Misguided Vampire's Life as a Killjoy

by Jemma Bethxo

1st person. The story of Misguided Vampire, a 14 yr old Killjoy and her experiences with the fabulous killjoys. Her up's and downs, what has she let herself in for? All chapters are rolled into one huge page, be warned xD

Sorry, this isnt really in proper chapters. The last chapter you'll read is unfinished. More will be unvailed shortly but for now...ENJOY!

Chapter 1-

Danger Days

"I got a bullet-proof heart; you got a hollow-point smile. Me and your runaway scars got a photo-''

"Jemma, your singing is awesome but your air-guitar sucks!"

I turned around to find Frank standing in my bedroom doorway laughing at me. I could feel my cheeks flaming red with embarrassment.

"Oh. My. God! As if you were just watching me the whole time!" I said, diving onto the bed; covering my head with a pillow. Frank laughed.

"As if I did! You know, you're hilarious to watch! Next time, I'll video it then upload it on you-tube!"

" Don't you dare! I'll get revenge and you know it!" I shouted, getting up and hitting Frank on the arm. Don't get me wrong, I loved Frank. I loved how cheeky he always was; how he was constantly hyperactive. Every time I looked into his playful brown eyes, they always made me smile, no matter what mood I was in. Frank was always a guy for cheering people up. There was just one thing he loved to do though, above all others. And that was winding me up! I'd known him longer than all the others.

"I'll think about it." He smiled. "Hey, where's Grace anyway?"

"Erm…On Guitar-Hero last time I looked." We both walked to the back of the room to find Grace wildly jumping up and down, 'rocking out' to: I'm Not Okay (I Promise). Just as the song finished, her score came up with 100%.

"Oh yeah!" She cheered, posing like a rock star.

"Hey!" I started, "High-five mate! I can just about get ninety-five percent!" We 'high-fived' each other as Grace smiled.

"It's because I'm young and loaded." She laughed.

"You're young? So what does that make me? A fossil?"

"Yep!" Interrupted Frank, still watching us. I raised my eyebrows.

"Don't you start again!" I said smiling. "Hey Grace, mind if I try?" I asked, indicating to the guitar.

"Yeah sure!" She replied, adjusting the guitar strap for me.

"Sorry guys. Jemma, you're going to have to try later, we're going out." It was Gerard, who'd just poked his head round the door; the first thing you could see was a mass of red hair, and his bright brown eyes. Gerard was a great leader. Sometimes he could be bossy, but it was always for the best. He was a more strong-willed character, never gave up. And, unlike Frank, was always organized. That's the main thing that keeps us fabulous killjoys in one piece! Gerard's organization! I admired him a lot.

"Awesome!" I said, putting my guitar down; following Grace and Frank into the kitchen. "Where we going nice?"

"To be honest Jem." Laughed Ray, picking up his leather jacket from the kitchen chair. "I wouldn't exactly call it nice." Now Ray. Ray's a whole other story. He used to be in the shadows a lot. A guy you would here about rather than talk about. Only now, he's come out of the shadows, and become more well known. Now, everyone knows him for his FRO POWER! Nonetheless, a great guy to be around. He always had a good thing to say about everyone. (Unless it was Korse.) We all loved his amazing afro as well; we all frequently get fascinated by it! Ray's more of guy to make sure that people are

looked after. He likes to make sure everyone is safe before something happens.

"Or awesome!" Finished Mikey, coming through the back door, throwing the Killjoy car keys. "Hey Gee! Catch!" Gerard caught the keys. Mikey is Gerard's younger brother. The pair always gets on like a house on fire. Mikey is a laid back, chilled kind of guy. There are always good vibes around him. He's never negative. Like Gerard, Mikey is also very organized. He loves his shades, and never goes anywhere without them! He can be vain sometimes; he has to make sure his dyed-blonde hair is perfect before he leaves the house! Strange guy!

"You, Ray and Frank are going west of Better Living Industries, while me, Mikey and Grace are going east. You're trying to find some files that Korse has kept from us for years." Explained Gerard, making his way to the front door.

"Yeah, that's great-" I started, "But what exactly am I supposed to know what the files look like?"

"No worries. Frank and Ray will give you a rough idea when you get into Korse's office." Said Mikey, following Gerard outside.

We all piled into our fabulously-designed Killjoy car. I loved our car! The famous widow perfectly painted on the hood, and many other killjoy pictures painted all over the body! Nobody else had a car like ours! As soon

as Gerard started the engine, 'Bullet-proof Heart' blasted out and we all started singing.

Gravity, don't mean to much to me. I'm who I've got to be. These pigs are after me, after you. Run away, like it was yesterday. If we could run away, run away, run away, run away from here!

"Hey guys, guys! You should see Jemma doing air-guitar to this song. It's hilarious!" Announced Frank, in between burst of laughter. We soon figured that he was in one of his hyper moods today!

"Oi you! I'd rather you not share that with everyone! Its embarrassing! I'll push you out the car in a minute!" I lightly shoved him closer to the car door.

"And then I'll die by being run over by a car that partly belongs to me!" He pointed out, as if it was the most obvious thing.

"Whoa! Hold on a minute, nobody's dying!" Said Ray.

"At least not yet!" Finished Mikey.

"And when somebody does, it will be some Dracs and hopefully Korse!" Gerard assured us. The confidence obvious in his voice. He drove through the electric gates of Better Living industries, and parked under a large, shady tree, making sure the car was out of sight. "So now we're here guys, keep your boots tight, your guns close, Killjoy names from now on." He ordered. "Ready?"

"Yeah!" We quietly cheered together!

"Right then. Fun Ghoul, Jet star, Misguided Vampire, you go-"

"West!" We finished.

"Awesome! Kobra Kid, Grace, you're with me. Jet Star? Fun Ghoul? Look after her…" Gerard indicated to me. He was worried. You could tell. It was written all over his face.

"Party Poison." I began "Everything's going to be fine. Now go." Gerard came and hugged me, I hugged him in return, then we both turned and ran to catch up with our teams. Sneakily, me Frank and Ray trod carefully through the transparent, automatic doors of Better Living Industries.

We pulled our guns, green, blue and purple from our leather belts, armed and ready for anything that might come at us. We made sure to blast the CCTV cameras first. Thankfully, nobody was about, not even at the reception desk, so that didn't matter.

"Let's split" Whispered Ray. "Fun Ghoul, you go left, Misguided Vampire, you go straight ahead." Ray pointed to a brightly lit corridor just at the back of the reception desk. "I'll go right."

"Sure thing Jet Star." Me and Frank agreed in sync.

We recently had been given ear-pieces so we could all keep in touch. It made me feel like part of the C.I.A or something like that! This was it now. I was alone in a totally random building id never even dreamt of being alone in! To be honest though, it wasn't actually that creepy. The corridor I was in just reminded me of some posh but basic hotel. Numbered doors either side. White-washed like the walls. Plain black carpet blanketed the floor like the red carpet you see at premiers. Only, it didn't make you feel special, because it was black. 'Colour co-ordinated' I thought. 'Matches the enemy logo!'

After a long walk down the random never-ending corridor, my ear piece starts bleeping at me. Static crackles before I manage to get a signal of who's trying to contact me.

"Misguided Vampire, you found anything yet?"

I jumped, stifling a small scream.

"Jeez! Kobra Kid! You scared the shit out of me!"

"Sshh! Keep it down would you?"

"Sorry. Just for the record. No I haven't, but I feel like I'm part of the Bermuda triangle! Everything looks the same and-"I came to a right-turn at the end of the corridor, with black double doors. Curiosity got the better or me as I started pushing and tugging at the door handle. It wouldn't budge. "Damn!" I whispered quietly to myself.

"Misguided Vampire, you still there? Are you ok? Speak!"

"Yeah…" I said slowly. "Still here, just think I've found Korse' s HQ…"

"Cool. Double black doors at the right of a long corridor?"

"Never ending more like! But yeah."

"Great! Now, to your right you should have a touch-screen pin machine?"

"Yeah guarded with small red lasers…"

"WOW!" Mikey announced, slightly over enthusiastic. I started to wonder where he was going with this. We just had silence between us for a while…

"Yeah. Great. So?"

"Shoot it with your gun. I thought that would have been the most obvious thing to do." Mikey replied.

"What? Cant I go key-hunting or something? Its more subtle!"

Mikey sighed. "Just shoot it!"

"No!"

"5, 4, 3…"

I rolled my eyes. Mikey has this counting down thing he likes to do to make me follow an instruction that I don't want to. Stubborn much.

"Ok, Ok. Here goes." To my relief, my gun fired, making hardly any mess. Thank God!

"Done?" Mikey asked

"Yeah!"

"Now you should find that the doors open?"

And sure enough, the doors to Korse' s HQ opened. Result!

"They open right?"

"Um…Yeah…Thanks." I smiled to myself. Embarrassed that I'd refused to shoot the pin machine.

"You see? Right then, I'm going to carry on and tell the others. We should be round soon. Nice work Misguided Vamp!"

"Thanks Kobra Kid!" I took a few steps backwards, looking back down the corridor to see if anyone was about, then pushed the doors of HQ open further. I couldn't believe what I was seeing! Large computer screens bordered all four walls with what I like to call 'the fuzzy effect'. I laughed quietly to myself, shocked that it sounded like an evil laugh. This must be the result of us blasting the CCTV cameras. I opened a few draws, searching about for random files. Any of them could be the ones Gerard was looking for. It was like searching for a needle in a haystack! I thought I was being quiet. I thought wrong. Turning around, Korse was there, standing in the doorway, sarcastically admiring my nifty work on the pin machine.

Ahh crap.

"You really do know how to break in don't you young lady?" Korse Snarled.

Was I going to answer his question? No. I was listening to everyone's conjoined conversation about me on the receiving end of my ear piece.

"Hey guys, Misguided Vampire' inside Korse' s HQ!" Announced Mikey.

"Awesome." Approved Frank and Ray.

"No its not." Snapped Gerard. "I saw Korse heading straight for HQ. I was following him." The worry strained his voice.

"Which means-"Started Frank

"Yeah." Finished Gerard.

"Korse is now in HQ." Everyone said together.

"Guys, meet up at the main reception desk, then we can all go and get her." Decided Ray.

"Sure. Come on. Let's move." Gerard told everyone.

I was holding on to the last bit of hope I had. At least, they knew where I was and they were coming to get me.

"That wasn't a rhetorical question madam!" Bellowed Korse, scaring the life out of me.

"I never said it was." I replied, sounding over confident. Thank God I was the opposite side of a table; I could discreetly pull my ray gun out from my belt once again.

"How dare you answer me like that! You have quite a chip on your shoulder."

"Why thank you." I said, brushing off both my shoulders, smiling innocently.

Korse frowned and slowly stepped closer to me, he was way to much in my personal space.

"You must get that from Party Poison and the rest of your filthy killjoy gang." He sneered.

"Say. That. Again." I told him. He had me cornered next to the doors and his gun under my chin, I had my gun under his. Silence fell between us. Korse' s eyes burning holes into mine. Suddenly, I heard footsteps.

"MISGUIDED VAMPIRE! WATCH OUT!" Yelled Gerard.

Korse grabbed tight of my arm and looked up. Gun still to my neck as I turned around.

