I Believe We're The Enemy

Oh crap, they saw me. I’m dead.

I knew I was wrong. I knew I shouldn’t have tried. Nobody ever makes it out here in this damn desert anyway. Even if you get past the Scarecrow Unit and the draculoids, there’s still the acid rain to deal with, if you don’t have a heatstroke or starve to death first. Everyone says that living a long, boring life in the “lovely” seclusion of the emotionless, blank-white Battery City is far better than all the various deaths one could experience in the zones. Obviously, they keep up with their medication and meditate and all that crap. On the other hand, I’m quite glad that I skipped my pills this morning, or I never could have outwitted all those guards.

Of course, none of that matters now, because I’ve been spotted. The dracs don’t have time to board their motorcycles at this short notice, so they follow me on foot, their white uniforms turning sandy as they kick up the desert dust. My heart pounds so hard in my chest that I’m afraid I’ll throw it up, and I can’t breathe through the debris and fatigue clogging up my throat. Loud, incomprehensible shouts penetrate the early-morning smog, and when I turn my head I see that the dracs are gaining on me, each shot zooming closer and closer to my body. I turn back around, shaking my head, and force my aching legs to move faster even though I know I’m going to die.

Some tiny survival instinct kicks in inside me and I start looking desperately for a place to hide. A huge, bulky object on the horizon catches my eye and I dash toward it, hoping against hope to escape. Another brilliant shot of light careens past my head and I duck, feeling the weird tinge of singing hair above me. As my mysterious hiding place comes into view, I identify it as an old, dented, rust-covered car, too old to even be close to functioning. Crap. Can’t hide in that. Still, as I approach it I turn to dive behind the unwieldy hunk of metal, giving myself at least a few seconds to think.

Before I reach the car another shouting voice joins those of the dracs, but unlike them it’s speaking English. I turn back to look for the source of the sound, my heart thumping extra-hard in fear. All I see is a flash of red, thankfully not the same color as the dracs’ blood-stained masks. Then my feet stumble on the uneven ground and I fall, twisting in midair and landing with a painful thud on my back.

Above me a few laser shots zap by, and an uneven series of footsteps makes a beeline for the car that I’m now at least somewhat hiding behind. I hear the feet trip over the same spot I stumbled on and without warning the air is knocked out of my body as a mass of red and blue falls on top of me. My vision blurs and I tense, expecting to be shot to death before I can escape, but the unidentified bulk remains motionless for several long moments before it finally stirs. A roundish face with soft features and brilliant hazel eyes draws into focus, topped with an even brighter shock of cherry red hair.

“Sorry,” the face mutters. Its voice is kind of high pitched, almost nasal, but definitely male. As he pushes his way off of me I jump away, cowering fearfully on the rocky ground. The embarrassed boy stands, dusting off his royal blue jacket with slender hands, but he doesn’t walk away.

Another voice calls out from my left. “Nice job with those dracs, Gerard. Whatcha got there?” The red-haired boy, Gerard, grins as his noticeably short counterpart marches into my line of vision. This one has longish black hair and shocking green eyes set in a face that seems to embody laughter. He looks down at me in wonderment and leans his head to one side as if to study me better. “Rebel? Runaway? Spy?” I back away from them again, nervousness rising in my throat.

“Well, Frank, I have yet to figure that out,” Gerard replies. His hair reminds me of a traffic light, from back before Better Living Damned Industries came along. Both boys scrutinize me in silence as a third, who looks similar to Gerard but at the same time vastly different, approaches us. Like Gerard, his hair appears to have been dyed, but rather than red it’s a blinding shade of golden-blonde. He’s taller than Gerard and Frank by a wide margin, but the look on his face clearly portrays his anxiety. I wonder for a moment if he’s related to Gerard, because their eyes are the exact same shade of hazel.

“You-you’re just a runaway, right? Not a spy? ‘Cause if you are we-we’re gonna have to shoot you,” the blond boy stammers, his hand straying toward the red-painted laser gun attached to his belt. Panicking, I scoot backwards faster, hoping to escape before they can bring me harm, but I bump into yet another pair of legs, these belonging to a figure leaning against the scratched-up old car. Jumping back into the middle of the circle, I take in the fourth boy. He’s even taller than Gerard’s stuttering look-alike, and his face is shadowed by an enormous curly brown ‘fro. As my eyes adjust to the sunlight I see that his face would be menacing if he wasn’t gazing down at me with a look of almost naive curiosity. He isn’t as skinny as the other boys, but the effects of long-term desert life have become apparent. His round face is tired and worn, and his thin black t-shirt seems to be too tight for his well-muscled torso. If I wasn’t so afraid for my life I would’ve lingered longer on the fact that he’s kinda cute.

