The Only Hope for Me Is You

I left Lauren with her brother, hoping to God she was all right. I had heard a gunshot as I ran away, and silently prayed Lauren would be all right, even though I did hear her scream. I ran down the hallways, navigating my way back up the stairs, with this kid named Revenge trailing along behind me. I ran up the stairs, and down the halls, back to the prison cells to see gerard and mikey were on their feet again. Gerard was stretching his arms in front of him, and cracked his neck, groaning before shaking his right leg. Mikey was pacing back and forth, stretching one arm with the other, and did a few windmills with his long arms before he turned to look at me and the kid. Frank’s leaning on the table, picking at my makeshift cast, then handed Gerard his mask and Mikey his glasses before looking up notice I was back in the cell. He slumped over to me and wrapped his arms around me, then looked down at Revenge, confused.

“Who’s the kid?” he asked as I hug him tighter.

“This is Revenge,” I said, finally letting Frank go and looking at the small child next to me. “He’s the kid Lauren found when she went out alone.” I say. “But I don’t know anything else other than that…fuck…” Gerard walked over to the kid and bent down, so he was eye level with him.

“Hey, kid,” He said, rubbing dirt off of Revenge’s nose. “Good to see you’re okay.” He rustled his hand through Revenge’s hair, smiling slightly, and the kid giggled. Gerard stood back up, and turned to face me and Frank, who were still holding hands. He took a deep breath, about to talk, but Mikey spoke first.

“Wait, where’s Lauren?” he asked, looking behind me, down the hall, and then back at me. He had put his glasses back on, but the rest of his face was concerned.

“About that…” I said, looking at the floor. “Lauren’s in trouble.”

“What.” Mikey said. I swallowed loudly, then attempted to look at his face to explain, but my gaze went right back to the floor. I felt Frank lightly rubbing my back, and that gave me the courage to speak.

“Exploder had her at gunpoint when I was forced to leave…” I said. “he’s gonna kill Lauren.” As soon as I said this, they all snapped their heads at me, and Frank’s hand squeezed mine so much, it started to hurt.

“WHAT?” Mikey yelled. “Oh fuck this shit…” He started marching out the door, but I reached my hand out and I grabbed his arm, stopping him. His mouth was tight and thin with anger, but he stayed in the room with the rest of us, looking out the door angrily. Frank was still rubbing my back, and Gerard had walked over and put his arm on Mikey’s shoulder for support, but Mikey shrugged it off, and Gerard’s face went from saddened to shocked, his mouth opening slightly as Mikey shook him off. Gerard’s hand stayed where Mikey’s shoulder had been for a few seconds before he brought it back down to his side.

“She said everything’s fine…” I told them all, tears forming. “She just said everything’s…fine.” I looked at Mikey, tears falling, and let go of Frank’s hand to grab Mikey’s.

“Lauren wanted me to tell you that she loves you, Mikey,” I said, choking on my tears, and I heard him whimper slightly, his lips quivering. I looked to Gerard, and then to Frank; both of their faces were stone, and when I looked at them, their gazes fell to the floor.

“She told me to tell you all that. She loves us all, and everything is going to be fine…” I let go of Mikey’s hands, and ran back into Frank’s arms, burying my head in his chest, sobbing. I felt his hand on the back of my head, pressing it closer to his chest, and his other arm was holding us in tight embrace across my back.

“FUCK…” I heard Gerard say, and I knew he was holding back tears, because his voice was shaky. “we have to go, now.” I lifted my head up, and received a light kiss from Frank before looking at Gerard. He felt for his gun in his holster, realized his gun was missing, and started looking around for his gun. I take it out of my belt.

“H-here…” I manage a smile, and he leans in and takes it, puts it in his holster, and lightly kisses my forehead before standing up straight again. I hand Mikey his as well, and wipe my eyes.

“Cy, you gonna be okay?” Gerard asked, and I nodded, wiping my eyes dry.

“I am…but Mikey isn’t…” I said, sniffling. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what was going through his head right now. If I knew that Frank was about to die in less than an hour, I would be going insane right now, doing everything I can to save him. Mikey was so calm and collected…I just don’t know how he did it.

“I think Mikey’s handling it the way Mikey knows best,” Gerard said, looking at his brother on the other side of the room. I nodded. “He’s such a trooper…”

“Y-yeah…let’s just go, and find Lauren, okay?”

“Let’s go,” Gerard said, and we all ran out of the room. Frank and I walked hand in hand, bringing up the rear, and Revenge guided us back down to the room where Lauren and Exploder had been, but it was empty; just a pool of blood from what I could see. Mikey slammed his fist on the wall in anger, causing dust and rubble to fall from where he punched it.

