January 12th, 2045
We can be Heroes
Just for one day
We can be Heroes
Remus woke in the late afternoon to the end of yet another Bowie song blaring through a glitchy radio inches away from where he lay his head. The backpack beneath him was only a slight upgrade to the rock below that was suddenly exceptionally lumpy and he could no longer try and force himself into sleep. They travelled all night long which made Remus' already terribly sore bones practically crack under the force of standing.
I, I will be king
"Can you turn the bloody song off?" Remus huffed irritably as the song restarted. He pulled himself into a sitting position to take in his surroundings as quick as possible. James was practically slumped over sitting on the ground against the rock hill behind him. Judging by the green look on his face and the painfully familar thump-thump-thump somewhere behind him, Peter was in the corner doing what he always did.
The song switched off wordlessly, Sirius looking defeated instead of angry.
James forced himself up and over to the boys. "We need to hunt for dinner before it gets too dark."
The sky burned a muted orange as the sun bled into the horizon, casting jagged shadows over the grassy landscape. If Remus could stop thinking for a moment, it almost looked like a rural area before the outbreak. He trailed behind James and Sirius, stepping carefully over the brittle remains of twigs and pine. The trees, stripped of their leaves and life, stood like skeletal sentries around them.
They had wounded a deer- they being Sirius of course- not much meat, but enough to last them a day. Two if it got cold tonight. It had bolted, leaving a faint trail of blood, and James had gone after it. That left Remus alone with Sirius, the boy with dark, tired eyes and a rifle slung over his shoulder.
Silence stretched between them, but not the comfortable kind. Sirius tapped his fingers absentmindedly against his thigh, a rhythm that felt oddly familiar. Remus recognized it from earlier, back at the site, yet another Bowie song, he seemed to play a lot of those.
“Sorry I made you turn it off earlier,” Remus said, more to fill the space than anything. He didn't actually care about making him be quiet. "Loud noises always bother me for some reason."
Sirius' fingers stilled. “S'Fine.”
“You know that it's risky, right?”
Sirius smirked, but there was no humor in it. He stepped closer to Remus, glancing over his shoulder as if a clicker was going to appear behind him at the mentioning of danger. “Everything is risky.”
Remus studied him. “So why do it?”
Sirius exhaled through his nose, looking out into the dead trees, likely to discreetly search for James. For a second, Remus thought he wouldn’t answer. But then, softly, he said, “It’s for my brother.”
Remus frowned. “Your brother?”
“He’s gone,” Sirius murmured. “Not dead, just… lost. We got separated months ago. I don’t know where he is, if he’s even alive. But we used to do this thing. When our parents were being the assholes they always are, we would play classical music because it was a way to secretly tell each other to stay away. We'd play David Bowie music if things were safe. He always said if we got split up, I should keep playing it. That way, if he ever hears it… he’ll know it’s me.”
Something in Remus’s chest twisted with a slight memory of something similar he'd heard in his old travelling days. But his curiousity found the words first. "How is classical dangerous?"
"It's my parents' music." Sirius said quickly.
“I think I know him,” he said before he could stop himself.
"What?" Sirius' head snapped toward him, his eyes suddenly sharp.
Remus hesitated. He wasn’t sure how much to say, or even how much he knew. He knew how important this was to Sirius and he didn't want to get his hopes up despite himself. But Sirius' gaze held something desperate, something fragile, and Remus couldn’t lie. “I met him a month or two back. He was settled in a little self-made city, but he was okay.” Remus said carefully.
"He was okay," Sirius repeated back, trying to process what he was hearing. He took a step closer, running a hand through his hair. “Was he alone? He always hated to be by himself.”
Remus nodded. “No. He was with some friends, reckon he was-is happy.”
Sirius throat bobbed as he swallowed hard. He looked away for a moment, and when he spoke again, his voice was steadier. “Then I have to keep trying.” Remus didn’t argue. In a world that had taken so much, sometimes all you had left was the hope that someone, somewhere, was still listening. And he knew that he would give anything to even attempt to contact Aliya. He knew that this was not the time to mention that he had seen Regulus' radio and if he wanted to speak to Sirius, he could have.
