Disclaimer: I only own the plot for this story and some of the characters
I switch off the car's engine and think about my next move. Reaching for the car door, I quickly recoil my right arm; remembering I had been hit by that drac. Using my left arm, I manage to get the door open this time, and scramble out into the dark desert.
Stumbling through the dark, I can make out the shape of a building a couple of yards up the road. As I get closer it becomes clearer: it's an old diner. Unlike most buildings out here, this one is in good shape. The walls aren't crumbling, the interior appears to be intact, and the whole thing isn't a pile of dust. As quickly as I spotted it, I was standing at the door.
I grope for the door handle and finally find it in the darkness. I give a tough yank on the handle and, to my surprise, it opens. I quickly pile through the doorway and knock into something. My hand instantly flies to my raygun, but all I've knocked into is a booth. My hand slowly extends towards the booth and I notice something: it's in perfect condition. I look up and see several other booths along the walls.
I slowly walk around the rest of the diner, my black combat boots making the only sound, a slight tapping, against the tile floor. I turn to my left and see a counter that appears stainless, barstools that still spin; the whole place looks great. Great enough to live in… Why hasn't anyone inhabited this place? It's a killjoy's safehaven- But my thoughts are interrupted by a hand flying towards my arm and another towards my face.
I cry out in pain as the first hand clamps down on my wound, gripping it tightly, and my arms become bound. My curses only grow louder, and more muffled, as the hand that was covering my mouth is replaced by a rag. Suddenly, a needle with dark green liquid is shoved deep into my left arm, and I quickly slip into unconsciousness before I can get a glimpse of my attacker.
(Time Lapse: A Couple Hours Later)
I awake from a deep, dreamless slumber, but cannot see. I blink, hoping that will make vision possible again, but to no avail. Instinct tells me to use my hands to rub my eyes, but my arms are bound. A snarl slowly rises up in my throat, but cannot escape my lips. Oh wonderful, I wake up and can't see, can't move my arms, and can't yell for help. Fan-fucking-tastic.
Then the events from God-knows-how-long before rush back to me. My injury, the diner, an unseen enemy. Out of nowhere my blindfold and gag are roughly removed, pulling out some hair all the while. I slightly cry out at the suddenly harsh lighting, blinking my eyes rapidly till they become adjusted. I realize who removed my blindfold and gag, and, to my surprise, there is more than one figure before me.
The closest figure, there were four, all male, had fiery red hair, sand washed jeans, and a navy blue jacket with a logo that read "Dead Pegasus." My eyes fall onto my face and notice he's wearing a yellow masquerade mask, and his lips are chapped and faded (which isn't very rare for killjoys, since we're out in the desert under the hot sun for 99% of the time).
"Who are you? Why are you here? Are you, in anyway, connected to BL/ind?" he suddenly asked, quite rudely. "I am Marvelous Cyanide Rose, a proud member of the killjoy rebellion. I stopped to rest and find some help, I got shot. And no, I despise BL/ind and will do anything to destroy them." I replied, my voice was strong and calm, very surprising due to the fact that my throat was as dry as the desert I lived in. He turned back to the others and discussed something with them in a hushed tone, probably what they planned to do with me or if they even believed me. Unfortunately, I was just out of earshot.
Two of the figures, who were previously hidden in the shadows, stepped forward and began to un-bound my arms. The first figure with the red hair, who I assumed was the leader, turned back towards me with a smile. "I'm so sorry for having to meet in such an awful way," he said, his voice and face full of sympathy. "I'm Party Poison by the way. That's," he continued, gesturing towards one of the figures untying me, the one with blond hair, "Kobra Kid, my younger brother. He's Jet Star. And the uber short one is Fun Ghoul." He finished, winking at the shortest man.
Ghoul, the other person untying me, slightly smiled and flipped him off. After another minute or so, Ghoul tapped me on the shoulder letting me know I was free. I slowly got to my feet and stretched out my arms. Quickly, I felt a severe pain radiate down my right arm. Ouch. My face scrunched up in pain, and the other killjoys all saw. "You said you were shot, right?" Jet Star asked, stepping towards me. I nodded in response and took off my black leather jacket, revealing the wound. I heard someone, who I assumed was Poison, gasp. He had every right to do that.
The wound was protected from the desert sun all day, but that doesn't mean the heat didn't wreak havoc on it. My leather jacket was always hot and this caused the wound to blister. And when I say blister, I mean the kind of blister that oozes and is a sickly color. Just looking at it made me want to vomit, but I suppressed the feeling. Jet examined the wound for barely a minute before muttering something about going to get the first aid kit, leaving me with the others.
"Are you by yourself? Or are other killjoys with you?" Poison asked. "Yes. Well, no, but…" my eyes began to water. The guys looked at each other questioningly before Ghoul stepped forward and put his arm around my shoulders. "Let's go sit down and talk about this." He leads us into the main room of the diner, where our mishap previously occurred, and sat down in the closest booth to our right. We all piled in after him. Ghoul nodded at me to continue, and I forced back the tears to the best of my ability.
