listen to the radio on the way."

"But wait!" I cried. "Mikey and Ray would've left by now. What if that wasn't from the silos?"

"You stop right there," Gerard said. He glanced around. "Okay, gimme that radio."

I pulled it out of my pocket and Gerard got on his knees, trying to turn it on in the dark. I sat down beside him, having to help.

There was a bit of static, but we could hear a bit of something. Then the broadcast began.

"Bad news from the zones, tumbleweeds. It looks like Jet-Star and the Kobra Kid had a clap with an exterminator that went all Costa Rica and uh, got themselves ghosted. Dusted out on route guano. So it's time to hit the red line and up-thrust the volume out there, keep your boots tight, keep your gun close, and die with your mask on if you've got to. Here is the traffic."