“Mikey, that’s not helpful! A spy wouldn’t have busted her lip open running from dracs!” I put a hand to my face and when I pull it away I see that Frank is right; my lip is bleeding. I lick away the blood and hold my fingers to the spot until it stops bleeding. “Spies are well-trained. They don’t just trip over thin air.”

Mikey’s stammer disappears as he shoots back a hasty retort. “Yeah, and Gerard tripped over the same exact bit of thin air. Gerard’s just as skilled as any spy!” Gerard nods enthusiastically.

“Um... As of right now I think we’re just scaring her,” the boy with the fro comments. I sigh inwardly with the relief that at least one of them understands me.

“Well, girl, what’s your name?” Gerard asks, turning to face me fully. My mouth feels as if it’s glued shut. I know that the only way to survive in the zones would be to find other runaways, but now that I have I’m too afraid to even tell them who I am. Damn it, I’m such an idiot, I think, pulling my knees up to my chest anxiously.

“I swear I won’t let Mikey shoot you if you tell us your name. Even if you are a spy, which you obviously aren’t,” Frank says, meeting my nervous gaze. For some absurd reason, I believe him, and I reveal myself before I can come to my senses.

“Virginia,” I croak, my speech slurred by the dust blocking my scratchy throat. Only Gerard seems to have heard me, and after a brief argument he informs the rest of them.

“Well, Virginia, I’m Frank. Those two are Gerard and Mikey--they’re brothers--and the guy with the fro is Ray,” Frank informs me. Ray waves cheerily upon introduction.

“We should get out of here before more dracs show up,” Mikey says quietly. “Virginia, you can come with us or stay here and die by dracs or acid raid or starvation or whatever.” Gerard rolls his eyes at Mikey’s bluntness and helps me to my feet, attempting to hide the hurt on his face as I flinch away from his touch. I still see it. If Mum had never died I wouldn’t be in this mess, and even if I was I wouldn’t be so stupid towards other people. Ugh.

We set off along a thin, overgrown road that must’ve ben pristine black asphalt at some point, our footsteps the only thing to break the post-dawn silence. Frank and Gerard banter back and forth ceaselessly while Mikey listens from Gerard’s other side, his eyes wide as he sucks in every bit of information that comes out of their mouths. I walk behind them with Ray, who isn’t quite as quiet as he seemed at first glance. He adds his own comments to Gerard and Frank’s conversation every once in a while, and he pauses every few minutes to point out some random feature of the desert to me.

“Can I call you Ginny?” he asks, capturing me in his laser-beam brown eyes. My throat dries up way too quickly for me to blame the desert heat. Nobody has called me Ginny since Mum died, not ever. It’s too painful to even remember being called by that name. Still, Ray is too gentle and straightforward to understand that, and I like the way he says it, so I nod, unable to force myself into speech.

“Good. I like that name. Ginny, the mysterious desert princess, recently escaped from the horrid prison stronghold of the evil Battery City to bestow her wisdom and beauty upon the denizens of the California wilderness.” I giggle. “And to help her on her arduous task, she has her friends: Frank the mutant midget, kicked out of the circus for extreme vegetarianism.” Frank gives Ray an incredulous glance, shaking his head, and Ray continues. “Mikey and Gerard, the bright-haired aliens, fallen to earth from the distant and wonderful Planet Way.”

“We come in peace,” Gerard says in a ridiculously squeaky voice, causing Mikey and I to burst out in laughter.

“And last but not least, Ray, the handsome, attractive, charming, intelligent, amazing prince of California, dethroned by the evil Better Living Industries and on the run for his most awesome life.” Frank, Gerard, Mikey, and I are all laughing so hard by now that we have to stop walking just to catch our breath. Ray’s grin is a million miles wide. He suddenly lunges in front of me and kneels on the ground before my feet, grabbing my skinny hands with his own. His skin is rough and callused but still soft, and I manage to avoid flinching.

