Alex was sitting in his wheelchair, channel surfing when John walked in after a lecture.
"Hey John." Alex greeted.
"Alex." John gave a one sided shrug. "What are you doing?"
"Bored." Alex replied.
"Turn it on the news or something then."
"Pats won the Super Bowl." Alex remarked. "It's all anyone's talking about. 'Brady deflated the balls. Brady's spying. Brady's a cheater. Brady cast twenty thousand votes for Donald Trump.' Fuck off." He snorted. The channels rounded back to the first once more-NBC. With that, Alex turned the TV off.
"Nothing on?" John took a seat on the couch next to Alex and let himself down with a grunt.
"Nothing on." Alex confirmed. He took his phone from his pocket and gasped.
"What?" John asked.
"Donald Trump's called for a nuclear arms race." Alex replied.
"Again?" John raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, only this time it carries weight because he's the president."
"Oh shit."
"I know."
"But who would he have an arms race with?" John asked. "I mean, he's practically fucking Vladimir Putin."
"China." Alex said.
"But China isn't a nuclear state, is it?" John frowned in thought.
"Yeah, it is." Alex said. "Along with us, Britain, France, India, Israel, Russia, Pakistan and North Korea. Turkey, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Italy are weapons sharing states."
"Oh shit." John blinked.
"And then there's Iran..."
"Nuclear war with Iran?"
"Maybe." Alex paused. "But it's more likely that it's China."
"Shit."
"Nothing will happen." Alex said. "Nobody wants nuclear war. They didn't want it in the fifties, or the Cuban Missile Crisis, or the eighties. And they don't want it now."
"I hope you're right, Alex." John said. "So what now?"
"Sound of Music?" Alex suggested. "Or Evita? Rent?"
"Ooh! Sound of Music!" John said excitedly. "Let's watch that. Get our minds off Trump and his idiot politics."
"That's exactly my thinking!"
"You got some good ideas in that brain of yours Alex."
Alex was watching Nexflix on his iPad when John burst into his room.
"What's wrong now, John?" Alex asked.
"Tensions are heating up between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un." John said.
"What's up now?"
"Kim Jong Un's threatening to test a nuclear missile." John replied.
"And the sky is blue." Alex paused his show. "What else is new?"
"Well, the Great Dick-tator is threatening action."
"Oh." Alex blinked. "Well... That's not good."
"Should we... Get supplies?" John asked.
"Nah. They're not doing anything." Alex said. "They're just yapping at each other like annoying little dogs. That's all that'll happen. We won't get nuked John. That's a guarantee."
Alex was eating his breakfast when John walked in and turned the radio on.
"... orea, saying in a press conference that they successfully detonated a nuclear weapon. This has Japan and South Korea..."
"Ugh. Wonderful news, isn't it?" Alex asked.
"Brilliant." John agreed. "So what are your plans for today?" He asked, opening a pack of Pop Tarts.
"I don't know." Alex shrugged. "Maybe I'll just go and visit the Schuylers."
"Want me to drive you?" John asked. He put the Pop Tarts in the toaster.
"If you don't mind." Alex said. "Actually, I think I'll just get a taxi."
"Well I could sketch something so, if you want to pay money you don't have for a taxi, then go ahead." John said.
"Why would you wanna sketch something?" Alex asked as the news on North Korea droned on.
"Because I have an assignment due soon and I haven't started it."
"How soon?"
"About a week."
"Yikes." Alex pulled a face. "Yeah, you can take me if you want."
"I know. And then there's your wheelchair, Alex. Who would get your wheelchair in and out of the car? Your boyfriend, that's who."
"Okay, John, I get it. I already said you could drive me."
"Cool. When do we leave?" John asked.
"Have you had breakfast?" Alex asked.
"I'm just waiting for my Pop Tarts." John said.
"The toaster's broken." Alex said.
"No it's not!"
"Yes it is. Your Pop Tarts are gonna burn."
"They aren't." John stuck his tongue out childishly as he pressed a button on the side of the toaster. The Pop Tarts popped up and he grabbed them.
Alex moved away from the small table in the kitchenette and shook his head. "You're a man child, John."