By the time Remus and Sirius made it back to the campsite, night had settled in. The air was sharp and cold, thick with the scent of damp earth and decay. James had beaten them back, the deer slung over his shoulders, blood soaking into his jacket. But something was wrong and it wasn't the look James had about eating deer again.
“Where’s Peter?” Remus asked, glancing around.
James shook his head, dropping the deer beside the fire pit. “Dunno. He was here when I got back minutes ago. Thought he was just pacing around but he completely walked off. Didn’t say where he was going and he always tells us.”
Remus frowned, his fingers twitching near bat beside him. “That’s not like him.”
Sirius, who had been sitting on an old crate near the fire, shifted uncomfortably. “Yeah, well… something’s off.”
Remus looked at him. “What do you mean?”
Instead of answering, Sirius turned to Peter's pack. It was open, half its contents spilling out, a careless mistake for someone usually so precise about privacy. A small, battered notebook sat near the top. Sirius picked it up, flipping through the pages, his brow furrowing deeper with each word he read.
“What the hell is this?” he muttered.
Remus stepped closer, holding his radio as he hadn't meant to get as invested as he did. James, still catching his breath, shot them a questioning glance.
Sirius tightened his grip on the book. “It’s not just some random journal. It’s a plan.” His voice was low, tense. “He’s been tracking people. Looking for ways to spread the virus further.” He turned a page and swallowed hard. “He thinks no one should be left able to be above ground.” Silence pressed down on them for a few minutes. Sirius clenched his fists. “That bastard-”
But before he could finish, Remus’s head snapped up, his eyes wide. “I got a signal,” he breathed.
Sirius blinked. “What?”
Remus fumbled for the buttons across his radio, his fingers suddenly shaking. He twisted the dial, the static shifting and crackling. “I- I had a signal just now. I need to try again.”
He pressed the button. “Lily? It’s Remus. Do you copy?”
Nothing. Just empty static.
His stomach twisted. “Lily? Are you there?” Remus stared at the silent radio, his pulse thudding in his ears. Lily had been right there, he could feel it. But something had cut her off. Static wasn’t just static anymore. It felt like distance, like danger. He exhaled sharply, his grip tightening on the radio before shifting his focus. If Lily wouldn’t, or couldn’t, answer, maybe someone else could.
Lily, on the other end, was currently pinned up agains the cold stone walls of her research lab, the only thing forcing her into play being the soft lips of her research parter. Mary, of course. Who started the situation by quickly getting out, "I'm not a-"
Lily nodded in agreement and leaned in closer to the girl to stop her from talking herself out of it.
Without a word to the others, he switched frequencies, his fingers moving quickly over the dials. His throat was tight as he pressed the button again.
“Regulus?” His voice was lower this time, cautious. “It’s Remus. Do you copy?”
Silence. Then, faintly, so faintly he almost thought he imagined it, a voice.
“-mus?”
Remus sat up straighter, his pulse skipping. “Regulus? Are you okay? Can you hear me?”
But before he could get more, a sudden thump rang out. Something hard hit the side of the radio with an unnatural force. The speaker crackled, then cut out entirely. Remus jerked his head up in time to see Peter standing a few feet away, hands raised in mock apology. The godforsaken tennis ball rolled to a stop near the fire.
“Shit, my bad,” Peter said, forcing a sheepish grin. “Didn’t mean to hit it, I'm a little clumsy.”
Remus’ jaw clenched. He didn’t believe that for a second after what Sirius had just read. Who had been watching quietly, stood up and stalked over to the radio, picking it up and shaking it. No sound came out. His knuckles went white around it.
“You lost my only possible connection with my brother,” Sirius said, his voice dangerously low.
Peter shrugged. “Didn’t mean to.”
Remus exchanged a look with Sirius, and in that split second, he knew they were both thinking the same thing. Peterwas hiding something.
And whatever it was, it was going to get them killed.