Danger Days: The Escape

Lady Killer tapped her stiletto impatiently against the concrete beneath her. He was meant to be there already. She checked her watch again for what felt like the hundredth time. Fun Ghoul was seated in the mustang with the radio in hand; Party Poison wasn’t responding. They were both getting worried.

“I’m going in,” Lady Killer decided abruptly, heading in the direction of the glass doors.

Fun Ghoul sprang to life. “You can’t! If they catch you they won’t keep you alive, not after you escaped.”

“It’s not like Poison to be late. Something’s up and one of us has to go find out what. Stay here and keep trying the radio.”

She threw her hair back over her shoulders and walked quietly but confidently up to the entrance. As she was about to reach for the handle a figure appeared in front of her. There was a BL/IND logo emblazoned to the pocket of his jacket. Her eyes widened and she froze to the spot.

The man looked back at her in almost as much shock as she looked at him. He had blonde hair styled with a side fringe, bright blue eyes, a slight beard, and a black lip ring. His arms were loaded with large folders and loose sheets of paper. He didn’t look like he belonged at BL/IND.

Finally her mind kicked in to gear and she ran back toward the car. They could come back for Party Poison later, but right now they had to run. As she moved the man shouted after her, the voice getting closer.

She was now standing by the car, an alarmed Ghoul behind her. “Don’t come any closer. We have ray guns and we’ll use them. Don’t think that we won’t.”

The man placed the paperwork he’d been holding on the ground then raised his hands as if he were surrendering. “My name’s Bob – Bob Bryar. I’m Korse’s assistant. Don’t hurt me!”

They looked him up and down and lowered their guns; he seemed harmless enough. Lady Killer decided to use him to their advantage.

“Our friend is inside. He was meant to be back here half an hour ago. You’re going to show us where he is.”

“I – I don’t know who you’re talking about,” he stuttered.

Fun Ghoul jumped up. “He has red hair and a yellow mask! He’d stand out, so where is he?!”

The man known as Bob took a cautious step closer to the, they both raised their guns again as a warning; he ceased his movements. Keeping on hand raised in the air, Bob reached into his jacket pocket and retrieved a small hand held device. Panic struck Fun Ghoul, he fired a shot that just missed Bob’s arm. Bob leapt away and threw the device at them, cowering on the ground like a child.

“What is this? Something that’ll tell all your Draculoid friends where we are?” Lady Killer demanded.

Bob shook his head. “No, no, I promise. There’s a map of the building on there. I don’t know who your friend is or where exactly they’d be hiding him if they caught him, but I can show you where to look if they did get him.”

“How do we know we can trust you?” Ghoul asked, turning the device over in his hands.

“Korse terrifies me. You know the old saying ‘if you can’t beat them, join them’? Well I can’t beat him, so it’s safer to work for him than against him. That doesn’t mean I agree with what he does. I’ll help you get your friend out, as much as I can, but I can’t guarantee that you’ll all get out of here alive.”

Lady Killer and Fun Ghoul exchanged glances. They really had no choice. If they went back in BL/IND with no idea where to look for Party Poison they could end up getting captured themselves, leaving Kobra Kid to save them all, and no one knew where he could be. Bob had an honest look about him; if anyone at BL/IND could be trusted, it would be him. The two friends nodded reluctantly, Fun Ghoul took the radio from the car, and Lady Killer grabbed Bob by the collar, pulling him along behind her into the headquarters.

Fun Ghoul picked up all of Bob’s paperwork and handed it to him. “I need my own clothes and weapon back. Can you get them, Bob?”

The timid man nodded. “Just wait here; I’ll only be a few minutes.”

Keeping to his word, Bob returned five minutes later with Fun Ghoul’s clothing piled up in his arms. He handed the clothes over and pulled the green ray gun from his back pocket.

“There’s a bathroom just around that corner, but you’ll need to use my card to get in. Here.”
Bob handed his identification card to Fun Ghoul, who took it cautiously before walking off in the direction of the bathroom.

While waiting for Fun Ghoul to come back, Lady Killer interrogated Bob about his little device. She learnt how to use it quickly and was surprised by all the functions such a small thing could have. The device gave her an interactive map of the building, complete with dots that identified where people were. That was all she would use it for.

A few minutes later Fun Ghoul returned to them in the corridor. Lady Killer and Bob were still fiddling with the device.

“Where would you recommend we start searching for Poison?” Lady Killer asked when she noticed Fun Ghoul had returned.

Bob moved around the map via the touch screen, circling the rooms that they should check. “The best thing to do would be to check all the holding cells first – that’s usually where they put the prisoners when they first catch them – if he’s not there then head down to main control room, Korse spends a lot of his time there so he may have Poison with him, but you’re going to have to be careful around that area, there are Draculoids moving in and out of there constantly. No matter how long it takes you, avoid all the main corridors because there’s almost always someone walking through them.”

“I used the ventilation system to move around the place earlier when I was looking for Ghoul, could I use it to reach the control room?” Lady Killer asked as she looked over the map.

“I’d recommend it. There are vents all over the place, so you can get practically anywhere.” Bob replied. “I could go to the control room and keep Korse busy, if you want.”

“That’d be great, Bob, thanks.” Lady Killer touched his arm gently as a way of showing her appreciation. “Could you give us a boost?”

