The Fabulous Killjoys lounged around Death Defying’s hideout for the rest of the day, it wasn’t often we got to just relax and we were determined to take advantage of it. We spent the day catching up with old friends and shared stories with new acquaintances about what had happened in the desert when we’d been camping out.

I sat with a scrap piece of paper, doodling while I had the chance, nothing really absolute coming out of it. Mama Murder had been hiding away from everyone and I tried to keep my mind off of it, switching subjects quickly every time I wondered if she was all right, or where she was. After getting fed up with the piece of paper in front of me, I decided to take the time to nap while I had the chance to do so. Our group of friends was leaving tomorrow in the early morning and there wouldn’t be much relaxation after that, it would be straight back to bringing down BLInd.

I dragged my sore feet down the long, dark hallway once again to the very last door on the right and opened it without hesitation and was met with the sight of Mama’s bare back and Fun Ghoul was inspecting a particularly big wound on her side that appeared to be black in color. Mama’s head was resting in her left hand and she was leaning on her knee. At the sound of me entering the room, she slowly looked over her shoulder; I noticed she wasn’t wearing her mask.

“See something you like sugar?” she taunted in a low voice, her cracked lips looked perfect.

Fun Ghoul smirked as he continued to poke and prod at her side, but didn’t make eye contact with me.

I let my own mouth slip into the smirk I was known for and shook my head, “In your dreams, Mama.”

I could see a twinge of pain flash across her face as Fun Ghoul pulled at a stitch, “These are infected Mama. You need to come back with us so I can fix it.”

Instead of answering Mama Murder just leant forward and pulled her shirt back over her small frame, “I’ll be fine Ghoul, don’t worry so much.”

Fun Ghoul shook his head, “The infection could get into your bloodstream, doll, you could die.”

She smiled as she stood and looked down on Ghoul, “I’ll just take some antibiotics that Doctor D has, okay?”

Ghoul frowned but stood nonetheless, “You really should let me fix it.”

Mama just leaned down to pick her mask up off of the floor and pulled her dusty boots on, “I’m going outside.”

I remained silent as she pushed past me in the doorway and then turned back to Fun Ghoul, “Don’t worry about it Ghoul, she’ll come around.”

He just shook his head, “You know just as well as I do, that she won’t.”

I shrugged my shoulders and made my way back down the hallway towards the stairs and pulled my mask back on to follow Mama Murder outside. But before I made it out the door, Show Pony had come rushing in, tapping Doctor D on the shoulder because he was in the middle of a broadcast.

“Well tumbleweeds, a certain messenger has come in with some important information fresh out of the zones, so enjoy this song while Doctor Death Defying has a chat with him,” he put on a record and turned the mic off before turning to face him.

“There’s info on the girl,” he whispered.

Doctor D kept calm as if this information didn’t faze him, and I took a seat on the couch in the sunlit room before pulling a cigarette from my jacket pocket and lighting it.

“What’s the news from the underground?” he asked simply.

“They’re taking her to Battery City to exterminate her, they said she’s too old for correction now, she doesn’t even have a chance,” Show Pony’s voice was tinged with sadness.

Doctor D merely nodded, “You know where she is now?”

I stopped paying attention as I noticed that Mama Murder was no longer outside on the lawn chair, but was standing just outside the door, looking at the blue sky.

Doctor D and Show Pony’s conversation stopped as Mama walked into the room, like she hadn’t heard a word of what they were saying and walked straight down the stairs. I let my eyes swing back to the two men across the room with a raised eyebrow, “What was that about?”

Show Pony hung his head down, “She heard us.”

Doctor D just nodded and they both ignored me like I hadn’t been sitting in the room during the entire scene.

---

Kobra Kid, Jet Star, and some of the other random Killjoys that were in the hideout had found an old board game from before the fires of 2013 and were trying to figure out how to play with about a third of the pieces missing and the rules were so faded you could barely read them. This resulted in everyone just making their own rules and a lot of yelling. I laughed at their antics and stood from my seat on the couch that I had been in for far too long.

“I’m gonna hit the hay guys, this is the last good sleep I’ll get for a long time.”

Fun Ghoul laughed, “Make sure Mama Murder doesn’t kill you, she’s not knocked out this time.”

I rolled my eyes, “Whatever,” I muttered and made my way back down that long hallway again, only this time when I opened the door, Mama Murder wasn’t there, and her stuff was missing.

The window was open showing the ladder leading out of the covered window well. She was gone.

---

Doctor D and Show Pony weren’t surprised at all that she was gone, but they weren’t happy about it.

“We’ll go after her and bring her back,” Kobra Kid suggested, and the rest of us agreed.

Fun Ghoul said he’d take a bike and get his medical supplies from the diner and that he’d catch up to us. He left after Show Pony told us where we could find her. Some Dracs were transporting someone to Battery City tonight and he knew exactly where they were going to be.

---

I was driving our beat up Trans-am with Jet Star, and Kobra Kid in the back; Show Pony was in the passenger seat next to me telling me where I needed to be. We headed up Route Guano for a few hours before he told us to keep our eyes peeled, but we didn’t need to. The Drac van was in the middle of the highway, and it was on fire. We all got out of the car quickly and drew our guns, heading towards the flaming beacon that was lighting up the dark.

“They’re all Dracs,” Kobra shouted from the side of the van he was checking out.

Show Pony looked around us, as if picturing a map in his head. This man knew where every hideout was in the zones and I wouldn’t doubt he was trying to think of what ones were nearby.

“Her bike is still here,” Jet Star pointed out. Sure enough, it was lying in the ditch next to the road.

Show Pony nodded to himself, “There’s a Dead Pegasus near here, maybe she made it there. Besides we need to get away from the fire before it attracts Dracs.”

We all agreed that Kobra Kid would follow us on Mama’s bike and we made our way to the gas station as quickly as we could.

When we approached the Dead Pegasus we saw that all of the lights were off, even though it was the middle of the night. Our guns were drawn and we were ready for anything, except for what we found.

I pushed the door open with one hand and pointed my gun with the other, then there was a hot pink gun pressed to my temple.

“Drop it,” I heard her croak out.

“Mama Murder it’s us,” Show Pony shouted from outside.

She lowered her gun and let me open the door the rest of the way and I could turn to see her hiding behind it.

“The attendant droid is destroyed,” Jet Star said from behind the counter.

Kobra Kid was just staring at the woman in front of us, just like I was. She was bleeding through her shirt in multiple places, it was on the floor, and running down her legs, we couldn’t tell where it was coming from. She was standing strong with one hand on her hip and the other holding her ray gun, like she wasn’t losing blood faster than should be possible. But behind all of that there was a small child hiding behind her.

I felt my eyebrows rise in confusion, what was going on? I didn’t have time to even voice my question before Mama Murder grabbed the little girl’s hand and spoke, “I need to get out of here before more Dracs come, did you bring my bike?”

We all looked between each other and then back to her, “We can’t let you take the bike looking like that,” I said.

She looked angry, “Just give me the god damned bike so I can leave.”

Kobra Kid stepped up angrily, “If we let you take the bike like that you could pass out from blood loss and then the kid would get hurt, is that what you want?”

I could see the gears grinding in her head as she considered what she was being told, the little girl pulled lightly on her hand.

“Mama,” she whispered, “You should let them fix you first.”

Mama Murder’s eyes looked down at her and she smiled softly, “Okay sweetheart, if that’s what you want.”

I’m sure we were all wearing the same facial expression, one that said, “What the fuck is going on?”