Bulletproof

“Bad news from the Zones, tumbleweeds-”

I jumped up as soon as I heard Dr. D’s voice pumping through the speakers. We’d had the radio tuned to his station ever since the guys left. We hadn’t heard a thing from them, and it was closing in on just about six hours later. It was starting to get late, and Scarlet and I had been sitting dutifully by the radio since. The sinking feeling in my stomach was threatening to drown me, and she didn’t look much better. Frank had gone off to work on the car (since it had sustained a few dings from the firefight earlier), telling us to get him if we heard anything. Gerard, probably even more worried than me and Scarlet combined, had closed himself off in the office to draw. I didn’t know that he was an artist, but he told me that he did it to blow off steam, so I left him to his devices.

Scarlet turned up the volume quickly even though it was already deafening.

“It looks like Jet Star and the Kobra Kid had a clap with an Exterminator that went all Costa Rica and, uh… got themselves ghosted-- dusted out on Route Guano…”

I heard myself scream “No!” just as Kindred screamed “Fuck!”, and before I knew what was happening she was running to the office and I was sprinting outside.

“Ghoul!” I screamed, though he was only a little ways away. He turned and waved, but his face dropped when he saw my expression.

“What happened, Freak?” he asked, taking hold of my shoulders once I was close enough.

“Dr. D-- he was just on. Shit, it’s Mikey and Ray, they’re hurt or dead or something and I don’t know what’s going on but Dr. D said that everything went Costa Rica-” I babbled on without taking a single breath, and Frank shook me a little.

“Hey, calm down. Try again, okay?” he requested, and I nodded before taking a deep breath.

“Dr. D just broadcasted from the Zones,” I started, taking another shuddering breath, “and, to use his terminology, ‘everything went all Costa Rica’. He said that Jet and Kobra got ghosted after a fight with an Exterminator. They fought out on Route Guano…”

“Shit,” Frank commented flatly, wiping his hands off on his pants before running for the diner. I followed at his heels.

“What’re you gonna do?” I questioned, hearing a commotion inside. I figured that it must’ve been Gerard.

“Me and Gerard are gonna go and pick ‘em up, if they’re still there,” he replied, turning around a corner and running smack into the aforementioned man. I was right; Gerard looked rough, his eyes wild and unreasonable.

“We’ve got to go, Ghoul. We need to go right now!” Gerard commanded, pushing past us without slowing. He didn’t have his gun or his mask.

“Poison!” I called. He turned and glared at me.

“What?” he demanded, looking impatient.

“You’re totally unprepared. You’re not going fucking anywhere,” I stated, crossing my arms over my chest. He looked mildly stunned, and I was impressed at how much authority I could fake. I knew that I had no claim over whether he went or not, but I was going to bluff and try to keep him from going.

“That’s shit, and I’m going. That’s my brother-”

“Which is exactly why you can’t go. If something goes wrong, you’re not going to be in any shape to do things right. You’re too emotional right now, and your judgment is faulty. You’re too personally invested in this, so you’ll make mistakes.” Scarlet came and stood beside me, backing me up. He looked furious. He opened his mouth to probably scream a retort, but Frank put a hand on his arm.

“As much as I don’t like this at all, she’s right. You can’t go in this state. You’ll get sloppy. If what Dr. D said is the truth, then we don’t need another of us to fall.”

Gerard deflated, and I thanked every god I could think of for Frank. They’d been friends for a long time, and he knew how to handle Gerard. Frank turned to face us, though, and his expression was deadly serious.

“I can’t let either of you go, either.”

“You’re shitting me,” Scarlet stated flatly, looking severely unimpressed. I just scoffed and made for the office to gather my mask and gun.

“I’m serious, you guys. You’re talented, but you’d get yourselves killed against an Exterminator,” Frank gritted, fast losing his patience. I ignored him and threw open the trunk, strapping my gun to my hip. I tossed Scarlet hers, too. “Fucking stop, would you?”

“No, Ghoul, I’m not going to stop. If we don’t go, who will? You? By yourself? That’s the shittiest idea I’ve ever heard,” I snap back. “Besides, if that Exterminator is hanging around, we’re less recognizable. All of the Killjoys out here in the Zones look up to you guys. If you’re all wiped out, they lose hope. If we’re wiped out, that sucks, but nobody is gonna notice.”