"A gay, nerdy, political, animal loving man child." John bit into a Pop Tart with a smile, which quickly vanished when his mouth was burned by the hot jam inside. "Oh! Ow! Holy crap!" He spat it out in the sink.
"You're a lot of things, John. Sensible isn't one of them." Alex raised an eyebrow.
"Fuck it." John said. "Let's just go."
"Sure." Alex said. "I'll call and let Philip Schuyler know we're on the way."
John and Alex were in John's car, dancing and singing along to Taylor Swift's Shake It Off as John drove to the Schuyler's place. They were stuck in traffic, not that it seemed to bother either of them. It was a weekend, heavy traffic was to be expected.
"That was Taylor Swift with Shake It Off. I hope that put you in a good mood-"
"You have no idea, radio guy." Alex chuckled.
"-after the North Korea drama. Well, they're North Korea. What really did we expect? So just because we can't bear to break with tradition, dedicated to Kim-Jong Un, here's Enola Gay."
"Wow. How depressing." John commented as the traffic slowly started moving again, only at a crawl, almost as soon as the seemingly upbeat sounding eighties pop song started playing.
"It's supposed to be depressing." Alex said.
"Oh wow. I'm so stupid, I couldn't tell." John said sarcastically and rolled his eyes.
"Enola Gay, you should've stayed at home yesterday-"
"Alex!" John snapped, turning the volume on the radio down.
"Sorry." Alex said. "It's catchy."
"It's not even a song about hypothetical nuclear destruction. It's Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which actually happened."
"I did learn history in Nevis, John, and in St Croix." Alex said. "And I'm studying history as part of my degree. Doesn't mean I can't like the song Enola Gay."
"You're not supposed to like it." John argued.
"It's not condoning the bombings, so yes, I can like it."
"You're just being difficult."
"You're the difficult one."
"I honestly thought you had better taste in music than this garbage."
"It's better than liking musicals." Alex said.
"Whoa, hey!" John glanced at Alex. "Just because I'm gay doesn't mean I have to like Broadway musicals."
"You once made a rap about how much you love musicals using only the titles of songs from musicals-with all the song titles from different musicals!"
"Yeah, that-that is true." John said. "But it's a stereotype."
"That you fulfil, John."
"So what if I fulfil it?" John said. The traffic outside was still crawling slowly.
"It's a stereotype. I don't get stereotyped." Alex shrugged.
"Because there aren't any for people from Nevis or St Croix." John said through gritted teeth. He was getting annoyed with Alex not thinking before he talked.
"You're gay and like musicals."
"I mean, it's not like all I like is musicals."
"That's true." Alex said. "I mean, you like Foo Fighters, don't you? A-and Jay-Z? And Beyoncé."
"You know I love Queen Bey."
"Another gay stereotype." Alex argued. "Just tell me you don't like Lady GaGa and Madonna."
"You know my taste in music, Alex, now shut up." John said. "Traffic's moving again."
"Well, you don't like this." Alex turned the radio up.
"Well that's because it's just that same 'duh duh duh duh' beat over and over. I can't like that." John said. "It's just so boring and repetitive."
Alex scoffed and folded his arms. "Like listening to people sing about their emotions is so interesting." He turned the radio up higher and folded his arms again. "Enola Gay, it shouldn't ever have to end this way-"
John turned the radio down with a bit of a struggle, since he had to keep his eyes on the road. "Alex, seriously."
"John, seriously."
"This isn't going to end well and you know it."
"It's going to end with the end of the song."
"Stop listening to this maudlin shit." John said. "It's not going to do anything for your mental health."
"My mental health is fine." Alex snapped. "Can't say the same for Donald Trump."
"This isn't about Trump." John said.
"They've dropped nuclear bombs twice before! They can do it again." Alex said. "Just let me have my fun before they do."
"Fine, Alex. Fine." John took his hand from the volume control.
"And that was Enola Gay by Orchestral Movements in the Dark-"
"Fucking song's over now anyway." Alex said.
"-gonna keep with the apocalypse theme now and play-" John turned the radio off.
"Fun's over."
"Hey, Alex, did you have fun with my dad?" Eliza asked.
"I suppose I did. It was a good visit." Alex shrugged. "You know John came and sketched out some stuff."
"I know. He told me." Eliza said.
"So uh... What's going on here?" Alex asked, gesturing at the evidently panicked students.
