Neon Skies Can't Light Our Path
Mission Impossible May Enter
The static of my military walkie-talkie woke me out of the dead sleep that I was in. Dammit.
After just finishing a job, I needed a well-deserved rest. But of course, I had to follow the boss's orders. I sat up on the cot I was on and reached down into my bag to find the noisy device.
I was in the middle of Zone 2, camping out and waiting for dawn to head back to Battery City. The place I had found was a deserted house. Part of the east wing was collapsed, but the part I had taken residence in for the night was stable enough to set camp up in. Since it was a one-night stay I had just put up a cot, and hadn't even bothered to set up a fire. I would have a hot meal once I got back to my apartment in the city and besides, a fire would attract attention from anyone in a 5 mile radius.
Pulling the walkie-talkie out, I pushed the channel buttons until a voice was clear enough for me to understand it.
"I was hoping I could get you at this time of night." An eerily smooth voice rang out. I looked at the watch on my wrist, squinting to read the tiny numbers. 2:56. Jesus Fuckin' Christ.
I ground out, "Well you got me up, is there a reason why? And I'd also like to know how you got the channel on my walkie-talkie?" I only knew of one person who knew what channel I was on. He laughed, a weird one that you would've heard on a cartoon from a evil villan. Of course that would had been if we still had TV.
"I got the number from an associate of mine. From what I've been told, you can help me take out a few people who I would enjoy seeing in body bags." I chuckled at that. He had seemed so serious I thought his request was going to be deadly. I had missions like this coming in everyday from the Industry, all of them were search and find. Either kill or capture. He heard my sarcastic laugh.
"This isn't a job for scared little girls, my sweet." He got my attention again. This guy was starting to get my nerves. He was probably one of the people my boss, Felix, an exterminator, had offered my services up to.
"I'm the lead exterminator of the SCARECROW unit and I'd like for you to kill or capture a certain group of people.", he paused, waiting to see if he had my interest. I had been told to find a bunch of groups in the past and returned successfully. Most of them were bands of the so-called Killjoys, an alliance against the Industry. Nearly all of my 'jobs' had fallen under the sting of my ray-gun, though one or two actually got away.
"Go on." I leaned back into the scratchy fabric of the cot and awaited his answer. "I'm on pins and needles." He gave no notice to my cockiness.
"I'd like for you to kill Party Poison, Fun Ghoul, Jet Star, and Kobra Kid, also known as the Fabulous Killjoys. I'd also like for you to capture the girl that they have with them and bring her back to me." I let the request flow through my mind. Those four were a group of the top fugitives on the Wanted Lists. I'd dealt with one a character who was one of the Tops and she'd been one of the few that had gotten away from me. Catonic Cancer and I was still keeping a look out for her. These four would be a challenge, and getting the girl without getting shot would only intensify the challenge.
But I was the person who liked challenges, if I showed the Industry that I was getting weak then I'd be made into one of the drones like the rest of the inhabitants of Battery City.
"Did I mention that the payment of this operation is the release of your brother, and of course your freedom?" The guy's voice brought me out of my thoughts, and made me sputter. That was payment! What choice did I have? Granted of course that this man wasn't yanking my chain.
I pictured my older brother's dark brown hair with blue streaks running through it's short length, made so from the wave of radiation he had lived through, his shining smile, and the mischievous glint in his eye. After the radiation had happened and the government had started going haywire, we'd left, him and I. We were already orphans, our parents had given us up to the state of California at the ages of 12 and 9. He'd been 18 at the time that he been captured. We had been living in an abandoned house when those masked bastards had done a raid and I had heard the noises of a fight upstairs telling me that they'd found him. I had kept quiet downstairs in the basement until it was all quiet. I knew where they'd taken him, so why not go after him? 'A family that fights together, stays together.' That had been our motto since we were kids.
I had driven to the City in our old pick-up truck and marched right into the holding areas of the Industry with nothing but a tiny pistol that didn't even work on the undead soldiers I'd been up against. I'd gone berserk on them and I'd gotten the shit kicked out of me by the massive number of Draculoids there. But not before I'd proven to the heads that I had potential to be assasin material. Just as they were carting me off to be dememorized, Felix had stopped them. He'd ground out the information of why I was there, while forcing people to look up my name in an attempt to get some history on me. I'd given him my reasoning at the time having my fifteen year-old body being held down by weird men in suits with happy faces on the heads. They had scared me but the torture they had put me through made me fearless of them. Though it proved effective. It had taken a few days, but in the end I gave him the information he wanted about myself.
Afterward he had promptly told me that he had a proposition for me. If I worked for him then I could earn my brother's freedom and my own freedom too. We would be free to go wherever we wanted to, even out of the Zones. It was either that or I'd become a zombie-citizen. I had taken the deal and undergone the rigorous training necessary to take people down. I had learned how to load and shoot a ray-gun, where in the Zones my prey were most likely to be, that type of shit. That was five years ago and here I was now, being offered the thing I'd been climbing the ladder for. All at the price of four guys lives, and a little girl's capture.