"PARTY POSION!" I yelled back.

Gerard was now standing behind Korse, ready to shoot. Everyone else was standing behind me. Still holding onto me with one hand, Korse turned to face Gerard.

"You shoot. She dies. Think!" Korse growled.

Gerard breathed in sharply.

"Yeah, we don't work like that." Grace stepped from behind Ray. Korse quickly turned back to face the doorway.

"You little…"

"DON'T! You dare." I interrupted, quickly moving my gun from Korse' s neck to his head.

"Or what?" He smiled, looking like he was enjoying himself.

"DOWN!" Gerard shouted. And with that, everyone ducked, following his instruction. Gerard shot Korse from behind. Just before he hit the floor, Korse shot me. The laser shot across my leg, making me collapse. I screamed in pain. I never knew I could scream so loud before. The tears rolled down my cheek. I hadn't a clue what was used to make this laser but my leg and my ankle were burning.

"JEMMA!" Cried Grace.

"Guys…"I replied weakly. Suddenly, I started burning up, sweating. I was so hot my body started to sting. All my energy had evaporated and I could do nothing else but cry. I felt two cold fingers on my neck and screamed out in agony. My whole body ached. I opened my eyes to find Gerard sitting over me, gently stroking my hair.

"Sshh. I know, I know. You're going to be ok." He whispered softly. He looked back up at the others. The anger rising inside him. "Her pulse is weak and she's burning up quickly."

Slowly, I turned my head, noticing Frank coming towards me. He carefully picked me up as I winced.

"Sshh, it's ok. Sorry." He soothed me quietly and smiled. I could just about weakly smile back. I became more and more tired; I was struggling to see. Then that was it. I just blacked out.

Chapter 2

The Aftermath is Secondary

A familiar voice woke me up. Yeah it was familiar, but I just couldn't place a name to it. All I could hear was something about secret battery acid, my bloodstream and crutches. I hadn't a clue where I was. I just knew my right leg was lightly stinging and I had a headache. Lifting my hand to rub my forehead, I felt something damp. Then it clicked. A cold compress had been placed on my head. But why? Jeez, I swear I had memory loss. Did I hit my head? God knows. To be honest though, I didn't feel hot. If anything, I was slightly shivering. I yawned, opened my eyes and looked around. This definitely wasn't my room. Then I realised. I was in Gerard's room. His room is the first one you come to as you walk through the front door so I guess it was easier to put me in here for the night. I slowly sat up, noticing my 5 best friends sitting at the kitchen table including a much older man with dark, shoulder-length hair, wearing a black leather jacket, and a blue bandana around his head. Its DR.D! That's whose voice I could hear! I thought I'd best go and say morning to everyone. So I threw the quilt off myself, swung my legs over the side of the bed and stood up. I leant on the side of the bed-post as a stab of pain rushed through my leg. I clearly wasn't as stable as I thought I was. Nevertheless, I was still going to make my way into the kitchen. As I let go of the bed-post, my right leg gave way and I fell to the floor. 'Oh, that's just great!' I thought to myself. I looked up to find Gerard running towards me.

"WHOA! Steady on there killjoy!" He smiled, helping me up, letting me use him as a leaning post to walk to the kitchen.

"Um…Morning." I replied, embarrassed that he saw me fall over. Gerard laughed as I limped over to the kitchen table.

"Hey guys, look who's awake!" called Gerard to the others.

"Morning guys!" I said cheerfully, suddenly noticing that Mikey was no longer sitting at the table and he was nowhere else to be seen.

"Hey! Hero of the house!" Called Frank form the corner of the kitchen. "Making toast, want some?"

"God, yes please, I'm starving! Where did the hero bit come from though? I didn't exactly do anything!"

"But you were brave. Like a killjoy should be. Plus, you were definitely young and loaded!" Ray said, pouring me some juice, then pulling out the chair next to him for me to sit down. As I did so, he pulled me closer for a hug.

"RAY! You have so much body heat, it's unreal!" I laughed.

"Sorry!" He said as he pushed away.

"No, come back, I'm cold, I mean it as a good thing!"

"You're cold?" He asked, placing a hand to my forehead. "I would say you were really warm."

I shrugged my shoulders and took a sip of my juice as DR.D piped up.

"That's just your body recovering Jemma, You'll be fine later."

"Hey stranger!" I smiled as Frank gave me a plate of toast. I picked up the first piece as DR.D carried on.

"How you feeling now anyway?" He asked. "You were in a right state when I got called over!"

"Great thanks for that!" I replied sarcastically.

"Hey, go and get yourself dressed and we'll talk after. Here." He said, handing me a pair of crutches. I sighed and finished my piece of toast.

"Thanks." I turned to go to my room as Gerard stopped me.

"Hey Jem, could you wake Grace up for me please?"

"Yeah sure." I called back and walked over to Grace's room.

After I woke her up, and figured she was definitely happy to see me, I made my way into my room, debating what to wear. In the end, I pulled out a random pair of navy blue skinny jeans, my favourite white top with black stars, and found out my white converses. I didn't think anything matched but looking in my wall-length mirror, everything seemed to go just nicely. I picked up one crutch and hobbled over to my set of draws and dug out my hair brush and my hair straighteners. I heard a voice just as I finished messing with my hair. Mikey's voice.

"You look nice this morning." He said.

I was in the middle of putting my brush and my straighteners back into their draw. I turned around. "Hey! Back at ya! So err…Where did you disappear off to this morning then?"

Mikey's eyes shifted about the room, not knowing where to look. Thinking of an excuse to tell me other that the real reason. He came and sat on the end of my bed. I joined him.

"Well…I needed some air. So…I thought I'd take a walk." He finally replied quietly. Guiltily looking down at the floor.

"Hey, come on. What's really the matter?" I could always tell when he was lying. Mikey sighed.

"I-Well-Its just-"

"God sake Mikey! Spit it out would you?"

"I just feel responsible for what's happened to you. That's all." He told me, putting one arm around me. I soon pulled away.

"You what?" I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I almost wanted to laugh! Mikey looked slightly offended.

"You heard me!"

"Yeah! I heard you! I just can't believe you came out with that statement! Mikey you do make me laugh sometimes!" I tried not to laugh as Mikey continued to stare at me, not looking very impressed.

"Jemma! Come on man! How long does it take to get dressed really?" It was DR.D. I stood up and turned to Mikey.

"Look. Mikey. Let's talk later. Right now, DR.D wants check my leg over."

"Right. Sure." He replied. "I'll take Grace to school."

"Good. You do that then." I said, following him out of the door. Mikey pulled his car keys from his pocket as Grace ran to catch up with him. She swung her baby blue, badge-covered rucksack over her shoulder.

"See you later guys!" She called as she ran out of the door, following Mikey to the car.

I sat on the sofa in between Gerard and Frank as Frank kindly took my crutches off me and leaned them against the wall.

"Right then Jemma." Started DR.D. "I want to tell you about this unknown battery acid in Korse' s gun and the affect it had on you as you got shot.

"Ooh. This could get graphic!" Frank laughed.

"Shut up you!" Gerard reached over and lightly punched Frank on his arm.

"HEY!" He protested.

"Anyway. Carry on." I pressed "Before Frank rudely interrupted. I smacked Frank around the back of the head.

"Will everyone stop beating me up today! Jeez!"

Me and Gerard turned to Frank. "SSHH!"

DR.D laughed. "Well it's nice to know you're feeling better than you were earlier. You look better as well."

"Yeah, I definitely feel it." I replied.

"So. This battery acid. First off, it didn't come from battery city."

We all listened intently as Mikey walked through the front door and pulled up a chair to join us.

"So where did it come from then?" He asked.

DR.D looked over at Mikey. "We're not sure yet."

"We?"

"Me and Show Pony. So yeah. We're not sure. We've still yet to find out. But basically Jemma, this battery acid Korse is putting in his guns. It was so hot it managed to cut open your leg. It boiled your blood to a temperature that your body couldn't cope with. Which is why you blacked out."

If I'm being honest, I really couldn't think of anything to say. So I just sat nodding, like a random nodding dog that belonged in the back of somebody's car. As I looked around at everyone, their jaw's were dropped with shock. Not understanding why I was so calm.

"How can you be so chilled out about this?" Ray asked. "The rest of us aren't!" I loved how Ray always cared about everyone. He was almost like another dad! DR.D cleared his throat. "Swiftly moving on to the next subject. You can't rely to much on your crutches so you going to attempt to walk with out them."

The barriers went up straight away. "Are you Joking! I fell over this morning when I didn't have my crutches to walk with!"

Jemma, just try for me. Please."

"For us!" Piped up Gerard.

"For the killjoys." Smiled Frank.

"You can do it Jem!" Persuaded Ray.

Mikey stood up. "I'll be there if you fall. Promise." He offered me his hands. I took them and stood up. The same stabbing pain rushed through my leg once again. I quickly shifted my weight onto my left leg.

"You have to stop doing that. Share your weight onto both your legs. That's the only way your right leg will strengthen." DR.D noticed what I'd done. "When you walk. Focus on something other than your leg."

Mikey came in front of me and started walking backwards, he gently pulled me with him, forcing me to walk.

"Just focus on me for a bit." He decided. Slowly but surely, we made our way outside. In the end, Mikey let go of me and came to my side. I had no need to focus on anything particular anymore. The best part was. My crutches were still back inside!

Some random subjects came into conversation; more detail was given to DR.D about the previous events, which he seemed to be impressed by. God knows why. If anything, I epically failed at finding Korse' files and nearly got killed . Nevertheless he seemed to be impressed.

After an extremely slow walk around the outside of the house, we turned the last corner to where our Killjoy car is. Something stopped us in our tracks as we pulled our guns from our belts, ready to shoot the intruder leaning against the car. A girl. Long, chocolate-brown hair tied up in a high ponytail. Wearing navy blue skinny jeans, a red and blue checked shirt ,a pair of red converses and a pair of shades which covered most of her face. She didn't seem to notice us edging towards her, guns at the ready. Frank was first to talk.

"Do you mind stepping away from our car? Please?"

"Sure! No problem." She answered politely. Her mood soon changed as she also go out her gun, noticing we were all aiming ours at her. Her gun was metallic black with 3 silver stripes on one side. Similar to mine. Although, mine was purple. I didn't know anyone with a black gun. Actually, I didn't know any other girl with a gun! I was next to speak.

"Guns down boys. I think I know who this is." I too placed my gun back into my belt. Alarm bells were ringing in my head. The girl took off her shades and slipped them inside her pocket. 'There's nothing like a good old friend.' I thought to myself. "I know exactly who this is."

Chapter 3

You're here with me…

"Brooke?" I asked the girl.

"Jemma?" She asked in return.

"MY FALLEN ANGEL!" I cried. I couldn't believe what I was seeing or hearing.

"MY MISGUIDED VAMPIRE!" She called, running towards me.

My leg might be healing but I could still run to my best friend. We hugged each other tightly as we almost cried. I turned to find the boys walking towards us, some faces blank, some totally confused. After a long hug, Brooke swivelled around, almost jumping up and down with excitement. She just about managed to speak instead of just grinning like the Cheshire cat.

"But they're the-You live with-?" She turned to everyone else. "You're-, Jemma, you never told me you live with the-".

