FicWad

Chapter 1
“Look alive, sunshine. 109 in the sky, but the pigs won’t quit. You’re here with me, Doctor Death-defying. I’ll be your surgeon, your proctor, your helicopter. Pumping out the slaughtermatic sounds to keep you live. A system failure for the masses. Empty matter for the master plan. Louder than God’s revolver and twice as shiny. This one’s for all you rock ‘n rollers, all you crash queens and motor babies. Listen up! The future is bulletproof, the aftermath is secondary. It’s time to do it now and do it loud. Killjoys, make some noise!”
My hair blew around my face as the truck’s radio wreaked of static and lack of signal. We could still hear Dr. Death-Defying as he talked, and then the song played afterwards. I was starting to think “Na Na Na” was the pirate radio station’s new theme song. Fallon was driving, speeding down the road in Zone 2. This crappy old truck looked ready to fall apart, but it was still serving us well. We were trying to get to a calm place to camp for the night. Twilight had fallen across the desert. We had had a relatively peaceful day, although we had about two run-ins with Draculoids, BLI’s hit men. But they were easily dealt with and wouldn’t be back to report our whereabouts. Or our extermination, which they had clearly failed at, because here we sat, alive, breathing, and sitting in the car.
“Where are we?” I asked in a loud voice to be heard over the blaring radio.
“Somewhere in Zone 2.”
“Clearly,” I sighed, turning to look out the window. It was a gorgeous night. I lurched forward in my seat when Fallon slammed on the brakes. I turned back to her. “What the hell?”
“Look,” she said, pointing at the horizon with a shaky finger.
And I did. “Wha….” A car was speeding towards us. I noticed it above the dull scenery because it wasn’t black and white like the BLI cars. It was colorful and bright and had a huge white spider painted across the hood. Four men and a young girl sat inside. They slowed to a stop in front of us, taking in our truck, which was spray-painted in all kinds of different colors, and then us, our hair dyed blue (Fallon) and purple (me). I drew the gun I had taken from a Draculoid earlier today from my jacket and climbed out of the truck. The one behind the driver’s seat with flaming red hair stepped out of the car, his weapon—a gun similar to mine, except painted yellow—also drawn. We stood there, both ready to shoot if the other made a move, staring at each other. I heard a car door slam behind me as Fallon got out of the car. She came around the front, her gun in her hand, but completely unprepared to shoot.
“We mean you no harm,” she said.
The guy with red hair glanced at her, taking in her crazy mix-matched outfit, which looked totally awesome by the way. His eyes returned to me, and a silent message passed between us. We lowered our guns together. “Killjoys?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said, tucking my gun in my jacket pocket. “I’m Vampire Vixen, and this is Lady Laserbam,” I gestured to Fallon.
“I’m Party Poison,” he said, beckoning to his friends in the car. They filed out behind him. “This is Kobra Kid,” he said, pointing to one with bright yellow hair, “Jet Star,” now he pointed to the guy next to Kobra Kid, who had wavy black hair, “and Fun Ghoul.” Fun Ghoul was the last one in the line. He wore a mask that covered his face. It was kind of ugly, with a purple face and green hair. Party Poison had a yellow and red one that covered the top of his face. Jet Star had an eyepatch. Kobra Kid held a fat motorcycle helmet in his hand, “GOOD LUCK” written across the visor.
“And I’m Grace,” said the little girl, who came to stand next to Party Poison.
We couldn’t use our real names, of course. If I flat-out told them that my name was Blaze and the girl standing next to me was Fallon, they could give us away later. And I’d probably never learn Party Poison’s real name. I just wondered why Grace was with them, and why she didn’t have a Killjoy name. In case you were wondering, Killjoys are the resistance to BLI.
“Nice to meet you. Where are you headed?” I asked.
“I don’t know just yet. Somewhere to camp, for now.”
“Same here,” Fallon piped up.
“Well then. Stick with us, at least for tonight. I didn’t think there were Killjoys this young.”
“All right. We’ll follow you.” Fallon climbed into the driver’s seat again.
“Okay,” Party Poison said as his group climbed into their car. We didn’t have to follow them long before they pulled off the road and stopped. We were right behind a tall mesa. We all got out and Kobra Kid and Fun Ghoul started a fire using wood they had in their trunk. I sat down in front of the fire. Fallon was directly across from me, talking animatedly to Jet Star, Grace, Kobra Kid, and Fun Ghoul. Party Poison emerged from the car (finally) and sat next to me. “So where are you from?”
