The Fallout

Tom’s P.O.V

“Matty! Will you come help me? I'm not strong enough to lift this!” I whined as I wiped away the sweat that was forming on my forehead, Matt and I had ventured out into the woods to look for a new source of water. It had been roughly a week since Matt had found out about his new…power, if you will. The temperature outside had oddly sky rocketed up into what I presumed was the 90’s, and the small stream Oli and Austin discovered had shriveled away to nothing. Oddly enough, about a mile away from our home Matt and I had discovered a well, but there was a large stone placed on top of it, one that I couldn’t budge.

“Of course!” he called, he was a bit behind me as I had discovered it, and I was surprised at how fast he was by my side. I couldn’t help but notice that he had lost a lot of weight since this all started to happen, his shirt was off, likely due to him burning up, as much as I was. Instead of the little pudginess that used to sit on his waist, he was now slimmed down and toned.

“Uh, Tommy?” Matt’s laughter stirred me back into reality, he stood across from me with his hands on the stone plate, his eyebrows raised. Shit, I had been starring.

S-Sorry!” I exclaimed as I grabbed the other end of it,

“No need for that, just push it to the right on 3.” I blushed but otherwise stayed quiet, 1, 2, 3. The stone slid the first inch with ease, but it got stuck after that, I shifted all my weight into it, hoping it would budge. It did, but I wished it hadn’t; as soon as I pushed it away a large cloud of black smoke wafted out of the well.

“Shit!” Matt called out as he covered his mouth and tried to come to my side, but I felt frozen. I watched in absolute horror as the black smoke hit the ground before snaking it way in my direction, luckily, Matt was already beside me. He picked me up faster than I could blink, and in an instant he was running clear away from the well, I desperately clung to his chest, not quite gripping onto what had just happened. As we finally neared the house, he fell to his knees, taking me down with him, I let go and fell to the ground as he dropped on his back to catch his breath.

“Tom…are you…okay?” he gasped the words out as his breathing finally slowed, I gulped.

“I…” felt light headed, the earth beneath me felt like it was spinning, and my eyes just wouldn’t focus, no matter how hard I tried to make them. I felt someone’s hand on my cheek, and could vaguely here a loud scream for what sounded like help; I smiled, not entirely understanding the situation.

“I'm…okay…” I muttered before allowing my heavy lids to slip close, and succumbing to what I can only describe as the darkest sleep of my entire life.


-*-


“What do you mean he may have breathed it in?”

“Like I said, I did what I could! I wasn’t expecting this to happen, Oli!”

“Hey now, quit fighting, Austin is looking for a first aid kit. Arguing isn’t going to do anything to help solve this!”

“Ugh…”

I groaned as I feebly tried to sit up, but my body had betrayed me. Every nerve felt like it was ablaze, every slight movement felt like I was being stabbed a thousand times over; I pried my eyes open. Oli and Matt were hovering over me, their eyes urging me not to move, while Tino sat to my left, a complex look on his face.

“Tom, don’t move, I found a first aid kid. We just need to see if you have any visible wounds, okay?” Austin entered the room, his flannel shirt was unbuttoned completely, sweat beaded on his chest and face, it really was warm in here.

“I'm hot…” I muttered as I relaxed back into the small mattress that was hoisted on the ground, on a table I presumed.

“I know, it’s hot…just don’t move…” Oli pleaded with me while he lightly brushed the hair from my eyes.

“Tom…I'm sorry…I should have gotten to you quicker…” Matt mumbled as he pinched his eyes together with his hand, I laughed lightly.

“No, I was stupid to not think that it was a possibility…other than being deathly sore and hot I'm okay…” I reassured him, trying my best to smile towards the distraught drummer. He smiled sadly,

“Okay, Tom…I'm going to cut your shirt off.” I groaned, this was actually quite embarrassing. I felt Austin slip a pair of scissors under the hem of my shirt as he quickly sliced a slit in the fabric, his face turned to confusion.

“Nothing…there’s nothing there.” He muttered as he bit his lip, Tino stood up and looked over me.

“That’s really weird…didn’t that guy say this stuff was supposed to eat away at people? Not to scare you guys…just relaying what I thought I heard.” He pursed his lips as Austin nodded his head.

“Yeah, he did.” Oli replied with a confused glance, suddenly, I wasn’t feeling bad at all.

“Uhm guys?” I piped up as I propped myself up on my elbows, Matt tried to push me back down.

“No, seriously…I feel fine now…I actually feel great…” I whispered as I watched their faces turn into utter incomprehension.

