I Believe We're The Enemy

Ray’s P.O.V.

Something warm is resting on my stomach when I wake up. I stretch my arms and run my hand over the mysterious object blindly, chuckling as Glory Girl spits out a mouthful of my fingers.

“Comfortable there?” I tease, propping myself up on my elbows so that I can see her. She glares at me.

“I was until you practically socked me in the mouth!” she exclaims quietly. I laugh, and she turns over onto her side, grinning, and proceeds to fall back asleep. Momentarily struck by affection, I let myself run my fingers through her hair and stroke her cheeks, being as gentle as I can to avoid startling her.

Suddenly, the door at the end of the hallway opens, and a row of dracs marches in, heading straight for our cell. My throat dries up and I shake Glory awake, clutching her slender body to my chest protectively. Korse’s monotonous voice buzzes amongst those of his followers.

“Separate them and get the boy. Yes, you idiots, the one with the curly hair. Just because he screams like a girl doesn’t mean he is one.” I sting a little at the rude comment, but I remain brave, holding on to Glory Girl’s skinny fingers for as long as I can before I’m dragged away.

Just as I reach the door the dracs came in through, Korse says something to Glory Girl that I don’t hear, and she starts shrieking. “Ray, no, don’t let them take you, they’re going to kill you!” she screams, clutching desperately at the bars of our cell. I turn to look back at her and, for the second time, I actually see tears streaking down her face. Korse looks at her for a long moment, apparently pondering something, and then he speaks again.

“You’ve had a long enough stay here,” he says loudly. Glory Girl gives him a strange look, unable to mask her fear. Korse turns to the dracs not occupied with restraining me. “Terminate the girl.”

“NO! Glory, no! Don’t hurt her! I swear, if you touch her-” I’m cut off as Korse slaps me across the face so hard that I can feel blood pouring from my lips.

“Shut up, Jet-Star. I’m done with you.”

The dracs hustle me into the usual room, locking me into the chair without the normal jeers and garbled insults. Even they seem somewhat subdued by the prospect of death, even though it’s mine rather than theirs. They leave the room to control their weapons by machinery as usual, but after a loud crash from outside, everything is silent and motionless. I have no power to do anything except sit and wait for my death, unable to move a muscle to stop it. Then the door opens and a voice, the one and only voice that makes everything seem okay, rings out.

“Ray?”

Ginny’s P.O.V.

I’m racing across the room toward Ray before he even has the time to look up, but by the way his entire body relaxes at the sound of my voice, I can tell that he heard me. My arms wrap around his neck instantly as I fly onto his lap, my knees landing on the chair on either side of his. Our lips collide once, twice, three times, our tongues making their way into each other’s mouths as our passionate kiss grows in intensity. My fingers find the switches that free his arms, and his hands fly to my back, pulling me closer to his body.

When I finally lean back, he looks up at me hesitantly, as if he doesn’t want me to see his face. He has good reasons; to anyone else, the scars, the choppy, mismatches haircut, and the exhausted resignation showing in his stress-filled eyes would’ve instantly deemed him ugly. But every time I see him, I can’t stop the rush of affection from streaming across my face, and it makes me smile. When he sees me beaming at him with a kind of love that I could never quench, his face finally breaks into a relieved grin, and he instantly turns from a hideous prisoner to a beautiful prince. I lean in to kiss him again, but Gerard peeks his head in and stops me.

“You found him?” he squeals, starting to trot across the room toward us. I turn around so that my back is to Ray, but I’m still sitting on his lap, and his arms wrap around my waist lovingly.

“Hi Gee,” Ray says sleepily. I can’t do anything but smile.

“Well, I’m glad to see you again, Ray, but we need to hurry up and get out of here. You guys will have time to be lovey-dovey later,” he replies. Ray rests his chin on my shoulder gently.

“You don’t understand, Gerard,” he murmurs, his arms squeezing my waist gently. In agreement, I lean my head back on his shoulder, tilting my face into his neck.

Gerard sighs. “Ray, I know you’ve missed her, and trust me, she missed you just as much, but if we don’t leave soon you’re not gong to get much time with her again. Ever. Plus, we have to find Frank and Mikey too,” he finishes, bending down to free Ray’s waist and ankles from the metal bands strapping him down.

Ray kisses my neck one more time before reluctantly letting Gerard pull me of his lap, but the moment he’s standing I fly into his arms again. Only then do I realize how skinny and tender Ray is; he flinches at even the gentlest of touches and I can feel his ribs easily through his filthy shirt. I take his hand, finding the one that shows less signs of razor-induced damage, and stay by his side as Gerard leads us silently through the halls of Battery City. We meet Frank and Mikey is a central corridor, and they both give Ray gentle hugs. Frank adds a jealous glance when he thinks nobody’s looking.

Suddenly, Ray stops dead, his face darkening with horror. “Wait,” he blurts, looking around. “We can’t leave yet. Th-there’s someone else...” We all turn to look at him anxiously. A nearby elevator dings.

