Notes: I started to watch Jericho and I could not stop myself. I don't even know where this is going haha...
Billy is sitting on a quiet road, his back resting on his car, parked on the side of the road, away from any cars that might pass him by. Alone with a joint of weed in hand. He takes a long drag from the lit joint and slowly exhales, a cloud of smoke spreading out in the air.
He feels relaxed and peaceful, like nothing else matters at this moment. It makes him feel calm and relieved of any stress he was feeling before. The world around him seems to slow down, as he takes in the fresh air and listens to car stereo at the highest volume. He doesn't want to move, he just wants to stay here and enjoy the high.
Suddenly, the car stereo loses signal to the station and the audio stops playing. Billy stands up and opens the car door. He feels some of his annoyance and frustration build up as he leans into the radio and adjusts the frequency, trying to get the signal back to no avail, it's all static noise.
When he looks up, he sees through the front glass a girl approaching his car, crying and gasping. She looks to be in her early twenties, and she seems hurt. He immediately feels confused as he exits the car, trying to figure out what happened and how he can help.
When she's in front of him, she looks at him intently, trying to get control of herself and tell him what happened. She is crying, and in pain from whatever happened; panting, as if she had been running for a while.
"There's been... a big explosion" she gasps, holding her bleeding stomach. "A big one" her eyes look at Billy with a scared expression.
"What, where? Are you okay?" Billy takes note of the girl's expression, and while it shows fear, he still notices that she looks familiar. He reaches out and grabs her by the shoulders, pulling her into him to support her weight. "Hey, hey, stay with me, okay?"
"In the roadway..." She says out of breath. "by the highway exit of Woodsboro..." She lifts a hand and grips his arm. "There is a big cloud... A mushroom cloud..."
Billy's eyes widen as he realizes what she means.
"You mean, there was a nuclear explosion?"
The girl has trouble holding by feet, she lets go of him and reclines against the car, tired. Billy noticed blood in her jeans too.
"It looks like it," she says.
"Hey, you're hurt, you're bleeding here." He looks at the blood that's running down the girl's stomach and right leg. The girl is starting to pass out as she leans against the car. He takes his cell phone from the glove compartment "Hold on, I'm gonna get some help for you."
"Just warn people we might need to evacuate…" she says, sliding down to the ground, eyes closed. "The car... Drive to the police... Or the fire sta..." she flinches with pain.
Billy quickly picks her up and lays her in the backseat of the car, before getting behind the wheel. "Come on. I'm gonna take you to the city. You're gonna be fine, okay?"
He immediately starts the car and starts to drive away, dialing 911 as he drives.
"I don't know..." The girl mumbles semi conscious "what's going on... My phone doesn't work..." she adds as she sees him calling and getting frustrated that there's no signal.
Billy looks away from the road for a second to look at the girl, an expression of concern washing over his face.
"What? The phones aren't working? The radio isn't working? What 's going on?"
He drives even faster as a look of sheer nervousness comes onto his face.
"I..." she says, but then she stays quiet, breathing very slowly. "Won't... Make it."
"Hey, come on, don't say that." Billy says, without having an idea of how he should comfort her.
As the radio continues to play static, Billy's anxiety rises exponentially as he looks at the girl through the mirror. She looks pale, and blood is starting to come from the corner of her mouth.
"Just hang on, okay? We're almost at the police station."
"Please… my brother..." She starts to cough blood. '"Please..."
Billy's face goes from being stressed and anxious to being straight furious as he keeps driving. The girl is losing a lot of blood, and soon, she's unconscious, her head lolling to the side.
"You stay with me, goddamnit! Do you hear me? You do not get to die. We both make it out of this alive, understood?"
Before long, he reaches the police station. He looks into the streets to realize that the lights are off and there's people outside murmuring between them. He looks at the girl, she seems familiar, her eyes blue and her hair light brown, now muddled with blood and ash.
