Blast the Alarm

Vic couldn't sleep that night. It's not that he wouldn't mind sleeping, in fact, he was nearing twenty-four hours without it, but he felt like he couldn't risk it. He instead allowed his band mates to enjoy the luxury of sleeping in a bed. Or on a chair in Tony's case. Vic watches blankly at the fog like smog that had settled around the town. It looked a little like a scene from a horror film. It probably is. Vic thinks grimly.

Vic looks up at the clock. It's a little past midnight. Vic sighs and leans back against the foot of the bed. He finally decides to stand up. Vic walks from the room and walks into the lobby. There was a pop and snack machine in the lobby, Vic digs in his pocket and finds two dollars. He buys a can of Pepsi and a bag of Cheetohs, his stomach rumbles as he carefully opens the bag of chips. He hadn't realized he was hungry until now. Vic casually, strolls up and down the hallway, he didn't want to go back into the room wtih food because he didn't want to wake the guys up.

He passes by Jeremy and Neils room, he could here talking. He guessed they couldn't sleep either. Vic knocks, and the door quickly swings open to reveal Jeremy. He looked tired, but Vic knew that he hadn't woken him up.

"Hey," Jeremy greets, moving so Vic can come in.

"Can't sleep?" Neil asks, not looking away from the tiny TV who's channels he was flicking through.

"Yeah," Vic answers. "Do you guys see all the smog out there?" Vic thanks goodness they have their blind shut, or he'd probably be stuck on staring out the window at it again.

Jeremy nods. "It's getting pretty nasty out there. All the TV stations are either warnings, or are covering it. I heard that it was a nuclear blast, and it pretty much set the standard for everywhere to blow up."

"The TV station we were watching cut out after they said that though . . ." Neil says, frowning slightly.

"Really?" Vic takes a seat in the wicker chair that graced the room and pops open the Pepsi. "Why would they do that?"

"Well," Jeremy takes on a pondering look as he moves to sit on the bed. "I think I remember reading somewhere that the government tries to keep things like this under wraps, so the public doesn't panic. You know?" He rubs his eyes and yawns. "I could be wrong though. 'm pretty tired."

Vic nods, he had trained his focus to the TV now. Neil had turned it to a station that was talking about the events of earlier today.

"At approximately two thirty Mountain Standard time an unknown cause set off several explosions in Great Falls, Montana. Explosions have since raked the country and part of Canada. At this time the death toll is unknown, but it is expected to be in the thousands. However, it is expected to be safe to leave homes as of tomorrow." The image suddenly cuts out, and a wild haired man is frantically moving about.

The room he is in is poorly lit, and illuminated slightly blue. Vic guessed that a computer was providing the only light in the room. He suddenly stops, realizing that whatever had had been doing had worked. "Don't go," he suddenly says, his voice low. "Don't go outside. Don't open your windows. Stay wherever the hell you are," he warns. "The whole explosion shit is a government cover up. They're trying to kill-" There is the sudden sound of a door being kicked open is heard, and the camera goes dead. Quickly the video is replaced with an error screen, leaving them dumbstruck.

The door of the little motel room suddenly swings open, causing the three men to jump. Thank God it was only Alex.

"Did you see that shit?" He's completely panicked, on the verge of hysteria if Vic didn't know better. Tears are rimming his deep brown eyes, and he tries to blink them away. "Fuck."
"Yeah," Neil answers, standing up and placing a consoling hand on Alex's back.

"I-I just got a text from my aunt," Alex says suddenly, his voice strained as he tries not to cry. "One-one of those things went off in Bal-Baltimore." Alex breaks down, sobbing quietly. "We don't-don't know where my mom and dad are."

Vic feels his heart break a little. Alex was just a kid, only eighteen, and right now he could quite possibly be going through the shittiest experience of his life. "Hey 'lex, calm down. I'm sure they're fine. They probably got out in time," Vic soothes calmly. It was imparative that he remained level headed right now. Not to mention that he was now questioning if his parents were okay? He hadn't heard of anything in San Diego, but he couldn't be sure.

Alex wraps his arms around Vic's neck and sobs into the old man's shoulder. Vic awkwardly stands there and rubs his back. It would have been one thing if they were in Alex's room, but he was sort of just crying in Neil and Jeremy's room. Finally Vic soothes Alex enough to get him to step off.

"Let's get you to bed 'lex," Vic says, placing a hand on his shoulder caringly. Vic waves bye to Jeremy and Neil, while bringing Alex to his room. Alex has managed to stop his sobbing long enough to enter the room where Jack was asleep quietly. Vic pulls up the covers on the second twin bed and urges Alex to get under them.

"Bed," Vic tells Alex when he moves to get up again. "It'll clear your thoughts." FInally Alex stops fidgeting and curls into a fetal position.

Vic jumps, when he feels his phone buzz in his pocket. He pulls it up and rwalizes that this room had a faint cellphone signal. Vic looks and sees that he has twenty missed calls from his parents, and at least that many texts. He knew that there wasn't enough signal to get a call off, but he quickly texts his parents that he'd safe and would go back to San Diego as soon as possible. Vic shoves his phone back into his pocket and heads back for his own room. He felt like he might be able to doze for a minute now. Something was telling him he might regret not sleeping later.

Notes

Chapter two is up!
The action will start up next chapter! Yay!

xoxo
Dewey