“I’ll notice. Gerard will notice. Dr. D, Grace, Show Pony, Sasha, and Christian will notice. The two of you aren’t even in your twenties yet and you’re so ready to throw your life away!” Frank hollered, his eyes dark.

“You know what I meant!” I screamed back, losing my cool. “Look, the longer we stand here arguing about this, the more likely it is that we won’t get Jet and Kobra back! What if they’re still alive?! Do you want their bodies to be taken by Exterminators?!”

Frank looked ready to start up again, but I held a hand up.

“We’re going,” I stated again, keeping my voice impressively flat considering I’d been screaming just seconds ago. Gracie was looking in through the open door, eyes wide with concern and fright. She’d never seen us fight-- we’d never actually fought about anything before. “I’m making no promises that we’ll come back, but you’re sure as hell not going to stop us going.”

Scarlet nodded, and then tossed me the keys to my bike. I shoved Frank roughly out of the way, wincing once he couldn’t see my face. I was fucking mad, but that didn’t mean I didn’t feel guilty for shoving him into the door frame. I heard the impact of his back against the wood, but I had to keep moving before he could guilt me into staying.

“Take care of Poison and Grace. If… if I don’t come back, tell Sasha and Christian I love them.”

“Come on,” Scarlet whispered, pulling my arm and leading me out of the diner. Frank was still standing in the doorway, looking shocked and angry and… something else. I didn’t want to think about what that look was.

Hurt. Scared.

I shook that off and pulled on my mask before sprinting to my bike and kicking it to life, taking off towards Route Guano. I was really starting to hate that damn road. I heard Kindred following close behind me. We rode in silence, hurtling down the road at ludicrous speeds. We were moving so fast that I had a hard time breathing. It was probably about midnight when we turned onto Guano, and I swore loudly at the top of my lungs, though the words were swallowed by the wind. It would be much harder to see the bodies in the dark, and it was getting chilly out. Deserts at night aren’t like deserts during the day.

We searched and searched and searched, scanning the sides of the road and anywhere we could actually see for any sign of our friends. We weren’t even watching where we were going, either. Kindred’s bike screeched to a stop, sending gravel and dust flying and nearly throwing her to the ground. She kicked the bike over without even stopping it, running off into the darkness. I swore again, imitating her actions. My bike was left whining in protest, rumbling against the ground. I tried to follow the way she’d run off, thinking that she couldn’t have gone very far. If she’d seen something, it couldn’t be that far from the road since it was so… dark. Too dark. I felt a tightening in my chest and my hands started to shake, but I tried to keep it at bay. There was something bigger than my little fear at stake here.

I found her fairly quickly after that, and I could tell immediately that she was crying. She wasn’t even checking the surroundings to make sure that the coast was clear. There could’ve been an Exterminator lurking around in the inky blackness, and neither one of us would’ve ever known. We were too busy leaning over the bodies of our friends, crying and trying desperately to find a pulse in either one of them.

“We’re too late,” Kindred whispered, feeling holding Mikey’s limp wrist in her hand as she tried yet again for a pulse. “We’re too fucking late…”

“This is bullshit!” I hollered, shaking Ray by the shoulders. He was bleeding and pale, and as I shook him, his head lolled loosely. I felt sobs wracking my body, and it wasn’t long before I was holding him close to me and rocking back and forth. “They’re not dead, damn it! They can’t be dead! They’re the Fabulous Killjoys…”

“Freak…” Kindred whispered again, eyes sad. “There’s nothing-”

“They promised! They promised me, Kindred! They said that they would be okay, that this was routine!”

“Freak… shit, Freak. Think about this for a second,” Kindred said suddenly, no longer whispering. The alert tone in her voice was enough to sober me slightly, so I looked at her questioningly. “If an Exterminator did this, they would’ve taken the bodies with them to Battery City. They never leave them…”

“Shit,” I echoed, pulling my gun from my hip as I still cradled Jet’s dead weight in one arm. “Shit. This is bad.”

“Keep an eye out. You never know out here,” she hissed, slinking over to put her back to mine as she dragged Mikey with her. I watched with horror as his body limply followed, but I forced myself to watch our surroundings instead. We crouched there, back to back, tense silence pervading the air as we surveyed our location. We started moving eventually, still in those low crouches and still with our backs pressed safely together. Still with those limp and rapidly cooling bodies in our tight and shaking grips.

