But Maybe We'll Live Forever

The next morning, we all got in the car and headed for the diner to get a quick breakfast before we got back on the road. We all got in a booth and ate happily. Grace was giggling and talking a lot to Kobra, who was letting himself smile as he spoke to her. The rest of the guys (and Bulletproof Liberation) watched, smiling.

When breakfast was done, we all piled back into the car and made our way on out. It was stuffy in there, keeping all of us crammed together, but we did our best.

Party Poison turned on the radio and rummaged through the stations until he found the beloved Dr. Death-Defying, who was going on about some things I could (sort of) understand now.

“Salut to everyone out in the Zones! Apparently there’s been some trouble out near Zone 6, motorbabies, but keep it calm. The dracs have moved on to other territories. Keep your eyes open though – a group of Killjoys have disappeared off my radar, and I believe they may have been ghosted. Ritalin Revolver, Inevitable Nightmare, Moon Illusion – if you’re out there, call in next chance you get. If you been ghosted, I’m takin’ off my bandana to you. Keep runnin’, Killjoys.” A rock song switched on and Party turned down the volume.

“It’s getting brutal out there,” Fun Ghoul said.

“It’s been brutal,” Jet Star chimed, pulling out his gun and looking at it for a moment.

“Any of you know who those Killjoys were? Speak now if you have,” Party Poison said. He glanced in the rearview mirror through his aviator sunglasses.

No one responded.

I looked out the window. I wondered what it was like, being chased by ‘dracs.’ I didn’t necessarily know what those were, but I assumed they were bad. It also seemed as if every Killjoy had been chased by them at some point, so I knew that my time would come.

I wasn’t necessarily looking forward to it, but I felt like I needed it. To, I dunno, fit in or something. I mean, I still wasn’t sure how I felt toward the Killjoys at the moment – not even Kobra, now I was even more confused about him – but I felt like I’d better suck it up and, I dunno, just be.

“I think,” Party Poison said, glancing at the digital clock on the radio, “that we should swing by Dr. D’s and get Atomic a gun. And a jacket. She’s overdue.”

“A gun?” I squeaked.

“Oh! Do I get a gun? Do I?” Grace looked up at Bulletproof Liberation with hope shining in her eyes.

“Not yet, Sunshine,” Bulletproof responded, smiling at the cuteness of Grace’s excitement.

Grace’s face fell.

“Maybe on your next birthday, kid,” Party said, glancing in the rearview mirror at her, a small smile playing on his lips. He paused, then glanced in the rearview at me. “And yes, a gun. I’ll teach you how to use it. We’re ahead of time, so there’s no problem in stopping for a few hours.”

I shrugged. “I – um, well, okay.” I bit my lip and looked out the window again, the word playing over and over in my head. A gun. A gun. A gun. A GUN!

“Well, alright then,” Party said and swerved the car real fast off the road, making me, Bulletproof, and Grace scream, startled.

Party Poison laughed; a nice real laugh – mouth wide open, a big smile on his face. I knew that he lived for this; that they all lived for this. He seemed so happy in this environment, and it made me smile to myself a bit after my heart rate slowed down.

It was a bumpy ride, not being on the road. After about an hour or so, turned a large corner where this big rock was, and behind it there was this fortress that looked like it could be an army base or something. We parked outside it and got out.

Fun Ghoul grabbed a cigarette from his pocket and lit up, taking a long drag.

“Alright,” Party Poison said, taking me by the hand. He saw my hesitant face and a small smile appeared on his. “Oh come on. It only looks intimidating ‘cause it looks like a BL/ind base. He’s a smart motherfucker.”

The other guys got behind us and followed us in as Party Poison cheerfully pulled me through. We stopped at the scanner place where Party pushed a button. A scanner scanned his face and the door unlocked. “Welcome, Party Poison,” a robotic female voice sounded.

“Yeah, yeah,” Party said, rolling his eyes. “God, it’s good to be back.”

We walked inside.

It seemed bigger on the inside, even though I knew it wasn’t. We were in a sort of desert-courtyard. There was this little log cabin right in the middle, and little rooms seemed to be scattered about on the fortress part of the building.

There was a skinny person with white-and-blue polka dot leggings with a thong over them. A men’s tank top covered his top half. He was on roller skates, and a helmet was on his head. He was skating around doing ballet-like moves. He seemed to spot us, and skated over.

“Party’s crew! How ya been?” He had a slightly feminine voice. He seemed very excited to see the guys. He saw Bulletproof and gasped. “You’re with ‘em now! Ah, that’s fantastic!” He kissed her hand. “And you must be Sunshine,” he kneeled down and looked at the girl.

“You’re dressed funny,” Grace giggled.

