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Danger Days: The True Life of a Real Rebel

Sleepwalking Back into Hell

“Driving!” Fun Ghoul yelled the instant Dr. Death Defying told the four Killjoys to patrol Zone 2.
The Kobra Kid and Party Poison immediately yelled “No!” as Smile shook her head vigorously, grabbing his shoulder and sitting him back in his seat at the table as Party Poison did the same from his opposite side.
Fun Ghoul crossed his arms, pouting, and the Kobra Kid and Boom Box laughed at his childish expression.
I’ll drive.” Party Poison informed his sad friend, and Smile’s hand shot up in the air, making the guys look at her in confusion.
“I think she just called shotgun.” Boom Box giggled, and Smile high fived her for being right. “Great minds.” The young girl grinned, and the Killjoy ruffled her hair, making Boom Box giggle.
Soon enough, the four Killjoys were piling into the van as Dr. Death Defying and Boom Box waved them off, ready to hunt down some Dracs.
It didn’t take long to find them, a whole pod out trolling the outer limits of Zone 2. There were probably twelve of them, all armed, all toughened from untold days of walking the fallout dust trails. The Killjoys stepped out of their van, pulling their ray guns as they squared off with the Dracs.
“Three each.” The Kobra Kid grinned, felling his first and cuing the shootout.

It was drawn out, with everyone ducking and dodging around everyone else, fighting as well as shooting. As Smile shot one Drac, another grabbed her from behind and held her against him in a chokehold, bringing his gun up under her helmet to her chin.
Suddenly the Drac’s eyes flashed red, and he collapsed, taking Smile down with him as she choked and coughed, abruptly able to breathe again. Party Poison stood where the Drac had been, his ray gun smoking slightly, looking down at the girl in concern as she coughed on her hands and knees before lurching to her feet.
“You alright?” Party Poison asked, and Smile nodded once, looking at him. Suddenly she reached out, grabbing his arm and yanking him to the side, pointing her own gun at where he’d been standing. A Drac’s laser blast scorched through the air where Party Poison had been only a moment before, and the Drac dropped as Smile returned fire.
Party Poison grinned at her, nodding his thanks before going off to help his brother, who was in a shootout with two Dracs. Fun Ghoul was occupied with another Drac, and Smile found herself with nothing to do but watch as the two brothers brought down the last of the Dracs.
“That was fun.” Fun Ghoul sheathed his gun, smiling cheerfully as everyone else gave him skeptical looks. “It’s good to be back.” He offered as an explanation, and the Kobra Kid slapped him on the back.