“DAMN IT!” he cried, falling on his knees, picking up Lauren’s bandana from the ground, crying into it. I didn’t know what to do…do I comfort him? Or leave him to his thoughts? I had no idea, so I looked to Frank for support. He nodded, and I unwrapped myself from Frank, and walked over to Mikey, and sat on the ground next to him, putting a hand on his shoulder. It shook with his sobs, and I waited until he finished before saying anything.

“Mikes?” I said soothingly. “Mikey…shh…” I adjusted myself on the ground so I could fully wrap my arms around his thin frame, and he grabbed my hand in his, the other holding Lauren’s bandana, and he looked at me with his shaded eyes, tears rolling down his face.

“Cy…we need to save her. She can’t…I won’t—“

“I know, Mikes…” I said, crying as well. “We will, I promise…now come on, up we go…” I lifted him to his feet, and he walked behind me to the others, sniffling.

“Lauren’s gone,” I said, “But Ray’s still here somewhere…”

“Fucking hell, I forgot about Ray…” Frank said, shaking his head. “I knew something crucial was missing…”

“Nice one, Frank,” Gerard joked, and rolled his eyes before walking back to the stairs. We followed him, Frank’s arm around my waist, and mine around his, helping him walk up the stairs, Revenge bouncing around everyone in childhood fashion. We went back to the cells, looking in every window until Gerard found the one he was in. I pounded the wall again, opening the door, and we all rushed in, not realizing there were Dracs in there with him. It didn’t matter, though, because Gerard took them out in two seconds, firing as he walked, killing them right before they were about to inject Ray with something that resembled neon blue water. Gerard runs over to Ray and unties him, and after Ray stands up, Gerard moves his gaze to the table of needles, grimacing, and literally takes a few steps backwards from them, looking terrified.

“I can’t fucking handle needles, man…they scare the living shit out of me.” He says, looking at them, eyes wide and a disgusted look on his face. I walk over to him and wrap my arm around his shoulder.

“Gee, it’s okay…” I said, putting my head on his shoulder. He rubbed my head, and we walked back over to the others, who were making sure Ray was all right.

“No, really guys, I’m fine…” Ray said. “See, look.” He shook his arms, his, legs, and twisted his neck. “I’m fine, really. You guys got here right on time…”

“We couldn’t let out Torosaurus go down without a fight!” Frank said, slapping him on the back. We laughed at this ancient reference that Frank brought back from its grave, and walked in a group back to the car. I helped Frank get in, and climbed onto his lap, Revenge right behind me, Gerard and Ray in the driver’s and passenger’s seat. Mikey took his Kobra Kid helmet from the trunk and jammed it on his head, and got on the motorcycle. I tossed him the keys through the window and he nodded, putting them in the ignition.

“Back to Dr. D’s!” Gerard yelled at his brother over the noise of the motors of both the car and the bike. Mikey nodded, and waited for Gerard to make a U-Turn, turning around before jetting back off into the desert. Mikey kept pace with us on the bike, and I watched him through the window the entire way back. I heard Frank trying to talk to me, but I was too lost in thought to respond; I was putting myself in Mikey’s position, wondering how the hell he is dealing with the fact that his love was about to die, and there was nothing we could do about it. If it was me in his position, I would have an emotional breakdown, and after Frank died, I wouldn’t even know what to do…I mean, Gerard would always be there for me, helping me through his death, waiting, for after I recovered, but that’s not the same…I loved Frank for so many different reasons, I couldn’t even…

“Cy?” Frank snapped me out of my thoughts.

“Hmm?”

“You okay?”

“No, Frank, I’m not okay…” I turned to look at him. “Trust me.”

“What’s up?” he asked, concerned. I scoffed, and put my head on his shoulder, and saw Revenge sticking his head out of the window on the other side.

“I am putting myself in Mikey’s position…I don’t know what I would to if you were to be taken away to be executed, Frank…I can’t even—“

“Cy, stop it…” H put a finger to my lips. “Cy…I love you too, and I would die for you.” He lifted my chin up, and kissed me passionately on the lips, and all my worries had vanished in that moment. Frank was here now, and I would worry about that awful situation when the time came.

“There’s no need to worry about that now, okay?” I nodded, and put my head back on his chest, and fell asleep to the roar of the engine.

“CY!” I heard, and snapped awake.

“Welcome to the land of the living,” I heard Gerard say. “We’re home now.” I looked out the window, and realized we were. I had fallen asleep, but it felt like it had only been seconds.

