“—and in other news, terrorist leader macario jimenez is still at large after escaping the security outfit sent by the united nations—” someone turned the radio off, before the radio announcer could expound on his news report.

marissa turned towards the direction of the radio. the freshman they rescued yesterday had her hand still pressed on the radio’s power button. she was crying.

“who turned the radio off?” bianca, marissa’s roommate entered the common room. there were seven of them in the room. seven of them left alive after the attacks began yesterday.

“i turned it off,” the freshman answered, still crying. “i just— why are they not saying anything about the monsters?”

bianca turned to marissa, eyebrows raised.

“tiffany.” marissa stood up, approached the freshman. “that’s why we have the radio turned on. to see if they will report about the… monsters.” marissa didn’t add that she also wished that someone would say something about rescue.

“my name’s stephanie.”

“sorry, stephanie.” marissa took the freshman’s hand, pulled her towards an unoccupied chair. “here, have a seat.”

bianca turned the radio on; but in the minutes since stephanie turned the radio off, something must have happened. all they could hear was white noise.

“what happened?” haruka, the japanese exchange student, asked in a whisper. it was the question on everyone’s minds.

marissa left stephanie’s side. “let’s try a different station.”

the girls crowded in around the radio, as bianca fiddled with the tuning knob. every station was white noise. bianca switched the radio to the fm stations. white noise. until finally: a girl singing.

”hey, hey, hey, hey, oh, oh, oh—” marissa turned to the girls. at least it was something.

it took another minute of instruments playing, and at last the girls heard a voice:

“you are still listening to the illegal broadcast from the abandoned offices of nu107. this is zed speaking, and you just listened to— well, if you don’t know the title of the song you just listened to, take a look outside your window.”

marissa looked at bianca, hope rising within her. finally someone who might know something (and is willing to talk) about what was going on. and it was as if that one thought traveled around all the girls, all six of them started laughing and clapping.

but there was something wrong. marissa paused, tuning out the nervous natter of the guy on the illegal broadcast. why were there only six of them celebrating this discovery? marissa turned to the table where she left stephanie. the girl wasn’t there.

the door leading out of the house was open. their celebration must have been louder than they thought. because there was a figure standing on their doorway. and it was making its way to the six of them.