Fight To Live
One
I was exhausted. We had been camping out in the inner zones for almost a week now. Kobra Kid was in the front seat steering us to Doctor Death Defying’s hideout and Jet Star was fast asleep in the passenger seat next to him. Fun Ghoul was wide-awake in the backseat next to me, even though we all knew he felt as beat as the rest of us. Doctor D’s was still over an hour away from where we were, even at the speed Kobra was driving at, but it was closer than the diner we inhabited. Letting out a breath of air, I settled further down in my seat and closed my eyes for the rest of the trip, the loud engine of the old Trans-am lulling me to sleep.
“We’re here.”
My eyes opened at the sound of Jet Star’s voice, raspy from being in the desert heat for the past week with no shelter against the harsh winds and the dust that they carried.
I nodded in response and pulled my bandana back over the bottom half of my face. Getting out of the car that we hid behind the large dilapidated looking building, I let a faint smile work it’s way onto my face. I was happy to see this place again, and was looking forward to seeing some old friends, and most of all having a bed to sleep on.
Doctor D. was the operator of the pirate radio station that supported the Killjoys and every other person that was against BLI/industries, or BLInd for short. His hideout was the base for the radio shows but was also a resting place for many Killjoys on their way through the zones to catch up on their rest before continuing through the harsh landscape and acid rain. The only permanent residents were Doctor D, his messenger Show Pony, and Crash Queen.
The Fabulous Killjoys, as our group was known as, approached the metal back door and knocked in a pattern that would let those inside know who we were. A piece of metal slid away to show crystal blue eyes that we all knew belonged to none other than Crash Queen. The metal slot slid shut as quick as it had opened, and the sound of numerous locks being undone reached our ears. The door slid open and we were quickly ushered inside before the door was slammed shut and the locks were put in their respective places. As soon as the woman was done, she turned around and flung herself at the nearest one of us.
“You guys are alright!” she sighed as she moved around the group embracing us all.
She held Fun Ghoul at arms length and smiled, “You need a haircut.”
Fun Ghoul laughed and shook his head, “You’re not getting near my hair after last time.”
Queen ignored him and turned to look at me, instead of happiness there was anger written across her pretty face, “Why the fuck didn’t you respond to any of Doctor D’s messages?” her hands were resting on her hips.
I smiled sheepishly, “Our radio died a few days ago, we were too far out to get a hold of any batteries.”
She was fighting to keep a smile off of her face as she sighed, “I’m just glad you guys are alright. Come on.”
We all followed her down the hallway to another metal door that was left unlocked when she had come up from the basement at the sound of the car approaching. This time she locked it though. We all continued down the stairs to the large open room that was used as sort of a living area for everyone. Doctor D was sitting in his wheelchair in a far corner near a lamp looking through a magazine called Shiny. There were numerous Killjoys sprawled out on the couches and chairs, most of them passed clean out.
Doctor D looked up and smiled, “Well hello there, tumbleweeds. I knew you were coming back eventually,” at that he sent a pointed look to Queen who looked down at the ground.
Kobra Kid smiled and pinched at her exposed cheek, “Aw, you were worried about us.”
She swatted his hand away and frowned at him, “Shut up.”
Jet Star chuckled and turned to Doctor D, “Can we continue this reunion in the morning? I’m about to drop dead.”
The Doctor just smiled and nodded his head, “Fun Ghoul, Jet Star, and Kobra Kid, you can take the third room on the left,” they all nodded and started making their way down the hallway.
“Party Poison,” I looked his way at the sound of my name, “You can sleep in the last room on the right, there’s already someone in there though. You don’t mind sharing do you?”
I shook my head, it wasn’t uncommon to share beds with other Killjoys when it came to places like this; you took what you could get.
“Night guys,” I called behind me on my way to the room.
I sighed on my way down the hallway as I drug my feet further and further, feeling ready to fall asleep standing up. When I reached the door I could see that there was still a light on inside so I knocked lightly. When no one responded after a few minutes I opened the door and stepped inside, closing it softly behind me. There was a bed in the middle of the wall across from me, and sure enough there was a body under a ton of blankets on the side close to the wall. I un-holstered my gun and kicked off my boots. I peeled off my leather jacket, my shirt, and my mask and bandana and put them all next to the bed so I could get to them quickly if needed.
I pulled back the blankets and was met with the shock of a full head of long, bright-pink hair and the back of a tank top. The only one in this desert that looked like that… I looked over her sleeping form to the pile of her stuff on the floor, and sure enough, there was her mask.
This was Mama Murder.
