Body Count

Even in the early hours of the morning, the streets they now traversed seemed dark and foreboding. Every slow, dragging step brought them further into the bowels of the beast that was their city. Steam rose from the slick concrete, while the puddles that dotted the road evaporated under the surprisingly warm sun. The sky was just starting to turn pink when they were forced to remove their outer layers of clothing due to the unseasonal heat.

Unfortunately, comfort had long denied itself to them. Miles of flat black top rolled out under their feet, taunting them and mocking them as they grew ever wearier. The sugar rush that had propelled their footsteps on with greater energy had worn off hours ago, leaving them even more exhausted than before they started. Time and gravity pulled on them, hauling their arms down and their backs into hunched positions. Breath was soon hard to come by, and Shane could feel her lungs work furiously to inflate and deflate at a healthy rate.

Worst of all, though, was the fact that Shane was never sure if they were going in the right direction. Her inner compass seemed to have broken, and without the sun to guide her, she had wandered aimlessly through the empty streets in hopes of recognizing some landmark or building. So far, she'd seen none.

But her hopes were rising with the sun. It was peering over a group of office towers to her left, which told her they were heading south. She quickly rounded a corner and tried to head more directly towards her guide, and towards the club that she kept thinking of as home.

Another few hours passed in this manner, with Shane changing direction abruptly as she saw which direction the sun was rising in. It burned her neck, bit at her exposed skin, and drew forth beads of sweat on her brow.

Stone, Cliff, and Will had fared no better. Cliff, whose cold was thankfully wearing away, still lingered further and further behind them, choking as he failed to suck the moisture from the air. Stone, too, sniffled less often, but his eyelids drooped even as they walked. Only Will kept pace with Shane, his blank blue eyes staring fixedly ahead, never saying a word.

Just as the sun was a quarter of the way across the blue domed sky, and the four of them were taking a short cut through a narrow alley, they were overtaken.

A group of men - six of them, if Shane's rapid head count was to be trusted in her sudden fear and dread - were suddenly all around them, pointing guns and pulling ski masks over their faces. Shane hesitated, her hand on the hilt of her knife in her belt. It was no use, she knew - she was much smaller than these men, and two of her companions were ill.

Wordlessly, the largest of the men gestured with his gun towards the other end of the alley. Shane, after exchanging a quick glance with Will, marched confidently in front of the man. The feeling of cold metal pressed against her lower back, and she fought against the urge to gasp or run. She could hear the sound of multiple sets of feet behind her, and hoped to God that her friends were all right.

The gun guided her out of the mouth of the alley and onto a street that was hardly any wider than the confined lane to their rear. Nobody was around, but the urgency in the man's footsteps pushed her forward hastily. He nudged her towards a squat, one story building. After hesitating for a moment, she shouldered the door open and stepped into a dimly lit reception area.

"Against the wall," the man grunted. Shane's eyebrows drew together at the sound of his voice - it was rough and guttural. It didn't sound natural at all; more like he was forcing it through his teeth. But she did as he said, and soon she was backed up against a lime green wall, standing between Cliff - who was glaring daggers at the black-clad men - and Will, who discreetly put a hand on her forearm. Whether to forestall her or to comfort her, she didn't know, for he succeeded in both. "Now -" He glanced at the window, and one of the men drew the blinds across it. "Try to stay calm." And he removed his mask.

"Daemyn!" Shane screeched, rooted to the spot by nothing more than her own shock.

Daemyn stood in front of her, smiling sheepishly, his gun tucked safely in his belt. His hair was unkempt, and he had a long gash along the side of his neck and jaw. Such a range of emotions overwhelmed Shane - anger, grief, happiness, and above all, a great surge of relief - that she staggered where she stood. Only Will's firm grip - which had tightened considerably when Daemyn revealed himself - kept her in place.

But not for long.

Before anybody could say a word, she was flying across the short distance between them, and Daemyn only just had time to uncross his arms before she crashed into his chest, sobbing and laughing uncontrollably.

"Daemyn!" she said again, her voice loud with happiness and fury. "Where the hell were you?"