"I accept.", I muttered my voice low. He chuckled truimphantly.
"Felix told me you would.", he said evily. "I would like for you to come back to the City first so I can inform you of their location and show you their appearence." I internally groaned again, I hated going to the city. Having to see the mindless happy faces of the citizens there was sickening.
In the past I had been able to track down the other objects of my missions by acting like one of the fugitives in the Zones, simply going on verbal descriptions from my walkie talkie. How hard could it be tracking these four down? Plus I'd save me a few gallons of gas if I did it my way. But I had to accept the offer of more information if I wanted to get on the good-side of this guy.
"Fine, I'll be back there by noon tomorrow.", I said shortly. I hated talking to people over these radios, I preferred seeing a person's face compared to a tiny speaker.
I could almost see him smile sinisterly as he said the next set of words. "I'll see you tomorrow." The voice left echos in my head, making me shiver. He was definetly a creepy guy to work for.
Right now, I had to get more shut-eye. Tomorrow would hopefully make me one step further toward getting out of this mess. I had asked Felix once if he knew where my brother was being held. He had laughed and said that he was in the city, working as a office assistant. I'd cringed at the thought of my wild brother in a tailored shirt with neat, crisp pants on, his hair most likely dyed to fit in with everyone else. Plus he would be brain-washed like the rest of them. Nowadays people were on so many pills that could probably have killed a human back before the radiation had changed the chemical processes in our bodies. I was dying to get him out.
I laid back down after checking to see if anyone had crawled in here like I had. I didn't like sleeping with someone else in the room with me, it tended to make me nervous and likely to shoot randomly. Having that thought of nervousness made me reach back down into my bag for my bottle of pills. When I'd gone in like Rambo to try and rescue my brother, they had found out that I was bi-polar. It was one of the reason I had gone in there so recklessly. I swallowed down two of the pills. I knew they weren't zombie meds, I'd tried my own set of tests for that, but they did make me calm down and concentrate on the objective, so I had agreed and taken the prescription.
Now with the pills hopefully digesting and getting into my bloodstream, I fell asleep against the balled-up jacket I was using for a pillow. Outside of the house, the noises of the animals made a cute lullaby. Granted that most of those animals were mutated and disgusting, but they still made a nice sound with their calls and voices. Unfortunetly that melody was ruined by that creepy guy's voice which was ringing in my head.
"I'll see you tomorrow."
After just finishing a job, I needed a well-deserved rest. But of course, I had to follow the boss's orders. I sat up on the cot I was on and reached down into my bag to find the noisy device.
I was in the middle of Zone 2, camping out and waiting for dawn to head back to Battery City. The place I had found was a deserted house. Part of the east wing was collapsed, but the part I had taken residence in for the night was stable enough to set camp up in. Since it was a one-night stay I had just put up a cot, and hadn't even bothered to set up a fire. I would have a hot meal once I got back to my apartment in the city and besides, a fire would attract attention from anyone in a 5 mile radius.
Pulling the walkie-talkie out, I pushed the channel buttons until a voice was clear enough for me to understand it.
"I was hoping I could get you at this time of night." An eerily smooth voice rang out. I looked at the watch on my wrist, squinting to read the tiny numbers. 2:56. Jesus Fuckin' Christ.
I ground out, "Well you got me up, is there a reason why? And I'd also like to know how you got the channel on my walkie-talkie?" I only knew of one person who knew what channel I was on. He laughed, a weird one that you would've heard on a cartoon from a evil villan. Of course that would had been if we still had TV.
"I got the number from an associate of mine. From what I've been told, you can help me take out a few people who I would enjoy seeing in body bags." I chuckled at that. He had seemed so serious I thought his request was going to be deadly. I had missions like this coming in everyday from the Industry, all of them were search and find. Either kill or capture. He heard my sarcastic laugh.
"This isn't a job for scared little girls, my sweet." He got my attention again. This guy was starting to get my nerves. He was probably one of the people my boss, Felix, an exterminator, had offered my services up to.
"I'm the lead exterminator of the SCARECROW unit and I'd like for you to kill or capture a certain group of people.", he paused, waiting to see if he had my interest. I had been told to find a bunch of groups in the past and returned successfully. Most of them were bands of the so-called Killjoys, an alliance against the Industry. Nearly all of my 'jobs' had fallen under the sting of my ray-gun, though one or two actually got away.
"Go on." I leaned back into the scratchy fabric of the cot and awaited his answer. "I'm on pins and needles." He gave no notice to my cockiness.
