The Collector

Pulling back the side door of the van, Ghoul jumped inside and helped Red in as Jet followed behind. Only once she was inside did she feel suddenly wary.

“Hey,” she snapped as she saw Jet about to close the door. “You guys aren’t Zonecreepers are you? ‘Cause I warn you now…!”

Jet screwed up his face in distaste at the idea of what she was suggesting. Ghoul raised an eyebrow. No, of course they weren’t, they would never lay a single unwelcome finger on her, but Jet’s reaction was more extreme than he had expected. Clearly, Jet was repulsed by the idea. Ghoul smiled; he knew Jet was a decent guy, this not only confirmed it but announced it to the world.

“We’ll leave the door open,” Ghoul suggested, then added: “Would that make you feel better?”
“Yeah,” Red replied, feeling both glad she didn’t have to fight them and strangely comforted. “Thanks.”

Jet leaned forward and grabbed at the handle of a large yellow box and dragged it closer. Opening it up revealed it to be a somewhat battered but functional satellite phone.

“GEO or LEO?” Jet asked.
Ghoul pondered the question for a moment. “We’re in Zone 3 so it shouldn’t matter too much,” he said with a shake of the head. “Use GEO though, just in case.”

Jet nodded as he extended the antenna, fired up the charge and punched in the details.

“What’s that mean?” Red asked.
“Geosynchronous or Low Earth Orbit satellites. You get different signal strengths and quality, but LEO is easier to track,” Ghoul explained.
“You don’t want to be tracked?”
“No,” Ghoul frowned, as he handed her a small strip of painkillers and the obligatory cup of foul tasting recycled rain water. “we don’t.”
“You’re being very mysterious, Shorty” she chuckled. “Anyone’d think you were wanted or something.”

Ghoul flinched.

“You are, aren’t you!” her eyes widened and she leaned forward in happy excitement. “What for?”

Behind them both, Jet turned an aggrieved frown toward Ghoul.

“I just don’t like being called Shorty,” Ghoul grumbled, hoping to distract her from the awkward conversation she seemed to want to have.
“And if you even think of calling me Frizzy, you’ll regret it dearly, little girl,” Jet smirked as he said it.

Leaning back and without even looking at him, she thumped him squarely in the ribs.

“Hey!” Jet cried in a tone that seemed half laughter and half warning.

Ghoul merely stared in wonder. He’d never seen Jet interact with anyone like that before. Did he like her? It seemed almost like a scene from a high school classroom. He half expected one or the other to start pulling tongues or pulling hair. He’d known Jet a long time and even though they were all in or around their thirties he was most definitely the ‘adult’ of the group.

“So,” Red refused to drop it, “what are you wanted for?”
“BLI don’t like us,” Ghoul finally replied.
“BLI don’t like anyone,” Red replied, raising an eyebrow.
“Okay, they really don’t like us,” Ghoul looked down as he replaced the strip of tablets in the medical case.
“No fun.”
“What?”

Ghoul raised his eyes, misunderstanding her reply and believing her to have used his name. Only when she narrowed her eyes and tipped her head did he realise. That was too close! About to comment further, Red closed her mouth as the satellite phone crackled to life and Jet spoke.

“CC?”
“Hey! How’s my favourite…?” the voice began, only to be interrupted.
“Keep tight, C, we’re on vox,” Jet cut in to let her know it wasn’t a private conversation.
“You in trouble, J?” she sounded concerned. “We were expecting you hours ago.”
Jet sighed. “You’ve not had the supplies?”
“No,” she sounded confused. “Where are you?”
“Near,” he replied hesitantly.
“What’s going on J? How could we have the supplies if you aren’t here?”
“K’s been ambushed,” he replied grimly. “I was hoping you’d found the supplies.”
“You think if I had I wouldn’t have called to let you know K was missing?”
“I’m sorry, C. I guess I just hoped,” he replied dejectedly. “I was hoping he was there with you.”
“Sorry, J, I haven’t seen him. He never got here. I thought P was coming?”
“He was, he got held up.”
“He’s okay though?”
“He’s… yeah, he’s fine,” Jet replied unconvincingly. “So, you’ve heard nothing?”
“Nothing, hun, sorry to hear that. I’ll get the word out though. Someone will know something. Someone always does.”
“Thanks, appreciate it.”

As if prompted by the reply, Ghoul tapped the medical box and Jet nodded.

“Hey, C, we need a strip of Ademen. Do you have any?”
“Let me check,” she replied, the sound of a box being opened crackled over the phone. “Yeah, is it important? It’s our last one.”
“It really is. Can you spare it?”
“For you?” she laughed lightly. “Of course! For crying out loud, J, if it wasn’t for you guys we’d barely have anything.”
“Thanks, C, I really appreciate it.” He smiled into the phone.
“Are you coming to pick it up?”

