The Last Transmission

5 — Reynolds’ Emergency Call

Mike and Amanda helped Emily carry Brad into the back of the SUV. The boy barely reacted, each breath a painful effort. Emily sat beside him, holding his hand while whispering words of encouragement.

Mike started the engine and sped down the dark road, swerving around debris and abandoned cars. The silence inside the vehicle was heavy, broken only by Brad’s groans.

Amanda was the first to speak, her voice thick with frustration.

—“Mike, we can’t keep going like this. He needs a hospital now!”

Mike clenched his jaw, his eyes never leaving the road.

—“And where, Amanda? Look at him! The city’s collapsed, the hospitals are traps now. Do you want me to drive him straight into the wolf’s mouth?”

—“Don’t say that!” Amanda shot him a furious glare. “He’s just a boy, Mike. He could be our son.”

Mike slammed the steering wheel in barely contained rage.

—“And I’m trying to keep our real daughter alive!” he shouted, pointing at Emily through the rearview mirror. “Or do you want me to put her at even greater risk by chasing after a hospital that may not even be running anymore? One where we won’t even find the medical supplies he needs because it’s already been stripped bare?”

Emily’s tears glistened in the dim dashboard light, but she said nothing, choosing instead to cry silently.

Amanda took a trembling breath, shaking with anger.

—“It’s not always about choosing one life over another. If we let this boy die… what kind of people will we be at the end of all this?”

Mike didn’t answer. The tension in the car was unbearable, until a piercing sound jolted them all: the ring of the satellite phone resting on the dashboard.

Mike snatched it up roughly and answered on speaker.

—“Who the hell…?”

A deep, broken voice came from the other end.

—“Hamilton… this is Reynolds.”

Amanda straightened in her seat. Emily let out a sigh of relief: someone else was alive. But for her misfortune, it was her father’s unbearable boss—the man who, in many ways, had been responsible for her dad rarely being there during the most important moments of her childhood.

—“Mr. Reynolds…” Mike frowned. “How did you get this line?”

—“That doesn’t matter,” the man shot back urgently. “Listen carefully, there’s no time. I’ve sent you a shared location. You need to head there immediately.”

Mike tightened his grip on the wheel.

—“I’ve got a situation here, sir. A seriously wounded boy. We need a hospital—”

—“There are no hospitals!” Reynolds cut him off, nearly shouting. “They’re compromised, do you understand? Controlled. If you take that boy there, none of you are coming out.”

Silence filled the SUV.

Reynolds lowered his tone, but his voice carried a dangerous weight.

—“Hamilton, trust me. You need to bring all of them to this rendezvous point. It’s the only chance you’ve got. We’ll handle the wounded boy here. No complaints, no objections. This is for your own good. Do you understand?”

Mike exchanged a quick glance with Amanda. She shook her head, tears in her eyes. Emily clutched Brad’s hand tighter, as if afraid he would vanish at any moment.

Finally, Mike answered in a tense whisper:

—“Understood, Mr. Reynolds. We’re on our way.”

He hung up, and the SUV kept moving toward the unknown.

The ride was slower than Hamilton would have liked, drowned in a suffocating silence. No one spoke a word—it was as if they had all lost their tongues.

At one point, the pilot almost broke the silence, but he held back. The tension was so thick that anything said might spark a fight they couldn’t afford.

Even the radio had been shut off by Amanda, who had grown frustrated after failing to find a single working station broadcasting news about what was happening in the world. It had been a pointless attempt.

Finally, they reached the meeting point.

The GPS had guided Hamilton down the main road out of the city, toward rural paths far removed from traffic and people. He didn’t recognize the place, but upon arrival, they encountered a checkpoint of military road guards organized by the airbase to track and guide personnel who had fled before everything collapsed into chaos.

Hamilton recognized them. They were Will Dalloway and Steven Hensley.

“Good evening, gentlemen. You have no idea how glad I am to see you alive,” Hamilton said with familiarity as the soldiers approached to check who was inside the vehicle.

“Hamilton! Damn, it’s good to see you here—we thought you’d either left the country, or worse, that you were dead!” Hensley said, relieved that it was a comrade and not some stranger requiring the full admission protocol.

“Are you going to search the vehicle and us? Sorry, guys, but I’ve got a seriously injured boy who needs medical attention, and Reynolds promised me there’d be help here…”

The soldiers nodded.

“Follow me. Dalloway will stay at the checkpoint while I take you to the shelter point.”

Hamilton nodded and glanced at his wife, who still looked deeply torn about his decision—but deep down, she knew there were no other options. It was this, or wander aimlessly until the aliens found and killed them.

Hensley mounted an ATV and sped off. Hamilton followed, leaving Dalloway behind.

As he drove, Hamilton realized maybe it hadn’t been such a bad idea to follow his superior’s orders, even outside of duty. Reynolds seemed to genuinely care about one of his veteran Air Force pilots—one of his most trusted men, who had successfully completed countless missions for his country.

It was the least the government could do for those who had risked their lives in service.

The ride lasted about fifteen minutes straight, without a single turn, until they reached a massive black gate that opened as soon as they approached. The gate belonged to a hidden base, camouflaged by thick branches and towering trees that blotted out even the sky.

“This is where I leave you. Once inside, you’ll know where to go. We hope the place suits you—and that those damned aliens out there, tearing apart everything that was once ours, don’t find us here. We have to survive as long as we can, until we figure out how to get rid of them for good.”

Hamilton said goodbye to Hensley, and the soldier sped off on the ATV, as if fleeing from something that refused to stop chasing him.