I burst out laughing and decided to fill in the missing words for her.

"Ok, lets try that again. Was it supposed to sounds something like-But they're the Killjoys! You, live with the Killjoys? You're the fabulous Killjoys! Jemma, you never told me, you live with the Killjoys! Am I right? Correct me if I'm wrong."

"No. Exactly what you just said." Brooke laughed.

I smiled. "Now we've established that you know they're the Killjoys. Do you actually know their names?"

Brookes cheeks flamed red. "Sorry. No." She replied guiltily. A shy smile spread across her face as Gerard came to introduce himself.

"Hey I'm Gerard. A.K.A Party Poison." He high-fived Brooke.

"Hey!" She smiled.

Gerard stepped back and indicated to Mikey. "This is Mikey, A.K.A Kobra Kid."

"Hey!"

"The brothers." I pointed out.

"I can tell." She said.

Gerard introduced everyone else, one by one, including DR.D. Brooke received a high five from everyone too.

"Guys. Awesome Killjoy names I think I should introduce myself properly now. I'm Brooke, A.K.A Fallen Angel."

"Hey!" Everyone replied.

We all fell silent as we heard light footsteps running towards us.

"I'll introduce myself since I'm back. I'm Grace."

"Hey! I'm Brooke!"

"Grace! What are you doing here? You're supposed to be in school!" Asked Gerard, picking up Grace, who was out of breath from running. "Actually, lets take this inside."

"Yeah. Good idea." Frank turned on his heels to follow Gerard inside. Ray and Mikey let me and Brooke go in front so they could guard the back of us. They wouldn't usually do something like that but since Grace had come home (which she doesn't usually do), nobody knows what could happen.

"Hey err…Brooke. Me and Ray were just wondering, how did you get a Killjoy name?" Asked Mikey, jogging to the side of Brooke.

"And your gun?" Asked Ray, Jogging to the side of me.

"Well." Started Brooke, "My name only came from when me and Jemma first heard of you guys. We liked the idea of having a Killjoy name so we both made one up. They became our nicknames over time. Clearly now, they need to be used. As for my gun…Well…You could possibly find out later…"

Me, Ray and Mikey could do nothing but give Brooke a confused expression. Nevertheless, we let her keep the secret she was hiding. We couldn't ask anymore questions anyway. We'd entered the house.

This time, it was my turn to pull up a kitchen chair to join the others. I also pulled one up for Brooke who placed her gun on the table. The silence continued amongst our group. Suddenly, something crashed to the floor, making all of us jump. Mikey reached to the side of the sofa and picked up my crutches.

"At least I wont be needing those anymore." I said, walking over to him and taking them. Brooke looked at me, baffled. "Never mind. Long story." I answered her facial expression. "Come on then Grace! How come you're home?"

Grace was sitting on Gerard's lap. She looked across at me. "Korse." She answered simply.

Next to me, Brooke fidgeted as if not knowing where to put herself, Over on the sofa, Gerard sat up.

"I thought-"

Mikey frowned at Gerard. "But you clearly-"

Frank looked about the group. "He fell. He was unconscious-"

Ray nodded in agreement. "On the floor!" He finished for Frank. "We saw it!"

I sat up. "Of all people, I should know!"

Grace started explaining. "The head teacher pulled me out of lesson this morning. She said she'd heard some news about Korse. Not that she knows him. And he was out to find somebody that had escaped and it was something to do with us Killjoys. So she thought she'd send me home."

DR.D interrupted. "So she let you walk home, all on your own?"

Ray also interrupted. "I'd hardly call that responsible."

"Well, yeah, that's why I was running." Grace replied.

Gerard was about to speak as I help up one hand to stop him.

"Sshh!" I looked around at everyone who was staring at me blankly. "Can't you hear that?"

Everyone silently shook their heads. Four knocks at the door broke the awkward silence. We all looked over at the door to find Korse standing there. Gun in hand. Behind him, four Dracs. I grabbed Brookes arm with one hand and my gun with my other, ready to protect her, thinking, she wouldn't be expecting something like this. But she pulled her arm away, grabbed her gun from the table and stood up.

"Korse." She said confidently.

"The girl who escaped. The Fallen Angel." He said flatly.

An unexpected anger boiled inside me. I couldn't believe this. Tears welled up in my eyes. I stood up. Behind me, I heard Frank's voice as he came over and placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Misguided Vampire. I know you're angry, but just think about what you're doing."

I shrugged his hand off me and turned to face Brooke. "You were prisoner at Better Living? And you didn't tell me? I thought we told each other everything! That's the second secret you've kept from me today! How many more? Huh?"

Korse slowly stepped inside and put a small, glass bottle of electric blue liquid on the kitchen table. "Let me guess, is that the secret about your gun Fallen Angel? If it is Misguided Vampire, your so called friend has betrayed you, I'm pleased to say." He smiled coolly.

"No." I growled. "You're lying. I don't believe you. Brooke tell me he's lying! Please!" I begged, practically shaking Brooke. She continued to stare at Korse. Her eyes vacant. I turned around to the others, not knowing what to do. One by one, everyone stood up. Gerard pulled his gun from his belt and aimed it at Korse. "I got you once Korse. I can easily get you again."

Korse laughed evilly. "I doubt that!" He picked up the bottle of liquid from the table. "Battery acid." He started explaining. "Fallen Angel's battery acid. This is how she betrayed you Misguided Vampire…"

A new wash of anger flooded over me as I instantly shot at Korse. Unfortunately for me, he ducked so I ended up shooting one of the four Dracs. He took a deep breath in. "I tried explaining but, if you want to play the hard way then…"

At that same moment, Korse, for the second time shot at me. Gerard ran into me to push me out of the way.

"Misguided Vampire, move!"

"Party Poison! No!" I screamed. Gerard cried out in agony as he fell to the floor. He hit his head on the concrete. Ray rushed over to try and help him up. It was no use. He was unconscious. I returned a hopeful glance as Ray pressed two fingers against Gerard's neck. He nodded. Gerard was still alive. But only just. I turned back to Korse, the tears streaming down my cheeks.

"I hate you." I growled.

Korse smiled. "Oh that's ok. But if I were you, I'd seriously consider saying that to your best friend as well."

Brooke turned to me. "Look. Misguided Vampire. I can explain. Korse forced me to do this."

By this time, Korse was crippled over with laughter. "Forced you? Forced you? Oh please, Fallen Angel. You jumped at the chance to make this battery acid! That's why half of the acid is sitting in your gun right now, ready to shoot Misguided Vampire and the others. That's why you painted your gun black from white to make it look like you were on the Killjoy's side all along. Lets face it. You loved my plan. You never really wanted to see Misguided Vampire again. You're a terrible liar!"

I burst into tears. So did Brooke.

"My Fallen Angel." I whispered.

"Misguided Vampire." She sobbed.

"It's no good crying about it now girls." Korse interrupted. "Oh well, Fallen angel. You're of no use to me now." He stormed over, grabbed her sleeve and pinned her to the wall. His gun pressed under her chin. Brooke was scared, but did nothing to fight back.

"You can't let him shoot you! Fallen Angel!" I shouted. I went to run and rescue Brooke but one of the Dracs had already clicked onto my plan and caught hold of me.

"No, its ok." She whispered. "I deserve it. After everything I've done. I deserve it. I'm sorry Misguided Vampire. I really am sorry."

At that point. Korse smiled at Brooke. "Thank you, ever so much for making my secret weapon." And with that, he shot her. Silver-blue sparks flew out as Brooke slid to the floor. I could do nothing more but just stand and let the tears fill my eyes once again. I was lost in a world of my own. Trying to take in everything that had just happened.

"Misguided Vampire!" Mikey called, making me come to my senses. I turned around to find Mikey approaching the Drac holding me from behind. I managed to swivel around as Mikey kicked the Drac in the back of his leg, making him fall to the floor. He knelt down and gripped the Dracs collar so he couldn't crawl away. I fired. This was my first kill in a while. Mikey stood up, we both turned to find the last two Dracs still fighting. One at Ray, who was trying to protect Gerard-still unconscious, and the other at Frank, who was trying to protect Grace. Mikey ran to Ray, I ran to Frank and grabbed tight of Grace. The Drac ran over to me. I'd got Grace well cornered behind me as I fought him, now-tiring. Frank pulled the Drac away from me and pinned him to the wall as he shot him in the side of his head.

Korse, who was now standing back at the door, ready to leave, tried shooting Frank and shot the window next to us by mistake, shattering the glass which flew across the room. Most of it ended up splicing Frank's face as he screamed.

"Fun Ghoul!" I cried, gabbing Frank's shirt, turning him to face me. The blood poured down his cheek. Luckily, none of it was in his eyes.

"It's ok, I'm ok." He said calmly, wiping his cheek, making the blood spread even more across his face.

The three of us ran over to help Ray, still fighting his on Drac, both were edging out the back door. I quickly looked around for DR.D but he didn't seem to be around. This wasn't a good time to be running off. We were forced to leave an unconscious Gerard inside. We eventually ran around the last corner of the house and saw a dear Drac, but no Ray. Nor was there a killjoy car in its usual space. An idea ran through my mind, I knew where DR.D had gone. Unfortunately, not Ray.

"Hey guys." I started. "Korse has to have turned up in his car, right?" Everyone nodded. "So if the car isn't here now, neither is our car and neither is DR.D or Korse. This has to mean Korse has drove off and DR.D has followed him. On the downside, this doesn't explain why Ray isn't here."

"I suppose it does make sense. We should start looking then." Decided Mikey.

"Yeah, c'mon, guys." Agreed Frank.

After a while of hunting high and low, we eventually found our car, Korse' car, DR.D and Ray. It looked like they were debating something. None of us knew what though, we were to far away to hear. Next thing I knew, Korse jumped into his car and swerved around, he leaned out of the window attempting to shoot Ray and DR.D. We watched in horror as DR.D moved out of the way and Ray tiring. Suddenly, Ray tripped up and fell over. Korse continued to drive in the same direction. We panicked.

"RAY! RAY! MOVE! Korse is going to run you over!" Frank called.

"I can't. I can't stand up!" Ray called back as he repeatedly tried to get up. After a few attempts, he just managed to get his balance and stand up. I ran towards him, going to help him to get away but it was too late. Korse had hit Ray with a great Force. He rolled onto the hood of the car and to the floor. Korse swiftly span around and drove away. To fast for us to catch him. Right at this time, the least we could do was get Ray back to the house. We sprinted over to him as DR.D ran back to the house, back to Gerard, which I kindly thanked him for. We found that Ray was still conscious but complaining about his ankle.

Chapter 4

Be a Burning Star if it Takes All Night…

We struggled to help a limping Ray back to the house. Now we were all standing at the door, gawping at the bodies of three Dracs and Brooke. I jogged inside and pulled out a chair for Ray to sit down and another to rest his leg on. I then went over to DR.D to help him get Gerard up and to bed. We lay him down and I pulled the quilt over him. His temperature had dropped rapidly. He was freezing! I left DR.D to examine Gerard's head and went to examine Ray's ankle. Just as I closed the door behind me, I noticed Mikey and Frank dragging out dead Dracs. Brooke was last to be taken out by Mikey. I couldn't say how I felt about Brooke anymore. My emotions were all over the place. There was silence for a while. Nothing really needed to be said. Mikey searched inside a cupboard a found out broom to start sweeping the dust d glass out the door.