When safely inside the ventilation system, Fun Ghoul and Lady Killer began their search for Party Poison. Getting to the holding cells was the easy part as Lady Killer had memorised the path there from when she went looking for Ghoul. As they’d expected, all the cells were empty. They spent almost 10 minutes working out the most direct route to the main control room, and actually getting there took just as long.

Hovering above the control room, the pair caught a glimpse of flame red hair. They’d found Poison, but that wasn’t the only familiar thing in the room. On the opposite side of the room, perched beside a computer, sat Jet Star. He was actually working for them! Even though Lady Killer had already been told this, seeing her dear friend in the black suit labelled with the BL/IND logo made it a reality. He had really betrayed them.

As Bob had promised, he was in the control room keeping Korse busy. The almost bald man was being handed sheet after sheet of paper to be signed by his assistant, who was constantly looking for signs of their arrival. Lady Killer waited for him to look up again before slipping a tress of long hair between the slits of the vent. This caught Bob’s attention, making him try harder to distract his evil boss.

“Sir, I have some more paper’s in your office to sign, why don’t we get them out of the way now?” he suggested hopelessly.

“I’ve had enough of this, Bryar, I’ll do the rest later.” Korse replied, waving him away. “Those irritating killjoys managed to get past security; they’re in here somewhere. I know the other one will come looking for him, it’s just a matter of time before she shows up.”

The previously silent Jet Star suddenly decided to speak. “She, Sir?”

“Yes, she.” Korse tapped away on a keyboard for a few moments before a picture came up on the large screen before him. He pointed at it, looking at Jet Star. “This is her here, coming in on the security footage. Do you know who she is?”

Lady Killer and Fun Ghoul noticed a momentary flash of panic and relief in Jet Star’s eye. They both knew that he recognised who it was. But his response surprised them.

“I’ve never seen her before, probably a new recruit,” he dismissed casually. “I wouldn’t worry too much about her. We’ve got Party Poison; Kobra Kid will come for him when he realises he’s missing, then we’ll have them all. They’re probably using her as a distraction.”

Korse seemed to think the notion over. “Hmmm, you’re probably right. I still want her captured in any case. If she can evade our security this well then she is obviously a threat to our success.”

Lady Killer crawled over the vent, further through the metal maze until she was above a different room. She motioned for Fun Ghoul to stay where he was. There was absolute silence below her; the perfect place. She began to band furiously on the metal, making as much noise as possible. A few seconds later, running could be heard coming toward the room. She crawled back to Fun Ghoul silently, looking down into the control room once she reached him. It was empty apart from Bob, Jet Star, one draculoid, and a lifeless Party Poison.

Together the pair lifted the vent open, making as little noise as possible. Only Bob had noticed the movement, and he became nervous very quickly, especially once he saw a green ray gun lowered into the room, aimed at the draculoid. A second later several green beams were emitted, killing the draculoid instantly. Lady Killer and Fun Ghoul emerged from the open vent moments later, aiming their ray guns at Jet Star, prepared to shoot him if they needed to.

“Kill, you’re alive!” Jet Star ran to hug her, but Lady Killer and Fun Ghoul both fired shots, one to either side of him. He jumped back. “Shit! Guy’s I’m your friend!”

Fun Ghoul scoffed. “You traded us all in for your own safety, what kind of friend does that?”
There was no reply, just a stare off between the two aggravated men. Lady Killer forgot about them and ran to check on Party Poison. He was still breathing, but he didn’t budge, no matter what she tried.

Footsteps suddenly became very clear in the silence.

“They’re coming back; you’ve got to get out of here!” Bob hissed.

Jet Star looked at Fun Ghoul pleadingly. “Please, Ghoul, don’t kill me. We’re friends. Let me help you.”

The footsteps got closer.

“We don’t have time for this, Ghoul; we’ve got to get Poison out of here!” Lady Killer screamed from across the room, now trying to find a way out. Fun Ghoul was looking, too.

Jet Star took the opportunity to take the ray gun from Fun Ghoul’s hands. He pointed it past the killjoys and fired multiple shots, shattering the glass wall.

“Go, take him!” He said, throwing the gun back at Fun Ghoul and running to grab Party Poison’s feet.

Bob ran to join them, helping the three killjoys to move their leader’s limp body from the building. They walked as fast as they could until they reached the car again. Carefully, they laid Party Poison across the backseat of the convertible. Lady Killer leapt in behind the steering wheel, Fun Ghoul sat in the back with Party Poison’s head resting in his lap.

“Please, take me with you. I don’t want to work for Korse; I just panicked when they caught us. I can help you find Kobra.” Jet Star begged. “Please, I’m really sorry.”

Fun Ghoul looked at him with distain. “Once a Drac, always a Drac, Jet. You made your choice.”

“Get in,” Lady Killer said softly.

“What?!” Fun Ghoul was furious.

“He saved us all back there, if he was truly a traitor he would have let Korse find us, or stayed behind to tell him where we were going, but he didn’t. Once a killjoy, always a killjoy, Ghoul. So get in, Jet.” Lady Killer replied, confident this time.

She believed that Jet Star was still a killjoy at heart; she saw it in his eyes twice that day, once when he helped them escape, and a second time when he lied for them. He may have joined BL/IND for two months, but he was a killjoy long before then. There was somebody else who she also believed was a killjoy at heart. She turned to Bob, who stood beside the car.

“You, too, Bob.” She pointed to the backseat. “There’s a spot right there for you, do you want it?”