“Originally? I’m from Illinois, up by St. Louis. When my mom was killed during the war, Lady Laserbam came with her mom from Dallas, and got me. I was eight. And then we holed ourselves up in a small apartment in Battery City. When BLI really took over, with their drugs and flies and lack of colors—about a year ago, when they outlawed colors, we lost it. And so we left. On our way out of Battery City, they shot Julie, Lady’s mom, and we’ve been on our own ever since.”
“How old are you?”
“Fifteen. Lady’s seventeen.” I glanced up at Fallon. No one across the fire was paying attention to us.
“Wow. I’m sorry.”
I gazed at the fire, idly wondering if maybe it could burn my eyes out. Then maybe this wouldn’t hurt so much. Even though it was 2019, and my mom died in 2012, and Julie died 2018, it was still so hard to think of either and not break down. But I had to keep strong and fight the bastards that killed Julie. And someday, possibly, I would meet the man who killed my mother. And I would make him beg for death. “It was a while ago. It’s over now.”
“Yeah, I guess. So what have you been doing out here?”
“Driving. Keeping one ear glued to the radio. Killing any Dracs who dare get in our way.”
He smirked. “Nice.”
“I know. If we just had bigger guns it might be more fun.”
He laughed. “You’ll get there.”
“And what about you? What’s your story?”
“There’s nothing to tell. BLI took over. I rebelled. I’ve had a price on my head ever since.”
“Aint that a nice way of saying it,” I muttered.
“So you guys have just been alone out here? With no one but each other?”
“Yes. Just like you. The only other voice we ever heard is Doctor Death-Defying’s.”
“You just left Battery City?”
“Well we were aiming to find a better, more democratic place to live. Then we realized that there was nowhere to go. BLI was everywhere, all around the world. And they decided we were troublemakers, and thus needed to die.”
He fell silent. We both sat there, staring at the fire, as the conversation on the other side of the fire slowly died down. “So where do you two plan to head after this?” Kobra Kid asked.
“Anywhere the wind takes us,” Fallon answered.
“Or anywhere with food,” I shrugged. “Wherever we reach first.”
Fun Ghoul snickered. “You could come with us. We get plenty of food.”
“Really? We usually have to scavenge for it wherever we can,” Fallon said, drawing their attention back to her. But Grace didn’t turn back to her. Instead she scooted closer to Party Poison, staring at me.
“Are you okay?” she asked, handing me a small bag of chips.
I smiled. “I’m fine. Thanks.” I opened the bag, which had a huge BLI symbol on the front. Those chips were the first chips I’d had in years. They tasted awesome. My smile broadened to a grin.
She smiled back tiredly.
“Here,” Party Poison said, digging through the bag next to him that I hadn’t noticed before. He handed her a pillow. “Sorry, it’ll have to do. I can’t find a blanket just yet.”
She shrugged. “Doesn’t matter.” Then she lay down, tucking the pillow beneath her head. “It’s a warm night.”
I looked back across the fire at the others. They were all gathered around some kind of metal box sitting open on the sand, attaching wires and hitting buttons, lights illuminating their faces.
“What are they doing?” I asked Party Poison.
“Making a bomb. Hey guys, need any help?” he asked, gazing across the fire.
“Nah. Fun Ghoul’s doing everything. We’re just watching,” Jet Star replied.
Fallon was watching with such concentration I almost laughed. I didn’t know what fascinated her so. I didn’t care. I turned back to Party Poison. He was digging through his bag. “Ah, here it is,” he mumbled, straightening. He tossed a small bottle over the fire and into Jet Star’s waiting hands.
“So what do you plan to do with said bomb?” I asked.
“Sabotage the enemy, of course!” he laughed. “Bombs are a great form of attack. We can just latch them onto the side of a building, set the timer, and it does the rest. The only problem is they aren’t very big or advanced, and thus can be diffused if detected, and if they do happen to go off, they don’t do much damage.”
I nodded slowly. There wasn’t much more conversation the rest of the evening. Eventually I lay back against the sand, staring up at the stars. Out in the middle of nowhere, there’s quite the display at night. Party Poison sat, staring into the flames. Fallon was watching Fun Ghoul create a bomb along with Jet Star and Kobra Kid. Grace seemed to be asleep, but when I rolled over to look at her I found her staring at me, curiosity shining in her eyes. “What’s your real name?” she whispered.
I pretended not to have heard her and rolled back onto my back. “Wanna pillow?” Party Poison asked, extracting one from his bag.
I shrugged. “Depends. Do you have any others?”
“Only one, which I plan to give to Lady Laserbam.”
“Then I’ll pass. Keep it.”
“You sure? It’s uncomfortable without a pillow.”
“Then keep it for yourself. I’m tired enough to sleep without one. Good night.”
“Good night,” he sighed. “I still think you need a pillow.”