"You lot look like you've just come out of the wars!" He finally announced, as he started sweeping.

"Yeah, I defiantly feel like it!" Smiled Frank.

"I bet we look like it as well!" Ray chipped in.

I looked down at my clothes and looked at my reflection in the window and true enough I was covered in dust and a few odd cuts and bruises.

"I think it's safe to say we do!" Replied Mikey, placing the broom back in the cupboard. "By the way, has anyone seen Grace?"

"Yeah." I answered. "As soon as we came in she when straight to bed. I don't think we should let her go to school tomorrow."

"I don't think we should." Said Frank.

"Besides, she's definitely had a late night. Have you seen the time?" Asked Ray.

I pulled my phone from my pocket and checked the time. It was 10:30pm. That wasn't really late for us, but it was for Grace who'd had weeks of tiring events.

"I don't blame her either." I started. "I might hit the sack as soon as I've sorted out you two." I added, pointing to Frank and Ray.

"Since when did you become good at medical stuff?" Asked Ray, intrigued.

"Ahh…." I said, knowingly, tapping the side of my nose. "You learn these things when you pay attention to DR.D. Plus, medic info fascinates me. Why? Don't you trust me?"

"Yeah I trust you, just didn't know you knew about medical stuff." He replied.

I walked over to where Ray was sitting, picked up his ankle and placed it in my lap as I sat down to examine it.

"You alright there Ray?" Asked DR.D, closing Gerard's door behind him. "Don't worry, Jemma's good at this sort of stuff. Just put a bit of faith into her."

"Oh I'm not worrying, but right now, I'm putting all my faith into her!" Ray laughed.

I looked up. "Ok, serious stuff now. I'm not going to lie to you. This will hurt. You've dislocated your ankle." I told him, wrapping my hand around his ankle. "After three." Ray took a deep breath In and closed his eyes. "One. Two. Three!" I pushed Ray's ankle bone back into it's place. I felt it do so, and I'm sure everyone heard it to.

"FUCK! That really hurt!" Ray complained.

"I told you it would. I was hardly going to lie to you was I?"

DR.D walked over to us as I stood up to sit Frank down and wash my hands.

"I've found a support bandage for your ankle Ray." He started. "Wear it for a while then later on, you can take it off." Ray took the bandage and slipped it over his ankle. After washing my hands, I ran into the bathroom and pulled out a first aid kit from the cupboard. I undid the zip and dug out some tweezers before running back into the kitchen to get a bowl of warm water and salt. Frank was sitting patiently. Quietly waiting for me. I sat down in front of Frank.

"Ok, this might sting a little. I've got to get the glass out of your cut. Then I'm going to clean it out with salt water."

Frank smiled. I couldn't help but smile back. He always puts me in a good mood. "Sure. You do, whatever you have to do."

I started picking out the small bits of glass from Frank's cheek.

"How's Gee doing?" I asked DR.D, still concentrating on Frank.

"He's fine. He'll have a headache in the morning. Considering he hit his head on concrete, it didn't bleed, so he's lucky."

"Thank God." Mikey sighed. Relived that his brother was going to be ok.

By this time, I'd started cleaning Franks cut. He winced a few times.

"Ouch!" He moaned.

"Baby." Smiled Ray.

"It hurts!"

"Would you rather have a dislocated ankle?"

"No."

"Stop complaining then!"

I laughed and looked up at Frank. "That's you all sorted. Luckily for you, your cut isn't so deep so you're not going to need stitches."

"Thanks Jem." Frank stood up.

I walked over to the sink and emptied the salt water, then left the bowl on the side. I turned just as the house phone rung. Mikey answered it.

"Hello? Killjoys house. Mikey Speaking."

"Hello…Err…Mikey, is Jemma there please?"

"Yeah, who's this?"

"Jemma's mom!"

"Whoa! Sorry! Hi! You sound different over the phone! Yeah, I'll pass the phone over now."

Mikey turned to me and threw the phone. I caught it and covered the mouthpiece. "Who is it?" I Whispered.

"It's your mom!"

"Oh God!" I stared at the phone then put it on loudspeaker. "Hey mom, you ok?"

"Yeah you?"

I looked about the house and pictured the dead bodies that were earlier here. I thought about Gerard. I also thought about Grace, who we wouldn't let go back to school tomorrow. I looked at Ray and Frank with their earlier dislocated ankle and spliced cheek. I looked down at myself, covered in dust, a few splatters of blood and my cuts and bruises. Then, I looked over at Mikey, who was staring back at me. He was the only unharmed one here! He was just dirty. I then thought about the past events where I almost got killed and ended up with crutches for nearly a day, until Brooke came, only to find out that she betrayed me, and now she was dead. I wondered whether I should just tell my mom the truth or just say everything's fine…

"Jemma? Jemma, you still there? Hello?"

"Hey, yeah, sorry mom, I'm still here. Everything's…Cool. We're…Good." I finally replied.

"You don't sound to sure about that."

"No mom. Everything's sound. Like I said."

"Well. Ok. Anyway, do you know what time it is?" She asked.

I honestly thought she was asking a stupid question. "Yeah." I pulled my phone back out from my pocket and checked the time. "Mom, it's eleven o'clock and I'm going to bed. Right now. Don't worry. Look, if you've phoned to tell me I should be going to bed then there was no point. I've been going to bed around this time or earlier for the past six weeks."

"No Jemma. It's the last week of the six weeks holiday. You've got to go back to school soon. Don't even think about moaning."

I sighed. I'd spent my entire six weeks break with the fabulous Killjoys. Ok, maybe not the entire six weeks. I'd spent the first two weeks at home but even still, so much had happened. It's different for schools in Battery City. They'd had their six week break. That's why Grace was going to school. "Erm…Sure, ok. What day are we on anyway?"

"Wednesday." Frank Answered.

"Thanks. So, when am I being picked up?"

"Actually, how about we drop you home?" Suggested Mikey.

"That way then, you can spend that little bit longer with us!" Smiled Ray

"Thanks guys. That would be awesome. What do you think mom? It saves you the hassle of getting all the way over to California from New Jersey?" My persuasion had to work. I really didn't want to be picked up.

"Ok then. So, is it ok if you guys bring her back Saturday?"

"Yup. No problem." Replied Frank. "Gerard wont mind, we wont need to run it past him.

"Thanks. I'll see you Saturday then Jemma! Bye!"

"Bye mom…" I hung up, staring blankly at the phone. I'd totally forgot that I'd got to go back to school. Well that had just put a big downer on everything. I placed the phone down on the table and saw Mikey coming towards me. He ruffled my hair.

"Hey, don't worry kid. Everything's gonna be cool."

God, I wished I could always be so positive. Thing is with Mikey, there's always a bright side to everything. I wished I could think like that.

"I just don't want to leave. I'd rather be here than at school. I'm not going to see you in while and a while will seem like forever because I've spent my entire summer break with you." I yawned. Mikey noticed how tired I was.

"You know what, we'll talk about this in the morning. You're tired and so are the rest of us. Besides, Gerard will be awake by then. Go and get some sleep."

I made my way into my bedroom. "Ok. Night Guys."

"Night Jem."

I closed the door behind me and collapsed onto my bed. Today's events running through my mind at eighty miles per hour. God knows how I was going to concentrate in any of my lessons back at school. I'd stand no chance whatsoever! I pulled the quilt over myself, rolled over and closed my eyes.

"GERARD! NO!" I screamed and darted over to him, crying violently, making my throat sore. Korse threw his head back and laughed loudly. "You've killed him…he's dead!" I sobbed, balling my hands into fists. "I hate you! I HATE you! Go to HELL!" I gently cradled Gerard's head and let the tears fall into my lap as the blood soaked through his shirt. Korse stepped aside. There standing next him, Brooke. She shot Gerard, not Korse. I stood up and pulled my gun from belt. "You can go to hell as well. You bitch!"

"I'm sorry Jemma." Brooke smiled. "This is how it's meant to be. As if you thought we were best friends. HA! Yeah right! Get real. I would never make friends with a cow like you!"

Korse and Brooke strode out of the front door. Six useless Dracs following them like lost sheep. Ray came over; turning me to face him. "Jem, go and get yourself cleaned up and to bed. The rest of us will sort this mess out."

I sniffed and nodded. I was about to go to room as I noticed a huge puddle of blood underneath Gerard as Mikey picked him up, crying. I covered my mouth with my hand and let the tears roll down my cheeks.

"Jemma. Go. Bed. Now!" Ray ordered, shoving me through my bedroom doorway.

I collapsed onto my bed, nearly suffocating myself with my pillow. Finally, I drifted off…

Thursday- I woke with a jump, feeling slightly disorientated. I was drenched with sweat, my bed sheets had been kicked off the bed, my pillows were on the floor and my quilt was half way across the room. I stood up and went to fetch it, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. My eyes were puffy and my cheeks were blotchy. Great. I'd been crying. I sorted out my bed and sat down, staring into space, confused. Was Gerard really dead? No…No. Gee can't be dead! Because that would mean Brooke is alive! I thought about this for a while. Then, in the end, figured it was no good juts sitting around doing nothing. If I wanted to know the truth, I would have to go and find out now.

Pulling out some random clothes, I hurriedly got dressed and flung the bedroom door open. Nobody was in the kitchen. Nobody was on the sofa. The front door was wide open. My heart pounded in my chest. All sorts of ideas running through my head. I ran over to Gerard's room. His door was also wide open. But nobody was inside. "Oh no. Oh my God. No. Please!" I whispered to myself, panicking like an idiot. "Gerard? Hello?" No answer. I ran out the front door and looked about. Nobody. I ran to our car to check to see if anyone was there. I stopped. The radio was on, but no one was inside the car. Next to the car was a bucket of soapy water, a sponge and…A mop of bright red hair!

"GERARD!" I ran into him and hugged him tightly, nearly knocking him over. Gerard threw the cloth he was holding on the roof of the car.

"Hey Jemma! My brave killjoy!" He laughed.

"You're not dead! Brooke hasn't come back to life! She didn't shoot you-" I paused and looked at his shirt. He was wearing the same one I saw when he died. I examined it carefully. "And you're not covered in blood!" I buried my face into his (clean) shirt.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! What's all this about then? I should hope I'm not covered in blood! My shirt was clean on this morning! Where did all this come from?" He asked, concerned. " Hold on a minute. You dreamt this didn't you?"

"Uh huh." I replied, muffled as my head was still buried in his shirt.

"I knew this would happen. Jemma, you need a break man. I know this kind of stuff has happened all before but this time, it's really messing with your head!"

I stepped back. "I don't want to go home though! I know I've got to go back to school…UGH! Next week but-"

Gerard cut me off, confused. "You're going home? What? When? Wha-? Huh?"

I slapped my head. "Oh yeah. You don't know. We were going to bring this up later, knowing you'd be awake." I can't believe I forgot that! I didn't want to worry him. Oh God. Now he was probably going to object against my mom. That's the worst thing he could possible do. My mom would give him what for! "Can we talk about this when everyone is awake? You won't feel so confused then."