Daemyn sighed, taking one arm from around her and rubbing his uninjured temple in a languid way. When he opened his eyes again, and their piercing blue bored into her eager eyes, he looked troubled and embarrassed.

"I ... was hiding." he said lamely.

She stared up at him. She refused to say another word until she had the full truth, and she was willing to stay there all night to get it. 'I want the entire reason why I've been agonizing for a month,' she thought savagely. 'So he'd better talk.'

As if in answer to her viscous thoughts, he parted his dry and cracked lips to continue: "It was in the middle of the fight. I was trying to circle around a group of them - the cops - so I could take them by surprise and lower their numbers. But one of them had the same idea ... it was the one who'd ordered his men to kill you. He caught me from behind and hit me over the head with the butt of his gun. He was dragging me out of the warehouse and towards his cruiser ... I guess he wanted a hostage, or a witness, or somebody to interrogate back in town. But I had enough left in me to knock him in the head and run to the other side of the warehouse. I hid in the bushes there, waiting for things to die down. I know, I know," he said, raising his hands in a gesture of peace. "It was a cowardly thing to do. But my vision was wavering, going black around the edges, and I was seeing double. I know I'm stubborn sometimes, but even I can admit that if I had re-entered the fight I would have been nothing but a nuisance. So I stayed hidden outside in a clump of dying bushes, trying to stay awake so I could go back inside once everything was over. Don't be completely angry with me, though - if it had gone on too long, I would have gone back inside to help. Either way, before I could go back inside, Ricky had driven out back and you were all driving away. I couldn't do anything."

"So what did you do then?" Shane asked, entranced by his tale.

He chuckled. "I went into hiding. I had no idea where The Joker had planned on taking you all, so I found this place and waited for news. For a month I scrounged for food, stealing from rich people who didn't need it, taking street urchins by surprise and asking them if they knew anything. It was all I could think to do. Nothing happened until two days ago -"

"That's when we left the club," Shane stated, turning to see Stone, Cliff, and Will nodding furiously. She noticed with some satisfaction that guns were no longer being pointed at their heads, and they appeared comfortable enough. She turned back to Daemyn. "What happened?"

He grinned before continuing, "I was questioning a bum the other night, asking him if he'd seen a group of people traveling with a young girl - the usual - when two guys knocked the bum out and pinned me up against the wall," To Shane's surprise, Daemyn smiled as he told her this. She stared at him in shock. "You'll never guess who it was. Odie and Max."

Shane gaped, her jaw falling open. "Odie and Max. Max and Odie. Max ... and Odie." No matter how she said it, she couldn't comprehend his luck.

"Yes, Max and Odie," Daemyn said. "I recognized Odie's voice when he started brow-beating me asking if I'd seen you. I told him who I was and - after a few minutes of arguing over whether or not I was lying - the two of them were convinced. They came here with me, and we decided to wait for more clowns to cross our path - Max told me that every one of them was out looking for you. You caused quite a stir, Shane."

Her cheeks burned red as she shuffled her feet and retreated - finally - from Daemyns' arms. She heard chuckles and scoffing from around her, and turned her gaze upwards.

The other men were taking their ski masks off, and Shane felt blow after blow of astonishment as the bandits revealed themselves as various clowns in The Joker's employ. One after the other, Odie, Max, Ricky, Ronnie, and Ty pull their masks off and greet her in their own different ways. Ricky grinned at her, baring his yellowing teeth and sending a shiver down her spine as his oddly evil smirk caught her; Ronnie raised a condescending - yet not completely unfriendly - eyebrow at her; and Ty waved jubilantly. Odie and Max both nodded solemnly, though she was sure their faces stretched into identical smiles when their heads were lowered.

Shane, giddy with relief, actually laughed. It felt good to genuinely laugh, and she let it draw out for a long time before subsiding into a joyful silence.

"So," she said, letting her breaths come more steadily. "What do we do now? We have to get medicine or something for Cliff and Stone. They're both sick."

Daemyn stared at her incredulously. "What do we do? We go back to The Joker, of course."