Billy's whole body tenses as he thinks about all of this, and he stops the car, jumping out and rushing to the girl's side.
"Hey, wake up, come on." He shakes her and tries to get her to awaken as he quickly wraps a cloth around her bleeding leg." You hear me? I need you to wake up!"
There's no reaction from the girl, but she's still breathing. Billy notices she has her wallet in her and carefully reaches into her pocket, not wanting to disrupt the girl's breathing any further. "What's your name?" he asks more to himself than her.
He takes a look at her driver's license.
Leslie Macher he reads, realizing why she looks so familiar. She's Stu's older sister that hasn't been in town in years. Billy's heart sinks as he looks down at Leslie.
Before he can say or do anything else, a police officer approaches him.
"What happened here?! What happened to the girl?"
Billy turns to the officer, holding back tears he's surprised to realize that had formed in his eyes.
"Her name is Leslie Macher and…" He looks back at Leslie, desperately hoping that there's still some life in her at this stage. "She needs help, okay? Please!"
"The hospital is without electricity, boy..." The officer mutters. "Have you stopped the bleeding?" he asks, while trying to take her pulse.
Billy looks at the girl, praying that she's still alive, as he replies to the officer.
"I think I have. At least, it's stopped bleeding as fast, but she's still unconscious. Hey, what's going on here, why don't we have any electricity?"
"This is bad" the officer mutters, looking at Billy's clothes with blood suspiciously. "I'll drive her to the next city hospital... But you're going to give your declaration, son" he says as he lifts Leslie to take her to the police car.
Billy looks from the officer to Leslie, before getting into the passenger seat of the police car, desperate to be there for Leslie no matter what happens.
"Okay, I'm coming with you."
"No, get in the station and tell the officers inside what happened." The man says, getting into the driver's seat. "I hope you realize you look suspicious. I won't start the car until you obey, so you better not waste time."
"Come on, are you serious? You're just gonna leave me here, while my friend is dying? I get that you have a job and a protocol to follow, but I am not letting you drive off alone with Leslie - not a chance."
Billy glares at the officer, his frustration at this entire situation clearly rising to the surface once more.
"Stu..." The girl coughs suddenly, more blood leaving her mouth. "Where.."
The officer looks at her then at Billy.
"Get inside the station," he warns Billy.
Billy looks at Leslie for a long moment, as he sees the girl struggling to stay conscious. With a deep sigh, he obeys the officer and exits the car, going to enter the station. Once inside, he approaches a pair of officers. The station is chaotic. The radio and phones don't work, the lights are off and the officers are disorganized.
"Billy?" Dewey says, coming close. He notices the blood in Billy's clothes. "Are you hurt?"
Billy turns to Dewey and shakes his head, looking rather stressed out and frustrated.
"No, no, I'm fine. But... But, I need to talk to you, there's something wrong here, there was... There was an explosion, and I found Leslie, and…"
"An explosion" Dewey asks, making the officers around pay attention to them. "Where?"
Billy motions to the street outside, before taking a deep breath and continuing.
"By the road by the highway exit into the town of Woodboro. Leslie was there by the car when I saw her, she said there was a, well, a nuclear explosion out there."
Billy looks at the officers before shaking his head again, not knowing what else to add. Some officers laugh at him.
"A nuclear explosion?" They don't believe him.
"Leslie..." Dewey asks. "Stu's sister?"
"Yes, yes, she was outside the highway exit when I found her. She was injured and bleeding and… and…" Billy's voice catches in the back of his throat for a moment as he looks at Dewey.
"Billy, calm down" Dewey says, irritated by his co-workers' laughs and murmurs. "Come here" he says, gripping Billy's arm and leading him to the sheriff's office. "Excuse me, sir. We might have the reason why there's no electricity in Woodsboro. Billy, explain to him slowly" he says, signaling him to take a seat.
