Flashes. Colours then blackness. Distorted shadows of darkness, and then nothing. Gerard slowly opened his eyes, and he could imagine the tearing of skin as his eyelashes parted. He had to blink a couple of times before the world came into a swimming focus. Not that there was much to look at.

From what he could comprehend, he was in a white pod, with his hands locked at his side with metal shackles. Lifting his head slightly, he saw that his ankles were bound as well.

Just as he was beginning to get nervous, thrashing about uselessly in the manacles that held him down, a screen flickered to life just about his head on the underside of the pod. On it showed a smiling face with words underneath it that read; "BETTER LIVING INDUSTRIES. THE AFTERMATH IS SECONDARY,"

Gerard stared at it curiously for a moment, before the image faded, replaced by a pretty Asian woman with straight black hair down to her shoulders and perfect teeth, who was grinning down at him.

"Welcome to Better Living Industries!" she said cheerfully, and Gerard could hear her voice from all around, as though her voice was being projected through surround sound.

"You are one of the survivors of the Inferno, a horrific disaster that happened in 2012. You were saved by a Draculoid and taken here, to Battery City.

"Unfortunately, the radioactivity from the Inferno may have caused severe changes to yourself. In order to keep you alive, we gave you a large dose of Deep Sleep, the sleep medication that has kept you unconscious for the past seven years. While you were asleep, we treated you as best we could, but some things that the radioactivity altered in your DNA may never return to their previous state. Another side effect of the radioactive treatment is the Haze. The radioactive serum has wiped out your memory. You will, unfortunately, never gain it back.

"For the first couple of days, your mind may be hazy, and you may remember things that have had a sufficient place in your past, but it is impossible that you will remember everything. The only way to treat the hazy thoughts is to take the Pill. You will be presented with a single bottle every month, which will be delivered to your homestead without fail. You must take one Pill every morning to terminate the foggy thoughts. Failure to do so will result in extreme chastisement.

"We understand that this is a lot to take in, but we assure you, your future is bright and right ahead of you! Have a better day!"

The screen flickered off, and Gerard could do nothing but stare up at the spot where the woman's face was only moments ago. He wished what the mysterious woman had said wasn't true, but he knew it was. He couldn't remember anything. No faces popped up in his mind, no familiar places, nothing. The only thing he could remember was his name.

He tried to reach to the back of his mind, hoping to scoop up at least one memory, but his mind was like a strainer. As soon as he thought he had caught something, it slipped away.

Then, there was a loud hissing sound, and Gerard looked up to see the lid of the pod rise, so now he could see the ceiling, and hanging florescent lights that shone, making his eyes sting slightly.

The metal manacles around his wrists and ankles retreated back into the bottom of the pod, and slowly, Gerard pushed himself up into a sitting position. From there, he could see row upon row of identical pods opening up, revealing dazed and disoriented people, much like himself, sitting up and gazing around.

In the pod directly beside him, Gerard saw a man with a mop of black hair that hung to his shoulders sit up, gazing around. Gerard thought that he looked slightly familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on what it was. But then the man turned around, and Gerard saw his eyes, and it was like his strainer of a mind had caught a rock, or even better, a diamond.

"Frank!" he called without even thinking how he knew the name. The man instantly flung his head around to look at Gerard, and he watched as the mans eyes grew wide with recognition.

"Gerard?" the man –no, Frank- said, and then they were both scrambling out of each other's arms, and embracing. Gerard didn't know how he knew this man, or from where, but he knew this man was his best friend.

Frank, who was at least five inches smaller than Gerard, and he could see fear in Frank's eyes.

"Gee, what the fuck is happening?" he said, staring around, "I don't remember a goddam thing, well, except you…"

"I have no idea, Frankie," Gerard said, the nervousness growing in him, "I have no idea,"

Just then, they heard a shout coming from behind them. Frank and Gerard spun around to see two men, one with an afro and an eye patch, and a scrawny looking blonde.

"Shit, Frank, is that you?" the blonde called, and Gerard couldn't believe it. It was his brother. His baby brother, Mikey. And standing beside him was Ray, Ray Toro, his other best friend!

"Mikey, holy fuck!" Gerard called, hurling himself over to his younger brother. The two brothers embraced as Frank and Ray hugged, and then they all stood staring at each other.

"Holy fuck, Mikey, you've changed…" Gerard whispered, astounded. His brothers dark, slick brown hair was nowhere to be seen, instead replaced by the blonde hair that sat on his head.

"You think I've changed?" Mikey said incredulously, "You should take a look at yourself!"

Mikey pointed behind Gerard, and cautiously, he turned around till he was facing the metal wall. His reflection was slightly distorted, but it was enough. Gerard nearly fell over at what he saw. His black hair was gone, replaced by what looked like flames on his head.

"It …" he stuttered, "It looks like someone's dipped my head in motherfucking red food dye!"

He clutched at the neon strands, disbelieving, before turning back to the three other men.

"And Ray! Your eye…?"

"Gone," the tall afro'd man shrugged.

"Wait, what about Frankie?" Mikey said, "What'd the radioactive shit do to you? You don't look all that different, maybe a little shorter, but …"

Frank glared at the grinning Mikey, before pulling up his sleeves.

Gerard was not surprised to see tattoos lining his best friends arm, but the sheer amount stunned him. He had never had that many…

"And they're everywhere too. And when I say everywhere," he coughed slightly, "I mean everywhere,"

"Well, at least you didn't have to feel them being pierced into your skin," Mikey said smirking, and Gerard couldn't help but smile. But then the reality fell down once more, and Gerard realized exactly what was happening.

"Guys, I don't remember anything except you," he said, "And I'm not sure about anything. I don't know," he lowered his voice, "if I trust these guys. First, there's a mysterious 'disaster' called the Inferno? Then we wake up seven years later to find out that our memory's been wiped. I just don't know…"

"I'm with Gee on this one," Frank said, "Something just doesn't add up…"

Just then, a man wearing a mask with the same smiling face Gerard had seen on the screen inside his pod walked over to the four men, carrying a white, fabric bag.

"Hello, gentlemen," he said, and his voice sounded slightly robotic, "I am here to present you with your Pills,"

He handed each man a small bottle of orange pills. On the label, it showed the odd smiling face, which Gerard assumed was the logo, and then the letters; "BL/ind,". The masked man stared at them for a moment before turning on his heels and marching away, probably to hand out other bottles of Pills to the other people who were emerging from the pods. Some were male, some were female. Some young, some old.

He realized just how many of these people would be family-less after the Inferno. And then it came to him. Did he have a family? He couldn't remember. Did he have a beautiful wife who would kiss him when he got home, or a little child who he would sing to sleep at night? The fact that he couldn't remember whether or not he had a family disgusted him slightly. What kind of a father or husband couldn't remember their wife or kids?

Suddenly, Gerard was brought back to reality by Frank's sharp hiss.

"Don't take the Pills!" he was whispering urgently to Ray, who had one orange capsule in his palm, "Something's not right here, and I don't know about you guys, but I wanna get to the bottom of it,"

"I'm with Frankie on this one," Gerard agreed, nodding, "I think there's more to BL/ind than meets the eye…"