This Broken City Sky

With the return of food and other nourishment, came the minor replenishment of hope. The overall mood of the eight had improved significantly, and tensions, which had been drawn unbearably tight before, were relaxed. As relaxed as any of them could be, anyhow. The winter was at it's coldest, as the "holidays" approached, but to the relief of everyone in the hotel, the sun was out more often to fuel the generators.

For the refugees, life was decent again.

Lily couldn't sleep to save her life one particular night, and in hindsight, she thought that was more than coincidence. She lay in the dark room, listening to Dylan breath deeply, and the occasional snore from one of the guys. Otherwise everything was stiflingly silent. She always hated trying to sleep in silence. The heater clicked on, so the soft sound of air pumping into the room kept her company for a few moments. But she wasn't comforted, so she rolled over on her back, and stared at the ceiling.

I'll let my mind wander... She thought with a deep sigh, and closed her eyes, I'll think of home, and I'll fall asleep, and wake up in the morning back here. For another hour, maybe, she thought about home, and her loved ones, and all other manner of things, but nothing worked. Still her mind wasn't calm, and she couldn't even begin to grasp at unconsciousness. Finally, when she tossed the covers off of her legs, and hopped out of bed, a distant thudding sound reached her ears. Lily stopped at the side of the bed, as still as she could be, and listened. It was coming closer.

"DYLAN!" Lily hollered, unabashedly, and shoved her cousin, "GET UP!" She yelled, and bolted for the door. It may have made her look a little crazy, but she heard what she heard. Dylan rolled over in bed just as the door closed behind Lily, and blinked slowly at the place her cousin had been.

"The hell..." Ray mumbled into his pillow as he rolled over, and got comfortable again. Dylan propped herself up, and sighed, running a hand over her hair.

"Um..." Dylan shook her head slightly, not knowing exactly what to think. Frank sighed heavily as well, and sat up in bed.

"Better go find her..." He mumbled, pushing back his comforter as well. Dylan mimicked this action, and stretched her long limbs. She yawned as well, before shuffling over to the table and chairs to put on a sweatshirt, and some warm boots. Frank pulled on a hoodie as well, and just as he went to turn toward the door, he caught the sound Lily had heard. Whop whop whop whop

"Dylan..." He whispered, and outstretched his hand to touch her shoulder lightly. She stared at him with tired eyes, and he pointed at the ceiling, as some sort of signal for her to listen. So she obeyed, and turned her eyes toward the ceiling slightly.

"Helicopter." She said in a plain voice, and just as quickly as Lily had fled, she dashed to the door that conjoined the rooms. While she roused the others, Frank woke up Ray, and ran out of the room.

"Wh...Go back to bed, you crazy bitch theres nothing out there...." Gerard mumbled, and burried his face into the pillow. Mikey didn't bother to move, Kat looked at Dylan blearily from her place on her bed, and Johnny just barely stirred under the covers.

"Then we'll leave you here!" Dylan squealed, before jogging out the door.

On the roof, Lily was waiting for the lights of the helicopter to pass over the hotel. It was still maybe three or four miles away, by her count, so she thought the others would be up by the time it got there. When the door slammed open, and Frank, then Ray appeared on the roof, Lily raised her eyebrows at them.

"Theres a helicopter!" She yelled, as the two jogged over to her, and she showed them where the small light was flying over the building tops. Frank and Ray smiled breathlessly, then looked at one another.

"D'you think they'll see us?" Ray asked, and looked around the roof top. It was a surprisingly clear night, and not to mention a full moon, so everything was drained of color only to be painted with the light blue from the moon. Neither Lily or Frank answered Ray, but watched the helicopter with disbelief. Then Lily stepped forward rapidly, and began yelling and waving her arms.

"HEY!!!" She screamed, "WE'RE HERE, WE'RE ALIVE!" She hollered anything, just as long as she thought it would draw attention to them. And Frank and Ray joined her.

They screamed, jumped, waved their arms, did everything they could as the beat of the helicopter's blades overcame their voices. Dylan thrust the door open just in time to see the aircraft float right over the roof, the gusts from it's blades billowing the sheet signs that had been left on the roof. The vague smile that had formed on her face as she jogged up the stairwell faded as the lights of the helicopter disappeared behind an office building.

"Wha-.....Did they see you?!" She called to Lily and the two men as she jogged over. Disappointment tinged her words a little, but if there was someone to fly that thing, there were survivors.

"How the hell do I know?" Lily asked, her voice still raised on impluse. Frank glared after the helicopter, trying to follow where it was going.

"They had to, they flew right the fuck over us! They couldn't have missed us!" Ray held his hand out toward the sky, and the others looked up as well. Then they were quiet. The breeze that had been blustering around the city at night kicked up, and whistled around everything. Dylan sighed, and turned her face up to the clear night sky to look at the stars which, since the city was completely dark, shone brightly.

"At least that means there are people out there." Frank said quietly, a deep frown forming on our face. Dylan nodded, and turned around, toward the direction from whence the helicopter came.

"It had to have come from New York." She said, shaking her head lightly. Lily looked over at her, then stepped to her cousins side. They both stared off toward the dark horizon where New York should have been.

"They're out there, Dylan-" The door to the roof burst open, and was sent back in it's hinges as Kat and Johnny marched out into the cold.

"Where is it?" Kat asked as she joined Dylan, Lily, Frank and Ray, "Where did the helicopter go?" She said again, looking between the cousins. Dylan didn't want to say it, and Lily knew neither Frank, nor Ray would speak up to tell Kat the bad news.

"They flew over. But I think they saw us." Lily responded finally, crossing her arms over her chest as she watched Kat and her brother appraise the empty skies.

"They just...flew right the fuck over you? With the signs? They didn't-...Seriously?" Kat raised her eyebrows, and stepped closer to Lily, who shrugged.

"I'm assuming they did see us. I'll also assume that they're doing fly-overs for this sort of thing, you know?" She held out her hand a little, for emphasis. Kat sighed, and frowned hard as she looked around at everyone quickly.

"Let's just go inside. We'll wait to see if they come by again." Dylan muttered, and brushed past Lily toward the door.