Status: Still alive.
The Future Ain't So Bulletproof
AMBUSH
The desert sun was beating down on the tops of our heads as we drove. I threw my arms up in the air, feeling the warm, dry breeze weave its way through my fingers, whipping my hair out of my face, away from the inhumanly large grin stretched out on my lips.
Next to me in the driver’s seat, the little, ginger, freckled faced boy I loved as my brother sat, with a grin equally as wide on his own face. Our identical amber eyes glanced at each other and we laughed, flinging our heads back.
I wasn't sure why I was feeling so elated - maybe it was the warmth and the beautiful surroundings of the Californian desert; the pure, unpolluted air and the red sandstone cliffs. My eyes dropped from the scenery and instead focused on a small purple beetle climbing up the inside of the windshield. It's iridescent shell and pure white legs fascinated me, holding my attention for a few moments. I stared, transfixed, at the shimmering colours, the beeping next to me going unnoticed until a thought struck me - beetles weren't found in these parts anymore; the atmosphere was too toxic for their tiny little bodies.
And then the beeping hit me like a freight train.
I whipped my head around too fast, jarring my neck, but the pain was only brief as what I saw next wiped it completely from my mind.
My brother’s freckled face was no longer visible - it was hidden by a rubber Halloween mask. The face turned slowly towards me, laughing at me with it’s painted, blood coated teeth.
The hands in it’s lap were curled around a small white device, a red LED light blinking up at me in time with the beeping.
A bomb.
The breath I had sucked in to form a scream caught in my throat, my mouth hanging open and my eyes staring wildly at the monster seated beside me.
“Ginger,” it said, still looking directly at me. Ginger? What did that mean? I glanced out of the window quickly, hoping to see a safe place for me to jump out, but the Drac had let go of the steering wheel and we were veering off course, heading towards a small boulder field.
“Ginger,” it said again, this time with more urgency. The car hit the first small boulder and I was thrown into the door.
“Ginger.”
“Stop saying that!” I began to cry, the tears falling fast and coating my face and neck in a sticky, salty moisture. The car continued to bounce violently over the rocks.
A huge sandstone rock was looming ahead of us and we were losing ground fast.
“Ginger!” The bonnet collided with the rock, my whole body was thrown forward and I shut my eyes. Instead of hearing the sound of bending and crushing metal, I only heard a quiet beeping. I opened my eyes, coming face to face with a pale, masked man, gently shaking me awake.
“Party Poison?” I whispered, my voice quivering along with my body. I felt the sweat drip down onto my upper lip whilst the beeping I had thought was a bomb continued. “What’s going on?” In his hand, I saw, Party Poison held his yellow ray gun.
“We’ve picked up a couple of Dracs on the radar,” he spoke quickly, “they're not a real threat but we can't risk them finding this place. We've got to go out and meet them.”
I nodded, still shaken by my nightmare. My heart was slowly returning to its normal position after jumping into my mouth.
Poison led me out into the desert and, after a few minutes of walking, we met up with the rest of the group, who were already in their positions. Even Boom, who was just a child, had her own gun and was poised for the fight.
Just as I was beginning to wonder what my purpose was, Party Poison pulled me aside.
“I want you to watch over Boom,” he muttered, “make sure nothing happens to her.” He moved away before I could agree.
Obeying Poison’s orders, I went to stand with the little girl. She looked at me with huge brown eyes, shining with excitement for the oncoming fight. I smiled back weakly; she was fine, she had a gun. Over the top of her brown hair, I could see Party Poison muttering to Jet-Star, who was nodding every now and then. Had no one noticed I was unarmed?
My time to think came to a sudden end as a white light shot past our group, missing by miles and coming to an abrupt stop in the sand with a slight hiss. The atmosphere changed instantly and a flurry of action exploded around me. I kept my eyes glued to Boom as the first of the ’couple of Dracs’ the radar had picked up appeared. Behind them, another ten, maybe twenty, made their way steadily towards us. I tore my eyes away from the little girl to look at Party Poison, who was staring straight ahead, his face a mixture of worry and anger as he aimed his raygun towards them.
