Wanted

Chapter 1

"Audrey?" Melissa called, entering the tent and shutting its plastic door.

She was working on her article, hurrying to finish the first part and send it to her editor. Melissa's voice, however, didn't interrupt the process and she continued writing, ignoring her presence. It had been a long day and their work was only halfway done, thus Audrey wouldn't stop until every single line was perfect.

"Audrey?" Melissa's voice peered again into their small, cluttered tent. "There's something I need to tell you..." she announced, but Audrey winced and didn't bother to turn around.

"Give me a minute, this darn thing is lagging again and I'm not having it. I need to get this done until my battery dies. Did you bring me some sort of power source? If that's not what you're here for, I don't wanna hear it", she told her, alongside the sound of her small fingers tapping on the keyboard.

"The Third World War has started." Melissa declared.

Audrey smirked, without cease of her keyboard tapping.

She paused, "That makes no sense," she told Melissa, and went back to writing.

"I know. I know it doesn't. But it's real. I started for real", she replied. "Gordam declared war on Yorn. Officially. Their president was on TV just now."

Audrey started writing at a gradually slower pace, pondering, then she resumed at her previous speed.

"This is not the right time for jokes. There's been no tension lately, there's no way they'd declare war now, that's ridiculous. Now get me to a power source, I'm running out of battery", she uttered, starting to type faster.

"Have you checked your phone in the past hour?" Melissa asked her.

Audrey ceased writing, slightly turned around, and looked at her phone, which had been sitting on her table, untouched, for over 2 hours. "No", she muttered. She grabbed it and checked her notifications, among which over 10 messages from her boss.

"I'll be damned", she muttered.

"Told you."

Audrey turned around, gasping. She looked at Melissa and asked, "What are we gonna do?"

"I... I don't know. I've been through those files Watson gave us before we left. The only thing it says about the war starting is for us to alert authorities around that we need to be sent home", she replied.

"I highly doubt they will." Audrey said. "Have you tried calling Watson?"

"I did. There's no reception. The lines have been cut off. Our internet doesn't work anymore either, I'm assuming you didn't notice." She sighed.

"What? They cut off the lines?" Audrey asked, without getting a response. "What the hell are we gonna do then?" she asked, but still got no response. She then remembered the van they had been taken there with, staring at the tent's wall beside the door, trying to find its outline. "Let's take that car!" she exclaimed.

"That's insane! This is not GTA, we can't just steal a car and drive off. Plus, we can't do shit if it's locked and doesn't have a key in the ignition."

"How do you know it doesn't?" Audrey asked, leaving Melissa speechless.

"Pack your stuff, I'll go check", she eventually said. Melissa hurriedly ran outside and peered onto the van's windshield in the dusk, trying to locate the ignition, then moving to her right, to get better visualization. A rocket lit up the sky, its reflection on the car's window revealing a key inserted in the ignition. Melissa ignored the explosion sound that followed, and ran back into the tent.