"Yeah sure. Shall we go for a drive? I've cleaned the car!" Gerard suggested.

"Fine by me. I'll just write a quick note for the others though. Just in case they think we've been kidnapped or something random like that!" I picked up the bucket of water and sponge and carried it inside. There wasn't much water left to empty. Id spilt half of it on the way to the front door!

Searching inside a draw, I managed to find a small scrappy piece of paper and a pen and wrote a note.

Gone for a drive with Gerard in the CLEAN killjoy car!

No reason for it, just because. Don't panic!

Misguided Vampire x

Then left it on the kitchen table where I knew Mikey would probably see it first. If, he woke up first.

As I ran back tour car, I'd noticed how it sparkled in the morning sun. How it glistened like untouched ice on a winters morning. Gerard really had done a good job of cleaning it! Question was-Had he cleaned the inside as well? I saw Gerard sitting behind the steering wheel, wearing his shades. His hair being lightly blown about by the gently breeze and smiled. This summer holiday was an experience nobody else was ever going to have. An experience I couldn't even begin to explain to my friends back at home. There was no point. They wouldn't understand anyway.

"Jem, coming or not?" Called Gerard, interrupting my thoughts.

"Yeah, coming." I jogged over to the car.

The heat was close today and the fact that the sun was out made it even worse. As soon as I was in the car (and yes, Gerard had cleaned the inside to), and my seatbelt was on, we drove off at full speed, letting the wind whip or hair about widely.

Chapter 5

All the Way in Battery City…

Neither me or Gerard spoke for a while. We just sat listening to the radio, enjoying the cool breeze that was coming through the windows.

"Lets play a game…" Started Gerard, out of the blue. "We have to try and come up with a story including as many of our songs as possible.

"Ok then! I'll start! Err….I'm Not Okay, I Promise."

Gerard smiled. "Nice one…Because I'm a teenager."

This should be interesting to come up with! I thought to myself. The rest of it went something like this:

Me: And I juts got back from the Black Parade

Gerard: Where everyone was chanting NA NA NA

Me: I met this girl called Helena

Gerard: We decided to go to the movies where we watched a film called Ghost Of You

Me: Which had the Famous Last Words in

Gerard: I Don't Love You. The movie made me cry

Me: So I went home and told my Mama

Gerard: Who told me I should get a Bulletproof Heart

Me: So the next morning, I packed my bags and went off to Battery City, where I met a guy called Party Poison

Gerard: Who gave me some Vampire Money.

Me: I made loads of new mates and we called ourselves The Kids From Yesterday

Gerard: It was Summertime and I'd had the weirdest holiday ever

Me: So I went home, back to my House Of Wolves.

None of our story really made sense but was a laugh to come up with. Our morning Drive made a change and it took our minds off things that were bothering us. I enjoyed it. It was nice to be out of the house and not be hunted down by Dracs or have Korse shooting at us from left, right and centre! After a while, Gerard asked me, "Jem, you ok? You've suddenly gone really quiet…"

He's noticed that my window was open all the way and I was leaning my head out of it.

"Yeah." I answered. "Just got a bit of a headache, that's all."

"Come on, lets head home. I think you're hungry. To be fair, I am too."

There was quiet for a while. I wanted to ask Gerard how his head was and his scar, (knowing he'd have one), from last night, but I wondered whether I should. I chewed the idea over in my mind for a couple of minutes until I decided that I would. From the corner of my eye, I could see Gerard glancing over at me curiously. In the end, it was him who started the conversation.

"Ok, what do you want to ask?"

"Yeah, you got me. How's your head feeling from-" I cleared my throat and turned away slightly. "Yesterday.?" I finally mumbled.

Gerard smiled. "You're telling me, you've been quiet this entire time because you're worries about me?" He lightly pushed me. "You're a softie you know that?"

I managed a small smile. "Yeah I'm just to nice!"

"In answer to you're question, I had a headache this morning, which I think is coming back-"

I immediately shot Gerard a worried glance as he looked across at me and rolled his eyes. "It's ok. I'm just hungry that's all, and yeah, have a scar on my right side which, weirdly enough, isn't sore. Happy Now?"

"Yeah, Happy Now."

By which time we'd pulled up next to the house. As I took off my seatbelt, I leaned across to look in the rear-view mirror and noticed my hair. I might as well of not brushed it this morning! Not that I cared much. When you live with the Killjoys, looks isn't everything, its what's inside that counts. I opened the car door to find Gerard rubbing his right side. The side his scar belonged to. Ahh great. As I climbed out, he took off his shades and slid them into the pocket of his three-quarter length jeans.

"I'm ok. Promise. You coming in then? Or just leaning against the car all day?"

Just as I was about to reply. Gerard cut me short.

" Sshh. Can you hear that?"

I nodded puzzled. We were standing next to the front door now, we hadn't yet gone inside. Arguing could be heard from the kitchen…About me and Gerard. Above all, Mikey's voice could be heard.

"I say we should look fro them! Gerard is in no fit state to be driving in his condition! Especially with Jemma in the car! I'm going to look for them!" Mikey must have picked up his own set of car keys as we heard something being scraped up form the table.

"Wait. Mikey. You were first to pick up the note. They've got t be ok. If Gerard thought he wasn't well enough to drive then I don't think he would have gone out this morning and taken Jemma with him. He's not stupid!" It was Ray. Well at least he was making sense.

For the next five or ten minutes, me and Gerard leaned against the side of the house next to the front door, listening to this argument about whether or not we were safe out driving. For a few minutes I thought Frank might have been making sense and taking sides with Ray, that way, the odds would be stacked against Mikey. Until, he came up with the sentence, "on the other hand" or the word "but" occasionally. I rolled my eyes, shook my head and an my hand through my hair, then looked up at Gerard who was smiling, shaking his head. I pointed to the front door, mouthing the words 'Shall we go in?'. Gerard sighed and nodded as we stepped inside.

It was surprising how everyone was engaged in their argument. They hadn't noticed me or Gerard standing inside, arms folded, waiting for someone to see us. We looked at each other and raised our eyebrows, then I shrugged my shoulders. In the end, I cleared my throat. No one heard me. Had they became deaf as well as blind? Next to me, Gerard was getting irritated as he shifted about, he too cleared his throat.

"Err, guys?"

I looked the other side of me and pulled out a chair from under the table and stood on it. I looked back at Gerard who was quietly laughing at me. 'What?' I mouthed. Gerard smiled and shook his head. I turned back to face the others and cleared my throat once more.

"HEY GUYS!"

Everyone's heads shot up in sync as they all replied with, "Yeah?"

I jumped from my chair and sat down. "Ray's right you know. If Gerard didn't think he was well enough to drive then neither of us would have gone out this morning!" I looked across to Gerard who was hugging Mikey, nodding at something that Mikey had said. They high-fived each other as they both turned back to face me. "We're both back in one piece. No injuries. We're good. Cant you trust us?" I asked everyone. Then decided the question was aimed at one person in particular. "Mikey?"

"Look. I was worried about you two, ok? I read the note obviously, but just panicked. Sorry." He sighed as he looked down at the floor.

"Understandable. Just next time, think things through. Trust us. There's no need to panic." I stood up to hug him as he ruffled my already messy hair. Then I turned to Frank. "Frank. If you cant decide who's side you're on, don't say anything. It tends to confuse people." I laughed.

"Yeah…" He answered slowly, shoving his hands into his pockets, kicking some imaginary dust about the floor.

I turned to see Ray appearing from the back door he'd earlier disappeared out of; mobile to his ear.

"Yeah sure, no problem…Soon…Not to long…Ok, thanks. Bye." The hung up, slipping his phone back into his pocket, looking back up at us. "Grace's school."

Gerard gave a confused expression.

"Well somebody had to phone to say she wasn't coming in today."

"Thanks Ray." I smiled.

"So. What's this about Jemma going home then?" Asked Gerard.

Everyone looked about themselves confused.

"Sorry guys. I let it slip this morning by mistake." I admitted.

We sat down on the sofa and told Gerard about the phone call from my mom and how it was the last week of my summer break. We discussed our arrangement of how I was going to get home; that Mikey suggested hey could drop me home on Saturday instead if me being picked up by my mom. After we talked about, and arranged Saturdays events, we discussed Wednesdays events of what happened after Gerard fell unconscious t the floor. Frank told him how he managed to splice his cheek. Ray told him how he ended up with a dislocated ankle, Mikey told him about the Dracs, and how Korse drove away. We all gave our input over Wednesdays scene, including every gory detail. After a while, I looked up at the clock as my stomach growled. It was Ten o'clock. I'd been awake since half seven this morning, now I was starving. Everyone had quietened down for a bit now so I stood up. "Guys, who's hungry?

"ME!" Called Gerard, sounding like a small boy, almost jumping out of his seat with excitement.

I laughed. "I know you are! Anyone else?" I got given a few 'yep's and nods of heads. "Pancakes good?" Everyone approved so I spent at least half an hour trying to make decent pancakes. In the end, Ray had to help me. My cooking really is that bad! Eventually, breakfast was made. I turned to put our pancakes on the table and noticed Grace's door open. "Morning sleepy head!" I called.

"Morning! What can I smell? Whatever it is, it smells good!" Well at least someone approved of my cooking already!

"Pancakes." I replied. "Help yourself. Guys, breakfast!"

Over breakfast we debated what the plan for the day. (Nothing much.) Ray told Grace that she wasn't going to school, which see seemed to be thrilled about. We were sitting finishing breakfast when the letterbox rattled. Our heads shot up. Nobody appeared to be at the door…

Chapter 6

Here Comes the Gang War…

Mikey warily stood up and walked over to the door. We watched him carefully as he picked up an envelope from the floor. He turned it over, front and back but both sides were completely blank. Ray reached a hand towards Mikey so he could inspect the mystery envelope himself, as he came back and sat at the table. He too, flipped it over, puzzled. In the end, Ray ripped open the top of the sealed envelope and pulled out a small piece of paper, the Better Living Industries logo pictured on one side. Everyone looked around at each other with an expression that said 'oh fuck.' Ray's face turned blank as he looked up at the rest of us.

"Destroya." Was all he said. I made room on the table so Ray could put the letter in the middle for the rest of us to see. All different letters from different magazine cuttings spelt the word DESTROYA. I put my hand in my head and sighed.

" Great. That's all we need." I announced sarcastically.

"I know, right!" Agreed Frank, after finishing the last bit of his coffee. I looked up at Gerard who stood up and slid the note inside his back pocket after neatly folding it.

"Be on your guard today guys. At all times." He warned us.

"Well, I doubt that Korse is going to turn up at the house again." I said

"Besides, he got what he wanted last time. He's probably waiting for us to come to him." Suggested Mikey. I looked up at him and raised my eyebrows, not impressed. "Sorry. Got what he wanted, wasn't exactly the best choice of words were they?" He apologised.

"No."

Grace left the table to go back to her room and get dressed.

"No matter what." Gerard started when Grace closed the door behind her. "Grace stays by one of our sides. At all times."

"No problem. Has everyone got their guns on them?" I asked. Everyone nodded, except Ray, who was staring at me, mouth twitching. I raised my eyebrows. "What?"

"We've got our guns, but have you got yours?"