"Maybe you should check Twitter." Eliza suggested sheepishly.
Alex sighed and closed his eyes. "What's the bastard done now?"
"I'll let you find out for yourself." Eliza said, giving him her phone.
Alex took the phone and logged onto his Twitter, scrolling through until he found a tweet.
Donald J. Trump realDonaldTrump
North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un thinks he will get away with nuking South Korea! Sad.
Donald J. Trump realDonaldTrump
There's one thing the world needs and it's for all countries to turn against North Korea! Their dictator Kim Jong Un is a bad man!
Donald J. Trump realDonaldTrump
This is a very unpresidented thing for Kim Jong Un to have done. Extreme vetting of all North Korean defectors! Sad!
Donald J. Trump realDonaldTrump
North Korea just launched a nuclear weapon. They must pay for their actions. As President, I will make sure they will not get away with it!
"That unhinged man has a lot of things to say, doesn't he?" Alex muttered. "Oh look, there's 'unpresidented' again. Oh and 'bad man' and 'sad'. No 'bigly' though."
Eliza snorted. "Bigly."
"What do you think he means by not letting North Korea get away with it?" Alex handed Eliza's phone over.
Eliza took her phone back and put it in her pocket. "Well, we'd better hope it doesn't mean what the news is saying it means."
"What's it matter-it's all fake anyway, right?" Alex said.
Eliza grimaced. "Well..."
"You know what I mean, Eliza. Donald Trump thinks any news organisation that thinks he's doing a bad job is fake."
"They're saying he's preparing for war."
"War?"
"As in the nuclear kind."
Alex's eyebrows shot up. "So because North Korea was being North Korea, Donald Trump wants to wipe them off the map?"
"This shouldn't surprise you, Alex."
"It doesn't." Alex said. "It horrifies me."
The next morning, Alex awoke and carried out his morning routine-changing his catheter, going to the bathroom, brushing his teeth. He went into the living room and to the kitchenette, where John was eating his food, perfecting his drawing.
"Hey." Alex greeted.
"They haven't dropped a nuke yet." John snorted.
"Threat's over." Alex said. He took a bowl for himself and put it on the table. "But with Trump, is it ever over?"
"Lol." John said.
"Lol?" Alex raised an eyebrow. "John, you've been texting too often."
"Yeah, you." John retorted.
"Very funny." Alex took the milk from the fridge.
"They're playing depressing music on the radio." John said as Alex made himself cereal.
"When you say 'depressing'..."
"I don't mean shit like Solsbury Hill." John said. "I mean shit like A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall."
"They're still bigging up that Trump's gonna cause a nuclear war, then." Alex commented.
"Alex, he may have already started it." John said.
Alex would be lying if he said that John's statement didn't give him the chills. Instead, he tried to brush it off.
And John walked over to the radio and turned it on.
"-'s over! It's over!" Midge Ure cried out. Alex's heart skipped a beat. He knew it was just a song, but it was a frightening song.
"-for the memory of a life gone by-"
"You can turn it off now, John." Alex said. "You've made your point."
"Have I though, Alex?" John asked. "I mean, nothing's happening now, but... Donald Trump, Alex. Something's coming, I can feel it."
"Like Tony in West Side Story?"
"This isn't time for joking!" John slammed his hands on the table. His expression though, was not one of anger, but one of fear.
Alex saw this and sighed. "I'm sorry, John." He said sincerely. "I shouldn't have... Shouldn't have joked."
John nodded and sat down, still sporting his fearful expression. It wasn't ofiiiiten that John Laurens was scared.
They sat in mutual silence with only the radio as background noise-The Police's Message in a Bottle-until Alex's phone pinged. He lifted his phone slightly to look at the message.
From: Nu Pengyou
Heard teh news?
Alex picked up his phone and typed out a response.
To: Nu Pengyou
What news?
He went back to eating his breakfast with John until his phone pinged almost immediately after.
From: Nu Pengyou
Trump's just nuked NK
Alex's jaw dropped and he struggled to process what had just been sent to him.
John noticed this. "Alex?" He asked. "What's wrong?"
Unable to say anything, Alex simply showed John the text.
"Holy crap." John said.
"I know."
"Turn the radio up."
