Warning: Character Death

Chapter 1: Farewell Monty, We'll Miss You

A/N: Might be some slight slash with different pairs of people throughout the story. After you read this chapter, yes, I know I am a horrible person.

Ray had been sitting at his desk for who knows how long and he was deep in thought about something. The redhead had finally noticed and decided to ask what was going on. "Hey, Ray. Ray! Ray?!" The redhead kept repeating. He gripped his shoulders and started to shake him. "Hey, man, something wrong?"

Ray shook his head and turned to the redhead, "Huh, oh, no nothing's wrong." He replied rather too quickly. He couldn't explain it, but he felt that something horrible is going to happen and he couldn't shake the feeling. "J-just thinking about the news report today. Nothing's wrong, Michael."

The redhead eyed him, but decided to not ask too much, "I don't believe you for a fucking second." He sighed, "Alright, but whatever is really bothering you, you can come talk to me." He pointed to himself with his thumb and he turned back to his screen. "Hurry up and sign in, we're about to record."

The hispanic slowly nodded and picked up his controller as he felt it coming. There was something about to happen, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Something was about to happen, something disastrous, something deadly. He winced when the brightness outside began to light up slowly and thought it was just the sun shining from behind a cloud. It's going to happen soon, "No." He said quietly and realized he wasn't the only one seeing the sudden change in brightness.

Michael was the only one that heard him. He was about to ask, but was interrupted when he heard a bunch of people in the office scream the same words. "Everyone get down on the ground, now!" Ray was the quickest to respond and pulled his five friends to the ground. They cursed at Ray quietly trying to get up, but Ray held his grip on their shirts.

"Don't move!" He snapped at them. "Stay here!" He ordered and the others were confused and they did what they were told. Ray stood up, he knew he had only a couple of minutes, but he had to let the Annex know what was happening. He dialed a number and it rang and rang, but no one answered. "Shit." He said and opened the door in Achievement Hunter and went to the front door.

"Ray, what're you doing?! Don't go outside!" Burnie exclaimed from behind him on the stairs. The hispanic man slightly turned his head and he opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. He clenched his hands and opened and closed the door as quickly as he could and he looked at the distance in front of him. A wave of something was coming towards them, it crashed into everything in it's way. It hit a building and it fell to pieces crumbling into nothingness. Ray gasped as he was pulled away from the horrifying scene.

He turned to see Brandon pulling him along to the Annex, "Stupid idiot! Don't stare at it, you can't be outside when that thing hits the buildings! Dumbass!" Brandon yelled at the younger male he pulled to the Annex. Brandon opened and closed the door behind them quickly and locked it. The floor started to shake, "Everyone hit the floor!" He heard a bunch of thuds and and he went down as well. While hitting the floor, Ray covered his head with his arms and the wave passed by their building making everything crash onto them.

"...The state of Texas has been bombed... We know nothing of any survivors, but all we see in the distance is a tan cloud encircling the state. We are not aware if this cloud will be able to harm us, but the Police Department are now searching for ways to find out who did this and if there are any survivors. It is unknown if the whole country will be treated the same, but some fear that it will happen eventually. The president is trying to find a way to end this conflict even after thousands have lost their lives. Will this be the start of a new war or will we just ignore this ever happened and move on with our lives?" The reporter reported into the mic as the camera zoomed into the smokey area. They were like a thousand miles away from Texas and the cloud was still visible.

Groans were heard as others tried to get up and Ray opened his eyes, but his glasses were knocked off. He looked around only seeing blurry figures slowly getting up. He shook his head as he started hearing a ringing noise and slowly got up, but failed completely. He was still able to hear others curse under their breath as they looked around. Someone crouched next to him, tapped his arm, and he winced, "Hey, don't worry and don't try getting up." The voice paused for a moment. "You probably won't be able to unless we remove this fucking piece of the ceiling off of you. You're not crushed or anything, but it has you pinned down."

Come to think of it, Ray couldn't even feel the lower half of his body. He winced again when he felt something on his hand. "Found your glasses, put them on." Then it finally struck him, the voice was calm - really calm - and the air was dusty. He could breathe it in and it didn't make him cough for some reason. He placed his glasses on to finally see the source of the voice.

"Chris, how's everyone else?" Ray asked looking around. His glasses weren't cracked thankfully, but the dust in the air was thick like they were in a stormy desert. Ray tried to at least prop himself up on his elbows, but he was too weak.

"Careful, don't fucking hurt yourself, you idiot!" Chris responded worriedly and continued. "The others are fine, can't say the same for you. They aren't under rubble." Chris's head turned when he heard the sound of his name being called. "I'll be right back, Brandon's calling me. Don't move." Chris stood up and walked to Brandon who was in the studio.

Ray sighed, he wanted to know if the other Hunters were alive and if they were; that they were okay. He was too weak to move and the piece of the ceiling on top of him wasn't much help. He laid there like he was dead and waited until Chris came back. Eventually, Chris came back with Brandon, "Ray, we're going to take this off you, but you have to move as fast as possible." He nodded and the two grabbed either sides of the piece and lifted it up just enough for Ray to crawl out. Though, he couldn't crawl out, he couldn't move fast enough. They were already struggling to keep it up as he tried his best to get out. "Hurry, Ray!" Brandon said through grit teeth.

The hispanic just fell to the floor unable to move from his neck and below, but then he was pulled out and the two dropped the piece huffing. The other person sighed in relief, "You guys alright?" They all nodded. "Man, Ray, you're heavy. What have you been eating?" He asked sarcastically. He chuckled when Ray glared at him and he raised his hands in defense, "Just kidding, can you feel the lower half of your body?"

