This Aint a Room Full of Suicides

Sparkler Heart’s P.O.V.

As the Dracs’ lasers rained down on us, we scattered. I plunged behind a rock and took out the nearest Draculoid with a single, bulls-eye shot. The rest of my attempts, however, were not so lucky, and I felt a laser come so close to me that it singed my hair. Across the way, I saw a Drac come up behind Dollface, but a shower of lasers hit it before I even had time to react. Confused, I looked around for the source of so many lasers, but suddenly a gloved hand clamped over my mouth. The horrible, familiar bleach smell choked me, and a raspy voice chuckled behind me as I squirmed. I grappled for my gun, but the sound of a laser from behind cracked through the air and the toxic glove’s grip went slack. I fell to the ground, gasping for breath, but I quickly jumped up again, spun around and trained my gun on my mysterious savior.

The man backed up, surprised. His clothes were not the stark white I expected; in fact they were everything but. He wore a mask, but it was yellow, and his fiery red hair sprouted wildly out from it. He was my height, and we stood eye to eye as he blinked at me.

“Well that’s a nice greeting for someone who just saved your neck,” he said, slightly laughing. “C’mon, put that down, I’m one of you.”
My gun stayed where it was. “Why should I trust you?” I spat.
He sighed, pulled out his yellow ray gun, and chucked it aside. I squinted at the small lettering on the gun and a jolt of recognition hit me…

Dollface’s P.O.V.

Everything was a blur: a mess of sounds, pain, colors, and desert dust. Then, as suddenly as it started, it stopped. My head was throbbing; I vaguely remembered something hitting it from behind. A warm mass fell on top of me and I rolled it off, coming face to face with the dead Drac that almost killed me. A wave of nausea swept over me and my head felt like a balloon about to burst. I rolled onto my back and squinted into the sun, rubbing my eyes to clear the stars and coughing the dust out of my throat. Suddenly a figure above me eclipsed the sun. I blinked, and a smiling face came into view. The face looked at me with concern, whistled, and said, “Man. Looks like you busted your head. Sorry. I ghosted him before he could take you out, but looks like he got a last word in…”
I raised a hand and gingerly touched my head. I brought it back to see my glove covered in blood.
“Anyway. I’m Fun Ghoul.” the stranger said, extending a hand. I took it, and he hoisted me up and draped me over his shoulder in one swift movement. My head throbbed in protest. I had pretty much all my weight on the guy, because he was a lot shorter than me, but he didn’t seem to mind. We trudged over the dunes faster than I would like.
“Hey, guys! Where are you? I found someone!”
His voice trailed off as the desert landscape faded to black.

Summer Fever’s P.O.V.

Sun glared in my glasses and my heart was racing. Everything seemed electrified from the pink tint of my beloved Aviators. I gripped my gun with white knuckles and blasted the approaching Drac –boom, boom, BOOM! I probably would’ve kept shooting if it wasn’t for the several other beams from different directions that also attacked my target. I frowned. Stealing my thunder, eh, Spark and Doll? But why were there four beams…?

Suddenly the noise stopped. I blinked and slightly relaxed my grip on my gun but kept it up. I stepped out from my boulder and warily scanned my surroundings, adrenaline still pumping.

“Drop it, motorbaby-“

I whipped around and shrieked when I saw a man behind me, firing before I could think. My shot was way off, but the man swore and ducked, then raised his arms in surrender. “Holy shit, woman! Easy with that thing, I’m not a Drac!”

I furrowed my brow, but lowered my gun. Seeing this, the man uneasily rose and dusted himself off. He was tall and skinny, with a red jacket over a yellow and black printed t-shirt. Sunglasses rested on his thin, angular face. He ran a hand through his longish blond hair and looked at me. I couldn’t see his eyes under his shades, so his stare made me uncomfortable. I felt like I had seen this man before…

A voice from behind broke our brief face-off. “Kobra Kid, what the hell is- oh! Hello, who’s this?”
I turned to see a fro. A crazy one. It took me by surprise, but as I scanned the man’s face and noticed the space helmet he was carrying, a wave of recognition crashed over me. Kobra… Kobra Kid! I know that name! and I know this fro- Jet Star! Holy shit… I just almost shot one of the FABULOUS KILLJOYS…!!

