My Voice in the Dark - Intro

Transcript

Runner 5? Runner 5, come in? Can you hear me, Runner 5? This is Jay Taylor of Able Township paging Runner 5.

Able Township paging Runner 5. Able Township mumbling into the void. They, um.

.. I don't know if you can hear me. It's been a couple hours since your last, um, communication.

They told me I should go to sleep. Um. ..

Well, they didn't say that they were giving up. They said, um. ..

What did they say? I should rest and, um, someone else can. ..

wait for a response. But I think they're just going to let me stay here until I. ..

resign myself to the fact that you're. .. Huh.

But I don't want to do that yet. I can't. I'm not sure how close we are.

What we are hasn't been discussed yet. But they're. ..

They're happy little moments. I'm sure I didn't make those up. Catching your eye in the dining hall.

Knowing my world lit up the first time I heard you laugh. Those are real. And if I'm not mistaken, you feel.

.. felt. ..

I don't know. It's late five. It's dark.

You probably noticed that. You're not too new here to know that we never run missions at night. Everything just seems.

.. worse. After dark.

They're worse. Our scanners can barely see in low light as it is, but. ..

but the storm. .. It's like the blind leading the blind.

We lit the radio tower up for you. Like the beacons at Gondor. Your last known location was about three miles from here, but.

.. if you're not too under the trees, you should be able to see us. We want you to come home.

If you can hear me, Five. .. Run.

Five! Five. ..

Five. .. Sorry, I didn't even ask you if you still wanted me to play music.

Not that you could have answered. Force of habit, I guess. Comforting.

Maybe it was comforting to you, too. Or. ..

maybe your undead and hearing my incredible music taste caused you to break into spontaneous dance like the Thriller video. Sorry. This is hard, I'm.

.. I'm not sure what to say. Some people turn to jokes when times get dark, I, um.

.. I never understood that. To be honest, before all this, I was actively avoiding all forms of dark and scary media.

Thought the world was dark and scary enough, and now. .. Sorry.

That's not comforting either, is it? How about another song? Okay.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Welcome back to Able After Dark. I'm your host, DJ. ..

J. .. J.

Playing all the hits. Ugh. Just kidding, all this music is.

.. rights-free. Grief is weird, man.

Is this grief? Did we know each other enough? Did I love you enough? Can I say that? Does it matter? You're not the first runner five, you know.

You're number four. Actually. There were two before me.

And then Ash. I loved Ash. And Ash.

.. Loved me. They were so fast and.

.. strong and. ..

funny. But not fast enough, I guess. I saw it.

Not when it happened, but um. .. When they.

.. She still had her headset on. She wasn't the first friend I saw dispatched, but um.

.. And she won't be the last. I guess it does get a little easier if you don't.

.. It does get a little easier if you don't think about it too much. Um.

.. Please come home to me, Five. I'm not ready to see that again.

I'm not ready to see that again. I'm not ready to see that again. Do you ever think about before? Not like pining.

Unless it's for your favorite foods. Personally, I miss corn dogs and. ..

Saunas. Vibrators. But no, I mean who you were before.

And who you are now. I was an optimist. Tried to surround myself with light and happy things.

Ignored the bad. It worked, mostly. I had a sister.

Have a sister. I'm not actually sure. But we used to talk about the end of the world like it was a fun story.

What we'd do afterward. I always pictured her as a beautiful warrior queen leading a horde of barbarians with her hair blue. Glowing majestically in the wind.

And me? Well, I. ..

Figured I'd either spread my legs to feed myself or. .. Just.

.. Choose not to play. And now I'm here.

I guess I've always taken whatever path lays itself before me. Before this, I was. ..

I was a sex worker. I did porn. Specifically.

I'm not ashamed of it, I just. .. I can make people feel weird.

I haven't told anyone here. Well. ..

I told Janine. It was really scary, but I thought it would be better to get ahead of it than have her find out and think I lied. I hate lying.

She just. .. It was like I told her I never used to wear matching socks.

She assessed me for like one second and then moved on with her day. I guess everyone's been too busy to recognize me. And know that it's all gone.

I wasn't crazy famous, but. .. When the realization finally hit me that it was.

.. Forever. And now it's gone.

It's very strange. I was able to live in both worlds, but it always felt like something hanging over me when I had to keep it a secret. I was good at it, too.

I loved performing, my fans liked me. .. Really into the sex.

And it was perfect. So uncomplicated. I think people would be happier now if we just casually and consensually fucked each other, but.

.. Sex seems so complicated now.