Fight To Live
Three
“Murder, you ripped your fucking stitches, and they’re infected. Don’t even get me started on the rest of this; you’re lucky you’re alive.”
Fun Ghoul had been at the diner when we reached it, just about to leave when we burst in the door with Mama and the small girl in tow. Of course, Mama Murder didn’t want to stay. We could all hear him lecturing her from my room where she was laid in the bed.
“I had to, Ghoul.”
We didn’t hear a response, but rather a mix of a sigh and “humph” because he couldn’t be too mad that she had saved a kid. Speaking of the kid, what the Hell was going on? I looked over to the small child sleeping on the couch of the makeshift living room. She said her name was Grace and the Mama Murder was her Mama. She didn’t look anything like Murder: Murder was pale with freckles and long straight hair, her eyes were a mix of green and orange, but Grace was darker skinned with a curly fro like Jet Star’s and she had dark brown eyes the color of chocolate.
I opened the door to my room and closed it behind me; I could feel Mama’s eyes on me as Fun Ghoul leaned over her to try to stop her from dying. I sat on the chair in a corner and stared at her. She was lying on her stomach in her underwear and Fun Ghoul was cursing under his breath as he stitched an open wound on her shoulder.
“Did this motherfucker bite you?” he asked mostly to himself.
That made her smile slightly to herself and she closed her eyes as if to rest.
“You can’t go to sleep yet, you bitch, you might not wake up.”
Mama chuckled, “I’m going to kick your ass after this.”
Fun Ghoul let out a gust of air, “I know, now quit moving.”
I left them in my room to have a smoke and contact Doctor D, telling them I’d be back to talk to her when Fun Ghoul was done. When I made it outside I lit up and turned on the military phone we had for emergencies. Static crackled and I let out a breath.
“DD. Come in DD,” I said into the device.
Static crackled for a few minutes as I let smoke out of my mouth before I repeated the message, this time getting a response.
“Poison? Did you find her in time?”
“Depends on what you mean by on time, she’s fucked up bad.”
I could hear him sigh on the other end, “What about the kid?”
I looked up at the starry sky as I spoke, “The kid’s alright, she’s asleep on the couch right now.”
The relief in Doctor D’s voice was apparent as he continued to question me about what went down and I explained how she had somehow taken down an entire van full of Dracs and set the van itself, on fire. He laughed at that.
“That’s our Mama Murder!” he said as I smiled lightly.
“I’m going to let you go D, I don’t want to waste the new batteries on this thing, you’ll hear from us soon and Show Pony’s crashing here for the night. He’ll come back tomorrow,” I dropped my cigarette and stomped it out with my boot.
“All right tumbleweed, keep your gun close,” and then the static stopped.
I turned the phone off and made my way back inside of the run-down diner. It wasn’t much but it was our home. Show Pony was sitting in one of the old booths on the far wall with Jet Star; Kobra Kid had made his way to bed a long time ago.
I sat in the booth with them while waiting for Fun Ghoul to come back out of my room. Show Pony had taken his helmet off and it was sitting on the table in front of him.
“You know why they call her Mama Murder, don’t you?” he asked softly.
Jet Star and I looked at him in surprise, we knew Show Pony and Mama Murder seemed close but we didn’t know he was close enough to know more than the average Killjoy did about her.
He took our lack of response as a signal to continue, “Up in the New Haven shelter there’s a group of children that call her their ‘mama,” he smiled at the little girl on the couch near them, “She goes around and saves children from Dracs and exterminators, regardless of the risks. She works alone to save these poor orphan kids and takes them to shelter. She’s their mother now,” he looked back down at the table in front of him. “That’s what happened the other day, she was trying to save Grace from being taken back to Battery City and wasn’t expecting an exterminator to be with them. She barely escaped alive. Mama had been badly injured from before that when some Dracs had run her bike off of the road. They didn’t survive of course,” he chuckled at this, “but she’s been running herself ragged and if she continues at this pace those children are going to lose their mother again.”