Billy nods and then carefully retells the story to the sheriff, explaining where he found Leslie and what she told him about the nuclear explosion. He explains that Leslie seemed like she was struggling to breathe and seemed to be getting worse.
"A nuclear explosion" the sheriff doesn't believe it. "Riley, please. Don't waste my time with fables." he says, irritated. "Get out of my office."
"But sheriff, if we're under attack we need to evacuate..." Dewey tries to insist.
"Out!" The sheriff shouts at both.
Billy is frustrated by this and stands up quickly.
"Wait, what are you… We need to do something here! What if it wasn't just a normal explosion? What if it was a real, legit, nuclear explosion? What if we are being attacked? You can't just brush me off!"
"Son, do you want to stay the whole night here?" the Shariff asks in a warning tone, standing up.
"I… What?" Billy is clearly caught off guard by this. He realizes how serious the situation is and panics for a moment, thinking that the sheriff could call his father. But then he remembers there's no signal and decides to push forward regardless. "No, look, I'm just saying that you can't just ignore what I told you. When I found Leslie, she was dying from her injuries, and she desperately said that there was a nuclear explosion somewhere on the outskirts of town by the highway exit. We can't just ignore that."
"I can go check it out, sir" Dewey volunteers.
"Are you stupid?" The sheriff says, looking at him from head to toe. "If it were a real nuclear explosion" he rolls his eyes, "you would be exposed to radiation."
He looks at Billy, thinking if believe him or not.
Billy is starting to lose hope, not knowing what else to say to convince the Sheriff.
"Sir - look, you've gotta listen to me here. Leslie wasn't lying when she told me that there was a nuclear explosion… I know she wasn't! And if it's true, then we need to check it out and evacuate people before the radiation… before it hurts anyone."
The sheriff scratches his head, annoyed and tired. There's the sound of people throwing things on the police station's door. Dewey looks through the window, even if it's dark, he can see people protesting for the lack of electricity or signal.
"This is bad..." he murmurs.
Billy sighs, his stress and frustration getting the better of him.
"It can't be that difficult, right? Just send some officers to the highway exit, have them check for signs of radiation or any kind of nuclear damage. Is that so hard?"
The Sheriff is quiet for a moment, as he seems to consider Billy's words, before looking at Dewey with a stern expression on his face.
"Go ahead, you go check on this supposed nuclear explosion. Bring me back the results and then we'll get to the bottom of this."
"I'm on it, sir" Dewey says, running towards the door. He stops and looks at Billy. "You should tell Stu about his sister." He says with an apologetic expression and leaves with another officer.
Billy sighs and then looks at the Sheriff.
"Sir,I would never make up something as serious as a nuclear explosion without good reason. Leslie wasn't lying, she was dying back there by that car, and she told me about it. You need to put the entire town under an emergency protocol, it's the only way to make sure no one else gets poisoned by radioactive fallout."
Billy's expression is one of pure worry and concern, and he hopes that the Sheriff will listen to him.
The sheriff laughs at him.
"A little teenage boy calling the shots..." He can't contain his laughter. "It had to be a Loomis. Kid, go home. Leave this to the adults, okay?"
Billy lets out an aggravated sigh, as he realizes that there's no way that the Sheriff is going to take him seriously.
Billy frowns and looks from the Sheriff to the window, with the crowd of angry, protesting citizens growing larger with each passing moment outside.
"Why don't you go out there and tell people what you saw?" The sheriff laughs. He walks to the door and opens it for Billy to leave.
At this point, Billy thinks he should stop insisting and go check on Stu,and tell him about his sister. He lets out a deep sigh as he gets up and starts to walk out. Once he's outside the station, he sees the mob that are gathered there, their numbers rapidly growing as they become angrier and angrier.
Billy just looks ahead, not wanting to look too obviously at the crowd, as he gets into his car and starts to make his way towards Stu's house. He wonders what kind of reception he will be given when he shows up and tells Stu about Leslie.