A few days later, Party Poison and Dr. Death Defying were up early, walking down the hallway as they discussed their plans, shutting up abruptly when they walked into the kitchen and found Smile packing her bag with food and he canteen.
“Planning a vacation?” Party Poison sneered, and Dr. Death Defying elbowed him.
“Got something else to do?” Dr. Death Defying asked kindly, and Smile nodded once, not looking away from her bag as she flipped it closed and buckled it shut. “Is it going to go well?”
Smile glanced up, then scribbled on the pad in front of her, sliding it across the table to the two man.
This one’s more likely to go Costa Rica than the other one, but I’ve gotta try. If I’m not back in three days, I’m ghosted. The two men looked up from the note just in time to see Smile walking out the door, her bag slung across her back as she headed for her motorcycle.
“You’re just going to let her go? No plan, no rules?” Party Poison demanded, and Dr. Death Defying remained silent. “You don’t even know what she did last time; she could be an Exterminator! She could be lying about helping us!”
Dr. Death Defying shook his head. “She warned us about Show Pony. Dracs don’t sell each other out for anything.”
“The girl in the city, the rogue Exterminator who broke us out said that all the Exterminators are trained as Killjoys. Maybe they think like us. Maybe there are some greedy ones who just want all the glory.”
-
Smile, meanwhile, had gotten on her bike and driven far out across the desert, clean out of Zone 7, the farthest north any California Killjoy had ever been. She kept going past the end of the road, all the way to the Better Living zinc mines. Battery City ran on zinc, and it was a key component in the brainwashing pills fed to the civilians and Dracs. The mines were well-hidden from Killjoys, unless you knew exactly where to look.
Smile reached the mine at sundown and camped nearby, watching the guard and work shifts intensely as the Dracs worked ‘round-the-clock. She would only have one chance to get this right.
At dawn, she let herself doze off for an hour before waking with a start at the noon whistle. That was the one time all the Dracs stopped everything and had one hour to wander or eat lunch, whatever they preferred. The newer Dracs, fresh on their meds, always chose to wander.
Smile waited, watching the Dracs, wishing there was an easy way to tell them apart. It was too bad they all wore the same vampire mask-
There it was, the green Frankenstein mask from the Extermination posters. It was incredible that he’d been allowed to keep it, but if it kept him quiet….
He was wandering off alone, somewhat aimlessly as other Dracs ate their lunch, getting farther and farther away. Dammit, why can’t life be easy for once? Smile sighed, then slung her bag on and hopped onto her motorcycle, kick starting the engine.
The Dracs looked up in surprise, watching as the Killjoy tore across the desert past them, straight at the single colorful mask in the crowd. She grabbed him around the middle, flinging him unceremoniously onto the bike in front of her, thanking the universe for him being so short and easy to fling.
Smile easily whipped the bike around an almost stationary turn, flying back the way she’d come, shooting down every single Drac that had managed to get up and try to stop her. None of them were armed, thankfully, or she’d be dead.
As she drove across the playa, the man in front of her began to struggle, trying to get free, so when she was a safe enough distance from the mines, she stopped the bike and let him fall into the dust.
He just sat, staring up at her blankly form behind the mask, which she pulled off.
There he was, Fun Ghoul.
Wordless, Smile shoved some jerky and her canteen of water into the former Killjoy’s hands, watching closely as he tentatively bit into the jerky, grimacing as the taste clashed with his brainwashed mind. He took a long drought of clean water, which only brought him farther out of the medication, and he started shaking his head, trying to clear it.
“Fuck, those damn Dracs shot me…” He trailed off, then looked up at the Killjoy before him, wide-eyed. “Did Dr. D make it in time to get the kid?”
Smile nodded, and a relieved grin broke out across the man’s face. “Thank god.” He laughed. “Thank the lord. Jesus, thank fucking god.” He finally came back to himself, staring up at the Killjoy before him, wanting answers. “What about Jet, Party, Kobra? They make it out?”
Smile touched her throat, and Fun Ghoul frowned for a moment before realization hit him. “No voice?” He winced sympathetically when she nodded. “Alright, did Jet Star make it out?” The man flinched when the girl shook her head. “Party Poison and Kobra?” His eyes widened in shock when she nodded. “But I saw them get shot…” He trailed off. “Are you bullshitting me?”
Smile shook her head and patted her bike, nodding in the direction of the Lair.
“You taking me to Dr. D?” Fun Ghoul asked, grinning as he picked himself up. Smile nodded, and he obligingly hopped onto the bike, riding behind her this time. “This is a bit more comfortable, no?” He teased, and the girl nodded silently as they took off again. It would take all day and part of the night to get back.