The laser beams kept coming towards us, and the boys fired theirs in return, darting around the sand to dodge the oncoming attack. Soon the Dracs were on us and I found myself weaving between people and minions in my attempt to stay behind Boom.
I had to admit, for a child she was a pretty good shot. As I ducked under an arm, I saw her take out two Dracs without even slowing her pace. I was starting to think Poison had asked me to stick with her for my protection more than hers...
The enemy were thinning fast and I was finding it harder to stay on my feet. I tripped over yet another wwhite-clad body, spraying sand all over myself as I landed. Before I could pick myself back up, I felt a pressure on my back and looked up. I saw Boom before I saw the Drac holding me down with his foot; her gun was laying a little way away in the sand and she was stood still whilst behind her a Drac tightened his arm around her neck. Growling, I tried to push myself off the ground, but the foot on my back pressed harder and I fell back down. I was stuck, and I did the only thing I could do in those situations - I aimed for the balls. Throwing my fist into the Drac’s groin, I felt him crumple above me. I crawled away before he could collect himself and snatched a gun out of the sand. I turned to the Drac holding Boom and knew my aim was terrible so, still acting on impulses, I threw myself into another potentially lethal situation, thrusting the gun into the Drac’s stomach and pulling the trigger. He hit the ground before he had time to react.
I heard the sound of a laser beam being fired and spun around, the little party in my head dissipating, but it was just Kobra finishing off the crippled Drac on the floor.
“Awesome!” I heard as someone patted me on the back. I turned as Fun Ghoul came to stand beside me, smiling.
“You could have got yourself killed,” Kobra said with a mixture of admiration and disapproval.
I nodded, dumbstruck. Party Poison made his way over, assessing the damage.
“Did you see that, Poison?!” Fun Ghoul was almost jumping up and down in his excitement.
"Yeah,” he said simply, then, nodding my way, “you're not as helpless as I first thought.”
I didn't know whether to shout at him or laugh, so I just looked down, a pale blush creeping onto my cheeks.
Much to Fun Ghoul’s disappointment, Party Poison ended the topic of my impressive feat and herded us all back to the diner.
I walked behind everyone else listening to Ghoul’s excited voice give a second by second account of the ambush. Goose pimples were creeping their way onto my exposed arms in the cold, night air. I rubbed my skin in an attempt to keep warm, wishing for nothing but my bed.
But I was not granted my wish. Upon returning to the diner, it was made clear that I would not be sleeping any time soon. The boy's adrenaline had not yet worn off and they were wide awake, having conversation after conversation about a variety of things. I sat in a booth with Boom asleep next to me. I wasn’t participating much. Instead I had both elbows on the table in front of me, propping my head up with my hands and trying my hardest to keep my eyes open.
The noise of someone suddenly sitting opposite me stirred both Boom and myself awake. Party Poison smiled warmly at me as I looked up into his eyes. Without his mask, I could clearly see his hazel eyes and angled nose. His skin was predominantly pale with patches of sunburn on his cheeks, marking where his mask usually was. I returned his gesture, then went back to resting my head on my fists.
I was quickly dropping back off to sleep when the boys started moving towards their beds. An elbow nudged me in my ribs and I snapped my eyes open. Whilst everyone was getting ready to sleep (for a second time), Poison chose his moment to speak.
"That dream you were having," he said casually, "it didn't seem very pleasant."
I stared at the table in front of me, not realising that he'd noticed. Glancing up at him, I saw his gaze held pity and worry, but my pride was hurt, and I clammed up.
"It was nothing," I said curtly.
"Listen," his voice was quiet, "when Boom first came to us, she had nightmares too," he looked down at the sleeping child, "it helps to talk about it."
"I'm not a kid," I said, a little too harsh. Before he had time to reply, I stood up, waking Boom, and stepped over to my bed. Behind me, I heard Poison's signature sigh.