“Will you, Princess Ginny, accept our most worthwhile help on your dangerous quest?” I’m still giggling, but the inescapable intensity of his brown eyes makes me feel trapped, as if he’s captured me and I can’t get away. Without even realizing it, I nod.

Of course, everyone else chooses this exact moment to turn around and take a long, hard look at Ray and I. The sight of him keeling on the ground, holding my hands (at which I’m not wincing), and staring me right in the eyes with a very serious expression on his face only suggests one thing to them.

“I think Ray’s in love,” Frank says, his mouth widening into an evil grin. Ray turns to face them and drops my hands, blushing. My smile withers away at the same time.

“Ray has a crush,” Mikey pipes loudly. Defiant, Ray starts to stammer a comeback, but is interrupted by Frank.

“Ray and Ginny, sitting in a-” Ray, his face the color of tomatoes, suddenly gets a wicked gleam in his eyes and turns back to me, taking my hands again. His grip is harder this time, and I find myself wanting to wiggle away, but I don’t.

“Ginny, will you marry me?” he asks, doing his best to stifle a bout of hysterical laughter. I feel my entire body tensing, and I want nothing more than to just run away, but before I can even bother to use my brain and think, my mouth replies.

“Sure,” I mutter, starting to laugh. Ray gives a tiny squeal of fake excitement and stands, wrapping his thick arms around me in a suffocating hug. This time I wince. He steps back cautiously, leaving one hand on my shoulder.

“Are you okay?” Ray murmurs, the joking look in his eyes turning into genuine concern. Shit, he actually cares about me. This is going to be harder than I thought. I nod silently, pushing down the anxious lump rising in my throat.

Behind Ray, Frank starts to tremble with silent laughter, and Mikey shakes him, trying to make him stop, while Gerard just bites his lip to keep from giggling. I feel my own face reddening as Ray glances away from me, taking a tentative step back. Gerard bursts out in laugher, his bright hazel eyes squeezing shut.

“Shit, guys, cut it out,” Ray murmurs, embarrassed. “Seriously, we actually find another living human being in this dumb desert and you all have to go and mess it up.” Gerard and Frank just laugh harder, both of them now leaning on Mikey’s bony shoulders for support. I meet Mikey’s gaze as he shakes his head in wonderment.

“I really don’t know what to do with these two sometimes,” Mikey says resignedly, pointing to Frank and Gerard. I smirk hesitantly. Frank has now started to spontaneously slap Gerard, who tries to bit his “midget” friend’s hand whenever it comes near his face.

“Seriously, guys, there are clouds coming this way and we still have another half mile to walk,” Ray says nervously. Frank and Gerard finally pull themselves together and continue their role as trailblazers, chattering aimlessly as we increase our pace to a speedwalk. In the distance we watch as the rain starts, filling the air with a chemical smell. Luckily, shelter, apparently familiar to the boys, appears before the rain can reach us.

“Oh, I forgot! Ginny, we have another friend to introduce you to.” Gerard approaches the battered screen door of the ancient diner at which we’ve arrived, waving for us to follow. “Meet Dr. Death Defying.”

A tall man with a long, greasy black mane and matching facial hair looks up from a table on the other side of the dusty room. He takes off a pair of dark sunglasses to reveal small, squinty brown eyes. “Who’s this, Gerard?” he asks, approaching us with long, smooth footsteps.

“Ginny. She’s a runaway. We found her not far off the road in Zone 2,” Gerard replies. Dr. Death Defying nods.

“Glad somebody’s still fighting back. Welcome to the Killjoys, Ginny,” he says, shaking my hand firmly.

“We call ourselves Killjoys. It’s pretty much a general term for those who rebel against BLI,” Ray murmurs. He’s closer to me than I thought; I can feel his breath tickling my ear as he speaks. For a moment I’m unnaturally aware of his body behind me, his hand lingering around my shoulder, his feet shuffling uncertainly on the rocky ground. Then I shake my head and break the spell, letting my mind wander on to the revelation that Gerard’s hair is the same color as canned beets.

Dr. Death Defying, whom the boys call Dr. D, opens the door wide and invites us in. Ray touches my shoulder to guide me inside, and I flinch reflexively. He jumps back, startled, and unlike Gerard he can’t mask the emotion on his face.

