But Maybe We'll Live Forever

“Party! Atomic! Are you done having beach sex yet, because we’re ready to go!” Jet Star’s voice pierced the beautiful silence that had been keeping everything together.

Party Poison turned on his heel and glared down at his comrades. Swearing under his breath he trudged back down the hill which resulted in the other guys swearing and jumping into the car before he could hurt them. I laughed lightly at this, gave the ocean one last look, and ran down to meet them at the car.

We were all in the same order in the car as we had been before: Party Poison driving, Kobra Kid sitting shotgun, Jet Star sitting on the far right in the backseat, Fun Ghoul in the middle, and me on the far left.

Party Poison revved the engine, making it purr, and pulled out of the broken down parking lot. Quicker than you’d think, we were driving at top speed down the freeway, back the way in which we’d come.

I yawned and got comfortable. It was going to be a long drive.

We drove through forests and plains and mountain ranges nonstop for the course of three days. We finally reached the desert again and drove day and night, listening to the radio for any news or clues from Dr. Death Defying. So far, nothing really.

I’d been thinking and thinking of what ‘black pyramids’ might mean, but to no avail. It was driving me insane; trying to think of what it might mean. It was worse knowing that somewhere in the back of my mind it was there; because Rory would never give me an empty clue. Why couldn’t I think of it?

I’d practically think all day as we drove, not saying a word, never coming to any conclusion. The boys would poke me every now and then to make sure I hadn’t died; I was that silent and motionless as I thought.

Now, I was almost in tears. I’d never asked for this. I’d never wanted any of this. Rory had to die, and drag me into this wild goose chase. I wished I was still home, not knowing about Killjoys or BL/ind’s real purpose or Rory or old tapes or black pyramids. I was miserable.

I’d tried to hold back the tears, but they were spilling out of my eyes much to my dismay. I was crying silently, so I took to staring out the window so the boys wouldn’t notice by seeing me.

It was sunset over the desert and the freeway was abandoned. We had the beautiful world to ourselves tonight. I stared across the dirt and tumbleweeds and plains as the pink-orange light cast the world in beautiful color. As the sun went down, the colors got deeper and deeper until it as dark; night was upon us.

“Hey,” a soft voice startled me. It was Fun Ghoul’s, timid and kind.

I didn’t want to turn around and face him. I was still crying, and didn’t want him – any of them – to see me like this. I hesitated, then responded with a weak “Yeah?”

“Are you…? Atomic, look at me.” His voice was gentle, but with a firm edge now.

I didn’t obey.

“Atomic Battery. Look at me.”

I bit my lip and turned to face him, breathing in deeply to stop the tears from falling down at this moment. I shut my eyes to keep myself from having to see his expression.

“Aw, Atomic…” He sounded genuinely caring. And then I felt him slowly, awkwardly, but lovingly put his arms around me in a gentle, caring hug. “I know it’s hard. We can’t give up yet, though. Stay strong for us, okay? We need you. Trust me; we do.”

I opened my eyes slightly and saw the other boys all looking at me. Kobra Kid was turned around in his seat and eyeing me carefully, looking somewhat nervous, like he didn’t know what to do. Jet Star was biting his lips and doing some weird thing with his hands; probably a nervous reaction. Party Poison was looking at me in the rearview mirror. I couldn’t read his expression.

Fun Ghoul kept hugging me. I slowly hugged back and swallowed hard. I didn’t speak; just held on. I shut my eyes again to block out the stares.

After what seemed like an eternity, I stopped crying and let go of Fun Ghoul. I yawned and turned to stare out the window again, watching as the night got darker and darker. The full moon rose, and I could’ve sworn I heard a coyote howl in the distance.

“Aren’t coyotes extinct?” I asked curiously.

Kobra Kid answered me. “That’s what BL/ind said, but they ain’t. There’s still a few. Not many, mind you. Probably about one-hundred twenty left. They were smart enough to go in hiding after all their brothers got killed.”

I bit my lip. “Oh.” That was a sad thought. Being forced to run and hide so they wouldn’t be killed by anything, leaving all their families, comrades, safety… It was sad, lonely, and left an empty feeling in my heart. I didn’t like the feeling, but then I recognized the feeling from before, earlier that day.

The coyotes reminded me of Killjoys.

Another howl sounded and Kobra Kid rolled down his window and stuck his head out, mimicking the coyote’s howl. The coyote responded to Kobra Kid, and how howled right back.

I smiled as I watched him. There was a smile on his face, but that didn’t distract much from his intense, serious eyes. At the same time, though, he looked carefree. As he howled with the coyotes, I felt a shiver go down my spine, but kept smiling. I liked the idea how he would call back to the coyotes. It was as if he were reminding them that they weren’t alone.

“He’s always been obsessed with the coyotes,” Party Poison said. “Has these ‘conversations’ with them all the time. He might as well be one.”

I laughed.

Kobra Kid ducked his had back into the car and rolled up the window. He threw back his head and yawned, putting his feet up on the dashboard of the car comfortably. He yawned again and closed his eyes, ready for sleep. I checked the clock. 9pm. He was turning in early.

Feeling bored myself, I closed my eyes and got myself comfortable, leaning my head on Fun Ghoul’s shoulder in my usual ritual now. Might as well fall asleep, too…

[x]

We were finally in Las Vegas, after a long drive through a seemingly endless desert. My parents smiled and my dad spoke up. “Finally, we’re here.”

