I Believe We're The Enemy

Ray’s P.O.V.

For the rest of the week after Frank’s mysterious breakdown, he is the definition of miserable. He follows the Way brothers around everywhere, adamantly refusing to talk to anyone else, and every morning I wake to find him huddled fearfully in Gerard’s arms, fast asleep but in powerful insistence on staying with his friend. Gerard does his best to comfort him, but nothing seems to work. Though Ginny seemed to be the trigger of his funk, it doesn’t seem to have all that much to do with her, even though he avoids her as if she’s venomous.

Glory Girl seems oblivious to all of this, She continues to befriend Ginny, and the two of them often chatter about “girl things”--a topic on which they refuse to elaborate to me. However, I manage to catch Mikey’s name a lot, as well as, sometimes, my own. All else that reaches my ears consists of lot of random giggling. I wonder how long it’s been since Glory has seen another girl; Ginny seems to be working wonders on her.

When Frank first snaps out of his depressive stupor, I know that something is wrong. The energy in his midgety body is unmatched by anything I’ve seen in him before as he races across the room and down the stairs, grabbing Ginny’s gun from her belt of his way. Gerard follows screaming for him to stop, and I trot across the room to the window the two boys had been standing beside. On the horizon, I see the fuzzy likenesses of three dravuloids and, running from them, something short and quite colorful. Within moments, the rest of us are downstairs.

“Frankie, stop!” shouts Gerard, but Frank doesn’t listen. He continues streaking down the road toward the dracs, the two green ray guns in his hands blazing. Gerard stops me at the front door of the hotel, refusing to let anyone else out into the dangerous desert.

“What the hell is he doing?” I ask as a stray laser beam renders his right hand useless.

“I don’t know,” Gerard replies. “I don’t think he even knows.”

We watch in shocked silence as Frank attacks the colorful thing, pushing it to the ground and standing over it protectively as he shoots down the two living dracs with ease. Once we’re positive that there aren’t any more, the five of us rush over to where Frank is now kneeling next to whatever creature he’s rescued from a very painful fate.

“She’s hurt,” he calls, looking back at us desperately. All I can see in a mass of curly brown hair not unlike my own--that is, before the dracs chopped it off.

The rest of us kneel next to Frank, examining this frizzy-haired phenomenon, except for Glory Girl, who takes one look at it and runs back to the hotel, Mikey hot on her heels. Frank brushes the curly hair out of the way to reveal the bruised and sunburned face of a young girl, her wide brown eyes flicking back and forth among our faces fearfully.

“Wh-who are you?” she gasps, flinching away from the burned hand that Frank reaches out to comfort her. Gerard takes charge of the situation, putting an arm around her shoulders and helping her sit up.

“We’re the Fabulous Killjoys,” he says gently, gesturing vaguely at all of us. “I’m Party Poison, a.k.a. Gerard. I’m in charge here, and they all answer to me. Usually.”

Frank giggles. “When we feel like it. Sorry for knocking you down.” She nods in forgiveness.

I offer the girl my hand to shake. She takes it hesitantly, watching me as if I’m about to grow vampire fangs. “I’m Jet-Star. And Ray.” She nods, her eyes narrowing.

“Ginny. Or Letterbomb,” Ginny says softly, introducing herself.

“And I’m Fun Ghoul! Or Fun, or Ghoul, or Frank, or Frankie, or FRANK-IERO-GET-YOUR-ASS-OVER-HERE-BEFORE-I-KICK-IT-HALFWAY-AROUND-THE-UNIVERSE!” I look at Frank curiously; he’s in a much better mood than he’s been in for weeks. The girl lets out a small giggle.

“I-I’m Grace, I guess... I don’t have a Killjoy name. Not yet, at least,” she murmurs.

“But you know what Killjoys are?” I ask, puzzled.

“I was a city rebel,” she explains. “In Glory Girl’s group. Well, that’s what it was three years ago, until everyone started dying off...” She trails off into silence, a furious glare fixed on her naive features.

“Glory...?” I ask softly.

“Yeah. I figure she’s dead by now. Never could get herself out of a tough spot on her won. I saw a name tag for her when I ran out of the City, but I haven’t seen her in three years.”

“You... you were in the city?” Frank asks hesitantly.

Grace sighs. “Yeah, they caught me a few days ago. Then, a few days back, there was some sort of commotion in Battery City and I just kinda slipped out.” That’s when they rescued me.

“Wait... You’ve been out here, all alone, for... over a week?” Gerard queries, appalled.

She nods.

“Shit,” Frank mutters. “No wonder you couldn’t outrun the dracs.” He helps her to her feet, keeping an arm around her shoulders to support her as she staggers back to the hotel. Seeing her so broken and hurt puts me near tears with shock. Such a young, innocent girl being thrust into Killjoyhood so early--over three years ago!--feels just wrong. No wonder she appears to despise Glory Girl; she has nobody else to blame.

Once we’re inside the hotel, Ginny and Gerard fix Grace some food while Frank and I cover her peeling, reddened skin with dripping rags. She falls asleep the moment she finishes eating, giving Frank a chance to bandage the wound on her right calf. We all sit in tense silence for hours, waiting for Grace to wake up or Glory Girl and Mikey to reveal themselves.

Finally, Mikey emerges from the unoccupied bedroom. “Glory said to come get her when Grace wakes up,” he murmurs. I narrow my eyes uncertainly; there’s definitely a back story to this.