"You're closer!" Alex argued.
John leaned over and turned the radio up.
"-king news now, Donald Trump has ordered a nuclear strike on the secluded country of North Korea. We don't know yet whether the missile has struck the country yet or not-"
"Fuck." John shoot up. "Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck." He kept repeating the word over and over again.
"John, calm down-"
"It's happened, Alex!" John grabbed his hair. "We're going to die! Can't you understand?"
"I understand, John, but remember the Life Support affirmation in Rent." Alex said, trying to sound as calm as possible. "There's only us, there's only this."
"Yeah." John nodded slowly. "Yeah."
"I'm going to get dressed and pack some stuff." Alex said. He turned to their shared bedroom.
John turned the radio off. "I don't want to know how much time I have left. There's only us, there's only this." He sang, shakily.
"I know." Alex began shoving clothes into his backpack-anything that would fit. John pulled out his backpack and did the same thing. Both of them were frantically packing any of their belongings that would fit in their bags.
Alex heard his phone ping again, so he went over to it.
From: Nu Pengyou
The UN are having an emergency meeting in Geneva
Alex began to furiously type a reply, not caring about typos and knowing that his time could be very nearly up.
To: Nu Pengyou
I'm scared, Eliaz, im not gnna deny that, but ii dogt want to live teh rest o f my life in fear-awhoever long that bay eb. if we enver see each other agian, goodbye, best of wives and best of eomen.
Not to his surprise, Alex got a reply almost instantly.
From: Nu Pengyou
Goodbye to you too Alex
John rushed into the living room carrying the backpacks. "I packed your toothbrush, Alex." He said.
"I don't know if I'm even going to live long enough to use it." Alex said.
"What do we do?"
"Whatever time we have left, we have to spend it with Eliza." Alex said. "And the others."
"I'm scared." John said. "Should I drive?"
Alex nodded, taking his backpack. "Yeah, drive."
John had dumped the backpacks and Alex's wheelchair in the trunk of his car as he drove on the nearby university campus. Traffic was high on the roads. To forget about the possible incoming apocalypse, John and Alex were listening to John's playlist on his phone. Show tunes were better than hearing what was going on. So when they got on the campus, they were shocked to see nobody around except security. Alex got the backpacks, while John got Alex's wheelchair as a security officer approached them.
"Are you two students here?" She asked.
"Yeah." John said. "I'm John Laurens and I study veterinary science and art. That's Alexander Hamilton and he studies political science." He took his backpack from Alex.
"Okay." She said. "I'm a security officer and I need you to follow me.
"Wait, what's going on? Why-" John began.
"We've been urged by Dean King to lead the students into fallout shelters-"
"Wait-fallout shelters?!" Alex blurted out.
"Yes, Dean King has had us preparing for a nuclear strike." She said. "Please follow me." She began walking.
John and Alex shared a look of worry and followed her. They followed her in silence as they went inside and down in a corridor. She opened a heavy lead door into a comfortable looking room, which had a couch, a few tables, cupboards and a door that looked like it led to another room. It looked almost like an ordinary living room, if you ignored the metal walls and door. Also in the room were the Eliza, Angelica, Maria, Dolley, James, Martha, Nathaniel, William, Aaron, Theo, Hercules, Sally and Thomas Jefferson as well as a radio that was playing Barry McGuire's Eve of Destruction.
"If there's going to be a nuclear strike, I'd rather Jefferson get out and die." John whispered to Alex.
"You heard that, Jefferson, out." Alex folded his arms and John let his backpack drop.
The door to the shelter was shut and made a loud noise. John and Alex turned to the noise.
"Looks like I can't." Jefferson smirked.
"Then shut up." Alex said.
John sat down on his backpack as the song ended.
"That was Barry McGuire with Eve of Destruction. Something that we might actually be on." The radio presenter chuckled awkwardly. He was clearly scared. "I-uh... I-here's Lukas Graham's 7 Years."
The new song started and Theo looked up from her phone. "I like this song."
"Do you think they're going to drop the bomb?" Dolley asked.
"That's a really depressing thing to think about." Martha said.
"Yeah? You think that's depressing?" Nathaniel asked. "We're locked in a lead lined fucking fallout shelter!"
