#ominous yodelling

[vermillionbedfellow]

This is the ideal male body. You may not like it, but this is what peak performance looks like.

[thelampisaflashlight]

I just think it would be funny if, like, the church needed a vehicle to transport the ghouls places as a group without raising suspicion, so they bought a minivan.

Like, a used minivan, nothing fancy or flashy.

It has, like, one of those fold down mini tv screens for playing dvds in the back seat or whatever.

That’s the only real luxury part of the car, and nobody remembers to grab ones for long car rides, so they wind up watching one of the random kids’ show dvds that got abandoned in the car when it was sold.

So the ghouls are riding along, and they put on a video, because it’s late and it’s a long drive.

They find an unlabeled disk and decide to watch it and then...

Veggie Tales.

It’s Veggie Tales, and the ghouls freak out.

Dew’s traumatized, because he’s tired and he’s thinking too hard about sentient vegetables playing instruments.

Rain is crying, because he doesn’t know what’s happening.

Swiss is vibing honestly, so is Mountain.

Cumulus can’t see what’s happening, because she’s in the passenger seat, and neither can Aether because he’s driving.

At some point, Swiss sends Cirrus and Sunshine a video of Dew just, staring intently at the screen like he wants to eat a rock, but he can’t look away.

The Yodeling Veterinarian of The Alps plays in the background almost ominously.

They stop at a rest stop and Aether yeets the thing into a trashcan and tries to find something else for them to watch.

Bibleman comes on and everyone screams.

[whatiwishfanfiction]

Chapter Five is up!

Preview:

It’s rare that a fantasy comes true just as you’re fantasizing about it, but that’s just what happened when Once-ler’s wagon rolled over the next hill. Not only did the scene happen to be extraordinary, but it came at such a coincidental time of desperate wishfulness that Once-ler was ripped straight from his daydreams and his eyes filled with tears immediately.

PEACE! FREEDOM! INSPIRATION! it screamed all at once.

Such a heavy feeling of serenity and joy descended upon his soul that he knew immediately he was where he was meant to be. It took less than a second to decide this was home, and he would never change his mind for the rest of his days. A smile spread across his face, the kind that was so big it hurt.

The valley he overlooked was a forest, but not like the forest at home. He’d never dreamed a forest could be so different. Where the one behind his farm was small, dry, and gray, the one below stretched beyond the horizon, filled with the brightest green grass and dark blue water full of lily pads, duckweed, and cattails.

Wispy trees and bushes bloomed with pink, yellow, and orange silken foliage that filled his nose with sugary sweetness. Instead of being empty and boring, as if animals would rather be anywhere less desolate, it buzzed with bees, butterflies, frogs, and fish he could see even from his vantage atop the highest hill. A sense of adventure and endless discovery pierced his heart as Once-ler's wagon rolled deeper down into Heaven.

So this was how forests were supposed to be. Every choice he’d made up to that point had been right after all, if it had led him to this. When the wagon reached the bottom of the hill, the yodels died on his lips, and he threw his guitar in the back. “Come on, Melvin,” he said, leading the mule along. The forest only became more interesting from there.

Ho-li-ah Ho-le-rah-hi-hi-ah Ho-le-rah-cuckoo Fol-de-rol, laddie right Toor-a-lie-addy

“Wait, who’s singing? Oh, wow!” Once-ler stood in awe as he watched a trio of fat yellow and orange fish dancing atop a rock, using their fins as legs. They held hands, spinning with their eyes closed, occasionally kicking out their fins or breaking away to do an Irish jig.

“Bizarre,” he said, checking over his shoulder just in case it was some kind of trick. “Does anyone else even know this exists?”

A yellow butterfly soared past with wings the size of book pages. The dark spots on its wings looked like a cow's. It landed on a flower where a frog strolled by on its hind legs and started milking it into an acorn cap.

"Oh my goodness!" Once-ler hopped up and down. "I think I just stumbled upon a completely undiscovered habitat!" After his life at home, he'd begun to think there was no such thing as anything new or exciting.

"Magnificent," he said, tears filling his eyes as a swarm of orange swans flew over his head under sun-tinted clouds. They soared, then dipped, taking a dive alongside a waterfall that roared ominously.

~*~

Follow me for the rest of the rewrite! (I'm going to post new chapters every week).

I can't wait to get to the part about the Lorax. I'm going to write him so much differently than the movie that made him a useless smart aleck. I always thought he should be more mysterious and fae-like. Gonna try to make it like something Tolkien or Holly Black would write. This story is really fun to write!