Next to me in the driver’s seat, the little, ginger, freckled faced boy I loved as my brother sat, with a grin equally as wide on his own face. Our identical amber eyes glanced at each other and we laughed, flinging our heads back.
I wasn't sure why I was feeling so elated - maybe it was the warmth and the beautiful surroundings of the Californian desert; the pure, unpolluted air and the red sandstone cliffs. My eyes dropped from the scenery and instead focused on a small purple beetle climbing up the inside of the windshield. It's iridescent shell and pure white legs fascinated me, holding my attention for a few moments. I stared, transfixed, at the shimmering colours, the beeping next to me going unnoticed until a thought struck me - beetles weren't found in these parts anymore; the atmosphere was too toxic for their tiny little bodies.
And then the beeping hit me like a freight train.
I whipped my head around too fast, jarring my neck, but the pain was only brief as what I saw next wiped it completely from my mind.
My brother’s freckled face was no longer visible - it was hidden by a rubber Halloween mask. The face turned slowly towards me, laughing at me with it’s painted, blood coated teeth.
The hands in it’s lap were curled around a small white device, a red LED light blinking up at me in time with the beeping.
A bomb.
The breath I had sucked in to form a scream caught in my throat, my mouth hanging open and my eyes staring wildly at the monster seated beside me.
“Ginger,” it said, still looking directly at me. Ginger? What did that mean? I glanced out of the window quickly, hoping to see a safe place for me to jump out, but the Drac had let go of the steering wheel and we were veering off course, heading towards a small boulder field.
“Ginger,” it said again, this time with more urgency. The car hit the first small boulder and I was thrown into the door.
“Ginger.”
“Stop saying that!” I began to cry, the tears falling fast and coating my face and neck in a sticky, salty moisture. The car continued to bounce violently over the rocks.
A huge sandstone rock was looming ahead of us and we were losing ground fast.
“Ginger!” The bonnet collided with the rock, my whole body was thrown forward and I shut my eyes. Instead of hearing the sound of bending and crushing metal, I only heard a quiet beeping. I opened my eyes, coming face to face with a pale, masked man, gently shaking me awake.
“Party Poison?” I whispered, my voice quivering along with my body. I felt the sweat drip down onto my upper lip whilst the beeping I had thought was a bomb continued. “What’s going on?” In his hand, I saw, Party Poison held his yellow ray gun.
“We’ve picked up a couple of Dracs on the radar,” he spoke quickly, “they're not a real threat but we can't risk them finding this place. We've got to go out and meet them.”
I nodded, still shaken by my nightmare. My heart was slowly returning to its normal position after jumping into my mouth.
Poison led me out into the desert and, after a few minutes of walking, we met up with the rest of the group, who were already in their positions. Even Boom, who was just a child, had her own gun and was poised for the fight.
Just as I was beginning to wonder what my purpose was, Party Poison pulled me aside.
“I want you to watch over Boom,” he muttered, “make sure nothing happens to her.” He moved away before I could agree.
Obeying Poison’s orders, I went to stand with the little girl. She looked at me with huge brown eyes, shining with excitement for the oncoming fight. I smiled back weakly; she was fine, she had a gun. Over the top of her brown hair, I could see Party Poison muttering to Jet-Star, who was nodding every now and then. Had no one noticed I was unarmed?
My time to think came to a sudden end as a white light shot past our group, missing by miles and coming to an abrupt stop in the sand with a slight hiss. The atmosphere changed instantly and a flurry of action exploded around me. I kept my eyes glued to Boom as the first of the ’couple of Dracs’ the radar had picked up appeared. Behind them, another ten, maybe twenty, made their way steadily towards us. I tore my eyes away from the little girl to look at Party Poison, who was staring straight ahead, his face a mixture of worry and anger as he aimed his raygun towards them.
The laser beams kept coming towards us, and the boys fired theirs in return, darting around the sand to dodge the oncoming attack. Soon the Dracs were on us and I found myself weaving between people and minions in my attempt to stay behind Boom.
