Bulletproof

No one moved. Everyone had stopped breathing. DI E was silent except for those heavy footsteps that were driving me a little more insane with each as the unknown person got closer. They didn’t even pause to rifle through the other rooms, so there was no way it was just a junk punk looking for a quick score. The guys had all left in the Trans Am, so it wasn’t them. I stood to the side of the door, right next to the frame. The other three crowded into a spot that was out of the immediate line of sight from the doorway. Still, those footfalls didn’t pause or even slow down as they made their way towards where the four of us were hiding.

They sped up.

I hadn’t even remembered to grab my gun.

They were right outside the door now, and I could hear the person breathing through their mask, which seemed to both amplify and hollow out the sound. Long, rattling breaths. It was driving me crazy.

Fucking make your move! I silently urged them. The tension was going to be the end of me. Then, the door hurled open and slammed against the wall, making it rattle. I had to catch myself from making a sound of surprise. Three things happened in quick, neat succession: the man (indeed dressed in Drac attire) stepped through the door. I grabbed him and twisted the arm that held his ray gun without realizing that I’d moved at all. Grace skittered up and grabbed the aforementioned gun so that if he got loose, he couldn’t grab it back.

Why the hell is this Drac so small?

I had him with his arm twisted behind his back, but he stood straight. I could see that I was a good two or three inches taller than him…

“God damn you, Fun Ghoul! What the hell are you doing here dressed like that?!” I demanded and pushed him to the ground. I could hear his familiar laughter through the mask, which he pushed up to reveal his smiling face. He pushed himself to a sitting position with one arm. He moved the other one in slow, careful circles, wincing but still laughing.

“Jesus, Freak, I didn’t know you’d just up and grab me,” he chuckled, and I kicked him lightly. I was still mad as hell, but I was glad it was him that’d followed Show Pony here instead of an actual Drac.

“You’re lucky you weren’t shot, you moron!” I berated, pulling him up. He gave me his toothy grin, and I was having a hard time staying mad. “You didn’t answer my question, either.”

“I was giving you time to get that out of your system,” he teased, and I punched him. “Enough with the abuse! I’m sorry, alright? I’m here because at our last stop, we found something we need you to look at. I’m dressed as a Drac and riding on a Drac’s bike because they’re all over the damn highways, doing their patrols.”

I nodded, but frowned. “Something you need me to look at?” I echoed thoughtfully. What could they possibly need me for?

“Yeah, but you’d best come see for yourself. Poison’s going nuts at the thought of me being out on my own, and he’s not too fond of it being just me and you in Drac costumes amongst a lot of actual Dracs,” he replied, but didn’t actually explain anything.

“What an idiot,” I scoffed, laughing. “He’s worried about me while he’s in the middle of Drac territory. Way to keep your head in the game.”

He chuckled, but then looked out the window anxiously. “Look, we should really go, right now. I’ve got another Drac outfit at the bike, you’ll need to put it on so we blend in.”

“Bluffing, I like it,” I decided, and then turned to look at the other three. “Show Pony, you knew it was Fun Ghoul, didn’t you?” I accused. He just shrugged. “Oh, ha, very funny.”

Grace hugged Fun Ghoul around the waist before doing the same to me. “You’re going to go have fun without me,” she accused, but I shook my head.

“I don’t think so, since I’ll have to dress like a stupid, smelly Drac. Plus, Ghoul won’t tell me what’s wrong and Poison will probably yell at me when I get there because that’s just how he is. I’d rather be here, eating my dinner and then going to sleep,” I answered, and bent over to hug her properly. “Seriously, if it’s any fun at all, I’ll tell you all about it when I get back, okay?”

“Promise?”

“Promise,” I smiled and straightened myself back up, looking to Dr. D. “You kids stay safe, alright? I’ll be back eventually!” I waved as Ghoul pulled me out the door by my arm. “Jesus, big rush or what?”

“I already told you, Poison’s being-”

“Poison,” I finished, and he nodded. Out at the bike, I slipped on the crisp white jacket, pants, and the mask that I hated so much. “Talk about keeping your enemies closer,” I muttered, though it was muffled behind the pale plastic. Ghoul let out a small chuckle and straddled the bike. I climbed on behind him and grabbed him around the waist. The bike roared to life, and we screamed away from the diner and out to the highway. Ghoul was right, though. I saw no less than three patrol bikes in about ten minutes. One of them gave us a nod, and it took all I had not to scream abuse at him.

I didn’t dare speak, though I was tempted to ask where we were going and how long it’d be so many times during the trip. I didn’t know how long we’d been out or where we were, but I kept my mouth firmly shut. What felt like an eternity later, Ghoul killed the motor next to a perfectly square concrete building. It was so bland and uninspiring that I felt like yawning just looking at it. I also noticed the lack of bodies, our side or theirs. It made me nervous. Ghoul motioned for me to follow, and I did. Closely.

