Bulletproof

I barely slept at all that night. Kindred sat up with me, and Grace alternated between being extremely excited and crashing to catch a few Z’s. Everyone crammed into the upstairs of the restaurant (nine bodies in a smallish living space, so it was good that we were all comfortable with one another), so it was a little hard to even consider sleep in the first place. Unless, of course, you happened to be my darling sister; she slept soundly on Christian’s bed, undisturbed by our excited chatter. Christian lounged next to her on the bed, not really paying anyone any mind. He looked to be off in his own little world.

The guys, however, were infuriating. They clustered together as far away from Grace, Kin, and me as they could without actually being in the bathroom. As if that wasn’t bad enough, they chatted together animatedly, throwing their hands up to express their points. We couldn’t actually hear what they were saying (since they were all talking at once), but sometimes they’d let something slip. So far, we’d heard white, surprise, fest (short for festival, probably), music, surprise again, fire, and something that started with ‘am’ before they all shushed one another, giggling. Needless to say, Kin and I were soon fairly irritated. Grace dozed peacefully against Kin’s shoulder while my friend and I shot poisonous looks the boys’ way. The few times they actually acknowledged our existence, they’d peek over and snicker.

“God damn it!” I grumbled, folding my arms over my chest. “They’re doing it just to annoy us!”

“It’s definitely working,” Kin gritted back, her patience wearing thin as well. She picked at a loose thread hanging off of the couch on which we sat. I drummed my fingers against my knee. We didn’t want to give them the satisfaction of knowing they were getting to us, so we both decided to try to get some sleep.

However, three bodies on one couch is a little difficult to manage. Kin and I ended up sort of tangled together, my legs sprawled over her body as she sprawled out of the couch. We put Grace on top of the both of us, since we would’ve crushed her otherwise. It was a little weird, but cozy. Kin fell asleep fairly quickly, but I stayed awake. I’d slept earlier in the day, so I wasn’t exactly tired. I lazed in the pile instead, staring at the ceiling for so long that it looked like it had started pulling in on itself. I blinked after about a minute, my eyes feeling dry. I shut my eyes and just relaxed, not really minding if I didn’t sleep.

I either fell asleep or spaced out really hard, though, since the next thing I knew was that someone had just thrown something on my face. I frowned and sat up, wondering where Grace had run off to. She’d been sleeping across a good majority of my torso during the night, but she clearly wasn’t there anymore. I pulled the thing from my face, seeing Kindred do the same. It was a white… something. I unfolded it, and it turned out to be a white t-shirt. I stared at it questioningly.

“I don’t know what the hell this is all about,” Kindred started, sounding grumpy, “but it had better be good. I was sleeping.”

Grace came dancing into the room, followed by the guys. They were all wearing white shirts, though Grace’s was more like a dress since it was way too big for her. Kindred and I stared at them all for a moment, glanced at one another, and then went back to our previous positions of rest, intent on more sleep.

“No way!” Frank sang, grabbing my arm to pull me off the couch. The only thing he accomplished was making me ooze to the floor, where I curled up into myself to make up for Kindred’s missing body heat. I could hear her muttering foul curses at whoever was trying to wake her up. Eventually I opened my eyes again, glaring at Frank as he continued in his efforts to get me up.

“What do you want?” I hissed, sitting up. He grinned at me, clearly pleased with himself.

“Up and at ‘em! Get changed so we can go downstairs and get a quick bite to eat before we head out!”

“What?” I asked blearily. It was too early in the morning for him to be anywhere near this excited about anything.

“The rally!” Grace chimed, throwing her hands up. My eyes widened after I remembered what she was talking about. I took the white shirt, looking at them all pointedly.

“I’d get changed if you people would get the hell out,” I hinted. Subtlety was obviously my forte. After everyone was gone but me and Kindred, I turned to look at her. She had stood up, but she now held the shirt in front of her, scowling at it.

“What’s your problem?” I asked with a laugh, pulling my shirt off to change into the white one.

“I hate white,” she grumbled, but followed suit. We looked at one another, lacking any color besides our jeans. It felt strange to be wearing the enemy’s color. We headed down the stairs together, smelling something cooking. It smelled good, though, so I assumed that it wasn’t Sasha’s doing. Entering the dining area, we found everyone else chatting amongst themselves happily, chowing down on their breakfasts. Kindred’s eyes grew wide. “But I love waffles!”

We sat and Christian swiftly delivered our waffles to us. We both thanked him before digging in ravenously, not bothering to talk to anyone about anything. After everyone had finished, we all stood and looked at one another. I saw Frank, Mikey, Ray, and Gerard all looking at one another deviously. Before they could say anything, though, I threw in my bit.

“Shotgun!” I claimed, and four heads snapped in my direction. I grinned back at them, proud of myself. I’d never gotten to ride shotgun. At least I wouldn’t end up laying across everyone in the back.

“Driving!” Frank called quickly after, not wasting any time. This sparked an argument between him and the three other guys, giving me ample opportunity to hug Sasha and Christian before racing out the door towards the Trans Am, Kindred and Grace hot on my heels. We all hopped in, panting. Even though it was still fairly early in the morning, we could already tell that the heat was going to be awful today.

