Save Yourself, I'll Hold Them Back

I stood still behind the Trans-Am, staring at the quiet, open desert. I didn't blink, and it felt like I couldn't blink at all, as if I didn't have the ability to. All I could do was stare at the sandy climate that stretched out for miles and miles. The lifeless desert.

I felt lifeless. I felt like a statue because I was so still. Motionless. The only thing I could do was breathe.

A cool breeze blew past me, blowing some strands of my long rainbow hair in my face. I brushed it off though. It tickled but I didn't have the urge to move my hair out of my face. I just couldn't! I was completely frozen.

"Not again," I mumbled to myself. "The dream..."

I've been having the same dream for the past few days. It is always the same exact goddamn thing! I say I'll join Korse and his stupid ass company, my friends end up dying and Korse tells me how I killed them. And then... I see myself but it's not a mirror image of myself. Instead, I look brainwashed. A monster.

I shook my head and looked at my feet. It just feels so real... as if it would happen soon. And that dream turned me into a wreck. A few people on my team have been saying I look like I saw a ghost. How I have dark circles under my eyes. I guess I can say I did see a ghost... I mean the other version of me looked like one since she was pale.

I shook my head again and looked at the desert again. "Fuck it," I said, blinking. "Nothing is going to happen. It's just those crazy nightmares everyone gets in the zones."

People say that sometimes the zones will try to test you. Sometimes out of nowhere there will be a huge lightning storm when you're out on patrol. Other times there will be a huge army of Dracs that come when you are by yourself. But on rare occasions you get horrible nightmares. Some so horrible you loose your sanity and then you kill yourself.

I guess it's sort of normal to loose your mind in the desert. Who wouldn't? There is no life out there anywhere. You have to be lucky enough to find some people to make a team! There is barely any food. It's crazy to live out here. You might end up seeing a giant Coke bottle from hallucinating!

I sighed and opened the trunk of the Trans-Am, getting out the gas tank that is always back there in case we run out of gas on a mission. It was my turn to fill it up, and only God knows why. I don't even go in this beat up car unless it's necessary. Like if it's to dangerous for me to ride on my red motorbike. Or if I can just drive the car by myself, which barely happens. It gets crowded in that old thing with the amount of people on the team. I can't stand the crowd or I'll go crazy! But I couldn't complain. I'm on the team and I guess since I was going to get supplies in the first place, I had to fill up the tank.

By "team" I mean the Killjoys. We're the most wanted people ever out here in the zones. Haven't heard of us? Well, you're up for a little story.

Lets start with one of the most worst companies ever. Better Living Industries, also known as BL/IND. Anybody that respects that company is either a major idiot or a brainwashed slave and is blind. They probably are blind too since BL/IND spells blind.

Better Living used to be a good company. They were meant to make people like me, have better lives which is why they're called Better Living. They made pills that would help people feel better and killed aches, pains, and sickness. Headaches, stomach aches, cramps. You name it, they have the pill that will help get rid of it.

They also had a brand of food and even had dog food they called Power Pup. The company was getting popular by the minute. But then bad things started to happen.

All of the people that bought their things ended up acting horrible and snobby. Rude and cruel. And then, those innocent people became brainwashed. Followed BL/IND's every command.

Better Living made their headquarters in Los Angeles, California back where it could be hidden and where no one could find it. Later on people with masks that looked like a vampire and clown mixed, started to go around Los Angeles, carrying around white guns that are known as ray guns, which is something else the company made.

Those people are Draculoids, also known as Dracs. There are different types of Dracs. The ones that can speak, the ones that can barely speak, and the ones who are like a rabid animal. It depends on how long a Drac has been taking pills. If a Drac has been taking those pills for a long time then they are practically a mean old moutain lion and can't be cured. If they just started taking the pill then they can talk like a normal person and can be cured. And if they have been taking pills for a long time but are still new then they can barely speak, but they manage to say things and can also be cured.

Anyway, Dracs would kidnap people or chase people around like the fools they are. And if they got someone, they bring that person to headquarters to become brainwashed. But they give them the pills.

There are other people too, and they are like robots. They were creepy people with some creepy smiley face mask and they were part of the spy team for Better Living. That spy team is well known as the S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W unit and they also kidnap people and bring them to get brainwashed as well. At first they give a person some pills but if the pills don't work, they go to a higher form of brainwashing. I don't know much about it but I heard it's pure torture: to make is life better by the army he's making. And to try to defeat us killjoys.

And then that is where we come in! The Fabulous Killjoys! We are BL/IND's most wanted, no joke. I've been in Better Living's headquarters enought times to see posters of our faces crossed out. Talk about copying the Slenderman symbol...

We're famous out here in the zones by other killjoys. We are the ones that save others and kill Dracs for fun. Maybe that's why we're called the Killjoys, we kill for fun!

Our main goal is to wipe out BL/IND for good and try to find a cure for the brainwashed people. Try to make the world a better place... literally!

At first the Killjoys were just a group of four. The leader known as Party Poison, his younger brother Kobra Kid who is also the brains, the mechanic of the group is Fun Ghoul, and then there is Jet Star, the doctor of the group. And the reason they have crazy names is because if Better Living got a hold on their names, they get a chip put in their brain. Then they found a little ten year old girl. Her name is Missile Kid and she is actually very mature for her age.

Later some new people started to join the group. Jack of Hearts who is the sweetheart and the one who would take a bullet for anyone. Toxic Rayine, the bubbly yet dead serious one. Radio Harlequin is the one who is lovable because she's like a kid. Syanide Skull the funny and artistic one. Nightmare Fuel, the sadistic one that can intimidate the Dracs and has a chainsaw.