“You're kidding…you feel fine?” Tino inquired as he exchanged looks with everyone else, I nodded my head.

“Yeah…I do.”

I guess stranger things have happened.


-*-

Oli's P.O.V

“Oli quit worrying so much, you heard him…he’s fine.” Austin and I were back at the well trying to test the water, but it was too far of reach down so we had taken a break. We were standing by it, and he was trying to come up with ideas on how to get the bottle to reach that far, but it was obvious that I was too out of it to help contribute.

“Sorry…he’s my little brother ya know…he’s only 19, so he’s still a baby in my eyes.” I muttered as I stretched out my limbs, Austin gawked at me.

“Wait, he’s only 19? How old are you? I just realized we never really talked about it…guess we have had a lot going on though.” He chuckled as he kicked a stray rock down the path, I laughed.

“Yeah, he’s 19, I'm 23, and so is Matt. Matt's the oldest though. ” I muttered as I watched the rock finally thump into a tree, Austin sighed.

“You know you and Matt are older than me and Tino, right?” he giggled as he kicked the ground, it was my turn to gawk.

“What? No way! How old are you all?” I asked in shock, I had always thought they were at least a few years older than myself.

“I'm 22, Tino is 21.” He replied with a grin,

“That’s mental…I thought you all were at least 25.” I laughed as I stripped a limb of a tree from its leaves, Austin chuckled.

“You calling me old looking?” he teased as I went to take a seat on the ground,

“No! I was just…” I stopped as my body hit the earth, the ground sloshed under me, I let out a sharp scream as I bolted up from the earth, only to stumble backwards and fall again. Austin rushed to my side as I continued to write in the dirt,

“Oli? What’s wrong?!” he hollered to me, but I found myself unable to answer, it felt like fire ants were crawling under my skin, every inch was ablaze with what I can only describe as pure agony.

“Dammit!” Austin yelled as he scooped me off the ground, he looked around frantically for whatever I had sat in, his face turned a horrid shade of red as anger flashed in his eyes.

“Austin…” I breathed out heavily, as I felt myself slip into darkness.

What a great day for the Sykes brothers.


-*-

“Oli, stop flailing about!” Matt pinned my arms down as Tino grabbed my legs, Austin frantically paced the room.

“Ow…” I cried as their grip only worsened the pain in my body, Tom walked quietly into the room.

“Tom, we told you to stay in bed, we can handle this!” Austin protested, but my brother’s eyes were fixed on the floor as he walked closer and closer to me. He had a strange ‘aura’ radiating off of him, his entire atmosphere felt different. I tried to wiggle out of Matt and Tino’s grasp, but they held me firm.

“Tommy?” I whispered as tears of pain slipped from my eyes, he didn’t say anything, instead he came around to where my face was and looked down at me. His eyes were always blue, they were always a bright shade of the color, but now they were almost painful to look at it. Their bright blue was almost reminiscent of an LED light, in brightness and color, he leaned down so that he was closer to me, before placing a hand on my forehead. I blinked several times,

“Uh…guys?” I mumbled, finally earning the attention from everyone else, who turned to face us.

“You’ll be alright.” Tom muttered as he pressed his hand harder into my skin, I squirmed under his firm touch. He didn’t say anything else, only kept his eyes trained on mine, and kept his hand placed on my skin. I felt the pain in my body dissipate as time went on, until it was nothing more than a painful memory. Tom stared at me for a few seconds after it disappeared, I felt Matt let go of my arms and come closer to my brother. As if on cue, Tom snapped his eyes shut and let out an ear piercing scream as he collapsed backwards, Matt was quick to catch him. I jolted off the mattress as the shock wore off,

“Tom!” I called as I tried to make my way over to him, but someone’s arms encircled me and pulled me back.

“No! Let me go!” I cried as I tried to pry myself out of their hold, Tino rushed to help Matt move him onto the mattress as the person, Austin, dragged me back into a bedroom.

“Austin! Let me go!” I wailed as he sat on the bed, yet he kept me clutched to his chest. I struggled to get away, even went as far as to try hitting him, but he only held me down.

“LET ME GO!” I screamed at the top of my lungs, in return, Austin did something I never thought he would do, he slapped me.

“Get it together Oliver! You need to rest! There isn’t a thing in this world you can do to help him! Matt and Tino are perfectly capable of that, he will be fine! I promise!” he yelled in my face, I felt tears sting at my eyes until I was full out sobbing.

