Resurrection

The desert held an oasis in Four that few had ever seen.
The pocket of land seemed to be untouched by rads and war, a small pond with trees and a little scrubby grass that now was at the centre of a small encampment. The reason nobody saw it was a decent camouflage attempt and the presence of electromagnetic energy. The first was Killjoys, the second a lucky strike out and just maybe why there was an oasis in the first place. Now it also housed all the would be and wanna be killjoys who hoped to win a war.
“Any really good ones?”
Bright scratched his head with the barrel of his gun and shrugged at Party.
“Potentially yes but with the time we have….”
“Kobra has sent some good stuff out, we have schematics for the city connections that look really promising.”
The two men paused and watched as Ghoul made a group of teens run again and again, timing them as they dodged and dropped into ditches. A killjoy in the Zones knew the value of being able to use cover and there was nobody better at it than the dark haired terror who was grinning as he lobbed a couple of smoke grenades in for good measure. Amber was taking another group through target practise and it was clear that while there were some missing the target, a vast majority were doing well.
Party tousled Bright’s hair affectionately, they had spent a lot of time together in the early years of the fight, through to when they left and the girls left. Crim and Rainbow had returned four years later and helped them in the final battle and he was comforted to know that Bright and Amber had come home when Rain had needed them.
“Were we ever that young?”
“Yeah but the world was halfway sane back then. Now all these kids have is us and the cause.”
Party winced, he knew he was as much responsible for that as BLI.
“Except things are never that black and white Bright, one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.”
Bright smiled and shook his head, that BLI sought to control the populace was enough for him, he would leave the ethics to others. Ghoul jogged over to them, his face smudged with smoke as he grabbed them both in a hug.
“Good bunch, I think we can work with this.”
Party kissed his forehead and the three strode back down to where Amber had now gathered the group of forty or so recruits together. They all stared in awe, most had only seen Party Poison on wanted posters and now here he was, the famous yellow mask and smirk in place as he headed over to the beautiful girl in yellow.
“Hi Amber, hi guys….”
There were murmurs and shuffling feet as Party faced them. He again felt a stab of guilt. Most of these kids would die for him and whatever battle they had to fight in. It was fun to cause trouble with his friends, to annoy BLI and make noise. Not so fun to think of them going up against Korse and the full Scarecrow army.
“We have a spy in the city and soon we may go to war…”
Party paused, looking at his friends.
“I can’t ask you to die for us, anybody that wants to leave can do just that. If you choose to fight you may die and we may fail. BLI is stronger now than ever and whatever we do may not be enough.”
A lot of faces looked very serious at this until a voice called from the back.
“We’re not leaving!”
“Fuck BLI!”
Party grinned, Ghoul and Bright laughing along as the tension broke a little. Amber smiled to herself, if their leader had a fault it was that he sometimes took things a little too seriously. Finally Party raised his hand and the chatter died down.
“Fuck it then, guess we’re all in. Keep training and listening to Bright and Amber. When we strike, we will need all the guns we have and more.”
A cheer went up and Amber shooed the kids away and back to their lessons with Bright in tow leaving Ghoul and Party to enjoy soaking in a little sun. Ghoul had discarded his jacket and his friend loved the way the light danced on his inked skin. They stood in companionable silence until Ghoul sighed and stroked Party’s hair.
“Any more news?”
“Not since he sent the last encrypted message. We can’t track him, Jet says the city has put up a new static barrier. Hopefully he will get another message out soon.”
Ghoul could hear the worry in his friend’s voice and knew that the pressure Party was feeling would be increasing the longer Kobra stayed out of contact. There was nothing he could do but offer solace and keep them all going until they could get in there and end it. On that point Ghoul had some ideas of his own.
“Where are the girls at?”
“Went to look for supplies about an hour ago.”
Party rolled his eyes, he didn’t like letting either Crimson or Rainbow out of his sight for more than ten minutes and looking for supplies was usually a code name for picking a fight with as many dracs as possible. He toed the sand with the tip of his boot and sighed.
“Usual bet then.”
Ghouls giggled, the sound making Party smile.
“Ten bucks says they bring back alcohol or scalps.”
“I hope not the latter, I don’t think Show Pony appreciated them putting severed heads in his bed.”
A round of gunfire drew them back to the training and soon another hour had passed with Party taking a group of the trainees through a mock up and Jet arriving with the news that another encryption had come out of the city. Party had felt himself relax and again cursed his little brother and his stubbornness. Jet had joined in and when night started to fall they had gathered together with the kids, a bonfire providing warmth and food as they talked.
“I’m gonna skin Crim.”
“Nope, you’ll fuck Crim and then forget why you were mad.”
A round of applause went up at Jet’s comment and Party’s reply was lost as the Mustang came roaring around the outbuildings and skidded to a halt. Forty plus faces watched as the drivers door opened and Rainbow tumbled out, giggling helplessly with a joint in hand. She didn’t seem to notice the others, sticking the reefer in her mouth as she pulled herself up on the bonnet and staggered around to open the passenger door and pull Crimson out.
“Shhhhhhhhhhh, they won’t know we’re here….”
Crimson was on a Drift high and more interested in the sensations that moving was causing to pay any attention and promptly fell flat on her face. Rainbow lost it, roaring with laughter as Party and Ghoul stood up and walked over, their faces amused and somewhat relieved.
“Good scavving mission then?”
“Baby!”
Ghoul disappeared as Rainbow landed on him, Party quickly helping Crimson to her feet. She swung from his arm, waving at the assembled killjoys and trying to remember how to form words.
“We found a stash, a really good stash and….”
She grinned, grabbing his hair and kissing him hard which prompted Jet to send the kids off to bed and douse the fire before things got pornographic. He left his friends to take their women to bed, opening up the boot of the Mustang and staring inside. True there was a stash in there but it wasn’t just random drugs, some tins and some whiskey. This was a stash that they could use and his eyes alighted on one object in particular.
Jet lifted it out with a certain wonder and decided to ask the girls where they had found it once they sobered up. Things like this just didn’t turn up in the Zones, they were legend from before the war and he instantly took to imagining all the uses he could find for it. This small object in his hand.
This weapon.

Notes