And then there is me, Colorful Shadow, Shadow for short. I'm the one who may seem like a walking rainbow but I'm like a shadow. Piss me off and you might end up with your head up your ass. Or one of my red boots will end up stuck down your throat, who knows. Depends on how bad you piss me off. But besides that fact that I am easy to piss off, I can be caring. My heart is not frozen. I mean come on, I live in the desert for crying out loud!

And there you have it. You now know about the Killjoys. The team made up of awesome ass mother fuckers who kill for fun!

As I finished filling up the tank, I heard a noise come from inside the abandoned gas station. It sounded like something was knocked over and crashed to the floor. I turned to look at the gas station and heard the noise again. "What the-" There was another noise, but it sounded like a bark. I went over to the open trunk of the Trans-Am, putting the gas take inside and closing the trunk quietly. I then opened the side door and got my backpack full of supplies, finding my flashlight.

Slowly I walked inside the abandoned place, turning the flashlight on. "Hello?" I asked. My right hand was on my ray gun, in case I needed it. There was another crash that came behind me, causing me to jump and turn around, only to see rats running past my feet. I let out a little yelp since I hate rodents. "Stupid pests..."

I turned back around and shined the bright light around only to see a few cob webs and dust. "Hello?" I asked again.

There was a growl, and it sounded like the growl a Drac would let out if it was brainwashed for a long amount of time. But this growl didn't sound like it came from a beast, it sounded a little tame and after the growling sign there was some whining. And the sounds were coming from the farthest corner of the shelter. I shined the light in the corner and gasped. There was a male Golden Retriever, shaking in the corner.

He wasn't skinny surprisingly so obviously this dog has had some food. Maybe the rats. He just stared at me with big brown eyes. I slowly walked to the dog, only to have it bark at me. I put my hands up in defense to show that I was harmless. "Hey. It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you."

The dog whined again and I crouched down when I reached the dog, putting my flashlight down, only to have him sniff my face which made me giggle a bit. "Hi," I said, petting the dog's soft fur. "What are you doing here?" The dog licked my face a few times making me laugh a little more. "Do you have a name?" I asked, looking for a collar.

Oh what the fuck am I doing? Of course he doesn't have a name! It's the motherfucking desert smart one!

The dog started to walk away, and I realised he was limping. I crawled after the dog and sat in front of him. I saw that he was holding up his front right paw as if he wanted me to get something out of it. "You have a boo boo?" I then looked at my flashlight. "Hold on," I said, sticking up a finger.

I went to get my flashlight and then shined it on his paw. He had a thorn in his paw. I looked at the dogs eyes and sighed. "This is going to hurt boy."

Grabbing his paw, I pulled the thorn out as quick as I could. "There we go!" I patted the dogs head and got up, only to have my arms grabbed.

"You're not going anywhere Shadow!" a male voice said in my ear. "I'm taking you back to headquarters this time."

"And how many times have you failed that you stupid Drac?" I asked, stomping on the Drac's black boot as hard as I could.

The Drac howled, grabbing his left foot and jumped up and down. I quickly got behind the Golden Retriever who was growling at the Drac and barking at him wildly. I got my ray gun out of it's holster and was about to shoot. "At least I finally get some enjoymen today!" Before I could pull the trigger, the Golden Retriever tackled the Drac, knocking him to the ground, biting him repeatedly. On his arms, legs. There was a little blood puddle.

"Get off me you dumb dog!" the Drac yelled, trying to shake the dog off. I was shocked. I was watching a dog take down a Drac as if it just saw a walking piece of steak!

The dog then went to the Drac's head, biting it hard. Then there was a loud crack. I looked at the Drac and saw he wasn't moving and the dog was wagging his tail, sitting and looking at me innocently. He broke... the Drac's skull...

"Goddamn!" I said, my eyes wide. "That was fucking awesome!"

The dog barked and continued to wag his tail. I crouched down again to be face to face with dog.

This dog. I had to bring this dog back to base! The team could use a dog like him.

I smiled at the dog and pet behind his ear. "Want to come back home with me?" I asked. The dog barked and licked my face. I laughed. "I take that as a yes."

I got up and started to walk out of the gas station when I heard the dog bark again. I turned around and he just looked at me as if I was forgetting something. I then noticed my flashlight on the ground. "Oh thanks boy!" I walked over to get my flashlight, putting it in my pocket.

The dog whined and barked again. "What now?" He barked again and walked over to the counter, putting his paw on the side of it. I looked to see where he had his paw on and saw the name of the gas station. "Yeah. That's the-"

I smiled. Wow... this is one smart dog. "You want a name." The dog barked, panting a little as if he was excited. I put my finger to my chin. "This is going to be hard."

I thought about how he had a thorn in his paw earlier. "How about Thorn?" The dog stopped wagging his tail. "Nah. That's to girly. Maybe... oh... what's another name for Thorn?" That's when the name hit me. "Spike! I'll call you Spike!"

I looked at the Golden Retriever who was wagging his tail. He then spun around in circles happily. "Then I'll call you Spike from now on!"

Spike barked and I let him walk ahead of me. I was about to head out too when I heard grunting. "Dumb dog," someone mumbled.

I turned around and saw the Drac moving, trying to get up. I thought he was dead. Spike then ran back inside and went to the Drac, barking at him loudly. The Drac immediately stopped moving and lay down the same way he did before, acting dead.

I laughed. "Pussy." Spike then ran out the knocked over door and sat outside the Trans-Am. "Smart dog."

I reached the car and opened the door, letting Spike jump in the back. I then closed the door and went around the other way to get to the drivers seat. I started the car, letting the motor roar to life. I then sped off, heading to base.

I can't wait to see what the gang will think of our new member.