A World of Grime

The search for Joseph

The bright morning sun bit through the open curtain right onto Manuel, as he put his hands up to shield his face. Oscar heard the commotion, raising his head off the pillow, hair in a ridiculous state. Quickly and with little effort, he licked his palm and quietened the hair a little, getting up and heading straight for the bathroom. Manuel sluggishly walked to the coffee machine, turning it on to a disgusting screech and turning it off as fast as possible. "AH JESUS CHRIST!" Manuel faintly heard through the bathroom door and his own partial deafness from the noise.
"Well... that's one way to wake up." Manuel chuckled to himself, still wincing from the ringing. He finished clearing the plates from the night before, taking back any food he had left over and putting it in the tiny fridge the room had. Oscar came out the bathroom, eyes half closed, feet sliding across the floor towards the coffee machine to turn it on to Manuel's widened eyes. "No wait don't!-" the noise began again, and they both held their heads in agony. "TURN IT OFF!" Manuel tried to yell, but he couldn't even hear himself. After about a minute of ear-piercing nonsense, the noise stopped, and a small portion of coffee spurted out into the cup Oscar had put there. Manuel looked at him, then at the cup, then at the machine. "I'm about to cause property damage."
With the machine rightly disassembled, Manuel began to pack away most of his belongings. "Woah woah, why are you doing that, we have a room now!" Manuel looked at him and nodded.
"I know, I'm only packing the essentials and the valuables!"
"Isn't that the exact opposite of what you're meant to bring?"
"Not when you don't know the guy that owns the master key to every door in the building and trust him. I mean, do you trust the creepy thin dude?" Oscar drooped his eyes in a scowl. "Exactly." Oscar sighed, and began to do the same, leaving only what Manuel said was fine. When they'd finally finished and began to exit, the sun had already gone up past the window, and the beer goggles were on.
"d'you think I left something important back there?" Oscar wondered, walking quickly to the middle of the quiet street, but Manuel just shook his head.
"I triple checked, I promise, now would you please help with this Joseph problem?!"

"Okay, do we know where he is?" Manuel shook his head. "Do we have any clue where he could be?" Again, he shook his head, before tilting it. "what is it?"
"Where is the intercom station?" Oscar just looked at him.
"Excuse me?"
"Y'know, the-" He thought about it and held his head in his hands, shaking it. "Right." He sighed, looking around. "Well, if he could broadcast from outside the walls, he had to at least be close enough to the broadcasting aerial." Oscar thought, before smiling and nodding once in agreement. "Alright, I guess we ask for directions, or look for a big broadcasting tower, like-" he looked over and saw a long metal pillar sticking out from the rest of the nearby houses. "Like that, god... damn it." He stood in silence for a while, before Oscar clapped in front of him, making him jump.
"Hello?! We found it, so are we going or what?" Oscar motioned with his hand towards the pillar, already walking off. Manuel nodded, accompanying.