Keep Running

When I woke up, that smell of dog food entered my nostrils once again. My eyes slowly opened and I saw Gerard looking down at me with a half-smile on his face as he stroked my hair.

“What time is it?” I squirmed a bit and noticed my head was in Gerard’s lap. That’s why I slept so easily.

“Ray, you got the time?” he looked over at Ray who had dumped a can of Power Pup into a pan and was now setting it in the fire.

Ray glanced down and studied his watch. “6:12.” In the morning, motherfuck, I just barely accept being awaken at 12:20 pm.

“We have to get to Better Living early enough don’t we, babe?” Gerard looked down at me and I smiled wide enough to make the dimples under my bottom lip appear. If you don’t know this, I’ve never blushed in my life. I’m too cool for that, just cheesy smiles.

Frank yawned a big, loud, obnoxious yawn before standing up and walking to a cactus. The next thing I heard was the sound of something wet hitting the surface of the cactus. Wet and cactus, put that together and you have Frank taking a piss in the desert with a girl in his presence.

That classy son of a bitch never lets me down.

Mikey was already up and he was just checking out a comic. I couldn’t make out what comic it was because my glasses weren’t on. Ray kept poking the mush with a stick until it actually looked appetizing.

“Breakfast, Travis!” he put the mixture on a make do plate which was actually a wiped down flat rock. Ray handed me a fork from his mess kit and I smiled, scarfing down the hot food even though it burned my throat. Gerard looked at me in amazement and I stopped chewing.

“Wha?” A little bit of dog food came from the corner of my mouth.

“Nothing, baby.” He used his thumb to get the food off then he ate it, smirking.

“Hypocrite.” Frank coughed.

“Motherf-"
“Okay!” Gerard covered my mouth and I kept eating. When I finished, I threw the can into the fire and stood up.

“Alright, time to kick ass!” My confidence kicked in and I started bouncing on my heels. Mikey put his hand on my shoulder to calm me down.

“First things first, you need an appearance change and a Killjoy name. I know a place to get your gun, so don’t worry.”

“We have spare clothes in the back, don’t we? We raided that one clothing store that went out of business.” Ray walked me over to the trunk of the Trans Am and popped it open, showing me clothes that looked absolutely amazing. It was an oversized grey shirt with a shimmery gold collar, black skinny jeans, black and gold Converse, and gold rimmed aviators with black lens. I honestly just fell in love again. I changed into the clothes and picked up my black leather jacket that I’d been wearing. Ray raised his eyebrow and sighed.

“I guess I can’t stop you from wearing that..”

“No you can’t.” With that, my jacket wrapped me comfortably and I felt complete. I ran my fingers across my gold and silver bracelets again to remind myself why I trusted these damn Killjoys. Gerard must’ve noticed me fidgeting with my bracelets because his arm snaked around my waist to reassure me. He led me to the car and we slid in the back with Mikey as Ray got in the driver’s seat and Frank got in the passenger’s seat. Frank seemed awfully quiet besides the time he pissed on the cactus.

Ray readjusted his mirror and started the car, beginning our long journey to Better Living Industries. Might as well been going to hell.

*3 hours later*

“Travie. Travis, honey, wake up.”

“Travis wake the fuck up!”

“Come on, TP, we’re here.”

“Guys, come on, she’s been through a lot.”

I opened my eyes quickly and realized I fell asleep in Gerard’s lap again. He stroked my hair and handed me a gold ray gun with silver writing that said, ‘Thunder Basher’. I grasped the gun and smiled, shaking my hair to move my bangs from my face. Something wet got caught in my eye and I took a closer look at myself in the mirror. My once all dark brown hair had been changed to gold and silver streaked bangs and bright red tips just like Gerard's. It was choppy and layered, which was totally different from my curly hair I previously had.
“You guys cut my hair?” I looked at Gerard as he smiled innocently.

“Guilty.”

“Died it?”

“Guilty.” Mikey piped in.

“My gun?”

“Just because I don’t like you, doesn’t mean I didn’t start to care.” Frank murmured as he pulled his aviators over his eyes.

“Wait..my glasses!” Great, now I won’t even be able to see.

“Contacts. Blink for me, Travie.” Gerard commanded. I did so and felt the comfort of the unfamiliar material in my eyes. Okay, problem solved. “We parked a mile away, like you said. I’ll walk you there.” Gerard hopped out and I did too, giving everyone (even Frank) a hug before walking down the dirt along the road. My sunglasses kept the sunlight away and hid my identity all too well. Gerard pulled his mask onto his beautiful face and took my hand. Before I knew it, my thoughts came out of my mouth.

“I love what you did and all, but now Red won’t realize me.”

“I know and I’m sorry, but you gotta stay safe. Korse has seen you around before, I remember hearing your name when Dr. Death Defying talked about a TP on the radio.”

“Really? Fuck, I’m screwed.” Gerard pulled his mask over his eyes and checked that his ray gun was in place.

“From here on out, I’m just Party Poison and you’re Thunder Basher. On you’re right hip, there should be a gold holster to put you’re ray gun.” I checked my hip and there it was, sitting pretty. My gun fit perfectly and I nodded at the names. We held hands and continued walking down the dirt until we came to the underground entrance. “I’ve been down here before but we were in the Trans-Am. Be careful, keep your ray gun close and…”

“Shoot like hell?” I asked. Gerard brought his lips to mine and kissed me gently.

“And keep me in your heart. I’ll be waiting.” With that, he left. That was enough to get my energy up. I did a hop skip and ran down the tunnel, my black and white Converse squeaking under the damp street. A Draculoid stared at me and brought his gun out and I grabbed mine, shooting him in the chest. I kept running and shot 4 more Draculoids as they came into view. A white door caught my eye and I looked all around before entering. It must’ve been the prison part of BLI because many people began wolf whistling as I walked past the rusted cells.

“Oh shut it, bastards.” I spat as I continued walking, checking to see if I saw Red anywhere. A big red sign flashed ‘MEN’S CELLS’ and I mentally facepalmed myself. I took a deep breath before running straight down and seeing a new sign that read ‘WOMEN’S CELLS’. No one that looked like Red was there and I checked all of the cells.

“Dammit!” I yelled.

“Oh hello my dear.” A dark voice spoke from behind me. Maybe I was a tad too loud.

“Fuck you, Korse.”