Danger Days: The Escape

What are we going to do?

The question had been plaguing Party Poison’s mind since he’d laid his head down on the pillow that night. Sleep was not coming to him, only images of Kobra Kid. He was picturing all the good times they had had together, and not just those from when they were fighting BL/IND; he was thinking of the ones from before then, way before then. Those memories had been intentionally shut out from his psyche since the war began, but now with the new developments he couldn’t stop them from coming back to him. At that moment, he just wanted to talk about it with someone.

“Ghoul?” he asked out into the silence. “You awake?”

His bed mate stirred beside him. “Yeah?”

“We’re close, right?” he got an incoherent murmur in response. “Then, can I tell you something?”

“Anything,” Ghoul replied, now slightly more alert.”

“Kobra, he’s not just like my brother,” he said quietly, “he is actually my brother.”

Party Poison threw his arm over his eyes when a shocked Fun Ghoul switched the bedside lamp on, illuminating the room. They stared at each other for what felt like a lifetime before Fun Ghoul finally found his voice.

“You can’t be serious? Your brother... but, he’s... Poison, I’m so sorry...”

For the first time since they had begun their mission to stop BL/IND, Party Poison cried. He had been so strong up until that point, even when he was alone in the desert of Zone 6, nut now, with Bob’s discovery, the reality of the situation was starting to set in; his little brother, who he had shared rooms and baths and toys with, was dead. Before they’d sent their parents away to safety he had promised them that he would protect his brother from danger, and he had failed.

Fun Ghoul wriggled closer to him in the bed and enveloped him into a comforting embrace. They stayed like that for a while, Party Poison crying and Fun Ghoul supporting his friend. There was an air of disbelief around them now that the truth was out in the open between the two of them. Fun Ghoul just wished that there was more that he could do for his friend than simply hug him. He wanted to make the tears go away; he wanted to bring Kobra Kid back just to see the man in his arms smile again.

“What if Bob’s wrong?” he asked genuinely after about an hour when Party Poison had stopped crying. They were still holding each other.

“The evidence is too coincidental for him to be wrong. Someone was captured around the same time he vanished and then we all escaped and someone there is ghosted.”

“But do we know that that person was ghosted? Maybe they just escaped?”

“I wish I could believe that, Ghoul... but thanks, for trying to make me feel better,” Party Poison said sombrely. He caught sight of the clock and realised just how late it was. He rolled off Fun Ghoul and laid his head back onto his own pillow. “I’m going to get some sleep, it’s late. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Fun Ghoul switched off the lamp, but not because his friend wanted to sleep, because what he intended to do he’d rather do in the dark. He leaned over the figure next to him and stroked his face gently, then captured his lips with his own. It was just a simple kiss that was over almost as quickly as it had begun, but it symbolised so much between them. That kiss was one of comfort, one that showed how much the other meant to them, and one that represented the new feelings that had developed for each other.

“Good night, Poison.”

That night had been a restless one for the four male killjoys. The new information that was circulating in their minds kept them awake for the majority of the night, and any time that they did manage to fall asleep, a bad dream involving Kobra would wake them in a cold sweat. When they met in the kitchen the next morning for breakfast they were all surprisingly alert, but that could be attributed to the fact that the shower could be heard running upstairs, meaning that they had a limited amount of time to talk about Kobra before Lady Killer would join them in the kitchen.

When Lady Killer entered the kitchen a short time later the avid conversation came to a standstill. She folded her arms across her chest and scanned her eyes over the faces before her. For one brief moment the men thought that they had gotten away with it, but the second that Mona Lisa smile graced her features they knew that they were sunk.

“Do you honestly think that I don’t know what’s going on?” she asked. “I know that you’ve found evidence that suggests Kobra’s dead.”

“How did you...” Fun Ghoul trailed off as she raised an eyebrow to him.

“Last night I was on my way downstairs to get a glass of water and I overheard you all talking.” They all looked t her guiltily. “Unlike you guys, though, I have a plan.”

Jet Star grinned at her, causing his unruly afro to fall and frame his face. “ Trust you to know what to do when the rest of us have nothing. What’s your plan?”