“Uh… Hey, are you ok? Hello? I’m Jet Star. What’s your name?” he said, extending a hand. I stared bug-eyed, at the hand, not moving. My brain was moving in overdrive, but I was frozen.
I heard a chuckle from behind and Kobra Kid sauntered over, tapping a finger under my chin to close my embarrassing gaping mouth. “Recognize us?’ he said, smirking. Then, softer, “Hey, we don’t bite…”
He had taken his sunglasses off and I stared into his bright hazel eyes. Then I finally came back to reality, my inner flirt nudging me. I cleared my throat, straightened, and smiled. “I’m Summer Fever. And yeah, I know who you are..”

Sparkler Heart’s P.O.V.

“You’re Party Poison.” I spat in realization.
“Pleased to meet you too,” he said, chuckling at my sudden malice. “And who are you?”
“Who wants to know?”
“The person who just saved your life.”
“I was fine on my own!”
“He was choking you and your gun was out of reach. Face it, you were screwed.”
“I’ve gotten out of worse situations!”
“Have you?”
I glared at him and began to turn away. He grabbed my arm to stop me. “Hey, c’mon. I was just looking out for you, not trying to insult you or anything… That’s what Killjoys do.”
“Well thank you very much kind sir, but I do not need looking after.”
He finally threw up his hands in surrender. I walked away, cheeks burning. What the fuck was that? The guy just saved my life and I thank him by being a world class bitch! Fucking pride issues…
I heard a shout from up ahead, and a single laser shot. “Summer…” I muttered under my breath.
Party Poison had caught up to me, a look of concern on his face. “What was that? Hey, how many of you are there?”
“Three.” I said flatly, avoiding his eyes.

From behind some rocks, I saw three figures emerge. The shortest figure was obviously Summer, and she was being the bouncy, adrenaline-high flirt I knew well. The other two were tall; one was thin and blond and the other was stockier and had a blowing mass of afro-ish curly hair. I recognized them as Kobra Kid and Jet Star.

“SPARKLER!” Summer shrieked, running up to me. I clamped a hand over her mouth before she could start squeaking like a regular fan girl. “I know, I know. You almost shot one of the Fabulous Killjoys, and now they’re all here. And they’re all sexy as fuck. I know.”
“Dude, you read my mind! But shut up, they’re right there!” she said, glancing nervously at the three. Kobra Kid was laughing at us. “But wait, where’s Fun Ghoul?”
“And where’s your brother?” I said.

As if on cue, two figures (or rather, one big misshapen figure) staggered out of the dunes. One was short and the other was draped over him.
“Help!” cried the short one, Fun Ghoul, who was panting. He set down the unconscious Dollface as gently as he could. I rushed over to them, beginning to panic. Dollface almost never fainted…
When I got to him and began to examine the source of blood on his shirt, Fun Ghoul told me what happened. “He’ll be alright. I think he’s concussed. But he really shouldn’t be moved… He needs rest and stuff… We can bring him back to our place…” He looked to Gerard for approval, who hesitated for a moment but then nodded curtly.
Summer piped up, trying not to sound too eager. “Yeah, we should! And, um, we could use some food… Sparkler?”
I looked up at Summer, then back at Dollface. I put my selfish grudges aside for him.
“Alright. For Dollface. We should wrap his head up really quick, anybody got a bandanna?” All four of them reached into their pockets, but Party Poison was the first. He handed me his dusty bandanna without a word. We locked eyes for a moment, and I mumbled a ‘thanks,’ my cheeks heating up again. I carefully wrapped the cloth around Dollface’s head. He grunted and squinted, his hand flying up. “Shh, shh, you’re fine..”
He zonked out again as our four new ‘friends’ along with Summer and I hoisted him up, and trudged towards the diner around the corner.