"I'd like for you to kill Party Poison, Fun Ghoul, Jet Star, and Kobra Kid, also known as the Fabulous Killjoys. I'd also like for you to capture the girl that they have with them and bring her back to me." I let the request flow through my mind. Those four were a group of the top fugitives on the Wanted Lists. I'd dealt with one a character who was one of the Tops and she'd been one of the few that had gotten away from me. Catonic Cancer and I was still keeping a look out for her. These four would be a challenge, and getting the girl without getting shot would only intensify the challenge.
But I was the person who liked challenges, if I showed the Industry that I was getting weak then I'd be made into one of the drones like the rest of the inhabitants of Battery City.
"Did I mention that the payment of this operation is the release of your brother, and of course your freedom?" The guy's voice brought me out of my thoughts, and made me sputter. That was payment! What choice did I have? Granted of course that this man wasn't yanking my chain.
I pictured my older brother's dark brown hair with blue streaks running through it's short length, made so from the wave of radiation he had lived through, his shining smile, and the mischievous glint in his eye. After the radiation had happened and the government had started going haywire, we'd left, him and I. We were already orphans, our parents had given us up to the state of California at the ages of 12 and 9. He'd been 18 at the time that he been captured. We had been living in an abandoned house when those masked bastards had done a raid and I had heard the noises of a fight upstairs telling me that they'd found him. I had kept quiet downstairs in the basement until it was all quiet. I knew where they'd taken him, so why not go after him? 'A family that fights together, stays together.' That had been our motto since we were kids.
I had driven to the City in our old pick-up truck and marched right into the holding areas of the Industry with nothing but a tiny pistol that didn't even work on the undead soldiers I'd been up against. I'd gone berserk on them and I'd gotten the shit kicked out of me by the massive number of Draculoids there. But not before I'd proven to the heads that I had potential to be assasin material. Just as they were carting me off to be dememorized, Felix had stopped them. He'd ground out the information of why I was there, while forcing people to look up my name in an attempt to get some history on me. I'd given him my reasoning at the time having my fifteen year-old body being held down by weird men in suits with happy faces on the heads. They had scared me but the torture they had put me through made me fearless of them. Though it proved effective. It had taken a few days, but in the end I gave him the information he wanted about myself.
Afterward he had promptly told me that he had a proposition for me. If I worked for him then I could earn my brother's freedom and my own freedom too. We would be free to go wherever we wanted to, even out of the Zones. It was either that or I'd become a zombie-citizen. I had taken the deal and undergone the rigorous training necessary to take people down. I had learned how to load and shoot a ray-gun, where in the Zones my prey were most likely to be, that type of shit. That was five years ago and here I was now, being offered the thing I'd been climbing the ladder for. All at the price of four guys lives, and a little girl's capture.
"I accept.", I muttered my voice low. He chuckled truimphantly.
"Felix told me you would.", he said evily. "I would like for you to come back to the City first so I can inform you of their location and show you their appearence." I internally groaned again, I hated going to the city. Having to see the mindless happy faces of the citizens there was sickening.
In the past I had been able to track down the other objects of my missions by acting like one of the fugitives in the Zones, simply going on verbal descriptions from my walkie talkie. How hard could it be tracking these four down? Plus I'd save me a few gallons of gas if I did it my way. But I had to accept the offer of more information if I wanted to get on the good-side of this guy.
"Fine, I'll be back there by noon tomorrow.", I said shortly. I hated talking to people over these radios, I preferred seeing a person's face compared to a tiny speaker.
I could almost see him smile sinisterly as he said the next set of words. "I'll see you tomorrow." The voice left echos in my head, making me shiver. He was definetly a creepy guy to work for.
Right now, I had to get more shut-eye. Tomorrow would hopefully make me one step further toward getting out of this mess. I had asked Felix once if he knew where my brother was being held. He had laughed and said that he was in the city, working as a office assistant. I'd cringed at the thought of my wild brother in a tailored shirt with neat, crisp pants on, his hair most likely dyed to fit in with everyone else. Plus he would be brain-washed like the rest of them. Nowadays people were on so many pills that could probably have killed a human back before the radiation had changed the chemical processes in our bodies. I was dying to get him out.
I laid back down after checking to see if anyone had crawled in here like I had. I didn't like sleeping with someone else in the room with me, it tended to make me nervous and likely to shoot randomly. Having that thought of nervousness made me reach back down into my bag for my bottle of pills. When I'd gone in like Rambo to try and rescue my brother, they had found out that I was bi-polar. It was one of the reason I had gone in there so recklessly. I swallowed down two of the pills. I knew they weren't zombie meds, I'd tried my own set of tests for that, but they did make me calm down and concentrate on the objective, so I had agreed and taken the prescription.
Now with the pills hopefully digesting and getting into my bloodstream, I fell asleep against the balled-up jacket I was using for a pillow. Outside of the house, the noises of the animals made a cute lullaby. Granted that most of those animals were mutated and disgusting, but they still made a nice sound with their calls and voices. Unfortunetly that melody was ruined by that creepy guy's voice which was ringing in my head.
"I'll see you tomorrow."
11/12/13