“Ray, we have to get out now,” Frank growls.

Ray looks as if he’s about to cry. “Please, she’s my best friend, she’s been here for three years and every single person on planet Earth that she’s ever loved has bled to death before her eyes... She’s amazing, and she doesn’t deserve to stay here. I think they were going to kill her. Please, don’t leave her behind!” His voice has turned shrill now, and I can see tears welling in his eyes, but nobody moves.

“I’ll go,” Mikey finally volunteers. “You all can go out to the car, and I’ll meet you there. What’s her name?”

Ray coughs. “Glory Girl. Thank you, Mikey.”

“Thank me later,” he replies.

Gerard rushes us out to the car, only taking down a small patrol of three dracs on the way. Once the Trans Am starts, he drives it back toward Battery City, stopping just outside the gates. Rays of light fill the open air, and moments later a tall girl with dark brown hair and bright pink cheeks is literally tossed into the backseat. Mikey, running for his life from the multitudes of dracs following him, jumps in after her, and Gerard floors the gas pedal.

Ray pulls me onto his lap, getting me out of the way, as Mikey pushes the unconscious Glory Girl into a sitting position. Not only is she tall, but she’s also quite good-looking; her pleasantly round face, slender features, and thin but appealing figure obviously haven’t gone unnoticed by the boys. Mikey, however, ignores all of this as he uses a few spare scraps of cloth hidden in the backseat to blot the blood away from her darkly tanned skin. It seems that the dracs really were trying to kill her, because her arms, stomach, neck, and upper chest have been completely shredded by razors. Oddly, they left her face untouched.

We get back to the hotel in half the time it took going the other way. Frank and I help a weakened Ray climb the stairs while Gerard and Mikey carry Glory Girl up to our rooms, laying her out on the couch opposite from where Mikey usually sleeps. The moment we walk through the door to the main room, Ray grabs my wrists and pushes me into the wall, his lips finding mine as if they’re magnetized. I find myself smiling into the kiss, because it feels amazing to actually be with him again.

When he finally detaches his lips from my own, he pulls me into a long, warm hug, holding me with all the strength left in his emaciated, sleep-deprived arms. “I love you,” I whisper, running my palms over the first few curls of silky hair to grow back on his head. I know that his hair will be back in full force soon, but I still miss having something to tangle my fingers in while I kiss him.

He leans his head on top of mine, enveloping me in his embrace. “I love you too, Ginny,” he murmurs. “I always will.”

“Ginny, Ray, Frank, come help us, please,” Gerard calls. When I look over, I see that Mikey and Gerard are trying desperately to staunch the flow of blood from Glory Girl’s mauled body, but she’s bleeding in so many places that it’s nearly impossible. I hear Ray’s breath catch in his throat, and he rushes over to clutch one of her mangled hands in his own. The flow of jealousy that I expect isn’t present; Ray obviously loves this girl, but as nothing more than a good friend.

I join in their efforts, quickly blotting and bandaging her stomach. Before seeing her so close up, I had thought that Ray was unnaturally thin, but after three years in the Battery City prison, Glory Girl looks as if she might waste away any moment. Between that and the blood practically pouring from her body, it doesn’t seem likely that she’ll survive. However, I know that Ray will be utterly broken if she doesn’t, so I do my best to save her.

After another half hour, the only part of Glory Girl that’s still openly bleeding is her neck, which we’re hesitant to bandage for fear of cutting off her breathing. I promise to take care of her, and the boys retreat to the hallway to eat somewhere with a little less blood. Realizing that we’re going to need to start feeding Glory Girl as much food as we can possibly fit into her shrunken stomach, I mash up the best meal I can put together, spooning only a couple of fingerfuls into my own mouth. Then I sit back to wait.

Glory Girl’s P.O.V.

Sunlight wakes me up. The brilliant beams of golden light flooding in from a nearby window dance across my face, making my cheeks flush even more than normal. Looking around, I see that I’m lying on a rather dusty old sofa, and a matching one is sitting on the other side of the room. Beyond my feet, I spy a dining table and, father away, a double bed. It looks like I’m in some sort of hotel.

Of course, none of this makes sense. The last thing I remember is being shredded beyond the point of survival before passing out in the torture chair. No, wait, then a skinny blond boy was carrying me. That’s all I can recall. As I look around, I wonder where Ray is, and if the dracs managed to kill him or not. Then my gaze rests on a tiny girl with huge green eyes and bronzy-brown hair, and I jump away from her mistrustfully.

“Oh! You’re awake!” she exclaims quietly. Her voice is soft and charismatic, but not in an annoyingly seductive way, and behind her gentle and curious gaze, I recognize a flash of the same vengeance that never leaves my own eyes.

“You’re Ginny,” I croak softly. She nods.

“That’s me,” she replies, moving toward me smoothly. I flinch away from her touch until I realize that she’s only trying to quench the bleeding from my tattered neck.

“Where’s Ray?” I ask, knowing that I wouldn’t find one without the other. She turns to look at a spot on the wall behind me (a doorway, maybe?) and I hear Ray’s voice ring out.

