Kuza and I, we didn't want to leave each other's sides. Can you blame us? Ricky was too busy working to comfort me. I'm not going to hold it against him. The paperwork following this event must be brutal for him. Reese wasn't helping much either. All she could do was yell at him. Ricky figured, better him than Ryan. I have yet to see him, or rather anyone. Most the day, Kuza and I stayed in bed.

Eventually we both pulled ourselves together enough to go visit Nikki in the hospital. I wasn't sure what shocked me more; That the mess of blood and bandages in front of me was actually him, or that it was Angelo that did this to him. He wasn't awake when we went in there. Nikki would need all the damn sleep he could get. If he does pull out of this, he's going to be fucked up for the rest of his life.

Ryan... I know Ryan. He needs time to cope, and process. Alone time. So, I left him alone. The others didn't bother leaving their rooms, making it clear they were out of words too. That left me with one place I know I should go, but I don't want to. When I walk the halls leading down to solitary, it gives me a rush of memories I'd rather not relive. Kuza sweetly grabbed my hand by my side and gave it a squeeze. I glanced over at him blankly. He forced a smile, trying to pretend it wasn't that bad.

All I could hear was screaming. If Angelo had been screaming as long as they said, I'm shocked he still has a voice left. He once was the angel among us. I've been through Hell, and as I walk towards the sounds of his agony, I can confidently say this. I now know the only thing worse than the flames of Hell are the screams of a scorned Heaven.

"Ma'am," The guard greeted me, "I'm sorry, but I cannot let you in there."

"That's alright." I responded quietly, "I'd just like to take a look inside to see how he is. Is that okay?"

He sighed, "I suppose so."

The guard stepped aside from the door. I was secretly terrified to approach it, but Kuza's hand in mine made it not so bad. Even being six foot, I had to reach up a little to look in through the small glass window in the door. I instantly jumped back out of shock. My hand flew over my mouth in a gasp. What I saw in there, I couldn't believe it was sweet little Angelo.

I've never seen that level of anger on his face. Fuck, I don't think I've seen it on anyone's face. His face was dirtied by the amount of black makeup smeared down his cheeks from crying. It seemed like there was too much dark substance ran down his skin to be just from the makeup, though. All his tattoos, they looked like they were losing color. And I swear his hair had grown longer by a few inches. Pain does age people, but not like that. The gaunt lines in his cheeks and forearms made him look starved.

It felt like the Hellmouth had swallowed me whole. When I saw into Angelo's eyes, of which were no longer blue, but a grey shade, I realized we didn't just lose Chris yesterday. We lost him too. There was no turning back from this. I can promise you that. If there was, someone would've done something by now. Instead, they're just leaving him here to rot like the animal he's become.

When I backed up from the window, Kuza bravely decided to look in. His hand tightened around mine as he saw that fucked up mess. "Fuck." He muttered, his face turning white, "I, um... I could use some fresh air after that."

"Y-Yeah," I replied, "Me too... I know a place. C'mon."

| | |

The hangers were the farthest away from any other buildings here. That's why I chose to go to them, because I needed some distance from all the negative energy being stirred up. There was a ladder on the side of one. I lead Kuza up to the roof. There were grey clouds overhead, as if it was going to rain. We really couldn't give a shit if it did, though. I love the smell in the air right before it rains. It's refreshing, and exactly what we needed.

We laid back, watching the storm clouds drift about. I miss the days I could be that free. Go anywhere I wanted, raining fire down on whoever I wanted. Those days are long gone. See, I may not be in a cell here, but I'm still in a cage. I'm under their thumb. Chris always said he knew he'd die in captivity. Some may say that wasn't true, but we know better. We are slaves to the government, the people we hate the most.

As long as I'm with Ricky, I'll never escape it. He's still a hero at the end of the day. He'd never walk away from his civil duties. That's okay, and I'm okay, as long as I have him. If he ever died, then I'd pull this damn tracking device out of my neck and run. I'd go as far as I could and if they killed me along the way, so be it. At least, then, I'd be with him again.

Through all the shit that's happened, I suppose I can be thankful for one thing. I've gotten an answer to a question people will ask their entire lives; Is there an afterlife? Yes. Yes, and it's even worse than this life. I've heard theorists say that Earth may actually be Hell. Until we prove ourselves here, we'll continue to live in this mess. I don't believe that, though. The worst I've seen in all my years has come from beyond the grave.

