Two

In a few minutes, the guys were assembled, we got our ray-guns ready and then took off, barely glancing back to see a few figures dressed in white emerging over the horizon.

"Fuck, they were right." Mikey said.

"If we'd have stayed there any longer, we'd have been ghosted for sure." Gerard said.

"Definitely." Ray added. I guessed the way that the girls had ran - towards the caves of zone 6 - a maze to those who didn't know them.

"Let's go this way." I said, leading my friends to the caves. We were safe - this zone had been our home since Better Living Industries had taken over after the fires of 2012. It was the safest zone for us killjoys, as it was the furthest from Battery City, and the Draculoids and Korse didn't often visit this area.

The Dracs were gaining - nutrition and regular dinners on their side. We reached the caves, and I felt a ray blast zoom past my ear. We reached the inner cave, and the Dracs were hot on our heels. I turned for a second, to see where they were, and saw one aiming directly at me. I saw him reach for the trigger, I was frozen.

Then suddenly I was dragged backwards by a hand grabbing my jacket. I was pulled through a tiny gap in the honeycomb of rocks, and I turned to thank my saviour who was piling the rocks back to block the entrance I'd been pulled through.

"Thanks." I said to the girl I had seen run past me earlier.

"You need to be faster." She snapped at me. "If you want to stay alive."

"Don't be so tough." Revenge said from behind me, and I turned to see the guys and the girl catching their breath in the corner.

"I could have left him for dead!" The girl snapped at Revenge.

"Well you didn't, did you?" Revenge answered. "So don't be mean, hold the attitude. We need all the help we can get these days."

"Oh, be quiet. You won't even be able to remember the old days, you were only a kid! This attitude is what kept us alive all of these years! I've had to look after you since-"

"Hey!" Revenge interrupted, then looked around, seemingly unaware that we had been listening. "Fun Ghoul, this is Psycho." She said, gesturing towards the fuming girl.

"I'm Party Poison." Gerard said from the corner.

"I'm Jet Star." Ray said, standing next to Mikey a little further to the right.

"And I'm Kobra Kid." Mikey said, rubbing some dirt off of his shades.

"Guys this is Revenge." I said.

"Enough with this. They will be gone by now, they're investigating a disturbance and can't afford to waste time." Psycho said, glaring at us all. "C'mon, Revenge." She said. Revenge sighed and followed her through a different tunnel. Their conversation echoed back to us.

"Why do you have to act like this?" Revenge hissed.

"The first thing I learnt was 'trust no one'." Psycho replied. "You're meant to listen to me, Revenge! Remember what we got told when-"

"Hey!" Revenge interrupted. Their voices were fading away, so I moved to where they had entered the tunnel to listen some more.

"- that I saw her die! I watched the life drain from her eyes! Don't underestimate it, Revenge!" Psycho said loudly.

"Hey!" I shouted down the tunnel. I knew I shouldn't just let them walk out on us like this. Their footsteps stopped. "Come back!" I yelled, and it echoed. Then one set of footsteps set off again.

"Psycho! Stop!" Revenge hissed, and then I heard a mixture of noises. Running footsteps, I assumed Revenge was running after Psycho. Then a loud sound of annoyance and the two sets of footsteps aligned again, getting louder this time.

They eventually re-emerged, Revenge practically dragging Psycho by the jacket scruff. Psycho was glaring and mumbling something under her breath.

"What do you want?" Psycho asked. Revenge let go of her and smacked her arm.

"What did I say about being rude?" Revenge said. Psycho fell silent, her eyes cast down to the floor.

"Yes?" Revenge asked, calmly, as if she hadn't just had to talk down her friend.

"Uh, I wondered if... uh," I was feeling really bad, because Psycho didn't want to be here at all.

"He wondered if you wanted to join us on the run. It'd be safer for us all, and we could take it in turns on watch." Gerard said from next to me. Mikey also appeared behind me, and Ray on my other side.

A big grin stretched across Revenge's face, and she looked at Psycho for her response, but her expression was worlds apart from her friend's.

Psycho looked as if she was burning with agony inside, her eyes piercing me, before ripping away to stare at the ground again.

"We'll protect you." Mikey said.

"We'll never let them hurt you." Ray added. Gerard was stood with one hand on his hip.

"That's a promise that would be difficult to keep." Psycho said, her voice carefully controlled.

"C'mon, Psycho." Revenge said, smiling.

"Just do whatever you want, Revenge. You obviously know much better than me. You can stay here with these clowns, or come with me. Whatever you choose, I'm off." Psycho said, giving us each one last look over before storming out.

Revenge was shocked for a few moments, before sending us an apologetic glance and rushing off after her friend. They were gone quicker than before. I turned to face the guys.

Gerard put his hand on his chest. "Wow, my ego hasn't been that hurt since... I don't know when." He chuckled softly, and Mikey frowned.

"They'll never win with that attitude." Mikey said.

"Mikey, you don't know what they've gone through. None of us do. We've had it quite easy to be honest. There's a kid on the transmissions device, Neon Avenger, who has had her family wiped out. At least we have each other." Ray said, folding his arms.

"I guess so..." Mikey answered, placing his ray-gun back in its holster.

"I still say we go after them." Gerard said. I paused.

"We need to get out of here anyway." I said, and we set off down the tunnel towards the light of day.