My mind had gone blank. I honestly thought he was joking with me. Of course I had my belt around me with my gun. "Obviously I've got my gun Ray. I wouldn't be anywhere without-'' At that moment, I looked down at myself and realised Ray was right. My belt. My belt wasn't around my waste. I smiled, embarrassed. "Well obviously no, my belt isn't on me and I clearly don't have my gun." I nodded, as if knowing that all along. Ray laughed.

"Clearly! You knew that really didn't you?"

"DUH!" I laughed myself. I knew exactly where my belt was, and I knew for a fact that my gun was inside it. Now I just needed some car keys. Standing up, going to ask Gerard for his, I walked straight into Mikey, who, as if reading my mind, had his hand out, passing me his set of car keys. He smiled.

"Let me guess. You gun's in the car isn't it?"

"Err…" I laughed. "Yeah…"

Mikey took my hand and placed they keys in my palm, then folded my hand over them. "Hurry. You never know, there could be Dracs out there, waiting."

"Thanks." I jogged out the back to and to the car. Pressing the unlock button on the keys for the central locking, I opened the dusty door on the passengers side and grabbed my belt, where my gun was sitting snug inside its pocket. Making sure my belt was safely around my waist once again, I shut and locked the car door. Turning on my heels to go back to the house, I walked right into something totally unexpected. Standing right in front of me. A Drac. Dressed in a white jacket, a white shirt, and black, leather fingerless gloves. His scruffy, matted, black hair being blown about by the calm breeze. The thing that scared me most, was the blood. From the corner of his mouth, a stream of blood had run down his neck. It had stopped just on the edge of the collar of his jacket. Just as I was about to grab my gun, I felt a hand slide across my neck, ready to strangle me. Twisting to my left, I came face to face with another Drac, identical to the one standing in front of me. That Drac, silently slid his gun from the inside of his jacket and aimed it right at my head. I tried reaching for my gun, twisting awkwardly in every direction, struggling to be free. I wanted to scream, but I knew if I did, there was a good chance I'd be shot. The more I fought back, the tighter the hand around my neck was becoming. I had to fight back though, otherwise, the two Dracs would probably take me to Better Living or something and give me to Korse. So being strangled, was a risk I had to take.

Eventually, I grew weak. I couldn't fight back anymore. My breathing was all over the place. I started coughing, struggling for breath. Now my body couldn't even hold its own weight and I collapsed, hitting my head on the floor. After a few seconds, I could sense that the Dracs had disappeared. Clearly, me being unconscious was no help to Korse! I couldn't see or hear anything. For a short period of time, a stabbing pain was pulsing through my head. A dark shadow closed in on me as i became unconscious.

My head was pounding and my body felt numb. A random coughing fit woke me up. There was still the feeling of something gripping my throat.

"Whoa! Easy, easy…Here." It was Frank, crouching down on the floor next to me. I was curled up on the sofa. He took a glass of water that was on the side table and held it in front of me before I was ready to take it. I finally managed to calm down and take my drink.

"What happened?" I asked, dazed.

"Well, we were hoping that's what you could tell us." Frank stood up. I sat up properly so he could sit the other end of the sofa. Then I bolted up right, panicking.

"The Dracs have my gun! They must have took it when, when-"

"Ok, calm down. It's ok." Frank put an arm around me. "Your gun's right over there."

To my relief, my gun was in Ray's hands. Being cleaned. He turned around and smiled. "Safe and sound."

I smiled back as he stood up and brought a chair over to join me and Frank. Mikey and Gerard took the other sofa. I looked up at the clock, wondering how long I'd been unconscious. It was five o' clock! I looked around at the others. "How long have I been out for?"

"All afternoon." Mikey answered.

"If you wanted to scare us Jemma, can I just say, you did exactly that!" Gerard announced.

"Whoa! Sorry! Cant help it if I hit my head!"

"Come on then. Tell us what happened. You said something about Dracs?" Ray asked.

I took a deep breath in, trying to calm myself down, not wanting to cry in the middle of explaining. Everyone listened intently as I told them about the two Dracs, one threatening to kill me. The other…Almost killing me. Nobody knew what they wanted or why Korse sent them out to attempt to kill me. Or was it even me that they wanted?...

When I was done explaining, we sat in silence for what seemed like forever. Talking about what happened did make me feel better. On the other hand, it brought back the pain I remembered being in. My neck felt sore. I rubbed it and winced. This probably meant I had some kind of mark imprinted on me. I looked back up at the others to find them all staring at me, probably wondering if I did have a mark on my neck.

Ray leaned forward. "Lift your chin up."

I leaned back. "Why?"

"Just do it!"

"There's nothing there!"

Ray pulled his chair closer to the sofa, put his hand under my chin and gently lifted it up. I closed my eyes, praying that there really wasn't anything there.

"There's nothing there? Are you joking?" Ray made it sound really bad.

"Lets see." Said Frank. I figured there was no point trying to hide whatever mark was printed on my neck now, since Ray had seen it. So I turned to the side for Frank to see, also, just enough for Gerard and Mikey to see. "Fuck!" Was his reaction. Ok, now I was worrying.

"Jeez Jemma!" Was Mikey's reaction.

"Is it really that bad?" I asked, totally freaked out.

"Go see for yourself!" Said Gerard.

So off I trot, to my room. Looking in the mirror, I noticed a deep pinkish patch on my neck where the Dracs hand had been. 'Cant be that bad.' I thought. But as I tiptoed a little, five, strong, red fingerprints were obvious on my neck. Great…I was just about to go back to the others when there was an ear-piercing scream. Grace! She was in her room. I darted out, heading for Grace and ran into Mikey as I did so.

Gerard kicked the door open for us to find her being held by yet, another Drac. Also identical to the other two that had caught me earlier. I went to run for him but something behind caught hold of my wrist.

"HA HA! I don't think so! Choking you clearly wasn't enough was it? You've always got that energy to fight back. Shame…You could have been dead ages ago!"

I froze in horror. It was Korse who was holding my wrist. I swallowed hard as I felt a gun being pressed against my head.

Chapter 7

Against the Sun We're the Enemy…

I don't think Korse realised I'd got one hand free. Thankfully, it was my left hand. My gun is always on my left. Discreetly, I nudged Mikey with my elbow. He saw my free hand and knew exactly what my plan of action was. He nodded. I looked around at everyone else. Gerard, to my right, had his gun pointed at Korse. To my left, so did Mikey. I looked at Ray, who was standing next to Gerard, his gun aimed at the Drac. I looked at Frank, standing next to Mikey, mirroring Ray. I turned my head slightly to look at Korse, who was quite content, just standing, evil-smiling at Grace, watching her struggle to get away. So I took my chance and hooked my right leg under Korse' left, dragging him down. As he fell, he let go of my wrist. I swivelled around and slid backwards, pulling my gun from my belt. Mikey followed my plan and Gerard caught on quickly, both copying me. Ray and Frank moved in closer to the Drac, who was defenceless. He was holding Grace and didn't seem to have a gun. They both pushed him down. Ray took hold of Grace, pulling her to the side as she held on tight to his arm.

I looked up at Mikey and smiled. He smiled back and nodded once. I looked up at Gerard and smiled, he too smiled back and nodded once. The brothers looked at each other, a grin spread across their faces. A surge of power came over me as I watched Korse lean against the door, on the floor. Whimpering like a lost puppy, cowering as he curled into a ball. This was the one chance I'd have to get revenge on him. After God knows of how many years of Korse trying to kill Gerard, of trying to get to him through the rest of us, I had to be the one to kill him. I crouched down next to him. This time, it was me getting into Korse' s personal space. "I have waited so long to do this." I growled, pressing my gun under his chin. "Now finally, here's my chance."

Korse swallowed hard and tightly closed his eyes. I pulled the trigger of my gun and watched as silver sparks flew from underneath Korse' s chin, as he slid down and almost looked like he just lay on the floor for comfort! As we span around, Ray pulled the defenceless Drac up from the collar of his jacket and pinned him to the wall. Grace took the chance to run over to me. Frank took great delight in shooting the Drac the Ray had cornered.

"Well done guys." Smiled Gerard. Everyone high-fived each other, relieved that it was all over for today…Or so we thought… Frank came and hugged me tight.

"I told you you're hero of the house." He looked down at me and grinned. I was about to reply as Mikey's face gained a look of horror.

"Err…Jemma?"

"Oh fuck. What now?" I asked, thinking things couldn't get any worse.

"I don't think you've actually shot Korse…"Replied Mikey, stepping back. As he did so, we all saw that Korse was no longer on the floor but, in his place, another Drac.

"So you're telling me…This Drac was Korse in disguise? So, I've shot a Drac?" I was really confused.

"Looks like it. Thing is, we don't know how long the real Korse hasn't been around for…" Said Gerard.

"And this Drac has had Korse' s voice for some time. So we don't know which Korse we have been fighting and when!" Ray pointed out.

"So if this is the fake Korse. Where's the real Korse?" Asked Mikey.

"Fuck knows…This just gets worse doesn't it?" I asked.

"No kidding'." Replied Gerard. Grace, who was now leaning against Mikey, yawned.

"What's the time?" She wondered sleepily.

"Six o'clock." Mikey said.

'WHOA!' I thought to myself. 'The hours really fly by!' I watched Grace yawn again and yawned myself, not realising how tired I really was.

"I think you two ought to get to bed and have an early night." Suggested Gerard. I nodded and yawned once more.

"I'll give you a hand to get rid of the Drac's first." I offered. I looked over at Grace, her eyes grew wide.

"I'm not sleeping in here!" She protested.

"Want to do a room swap for the night?" I asked. Grace smiled, satisfied with my idea. It was a good job I didn't mind! Grace hugged me and went to make herself at home in my room.

"Come on then guys." Started Gerard. "Lets get rid of these Drac's so Jemma can get some sleep."

Frank and Ray took the Drac from the bed. I helped Gerard with the Drac at the door. Mikey went to get me a clean quilt cover, so I wouldn't have to sleep with a quilt that a Drac had been lying on! Afterwards, I crept into my room, trying not to disturb Grace and went into my wardrobe. I dug out an old, baggie, black shirt and a pair of black leggings, then tiptoed back into my room to get changed. I desperately needed a drink so I got myself a glass of water from the kitchen and curled up on the sofa to drink it. It was nice to have some peace and quiet for a while. My head really hurt.

"How you feeling now? I didn't really get a chance to ask you earlier."

I jumped, nearly spilling my drink everywhere. It was Gerard.

"Oops. Sorry. Didn't mean to make you jump!" He came and sat next to me.

"It's ok. And, I have a headache, but I just need some sleep."

Gerard nodded. "Can I have a proper look at the marks on your neck now?"

I sighed, not knowing why everyone was making such a big fuss over nothing. "Yeah sure." I replied, turning to face him. So Gerard did what Ray had done earlier. He placed his hand under my chin and gently lifted it up. "What they like?"

"Well, not that red anymore. They should've almost gone by the time you go home." He assured me.

I moved my head. "Cool stuff. Hey, where's everyone else gone to?" I asked, realising that everyone went out the front door and only Gerard had come back. He smiled at me, mouth twitching, as if expecting a certain reaction from me. "Burning Drac's." He replied casually.

"Whoa! Ok! Stop right there!" I didn't want to know anymore.