I had to admit, for a child she was a pretty good shot. As I ducked under an arm, I saw her take out two Dracs without even slowing her pace. I was starting to think Poison had asked me to stick with her for my protection more than hers...
The enemy were thinning fast and I was finding it harder to stay on my feet. I tripped over yet another wwhite-clad body, spraying sand all over myself as I landed. Before I could pick myself back up, I felt a pressure on my back and looked up. I saw Boom before I saw the Drac holding me down with his foot; her gun was laying a little way away in the sand and she was stood still whilst behind her a Drac tightened his arm around her neck. Growling, I tried to push myself off the ground, but the foot on my back pressed harder and I fell back down. I was stuck, and I did the only thing I could do in those situations - I aimed for the balls. Throwing my fist into the Drac’s groin, I felt him crumple above me. I crawled away before he could collect himself and snatched a gun out of the sand. I turned to the Drac holding Boom and knew my aim was terrible so, still acting on impulses, I threw myself into another potentially lethal situation, thrusting the gun into the Drac’s stomach and pulling the trigger. He hit the ground before he had time to react.
I heard the sound of a laser beam being fired and spun around, the little party in my head dissipating, but it was just Kobra finishing off the crippled Drac on the floor.
“Awesome!” I heard as someone patted me on the back. I turned as Fun Ghoul came to stand beside me, smiling.
“You could have got yourself killed,” Kobra said with a mixture of admiration and disapproval.
I nodded, dumbstruck. Party Poison made his way over, assessing the damage.
“Did you see that, Poison?!” Fun Ghoul was almost jumping up and down in his excitement.
"Yeah,” he said simply, then, nodding my way, “you're not as helpless as I first thought.”
I didn't know whether to shout at him or laugh, so I just looked down, a pale blush creeping onto my cheeks.
Much to Fun Ghoul’s disappointment, Party Poison ended the topic of my impressive feat and herded us all back to the diner.
I walked behind everyone else listening to Ghoul’s excited voice give a second by second account of the ambush. Goose pimples were creeping their way onto my exposed arms in the cold, night air. I rubbed my skin in an attempt to keep warm, wishing for nothing but my bed.
But I was not granted my wish. Upon returning to the diner, it was made clear that I would not be sleeping any time soon. The boy's adrenaline had not yet worn off and they were wide awake, having conversation after conversation about a variety of things. I sat in a booth with Boom asleep next to me. I wasn’t participating much. Instead I had both elbows on the table in front of me, propping my head up with my hands and trying my hardest to keep my eyes open.
The noise of someone suddenly sitting opposite me stirred both Boom and myself awake. Party Poison smiled warmly at me as I looked up into his eyes. Without his mask, I could clearly see his hazel eyes and angled nose. His skin was predominantly pale with patches of sunburn on his cheeks, marking where his mask usually was. I returned his gesture, then went back to resting my head on my fists.
I was quickly dropping back off to sleep when the boys started moving towards their beds. An elbow nudged me in my ribs and I snapped my eyes open. Whilst everyone was getting ready to sleep (for a second time), Poison chose his moment to speak.
"That dream you were having," he said casually, "it didn't seem very pleasant."
I stared at the table in front of me, not realising that he'd noticed. Glancing up at him, I saw his gaze held pity and worry, but my pride was hurt, and I clammed up.
"It was nothing," I said curtly.
"Listen," his voice was quiet, "when Boom first came to us, she had nightmares too," he looked down at the sleeping child, "it helps to talk about it."
"I'm not a kid," I said, a little too harsh. Before he had time to reply, I stood up, waking Boom, and stepped over to my bed. Behind me, I heard Poison's signature sigh.
♠ ♠ ♠
Sorry for taking so long (nearly a year) to update. I suppose I got stuck with writing, then kind of forgot about it for a while, then when I tried to get back into it, I'd lost my inspiration. I'll try to be more productive from now on, but first I need to rekindle my love of writing.