"Cool your shit, Nathaniel." Theo hissed. "This is just a precautionary measure anyway. Just listen to the radio. It's not saying that any nuclear strike is imminent-it's playing 7 Years."
"Well, Theo is right." Sally said.
"Damn straight I'm right." Theo folded her arms indignantly.
"We might not all die." Sally continued. "I mean, how bad can living in a post-nuclear world be? It might not be as bad as predicted. I mean, look at Hiroshima and Nagasaki."
"They still had high cancer rates and lots of burns victims." Dolley argued. "And look at the amount of cancer in Chernobyl. Don't forget, if we're nuked it's bye bye doctors."
"I meant that there was no nuclear winter." Sally said.
"Yeah, but now we have H-Bombs that are so powerful they can make miles long craters in the world and make fallout spread thousands of miles." James said. "The largest H-Bomb ever detonated had a potential yield of a hundred megatons. They only detonated fifty seven megatons, but all houses even thirty miles away from ground zero were destroyed and people could have had third degree burns from sixty two miles away and the heat was definitely felt from a hundred and seventy miles away. The shockwave from the blast was so intense that windows were shattered at nearly six hundred miles away from ground zero and get this-the fireball was four miles wide and didn't even touch the ground because the shockwave was so intense. And the mushroom cloud seven times the size of Everest at forty miles high. Windows broke in Norway and Finland and seismic sensors were tripped all around the world, even as the shockwaves made their third trip around the world. Despite the fact that it was detonated two and a half miles above the ground, it caused an earthquake of five point five on the Richter Scale."
"Jesus Christ." John exclaimed after a brief pause.
"If that thing hit DC..." James paused. "We would be able to see the mushroom cloud. We would probably see the flash and feel the heat. We would definitely feel the shockwave."
"How do you know this?" Sally asked.
"Google." James shrugged, showing his phone. "It's the Tsar Bomba."
"Nope, I was wrong. That is the most depressing thing." Nathaniel corrected himself and sat down on the poorly carpeted floor. "Why are you even talking about nuclear bombs when one could be dropped on us? That's just ghoulish."
"Maybe, oh, I don't know, maybe because we're locked in a nuclear bomb shelter and the president is Donald Trump-an admitted sexual predator-who has already dropped a nuke on North Korea, prompting an emergency meeting by the UN." Alex said.
"But Donald Trump wouldn't be the one using nukes." Eliza pointed out. "And Vladimir Putin wouldn't nuke his buddy, would he?"
"North Korea haven't really been military allies to Russia since the dissolution of the USSR." Hercules said. "But they do share a border."
"That wouldn't be enough for them to want to nuke Trump, would it?" Angelica asked. "I mean, aren't Russian people skeptic of North Korea?"
"I think they are." John said. "But at the same time, Russia wrote off North Korea's debts a couple years back, so relations aren't exactly sour."
"I still think the Kremlin don't like that North Korea is testing nukes." Hercules said.
"Have been, you mean." Maria corrected. "Trump's probably laid waste to that country with nukes. As in... No more North Korea."
"In that case, Russia might nuke us." Hercules shrugged, picking at his nails in the corner. "Especially if the fallout landed in populated Russian territory."
"Maybe China will nuke us." William suggested. "Their relations are a lot stronger."
"But even China's had enough of North Korea's nuclear shit." Hercules said.
"Yeah, but still, since the end of the Korean War, they have worked together militarily." William pointed out.
"China it is then." John said, seemingly accepting of his fate.
"China it is." William repeated with a slight sigh.
"We've got breaking news coming in that the emergency UN meeting in Geneva is underway." The radio presenter said over the end of the song. "It is expected that they will be discussing President Trump and presumably issuing sanctions."
"See, sanctions." Theo shrugged. "It's not severe."
"Shh!" Alex put his finger to his mouth as Aaron went to turn the radio up.
"-om Brady of the New England Patriots-"
"Fuck it, it's Tom Brady." Hercules waved his hand dismissively.
Aaron turned the radio down again.
"If a nuclear strike were imminent, do you really think that they would be talking about the Patriots?" Theo asked.
"Normalcy." Nathaniel shrugged. "Trying to give the appearance of shit being normal, when we're all going to die."
"Or as REM put it, 'it's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine'." Maria said.