We walked in through the white door, into the white hallways with their bright white fluorescent lights. It reminded me of a hospital, sterile and perfect and unnerving. I repressed a shudder and followed Ghoul through a couple of hallways, passing what looked like break rooms. There were even coffee machines. I also noticed that there were many monitors around, all showing different areas in the Zones. I frowned at them as we walked past, but the stupid mask concealed it with a big, scary red smile. ‘Keep smiling’. Stupid BLI.

We followed some stairs upwards, and I was alarmed to notice that there were long streaks of red decorating the clean white walls. Blood. I paused to stare, but Ghoul tugged my arm impatiently. I noticed how he hadn’t said a word since we left, which was starting to freak me out pretty badly. He wasn’t usually this quiet or serious. He stopped three doors in on the right, and knocked quickly. Four precise little taps. Poison inched the door open, before pulling Ghoul in and putting his ray gun under his chin. I was aghast, but then I, too, was grabbed and pushed against the wall in the same fashion. I noticed that it was Jet who had grabbed me.

“What the fuck?” Ghoul growled, pushing Poison away from him. “You said knock four times when I got back. I’m not an expert at math or anything, but I can count to four. I knocked four fucking times, Poison!” Party Poison loosened his grip and lowered his ray gun before pulling the Drac mask over Ghoul’s head. Ghoul looked just as pissed off as he’d sounded. Jet Star let go of me, so I pulled my own mask off.

“Seriously, guys, what the hell?” I demanded, crossing my arms over my chest. These little surprises were getting old fast. Poison and Jet backed off, and I rubbed my back where it’d hit the wall.

“A pair of Dracs came by about ten minutes before you,” Jet admitted.

“Really? All the bodies stacked up in here and that didn’t stop them at all?” I questioned, glancing at the bodies piled against the wall, and he shook his head. His face was unusually grave. “Okay, this is starting to freak me out. First, Ghoul scares the hell out of me by showing up dressed as a Drac, then you two freaks grab us and are all ready to shoot us, and now you’re all quiet…”

Poison held up a hand to quiet me. I glared, but I did give him a chance to speak.

“Two Dracs showed up, but they were surprised to see us here. They weren’t expecting three, or even four people. There were two, and Dracs never fight fair. They’ve always got at least one more than their enemies. They were expecting one person,” he explained, but I was still lost. Kobra decided to step in at that point.

“The other thing… we didn’t do this,” he gestured to the five Dracs that were set in a neat pile next to the wall. “They were like this when we got here. Plus, we found this laying on the top one’s chest.”

He handed me a note with ‘HRG’ written on it. Kin! I opened it quickly, nearly tearing it in half in my excitement. I read it three times in a row, but it didn’t make sense. I slowed myself down so that I could understand it.

Dear Seeker,

Sorry you can’t find me. Not yet. No rest for the wicked, even dead.

xo Phantom.

P.S.- Visit your favorite mechanical device. Surprise party that he doesn’t know about, time to crash. Be there by sunrise. Be careful, don’t let them catch you blind.

The note slipped from between my fingers without my realizing it. I blinked a few times. I knew exactly what that meant. Someone put a hand on my shoulder, and I shook my head before looking back. Kobra’s gentle expression helped me shake some sense into my fuzzy, harried brain.

“You okay, Freak?” he asked quietly, and I nodded after a second. I stooped to grab the note again, but my entire body, including my fingers, had gone numb. The note slipped twice more before I managed to get a good hold on it. I tucked it into my right pocket with shaking hands before I turned to address the group. They were all watching me. For a second, I forgot what I was going to say. I was already incredibly on edge, and them staring wasn’t helping. I gathered myself.

“Okay,” I was pleasantly surprised at how strong my voice was. “Okay,” I said again, but that time it sounded like I’d just finished a long-winded speech. I frowned at myself.

Well, so much for that. Good ending, Harley.

“What did the note say?” Ghoul asked after a second, and I thanked him inwardly. That’s what I was about to tell them before I forgot again. I handed it over to him so I wouldn’t embarrass myself a second time. He read it, frowned, and then handed it to Poison. Poison didn’t seem to make much sense of it either. Jet and Kobra both had a go at it, but they all came to the conclusion that it made no sense.

“Not to pry or anything,” Poison started, and my eyes snapped to him. He seemed at a loss about my sudden reaction. “Er, none of us have any idea what any of this is supposed to mean.”