“I’m sorry,” I mutter, refusing to look up at him and see the hurt in his warm eyes. “I... I’m not really used to being touched.” Ray nods silently, but I can tell he still doesn’t understand.

Dr. D studies me for a minute as I sit down, choosing a chair between Ray and Gerard. Frank brings us all food, and interesting medley of stolen BLI stuff, and shuts the main door as the rain starts outside. Even though it’s only the same stuff I’m used to, the small meal tastes amazing. It’s been hours since I’ve eaten.

“This girl ran away for a reason,” Dr. D blurts suddenly. “She didn’t just hate life in Battery City. She’s got a story. Gerard, I can’t believe you haven’t figured that out by now.”

Gerard looks up at me, and I feel incredibly exposed in his intelligent hazel gaze. “Sure, most runaways talk more, but... She seems normal enough to me.” I turn away uncomfortably.

“She won’t let anyone touch her, she hardly ever talks, she’s very distant and she’s scared to death of Mikey,” Dr. D says calculatingly. I look down at my feet and attempt to block out their conversation, my face starting to flush with anxiety.

“Seriously, Ginny, don’t be scared of Mikey. He’s not gonna kill you. He might look tough but really he’s not. He likes unicorns and sushi and when he gets bored he tries to see how many forks he can fit in the toaster before it blows up and kills us all,” Frank says, staring at me with a hilariously straight face. I can’t help but laugh.

“Anyway, Ginny, do you have a story?” Gerard asks me, interrupting Mikey’s stammered comeback. Again, I feel helplessly trapped within his eyes.

I know I shouldn’t tell them. I don’t want to tell them. But I know that this is what I bargained for, so I tell them a story anyway. Of course, the tale that slips out of my mouth just happens to be accurate.

“Once upon a time there was a little girl who lived in a pretty little town near the desert in California with her mother. Her mum was kind, smart, and incredibly beautiful. Everyone called the girl Virginia, except for her mum, who called her Ginny. Even when everybody else was mean, and when nobody would listen, her mum was there for her, and Ginny loved her mum very much.

“One day a bunch of guys with scary vampire masks kidnapped everyone. They used their magic pills to get rid of everybody’s feelings so that nothing mattered anymore. Most people just went along with it and got brainwashed, but not Ginny’s mum. She hated taking her pills and living life without emotions, so she fought back. Not full-scale, just in little ways. Then one day, she talked back to a couple of the mask guys and they shot her, just like that, and left her body lying on the floor and walked away.

“Ginny was miserable. She still took her medication but she felt the pain anyway, felt the loneliness. Her life meant nothing. SHe lived like that for four long years, until a few months after her fifteenth birthday she just couldn’t stand all the pent-up sadness and anger, so she ran away.” I’m shaking harder than an earthquake, my eyes squinched up into an uncontrollable glare that I’m careful to aim at the floor. I feel tears welling up in my eyelids but I refuse to cry in front of the boys. Instead, I bite my lip until it goes numb, letting the physical hurt overwhelm what’s inside.

Before I can look up and watch the boys slowly process my story my chair is being dragged across the floor, away from Gerard, and a pair of warm, solid arms wraps around my chest. For I moment I panic, but then I realize it’s just Ray, and for some unexplainable reason I turn and bury my face in his shirt, letting his scent drown out that of the acidic rain outside. He leans his head on mine and begins to whisper tiny words of comfort, some of his curly brown hair falling from behind his ears and tickling my cheeks.

All of a sudden I realize what I’m doing and I jerk backwards, knocking both Ray and myself out of our chairs. I curl up into a little ball on the floor, hiding my face so that they can’t see the tears finally straggling down my face, away from my eyes. I was way too close to making contact, to having friends. These guys are just my allies, end of story. I can’t get too close to them or I’ll just go through the same pain I went through with Mum again when they die. Everyone dies in the end.

I’m vaguely aware of Ray crawling to where I lay and trying to comfort me, but I shut him out, not letting myself remember how wonderful it felt to forget everything and relax in his embrace. He gives up quickly and rushes into another room, leaving Gerard and Frank to try and console me. A small spot of wetness has appeared on my shirt where Ray’s head was bent over me. Apparently, he was crying just as hard as I am. I sigh.

If he thinks caring about me is such a good idea, he should think again.