SING.

I sighed in discontent as we approached the mostly empty gas station. The other guys had gone out for patrol, sticking me with the dutiful obligation of training this little dog. Why did she get to be the new protégée? I was an apt student on the first day; I even killed a Drac my first time out. Why weren’t the guys and the rest of us enough for Dr. D? Did he have to bring along stragglers like this was a charity? Well guess what? This is war. No place for useless hormone bombs of girl’s who can’t fight to save their ass!

I continued gripping the steering wheel, my jaw locking in disappointment. Why wasn’t I enough?

I was so caught up with my self-righteous rant about hating Battery and wanting to rip her guts out, that I didn’t see what was up ahead of us until it was too late. I let the car come to a silent halt. A BL/ind black and white sat in front of the diner. That would have been fine and I would have just killed the inhabitants of the vehicle, were it not for who stood up out of the car, not even bothering to watch his head.

Lead Exterminator: Korse.

His balding skullcap shone in the harsh glare of the sparkling sun up above. He grinned impishly, as a Draculoid handed him what looked like a bottle of alcohol. I didn’t think much of it, until the undead man ripped a piece of jacket off of the Drac, and soaked it in the alcohol, leaving it hanging out of the top. I only had a brief guess at what he was making until he lit it on fire, and then it was clear.

Molotov cocktails.

“Battery.” Dear God, I hoped I could trust her with this, “Once the guys and I distract him,” I pointed at Korse, “Sneak around the back and get Girl out of there, she’s all alone and doesn’t know what’s coming.” All I could do was waiting for the guys; I was far too outnumbered at the moment to do much else. My single manned distraction wouldn’t be half of enough.

Briefly, I saw the flash of the Doctor’s van over the horizon across from where I sat in a pit of anxiety. I saw the car momentarily halt when it saw the simply shiny sight ahead. They charged on, van nearly guttering out at the intense speed. They were going to ram into the convoy, it seemed.

I heard Dr. D growl from beside me, he wasn’t as protective as I was about my vehicle, but he was naturally territorially fierce. He didn’t like scratches either, but he understood the risks, while I didn’t care, no one would cause me to harm my baby.

My heart surged in its chest as the van approached the convoy, hurtling at the fastest speed the grumbling old thing could manage. And then they stopped, sending blinding flurries of sand at the men, effectively blinding them.

I wish I had thought of that, but I hadn’t time to mope. I directed BM to get out of the car with vague hand signals, and smatterings of sign language, she understood, and did as instructed.

I walked out of the automobile, ray gun in tow.

“Come and get me.” I put on my goggles and leapt into the fray, shooting the indiscriminate blobs of white and joining hands with the colorful legions, which returned my gesture with a squeeze of the hand and continued fire.

Soon, however, our clever distraction and the immense fog of dust that came with it faded, leeching back into the ground as if it were rain or any form of moisture. We stood in a complete line-up, next to each other in fairly even intervals. I smirked at my comrades, who grinned impishly back at me. I straightened, facing the opposition as if we were in a civil war, treating them as brothers on the other side. These people might be evil and callous, but I was still going to follow the basic conduct of war. This was all we had left to show that we were men and not beasts.

“Surrender and we’ll let you live. Leave and we’ll let you leave. Force us into action and we will take action. Do not make us kill you.” A cold chuckle nearly escaped from my throat at this. I was perfectly happy to kill them all.

“Let us live? I’m already dead and these fools don’t know left from right. So no, I do not intend to surrender, but guess what?” Before I could guess I felt a surging pain in my left arm, I was hit. My fellows dived in to help me, but I shooed then away once I saw what Korse had prepared for me, or Girl.

This cocktail was a new bar special. C4 and a little charge, but I recognized the extra boost attached to the back. Killjoys called them Killjoy Killers; all I knew was that they emitted a much higher shock wave than normal explosives, and it was triggered by frequency. One word, form the right person turned it on, one word from a different person disabled it. I would assume that the person in charge of the disabling function was currently unavailable.

“You know what this is,” He held a brief pause, throwing the explosive during which I began to dislodge my ray gun from its holster, “Gerard.” My eyes widened something fierce, he knew my name… he knew my name… It was all over.

The sky exploded along with the Diner we called home. Fireworks of ash and lost lambs littered above, falling on our heads like angels’ crying, tears of despair. “Girl!” I shouted, running towards the burning edifice of the diner. Everything seemed slow motion, like each tantalizing moment was extended harshly, forcing my breath out of my chest in steady pace.

Eventually I made it into the blistering heat of the diner, looking in, I saw nothing. The world returned to its normal pace and possibly faster and I ran around the DI_E_ to find Girl and Battery huddled together, some ways away, spitting out dust and blood.

“Girl!” I yelled, with new enthusiasm fueling my vocals. I saw her small form wracked with the terrible work of coughing out the Carbon Monoxide and the similar work of shaking off the shrapnel. That reminded me of the fact that I had a laser burn in my arm and Korse knew my name, but that didn’t matter anymore, she was safe. I hugged her, throwing away the old radio that she had been holding.

“Calm down on the hugs!” She spat out, still getting the burnt taste out of her mouth. I heard the brief squelch of tires as the assumed Korse and his men ran away. The pitter patter of feet returned and I saw the guys walk around the bend out of the corner of my eyes.

“How did you survive? Are you hurt, do you need?” I became a blathering idiot, hugging her again.

“I can’t even hear you Gee!” Motorbaby shouted, shaking her head on the side, as if trying to remove water from her ear. The guys now encircled us, all of them yearning to hear Girl’s miraculous story.

“How did you survive?” I shouted in her ear, trying not to hurt her any more.

“I turned the radio up to the highest setting, but only played the frequency, no words. You know how loud it is! It countered the shock wave and sent us flying, but saved us.” She smiled at Battery, who I continued to ignore only focused on Girl.

“How did you get so smart?” I asked her, letting the guys all have a turn to hug her. She shouted over Mikey’s shoulder.

“Dumb luck! Just like you!” I appreciated the joke for what it was and went to retrieve the cars and Dr. D. Korse would be coming back with reinforcements and it would be best if we got out of dodge.

“Is Battery okay?” the Doctor asked as I got in the car. Of course that would be the first thing he asked. He wouldn’t notice the fact that I had been shot, or that Korse knew my name, only that his precious girl could have the slightest scratch.

“She looks okay. Obviously she won’t talk so I don’t know if there’s anything that hurts.” I basically ‘white’ lied to him, but at least I was trying to pretend that I was trying.

“She can point, though. Did you even ask if she was okay?” I nodded my head no, pulling the car around to the back, so that he could see for himself. That was when I actually looked at her. BM wasn’t in the best of health, she wouldn’t die, but she had a lot of scratches, which increased risk of infection. I felt a pang in my heart strings, but then realized who she was, the puzzle pieces started fitting together…

She was a traitor! How else could Korse have learned my name?

For once though, I ignored my hot-blooded instincts and opted for careful planning. I would talk to the guys and see if they conferred. I couldn’t possibly tell Girl, she would be heartbroken. Why did she have to get so close to her?

“We need to get out of here. Show Pony, take off your skates and drive Dr. D’s van, Dr. D sit in back and take care of the girls. The guys and I will scout ahead for a base, and you follow at a discreet distance.” I coughed in the still smoldering fumes of the flame. Our home was gone, though, and we had to start anew.

All because of her.