Half an hour later, Grace awakes, shaking violently as her caramel-brown eyes snap open. Frank hugs her gently as a means of comfort, and she slowly wraps her skinny arms around him and hugs him back. Mikey leaves to fetch Glory Girl, and the rest of us cluster around Grace, asking her if she’s alright in our own various ways.”

“I’m fine,” she mumbles, sitting up and shaking Frank’s hands away from her. He sits down on the arm of the sofa, still watching her as if she’s about to drop dead any moment.

“H-hi, Grace,” Glory stutters nervously, appearing behind us. Grace jumps, looking all around the room, and when her eyes fix on GLory Girl, her entire face contorts with rage.

“YOU!” she shrieks. ”What are you doing here?”

“Grace... I... P-please, listen...”

“Listen? Are you kidding me? You should be dead a million times over, and you have the nerve to stand here and try making stupid excuses. I wish you didn’t even exist, Glory Girl. If you had never gotten captured there would still be someone left to fight in that damned city! You always said that the Zone Killjoys were useless cowards, and that the only real fight was in Battery City itself. THERE’S NO FIGHT THERE ANYMORE, BECAUSE THEY ALL DIED IN YOUR NAME!”

We’re all silent. Grace’s voice has reached such a decibel that I doubt I’ll ever be able to hear the same again, and everyone else seems to have a similar reaction. Glory Girl chokes on her words a few times, and finally, with the help of Mikey, who’s still hovering protectively next to her, she manages a reply.

“I know. I saw most of them die... I-”

“You did?” snarls Grace. “Even your brothers? Nate and Daryn?”

Glory nods, shrinking closer to Mikey. “I did.”

“Your second-in-command, Jane?”

“Y-yes.”

“What about Bob?” Glory Girl’s eyes close. “That boy you followed around all the time like a lovesick puppy? The one you used to kiss behind the curtains at the abandoned theater? The one you said you’d die for? How come you wouldn’t even save him? Where is he now, Glory?”

“Dead.” I’ve never seen Glory’s face this pale.

Grace continues, her eyes shooting tongues of flame at Glory Girl. “And Lisa? My sister?”

Glory’s eyes snap open. “Lisa’s dead?”

“Yes!” screams Grace. “I found her body in the trash piles on my way out of the City, and believe me, she was very dead. She would be fine right now if it weren’t for you. ‘Have to find Glory,’ she said. ‘Glory will save us.’ But no, Glory Girl was sitting around in prison completely unharmed, making friends with one of of the Fabulous Killjoys that she had always loathed with every fiber of her being!” With this, Grace stands and storms out into the hallway, slamming the door in her wake.

Mikey takes a small step away from Glory Girl, looking at her with muted disgust. “You hate us?” he murmurs. “All this time I thought you really liked me, but you just hate us?”

Glory bites her lip and looks at Mikey, shaking her head guiltily as the tears start to flow down her face. “I don’t hate you, Mikes... You’re my friend...” She trails off as I cross the room to her in a few easy strides and pull her into my arms, letting her sob into my shoulder at the memories Grace forced her to dig up.

“It’s okay, Glory. Everything is gonna be alright,” I whisper, looking anxiously at Mikey out of the corner of my eye. Glory Girl practically collapses into me, and I sit down on the nearest sofa, pulling her emaciated frame onto my lap. My arms stay firmly wrapped around her body even as she tries to run after Mikey, who storms back into the unused bedroom. In his state, it’s best that he’s left alone. His temper can be deadly.

After a few hours, Grace comes back for more food, but she and Glory Girl refuse to talk to each other. Mikey offers to let Grace have his sofa, and he moves to the floor between the floor between the two couches, where he quickly builds himself a bed out of blankets. Like Grace, he won’t speak to Glory Girl no matter what she tries. He’s convinced that she lied to him, and I can tell that it’s cutting him up more than he’s letting on.

Glory goes to sleep earlier than the rest of us, skipping dinner altogether. After I eat, I walk over to her sofa and sit down next to her, running my fingers through her hair. Though she feigns sleep to keep me from worrying, I know that she won’t drift off at all tonight. She does like Mikey, and a lot, too. I think about inviting her to sleep in Ginny and I’s room, so that she can get away from Kobra Kid, but I know it won’t help, so i kiss her forehead gently instead, hoping that my unconditional love will be enough to soothe her fractured heart.

Right as I’m about to leave, I hear Glory calling my name, and I turn back around, kneeling so that she can whisper and nobody else will hear.

“I love you,” she murmurs, lacing her fingers with my own. I smile.

“I love you too, Glory, and don’t you forget it.”

She sighs. “Tell M-Mikey... Tell him I was wrong to hate him before I even got to know him. And... T-tell him I like him. I really like him.” I nod in agreement and give her a hug, feeling her normal strength begin to return.

“Glory... If you really can’t sleep, or if you’re not comfortable sleeping right next to Grace and Mikey, then you’re welcome in my room,” I offer gently. She rolls her eyes.

“Ray, I’m fine. Plus, I don’t trust you and Ginny not to start snogging while I’m still awake.” I blush.

“You know, we do sleep... Sometimes...”

She laughs quietly. “Right.”

“Just... Consider the offer, okay? You know I’ll take care of you no matter what happens,” I whisper reassuringly.

“As if I don’t owe you enough already.” She dismissed me in a jokingly arrogant way, turning back over, and I leave her to sleep.

Around midnight, I wake up to find Glory Girl fast asleep, huddled against my broad chest, whimpering quietly as she dreams of who-knows-what. Probably Mikey.