“Austin…” I whimpered as I buried my head in the crook of his neck, he rubbed my back with one hand and clutched my head closer to him with the other.

“Oli…it’s okay.” He reassured me as he kissed the top of my head and rocked me back and forth.

“No! Nothing is okay! Am I the only person who can see that?” I choked, as I squeezed onto him impossibly tight.

“Will this ever stop? Will this ever end?” I begged for an answer, an answer I knew he couldn’t give me. So many things raced in my head, namely, what had happened to Tom? How was he alive? How was I alive? Would he be okay?

“One day it will, we just have to make it happen, Oli. I know this sounds crazy, but I think, no, I know we were destined to fix this mess. But I need you to keep it together, I need you Oliver, I can't do it without you…I don’t want to do it without you.” He admitted, I felt a cold drop of water hit my shoulder, so I lifted my head and just in time to see a fresh set of tears slip from his eyes. I didn’t mull my next action over, I didn’t give it time to sink in, and I didn’t give him much of a warning. Instead, I let myself lean in that much closer so I could press my lips against his briskly, before pulling back and staring at him curiously. He smiled sadly, before returning his lips onto mine and bringing me even closer, if that was even possible. My heart thumped rapidly into my chest,

“Knock knock.” Matt pushed the door open quicker than we could pull away from each other, I felt my cheeks heat up.

“Sorry…I uh, didn’t mean to interrupt…but Tom is fine. He said he felt…how you felt, Oli, for a few minutes but then it subsided…” he explained as he relaxed against the door frame.

“So you’re telling us that he basically took Oli's pain, made it his own then recovered within a matter of minutes?” Austin asked with a dumbfounded look on his face, Matt shrugged.

“I don’t know, that’s what he says…but with the recent turn of events in our lives, I don’t doubt that he's telling the truth. Now all we got to do is see if Oli becomes a freak like us, and if he does...we tell Tino to join the club.” He laughed awkwardly as did Austin and I.

“Hi,” Tom's quiet voice called from around Matt, who stepped aside and let him come into the room, I hopped out of Austin's lap and hugged him tightly.

“Thank god you're okay, I was so worried!” I clutched him as close as I could, he laughed while hugging me back.

“I'm fine Oli, I'm glad you're okay too.” He muttered as he wrapped his arms around my waist.

“Looks like someone just went into older brother mode 9000,” Tino chuckled as he came into the room and took a seat beside Austin.

“Oh, and I have some bittersweet news,” he murmured as he pulled something small out from behind his back, the radio that I had found on the porch. I let go of Tom and shot Matt a knowing look, he shook his head.

“Do you all want to hear the one bit of Good news or the lot of bad news first?” Tino questioned as he sat the radio down beside him.

“Bad news,” we all said at the same time, he nodded his head.

“The bad news is that 70 percent of the world’s population has been wiped out by whatever this chemical is.” He stopped long enough to let the information sink in, I felt my stomach churn at the thought of my parents, who were now probably, dead.

“Oh and, Austin, Nicholls, you two are number one on the governments most wanted list, congratulations.” Austin sighed loudly, while Matt made a fake cheer, but in all reality I could see the fear creep up on his face.

“Well, no worries Matt, they don’t know your name, and honestly I don’t even know how they know you exist…maybe were being watched or something, I don’t know. We can talk about that later.” Tino clapped his hands together as he looked directly at us,

“Wait…there is still a government?” I inquired while Tino laughed.

“Welcome to the new government guys, a strict one man dictatorship run by an anonymous man, with the power to destroy any place or anybody he wants. Oh, but don’t worry they have a plan…” he spat the words out, as I gritted my teeth.

“What’s the good news, Tino?” Austin sighed as he got up and stretched out his legs, Tino smirked.

“Oh, that was the ‘good news’” he threw his hands up in mock quotation. We all exchanged tired glances, none of us truly understanding how we were supposed to feel about this new government plan.

“I say we don’t trust them, I say we do our own thing.” Matt exclaimed as he sunk further into the room,

“I agree.” Austin replied as he pursed his lips,

“Same.” Tino muttered, as Tom and I nodded our heads.

At least that was one thing we knew for certain, one thing we could agree on. Never trust the ones who try to kill you, easy enough.

Notes

Title Cred: Bring me the horizon

Whoa, long chapter! almost 3,000 words of action packed shit and finally, a first kiss! ;D
Thoughts? Feelings? Anger?
^ Tell me about it

leave me something!

xoxo
siren