“Already?” I moaned, rubbing my eyes, and realized I had drooled on Frank’s shirt. I looked up at him, smiling nervously.

“Sorry…” I said, and he just shrugged.

“No big deal,” he said, smiling. He opened the door for me, and I climbed over him, got out of the car, and bent down to have him wrap his arms around my neck so I could get him out of the car.

“You know, this broken foot thing is getting fucking annoying,” he said. I just laughed, and followed the others inside. Gerard helped me set Frank on the couch and turn on the TV, and noticed the news was on at this time. It was the usual broadcast, full of useless brainwashing, stories about how the pill helped save lives, the usual bullshit. But the story that came on next caught my eye.

“Not too l-kssssssssssssssssssh-, two killjoys by –Bzzz- names of Electronic Joker and –bzzzt-Exploder were seen -krrrrrrrrrrrrrsh- in the desert, running from Better Living Headquarters. The-BZZZ-known to be official members of Better Living Industries, recently hired by Korse himself…”

“WHAT IS THIS SHIT?!” Gerard laughed, leaning close to the screen and pointing at it. “Are they seriously TRYING to make us mad, or die laughing…I can’t even…”.

“Wait, what?” Frank says. “How’d that happen…Lauren wouldn’t do that on purpose, would she??”

“Frank, you dumbass,” I say, and kiss him softly. I saw Mikey stand up and leave the room, without a word, and he slammed the door behind him, his metal Millennium Falcon falling off the door.

“Poor Mikey…” I said. “He’s got so much shit to think about right now…” I frowned, and looked at Ray, Gerard, and Frank. “Guys, don’t worry. If it’s the Lauren I know, she has a plan. She’s playing Exploder. She’s bringing BL/ind down from the inside, I know it.”

“You bet your ass she’s playing him” Gerard said. “She’s so much smarter than him!” He smiled, and put his hands on his hips. “So what are we gonna do now? We can’t just walk right back in…we just got back. Frank’s clearly useless—“

“Hey, fuck you,” he said, pointing at Gerard. “Who saved your ass from death today?”

“Cy did.” He retorted, pointing at me. I grinned, then looked up at Frank, who was not amused.

“Fuck.” He adjusted himself on the couch, crossing his arms across my chest.

“Anyways, Frank’s useless, you are probably tired off your ass, Cy.” He ruffled my hair playfully, smiling, and sitting down next to us. “and quite frankly I’m still fucked up from overdosing. Haven’t done that in years…” He trailed off, lost in thought from his memories. Ray had left the room with Revenge to play with him outside, but I saw him come running in, terrified.

“Guys…you need to see this.” He said, in all seriousness. Confused, Gerard and I followed him outside, and he opened the ammunition cabinet, which revealed a big ass bomb, set to explode in five minutes. Gerard stared at it, shocked, his eyebrows raised.

“Motherfucker….” He said, running his hand through his hair and sighing. “Where’s our bomb expert? On the couch with a fucking broken ankle. It’s gonna take him five fucking minutes to fucking get out here and fucking deactivate it.

“I take it your favorite word is fuck, Gerard,” I said, not even panicking. He looked at me, with a smirk on his face, his eye squinting in the sunlight.

“You got any experience, Cy?” I shrugged, and took a closer look at the wiring of the bomb, and followed the longest wire, around the house, and saw it hooked up to the generator in the back. Gerard and Ray following close behind. I observed the wire, getting on my stomach to get a closer look, and saw it connected to the part of the generator that set off when someone flicked the lights on. Since it was always sunny as fuck during the day, we never used the lights, so this was not even a problem.

“Those fuckers connected it to the light switches,” I told Gerard, turning around to see him standing right above me with Ray and Revenge. “Dumbasses.”

“Ray go tell everyone to NOT use the lights,” Gerard said, and Ray nodded, taking Revenge with him under his arm and left to go inside. Gerard joined me on the ground, lying on his stomach to look at the wiring as well.

“What dumbass thought this was a good idea,” he said. “We live in a desert. We don’t need electricity that much.”

“The fact they hooked it up like this shows SOMEONE was hesitant to go along with it, Gee,” I said, and slid myself completely under the generator, feeling the burn from the heat of the metal.

“Fucking hell, it’s hotter than fuck down here…” I said, already feeling the sweat bead down my neck.

“Cy, don’t hurt yourself—“

“GOD DAMN IT!” I said, burning myself on the wire as I touched it, recoiling my hand back and shaking it vigorously before sucking it in my mouth.

“Now what did I just say?” Gerard asked, grimacing. I laughed.