I just stayed leaning on one elbow on the bed, thinking about whether I should take a peek at what she looked like underneath her mask. The main question on my mind though, was why hadn’t she killed me yet? If this really was Mama Murder she would have had her gun to my head the second I opened the door. She was sort of a legend in the zones, not many people ever saw her in her mask, let alone half-naked and vulnerable.
The only thing known about her was her was that she was lethal and mostly worked alone. You would occasionally see her pink-hair streak by at top speed on Route Guano, or would hear how she took down a team of Dracs all by her lonesome. The only time our particular group had seen her ourselves was when Doctor D had sent her as reinforcement when we were outnumbered and two of our group was down in the middle of the desert, afterwards she had hopped on her bike without so much as a word and took off.
I leaned over and stroked some hair out of her face and was surprised to see that she had to be twenty at the most. She had freckles spread across her nose and cheeks and a ring through her nose. Her pale pink lips were cracked and she had a bruise under her right eye, it looked fresh. Even through all that she was beautiful. Not a lot of young, beautiful girls could hold their own out here in the zones.
I settled down under the blankets next to her and let my mind wonder about if she would even be here long enough after I woke up to find out who she was, and then sleep overtook me.
I opened my eyes because of the sunlight coming in through the painted window of the basement room I was in. The room was tinted red but that’s not what I was focused on, the girl next to me was what had captured my attention. She had rolled over to face me sometime in the night, her pink hair was everywhere and her lips were set in a pout that I wondered if it was natural or from the beating she had taken recently. Our bodies were mere inches apart and I could feel her warm breathe on my bare chest when she exhaled, her rough hands were pressed against my side; she must have gotten cold in the night. I shook my head to clear thoughts that were beginning to pop up and rolled out of bed before I got carried away.
After I had gotten dressed, I made my way out of the red room to the small kitchen Doctor D had. A few other Killjoys nodded at me as I walked in and I nodded back.
“Where’s Doctor D?” I asked one of the guys by the rusted fridge.
“He’s upstairs with Show Pony, I think he’s doing a broadcast.”
I thanked him and made my way up the stairs to hear Doctor D signing off, Show Pony waved to me and I could tell he was smiling from under the helmet he always wore. Doctor D turned his attention to me when he had turned all of the equipment off for the day, “What can I do for you Poison?”
“Is that really Mama Murder down there?”
Doctor D smiled the wide smile he was famous for, “Who else would it be?”
I frowned, “What were you thinking, putting me in the same room as her? She could have killed me before I even knew what was happening.”
Doctor D didn’t even flinch, he just rolled his chair toward the open door that was letting sunlight in, “I put you in there because you were the only one that would be able to handle her if she woke up,” he said matter-of-factly.
I took a deep breath to calm myself down and sighed, “What happened to her? She didn’t even stir when I came in.”
Doctor D sighed, “She had a run in with an exterminator the other day, she’s been here since. We knocked her out with what was left of our painkillers.”
Show Pony’s attention turned to whoever had just walked up the stairs and I turned to see none other than the woman we were talking about.
I couldn’t control my eyes or my thoughts as they traveled from her untied black combat boots, to her exposed legs, to her very short, shorts, and then to her shirt that showed her stomach. She had a bandana on the bottom half of her face, and some dark sunglasses covering her eyes, her pink hair was a mess like she had just rolled out of bed, which she probably had.
“Show Pony, would you mind coming outside with me?” she croaked; she sounded like she hadn’t drunk anything in days.
Show Pony nodded and skated his way over to her, putting an arm around her shoulders as she leaned into him. They made their way outside and left Doctor D and I alone.
I let my eyes linger on her as I watched them approach some lawn chairs that were sitting in the shade of the porch until Doctor D cleared his throat.
“She’ll be staying here for a while,” he said softly.
I felt my eyebrows raise, “Was she really hurt that badly?”
He chuckled darkly, “If she wasn’t, she’d be back out there hunting the guy that did this to her, its all we can do to convince her to stay a little longer.”
I looked back to the woman lounging outside, “Why’re you telling me this?”
He sighed and looked at the floor, “I want you to take her with you when you leave.”
My head snapped to look at him, “What do you mean you want us to take her with us? You know it’s just us four. No one else.”
“Poison, she won’t be able to be on her own for at least a few months, but we know there’s no way to convince her to stay still and out of the fight that long. If she’s with you guys then at least someone will know if something happens to her. She needs someone better than us to tend to her wounds, Fun Ghoul is-“
“It’s not happening Death Defying. Besides, why do you think she’d agree to come with us? You know her better than we do and even we know she wants to be on her own,” my fists were clenched just like every other time I had trouble controlling my temper.
