Hold on Tight and Don't Look Back

“I’m so stupid,” Exterminator sighed, running a hand through her hair. She fishtailed the car around and sped back toward the house. She was being an idiot, she thought and was worrying her best friend for no reason.

It was obvious from driving for almost an hour that her leg was an issue and that would hold her back. Cyanide, as usual, had a point. Exterminator wouldn’t be much help to find Dr. D and it was important to let her leg heal properly.

It would suck to watch her best friend drive off on a mission without her though. It would be strange to be without her. It would be days or weeks on end, worrying and cursing and hoping she was alive and well.

In the end, it would be for the better.

Exterminator punched the gas, practically flying through the desert. She wanted to get back before Cyanide did something stupid because, let’s face it, Cyanide always did something stupid.

The car flew through the desert. The late afternoon sun was low on the horizon, not quite setting just yet. Her heart jumped when she saw the turn off and dust flew up behind the car.

She was relieved to see the Trans Am and parked next to it, getting out and slamming the door.

She heard her best friend’s voice rising out from the front of the small house and she sighed. It was hard walking after a full day of driving but eventually she got the hang of it. Kobra Kid was the first to see her but he said nothing and didn’t greet her.

“Don’t you dare fucking tell me to calm down, asshole! My injured best friend stormed out of here hours ago and you just wanna wait around!” Cyanide screamed, jabbing her finger into Party’s chest.

“Maybe if you would open your eyes,” he said quietly, “You would see that she’s right there.”
Cyanide spun on her heel, her purple hair flying around and landing on her shoulders. Her cheeks were red with anger and her eyes wide. Relief flashed over her features before she cautiously approached Exterminator, glancing at her friend’s thigh.

“Look, I’m sorry. I’m an idiot for running off like that,” Exterminator shrugged and smiled apologetically.

“No, I’m sorry for making you feel bad. I’m such an asshole sometimes.”

“Sometimes?” Party asked and Cyanide whipped around to give him the finger. Exterminator chuckled and wrapped an arm around her friend’s shoulders. The rickety screen door opened and slammed shut.

“Look who’s back,” came Fun Ghoul’s smooth voice. Exterminator glanced up and smiled at him. He stepped down from the small porch and shoved his hands in his jean pockets. “Hey sunshine, did you tell Baby about the new plan?”

Cyanide scoffed at the nickname and pushed him lightly. “Don’t call me that!” she protested and they all chuckled. She pouted when Kobra reached out and ruffled her hair to tease her.

“Wait, new plan?”

“Yeah, we decided to stick around until your leg gets better. The guys have been on the road for a while and I don’t really want to go alone so we’re going to stay here until you’re all healed up. Kobra said he’d teach me some karate type shit.”

Kobra chuckled and walked away from her, into the house. She ran after him and when she reached him, jumped on his back. Party was having none of that and threw himself on top of both of them. The extra weight caused them all to collapse through the doorway and fall on the floor.

Exterminator laughed and shook her head. Fun Ghoul laughed too and walked over. He wrapped an arm around Exterminator’s waist and helped her walk up to the house. They didn’t speak but she leaned heavily into him, for no reason other than to be close to him.

They found their friends wrestling on the dusty living room floor. Exterminator sat in the armchair in the living room and Fun perched himself precariously on the arm of it. Exterminator found herself content and exhausted from the effort with her leg and laid her head back, dozing.

Cyanide laughed loudly as Party tickled her side, the wrestling match reduced to them ganging up on her. “Okay! Okay! I surrender!”

“Of course you do,” Party smirked, “Just look at us.”

“Aw, your faces aren’t that scary,” Cyanide retaliated. There was silence before Party shook his head.

“That’s it…” he trailed and Cyanide shrieked and bolted into the kitchen. Her giggles could be heard from the living room. Kobra picked himself up and brushed the dust off his pants.

“Well, that was a sickening display,” he said and Fun chuckled.

“Oh leave them alone. I haven’t heard Cy laugh for months,” Exterminator said, not bothering to open her eyes. Fun shrugged and leaned back, closing his own eyes. Kobra peeked into the kitchen.

Cyanide and Party weren’t running around being idiots anymore. Party sat in one of the rickety chairs while Cyanide sat on the table in front of him. His hands rested casually on her thighs as they spoke, his thumbs running circles. She smirked down at him as she spoke.

Kobra stepped into the room, a smirk on his own face. “So how about dinner then?”

*

“And she can cook, this is fuckin’ unbelievable,” Fun exclaimed.

Cyanide shrugged into her makeshift bowl of macaroni and cheese. They’d all agreed to use some of their water to make it and Cyanide had cleaned the pot that was in the cabinet and made the food Fun had produced from the car.

They all sat around the small dining room table to eat their food. Fun had dragged Exterminator in her armchair from the living room and Kobra had lit a few candles. It was still semi-light outside and the laughter coming from the group was uplifting enough to pretend that everything was okay.

“It’s not that hard. It was just difficult to heat it up.”

Party had helped her make a fire outside to cook it. There obviously hadn’t been electricity in the house for a long time. It hadn’t been easy to cook the traditional mac and cheese with a fire pit but she’d managed.