“Thank you, Safety Inspector,” I said, and took my bandana off my neck and used it as protection to unwrap the massive bundle of wires connected to the metal. Gerard watched me, flinching every time I burnt or shocked myself, and I realized that he still cares about me, but in a way that was more than friendship, I had no idea. Eventually, I unwrap the wires completely, and disconnect them from the metal of the generator, and heard a beeping come from the ammunition cabinet.

“GOT IT!” I yell, and squirmed out from under the generator, getting pulled the rest of the way out with Gerard’s help; he was on his knees and pulled me the rest of the way out by both of my arms, and I ended up on my back in his lap, looking up at him, smiling.

“Well, hello there!” I said, winking. He smiled back, his hair blowing in the wind, and his eyes shining.

“Hey,” He said back, but before anything else could happen I rolled myself off of his lap and stood up, and coiled up the wire, walking back to the bomb in the ammunition cabinet, which had turned off completely from the lack of a power source. Gerard grasped the gigantic bomb on both sides, and used all his strength to pull it out, putting his foot on the side of the wall for support, and put it under his arm, grinning.

“We could use this for so many spare parts, it’s insane…” He said, looking down at me. I smiled at him, and followed him back into the house, to see Frank hobbling over to me and Gerard, looking shocked. Mikey was on the couch, his eyebrows raised, but his eyes vacant, looking out the window. It seemed like he didn’t even care we had almost been blown to smithereens; but that was reasonable. Lauren had been captured once again, and forced to work under BL/ind, for reasons unknown.

“Whoa, look at that beauty!” Frank said, taking it from Gerard, and observing it as he held it high in the air, grinning. Gerard laughed.

“Dumbasses hooked it up to the generator, thinking we actually used power for light.” Se shook his head, chuckling.

“Baha, fuckers,” Frank said, and limped over to the kitchen table, grabbing his tools from the chest on the way. I watched him sit down and take a screwdriver from the bag of tools and he began to disassemble the bomb, a gigantic grin on his face. Gerard and Ray joined him, along with the new addition to our little gang, in the kitchen, and began talking about parts I had no idea about. Revenge sat there, picking up random parts and asking about them, and Frank responded kindly to each question, but still focused on the bomb in front of him.

“What’s this?” Revenge asked, holding up a long, thin hollow pipe. Frank looked up at it, then back down to the body of the bomb.

“That, kiddo, is a pipe bomb,” He explained, unscrewing the face of the bomb off. “It’s used to stuff so much fucking explosives in that narrow hole, you can blast an entire field of Dracs up to the moon in less that twenty seconds.”

“Whoa!” Revenge exclaimed.

“I know!” Frank said happily, and continued working on disassembling the bomb. Ray and Gerard started making dinner.

“Hey, little man, what do you like to eat?” Gerard asked, walking over to Revenge and rubbing his hair.

“Frankenberry Cereal!”

“HOLY FUCK.” Gerard said, amazed. “Guys, this kid’s the shit.” He poked Revenge on the chest and grinned. “Dude, I could go on forever, ranting about the amazingness that is Frankenberry Cereal.” He looked up at the ceiling, crossing his eyes. “The marshmallows, the fact it’s strawberry flavored, but doesn’t taste like strawberries…”

“It turns your milk pink!” Revenge exclaimed,” Gerard turned to look at me, his mouth wide open in happiness, and pointed at Revenge.

“IT TURNS THE MILK FUCKING SUGARY-PINK.” He cried, laughing. “This kid is my spirit animal, I swear,” He said, laughing, and ruffled his hair again. “Pink milk…insanity, right?!”

“Gerard you are a child,” I laughed. Secretly, though, I felt exactly the same way about it. Laughing, I joined them in the kitchen, and Gerard and I were on the hunt for F-Berry cereal, but there was none to be found.

“Do they even make it anymore, or am I just fat?” Gerard asked. “Man, I could use some F-Berry cereal in a motherfuckin bowl right now…” I clapped him on the back, and nodded.

“Me too, Gerard, me too…” He looked at me, shocked.

“Whoa, what? You like it too?!” He asked, amazed.

“It’s the mother fucking pink milk, Gee,” I said, “So sugary and sweet—“ he cut my off by surprising me a tight bear hug.

“Someone who understands!” he cried, and let me go, smiling at me with his small teeth showing. “Finally!” I laughed at him, and lightly punched his shoulder.

“Gerard, you are one unique, crazy motherfucker,” I said. “But that’s why I love you.” I smiled, and he smiled back, and together we walked back into the kitchen and watched Frank take apart the rest of the bomb, yearning for that sweet, semi-strawberry taste that was Frankenberry cereal.