“We’re going to confirm that he’s gone. Pack your things, get dressed, and meet out in the car in an hour, that’s when we leave,” she said and walked out of the room before the others had a chance to argue with her.

“Is she serious?” Bob asked.

“She’s serious,” the other three men replied in unison, before too exiting the kitchen, leaving a very confused Bob behind.

Exactly an hour later the five killjoys were piling into the car after the last of their luggage had been thrown into the boot. Party Poison took his place behind the wheel with Jet Star riding shotgun as he was the best with directions.

“How long will it take?” Jet star asked Bob.

Bob tapped his finger on the screen of his PDA a few times. “If we take the most direct route, ten hours.”

“And if we take the most indirect?” Part Poison asked as he turned around in his seat to face Bob.

Bob looked at everyone gravely. “Nineteen, not including rest breaks and refuelling time.”

They all let out a groan, except for Party Poison who chose to slam the steering wheel with his fist. No one had been prepared for such a long drive. Their journey would not only be lengthy, but arduous as well. Out in the desert they would be safe, but they had to cross through towns and cities at some point, no matter what route they took, and that’s when danger would strike. Korse’s draculoids were already on the lookout for them, if not actively searching; the second one of them caught so much as a glimpse of Party Poison’s red hair they would all be after them. Any time they stopped for a change of drivers, a toilet stop, or to refuel they would be exposing themselves to danger. All these problems were just for the ride to the compound, things would become even worse when they actually arrived. They would have to get inside unnoticed, find where the cells were, and hardest of all, determine if Kobra Kid had ever been in the compound at all.

“There are some positives about this compound,” Bob announced after they had been on the road for almost two hours. He had been silently tapping away on his PDA in the backseat the hole time researching the place.

“Like what?” Party Poison asked, glancing at him briefly in the rear view mirror as he drove along. He doubted that there were any positives.

Bob reviewed a document he had just finished typing. “Well, it’s low security in terms of the technology installed; there’s only the alarm system that guards all the exterior exits, and I know the code to disarm it. It all one building as well, and only two storey’s, which will work in our favour.”

“I thought you said it was biggest compound,” Fun Ghoul pointed out. “It sounds pretty small to me.”

“It is the biggest, it’s not high, but it’s very long. Korse had it built that way so it’s easier to bring people in from more places. And even though it has a very simplistic alarm system, there’s at least a hundred draculoids who work there, thirty of which live there on a permanent basis.”

“Why don’t they catch more people then? You said they’ve only ever had eighteen inmates.” Jet Star asked.

“Most of the people there were caught in the first couple of days of it being open. People learnt to either comply or run in the other direction, I guess.” Bob replied nonchalantly.

The following seventeen hours passed by slowly. They switched drivers every few hours until they were a few miles out from the compound. There had been very few stops during their journey and very little conversation. When you weren’t driving you were getting as much sleep as you could or helping out with the map reading. Thankfully they hadn’t encountered any draculoids, and the only other people they had seen was a car of passing killjoys at around seven o’clock on the outskirts of Zone 19. They’d all instinctively checked the car for any sign of Kobra Kid – he wasn’t there. It was about three the following morning when they had parked themselves in an alley ten miles away from the Zone 30 compound.

“What’s the plan now?” Jet Star asked. He was the current driver, with Bob next to him giving him directions.

Lady Killer was still asleep after swapping positions with Jet Star. Party Poison shook her gently so she would be awake to hear what the plan would be, once they’d figured one out that was.
“I have an idea,” she said groggily after being informed of what was happening. “It would be stupid to go in during the day when we’d have a hundred Drac’s to deal with, so why don’t we get a little closer and scope out a place to hide until later tonight when it’s safe?”

“Kill’s right,” Party Poison said. “We can work out a proper plan of attack later, but right now we’ve got to get as close as possible before sunrise. Where would you suggest, Bob?”

He moved around his PDA for a few minutes before replying. “There’s an abandoned town close to the compound where we can hide. If we go to this apartment block here we can put the car underground in the car park and hide up on the top floor. From there we’ll have a clear view of the compound. We can be there by three-thirty if we leave now.”