“Glory Girl?”

I sit up enough to see his face. He looks exhausted and hungry, and his scars (of which he’s accumulated a good number) stand out lividly from his face, but he also seems much happier than I’ve ever seen him before. Seeing him smile like this makes me grin as well.

“Well, come give me a hug already!” I laugh, opening my arms. He races across the room and pulls my body into his own, burying his face in my hair.

“I thought you were dying,” he murmurs, dropping me gently back onto the sofa. He then proceeds to wrap one arm around Ginny’s shoulders and pull her toward himself. She closes her eyes and sighs blissfully.

“I’ve heard a lot about you, Ginny,” I say, changing the subject. She smiles.

“You mean Ray talked you half to death, and the only way you could shut him up was to knock him out with some large, heavy object?” she laughs. I nod solemnly while Ray’s face takes on a look of indignation.

“I don’t talk that much, do I?”

Ginny rolls her eyes. “Yes, you do.”

“Especially about Ginny,” I add. Ginny’s mouth spreads into a wide grin, and Ray blushes slightly. His mumbled excuse doesn’t reach our ears.

“Is she awake?” a high-pitched, slightly nasal voice asks from the doorway through which Ray entered, interrupting our conversation. I sit up again to see a boy much shorter than Ray, with flaming cherry-red hair and wide, sparkling hazel eyes. I identify him as Party Poison, or as Ray calls him, Gerard.

“She is. Glory, this is Gerard,” Ray responds, snaking one arm around my shoulders to catch me as I collapse from the effort of sitting up.

“Nice to meet you, Gerard. Do you guys have any food?” I mumble, too exhausted to speak clearly. Ray pushes an extra pillow behind my back to support me, and Ginny hands me a bowl full of green-and-brown mush. I’m so hungry that I don’t even bother to ask what it is; I trust Ray not to poison me. After I shovel half of the bowl’s contents into my starved mouth, Ray beckons two more boys into the room, identifying them as Frank and Mikey. Frank is a few inches shorter than me, with long, silky-looking black hair and happy green eyes. All in all, he’s adorable. Mikey, on the other hand, is tall and skinny, with stringy blond hair and glowing hazel eyes currently set behind a pair of plastic-rimmed glasses. I wave to them absentmindedly and continue eating.

“Mikey’s the one who got you out of Battery City,” Ray informs me, taking my bowl away from me to give me time to swallow my food before I shove another bite into my mouth. I look up at Mikey again, paying more attention this time, and I’m instantly drawn to his chin. It’s unusual, more defined but yet still smilier than the other boys’.

“Fanksh,” I mutter through a mouthful of mush. He stays quiet for a moment, just staring at me as if intrigued by my presence. I choose to ignore him.

“You’re welcome,” Mikey finally mumbles.

“Mikey, stop being so shy and come over here,” Gerard says with a sigh. Mikey obeys, fidgeting quietly as Gerard gives him a loving hug. “You’re exhausted. Go to sleep.” The taller boy nods silently and lays down on the other couch.

“They’re brothers,” Ray explains, receiving my now-empty bowl as I thrust it into his hands. He then proceeds to fix himself a bowl of food, apparently his second today. Ginny sits cross-legged on the floor next to him and sneaks fingerfuls of mush into her mouth when he’s not looking.

Gerard, who instantly strikes me as the gentlest person I’ve ever met, rearranges my pillow until it’s comfortable and then commands me to sleep, claiming that real, solid rest will help me recover faster. I thank him for his hospitality, at which he rolls his eyes and laughs.

“You’re a Killjoy, Glory Girl. It’s our job to take care of you. Not to mention that Ray obviously likes you a lot, too. He almost panicked when we nearly left you behind,” he says softly, covering most of my body with a tattered old blanket.

“Ray is great. He’s the first person I’ve loved in three years. I never though I would find someone like him, especially after my brothers and all my friends got killed,” I reply bitterly. To my surprise, Gerard hugs me.

“You sound like Ginny. Especially after you flinched away from me like that.”

I look at him in confusion, not even knowing that I had flinched. He laughs.

“Ginny wouldn’t let us touch her at all when we first met her.” Behind him, Ray and Ginny have started making out, their fingers making their way across each other’s backs affectionately. “She was much worse than you. Still, it makes me sad to see someone like you so morphed by drac torture that you’re afraid to make human contact.”

“The dracs only tortured me twice.”

He leans over, smiling just a little bit, and kisses my forehead, at which I definitely jump away. “Watching your heart being torn to pieces and thrown away counts,” he whispers, his soft fingertips resting on the side of my neck for a long moment before he stands up and walks across the room to the bed, where he lays down with his back facing the rest of us. On the other sofa, Mikey shuffles uncomfortably.

One by one, everyone else retreats to their own beds, and as the blazing sun finally sets I turn my body away from Mikey (I’m still not ready to trust the boys, apart from Ray), and very soon I’ve sunken into a deep, dream-free sleep.