“Are Sasha and Christian coming?” Kindred asked, gulping down air between her words.

“I don’t think so,” I shook my head. “Sasha hates the heat. It makes her sick, so she prefers to stay inside.”

She nodded. We waited a few seconds, and then we could see all of the guys sprinting towards the car, tripping and pushing one another. Frank ended up actually getting to drive, while Mikey, Gerard, and Ray all bullied Kindred and Grace around in the back seat. It ended up with all three guys sitting in the seat with Grace in their laps. Kindred chose to sit in mine, even if it was a little more inconvenient. Her reason?

“You smell better,” she told me casually. No one denied it, either. The drive there seemed to drag on forever, and for whatever reason, Dr. D wasn’t broadcasting at his normal time in the morning. When I mentioned it, all of the guys just tried their best to look nonchalant. I frowned suspiciously, but I let it go. They wouldn’t tell me anything. The ride to Zone Three wasn’t actually long, but it sure as hell felt like it. We all cheered loudly when we noticed that we’d entered Zone Three, though.

“Keep an eye out, guys,” Frank reminded, glancing through the windshield. “Don’t wanna miss it.”

“Like you could,” Ray scoffed, but he too was looking out the windows anxiously. We all stared out our respective windows, looking for any signs of life.

“Hey, is that it?” Kindred pointed out to the east, where a bunch of cars and other vehicles were parked. “It looks like they’re just kind of… abandoned.”

“Nah, everyone parks a little ways away. Need plenty of room,” Gerard remarked, making Kindred and I exchange glances. Frank pulled up next to the other cars and parked. As we were all climbing out, though, he pulled something from under his seat. Everyone took a white bandana.

“Tie it around your nose and mouth,” Mikey warned, so Kindred and I did. We followed along behind the guys, who were practically running to… wherever it was that we were going. I still hadn’t seen anything that even remotely resembled a rally. We walked for about fifteen minutes before I started hearing the music. It was quiet at first, but it grew and grew until it reached a deafening roar as we got closer. We rounded some rocks, and the guys all sprinted off in different directions, leaving us girls to fend for ourselves. I didn’t even have the time to scream before something hit me in the side of my head, making my world explode with color. Literally. Yellow powder stuck to my eyelashes and fell from my hair, and I stood in shock. What the hell?

“Show Pony!” I grinned as I looked into the helmet. He gave me a thumbs up, and I noticed that his hands were coated in yellow. “You bitch! Where’d the guys go?”

He just shrugged and ran- yes, ran- away. I shook my head to get loose some more of the pigment before looking around. Kindred had gotten a fistful of the yellow powder thrown at the back of her head, while more still clung to Gracie’s wild hair.

“Holy… guys, look!” I exclaimed, pointing towards the source of the music. There was a large fire cracking, sending up billowing black smoke. Around the fire, big metal bowls were filled with different colored powders. Vibrant yellow, red, blue, green, purple… I just stared. There were more colors than I could properly name. A little way behind the fire was a large, hand-painted banner.

ART IS THE WEAPON AGAINST LIFE AS A SYMPTOM!

I grinned and ran towards it, Kindred and Grace following.

“What is this?” Kindred laughed breathlessly. I gave a shrug.

“I have no idea, but look at all of this!” I gestured to the drawings on the ground, which looked to have been scratched into the dust and dirt with sticks. The drawings circled the fire, and I could feel the bass from the blasting music through the soles of my feet. “This is amazing!”

“Just wait, motor babies.” I turned, spotting my favorite DJ a few feet away. I shot him a grin. “The fun is yet to come.”

“What do you me-” I was cut off by a blast of blue from my left, which left my neck and shoulder dyed. I turned sharply, seeing Mikey fleeing behind a rock. “It is SO on!”

I dipped my hand into the green, grabbing a fistful. I took off sprinting after him, but I was overtaken by three Killjoys that I’d never met before. Pink, purple, and orange all hit me at the same time. I gaped, and they all ran. I shot off after the nearest one, tossing my handful of color at her. It hit her square in the back, leaving her white shirt an acid green color. I fled back to the fire, eager to get my hands on some more color. When I saw Kindred again, I noted that she was distinctly more red than when I’d left her.

“Who got you?” I laughed, noticing the disgruntled look on her face.

“I don’t know, god dammit!” she growled back, taking some sky blue powder in her left hand and some hot pink powder in her right hand. “But I’m going to take down every last person here.”

I gave her a dubious glance before plunging both of my hands into the blaze orange and running off. She apparently meant business. All along the ground, from the fire to the rocks in the surrounding area, there were random bursts of color along the ground, sometimes in the shape of someone’s body if they were caught just right. Screams occasionally pervaded the air when someone was caught, and the laughter never seemed to stop. I glanced behind me just in time to see Ray sneaking off in the other direction, so I did what any sensible person would do: I ran after him, shoving one hand in his face while the other one went through his hair, turning him an aggressive orange. He turned to stare at me, but I was already running again.