“So, where were you, Fun Ghoul?” Dr. Death Defying asked as the Killjoys all sat down at the table after their patrol.
Fun Ghoul looked down, frowning thoughtfully at the table. “It’s kinda… fuzzy. I think I was in a mine. It was out in the middle of nowhere, and there were Dracs digging everywhere. I was supposed to be digging, but I couldn’t focus. I was too fidgety.”
“A mine?” Dr. Death Defying asked, completely perplexed. “What were they after?”
Fun Ghoul just shrugged helplessly, but Smile slowly doodled out an answer on her pad, as if having to think it over before offering up the information.
Zinc. It powers everything in Battery City and it’s the main component in the pills they use to wipe everybody’s mind. She slid the pad across the table to the corner between Dr. Death Defying, who sat at the head of table, and Party Poison, who was across the table diagonally from Smile. Fun Ghoul sat to Smile’s left, trying to read the pad as the Kobra Kid, who was directly across from Smile, leaned over his brother to see the answer.
Fun Ghoul’s eyes widened as he read that, as did the rest of the Killjoys. “So it’s important. That’s why it’s in the middle of nowhere, right? So we won’t find it.” He shook his head. “I remember Dracs everywhere, and a few Exterminators. You could always tell they weren’t a Killjoy because they all had the same piercings, all black rings.”
“Why were Exterminators there?” Party Poison asked Fun Ghoul, who shrugged helplessly.
Smile motioned at the men, who gave her a blank look before realizing they still had her pad, sliding it back to her.
They check in, get list updates, check off names, add names, the works. They do it outside the city to avoid upsetting civilians. Anything that can cause such an emotional upset can snap them out of the effects of the pills. The drugs are only so strong, hearing about murder can shock them out of the brainwashing. It keeps everyone in the city in line if they don’t know. There’s so much those people don’t know. Better Living is in charge of education; everyone who grew up in the city is taught that the world was always like this. Better Living is good at lying.
The Killjoys read that slowly, letting the information sink in. “How do you know so much?” The Kobra Kid asked, shaking his head in disbelief, barely remembering to slide the pad back.
I can hack BLI computers without being traced.
“Can you really?” Dr. Death Defying asked excitedly. “That’s Alaska.” He grinned ecstatically when the girl nodded, already planning on ways to use this new asset. “Why didn’t you bring this up earlier?” He asked absentmindedly, and Party Poison narrowed his eyes at Smile, knowing the radio DJ had a point. Smile, however, just shrugged.
Soon, Dr. Death Defying had the girl sitting at his computer, the rest of the Killjoys gathered around her to see how she got in. The computer was the only light source in the dark room, and once everyone else was behind her, Smile hesitantly pushed her visor up to see the screen better. Fun Ghoul immediately leaned forward to try to see Smile’s face, but she flipped the visor shut before he even made it an inch, even as the Kobra Kid held him back.
“Behave.” Dr. Death Defying ordered, and Fun Ghoul sulked as Smile tipped her visor back up and logged on to the computer, using a Drac login.
“How’d you get these passkeys?” Party Poison asked, half awed, half suspicious.
A few years ago, I stole a Drac’s ID tag from the S/c/a/r/e/c/r/o/w Unit. It had his name and passkey on it, so I can get into the security mainframe and it’ll all just trace back to this Drac if anyone traces what I look at. From here, I can just hack into anything you want to see. She scribbled out with one hand, the other furiously typing away as she typed in codes, cues, and logins.
“Can you find out where they’re holding Jet Star?” Party Poison immediately asked, and Smile bit her lip even though none of them could see it.
It might take me a minute, that’s really specific and I’d have to check the rosters of Killjoys captured and try to track him through the system- they’ll be using his real name, not Jet Star.
“Raymond Toro-Ortiz.” Party Poison said after a silent instant. “His name’s Ray.” Everyone stared at Party Poison in shock as Smile stiffened, freezing in her chair. Then she started typing furiously, keying his name instead of trying to find him in the massive system.
There he is.
Smile leaned back slightly, letting everyone else lean in to see the screen. Self-conscious, she flipped her visor shut.
On the computer were three images of Jet Star, first wearing his helmet, then as an old-time mug shot, and finally wearing a Drac mask. There was a live video feed of him in a holding cell, where he seemed totally at ease, lost in the pills. There was a short summary mentioning him as an ex-Killjoy and newly-medicated Drac, now on duty driving Dracs out to locations sent in by the now deceased Exterminator known as Show Pony by the Killjoys, Blaise in Battery City.
“We have to get him out.” Party Poison said after a tense, silent moment.
Hang on, we don’t know where he is. Smile scribbled out, then started typing again, faster than the men behind her could follow. He’s in Battery City, S/c/a/r/e/c/r/o/w Unit. That’s high security. Smile sighed audibly behind her helmet, making everyone glance at her for an instant. I can get him out.
“Now?” Dr. Death Defying asked in shock, but Smile shook her head.
In theory, yes. But he would just sit there, he’s too deep in his medication. I’ll get him out, don’t worry. Smile flipped her pad shut with a startling finality, closing out of the BLI mainframe as she stood up, turning to face the men behind her.
“We’re coming with you.” Party Poison and Fun Ghoul said together as the Kobra Kid opened his mouth, glaring at his friends for beating him to the punch.
Smile shook her head, waving her hand impatiently, then froze, staring at the pad on the table. She flipped it back open, slightly hesitant, then her movements became more confident as she flipped past all the used pages. There were all the notes she’d written and some pages she’d just doodled on, little cartoon characters, bits of poetry or quotes from songs she’d taken a liking to. She flipped all the way to the back of the book, scribbling out what looked like a bunch of gibberish and numbers before she labeled it all.
It was all the usernames and passkeys needed to get into the mainframe, all the basic hacking instructions.
She held the pad out to Party Poison, who stared at it, then at the girl, his eyes wide. “Why are you giving me this?” Smile just dipped her head once, offering the pad. “Don’t give me that, I’m going with you. Give it to Dr. D, he’s not coming.”
Finally impatient, Smile grabbed Party Poison’s wrist and pulled his hand forward, placing the pad on his palm and closing his fingers around it. She held his hand firmly closed on the pad with both of hers for a moment, and he could feel her gaze cutting through the visor, burning into him.
Then she let go and simply walked out the door, leaving her bag sitting against the wall in the computer room as she headed for her bike.
“She knows it’s suicide.” Dr. Death Defying mumbled sadly, staring after her.
“I’m going with her.” Party Poison said suddenly, shoving the pad into his brother’s hand. “We’ll make it back.” And then he disappeared out the door, hot on Smile’s heels.
“Smile,” He called after the Killjoy as she crossed the dust to her bike. “Smile!” The girl finally turned to look back at him, pausing next to her bike as Party Poison ran the last few steps to catch up to her. “I’m going with you.” He gazed seriously down at her, into her visor, and he was sure Smile held his gaze for a moment before turning away in defeat, nodding once. Party Poison grinned, then pulled Smile into a hug, surprising the hell out of the girl before she awkwardly and tentatively hugged him back. “We’ll make it back, don’t worry.” Then he let go of her, grinning as he got on his own black Battery City motorcycle. Smile watched him for a moment before getting on her own bike, leading the way across the desert and into Hell itself.

Comments

Really really love this!!! Awesome writing :)
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4/25/13