Ghoul tapped Jet’s arm and pointed to himself. They would need to split up anyway as one of them had to drive the trans am. Jet nodded his agreement.

“Nah, not this time, sorry, G’s gonna swing by.”
“Oh, hey G! Didn’t know you were there too. Great, I’ll get the red carpet out!”
“I’m honoured!” Ghoul grinned.
“Yeah, got a can of K’s favourite here somewhere.”
“Maybe I’ll pass on that,” Ghoul screwed up his nose at the canned kibble. He would eat it, sure, but he had to be desperate. “There’s still so much sand to eat!” he joked.
“Okay, babe.” Candi’s light laugh spilled over the static. “I’ll see you soon then?”
“Sure!” Ghoul beamed; relieved to have located the medication he needed for Party.

Closing down the satellite link, Jet offered Ghoul a nod and a smile.

“At least we can get the meds,” he said with a shrug. “What do we do? Wait for news or…”

Jet paused. What else could they do? It was possible he’d been taken by BLI, but to know for sure, they would still have to wait for more information from their sources in Battery City. It crushed them to think of Kobra in someone’s hands, somewhere out there.

“There really isn’t an ‘or’,” Ghoul frowned and sighed sadly.

A silence hung over the van’s three occupants for what felt an age, but was probably less than a minute.

“I’ll take the trans am,” Ghoul broke the silence first. “It’s faster.”
“Okay, makes sense,” Jet replied with a nod.
“Who am I going with?” Red piped in cheerily, eyeing them with a meaningful grin.

Both men looked at the young woman who was turning her gaze between the two, waiting semi-patiently for a reply. Raising an eyebrow as a prompt, she continued:

“Or do I get to choose?”
“You get to stay right here,” Jet replied, hardly believing she would assume anything different.
“You’re going to leave a little girl? Alone? Out in the Zones?” she replied, raising her voice and pitch with each phrase of her sentence.
“Thought you weren’t a little girl,” Jet pouted in amusement.
“Well, I’m not the one who thinks so and I’m not the one who’s leaving me, am I, Jet?”

Her final word raised heads and eyebrows as both men stared at her. Ghoul grabbed her arm, narrowing his eyes.

“Who are you?” he asked.
“I told you!” she snapped back, her good humour disappearing as Ghoul’s fingers grew tight around her upper arm. Trying to break free, she twisted her arm and pulled away, all to no avail. His grip was too strong.
“How do you know who we are?” he demanded.
“You can’t be serious!” she snapped back, as she finally stopped struggling. “You guys may be able to run rings around dim-witted draculoids, but your codes suck! J, K, G and P? Really? I might not recognise you but I’m not stupid!”

Ghoul sighed deeply – she was right. He made a mental note to address that particular issue later, but it did present them with a very real problem. He was still uncertain as to whether she was in any way connected to Kobra’s disappearance. Had her presence in the car been merely coincidence? Did she know more than she was letting on? Could they afford to just turn her loose into the desert? If she was involved, she knew exactly where he was heading. Not that he could take her with him either. If Candi managed to get any details on Kobra’s whereabouts in the hour it would take to reach her, the last thing he needed was a stranger tagging along with him. Especially one he didn’t trust.

Raising an eyebrow, he glanced at Jet. From the look on his face, he had been considering something similar. Turning his palms out as he shrugged his shoulders, Ghoul waited for a response.

“With me?” Jet’s pitch soared as he pointed to himself.
“Well, I can’t take her!” Ghoul pointed out. “What if I hear about Kobra?”

It really wasn’t worth avoiding names any more.

“B-but…” Jet spluttered.
“Oh, no,” she deadpanned, her pouting expression one of exasperation, “don’t fight over me, please!”
“We can’t leave her now,” Ghoul reasoned, ignoring her indignant comment.

Jet sighed and frowned deeply as he turned his eyes toward the newcomer.

“Well, I guess you’re coming with me then.”
“Oh, what joy!” she retorted, her tone barely civil.

Ghoul pushed himself to his feet and jumped down from the van, noticing that it was starting to get light and as yet, none of them had slept.

“Play nice, children,” he smirked. “Daddy will be back soon.”

Jet watched as Ghoul headed toward the trans am. Rubbing the growing stubble on his chin, he rose and closed the van door before stepping over some boxes to get to the driving seat.

“Coming?” he indicated the passenger seat.
“Your friend’s a freak,” Red announced playfully, as she used Jet’s shoulder for balance climbing over the same boxes with much shorter legs.
“Yeah,” Jet chuckled, turning the key in the ignition.

Notes