Bulletproof

“Shit, Moony! Dracs!”

I leapt from my pile of torn pillows and frayed blankets. The first thing I noticed, besides the fact that Sister Kindred was in the window with her purple ray gun trained on something outside, was that it was still dark out. The air between us was painted an inky black, and the moon was hidden by clouds that promised acid winds. I fumbled in the dark for a second, willing my eyes to adjust more hastily. My probing fingertips found their target- my own ray gun, orange in color- fairly quickly.

“Kin, your mask!” I hissed, tossing the purple-and-black striped eye mask to my friend. Sister Kindred strapped it to her face quickly, keeping a sharp eye on the white van trundling slowly, ominously toward our little shack. I took the opportunity to carefully hide my face away behind my mask, white with a single, broad traffic-cone orange stripe from the top left to the bottom right. “What the fuck are they doing here?”

“That band of Dracs, remember? Couple of days ago, they had those kids in the back. We took ‘em out and left our mark. They must’ve had someone tailing us back here.”

“Shit,” I hissed in response. I kept low to the ground as I moved through the still, dark building. It was comprised of only three rooms, though the third was trickier to find since the building had begun falling apart. I could hear the wheels of the van kicking up rocks and other debris now, so I chanced a glance out of the front door, left askew when (presumably) Sister Kindred had hauled ass back inside. Four Dracs flooded from the van, but it didn’t seem like too much to deal with. The first shot was fired, and I saw one of the Dracs fall- a clean kill by Kindred. I raised my own gun, took a deep breath, and fired as I exhaled. I only barely skimmed his elbow, cocked out to the side as he took aim at Kin. Cursing inwardly at my poor shooting skills, I fired off another round, hitting the same Drac in the shoulder. At least his gun was on the ground now. I watched as another hit the ground, followed by a third, while the one that I had hit struggled through the pain of the burns on his arm. Two more Dracs appeared out of the back of the van.

Caught up in the gunfire, I hadn’t noticed the Drac that found his way in through the back door. He grabbed me around the middle, and a surprised hiss found its way between my teeth before I struggled violently in his grip, violently enough to shake a little room between us. Hand-to-hand was much more to my liking anyway. Striking with an open palm against his diaphragm, the breath whooshed out of his mouth audibly before I made another quick strike to his throat. He was pretty well down and out of commission. I allowed myself a single, satisfied smirk before it plummeted quickly.

Things had just gotten complicated.

“Kindred!” I couldn’t help the way my voice edged a little towards hysteria. I tried to fight the panic.

“Moony! Are you hurt?” Kindred called back, her words punctuated by the spacey noise of ray guns being fired.

“Shit, Kin! He’s here! Korse is here!”

Time seemed to freeze for a moment as Kindred considered this news. She hadn’t seen him yet, but he was probably being blocked from her view by the van. She, however, knew that it was no easy task to get me rattled.

“Okay, Moony, I’ve got an idea. You need to leave me here with the-”

“No,” I had joined my friend, falling back from the front door. I was crouched low and defensively, firing off the odd shot just to keep the Dracs from getting too close. “I’m not leaving you here, Kin.”

“Moony, one of us has to-”

“Then you go. You’ve got a better chance of escaping. You can shoot when you drive the bike. I can hardly hit anything worth a damn when I’m standing still. It has to be you, Kin.”

Sister Kindred shook her head, clearly disagreeing. “Moony, I can’t do that. You know I can’t.”

“What makes you think I can?” I snapped back, my blue eyes glittering with anger and resolve in the moonlight streaming through the open window. “Look, either we sit here and argue until Korse makes his move, or you go out back right now and get the hell out of here. If you don’t go, we’re both gonna die. If you do go, then you’ll live. You know me, Kin, I’ll find a way out of this mess. Go.”

Kin took a look out of the window uncertainly. The moonlight gleamed dangerously off of Korse’s bald head as he moved slowly closer to the house. She nodded hesitantly, but turned to look at me solemnly. “You better get out of here, Moony. You better fucking get out of here alive, or I’ll kick your zombie ass, okay?” I could see the tears streaming down her cheeks, and I could feel them running down my own, too. I wiped them away quickly, before giving her my best devil-may-care smile.