He shook his head at me, “Look Poison, something happened out in that desert-“
Mama Murder’s voice broke through the tension that was building in the room, “Nothing happened out there D,” even with the glasses on you could feel her cold stare on the man in the wheelchair. Then as quick as she had appeared, she walked between the two of us and went back down the stairs.
“We’re here.”
My eyes opened at the sound of Jet Star’s voice, raspy from being in the desert heat for the past week with no shelter against the harsh winds and the dust that they carried.
I nodded in response and pulled my bandana back over the bottom half of my face. Getting out of the car that we hid behind the large dilapidated looking building, I let a faint smile work it’s way onto my face. I was happy to see this place again, and was looking forward to seeing some old friends, and most of all having a bed to sleep on.
Doctor D. was the operator of the pirate radio station that supported the Killjoys and every other person that was against BLI/industries, or BLInd for short. His hideout was the base for the radio shows but was also a resting place for many Killjoys on their way through the zones to catch up on their rest before continuing through the harsh landscape and acid rain. The only permanent residents were Doctor D, his messenger Show Pony, and Crash Queen.
The Fabulous Killjoys, as our group was known as, approached the metal back door and knocked in a pattern that would let those inside know who we were. A piece of metal slid away to show crystal blue eyes that we all knew belonged to none other than Crash Queen. The metal slot slid shut as quick as it had opened, and the sound of numerous locks being undone reached our ears. The door slid open and we were quickly ushered inside before the door was slammed shut and the locks were put in their respective places. As soon as the woman was done, she turned around and flung herself at the nearest one of us.
“You guys are alright!” she sighed as she moved around the group embracing us all.
She held Fun Ghoul at arms length and smiled, “You need a haircut.”
Fun Ghoul laughed and shook his head, “You’re not getting near my hair after last time.”
Queen ignored him and turned to look at me, instead of happiness there was anger written across her pretty face, “Why the fuck didn’t you respond to any of Doctor D’s messages?” her hands were resting on her hips.
I smiled sheepishly, “Our radio died a few days ago, we were too far out to get a hold of any batteries.”
She was fighting to keep a smile off of her face as she sighed, “I’m just glad you guys are alright. Come on.”
We all followed her down the hallway to another metal door that was left unlocked when she had come up from the basement at the sound of the car approaching. This time she locked it though. We all continued down the stairs to the large open room that was used as sort of a living area for everyone. Doctor D was sitting in his wheelchair in a far corner near a lamp looking through a magazine called Shiny. There were numerous Killjoys sprawled out on the couches and chairs, most of them passed clean out.
Doctor D looked up and smiled, “Well hello there, tumbleweeds. I knew you were coming back eventually,” at that he sent a pointed look to Queen who looked down at the ground.
Kobra Kid smiled and pinched at her exposed cheek, “Aw, you were worried about us.”
She swatted his hand away and frowned at him, “Shut up.”
Jet Star chuckled and turned to Doctor D, “Can we continue this reunion in the morning? I’m about to drop dead.”
The Doctor just smiled and nodded his head, “Fun Ghoul, Jet Star, and Kobra Kid, you can take the third room on the left,” they all nodded and started making their way down the hallway.
“Party Poison,” I looked his way at the sound of my name, “You can sleep in the last room on the right, there’s already someone in there though. You don’t mind sharing do you?”
I shook my head, it wasn’t uncommon to share beds with other Killjoys when it came to places like this; you took what you could get.
“Night guys,” I called behind me on my way to the room.
I sighed on my way down the hallway as I drug my feet further and further, feeling ready to fall asleep standing up. When I reached the door I could see that there was still a light on inside so I knocked lightly. When no one responded after a few minutes I opened the door and stepped inside, closing it softly behind me. There was a bed in the middle of the wall across from me, and sure enough there was a body under a ton of blankets on the side close to the wall. I un-holstered my gun and kicked off my boots. I peeled off my leather jacket, my shirt, and my mask and bandana and put them all next to the bed so I could get to them quickly if needed.
I pulled back the blankets and was met with the shock of a full head of long, bright-pink hair and the back of a tank top. The only one in this desert that looked like that… I looked over her sleeping form to the pile of her stuff on the floor, and sure enough, there was her mask.
This was Mama Murder.
I just stayed leaning on one elbow on the bed, thinking about whether I should take a peek at what she looked like underneath her mask. The main question on my mind though, was why hadn’t she killed me yet? If this really was Mama Murder she would have had her gun to my head the second I opened the door. She was sort of a legend in the zones, not many people ever saw her in her mask, let alone half-naked and vulnerable.