[mytastessuck]

Meet The Residents

Hey kids! The Residents first studio album!

...Yeah, I never really got through it before without tuning out.

It's as avant-garde as an art rock band gets. It just sounded like random noise to me every time I heard it. Coming back after getting older...yeah, still not my favorite. I'm glad I get to keep the blog name. I was surprised by the appearance of an old favorite though. We'll get to it on the track listing.

Boots

Sounds like pained yodeling while playing on kitchenware. Love it.

8/10

2. Numb Erone

No professional training, bitches! And they still keep a tune against their best efforts to avoid it. Gotta respect that.

7/10

3. Guylum Bardot

Bringing in the woodwinds so you motherfuckers best be scared now. You can actually relax to this track which creeps me out.

8/10

4. Breath and Length

Very ominous and creepy, especially with what sounds like a toy dog barking and those freaky ladies singing. This is what I'm hear for: audio assault.

9/10

5. Consuelo's Departure

Lookit, your TV's decided to join a band! And it's in a battle against the walls playing the trumpets! Most cool.

7/10

6. Smelly Tongues

They found the guitars again and they'll make you feel like how they smell. Good string work on this.

8/10

7. Rest Arja

Good piano work. Shows that just because they refused professional training, it doesn't mean they don't take their craft seriously. Like, this is something you can hear being played in a concert hall.

8/10

8. Skratz

Alright, done with the normie stuff. Back to noise. This feels like getting drunk on laced beer at a harsh noise concert. All in all, another Fourth of July for yours truly.

7/10

9. Spotted Pinto Bean

Getting into the longer stuff now. This one has a choir singing throughout it but then whimsical music! And back to creepy horror movie pacing. Wonderful.

8/10

10. Infant Tango

This is the song that surprised me. I've listened to it by itself so many times, I've forgotten it was on this album. I love Infant Tango so much, I sing it out loud to myself whenever I'm left by myself in a room for over 30 minutes. It's one of the more accessible songs, even with the breakdown, but don't let that stop you from enjoying the croaking.

10/10

11. Seasoned Greetings

Sounds like something from a Hammer Horror film. Good energy. Works for the album.

9/10

12. N-Er-Gee (Crisis Blues)

Speaking of energy...I'm getting a lot of Third Reich and Roll vibes from this track. Might explain why I like it so much. It's chaos distilled at the tail end of a crazy ass album. Good work.

9/10

Album Score: 81/100

Join me next week (or else!) for the review of The Third Reich n Roll. See what I did up there? That's called foreshadowing.

[imrandymeeks]

Oh whoa just saw your other socials, you’re reading Echo!! Sorry you’re having a seemingly middling experience with it lol (I will admit that heights/mountain climbing/deep crevices are deep fears of Mine so that might have coloured how terrifying I personally thought the Maudit scenes were when I read it it) but you at least seem to be having a somewhat entertaining time with it, which I still consider at least a semi-win. Super interested to see what your thoughts are (if any) when you’re done!

I'm mostly having a fun, confusing experience!

Like, one chapter is just kinda silly to me, when we go ALL IN on dreading the Alps outside Geneva as if they're actual Mountains of Madness, and not, you know, of Yodeling. Then I cringe at the protagonist ruminating on trust funds fucking up the youths of today. And then yet another chapter brings this sorta self-contained, perfectly executed, thematically interesting detour into the backstory about fires, overgrown roads, and sexual awakenings. And that one is genuinely great. The book is a bit of a rollercoaster is what I'm trying to say, but I'm kinda along for this ride so far.

And the thing is, I kinda understand what the author is getting at, I'm just not sure if he achieves it. Which is to say, he's allegedly playing with gothic tropes of yore (see chapter titles), while actually trying to write a contemporary A24 horror movie in prose form. And that doesn't always work out. Like, say, all those mountains? I can easily imagine a long establishing shot of just that, set maybe to an ominous drone from Mica Levi, and that may very well fill me with dread. I just don't think the written words on paper do that.

To illustrate, there's a, from what I gather, way less high-minded horror movie coming soon which does exactly that with ominous peaks looming over Hunter Schafer:

And I think it does the trick! The peaks are peaking, the contrast between Modernist Ordnung and untamed nature around it is chilling, and it's kind of a well-worn visual trope in movies, but to try and write the same atmosphere on paper may lead one to some unforeseen purple prose. Or simply a not very effective chapter. What looks great doesn't always read great, and vice versa, just ask Stephen King.