“Go, Kin. I’ll hold them back, and I’ll see you around, alright? I love you to death, kid, so get outta here fast.” I leaned over to kiss my closest, and only, friend’s cheek quickly before firing a shot at Korse to slow his already funeral-tempo pace. He paused for a second, and Sister Kindred knocked aside a loose board in the back of the room we were in, just wide enough to wiggle through and escape. I continued to shoot at our attackers. I felt the fear from before, so vivid and primal, leave me, only to be replaced with anger. Attacking at night. Attacking at all. My lip curled back in a feral sneer as I crept back towards the front door. I heard an engine roar to life, and I took the opportunity to swing out the front door, firing as many shots as I could manage before burning out my power pack. I took a couple of hits from the ray guns, but they weren’t much more than burns. Nothing I couldn’t live through, at any rate. As I went to retreat back behind the door, I was grabbed for a second time that night. This is getting old.

I was pushed roughly out of the house by Korse, who had a good hold around my torso and neck. I didn’t even try struggling. He didn’t press a gun to my head, but the threat was heavy in the air as two last Dracs climbed out of the back of the van. I saw Kindred’s brilliant auburn hair blowing behind her as the motorcycle she rode blasted past the little group. I also saw the way Kindred slowed down, getting ready to help me out.

“No!” I yelled loudly, though it was strained and choked-sounding. “Keep running! I’ll be fine!”

Kindred nodded, but still managed to fire off a good few shots at our little group before she made her way out. The Dracs watched for a second, before looking back to Korse for direction.

He didn’t say a word, but merely hauled his prize off toward the open back of the van. He pushed me in and followed slowly behind. I hated the way that he was void of color. His stupid gray jacket. His stupid bald head. Even his stupid skin, which seemed grayer than it should’ve. I opened my mouth to tell him my thoughts, and effectively dig my own grave, but someone in the corner caught my eye. A little girl with wild, curly hair and scared eyes. Without a second thought, I turned to glare accusingly at Korse. A kid? A fucking kid?!

“Let her go,” I demanded, my voice strong but scratchy. He didn’t budge an inch. He didn’t even bother to look like he cared at all. He just watched me with indifferent eyes, void of emotion. “Did you hear me? I said let her go!”

“I don’t think you’re in any position to be making demands,” he replied neutrally, still looking distinctly unimpressed. “Quiet down.”

I felt my eyes narrow further. Instead of replying verbally, I did something incredibly reckless; I spit, straight in his face from my place on the ground at his feet. The burns lining my arms and stomach made it too painful to really move, but the small victory sparked something in my body- until the heavy kick came to my stomach, followed up by a sigh. A sigh that clearly said what he thought of my intelligence. I just managed to stifle the groan of pain. I wouldn’t let him have that satisfaction. With a lip curled in contempt, I stayed quietly on my side, half-curled into a ball. It was the only way the pain would stop, or at least dull out. A few minutes later, the van rumbled to a stop. Korse stood and left without a word, and I moved as quickly as my battered body allowed (though it killed me to do so) over to where the little girl was still crouched.

“Are you alright?” the little girl asked, her wide eyes staring innocently into mine. I swallowed and forced a small smile.

“I’m fine. Are you okay? What’s your name, sweetheart?”

“My name is Grace… I’m okay.”

“Alright, Grace. My name’s Moony. Come here, okay? You’re probably safer sitting over here with me than in that corner.” Grace nodded hesitantly before scooting over to sit by my side. I wrapped an arm around her shoulders as a Drac took Korse’s place in the back. The goon stared at the two of us, and I could hear him chuckling. Still laughing, he took a piece of paper from one of the pockets of his suit jacket, unfolding it for me to read. It was my Exterminate poster, my eyes blacked out by a bar and a big red X over the rest of my head. Grace seemed to tense. I looked away. I wanted to avoid having that image burned into my brain. I had to focus on a way to get out of there. Me and Grace both.