“Am I?” The guy took off his helmet and looked down. “Well, shucks. I look pretty dumb in the presence of a pretty lady like you!”

He had longish-black hair and pale skin, with nice defined cheekbones. His face was long and he had a nice jaw. He wore a tad of eyeliner. He was rather handsome, in his own unique way.

Currently, he was doing a magic trick to entertain Grace, pulling a lollipop out of nowhere. “For you,” he said, handing it to her, making her squeal with delight. He did a little spin on his roller skates, showing off to Grace before he came back up to greet the adults.

“And I see you gots yourself a new beauty.” He was looking at me now, smiling. “Who is this pretty gal?”

Party Poison laughed. “This is Atomic Battery. Atomic, meet Show Pony. He’s Dr. Death-Defying’s crazy pet sidekick. Atomic is Bullet Deciever’s sister.”

“So you’re the sister.” His voice dropped a little; he knew that my brother was dead. “He gave that tape you probably watched to me to give to Party to give to you when the time came. We didn’t know it would be so soon. I’m sorry, love.”

I nodded a little, swallowing back tears. “It’s, uh, alright.” I held out my hand, ready to shake Show Pony’s, but he kissed it instead.

I jumped and giggled a little.

I liked him.

“Alright, what’s all the noise, Show Po—” A familiar voice rumbled, but stopped in mid-sentence. “Party! Fun! Kobra! Jet! Ah, where the fuck have you been hidin’?”

I turned to see the legend himself.

Dr. Death-Defying was pretty much how I imagined him: he looked like an ex-biker. Aviator sunglasses were on his face and a bandana was wrapped around his long messy brown hair. A tough-guy beard was on his face and he seemed dirty and strong in the sun. Bandanas and zippers of all sorts of colors pretty much defined his wardrobe, along with a black leather jacket and black denim jeans.

He shook all the guys’ hands heartily, giving them slaps on the back and such. He pulled Bulletproof Liberation into a hug, and hugged little Grace, too. “It’s nice to see you junk punks all again. And you must be little Sunshine. I’ve heard a lot about you from Bulletproof.”

I wondered if Sunshine felt as awkward as I did. But probably not: people had heard about her, whereas I was just coming from nowhere.

“And you!” Dr. Death-Defying was looking at me through his aviators now. “You pretty little crash queen. You look like a new Killjoy. Don’t say it, let me guess… Bullet’s sister?”

My mouth dropped open and the man swept me into a hug. “I knew your brother well. He was a great man. Like a son to me, he was.”

“She’s Atomic Battery, now,” Party said.

“Atomic Battery, eh? Suits the lass well.” He looked me up and down. “Looks like they’ve dressed ya. I’ll make you a jacket, though, queenie. What do you want your symbol to be? Oh, you probably need a ray gun, too…”

I stood there awkwardly, unsure of how to exactly fit in this reunion. I didn’t say anything.

“Hey, spacemonkey,” Dr. D said. “Don’t look so sad. Come on, let’s design your jacket.”

I followed him into the log cabin, where he switched on the light. Half of it was covered in posters of bands and Killjoy stuff. A desk covered in radio and video equipment was completely unorganized in a very organized way, don’t ask me how that works. On the other side of the cabin, you could see the walls and there was a bed, along with a few shelves and a small pantry and fridge.

Dr. Death-Defying sat down at the desk and rummaged around until he found a piece of paper and a pencil. He pulled up a chair and I sat beside him.

“So,” he said. “What do you want your symbol to be?’

“What do you mean?”

He let out a breath. “Well, you know how Party has a pill with an ‘x’ underneath it on his jacket?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s his symbol. It’s relevant to the name you choose. It’s like your trademark.”

“Um…” I thought for a moment. I wasn’t sure.

After about ten minutes of an awkward silence, the man’s face spread into a smile. He began to sketch. When he was done, he showed me a picture of a circle with a battery and an atomic symbol over it.

I grinned and nodded rapidly.

Dr. D smiled. “Alright, motorbaby. You’re easy to please. I had to try about thirty times until I made Party Poison happy. He’s a diva crash queen sometimes.”

I began to laugh.

“That’s the first noise I’ve heard out of ya since I met ya.” He smiled at me. “Alright, well. What color do you want the jacket to be?”

I told him purple and he smiled and nodded. “Ai’ite. I’ll get to workin’ on it. Any other patches you’d like?” he asked, looking at me.

I drew a heart with a crossed out symbol over it, like they did on those vintage signs that had pictures with a slash through them in a circle, like ‘no dogs’ or whatever. “That’d be nice,” I said.

He laughed. “Alright, I’ll start workin’ on it. I’ll fix up your gun, too. Same color as the jacket, with the symbol on the handle is what I usually do.”

I nodded.

“Alrighty. Get outta here, ya desert junkie.”