"That's a good song." Angelica added.
"One other thing that we wouldn't have if the world was destroyed by nuclear warfare." Dolley said. "Music."
"Hey, speaking of music, do you know this new song?" Eliza asked.
"It sounds like the chorus in that Jay-Z song like a decade ago." James said.
"And the prom scene song in Napoleon Dynamite." Maria said.
"I think it is." Angelica said. "Aaron, turn the radio up."
"You got it, boss." Aaron turned the radio up. There was a brief pause as everyone listened to the radio.
"Yeah, it definitely is." Angelica nodded. "The prom song, I mean."
"Whatever it is, it's depressing." Nathaniel rolled his eyes.
"Everything's 'depressing' to you, isn't it, Nathaniel?" Eliza asked.
"This situation is." Nathaniel said. "Everything about it."
"I can't really deny that." John agreed.
"I just want to get out of here." James said. "I'm creeped out. I can't believe that this is real. Like really real. Not just a bad dream."
"Well, it might be a bad dream." Alex shrugged. "Jury's still out on that one."
"Alex, you're not helping." Theo said. "James, it'll be fine. We'll be out of here by the end of the day. After all, you know all about George King and his raging paranoia."
"Here's hoping." Nathaniel said.
"We'll be fine." Theo said.
"I wouldn't speak with certainty." Angelica said. "Especially with such uncertainties in the world."
"Mostly, I'm trying to convince myself that everything will be fine." Theo sat down next to Angelica.
The music stopped suddenly and everyone turned to the radio.
"Breaking news now-and it's not the news that any of us had been hoping for."
"Here we go." John said.
"Major news outlets are reporting now that there is a nuclear missile inbound for Washington DC which has been launched by China in retaliation for President Trump's nuclear attack on North Korea." The radio presenter sounded shaken.
Mutters of shock spread among the group.
"This is officially a two minute warning. It's all over."
An air raid siren sounded and the group huddled up.
Alex slid from his wheelchair down on the floor and hugged around John and Eliza.
Maria and Angelica clutched each other's hands and Maria rested her head on Angelica's shoulder.
Aaron held around Theo, who was gripping onto his t-shirt.
James and Jefferson were close to each other, holding hands.
Sally had her head buried in Hercules' shoulder.
On the other hand, Nathaniel opened his backpack and pulled out a large bottle of alcohol. "Might as well get wasted one last time." He opened the bottle as Louis Armstrong's What a Wonderful World began to play on the radio.
"Not Peggy." Eliza muttered. "Peggy's in Virginia. With Lafayette."
"If she dies, Eliza, she won't suffer." John said soothingly. "She'll go instantly."
"I don't want her to die at all." Eliza broke from the hug and snatched Nathaniel's beer.
"Yeah, now how am I gonna get wasted?" Nathaniel asked.
"I want to get wasted too!" Eliza said, taking a long gulp of the alcoholic beverage.
"So do I." Alex took the drink off Eliza.
Eventually, the drink was being passed around the shelter. When Jefferson was taking a drink, the radio cut out unexpectedly.
"What was that?" James asked.
"Radio probably ran out of battery." Dolley said. She took out her phone and turned it on. Only it wouldn't go on. "Huh. Strange."
Martha frowned. "What is?" She asked.
"My phone won't go on." Dolley replied.
This prompted everyone else to check their phones and William to check his laptop.
"Mine's not working either."
"Nor mine."
"I can't get mine to work."
"Annoying."
"What the hell's going on?"
"This is ridiculous."
John took his phone from his pocket slowly and pressed the home button. Then he pressed the on button. Nothing happened.
Jefferson stood up with the beer bottle in his hand as everyone chattered about their expensive paperweight phones. "The bomb's hit DC." He said, with tears in his eyes. "The EMP is why nothing's working." He explained, his voice audibly shaking, but he said what nobody else wanted to admit. "The blast has happened. Guys... We're in a nuclear war."
A/N: So this is the first chapter of my new Hamilsquad story. It's taken from the pieces in the other Hamilsquad stories from Just Keep Swimming to Everything's Easier When You're Home. It will be updated much more sporadically than the others, but it's okay. Because it will be much more sadder than the other ones. And actually pretty graphic. And it is totally an AU from my AU. Because why not.