Jet Star and I just stared at Show Pony as he told us this information, I don’t know about Jet, but I definitely didn’t expect that reason behind her name. She was so young and alone, yet she has a group of children somewhere that mean the world to her, and she means the world to them.
“Why’re you telling us all of this?” Jet Star questioned.
Show Pony looked back up at us, “Doctor D really needs your help on this. She’s valuable, and strong, but she will not stop for anything. We need you guys to team up with her so she’s not completely alone and so there’s someone strong enough to keep her in line and make her rest when she needs to,” his eyes locked onto mine when he said this.
I looked over to the sleeping child on the couch and mulled over what he was saying.
“Okay, we’ll help her out.”
Jet Star looked over at me in shock, “Poison, we don’t have time to be taking in her and some kid, that’s just more people to worry about.”
I glared at him, “We can’t just turn them away Jet, that wouldn’t be fair. If we sent them up to New Haven she’d be dead before we know it.”
Jet Star looked at Grace and then back to me, “Okay, but they’re just going to get in the way,” he stood and made his way away from us and towards his room.
Show Pony and I just sat in silence until Fun Ghoul came out of my room and shook his head, “She’s fucked up badly man. Unless she stays down for a while she probably won’t make it.”
Show Pony gave me a meaningful look and Fun Ghoul looked between us, “Did I miss something?”
I stood from the table as Show Pony explained everything to Fun Ghoul, and made my way to the open door of my room. Murder was laying on her stomach still, the wound on her shoulder had been stitched and wrapped as best as it could be, there was dried blood on her still and she needed a shower. There was a large gash on her back that was almost healed and the wound on her side was left open to breathe, I’m assuming. The bottom half of her body was covered by my sheets and she was fast asleep. I smiled and shut the door and made my way back to the main diner area. Show Pony was lying in one of the booths with a pillow and blanket Fun Ghoul probably gave him, and Fun Ghoul himself seemed to have retreated to bed himself. I sat myself in a booth across from Grace and rubbed my temples, this was going to be a stressful situation for all of us.
Fun Ghoul had been at the diner when we reached it, just about to leave when we burst in the door with Mama and the small girl in tow. Of course, Mama Murder didn’t want to stay. We could all hear him lecturing her from my room where she was laid in the bed.
“I had to, Ghoul.”
We didn’t hear a response, but rather a mix of a sigh and “humph” because he couldn’t be too mad that she had saved a kid. Speaking of the kid, what the Hell was going on? I looked over to the small child sleeping on the couch of the makeshift living room. She said her name was Grace and the Mama Murder was her Mama. She didn’t look anything like Murder: Murder was pale with freckles and long straight hair, her eyes were a mix of green and orange, but Grace was darker skinned with a curly fro like Jet Star’s and she had dark brown eyes the color of chocolate.
I opened the door to my room and closed it behind me; I could feel Mama’s eyes on me as Fun Ghoul leaned over her to try to stop her from dying. I sat on the chair in a corner and stared at her. She was lying on her stomach in her underwear and Fun Ghoul was cursing under his breath as he stitched an open wound on her shoulder.
“Did this motherfucker bite you?” he asked mostly to himself.
That made her smile slightly to herself and she closed her eyes as if to rest.
“You can’t go to sleep yet, you bitch, you might not wake up.”
Mama chuckled, “I’m going to kick your ass after this.”
Fun Ghoul let out a gust of air, “I know, now quit moving.”
I left them in my room to have a smoke and contact Doctor D, telling them I’d be back to talk to her when Fun Ghoul was done. When I made it outside I lit up and turned on the military phone we had for emergencies. Static crackled and I let out a breath.
“DD. Come in DD,” I said into the device.
Static crackled for a few minutes as I let smoke out of my mouth before I repeated the message, this time getting a response.
“Poison? Did you find her in time?”
“Depends on what you mean by on time, she’s fucked up bad.”
I could hear him sigh on the other end, “What about the kid?”