"I was once in a group with four other killjoys, one of them was my little sister. One day we were all at camp, and we suddenly started to hear this sound. It was like a low rumbling sound. We didn't think much of it, until it started getting louder. When we finally realized what the sound was, it was too late.
"Tons of dracs, and I mean tons, just ambushed us! We tried to fight them off but we were outnumbered; we had no chance. I was hit on my right side and passed out. When I finally awoke, I was surrounded once again. But this time, not by living beings, but the bodies of dracs and my friends. Every single one of them, murdered!
"I struggled to my feet, and then I realized someone was missing. I struggled to keep conscious and I was having a hard time remembering things, probably because of all the blood I lost. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks: my little sister. The only person that reminded me of our life before all of this happened, wasn't there. I started to panic, I screamed out her name with every drop of energy I had left and stumbled around our campsite, still hoping that by some miracle she was ok.
"Then I saw her. Lying sprawled out beneath a tree. A single shot wound imprinted in the middle of her forehead. I can't really remember what happened after that, everything gets kind of blurry. But I've been by myself every since, going after dracs instead of the other way around." I finished, tears streaming down my cheeks.
A sob broke out of my throat, even though I tried to repress it, and soon I lost my composure. I wept into Ghoul's shoulder as he pulled me into an embrace. I heard someone walk up to the table and I glanced up slightly, not really wanting anyone to see me in such a pathetic state. It was Jet Star, who was carrying a first aid kit. "What I miss?" he asked in a calm tone. I just stared up at him, not in any condition to repeat my story.
Kobra stood up and whispered something to Jet, and I was able to catch pieces of their hushed conversation: "…group was attacked….dracs ambushed them….been alone ever since." Kobra then sat back down and so did Jet. He looked at my sympathetically as he reached across the booth for my arm so he could clean up the wound. He dabbed at the wound with a cloth that he dipped into a liquid that reminded me of rubbing alcohol: because it stung like hell.
I bit my tongue to keep from crying out, and this caused a new batch of tears to spring to my eyes. But, fortunately, I was able to keep them at bay this time. Eventually, he managed to get the wound clean and wrapped it up in some thick gauze. "Thanks." Was all I could say, because I was afraid if I tried to speak more, more tears would follow. He nodded as to say 'no problem' then got up to put the first aid kit back.
"You should probably get some rest, start fresh in the morning," Poison said while getting up and yawning while outstretching his arms, "I'm beat." "Wait, does this mean I can stay here?" I asked, somewhat confused by what he said. "Of course, stay as long as you like. We killjoys need to watch out for each other, and I don't think you're in any condition to be out there alone." "Yeah, I guess your right. Thank you so much." With that, he walked out of the room and around a corner I heard a door slam shut.
Jet walked back in and said he was going to sleep to before disappearing. "So, who wants to help me get some stuff from my car?" I asked in a joking tone. "Me! I love cars!" Ghoul replied, practically running out the door. This caused Kobra and I to burst into laughter, and caused Ghoul to pop back into the diner with an impatient look on his face. I managed to control it and went outside with Ghoul close behind me.
"Wow. Nice car!" he exclaimed. "Well, I wouldn't call her nice, but at least she runs…most of the time anyway." "Do you need someone to work on it?" he asked in an overly eager tone. "That would be great! Hey, do you guys have any paint? Maybe we could make her like new." I answered, sounding just as eager as he did. "We just found some paint last week, it'll be perfect!" He was practically jumping with joy at this point. "Fantastic! We can start painting as soon as my arm heals!" And with that, I grabbed a few things from the backseat, skipped back into the diner with Ghoul, and both of us were extremely excited.
Once inside, Ghoul lead me to my bedroom, it was the closest room to the right side of the counter. He helped me put a few things away before walking away to leave. Just before he was out of my room, he stopped in the doorway. "You can meet the other tomorrow." "Others?" I asked, raising an eyebrow, but he avoided my question. "Goodnight, sleep tight, don't let the dracs bite!" he practically sang the last part, then left my room, closing the door softly behind him.
With a sigh, I sat down on the bed and looked around my new room. The walls were painted a light gray that seemed to glow in the moonlight that was streaming in through a little window. My bed was extremely soft, and the comforter was a dark gray color that contrasted the walls perfectly. I glanced around the rest of the room and spotted a black dresser up against the wall. It was jet black and had silver handles. I walked towards it and put most of my clothes in a drawer, only leaving out some pajamas and a change of clothes for tomorrow.
I tried to change into my pajamas quickly, but obviously failed. Stretching my arms through to put on the shirt caused me to feel a deep, radiating pain drip down my arm. I cringed at the feeling and realized this was going to be a bigger problem than I expected. Shit. After I was changed, I felt exhausted from that ordeal. I crawled into bed and slipped under the covers. I would take sleeping on a thin mattress over the hard desert floor anytime. Soon, I fell into a deep sleep.