Gerard laughed. "I knew you would say that! But you asked, so, I told you!"

I stood up to take my glass over to the sink and saw Mikey, Ray and Frank walk through the door.

"Speak of the devils!" I laughed.

"Jemma was just wondering where you lot were!" Gerard told them.

"Yeah, and I don't think I need to be told again. Thank you Gerard!" I leaned against the side and yawned. "Anyway, I'm off to bed. I don't think I can keep awake for much longer. Night Guys." I called and wandered back over to Grace's room.

"Night Jem." Everyone called back.

I climbed into bed and shuddered, suddenly feeling very cold, so I pulled the quilt over myself, lay down and stared up at the ceiling, thinking about Saturday. My mom is going to want to know what I have been doing over the holiday, but I had a feeling that, if I told her, she ground me without a doubt. Then sooner or later, the weekend would be over and I would have to go back to school. UGH! I shook my head, wondering why I was wishing my last few days in Batter City away. I stretched and rolled over. All this thinking about Saturday made me tired. I closed my eyes and eventually fell asleep…

"So what do we do now?" Mikey sniffed.

I was lying in bed. I tried sleeping but watching Gerard die kept me on edge, so I lay listening to everyone's conversation outside my room.

"Well, Gerard's body cant stay here." Ray said, his voice sounding croaky, like he was about to cry himself.

"So what do we do with him?" Frank's voice was barley a whisper.

My heart pounded in my chest as all sorts of ideas ran through my head, wondering who was going to come up with the worst out of the three of them. Three of them. That sounded so strange. There should be four of them! No, not should be, in my heart, there is four of them.

"We could bur-" Ray began,

"No!" Mikey knew exactly what Ray was going to say. "No Ray, we are not going to burn my brother!"

"I know. Dumb idea. I'm sorry."

The tears welled up in my eyes. As if Ray suggested that! Well it was definitely unexpected!

"I suppose we're going to have to bury him then." Mumbled Frank.

I listened as Ray, Mikey and Frank picked up Gerard…Somebody started coughing, struggling for breath…

"Gerard?" Mikey asked.

My ear pricked up. I doubted that Gerard was going to be alive, not suddenly after all this time where we assumed he was dead. But there was still some hope left inside me. I stopped breathing, listening intently. Someone was still coughing.

"Ok. Lets get him on the sofa and lets get DR.D over here." Ordered Mikey.

"Actually, I just came round to visit. It's a good job I just turned up!" DR.D was here!

'Thank God!' I thought to myself. So, in a rush to see Gerard, I threw the quilt off and bolted out of bed. I was just about to open my door when I heard my window slide open.

"You'll be sorry if you go out there. I'm warning you." It was Brooke. I span around and rolled my eyes as Brooke climbed through my window.

"Oh please Brooke, grow up. Gerard might not be dead now, but you shot him already! Is that not enough?"

Brooke raised her eyebrows and placed her hand over her gun.

"C'mon. You took Korse' s side and he wanted revenge-" I started.

"Yeah! Three cheers for it too!" She interrupted.

I sighed and turned back around, placing my hand over the door handle.

"Jemma, I said no!" Brooke whipped her gun from her belt and pinned me to the door, her gun pressed against my chest.

"Just tell me one thing first…Korse…Why?" I asked, trying to get some kind of message through to her, trying to make her see sense.

"That's for me to know, and for you to find out." Brooke whispered. She took her gun away from my chest and loaded it. She smiled innocently and pulled the trigger.

"BROOKE! NO! NO!"

Chapter 8

Bad News From the Zones Tumbleweeds…

(FRIDAY)- "BROOKE! NO! PLEASE!" I cried, the tear rolling down my cheeks.

"WHOA! Jemma, Jemma! It's ok, calm down!"

As I opened my eyes, I saw Mikey jogging into the room. He came and sat on the end of the bed. I sat up and looked around, breathing heavily, feeling on edge, forgetting I was in Grace's room. Mikey put an arm around me.

"What the hell's brought this on?" He asked, worried. I tried to calm myself down, to explain but ended up bursting into tears again. Mikey looked up at the door. "Hey Gee."

I looked up too. Gerard came and sat the other side of me.

"Hey Mikey. Jemma's been having this dream where I got shot by Brooke…Am I right?"

I nodded and started explaining last nights part of my nightmare. I noticed Ray in the kitchen, making a start on breakfast. I knew he was listening and I wasn't exactly thrilled on sharing the part where he suggested to burn Gerard. He'd think I'm turning crazy!

"Well…Ray was about to suggest that…We…Burn Gerard…" I began. I couldn't help but give a small smile, feeling embarrassed that I actually shared that. From the kitchen, Ray turned around.

"I did what? Me? Suggest that? As if!"

I laughed. "Sorry Ray!" I called. "Can't control what happens in my dreams! Anyway, long story short, you come back to life." I say, pointing to Gerard. "By some strange miracle. Then Brooke comes through my window and threatens to shoot me because I was about to go and see you. Then eventually…She does shoot me." I felt really embarrassed and slightly stupid for sharing that with everyone. Although, it did kind of make me feel better. Looking around at everyone, I noticed Frank standing next to Ray. God knows how long he'd been there for. Everyone's faces were a real KODAK moment. I couldn't help but laugh a little.

"And on that note…" Frank broke the slightly amusing silence.

"Breakfast is ready!" Ray laughed.

So the morning flew by. Unfortunately for me. I started packing up a few things from my room. I can't say I enjoyed it either. I chose some clothes for Saturday then emptied the rest of my clothes into my suitcase and eventually, my entire wardrobe was empty. I came to a stand still and observed my room, letting all the wrong emotions take over me. This wasn't a good time to be crying. I sat down on the edge of my bed. In the background, the noise of my best friends could be heard, laughing over something, probably debating something pointless and the sound of the TV could also be heard. I guessed somebody had put the radio on the TV. Nothing else, apart from the news, ever gets put on in this house. We all like to make sure we're up to date on everything before going off on our 'missions.'

"Bad news from the zones tumbleweeds..." I was DR.D'S voice. Oh God. This didn't sound good. I walked over to the doorway and stopped. I could listen from here. I watched as Mikey got up from the kitchen table to collect the remote, he started turning up the volume. His eyes grew wide as 'KORSE' headlined underneath DR.D'S radio station logo. He turned to the others.

"Guys! Shut up! It's about Korse!" Mikey indicated to the TV. Everyone stood up from the table.

"What the hell has he done now?" Gerard asked.

"More to the point, where the hell is he?" Ray asked.

Mikey frowned. "SSH!"

"Turn it up if you can't hear it then!" Frank told him, taking the TV remote from Mikey, turning up the volume. Instead, he managed to change the channel by mistake. "Err, whoops." He laughed. Gerard glared at Frank. "Sorry, changing it back now!" Frank changed the channel, but to something else. He did this two or three times. Mikey snatched the remote back.

"Frank! What the fuck are you doing man?"

"Sorry." Frank apologised.

"Hello, missing important info here!" Ray pointed out.

After much fussing over the remote, the radio was put back on. Everyone moaned. A song was playing, the news was over.

"Frank! Honestly! You take the piss sometimes!" Gerard whined. Frank smiled to himself, he was the only one out of the four of them that found this amusing.

I sighed, turned around and started hunting for my gun. The found it under my pillow. I slipped it into my belt and fastened it around my waist.

"Guys, I'm going out!" I called, casually strolling over to the front door.

"Err…Hold on a minute. Where to?" Asked Gerard, being his usual, over protective self.

"To go and get something magical where you guys can still know the latest news. You know, I think it's called a newspaper!" I replied sarcastically. Gerard smiled.

"I'll come!" Offered Frank. "You'll be safe with me!" He grabbed his gun from the table.

"C'mon then." I smiled.

"Just don't do anything stupid!" Called Mikey. Frank became defensive.

"Hold on a minute! I-"

"Now girls! Calm down!" I interrupted, not wanting them to cause another argument. I pulled Frank out of the door. "Come on if you're coming!"

We walked in silence for a while. Not an awkward silence, but in the end, I had to ask an amusing question.

"How do you manage to change the channel while intending to turn up the volume?"

Frank burst out laughing. "You know, that's a good question!" He looked across at me, and I burst out laughing. Watching Frank laugh made me laugh. I loved it when he was in one of these moods. He always acted so childish! Eventually, we managed to calm down.

"And the answer to my question was?" I asked, intrigued. Frank stopped and smiled.

"I have no fucking idea!"

"I didn't think you would!" By this time, we'd reached the store.

The newspapers were neatly stacked outside in two, red, mesh baskets. Magazines were displayed on a shelf attached to the wall. I picked up the first newspaper that jumped out at me. 'Battery City News: KORSE MISSING.' Frank took the newspaper from me as I searched inside my pockets from some change. I froze. Frank noticed,

"You didn't pick any money up did you?" He asked.

I pulled my pockets inside out. "Err…No. You got any change?" Frank searched his pockets. He managed to find some money and started counting.

"How much is the newspaper?"

"One dollar. How much have you got?"

Frank smiled. "Fifty cent…We could threaten the shopkeeper with my gun so we get a free newspaper?"

I laughed and poked my head around the door of the shop to see an old, frail women standing behind the counter. "I'm not holding an innocent old lady at gun point Frank! She looks all of seventy something!" I was about to say something else as Frank took my sleeve, slowly dragging me away from the store. He looked around to see if anyone was about. The coast was clear. I knew what was running through Franks mind. We were going to run away with this newspaper! Sometimes I wondered how old Frank mentally was! He must think he's still fifteen half of the time!

"Come one! Quickly!" He whispered.

"SSHH!" I tried so hard not to laugh. And with that, we bolted away from the store. I never thought I could run so fast! It was hard trying not to fall over. Wow! We were such rebels…HA! Not! When we decided we were far enough away, and the local store was definitely out of sight, we slowed our pace to a casual walk. All you could hear was the sound of our heavy breathing and the occasional laugh. I looked up at Frank. His cheeks were bright pink. He flicked his dark hair to the side before looking down at me, and nudged me.

"So!" He started. "You going to miss us when you're gone?" My smile slowly disappeared. My good mood suddenly vanished into thin air.

"Yeah…" I shoved my hands into my pockets and kicked the dust on the floor as I walked. Tomorrows events wasn't a subject I was willing to talk about on my last day in California. I wanted to enjoy my last day and not let anything bother me. Frank cleared his throat guiltily.

"Um…Sorry. Change the subject?" His voice quiet and apologetic. He put a friendly arm around my shoulders and ruffled my hair, I smiled. He was so easy to forgive.

"Please." I replied. Frank thought of something to say for a while.

"Hey! You any good at basketball?" He finally asked as we reached our front door.

"Yeah, I guess so…" I answered as Frank pushed the door open.

"Ladies first." He offered. I smiled and took the newspaper from him, throwing it on the table as he jogged into his room.

"Guys, newspaper's here!" Over on the sofa, Gerard sat in the middle. Apple Mac on his lap. Mikey on his left, Ray on his right.

"Thanks." Gerard mumbled. Not even looking up from the screen. "We're just looking for Korse's whereabouts, but so far, we're not really getting anywhere."