I nodded. I knew that. I was trying to get my brain and mouth back together, as they’d suddenly had a messy break up. The mouth had run away with the brain’s best friend, logic. They fought for a while, and then they decided they could kiss and make up. The guys watched me tensely as I helped them reconcile. When they had, I blinked and took a deep breath. When had I stopped breathing?

Get it together, woman, they’re worried sick!

I took my inner-self’s advice and kicked my brain into motion. “Oh, right. Okay. Uh… so, this note,” I held it up and waved it around a little, as if they all hadn’t seen it already, “this note is from Kin.”

They all nodded, still watching me. I frowned. “The thing is, she signed it as ‘Phantom’. I addressed her as a phantom on the airwaves today, but that was only a few hours ago. If these guys were like this when you got here, that means she was here only a little before that,” I explained, and they looked a little more clued-in now.

“Oh, yeah, I can see why that’d freak you out,” Jet nodded, but I shook my head at him. They all looked confused again. If I wasn’t so busy thinking, this might’ve been fun, confusing them so badly.

“No, it’s not that. It’s the bit about my favorite mechanical device. Mechanical devices are machines. My favorite machine isn’t a machine at all,” I told them. If they were confused before, they were absolutely confounded after that little statement.

“Uh… care to explain?” Ghoul prompted, and I nodded.

“There’s a restaurant in Zone Four called ‘The Machine’. My… my brother runs it. Someone uninvited is planning on showing up, and I’ve got until sunrise to get there,” I elaborated, and they were all back to understanding. Poison frowned a little, though, and that made my heart thud painfully. “What is it?”

“Well, it’s pretty late,” he revealed, and then checked the clock on the wall. It read that it was just past midnight. “It takes two or three hours to get to Zone Four, but we’ve got almost no gas. The nearest station is in Zone Five, which is about an hour from here. Plus, all the Dracs are on patrol, so they’ll know our car when they see it.”

“We need to stop, gas up, find an alternate route so as to avoid the Dracs, and then haul ass all the way to Zone Four,” Ghoul commented with a frown, and his face became frightened as he looked at me. “No, wait, it’s okay! Don’t cry!”

“What?” I demanded, baffled. “I’m not crying! What the hell are you talking about?” I touched my face. Oh, maybe I was crying. I didn’t mean to. I felt as if I’d just committed a grave offence, so I turned away to wipe at my eyes harshly. The stupid tears just wouldn’t stop falling. I growled in frustration, and batted weakly at the hand that landed on my shoulder. I was pulled back into a loose hug, and I grumbled quietly.

“Come on,” Kobra told me quietly, turning me to face him, “you know Sister Kindred wouldn’t give you this information if she didn’t think you could do something about it. We’ll find a way to get there, and we’ll deal with whatever comes our way, okay? Your brother’s going to be fine. We have to go right now though, okay? Come on.”

I nodded and allowed him to lead me out. I didn’t make the conscious decision to cry, it had just started. For the most part, I still felt pretty numb. My mind didn’t want to consider the possibility that Kindred was overestimating my abilities, or what would happen to Nic if she was. I was vaguely aware of the sound of a car door opening, closing, and me sliding into a seat. I sat in the middle, while Kobra sat to my left and Ghoul sat to my right. Poison sat in the driver’s seat while Jet took residence in the passenger side. It reminded me of when I’d woken up after escaping from Korse, though I wasn’t bleeding this time.

A few minutes later, I started to feel more myself again. I also realized that tears were still leaking from my eyes without my permission. I wiped them on my sleeve. The other thing I noticed was that Kobra, who’d previously leading me by the arm, had one of his own arms around my shoulders while I leaned against his side. As I came to my senses, I sat straight quickly, instantly embarrassed. Even though when I’d met them it had been at a really bad time, I didn’t cry in front of them. I’d just lost the most important person who knew what my life was like, and I didn’t cry. The only person who’d seen me cry in years was Kin, and then she was gone. I was embarrassed because people often find these kinds of emotions troublesome and draining. I wiped my face quickly and looked at the wet spot on Kobra’s shoulder where my face had been resting. I felt my face grow hot as I tripped over my apology.

“Er, sorry for, you know, uh, that,” I mumbled quickly, still wiping at my face, though mostly so that no one could see me blushing. Instead of looking away like most normal people would do (to spare me the embarrassment, of course), everyone except Poison watched me. Even he glanced back for a second, though, while he was driving. My face grew hotter still.

“No sweat,” Kobra excused, looking a little confused as to why I’d suddenly gotten all weird about it. “Seriously, I get it. Life sucks sometimes, but you cope and then work to make it better. No need to apologize.”

I frowned my disagreement at him, but he only gave me a half-smile in response. I turned back to the front as I felt Ghoul snag me in a hug. My face felt like it was on fire.