“And modest, look at her, Cy’s the perfect catch,” Fun mocked. She flipped him the finger before she got up and left her bowl on the counter. Everyone laughed and she stretched, goose bumps rising on the small strip of skin under her risen tank top.

“I fucking hate you,” she said playfully, hitting the back of his head. He smirked and she grabbed her jacket off the back of her chair to swing it on. She searched her pockets. “You wanna smoke? I only have one left but we can share it.”

Party glanced up and nodded. His chair scraped back as he stood up to follow her out the door. She walked casually around the side of the house, the cigarette hanging from her lips, so she could watch the sun set gently over the horizon.

They both leaned against the house as she lit it up and took the first drag. There was no argument that she should get it. It was obvious to both of them that they were having a quiet moment. She passed the cigarette to him and blew out the smoke.

Party, unlike Cyanide, smoked quickly and in the time it had taken her to take one drag he had taken two. He twirled the lit cigarette in his fingers before passing it over to her. She chuckled and he smiled a small smile at her.

“I like your tattoo,” he said, his voice soft. He allowed his fingers to brush her thigh gently. Underneath the battered fishnets and above a purple bruise on her knee was an inverted cross. She grinned and slowly blew the smoke in Party’s face.

“Thanks man, that was my first one.”

“It suits you,” he mused, taking the cigarette from her hands and then leaning back against the house thoughtfully.

“I want to get another one,” she said, flipping a hand through her hair, “Maybe a lightning bolt I think those are sick.”

She kicked at the dust with her foot and then smiled up at Party. He smiled back but it didn’t last. Cyanide was starting to get better at realizing when he was sad or mad. Sometimes she found the overwhelming need to help him get out of those moods.

“What’s up buttercup?” she asked. When he handed her the cigarette, she shook her head. “You can finish it.”

“I feel like an asshole. Jet’s been captive for months now and we have no leads except to find Dr. D which is nearly impossible when he’s running. I should be out there and instead I’m at some abandoned house out in the zones living it up with a pretty girl and my friends. It’s ridiculous.”

She stopped the smile from forming on her face and watched as he ran a hand through his hair, frustrated. Cyanide put her hand on his shoulder in what she hoped was a comforting manner. She wasn’t really used to this sort of thing.

“Hey, it’s okay. I’m sure he knows that you’re doing your best. We’ll get him back and when we do, we can just explain that there were a few obstacles in our way,” she said. “And besides, we aren’t exactly ‘living it up’ out here.”

“I guess you’re right,” he sighed.

“Of course I’m right silly,” she said. The sun had set quickly, sinking behind the distant mountains. It was nearly pitch black outside. Party stepped on the cigarette and they walked toward the door together. “Do you really think I’m pretty?”

The red-haired man stopped walking and Cyanide took another step before turning around to look at him. He smiled as if he had the answer to every question in the world. Her breath stopped when he took a step towards her and pushed a lock of purple hair behind her ear before cupping her face.

“Of course I really think you’re pretty babe, you’re gorgeous.”

As he was prone to do, Party left Cyanide breathless and standing alone in the desert. She sighed and followed him into the house. She hated when she was left waiting for something more. If that was his game, he was winning.

“Yeah, I’m going to bed already. I’m exhausted!” Exterminator was saying as Cyanide stepped in. She was in Fun Ghoul’s arms, headed toward the bedroom. Kobra had obviously been picking on her for going to bed so early.

“D’you want me to sleep in there with you?” Cyanide asked, tilting her head to the side before shutting the door. Exterminator bit her lip and looked up at Fun. “Oh. Oh I see. No, that’s cool. Okay, yeah. Fine, okay.”

“Well, um, good night everyone.”

Cyanide locked the door awkwardly. She felt awkward and somewhat alone in this house full of people. While Kobra and Party sat on the floor together looking over the map and making jokes, Cyanide rolled out her mat and stretched out on it.

She wasn’t tired, she was just kind of sad. Every once in a while the stress got to her and she wondered whether this was all worth it. She knew, of course, that it was. The wind whistled past the thin glass frames of the window and she looked up.

“You goin’ to bed darling?” Party asked. She looked in his direction, startled by how close his voice sounded. She hadn’t realized their hushed voices had ceased or that Kobra was no longer in the room.

“I guess so. Not much else to do.”

“I could think of a few things,” Party said, a deviant glint in his eye. Cyanide nearly burst out in giggles at the mere idea of it all. Instead she played it cool, her heart racing, and propped herself up on her elbows.

“Yeah? What might those things be?”

Instead of answering he leaned into her, their lips so close that it was like a magnetic force was pulling them together but each was resisting. Cyanide turned away, looking at the floor. Party’s fingertips turned her chin gently back to face him and their eyes met.

“Cyanide…” he whispered shortly. She bit her lip, looking from his eyes to his lips and then back. She was eager for this and ready. Half of her was about to just kiss him herself when the screen door opened and the two jumped apart.

Kobra Kid was revealed from behind the actual door. He shook his jacket from the dust that had found its way onto him. “The car’s locked Party, you’re just going crazy,” he said as he locked the door.

Cyanide sighed and laid down, turning her back on the boys and curling up. When they each said goodnight she ignored them, choosing to stay silent instead. She was unhappy with how much control Party had over her emotions.

She didn’t trust him, or anyone here for that matter.