I looked up at the starry sky as I spoke, “The kid’s alright, she’s asleep on the couch right now.”
The relief in Doctor D’s voice was apparent as he continued to question me about what went down and I explained how she had somehow taken down an entire van full of Dracs and set the van itself, on fire. He laughed at that.
“That’s our Mama Murder!” he said as I smiled lightly.
“I’m going to let you go D, I don’t want to waste the new batteries on this thing, you’ll hear from us soon and Show Pony’s crashing here for the night. He’ll come back tomorrow,” I dropped my cigarette and stomped it out with my boot.
“All right tumbleweed, keep your gun close,” and then the static stopped.
I turned the phone off and made my way back inside of the run-down diner. It wasn’t much but it was our home. Show Pony was sitting in one of the old booths on the far wall with Jet Star; Kobra Kid had made his way to bed a long time ago.
I sat in the booth with them while waiting for Fun Ghoul to come back out of my room. Show Pony had taken his helmet off and it was sitting on the table in front of him.
“You know why they call her Mama Murder, don’t you?” he asked softly.
Jet Star and I looked at him in surprise, we knew Show Pony and Mama Murder seemed close but we didn’t know he was close enough to know more than the average Killjoy did about her.
He took our lack of response as a signal to continue, “Up in the New Haven shelter there’s a group of children that call her their ‘mama,” he smiled at the little girl on the couch near them, “She goes around and saves children from Dracs and exterminators, regardless of the risks. She works alone to save these poor orphan kids and takes them to shelter. She’s their mother now,” he looked back down at the table in front of him. “That’s what happened the other day, she was trying to save Grace from being taken back to Battery City and wasn’t expecting an exterminator to be with them. She barely escaped alive. Mama had been badly injured from before that when some Dracs had run her bike off of the road. They didn’t survive of course,” he chuckled at this, “but she’s been running herself ragged and if she continues at this pace those children are going to lose their mother again.”
Jet Star and I just stared at Show Pony as he told us this information, I don’t know about Jet, but I definitely didn’t expect that reason behind her name. She was so young and alone, yet she has a group of children somewhere that mean the world to her, and she means the world to them.
“Why’re you telling us all of this?” Jet Star questioned.
Show Pony looked back up at us, “Doctor D really needs your help on this. She’s valuable, and strong, but she will not stop for anything. We need you guys to team up with her so she’s not completely alone and so there’s someone strong enough to keep her in line and make her rest when she needs to,” his eyes locked onto mine when he said this.
I looked over to the sleeping child on the couch and mulled over what he was saying.
“Okay, we’ll help her out.”
Jet Star looked over at me in shock, “Poison, we don’t have time to be taking in her and some kid, that’s just more people to worry about.”
I glared at him, “We can’t just turn them away Jet, that wouldn’t be fair. If we sent them up to New Haven she’d be dead before we know it.”
Jet Star looked at Grace and then back to me, “Okay, but they’re just going to get in the way,” he stood and made his way away from us and towards his room.
Show Pony and I just sat in silence until Fun Ghoul came out of my room and shook his head, “She’s fucked up badly man. Unless she stays down for a while she probably won’t make it.”
Show Pony gave me a meaningful look and Fun Ghoul looked between us, “Did I miss something?”
I stood from the table as Show Pony explained everything to Fun Ghoul, and made my way to the open door of my room. Murder was laying on her stomach still, the wound on her shoulder had been stitched and wrapped as best as it could be, there was dried blood on her still and she needed a shower. There was a large gash on her back that was almost healed and the wound on her side was left open to breathe, I’m assuming. The bottom half of her body was covered by my sheets and she was fast asleep. I smiled and shut the door and made my way back to the main diner area. Show Pony was lying in one of the booths with a pillow and blanket Fun Ghoul probably gave him, and Fun Ghoul himself seemed to have retreated to bed himself. I sat myself in a booth across from Grace and rubbed my temples, this was going to be a stressful situation for all of us.
PLEASE UPDATE
8/1/14