OO1 }{ AUDIO }{ CALLSIGN: MZ114C }{ DAY 17

[somethingintangible]

[ The voice that comes over the network is a young woman's - late teens or early twenties. A little deep, throaty, but still obviously belonging to someone quite young and female.

It's shaky though, like the person on the other end of the radio is really struggling. Maybe like she's even been crying, although it's hard to tell. She definitely sounds distressed, though.

This is also clearly someone who has never actually used a walkie talkie before, as the message periodically cuts in and out. Maddy was mostly able to figure it out by playing with it, but she's not used to having to keep pressing the button down. You don't do that with touch screens! ]

Um... Hey...

I don't know if anybody can hear me. Or if [ brief silence; she has lifted her finger off the walkie so whatever she says is missing; her voice picks up again later-- ].

--name is Maddy Perez. My mom's name is Sonia Perez, my dad [ she lifts her finger again, so her dad's name isn't heard ] -- I go to East Highland High School. I think I'm lost. I don't know where I am. I need help.

[ There's a pause; this time, it's not because she lifted her finger. There's distraught breathing on the other side of the radio. ]

Please, somebody help me! I'm lost. I don't, I don't know where I am. I -- I think I'm in a jungle or something? I'm not sure where to go next.

[ Then there's a quiet, sound -- sniffling, and a mechanical huff of someone breathing into the walkie too hard. ]

Comments

[somethingintangible]

Nice to meet you, Levi.

[ Said a little dryly. There are "nicer" ways to meet somebody, anyway.

She thinks. Stay away from rivers. And riverbeds. Gather food. It's a lot of instructions, and it's all kind of overwhelming. But she makes a mental list anyway. Deep breath. Maddy steels herself. ]

Yeah, okay. I think I can do all of that. [ She hopes, anyway. ]

Thanks, Mr. Levi.

[wingbound]

[ The "niceness" is probably exacerbated further by the fact that he doesn't respond to that part in any way, oops. ]

No need to thank me.

[ He hasn't really done anything for her, as far as he's concerned. Hell, telling someone to just strap in and ride out a storm on their own is kind of an assinine thing to do, actually. But the incoming clouds look bad, he doesn't know what the weather is like around here, and he won't be able to help anybody if he recklessly dies en route. Hell, neither of them even know where she is at the moment. ]

[ He'll probably be checking on her again later, but for now; ]

Don't die.

[ It... almost sounds like an order, honestly, but maybe he just has a strong opinion about it. ]

[somethingintangible]

[ No need to thank me. But there is. Most people, in Maddy's experience, talk a lot about caring about other people, but there's saying it and doing it.

Right now, reaching out with advice to help a frightened girl is about the only thing anyone can do, if it's really true and there's a storm coming.

There's a few seconds of silence. ]

I'm not gonna to die. I'll be fine.

[ It's said with a lot of teenage bravado; you can hear the mean girl sneer, the eye-roll. Maybe you can even hear the teenage hair flip.

Now that she's starting to pull herself back together, Maddy can appreciate how badly it comes off to be crying and sniffling into a walkie.

But under the bravado, Maddy isn't sure at all. She's terrified. Her stomach hurts. She doesn't know if she's ever going to see her parents or her friends or anyone else ever again.

But there's nothing anyone can do about that right now. ]

[wingbound]

Good.

[ He doesn't call out her bravado; he seems to support it, if maybe not as encouragingly as someone better at social matters might do. ]

I won't find you in time, but if you're in danger, trust your gut. Once it's safe to move around we'll get you to camp.

[ There, encouragement. Sort of. ]

[somethingintangible]

Okay. [ Deep breath. ] See you then, I guess.

[wingbound]

[ There may or may not be some sort of quiet grunt of acknowledgement but then he simply hangs up. How rude? ]

[somethingintangible]

[ Yells impotently at the now-silent radio: ]

HEY! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO SAY GOODBYE TO PEOPLE!

[ She huffs quietly to herself, before gathering her things and making her way to find a safe spot to camp. ]