"It's not that bad." Kuza said.

I scoffed, "How do you figure?"

"The only way we're ever getting out of this place is by dying. Chris finally made it out..." His voice was shaking a little. This is tearing him apart, despite how positive he's trying to be.

My phone buzzed. I sat up to check it, seeing a text from Ryan. At least I know he's still alive in that lab of his. I hadn't heard anything from him, so I was starting to worry. Unlocking my phone, I sighed painfully to read the message.

"Looks like Nikki did too." I replied, "Ryan said he went into cardiac arrest. They tried to bring him back but it was too late."

"Lucky bastards." He murmured.

The rain began to fall lightly. I'd like to think it was Chris and Nikki looking over us. It went from a trickle to a roar quickly. Neither of us felt the need to move or go inside though. If we got hypothermia, we'd probably be happy. An excuse for us to find our own escape from this Hell. Being that the base was in the south, though, it was warm and humid out.

After about ten minutes of getting soaked, I said, "I guess we should go in."

He heaved a sigh, "I guess." Kuza stood up and offered me his hand, "Hey, will you make me some hot chocolate when we get back?"

I snickered, "Sure."

"How'd you learn to make it so well? I didn't think they even drank it in California." He replied as he hoped down onto the ladder.

"Surprisingly, we did. People say it doesn't get cold there. That's not true. To Californians, fifty degrees is cold. We had to take drastic measures if it got down to forty." I was joking, but it really was true. Even now, I'm not a big fan of the cold, but I deal with it. As my feet touched the ground, I could feel him staring at me. I glanced up at him, playfully responding, "What?"

"Nothin', just..." He looked back out at the dark clouds, smiling at the rain touching his skin, "You know that scene in Suicide Squad where the Enchantress gives Harley a vision of normalcy? Where she's married to the Joker, but instead they're a normal couple, with kids, and a house? Do you ever get day dreams like that?"

"I've thought about it, if that's what you mean. But I never got that option. I was born into the world of crime." I replied.

"I know, but if you weren't. That's what I mean. If you could go back, and had control of how your life ended up, what would you have wanted?" He asked.

I shrugged, "I don't know. Anytime I start to think about those kind of things, I stop myself, because I know I'll never have it."

"That doesn't stop me from thinking about it. I know I won't have it, but I can dream... If I had my choice, if I got a chance at another life, I'd get a stable job. Somewhere I'd enjoy, and I could get away with looking like this. Like a record store or a tattoo shop. I'd get a nice house, in a small neighborhood. And I'd find you, somehow, and I'd marry you."

I stopped walking, turning towards him to speak. What he said, it struck my heart deeply. The truth is, I have thought about what it would be like if I wasn't a criminal. I just always pictured I'd fall in love with Ricky, I'd still marry him. We could have a cute house on the coast, and we could adopt kids. I never stopped to think about the others. When he said it, though, I could see it just as easily as I've pictured it with Ricky.

As I opened my mouth to respond, a loud blast cut me off. Kuza grabbed my and pulled me down to the ground. He made sure I was under him, so he could protect me from whatever the fuck just happened. A rush of heat came over us. I heard shit crashing down around us, but luckily nothing hit us. He released his tight grip on me to let me up. I glanced back at the hanger, seeing it now a crater in the ground.

I pulled out my phone, seeing I had no reception. The towers were still fine. Someone was knocking it out. Kuza and I carefully began to stand up. Just as we got to our feet, another explosion knocked us back down. My eyes searched the grounds frantically to figure out what just blew up. It was the main building. Fuck, fuck, fuck. I glanced over at the entrance gate, seeing a piece of debris had knocked down an area of the fence.

"Do you have a pen?" I asked shakily.

He looked at me like I had lost my damn mind, "What?"

"Well, do you?" I viciously snapped. I'm not in the mood for games.

"Yeah, yeah." He stammered as he searched his pockets.

Kuza handed me a sharpie. I grabbed his hand, writing down the numbers 966. Then I explained, "There's a payphone a few miles down the road. Find it, enter these numbers. It should direct you to a man named Michael Vampire. Tell him I told you to call and explain what happened."'

He nodded, taking note of the number on his hand. "And what about you?"

I sighed, looking at the mess of a broken building in front of us. At this point, we'd lost so fucking much, I had no more tears to cry over this shit. Nearly everything was caved in. I answered, "I'm going to try to find survivors."