Headlights flashed on us and we both froze before diving off in separate directions, trying desperately to keep the bodies of our friends safe. I cradled Ray against me as I skidded through the gravel on my side, feeling rocks and grit penetrating my skin. The car skidded to a stop just in front of where we’d been crouched, and I froze again, going more still then I’d ever done in my life.

A white, windowless van.

All noise stopped aside from the engine of the van grumbling easily into the earth. I hoped that Kindred had hidden herself well enough so that the storm of Dracs that were sure to pour forth from the van wouldn’t find her. I couldn’t bear to lose her, too. Nothing happened for a couple of minutes, though. I could hear the voice of a man taking, though it was heavily muted. One of the Dracs inside the car, speaking loudly to his companions. One of the doors swung open noiselessly, and one figure was pushed roughly to the ground, landing on hands and knees. I cringed and could practically feel the bite of the gravel digging into my palms.

Another figure climbed out of the van, kicking the first one roughly. The first figure slumped to the ground but made no sound.

“They always said Dr. Death-Defying’s little messenger couldn’t talk, but no one believed it. Thought it was a way of avoiding getting questioned when caught,” commented the standing figure casually. I felt myself bristling, and I had to bite my tongue to avoid calling out. I set Ray down gently, putting both of my unsteady hands on my gun. I crept forward as soundlessly as I could as the man continued to monologue to his mute captive. “Now, our friend should be around here somewhere… unless he found your little… tumbleweeds, was it? If he found them, you can bet they’re not around anymore. Would’ve been quicker to just run them over with the van…”

The person on the ground said nothing, but the line of their shoulders was tense. I could see that even in the minimal light.

“Go and find the little rabbits like a good boy, then, and maybe we’ll get rid of you quick.”

The man on the ground ambled to his feet slowly, looking to be in pain. I stopped my advance, holding my breath. I hoped Kindred had some sort of plan, because the only thing I could think of was attacking straight on. That hadn’t worked well for me in the past. Especially with a gun. Especially in the dark when I couldn’t stop shaking or see a damn thing. The captive started stumbling slowly in my direction, watched every step of the way by his captor who lounged lazily against the side of the van.

He got within five feet of me, and I chanced it.

“Show Pony, act casual. Don’t look this direction. Go back further. Jet’s back there… I don’t know if there’s anything we can do for him, but we can’t let them take him. Get his gun if it’s still on him.”

Show Pony nodded, barely an inclination of his head. Barely visible. He kept stumbling back to where I’d told him to go, and the Drac was starting to follow behind him now so as not to lose sight of him. He was far too confident and not very observant. He walked right past where I was crouched behind a small boulder, so I leapt over it quickly and grabbed him, pressing my gun to his temple.

“Don’t fucking move or I will blow your head off,” I growled in his ear, deathly quiet. I pulled him back behind the boulder, out of sight of the van. “How many are with you? Tell the truth or you won’t live to draw another breath.”

“There are two in the van. Dr. Death-Defying is in there, too.”

“Who else?” I hissed, pressing the tip of my gun until it was digging into his temple. I could hear him hiss behind his mask.

“No one else!” he returned quickly.

“There’s someone else. We both know it. Is she in the van, or is she outside somewhere?” I demanded, throwing him to the ground like he’d done to Show Pony only moments earlier.

“How do you-”

“She’s right here.”

I stiffened as a sickly sweet voice whispered in my ear. I held perfectly still and let my gun drop to the ground before she had the chance to order me to do it.

“You’re a clever little thing, aren’t you? How did you know that I was here, kitten?”

I wrinkled my nose as the woman used the pet name. Who does that?

“I saw you at the rally,” I informed her, struggling to keep my tone neutral. “You were convincing as a Killjoy, though.”

“You flatter me,” she giggled, running a hand down the side of my face before turning me around by the shoulder. Her gun was held loftily at her side, like she didn’t plan on using it. I knew better. “But you also knew what I was.”

“Not until I saw the van,” I admitted, trying to keep her talking. With any luck, Kindred or Show Pony would find some way to keep me alive. “I just figured you were one of Dr. D’s sources or something.”

“Is that so?” she mused, inspecting me closely. She stared at the gauze on my wrists for a long time. “So you’re the one…”

“I guess,” I agreed noncommittally, eliciting laughter. “Do they talk about me much?”

“Just whisperings that the Fabulous Killjoys have adopted a pet.” Her sugary smile was almost too much for me to handle.

Play it cool.

“So, are all Exterminators this willing to play with their food?” I questioned, offering her a small smile. She returned it with all of her dazzling white teeth.