They all nodded in agreement, so Jet Star eased the red mustang out of the dark alley way and head for the apartment block Bob and found. Everyone stayed silent for the drive, too afraid to make a sound in case they were found. When they arrived outside the apartment block they encountered the first of three problems they would face before sunrise.

“How are we supposed to get the car underground, Bob?” Party Poison asked sarcastically.

Before them was a downward slopping driveway that had a solid metal gate at the bottom of it. Unlike the barrier at BL/IND in Battery City, this could not be smashed through with the car. They all got out and looked around for a way in but found nothing.

“Don’t they usually have buttons for these things?” Fun Ghoul asked the others.

“Yeah, on remotes, inside the residents cars, dumbass,” Jet Star replied before kicking the gate in frustration.

“Look!” Lady Killer called out to the other. She had found an emergency button on the inside wall of the car park next to the gate. “All we need is something to press it with, then it should open the gate.”

They all looked around for something to use, but everything they found was either too short or too brittle to use. After a few minutes of failed attempts, Bob had an idea. He put a hand inside his new killjoy vest that Lady Killer had sewn for him and pulled out his ray gun. Aiming the barrel at the button, he let off a couple of shots that missed completely until his sixth attempt hit the button directly. The gate slid open, so they quickly got back into the car and drove in before the gate shut on them again.

“Way to go, Bob!” Jet Star clapped him on the back affectionately. “Now we just need to get up to the top floor and we’ll be safe.”

This was when their second problem arose. The emergency button was a back up source of power, so it was designed to work in this kind of situation; the lights in the building were not. When they had left the car park and entered the building itself they had no access to light. Unfortunately, one thing that had been left behind in their hasty packing yesterday morning was a flashlight. Lady Killer was hitting herself on the head as she could picture their flashlights sitting back at the house on the kitchen bench where she had left them when Fun Ghoul had called her upstairs to help him.

“I was never any good at murder in the dark as a kid...” Fun Ghoul said into the darkness.

“Should we just wait for the sun to rise before we head upstairs?” Jet Star asked.

Bob shook his head, even though no one could see. “We can the compound from this building, that means that they can see us, too. We have to get up there before they start arriving to work or we’re risking them finding us.”
“Come on then,” Party Poison called out to them. He had already started moving. “Put your hand on the wall and start walking. Well find the stairwell eventually. Move slowly, and keep talking so we all stay together.”

It took them a while, but eventually they made it up the five flights of stairs to the penthouse on the top floor before sunrise. There were a lot of falls, bumps, and bruises during that time, but they were all essentially unhurt by their mission. Lady Killer had managed to find a couple of candles and a box of matches in one of the rooms of the penthouse. She lit all bar one so they could see, being sure to keep them away from the windows so no draculoids would see. Illuminating the room they were in led to the third problem they would face.

“Kobra’s journal...” Party Poison all most whispered to everybody.

“How can you be sure?” Lady Killer asked.

“I just know.”

In the corner of the spacious living room on a small end table was the crimson leather bound book in question. Party Poison was the only one who recognised it. He remembered the day his grandmother had given it to his brother. It had been a Christmas present to him when he was fourteen because the elderly woman had thought that the boy was ‘too quiet for his own good’ and that he needed ‘something to talk to’; it was the perfect present for him. Kobra Kid only ever wrote in it when he was scared. Party Poison didn’t even realise he’d brought it with him when they’d left home to fight in the war.

He picked up the worn book and ran his fingers across the cover. Ghoul walked over to him and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, encouraging him to open the journal. The thin red ribbon indicated the page of the last entry; Part Poison opened the book to it and read the familiar scrawl.

I’m a horrible person...
Fun Ghoul was taken yesterday and I just drove away in a cloud of dust as those Drac’s pinned him to the ground. I should have helped him.
I’m a coward...
I left my brother and my friends behind. Now I’m just running to save my own skin. And I’m scared that they’ll come looking for me, like they’re looking for Kill.
I deserve to be ghosted...
I can see a BL/IND compound out in the distance. Maybe if they have me, they’ll leave the others alone. I’m going to go there so they’ll catch me and ghost me. It’s what I deserve after deserting Ghoul and everyone else.
So long and goodnight.