Something about Echo's pace seems way more indebted to current film trends than horror classics. (And I'm not even sure those long shots and excruciating silences work 100% of the time in movies.) Like, I read it and I don't imagine Lovecraft or Jackson's worlds, I see a festival indie horror shot on Arri Alexa in 2018. The prologue is giving exactly that, for one. And something about that doesn't sit right with me. Maybe I want a book, not a detailed movie synopsis. Even if it's a good movie. I dunno.

(I'm bullshitting my way through this answer, I don't know if you can tell.)

Or, look, maybe I simply don't love so called elevated horror and its glacial pace. (Mountaineering puns not intended.) But I'm at least curious about this whole thing, and the fire chapter is Good Actually (and cinematic in a great way), so on we read.

Thanks for the recommendation!

[postoctobrist]

Do you have a favourite Numbers Station? Mine has to be the Tyrolean Music Station. Distorted yodelling, a creepy music box and ominous german counting. What’s not to like!

Still bump those old school Lincolnshire Poacher bars from time to time

[yegormirnov]

Danny Brown: Quaranta



Detroit musician Danny Brown is a contemporary representative of hardcore rap and experimental abstract hip-hop. Personally, I haven’t listened to many of his projects, and “Quaranta” became my second solo listen of his.

The follow-up to my second experience with Danny Brown was an album by JPEG Mafia & Danny Brown, “Scaring The Hoes,” with an all-over-the-place production and other psychedelic attributes. I was pleasantly surprised by that record; nevertheless, I still felt that I wasn’t the demographic for this project.

Despite Danny’s deviation from accepted norms of melody and tone, I was never a fan of his vocal performance. My experience with his best-acclaimed work, “Atrocity Exhibition,” was itself one big atrocity. Constantly repeated utilization of his specific and, to some extent, annoying voice drove me crazy throughout the whole thing. After that unpleasant experience, I just accepted that this guy is not for me. His yodeling left me off-put, despite the avant-garde production and experimental delivery style.

Who knew that this wouldn’t age well?

His brand new LP, “Quaranta,” gave me another perspective on who Danny Brown truly is, or at least brought me closer to understanding him.

A cinematic, rich, elegant sound is all over the place. I don’t feel as much of the experimental hip-hop production on this one as on his previous records, so I would rather define this album as something delicate and prosperous. I have never heard Danny’s "real" raw voice. His tangible Detroit accent fills up the runtime of majestic chords and the hardcore part of the record. From time to time, the artist comfortably mixes his style with beats, combining more soft and fuzzy bass notes. Additionally, a note I made during the listen is that Danny is a big fan of progressive rock. His production selection frequently leans towards art/progressive rock, which helps him maintain tension and tempo.

As far as I am concerned, on this album, Danny reaches his peak at the confessions and brings out new introspective material. I may assert that this record is an emotional rollercoaster. The artist brings out the best in himself when it comes to reaching the emotional climax of the song. The way his burden is released isn’t the same as I have seen before. In numerous conceivable ways, Danny ranges from aggressive, ominous flow to someone who is already defeated and has lost all of his young hunger.

Furthermore, after the furor that this album induced, I ought to find some drawbacks. A certain number of people believe that this album will lack replayability; however, I believe it comes down to personal preferences. Yes, tracks are hefty and complicated, but they stand out. Overall, the album is only 34 minutes long, which doesn’t allow you to reach a stage of boredom yet and I would say is ideal in terms of mainstream music.

Nowadays, many albums struggle with feeling more like a mixtape than an actual album. Let me explain. Consistency in a record is a mandatory aspect of a well-curated and produced album. For example, "Pink Tape" had lots of potential and experimental sound, with Uzi going beyond acceptable bounds, but it was bloated. Fillers and inconsistent track listings buried the album. Although, this one might be one of the most consistent releases I have ever heard. The artist commences the album with a hard-hitting and bustling record that smoothly transitions to softer, more gentle cuts of the album. Due to the help of his cinematic and breathtaking performance, the album serves as an impressive dopamine booster.

In conclusion, I was left awestruck. This release lifted my hopes for hip-hop and once again demonstrated that there is a place for this genre to evolve. I plan to explore Danny’s discography further in search of another hidden gem.