Rory laughed. “I’m glad the damn thing didn’t break down.”

My mom reached into the backseat and smacked Rory over the head. “Don’t use that language near your 9-year-old sister, Rory. It’s not appropriate.”

My dad laughed. “Shit.”

“Fuck,” Rory was kind enough to add.

I giggled as if I knew what was going on, then patted my seething mother on her shoulder. “Mommy, what does shit and fuck mean?”

Before my mother could answer, my dad pulled into a parking lot. “Here we are; this is our hotel.” I looked up and out the window to see a large imitation of Cleopatra’s needle that had the word ‘LUXOR’ carved down it. Behind it there was a large, black building in the shape of a pyramid.

“Woah!” I said, ecstatic.

Rory smiled and put his arm around me. “Yeah, woah.” He leaned down and whispered in my ear, “This’ll be one of our places, Shelby. One of our adventures…”

[x]

I shot up off of Fun Ghoul’s shoulder. It was daylight now, and my eyes were wide open. Before I could stop to think about it, I blurted out surely, “I know what black pyramids means! Las Vegas!”

“What?” Jet Star asked, confused.

Party Poison smiled without saying a word; he understood.

“I thought Las Vegas was abandoned,” Kobra Kid said. “You know, crumbling to the ground and stuff. It can’t be right. Are you sure, Atomic?”

“She’s sure,” Party Poison said, still smiling. “Trust me, it’s not all worn down. That’s another thing that BL/ind would have you think. I can’t believe we hadn’t thought of this before! Las Vegas is now pretty much a haven for Killjoys and rebels nowadays. It’s still fully functioning, trust me. It’s pretty much the same as before… just full of rebels and Killjoys. BL/ind wouldn’t dare take the whole place down. They’re not ready to take on that much.”

I smiled and laughed, hugging Fun Ghoul and Jet Star. Then I turned to the front seat boys. I grabbed Kobra Kid and hugged him around the neck, making him gag. Then I turned to Party Poison and leaned my chin on his shoulder, giggling. “How far are we?”

“About an hour.” Party Poison grinned. “You thought of this right on time, Atomic. Vegas, here we come.”

[x]

When the city came into view, I almost screamed. When we parked outside the Luxor, I screamed. When we got out of the car, I screamed. When we walked into the lobby – Kobra Kid covered my mouth and threatened to shoot me if I screamed one more time.

I looked around at the lobby. It hadn’t changed much… just the people. Everyone looked like us. Rebellious. Killjoys. Ready to die for what they thought was right. I saw some of them eyeing us.

“Why are we being stared at?” I whispered to Jet Star.

“We’re the original Killjoys. We started it all with Dr. Death Defying,” he replied, not even blinking. “Not all of them know who we are though.”

Party Poison turned around. “Atomic, we need to know now which room we’re supposed to go to.”

I smiled. “600. Highest floor. Master suite.”

He smiled and nodded, walking up to the front desk, where a young man was sitting behind. He shot up seeing us there and smiled. “The future is bulletproof.”

“The aftermath is secondary,” Party Poison replied.

The guy behind the counter nodded and smiled. “What do ya need, bro?”

“Room 600.”

He tapped something in to his small computer and nodded. “Yeah, no one’s taken that one yet. Go on up.” He handed Party Poison a hotel key. We found ourselves on an elevator soon after that, going up.

“Why didn’t we pay?” I asked.

“We’re all Killjoys here.” Party Poison nodded casually. “We didn’t need to. Things’ve changed. We’re in chaosville now, Atomic. It’s a lot different. It’s better in some ways – like not having to pay – and it’s incredibly dangerous in some ways – it being a haven for all sorts of criminals, the good and bad kind.”

I didn’t even say anything to that.

“Here we are,” Party said, stepping off the now-stopped elevator. He led us along the long hall until we reached a door with a golden plaque on it the read ‘MASTER SUITE.’

I smiled, nodding. “Yeah, this is it.” I took they keycard from Party Poison and stuck it in, opening the door. I ran into the fancy room and rushed up the short flight of stairs to the loft where Rory and I had stayed. I flipped over the mattress to the bed, and there it was.

The file.

“IT’S HERE!” I screamed, signaling the boys, who ran up and stopped short near me, staring at it.

“Oh my God. It’s here,” Fun Ghoul whispered.

Party Poison gingerly picked it up and stared at it like it were gold. He stared at it in dead silence for a moment, then took a breath like he’d been holding it in and looked up at all of us. “We can’t read it yet. We’ll have to read it at the right time. That’s what Rory would want.”

I nodded in agreement. “Yeah.”

“So now what?” Fun Ghoul asked.

“Wait,” I said quickly. Something had caught my eye. I timidly took the file out of Party Poison’s hand and turned it over in my hands, where a note had been written in red Sharpie with my brother’s casual scrawl.

Shelby!

You found it. I knew you would. I’m proud of you. Now, there’s another thing you need to deal with. There’s a girl you need to find. Chances are you’ll find her at the Bellagio casino. I want them to take care of her, too. She could also be useful to you guys. She’s a Killjoy; goes by the name of Bulletproof Liberation. Ask around. You’ll find her.

I’m so sorry that I’m not there to guide you. I miss you Shelby, you’re the light of my life. I’m still watching you from heaven, if there is one. I love you.

Rory

“What’s it say?” Jet Star asked curiously.

I looked up and smiled. “Hey guys, wanna go gambling?”