“Look, Freak, this is the kind of thing that BLI wants to get rid of. Being emotional is okay. It’s cool if you’re not 100% a-okay all the time, you know? Nobody in this car is mad at you for letting it out,” Ghoul emphasized before letting me go.

“I might be a little mad,” Poison offered, but the small smile tugging on his mouth told me otherwise. I laughed softly at him, and he smiled a little bigger.

“Thanks, guys. Seriously, though, I’m sorry for falling to pieces like that. I don’t know what happened,” I frowned, but the mood in the car had lightened considerably. “Sorry I got your jacket wet,” I added to Kobra, who laughed lightly and waved it off.

“No big deal,” he dismissed again. He glanced over and looked very sincere. I smiled at him. “You’re okay now?”

“Much more okay than before, yeah,” I confirmed, and he smiled back.

“We should be close to the station,” Jet Star pointed out after a few minutes, so I looked out the windows at our surroundings. Not surprisingly, all I saw was desert, rocks, and cacti. Neat.

About five minutes later, I saw the glow of lights painting the night sky slightly lighter over that spot. We pulled into the service station, while all of the guys pulled their masks over their faces. I pulled the scarf up over my mouth, since I hadn’t thought to bring my mask. I felt something plop into my lap, and saw that it was a pair of goggles. Poison winked at me before he pulled his own yellow mask over his face to obscure his features. I pulled the goggles over my eyes before sliding out of the car. There was no one else around, so I opted to stay out by the car while Fun Ghoul, Party Poison, and Kobra Kid went inside. Jet Star filled up the tank of the car, and I leaned against the hood casually, stretching out from the ride. After about half a minute, I felt the need to take a little stroll around the area to relieve some tension from my body. As I reached the edge of the lights from the building, I turned to make my way back towards Jet. That didn’t happen, as I was grabbed from behind.

This is really not my fucking night, I decided.

As I struggled against the grip, I heard someone else murmuring into what seemed to be a walkie-talkie. It sounded like he was giving out the location to whoever was on the other side. This isn’t good.

We were just on the other side of the gas station, just out of the sight of Jet. I could hear the other three coming out of the station, chatting quietly.

“Where’s Freak?” was Ghoul’s question, which I could barely hear over the quiet chatter and the static of the Drac and his device. I struggled harder, but the Drac holding me had grabbed my wrists. Hard. He twisted my arms behind me (far enough to make my shoulders pop) while the other one kept a hand over my mouth to keep my quiet. The Drac holding me kicked the backs of my knees so I fell to a kneeling position.

“She was just here a second ago.” I could hear the frown in Jet’s voice, and I felt guilty. Maybe if I’d told him that I was just walking around for a second, he wouldn’t be so confused. I wandered off while he was busy.

“Freak!” Ghoul and Poison called in unison. I struggled harder against the Drac, who felt the need to kick me in the back. Finally, I was sick of it. Sick of being manhandled all the damn time. Sick of being dragged off, and sick of getting myself injured. I bit down as hard as I could on the Drac’s hand, hard enough to cause pain to shoot through my jaw as I broke through the Drac’s glove and bit into the soft flesh of his hand. He cursed loudly and dropped his walkie-talkie in surprise. The Drac holding me tightened his grip, but he forgot one little detail: my mouth was free now.

“Over here! Guns out, guns out!” I screamed to the guys, and then I heard four pairs of feet heading my way. I struggled to my feet and kicked out backwards, and while I didn’t actually hit the Drac, he moved back and loosened his grip enough that I tore my arms out of his grasp. I turned and did a sort of sloppy wheel kick that connected with the side of the Drac’s head, but the other one had drawn his weapon. I just barely managed to jump out of the way of the ray that he shot when the guys came skidding around the corner. I hunkered down while they made short work of him. They each shot him twice, which I thought was just a smidge excessive, and then Ghoul finished off the other Drac. I frowned and spat out blood.

“Jesus, Freak, are you okay?” Poison demanded, and I nodded.

“I’m fine,” I commented airily before spitting out some more blood. “That’s not mine,” I added quickly as they watched me.

“That’s… a little gross,” Kobra commented, raising his eyebrows.

“So don’t watch,” I advised.

“How do you manage to get into trouble every single place we go?” Ghoul demanded once I was finished spitting out the Drac’s blood. I shrugged.

“It’s a gift. Seriously, though, we need to get the hell out of here. One of those fuckers radioed in our location to God knows how many others. They’ll be heading here shortly if they’re not already.”

They all nodded and sprinted to the car. I was about to follow, but I spotted the walkie-talkie and snatched it. Feeling royally pissed off, I had only one thing to say to whoever was listening.

“Bye bye, boys. Catch you on the flip side.”