Battery City Rebels: Part One

Indigo hurried to dress and lace up her boots, then rushed up the stairs to see what was so urgent.

"Dracs in Zone Five," Ghoul immediately told her when she appeared, as if they hadn't just been lip-locked and moments from sex.

"What are they doing in Zone Five?"

"Don't know. They're hunkered down in an abandoned station off Route Guano."

"Perfect. Give me a second." She hurried back to the basement, where they'd stored the cache of weapons beneath the ladder. She picked up the largest one. Her favorite and one she wouldn't part with unless someone plucked it off her dead body. It was military green and even bigger than her retro shotgun. So she traded them out. Strapping the small cannon to her back instead.

"What's that?" Ghoul asked when she returned.

"This is my old girl, Chuparosa. She does a lot of damage from a distance. Just trust me. If you want me to burn those bitches, this is how to do it." She grinned, and they all stared at her as if they thought she was insane. But she decided that was probably fair. They'd undoubtedly seen her handiwork if they knew who she was. The one good thing that had come out of this new world was that her father had encouraged her interest in pyrotechnics.

They all nodded amongst themselves, content with letting her just destroy the station.

"You have a bike, right?" she asked as they all prepped to get ready.

"I do."

"Good, we'll take that. You guys follow in the car but stay far back enough that you won't get hit with the shockwave. I'll show you what I can do." They all nodded again.

They left the house through the back and removed the tarp from the vehicles. Everyone but Fun Ghoul and Indigo got into the Trans-Am. Ghoul climbed onto the bike with the green stripes, and she climbed on behind him, wrapping her arms around his middle.

"Let's go," he said right before kicking the bike to life.

The car followed close until they reached Zone Five. Then it began to trail back, far enough away to not draw attention. And far enough away to avoid the worst of the blast zone. Ghoul finally pulled the bike to the side of the road and pointed at something on the horizon. The building was vague, warped, and shifting through the heat waves coming off the desert.

"That's the abandoned station," he said over the roar of the motorcycle.

"You see that pile of rocks across the highway?" She pointed to the place almost adjacent to the station. The desert had probably been volcanic thousands of years ago. And though wind and sand had worn down most of the caverns and canyons, some places still had jagged rock formations that were easy enough to perch on. "Take me there."

"You got it."

She wrapped her arms around him again as they zipped off. But this time, he drove the bike right into the desert instead of continuing on the highway. The closer they got to the station, the more likely it would be that they'd be heard. So he stopped at a far enough distance, abandoning his bike behind bushes and cacti. They walked the rest of the way on foot.

They were quiet on the walk even though they didn't have to be. They didn't touch or make light conversation. They had bandanas and sunglasses to protect their eyes and faces from the dirt and sun. There was no need for words. It was not the time for dances and jokes. Fun Ghoul said he didn't find her threatening. She was going to make sure he regretted that.

They reached the pile of rocks, and Indigo began to climb without a word. Ghoul followed just as quietly, watching her behind his sunglasses. She couldn't read his expressions through all the coverings on his face and wondered what he must be thinking of her now.

She focused on finding a secluded and flat enough surface on the rock. There was a significant ledge on top, smoothed by wind and sand enough to give a comfortable spot to lie down. As if the gods of the desert had sculpted it just for that purpose. She sat on her knees and pulled the canon off her back.

"Chuparosa," he said, voice low even though it was unlikely to carry across the highway.

"Hummingbird," she told him. "You'll see." She took a moment to set it up, working through the ammo she kept in her side pouch. "Do you see your friends anywhere?" He didn't stand, not wanting to risk being spotted from the station. But he poked his head around the rocks, the wind slashing his dark locks of hair into his face.

"They're stopped about a mile out."

"Good. The building is occupied?"

"Dracs only. As far as we know, no one lives in or runs it anymore. We have no word of hostages. They don't usually take people alive. So it's safe to assume they're alone."

"What do you think they're doing?"

"Refueling, planning something, meeting up to count body bags. I don't know. All I know is that they're never up to any good if they're out this far."

"What do you think they're using the building for?"

"Reconnaissance, most likely. The building is close enough to the highway that they can meet up quickly and get into hiding without anyone noticing. Cherry Cola spotted them. Sent us word."

"You ready to blow the bastards up?"

"You know I love it when you talk dirty to me, baby." She grinned, aware that she probably looked maniacal.

"Get down." He knelt on the other side of the canon. She rested her stomach against the hot rock and worked on aiming the weapon at the building. "She used to be a typical military-grade rocket launcher. I don't know what kind. That wasn't my area of interest. But she could do a lot of damage, and she was all but useless to her previous owners when they ran out of ammunition. I just so happen to be really good at improvising. And blowing things up. So I made these." She held out a small shell to show him.

"There are two chambers inside each shell," she explained. "One side is filled with the same plasma you'd find in a typical raygun. The other is filled with gunpowder. Midnight knew a guy who could get his hands on it for a good price. All of these little guys are cased in a larger rocket. I made it from old car bodies. It's pretty hard to break the barrier between the chambers without excessive force. Thankfully, the rocket does that just fine. So when it makes contact…."

"Boom," he said.

"It's old-world meets new, and there won't be any survivors. The blast will be visible for a few miles, though. So we'll have about fifteen minutes before this place is riddled with Scarecrow. Ten to get to the bike, five to find a place to hide out. You think we can do it?"

"I trust you."

"Good. On the count of three. One." She stuck the shell into her pocket with the others. "Two." She made sure the barrel was lined up. "Three." She pulled the trigger.

The canon jolted hard enough to shake her entire body. The rocket launched from the front end, loud at first, like a distinctly metallic pop. Then it hummed as it made its journey across the highway to the station. Within seconds, the entire building burst into green flames. The resulting explosion was loud enough that they both had to throw their hands over their ears and duck from the rush of heat. Debris rained from the sky, still burning chunks of wood and ash.

"Scared yet?" she yelled from over the burning, quickly scrambling to gather her supplies. But he was grinning, just as manically as her.

"Is it weird I'm actually a little more turned on than I was this morning?" She laughed and jumped to her feet.

"We need to get the hell out of here."

"I have enough time." She walked off, lugging the canon back over her shoulder.

"I need more than that."

"I'm joking. I'm joking."

He got up to follow her. They hurried back to the ground as quickly as possible, taking shortcuts by allowing gravity to get them down. Then they made a run for the bike. They did it in less than ten through the combination of eagerness and the adrenaline that came with setting things on fire. She climbed onto the bike after him and turned her head to watch the building burn as they drove into the desert. She didn't know what they'd been up to, but she hoped it hurt.