I still had some left, though, so I hid until someone else ran past me. It turned out to be another Killjoy that I’d never met, but that didn’t matter. I smeared the orange up the side of his head, but he turned and got me right in the face with a whole lot of purple. I was glad that I’d managed to close my eyes before it hit. I retreated, heading back to the fire to get more ammunition. There appeared to be many more people than the last time I’d seen it, though, and everyone was coated in neon dust, screaming and laughing and yelling. Some even danced along to the music that blasted from Dr. D’s van, and I noticed that the DJ himself had been gotten with some bold blue. Damn you, Mikey!

An hour later, the place was swarming with intensely colored Killjoys. There wasn’t even a single spot of white left. The music stopped, and everyone wandered back to the fire to see what was up. When we all got there, though, the area filled with boos and hisses of disapproval. Someone had dressed themselves up as a Drac (I assumed they’d taken the uniform forcibly, since there were numerous burns in it), and they were parading on the stage below the banner, pretending to hold Grace hostage. She squealed and squirmed, doing very well at pretending to be afraid. The ‘Drac’ would occasionally holler BLI slogans, as well.

“Keep smiling!”

“Everything is perfect!”

“Have you taken your medication?”

The booing grew to a deafening volume. It continued that way for a few minutes before I saw someone climb onto the stage. Even through all the color, I could tell it was Gerard from his hair. Someone else- Frank, maybe- handed him a half-empty bowl of cherry red. While the ‘Drac’ went on marching about the stage, Gerard just grabbed the bowl and sent all of that powder flying, staining the perfect white of the suit. Grace pulled away, pulling out a squirt gun that appeared to have electric blue in it. She sprayed the ‘Drac’, who pretended to be seriously wounded. He sunk to his knees, so Grace squirted him right in the face before he fell forward, unmoving.

“Killjoys, I want you to make some noise for me,” Gerard announced in the sudden hush. It was over just as quickly as it began, though, since the area exploded with noise. People jumped and threw their arms over their heads, smashing into the people next to them so that all of the colors were mixing. “Really? That’s all you’ve got?”

I found myself screaming along, pushing my way into the writhing mass of people. I was shoved from side to side, but it didn’t matter. No one did it out of malice. The noise doubled.

“That’s more like it!” Gerard pulled his bandana down around his neck so that he could show us his wide grin. It fell quickly, however. “Every single day, we’re hunted down by Draculoids and Exterminators. Every single day, people starve. People get shot down. People die out here, every single day.”

A somber silence fell over the crowd, which seemed unusual considering that we all looked like human piñatas.

“Those of us who oppose Better Living Industries are the ones who willingly sign away our lives for a cause that most consider hopeless. What’s our few against their many?” he paused, staring hard at the crowd. I’d never seen him so serious. “What’s the point? Why can’t we just take our medicine and be grateful to not feel a thing? What’s so wrong about wanting to be safe?”

A few people shouted answers from the crowd, and murmurs of agreement followed. I couldn’t hear what was actually being said by my fellow mob-goers, though.

“I’ll tell you what’s fucking wrong with it. When you hear music, shouldn’t you want to dance? When you finally break out of your own personal hell, shouldn’t you jump for fucking joy? When your brother dies, shouldn’t you cry and mourn his loss?” I don’t know how he did it, but he found me in the crowd. He looked at me for a long minute. “Human beings are not safe creatures. We aren’t meant to live like machines. You can’t ignore the rest of the world by building yourself a safe little bubble. BLI wants to keep us safe. They want to watch everything we do. They want to decide what’s good for us, what’s acceptable. They tried to bleach out the filth back in 2012. When that didn’t work, the fires followed- but you know what?”

The air grew tense with anticipation. We were all silently urging him to go on.

“They fucking missed a spot!” Gerard boomed, and he was met instantly with insane cheers and screams. The crowd started surging again, me along with it. “So I’m here to tell you, all of you who wouldn’t be cleaned away, to stay dirty! Stay colorful, stay alive, and stay fucking dangerous!”

Colors flew up from everywhere in the crowd, falling over all of us and making us more vibrant and bold. People turned to hug their neighbors, and nobody seemed to mind the fact that most of us were strangers to one another. An excited buzz ran through the crowd as everyone chattered all at once, but we were drowned out when the music began blasting again. People scattered as soon as it did, heading for the bowls of color. People threw the pigments with more intensity and gusto than they had before, inspired by Gerard’s words. Hell, I was completely in awe. That rally of rebels- that mob of renegades- that was what I was fighting for. I felt freer than could ever remember feeling before.

No one ran and hid anymore, either; everyone threw fistfuls of color haphazardly, and everyone got hit all over. No one was safe, but no one was worrying about it. It was just a riot of Killjoys having a hell of a lot of fun.

If I’d had any doubts about the choices I’d made before, they’d all but vanished. The only thing I could feel was the surge of pride coursing through my veins at incredible speeds, making my spine tingle.

We wouldn’t lose this fight.