Chapter 11: The gods are angry
"I beg your pardon? Ben can you repeat what did you say just now?"
Seth frowned his eyebrows and look at Ben in puzzlement. What did he say just now? Who was it again that has awakened?
"Do you know about Pele? She is the goddess of volcanoes and fire. The people said that every time the volcano erupted, it means someone has angered Her. Mauna Loa, I am sure the sound must come from there.." Ben paused his speech and look at Seth with his watery eyes. He tried hard to look calm by smiling, but his pale and taut face gave him away that he is in panic.
"So... do you mean to say that Mauna Loa has erupted? Is that what you are trying to say?"
Ben closes his eyes, and he inhales deeply. "Yes. It should be. Hilo is from her lava anyway."
"What? Ben, are you serious? No, it cannot be. If one of the volcanoes was showing signs that it's going to erupt soon, they must have informed us about it. All of the active volcanoes here have been intensively monitored. You know about that Ben. How can you simply said that, the sound is from a volcano?!" Jane could not take it any longer. She screamed at Ben, disagreeing with him about the source of the loud sound.
"Then they must be hiding the news from us! They are hiding the truth!" Ben replied coldly to Jane.
Jane stood up and pace back and forth inside the bunker, wrapping her arms together in a protective manner.
Ben looked up at Jane waiting for her reply. "Then what else do you think has happened Jane? Have you ever heard any sound that as loud as just now? Our eardrum bleeds from it! What do you think it is ha? A bomb then?" Ben retorted aggressively. They both stopped being polite and started shedding off their calm demeanor.
"Well it might be... who knows what happens out there. I think it would be better if it was one of those bombs or, or maybe gas explosions. Anything could be the source of the sound. Anything is better than the volcano eruption. We... we might have survived if it was one of those bombing incidence. But if it were..." Jane words were cut off with Seth hugging her tightly and stopping her from her pacing.
"Jane... Jane.. calm down. Only with a calm mind, we can think clearly and rationally. It might not sound as bad as we think it is." Jane turned around and look at Seth with teary eyes. She soon started sobbing under Seth's warm embrace.
"It's alright, it's alright..."
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After half an hour of silence, Ben finally stood up and started rummaging through all the things inside the bunker. He tossed everything that he found useless down to the ground. Finally he stopped and widen his eyes as he spotted an old army green box that is lying on the corner of the bunker.
"I found it! With this, we can use it to connect with the outside world. This is the old man's most treasured possession. Ha. ha.. hahaha.. thank you old man. We are saved now! Hahaha..."
The Ben right now looks very different from his usual gentlemanly and calm demeanor. He looks like a mad man when he laughs that loud.
Laying down the green box on the table carefully, Ben opened up the box lock with a shaky hand. He then smiled widely and quickly took out the contents out of the box.
It's a radio. To be precise, its a military radio.
The condition of the radio looks like it's still new even though it has been years lying untouched in this underground bunker. It has one receiver with a coiled telephone wire and the brand Leopard was seen printed on the side of the radio.
Ben turned on the radio and he placed the receiver up to his ear. Setting the radio the all kind of setting, the UHF, then next to VHF, he tried every frequency settings. His fingers were nervously clicking the up and down button and repeatedly saying Hello to the radio receiver. At first he was excited, but after a few times, he started frowning.
"No. No.. why can't I hear anything? Is this radio broken? it can't be...it can't be..." Ben pushed the buttons harshly and he almost broke the radio as he started panicking.
"Ben? No. No don't give up now. You need to search every frequency out there. Search again. There must be someone who will make a distress call asking for help." Jane sits down next to Ben and she pulled out the receiver wire and lets the sound flows through the loudspeaker.
She needs to hear the radio too. She needs to know about what happens out there. Any news is fine. She needs to know if there are people who survived out there. She needs to know about her daughter's condition out there.
Her daughter Mia...
When Ben gave up on searching for signals, Jane took over the radio and randomly pressing the button without knowing what to do. No sound was heard except for crackling sound on the other side. She did not care. As long as they did not give up on whatever hope they have, they will survive these ordeals.
" Help, help.. somebody please help! help me..! cough.. cough.." A soft voice suddenly was heard from the radio.
All of the people in the bunker were frozen in place. There is a response! There is a response! Somebody responded to their call. All of them stood up and walk towards the radio.
"Hello, hello, can you hear us? My name is Jane, may I know who am I speaking to, and where are you from? Are there any survivors out there? can you tell us what happen outside?" Jane questions the man repeatedly. She tried to speak calmly and clearly to whoever out there on the radio but she is too anxious waiting for answers.
"My name is Benjamin. I am somewhere in Hilo... cough..cough... " Benjamin was trying his best to speak while he is gasping for air.
"There is no one here. All are dead. Pele... Pele is angry... There is fire, everywhere. We all gonna die... Aargghhhhh!!"
The radio and the bunker suddenly turned silent. There was no other sound that is heard after that gruesome scream.
"Did we just hear how a person being burnt alive?"
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone