Story 1242: Hacked to Broadcast

The airwaves had been dead for weeks.

Since the fall of Blackout City’s central communications grid, no news, no warnings, no cries for help had pierced the static. Just silence—and the occasional chilling distortion of undead screeches captured by lingering mics.

But tonight… something changed.

Somewhere beneath the collapsed East Tower, in a cluttered bunker lit by old backup screens and candles jammed into power strip sockets, Juno wiped sweat from her forehead and keyed in the final sequence.

Her scavenged setup flickered to life—six battered monitors, a ham radio, and a stolen drone relay unit.

“Come on,” she whispered, tightening a copper wire into the motherboard’s cracked port. “Broadcast. Just once.”

She hit send.

A shrill screech filled the bunker.

Juno flinched.

Then, on Monitor #4… a signal.

It wasn’t her voice.

It was someone else.