"What do you think, Jordan? I was barely able to pull myself out before I was squished and I was crushed under some damn rubble!" Ray snapped as Jordan rubbed the back of his neck giving Ray an apologetic look. He took a deep breath, "Sorry, I'm just worried about the other building."

"Specifically, the other Hunters." Kyle said from behind Jordan. Kyle knew how the Hunters cared for each other and how much they meant to each other. He feels the same way, if he lost any one of his best friends, especially Miles, he wouldn't be able to control his emotions. Miles has been his friend for as long as he can remember and he's a great friend. Right now, he can't be thinking that he will lose his friends because it'll break his heart. "Their fi-"

"Don't even fucking try that, Kyle! I'll believe it when I see it. Just help me up and over to the other building." Ray replied as Brandon gave Kyle a serious look when he took a step forward. Brandon crossed his arms and stared at Kyle and he stared back. It's like they were having a mental conversation because Kyle's eyes looked pleading and Brandon raised a brow in seriousness.

Kyle finally sighed and looked away from the rest of the group, "Sorry, we can't even see the other building. This dust is really getting annoying." He swatted away some dust lingering towards him even though there was dust all around him. "Speaking of the dust, how can we even breathe in this shit?"

"You're guess is as good as mine, Kyle. Hope we'll find some shit ton of answers to what happened soon after we leave this dust cloud." Brandon uncrossed his arms and looked outside, it wasn't going to get any better than this. They didn't know what happened, but they had a good clue what caused all the destruction.

"Does it have something to do with the magnetism of the north and south poles?" Kyle asked snickering. Everyone laughed that was in hearing range, but something else caught Ray's hearing. He heard crying and he heard it from the studio, he didn't want to know who it was or why they were crying. All he really wanted was to get back with the Hunters, he couldn't stand being away from them any longer. He had to know if their alive and he forced himself to sit up even if his body refused. "Hey, Ray fucking be careful!" Kyle reached out to help and Ray gladly accepted it.

Kyle pulled him up and Ray leaned on the desk next to him, the others were ready to lend a hand when he began to wobble. "I-I got it, thanks Kyle." Ray looked into the studio seeing the rest of the people, who mostly worked there, running back and forth. Ray slightly pointed over, "What're they doing?" He asked curiously as he could finally feel the rest of his body.

Brandon looked over to where he was pointing, which was behind him, "The 'smart ones' in this building are currently finding a solution to this. They're also trying to figure out how the fuck are we able to breathe in this kind of atmosphere." The dust didn't even make their eyes watery once it makes contact with it. He sighed as he continued, "What I'm thinking is that we just got nuked, but those jackasses say that if we have been nuked why aren't we dead." He grumbled.

"That's the only possible reason, isn't it?" Chris asked as the others nodded. "Maybe their brains are damaged or something because if we have been nuked that would mean that we will all eventually die." Ray and Kyle's eyes widened, Ray looked away from them and Kyle stared at the ground. It couldn't be possible, if they've been nuked that means that they would die immediately right? Kyle shook his head at the thought, he didn't want to watch his friends die slowly and painfully. This productions studio was the one place where he could finally show his true self.

Noticing that the two were offended, Chris felt guilty for saying such a thing. He did the one thing he could think of instead of apologizing and it was risky, but he did it. Brandon shouted after him telling him to come back, but he didn't listen and just keep on going through the dust cloud. It was too thick to see, but Chris didn't let that stop him. He then bumped into something or rather someone. He rubbed his head and looked at who it was, he jumped up in surprise and relief, "Monty! You're okay!" Chris then stared at the man for a moment, when he wasn't responding. Something was off about him, but Chris couldn't tell what. He then noticed that Monty was trembling and holding something. Chris looked down at the object and examined it, he gasped when he knew what it was, "M-Monty, w-why do you h-have th-that?" He stuttered starting to back away.

Monty looked up at Chris with fear in his eyes, "C-Chris, h-help m-me, p-please... I c-can't..." It was weird, but Chris noticed a little playback with his sentence like when something has malfunctioning. Chris examined Monty further and noticed that he had been bleeding. He wasn't able to ask what happened because he stared at the gun in Monty's hand as Monty put it up to his head. Chris's eyes filled with tears and Monty smiled, "You'll join me soon, right Chris?" Monty's voice sounded calm like he was happy to die. Monty tilted his head when he asked the question. "Either way, you'll join me. I'll be waiting, see you later." Monty fired the gun and Chris's eyes widened as blood splat all over him. Monty's body dropped as blood poured out. Chris could not believe what he had just seen before him.

Chris dropped to his knees as he cried in his hands, "Sh-shit... Wh-what the f-fuck M-Monty, w-why would y-you do this?!" He cried and cried as he felt a soft touch on his shoulder. He sniffed and looked at the person standing next to him, "Why'd he do it?! Why, why?!" He hit the ground so hard his knuckles were bleeding. "God damnit! Why, Monty?! What the fuck made him do this?!" Tears fell onto the dusty pavement and the person next to him sat next to him and hugged him. Chris cried into the other's chest as he let it out. "Why would he fucking do this, Brandon?! It's not like him at all!"

"I'm sorry, Chris." Brandon tried to sound as calm as possible. He looked at the body of Monty Oum, he didn't know why he would do this to himself and he wanted to find out as much as possible. "We have to go back inside, we don't know how dangerous it is to be out here." Chris looked up at him and slowly nodded as Brandon smiled. He helped Chris up and they headed back to the Annex. He kept Chris close to comfort him, it was hard to see one of your friends suicide right in front of you and worst if it was one you cared about a lot. *Farewell Monty, we'll miss you...* Brandon thought as they walked to the Annex.