The only thing known about her was her was that she was lethal and mostly worked alone. You would occasionally see her pink-hair streak by at top speed on Route Guano, or would hear how she took down a team of Dracs all by her lonesome. The only time our particular group had seen her ourselves was when Doctor D had sent her as reinforcement when we were outnumbered and two of our group was down in the middle of the desert, afterwards she had hopped on her bike without so much as a word and took off.
I leaned over and stroked some hair out of her face and was surprised to see that she had to be twenty at the most. She had freckles spread across her nose and cheeks and a ring through her nose. Her pale pink lips were cracked and she had a bruise under her right eye, it looked fresh. Even through all that she was beautiful. Not a lot of young, beautiful girls could hold their own out here in the zones.
I settled down under the blankets next to her and let my mind wonder about if she would even be here long enough after I woke up to find out who she was, and then sleep overtook me.
I opened my eyes because of the sunlight coming in through the painted window of the basement room I was in. The room was tinted red but that’s not what I was focused on, the girl next to me was what had captured my attention. She had rolled over to face me sometime in the night, her pink hair was everywhere and her lips were set in a pout that I wondered if it was natural or from the beating she had taken recently. Our bodies were mere inches apart and I could feel her warm breathe on my bare chest when she exhaled, her rough hands were pressed against my side; she must have gotten cold in the night. I shook my head to clear thoughts that were beginning to pop up and rolled out of bed before I got carried away.
After I had gotten dressed, I made my way out of the red room to the small kitchen Doctor D had. A few other Killjoys nodded at me as I walked in and I nodded back.
“Where’s Doctor D?” I asked one of the guys by the rusted fridge.
“He’s upstairs with Show Pony, I think he’s doing a broadcast.”
I thanked him and made my way up the stairs to hear Doctor D signing off, Show Pony waved to me and I could tell he was smiling from under the helmet he always wore. Doctor D turned his attention to me when he had turned all of the equipment off for the day, “What can I do for you Poison?”
“Is that really Mama Murder down there?”
Doctor D smiled the wide smile he was famous for, “Who else would it be?”
I frowned, “What were you thinking, putting me in the same room as her? She could have killed me before I even knew what was happening.”
Doctor D didn’t even flinch, he just rolled his chair toward the open door that was letting sunlight in, “I put you in there because you were the only one that would be able to handle her if she woke up,” he said matter-of-factly.
I took a deep breath to calm myself down and sighed, “What happened to her? She didn’t even stir when I came in.”
Doctor D sighed, “She had a run in with an exterminator the other day, she’s been here since. We knocked her out with what was left of our painkillers.”
Show Pony’s attention turned to whoever had just walked up the stairs and I turned to see none other than the woman we were talking about.
I couldn’t control my eyes or my thoughts as they traveled from her untied black combat boots, to her exposed legs, to her very short, shorts, and then to her shirt that showed her stomach. She had a bandana on the bottom half of her face, and some dark sunglasses covering her eyes, her pink hair was a mess like she had just rolled out of bed, which she probably had.
“Show Pony, would you mind coming outside with me?” she croaked; she sounded like she hadn’t drunk anything in days.
Show Pony nodded and skated his way over to her, putting an arm around her shoulders as she leaned into him. They made their way outside and left Doctor D and I alone.
I let my eyes linger on her as I watched them approach some lawn chairs that were sitting in the shade of the porch until Doctor D cleared his throat.
“She’ll be staying here for a while,” he said softly.
I felt my eyebrows raise, “Was she really hurt that badly?”
He chuckled darkly, “If she wasn’t, she’d be back out there hunting the guy that did this to her, its all we can do to convince her to stay a little longer.”
I looked back to the woman lounging outside, “Why’re you telling me this?”
He sighed and looked at the floor, “I want you to take her with you when you leave.”
My head snapped to look at him, “What do you mean you want us to take her with us? You know it’s just us four. No one else.”
“Poison, she won’t be able to be on her own for at least a few months, but we know there’s no way to convince her to stay still and out of the fight that long. If she’s with you guys then at least someone will know if something happens to her. She needs someone better than us to tend to her wounds, Fun Ghoul is-“
“It’s not happening Death Defying. Besides, why do you think she’d agree to come with us? You know her better than we do and even we know she wants to be on her own,” my fists were clenched just like every other time I had trouble controlling my temper.
He shook his head at me, “Look Poison, something happened out in that desert-“
Mama Murder’s voice broke through the tension that was building in the room, “Nothing happened out there D,” even with the glasses on you could feel her cold stare on the man in the wheelchair. Then as quick as she had appeared, she walked between the two of us and went back down the stairs.
PLEASE UPDATE
8/1/14