Final grade: 8.5/10

[prettyboishin]

I was hoping someone else watched with subtitles because of the way I CACKLED everytime the (Ominous Yodeling)/(Vocalist Yodeling) captions showed up

Daily art #11

this time with Howard.

[zoglin]

Is ominous yodeling a thing?

[steviemicksworld]

I love those words that are the name of something but also can be taken as a ominous demand like-

YODEL

[incorrectbatfam]

What kind of shenanigans the batfam had pulled when while on patroll?

Left ominous notes in the Riddler's car

Replaced Bruce's smoke bombs with glitter bombs

High-dived into Gotham Harbor

Invited their super-friends

Changed an electronic billboard to a fake "bat-toothpaste" ad

Formed a Michael Jackson flash mob

Yodeled from the rooftop

Had a picnic on Jason's grave (it was his idea)

Adopted a box of stray puppies

Took derpy selfies at crime scenes

Photobombed Bruce's speech

Moved Comm. Gordon's car and gave him a ticket

Occupied truck stop parking spaces with tiny bikes

Went fishing in puddles

Reenacted Shakespeare

Took the Joker's gumball machine

Had a pizza mukbang

Took turns standing in the sewers Pennywise-style

Moved all the mailboxes two feet to the left

Replaced Scarecrow's fear gas with liquid ass

Hired a mariachi band to parade down the street

[spoonhead]

episode 3 review 👍

so i haven’t had much to say about the ghoul so far but i will say i love his little yodeling music cues they’re so ominous. and, this episode really made him more interesting because the first few he was really just not all that. all he did was be a bit of a dick but now he’s a dick with a dead wife and a tragic history with advertisement

also idk where yall ghoul fuckers are coming from. no hate of course but there’s something about him that gives me the ick, especially before he was ghoulified. pre-war the ghoul my beloathed

anyways to my favorite vault dweller, Norm. that man is so neutrally malicious he’s always got a bit of an evil glint in his eyes. he’s not even really evil just sarcastic and he’s super real for that + the council is so corporate i hate it

finally, the best of them all, Maximus. dude really can’t do shit unarmed but give him a crowbar and he actually stands a chance. I love him. also his little development with Thaddeus is great, dude was still a bit of dick to him but i liked their scene when they got the head back. they were just being silly little guys i love it

watching the fallout show with my dad tonight 👍

[paradoxicalpenman]

Rainbows are

Vagabond vacillating vagrant,

Vainglorious of variegated visage,

A vivacious vision verifying,

The verisimilitude of the virtuoso,

Iridescent irrevocably invalidating incredulity,

Implications of incessant invocation imploring to impede the inclement inundation

An idyllic incorporating incongruity inducing ineffable intrepid intransigence,

An inspiration for an introvert,

Bestowing beatitude banishing banality,

A benison behove of his benign benevolence,

For the blighted bereft because of their blunders,

Geniality garnished with garish gist,

Germinating the graphics for the grandeur guise of LGBTQ grappling with gerontocracy,

To generate their own genealogy on gazettes,

Yield of a yeomen's (a British farmer) yelping and yodel since yesteryear,

Yearning of a youngster yawning in his yacht,

Opalescent obituary for ominous obscurity,

Ordained by the omnipresent,

Ornated with his opulence,

To obtrude optimism and not to be oblivious of his omnipotence,

Regal but recluse,

A relic recurring to regale and recount his resentment,

A representation of his retribution,

Refuting to retrograde we are resilient and,

Resolved to relish his repertoire for our reminiscence.

[doomedandstoned]

Cavern Deep Takes Us On An  Archaeological Fantasy Trip

~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~

By Billy Goate

Album Art by Kenny Oswald Dufvenberg

CAVERN DEEP is a slow, heavy band, founded 2019, by members from Zonaria and Swedish retro riffsters Gudars Skymning. The debut self-titled album is about one archeologist and his crew of ambitious henchmen and their descent into the cavernous realm below the crust of the earth. Learn about their fate and listen to some heavy, gloomy riffs along their slow path downwards.

There's something unsettling, though dreamily familiar, about Max Malmer's vocal dronings as 'Cavern Deep' (2021) opens. "Staring Down" and "Abandoned Quarters" both start with a surreal kind of singing that we imagine could come during a REM sleep state (though most probably from the dream itself). At some times, I felt like he was conjuring the spirit of Layne Staley, as though inviting him to borrow his vocal chords in some kind of insane tradeoff during a seance.