The van suddenly squealed to a halt, sending the two of us and the Drac flying through space towards the back door of the van. I grabbed Grace and shifted so that I took the hit from the door, leaving Grace a little rattled but not visibly worse for the wear. There was only silence after my little groan of pain. It was thick and heavy and foreboding. Silence, and then the world exploded with the sounds of gunfire. Grace crawled for her original spot in the corner, covering her ears. I got up slowly, winced in pain, and then went for the Drac before he could get out of the van. Unfortunately for me, my body had been tried to its limits. My punch connected with his jaw, but it was so weak that it barely knocked his head to the side. He shot quickly, hitting me solidly in one thigh. Blood seeped through my jeans instantly, causing me to inhale sharply. I fell back with a cry while the Drac kicked open the back doors, disappearing into the night to face the unknown assailants. After I was sure I could get just a little closer to the attackers, I motioned for Grace to follow me. The little girl looked very unsure, and very reluctant to move.

“C’mon, Grace. An enemy of our enemy is an ally, at least for right now. We can’t afford to wait around for them to come back, okay?” She seemed convinced, and followed quickly. She slipped her little hand into my cold one, and we made our way into the night. The sight that we met was encouraging; many dead or severely wounded Dracs littered the ground. I halted only to pick up a paper from a dead Drac nearby- it looked like it was the one that was in the van with us, since he had my Exterminate paper tucked hastily back into his breast pocket. I stood back up and spotted the color, even through the dark, and I felt my heart soar. There were four men, armed with various colors and their ray guns, and they were clearly Killjoys. The Killjoys. “Come on, Grace, these guys are here to help!”

We broke into a run, sprinting our way across the battlefield, but staying toward the side to avoid any stray rays. We were nearly there, but the fresh wound on my thigh would allow me no more slack. I crumpled, but pushed Grace forward. “Go! Keep going! You’re almost safe, Grace, keep going!” I gasped croakily, my head collapsing to the dirt. An idea struck me. I could only hope one of the Killjoys would reach me before one of BL/ind’s.

Despite being shot multiple times and how my body ached relentlessly, luck seemed to be on my side. I heard boots crunching on gravel as someone stopped and stooped next to me, putting their fingers to my neck. Checking my vitals.

“Tell them I’m dead,” I gasped at the person quietly. Breathing normally was becoming a problem. My lungs burned and my eyes wouldn’t focus.

“What?” the man seemed confused. His face was hidden behind a helmet. I forced my eyes to roll up (which made my head swim and throb something awful), meeting where I assumed his would be.

“Tell them I’m dead. Make sure Korse and his gang hear it,” I gasped again, forcing my body into stillness to make the illusion. He seemed to catch on quickly. He stood and shot down an approaching Drac with ease. There were at least three BL/ind vans present, but most of the Dracs had been taken care of.

“Poison!” he hollered, falling back slightly, away from me. I didn’t want to be left there and feeling so vulnerable, but I understood why he had to fall back. “Poison, we’re too late with this one! She’s gone.”

I heard someone cursing loudly. A couple of minutes later the gunfire stopped altogether. I could hear Korse muttering darkly before tires shot bits of dirt and gravel behind them in their haste to get away. An uneasy silence fell over the area, but it was still. Until five pairs of feet started running in my general direction, that was. I hoped they had enough sense not to step on me.

“Shit,” muttered the voice who’d been cursing at the top of its lungs before. “She’s…”

“Fine,” I finished painfully, groaning into the earth below me. “Or, at very least, alive. Being dead wouldn‘t hurt this much.”

“Shit!” the voice repeated, and its owner knelt next to me. I’d lost my mask to Korse, and I knew I would look very young indeed to my rescuers. “Jet! Why’d you say… oh.” Just like that, he seemed to understand.

“Moony!” Grace called from behind the other men, looking timidly at me between them. “Moony, your leg…”

There was a lot of blood.

“I’m okay, Grace,” I murmured, and fast became sleepy. I didn’t want to allow myself to sleep, though. I knew after all that blood loss I might not wake up, and that would be a damn shame after all I‘d gone through to get where I was. “Just a little roughed up.”

“My ass,” scoffed another of the men. He and the fourth man, who hadn’t spoken, took one of my arms each as they helped me slowly off the ground. I bit back a hiss of pain. It lodged in my throat and sounded more like a gag. “Quite a little scrape back there. How’d you end up in the back of Korse’s van?”

I didn’t reply. My head had lolled forward as my vision swam, blurred, and then blackened, dangling lifelessly from my still body.