The True Lies of the Once Fabulous Killjoys

It was unbelievable what they were doing. Becoming Killjoys again was something Mikey never thought they’d do, but here they were doing just that. He also thought he’d said goodbye to breaking into buildings, and yet here they were about the break into to the medical clinic. He felt uneasy about doing it again, although, it would piss Dr. Lawrence right off when he noticed the missing medications, so he couldn’t really complain.

They were outside the window to the examination room. Mikey was hard at working trying to shift the window open with a crowbar.

“Tell me again, why aren’t we using the door when you have the keys?” Mikey asked.

“The examination room houses all the medical supplies – it also has a security camera. If we walk through the door we’ll be recorded – but if we open the window I’ll be able to shift the camera so it points to a corner. That way we can get when we need and get out unnoticed.”

“I’ll just shut up and let you work,” Mikey said, continuing to jimmy the window with the crowbar.

Lauren watched on impatiently; the longer they spent at the clinic the further Benjamin could be taken. She thought of how scared Benjamin must have been. He had no idea who his dad was and he’d never been in the care of anyone other than herself and the guys, which was only a recent development in itself. The one thing she had made sure of was that Benjamin became a creature of routine and habit; she could guarantee he was confused and upset right now.

“Fuck yeah! About damn time! I did it!” Mikey exclaimed. He lifted the window by hand with ease and gestured inwards. “After you, milady.”

Mikey helped hoist Lauren up onto the windowsill. He let his hand rest on her hip, “to hold you steady” he argued, although he knew that he just wanted to touch her.

Lauren used the crowbar to push the camera out of the way. The medicine cabinets were across from the window and she made her way over to them. Sliding the door open to one of them, she was met with the sight of stacked packets of gauze, bandages, slings, and few other adhesives. She opened up the bag she’d bought with them and told Mikey to fill the bag with them, knowing they’d be needed most. She attended to the more serious medicinal products – Advil, Xanax, morphine, syringes, and so on.

Ten minutes later they were going back through the window. They got back into Mikey’s sedan and headed back to the cottage.

Gerard was already fast at work packing the Trans-AM when they pulled into the driveway. Once they got out of the car he gestured to a small pile of clothes, pillows, and food that needed to be loaded into the mustang.

“Are Ray and Frank back yet?” Lauren asked.

“Not yet. They had a lot more to collect than you two,” Gerard told her. “How’s the travelling going to work out?”

“I think it’d be best if we travel in groups of three.” She looked at both Gerard and Mikey, her expression pained. “We shouldn’t be with the people we have the strongest connections with – so you two can’t be in the same car, and, Gerard, neither can you and Frank, or Bob and Ray.”

“What? No!” Gerard replied shouted. “I’m not leaving my brother and my boyfriend without me.”

“It’s better that way. If either car gets into danger, we’ve got to be as rational as we can – it’s going to be hard enough being rational when we’re all so close, but having people we’re in relationships with will make it even harder. This is one difficulty that can be avoided.”

“Fine,” Gerard conceded. “Who’s going with who?”

“I’m thinking you, Bob, and I take the Trans-AM and, Mikey, you take my mustang with Ray and Frank.”

The mustang screeched to a halt out the front of the cottage. Frank and Ray sprung from the car with panicked looks on their faces. Gerard, Lauren, and Mikey automatically thought the worst.

“Frank’s foot set off the alarm, but we got everything we needed,” Ray announced. He made his way to the back of the car and began extracting camping gear. “I’m not sure if the cops followed us or not.”

Sirens could be heard in the distance, but the sound gradually faded, indicating that the police had gone the other way. With the police no longer a concern, they continued to pack both cars; it was certainly more difficult than it used to be now that they had access to tents and sleeping bags. They were hoping that Bob was having more luck inside.

Bob was oblivious to the buzzing activity around him. He was sucked right back into the BL/IND universe – a place he never thought he’d need to return to. The things he was discovering shocked him. It turned out the BL/IND had been up and running again for the past few months – and right under their noses, too. The Battery City headquarters had been active almost as long – literally next to them. From a map of the city, Bob had uncovered an entrance to the headquarters right beside the studio in which they had recorded Danger Days. He felt stupid for never noticing.

More compounds had been built all over the country in places that had never been affected by the war before. He was certain that the goal of BL/IND this time was to expand their operations so they could take over the entire country instead of just one state. A hunch of his had led him to discover that there were now significant compounds built in New York – a total of three – and Bob was sure that Benjamin would be headed to one of them. He promised himself that over the coming days he would figure out which one.



Ray slammed down the trunk of the mustang and climbed into the passenger seat beside Mikey. He cast a glance over to the Trans-AM where Gerard sat behind the wheel; he gave him a thumbs-up sign. Gerard smiled weakly back at him and revved up the engine. The plan was for the Trans-AM to drive a few blocks away so they could test out the radios. They would then keep up that distance to avoid suspicion.

There was a nervous silence inside the mustang as they watched the Trans-AM’s taillights disappear into the night. It remained until it was broken a couple of minutes later by Lauren’s voice coming out of the radio.

“Can you guys hear me? Over.”

“Yep. Do you want us to follow you now? Over,” Frank replied.

“Yep. Good luck guys. Out.”

The mustang roared to life and took the route that the Trans-AM had just travelled. They hoped that they wouldn’t need the good luck Lauren had wished upon them.

“Let’s drive,” Ray said. “There’s no going back now.”