It's not the only colour of singing you'll hear on this great, big exploration of sound and history, as Max (bass) also shares the microphone with gifted singer Kenny Oswald Dufvenberg (guitar). At other times, I feel like there are ethereal nods to Jim Morrison, Chris Cornell, or (dare I?) Danzig. Those are just the meanderings of a wandering imagination, of course.

Cavern Deep actually comes at us with a conceptual framework and a historic narrative. Dubbed, "The start of the expedition," we get a good feel for following setting of the album as its story unfolds, song-by-song:

One archaeologist and 49 men stand at the gates of a previously unknown civilization, for a moment staring down into the bowels of the mountain before they begin their descent. The journey downwards turns out to be more dangerous than expected, they climb down through whirling stairs lit only by organic fluorescent lights.

Further down the path they become more and more crumbled, eventually they must use ropes to traverse the broken bridges and tunnels over the deep chasms below. Filled by the promise of treasure they continue downwards.

Many men go missing as they’re tasked to explore diverting tunnels, they never return and their screams are followed by silence. The only thing found is their safety ropes, driven by greed the archaeologist continues the expedition.

The mood throughout is always churning, but developing a distinct sonic vision, such as the before/after picture that is "Ominous Gardens" whose atmosphere shifts eventually from downcast to spectacular.

It may be the production choices, but the vocals can be positively narcotic, like a meeting between Johnny Cash and Peter Steele, perhaps even transporting us back to more primitive times in communal history. What songs were we singing then? The "Waterways" know.

After an emotional "Leap of Faith," the album's B-side has us in "Deeper Grounds" has us trudging along to what I thought might be an entirely instrumental song, until it breaks out into Yob-esque tribal yodels at the very end. Very effective. A most holy moment.

"Fungal Realm" had me sinking into its hazy network of quarks and electronic potentiality until a sorrowful strain brought me out of it. With a rising tide of deep emotion, it proclaimed: "My mind is melting away." I suspect this will be a fan favorite as Cavern Deep has a chance to settle in on us this summer.

The arc of Cavern Deep's record is tantamount to Green Lung's immortal doom opera 'Woodland Rites' (2019), only tuned down and as solemn as a funeral wake, especially so with the final song, "The Dark Place," which pulls out all the stops, from damp organ sounds to an almost operatic vocal performance. On the whole, a very moving and multidimensional experience.

Look for this incredible, tragic tale to make its way to the public on July 23rd. In the meanwhile, you can stream it all right here, right now via Doomed & Stoned! You'll more than likely be interested in the band's official guide through the album, just ahead.

Give ear...

LISTEN: 'Cavern Deep' by Cavern Deep

Cavern Deep: Official Track-by-Track Guide

1. Staring Down

The first song is about the ominous feeling whilst staring down the stairs.

“Staring down...Into the deep”

Unknown symbols from a bygone intelligence fills the walls of the staircase which never seem to end.

2. Abandoned Quarters

In this song the party finds the remnants of a lost city with abandoned spires and halls.

“To the levels below”

The ruins are filled with hatched eggs and signs of struggle. But no corpses… On the other side of the city the stairs continue into the depths.

3. Ominous Gardens

After leaving the city the party stumbles on a huge abandoned garden. Abandoned by the warden this underground garden is filled with ancient deadly fauna. Many of the party members perish as the jungle takes its toll.

4. Waterways

Below the jungle lies the aqueducts that provided all of the water needed for the once prosperous civilization. It soon becomes obvious that they’re no longer alone.

“Searching… for the door”

The party soon gets lost in this maze, hope seems lost.

5. Leap of Faith

After many men have perished in the waterways, they finally find the door which leads out to a ledge. Before them lies an enormous gap, the chasm is so deep that the only thing they see is an endless darkness in the depths below. The darkness seems to have a life of its own…

6. Deeper Grounds

The depths of the leap swallowed its fair share of adventurers.

“Deeper…”

Less than half of the party left and they realize that there is no way out but down.

7. The Fungal Realm

Finally, the party arrives in a dark and damp large cavern. It’s full of a fungus which has a hive mind intent of consuming the minds of the adventurers.

“My mind is melting away”

Slowly everyone but the leader of the expedition becomes a part of the fungus.

8. The Dark Place

The leader of the venture now alone enters a great dark room. On the other side of the room a dark and ancient entity lurks. The entity has lived in these caverns for a very long time, possibly being the source of power of the ancient civilization.