“You learn to act more like the little lambs you hunt instead of the wolf that you were raised to be,” she responds, a glint in her eye. I found her to be unnerving. She seemed a little unhinged, though I knew that BLI would get rid of her if that were really the case. “Speaking of lambs, where is that little friend of yours? I was watching the two of you, but you just happened to jump closer to where I was hiding.”

“I don’t know, I kind of lost sight of her when I was jumping out of the way of the van,” I answered without thinking. In hindsight, it was probably never a good idea to get snippy with someone who could mow you down easily.

“Oo, I fiery temper. I like ‘em with a little fight,” she teased, a coy smile touching her lips. It fell immediately, though, and was replaced with a cold fury as she turned around and aimed her gun into the distance. I moved before I could talk myself out of it, launching myself at her and sending us both hurtling to the ground. A shot rang out above us, and I heard a body fall. I was too busy wrestling the gun from the woman’s hands to really care about what was going on, though. She spat in my eyes, and I lost my temper. She was fighting dirty.

I head-butted her. It left me seeing stars, but she looked pretty dazed, too. I thrashed and threw my weight around, wrestling so that I was on top. I could hear someone approaching, but my mind was elsewhere. She bit my wrist hard enough to draw blood, which made me shriek out of surprise and frustration. I thrust a knee up from where it was resting on the ground, which made her let out a surprised and upset noise of her own. A hit below the belt still hurt even if you didn’t have balls. She flipped us over by throwing all of her weight to the side, knocking me off-balance. I grunted as my back slammed against the ground, ignoring the way my eyes blurred when my head bounced off of the hard dirt.

I returned her earlier move by leaning over and grabbing a good deal of skin from her forearm between my teeth, but I didn’t just bite. I chewed until she ripped her arm away from me, and I took the opportunity to push her backwards. Suddenly, as beam shot right past my right ear, hitting her directly between the eyes. I looked behind me in surprise, but relaxed when I saw Show Pony. He came walking over to me (his skates were MIA) and touched my bleeding forehead gently. I guessed that I hurt myself when I rammed my head into hers. I shook my head, signaling silently that I was okay.

“We need to get Jet, and then we need to find Kindred and Mikey,” I sighed, my fingers twitchy from all of the adrenaline. I heard someone approaching and spun around to see Kindred and Kobra. I noticed that he didn’t look any better than the last time I’d seen him.

“I’m fine, took out the other Drac. Is that our Exterminator?” she asked, gesturing to the dead woman with a scorch mark for a face on the ground. I nodded.

“Yeah, Show Pony got her. I’ll get Jet, and then we need to floor it back to the Lair. Is Dr. D okay?”

Show Pony nodded. I nodded back and sprinted towards where I’d left Jet. I lifted him with some difficulty due to my bleeding arm, and we all got back in the van. I sat in the back with Dr. D, Mikey, and Ray. Dr. D surveyed them in grave silence.

“Is there something you can do?” I asked, hearing the thickness of my voice. I didn’t want to admit defeat, though. There had to be something that we could do for them.

“I don’t know, tumbleweed. They’re in pretty rough shape. The last I heard, they were ghosted.”

“Try,” I begged, and he considered me for a moment before nodding. He eased himself out of his chair, crawling with his arms to sit between them. He put a hand on each of their necks. I kept silent.

“There’s a pulse for both of ‘em, but they’re too faint. I don’t know how much we can do. A lot of it’s up to them now. The best we can do is patch ‘em up.”

“Do we have bandages?”

“Used the last of ‘em at the rally.”

“Shit,” I cursed, then started ripping the sleeves and lower half of my shirt off into strips. “Use these until we get back.”

He nodded and went to work, and I was fast running out of shirt. I didn’t care if I ended up naked, so long as I could help save my friends’ lives. I ripped up the last of my shirt, now sitting in only my bra. I didn’t even have time to feel embarrassed before Kindred threw her jacket into the back. I pulled it on, zipping it up almost to my chin.

“Do we have enough?”

“Not quite.” He frowned and considered this for a moment. I set to work tearing the hems of my jeans off. “Slow down, you only got one pair of pants.”

“They’re more important than my pants,” I grunted back, tearing off strips. He eventually held up a hand, so I stopped.

“This is the best we can do for now. Let’s hope it holds until we get back.”

I kissed both of the guys’ cheeks. When I did, I whispered the same thing to both of them.

“You made me a promise.”