“We are lost, Cavern Deep”

This old god of a forgotten time has waited for someone to take his place. As the lost adventurer tries to scream, the god consumes him to take his place, finally released.

Follow The Band

Get Their Music

[plotbunbun]

it would logically follow, then, that - operating within this hypothetical paradigm - that i mcfricking lose it,

[halflifehoarding]

Promise

For my HLVRAI-Fallout AU. Just a lil scene long before the fic will actually take place.

--------------------------

John was rushing out the door as the Black Mesa Shelter App screamed on his phone, along with every other electronic showing the current situation going on. He slammed his door on the news reporter frantically yelling from his tv. John silenced the App for the 5th time with an anxious hiss.

“Yes, yes! I get it! I’m going!” He took a nervous glance up at the darkening sky. An ominous glow lit the horizon beyond the trees while otherworldly sounds came from its direction. He made haste toward his truck as his phone began screaming again. John was about to angrily silence it before he realized it was a yodeling cowboy. Barney’s ringtone.

“Barney?!” he frantically answered. “Is Gordon there?” He slammed the truck door and a meaty thunk made contact with the glass right after. He sucked in a breath as a strange creature, looking like a plucked-chicken with uninviting teeth on its belly, skidded down his driver side window.

“Aww damn, I was hoping you’d have heard from him.” Barney's nervous reply came, static wove in and out between his words.

“Barney, what's going on?!” John’s voice wavered as he fought with the keys and ignition. Being around all those scientists at Black Mesa should have given Barney some sort of leg-up at being “in the know”.

“We got a mess here at ‘Mesa, it’s kinda’ hard to explain-”

“Yeah all the news stations are reporting on it!” John hurriedly pulled out of his driveway and down the backroads toward the shelter that kept alerting his phone.

“Wh- How the hell did they find out about it so quickly?!” Barney’s voice rose in disbelief.

“Ha! It’s hard to ignore the flippin’ light show and weird-ass creatures everywhere!” John yelled as he nearly hit another strange being that appeared on the road in a flash of light. “Holy shit!” he breathed.

“Creatures? Oh my god,” Barney’s voice grew distant from the phone to yell at someone else on his side of the line. “Kleiner! Kleiner, it's worse than y'all thought, it’s made it out to Oklahoma!!”

“Barney, no it’s-!” John tried to get his attention back to the phone. He swerved around a shambling bipedal being as it made its way across the road. John refused to register that the bloody coat it has been wearing looked very much like his neighbors.

“Ok, ok I’ll ask.” Barney placated to the person in the background. “John, Kleiner wants to know when did it start, how many things are teleporting in and where else is it- Kleiner slow down!”

“No! Barney!” John cried. “Barney, it’s everywhere!”

All that came through John's phone was a strangled breath mixed with more static.

“Are you safe kid?” John nearly laughed at Barney’s never-ending protectiveness, even during the midst of an apocalypse. He’d have to joke to his brother later that he had good taste.

“Y-yeah, I’m on my way to that Black Mesa shelter Gordon got me into.”

“Ok good, good.” Barney breathed. A sudden noise erupted from the security guards end and a chorus of screams rang out. Static blared in the speaker mixing with an inhuman scream before three gunshots rang out. There was a pause before John heard shuffling and Barney’s voice huffed into the phone.

“You still there John?”

“Are you okay?!” John’s phone case creaked with how tight he was holding it. He could only grit his teeth as he thought of mangled bloody bodies in the halls of Black Mesa. He refused to think of one of those hypothetical bodies having his brother's face.

“Y-Yeah, yeah we’re okay, we’re okay...” It sounded like Barney was trying to convince himself more than John. “You just get to that vault, kid. Just stay there until this all blows over. They’ll give the all-clear once it’s safe.”

John’s phone trembled in his grasp as he registered the scared tone in Barney’s voice. A tone that didn’t sound like he believed himself. A voice of a man who thinks he may not make it.

“Just, just stay there.”

“Is Gordon there, Barney?” John held his breath. The silence following was what he feared. Before Barney could reply, John hurriedly filled the silence. “Uhh, can you give a message to Gordon for me? For when you see him?”

“Of course.” Barney said immediately.

“Promise you will?”

“Promise, kid.”

“Tell him,” John sucked in a breath as the shelter came into view through the trees, cars haphazardly abandoned and crashed around it and a mass of people being hurriedly funneled into the underground vault.

“Just tell him I love him and I’ll see him soon.”