I rolled my eyes. "That's why I bought a newspaper." I smiled to myself. Obviously I didn't really buy it. We just…borrowed it and forgot to give it back. Simple!

"Jemma! Heads!" Frank called. But before I had time to react, a rusty coloured basketball was throw at me. I caught it though! Gerard looked up puzzled.

"We playing basketball?" He asked.

"Isn't it Jemma's last day with us?" Frank asked Gerard. I jogged over to Frank. Gerard closed his laptop lid, leaned across Ray and put his laptop on the table. He stood up and smiled.

"Yeah. It is your last day. We need some chill time. We've been on call nearly 24/7. Come on then!"

I high-fived Gerard. Mikey yawned and stretched. "Mikey, get your ass off the sofa! We're playing basketball!" Gerard ordered. Mikey jumped.

"Whoa! Ok man, chill!" He stood up and pulled Ray up as well.

Grace appeared from the front door. Waving to somebody. She'd been at school today. Her school was doing a half day and her friends mom had brought her back. She threw her bag onto the kitchen table, noticing me holding a basketball. She immediately knew we were going to play and smiled.

"I'll play! And I'll be on Jemma's team!"

"Awesome! So I'll have Grace and…Ray." I held the ball close to my chest.

"If you don't start running, I'll get the ball." Smiled Gerard. I laughed.

"You'll have to catch me first!" I sprinted out of the back door. Heading towards the basketball net that was attached to the wall. Grace was by my side and Ray was just behind me. I span around and passed the ball to Grace, who passed it to Ray. He dribbled it, then passed it back to me. Gerard, Mikey and Frank were catching up quickly. In fact, Gerard was right behind me.

"Gottcha!" He laughed. He'd caught me instead of the ball, but he fought for it.

"Jem! Over here!" Ray called. I just about managed to throw the ball to Ray. Frank ran after him. As Ray dribbled the ball, Frank knocked it from his grip.

"Hey Gee!" Frank called. Gerard finally let go of me and ran for the ball. He caught it, then threw it to Mikey. But as the ball was in mid-air, Grace jumped and caught it. She stuck her tongue out and dribbled the ball.

"Grace!" I called. I was literally right next to the net. I caught the ball and shot, Ray came and caught the ball as it fell from the net. "Gerard. In case you didn't know. The aim of the game is to get the ball to score. Not get the team players!" I laughed. "Anyway, it's your ball."

Ray threw the ball to Gerard who stood under the net. Everyone spread out. Ray tried blocking Gerard. Grace tried blocking Frank. The pair looked like they were dancing, the way they shuffled from side to side, one in front of the other. I tried blocking Mikey. We returned the 'I got my eyes on you' signal. Gerard found a way to avoid Ray's block and threw the ball to Mikey. Round two had begun with the score of 1-0.

Our afternoon flew by. We spent a good few hours outside playing basketball. We finished with the score of fourteen to us and fifteen to Gerard's team.

Chapter 9

This One's For All You Rock and Rollers…

Yeah, we were definitely rock and rollers alright. We spent the rest of the afternoon on Guitar Hero. Me and Grace alternated with either, Frank, Mikey or Ray for the guitar or the drums. Then we all had a go at singing. Which was quite funny. We all ended up singing together when one person had the microphone!

We hadn't done anything like this in ages. Spent some time together. The only time we'd really spent together was in the evenings. Even then, that was from about six o' clock onwards just chilling, watching TV. And it wasn't every evening either.

Anyone would have thought I was drunk, the amount of times I'd laughed over the smallest things. The plus side was, nobody minded. We were did plenty of laughing most of the day, Frank was already in one of his hyper moods anyway. Gerard, Ray and Mikey had gone from being, deadly serious, looking for Korse. To, chilled, more concentrating on making sure I was enjoying my last day. And trust me, I was.

Today reminded me of the times when I used to live with the killjoys for just the weekend. When Frank first introduced me to everyone. Those were the times when Korse wasn't really that much of a problem, so we spent the weekends relaxing.

The evening soon came and I'd remembered that I hadn't packed everything. Of course I didn't need to empty my room totally. I'd be back again next year. A whole year. A whole year. The words echoed through my head. Those painful words.

"Jemma. Jemma. Hello?"

"Huh? What?"

"Drums?"

I looked up to see a pair of drum sticks in my face. Ray was offering me them. I pushed them aside and stood up. "I think I'm going to finish packing actually. You lot carry on."

Strangely enough, some more of the afternoon flew by. Usually, people say: 'Time flies when you're having fun.' In my case, time flew by when I wasn't having fun. I mean, how much fun can you have packing bags, really? Ok, my Danger Days CD was playing at the time. That was about the highlight of it. Eventually, I managed to finish my packing. There was just one thing left that I didn't know what to do with. My gun. Part of me wanted to take it home. But the other part of me said I should leave it here. What would my mom say if I walked in waving a gun around? She wasn't even aware that I had a gun! I sat down on my bed as there was a knock at my door.

"Jemma, I've been knocking or ages!" It was Mikey.

"Sorry. I guess I was to engrossed in my CD." I shrugged. Mikey listened to what track was playing.

"Summertime. Cool. Hey, listen, we're going out for a bit and taking Grace with us. Do you mind stopping on your own for about, ten or fifteen minutes?"

"Yeah sure." It didn't even cross my mind to ask where they were going. But before I knew it, Mikey was out of my door and everyone had left. Being on my own for a while, allowed me to think clearly and get my head together. The memories of the past six weeks raced through my head. The good times. The bad times. Every single one, memorable.

I wandered into the kitchen, made myself a drink before collapsing on the sofa. Peace and quiet. Something that was very rare in this house. Ok, it would last that long. But I enjoyed it while it lasted. A book had been left on the side. Probably Frank's. The Book Thief. By Markus Zusak. Looks interesting, I though. So I picked it up and became engrossed from the very first age. Is it any wonder Frank can read absolutely anywhere? A few minutes later, my phone rung. It sounded like a dead line. I was about to hang up when somebody finally spoke.

"He knows where you are. He knows where you're going. He's already there."

I hadn't a clue who it was. A woman's voice, but it didn't sound familiar. "Who's speaking? How did you get my number?" I asked. The woman continued.

"Don't tell anyone about this phone call. Or you're dead. Not Party Poison. Not Kobra Kid. Not Jet Star. Not Fun Ghoul. Not even your mom. He'll know. If you tell anyone, your friends will be the ones suffering."

My heart somersaulted inside me. "Who's this HE you keep talking about? How does he know where I'm going?" But the women didn't answer. Instead, the line cut dead. So I too, hung up.

I felt very on edge and, for some reason, slightly sick. Trying to ignore what just happened, I carried on reading Frank's book.

"Back!" It was Ray. I screamed. I didn't think I was that freaked out by the phone call. Grace also screamed, startled by me. "Jeez! What's up with you? I didn't scare you that much did I?"

I stood up to take my cup over to the sink. "No. I just got used to the peace and quiet, that's all." I laughed nervously.

For the rest of the afternoon. I did nothing but jump for every sudden movement someone made. I jumped if somebody dropped something, if somebody shut a door, if somebody coughed, sneezed. It got ridiculous and it got to a point where everyone was worrying about me. My phone buzzed. Again. A text message. Telling me to come to Zone 4. Alone. Number withheld. Shit. This wasn't happening. I checked the time. Eight o'clock. There was no way anyone was going to let me out now. I casually strolled over to my room, not wanting to look to suspicious. Then an idea struck me. My window was big enough to climb out of. Luckily for me, my room was on the side of the house. Nobody would see me sneak out. Brilliant. I found my belt and gun sitting on my pillow and fastened it around my waste before silently sliding open my window and cautiously climbing out. It seemed a bit odd to receive a creepy message so early. I mean, eight o'clock, of all times, really?

An array of colours from pink, red and orange covered to the sky, creating a picturesque sunset. It was cooling down now and I was glad I'd brought my leather jacket out with me. A car's engine purred in the background. Getting louder and louder by the minute. I grew anxious of my surroundings and quickened my pace, almost jogging past the sign for Zone 4. It was about time I put y mask on. Ok. I'll admit, it should have been done earlier but nevertheless, I pulled my mask from around my neck and covered my face. My hand placed protectively over my gun. I remembered the time when Gerard helped me design my mask. Purple. Obviously. A silver star around one eye and a silver stripe across the other. Random I know, But that's just me all over!

"Well, well well. If it isn't the Misguided Vampire. We didn't think you'd turn up. Very obedient aren't you? Coming alone."

I froze. From the top of the sad dunes in front of me, appeared a woman. Tall and slim. Wearing a formal, black, pinstriped suit and a pair of well-polished high heels. Her dark, bobbed hair was so neat that not even the light breeze blew a strand out of place. I wondered how many cans of hairspray it took to make it perfect. "I'm guessing you're the one who called me, right? Look lady, I don't know what you want. But whatever it is, I haven't got it. Or whatever it is I'm supposed to have done, I didn't do it." I told her confidently. The women smiled.

"Or maybe, whoever it is you've got."

"Excuse me?"

"Where's Korse? What have you done with him?" She demanded.

"Well I was hoping you might know that. Considering what you told me over the phone."

"You shot him! Didn't you?"

"We thought we did. But it just turned out to be a Drac in disguise and-wait. You're accusing me of killing Korse, so you brought me here to kill me because you don't know where he is? Oh, that's sad."

"No. I think its quite reasonable." The woman disagreed coolly, sliding a white gun from the inside of her blazer, aiming it right at me.

"You've got to be kidding. Listen, I'm being honest here. Read my lips. I. Did. Not. Kill. Korse. Got it? Good. I'll be off then."

"Oh it's not that easy."

Behind the woman, appeared two Scarecrows, both aiming guns. Behind me, another two Scarecrows appeared. Also aiming guns. Great. Now I was surrounded. I whipped my gun from my belt to shoot the women, but one of the Scarecrows automatically knocked it from my hand, like he'd been trained to do that all along. Ok. So they were ready to put up a fight. Fine by me. But the woman now…Had collapsed to the floor? She's been shot. But by who? The two Scarecrows behind me, dumb as they were, grabbed tight of me, thinking I'd shot her.

"Come on guys. How can I have shot her? You knocked my gun to the floor!" But the Scarecrows wouldn't let me go. Instead the froze as their two workers also, were shot. "Ok, that definitely wasn't me." I took the opportunity to slide from the Scarecrow's grip. At the same time, both Scarecrows fell. Again, that was not me. I was left standing alone in the dusty, desolate deserts of Zone 4. Right in the middle of a death scene. Or so I thought.

"I think there's something you forgot to tell us Jemma." Appeared Mikey, from the top of the sand dunes. Good Luck helmet in one hand. Gun in the other. He made quite a dramatic entrance. The sun shining behind him, creating a shadow, twice the size of the real Mikey.

"If I were you, I'd seriously consider telling us sometime soon." Appeared Ray, next to Mikey with the same dramatic entrance. Gun in one hand, helmet in the other. The sun creating a shadow twice the size of the real Ray. Neither of them seemed at all impressed. I turned around to pick up my gun that was knocked behind me and jumped. Gerard and Frank were sat on a random rock. Grace standing next to them. Wearing her STOP helmet and her waistcoat. Our car parked behind the three of them. Also, neither Gerard or Frank looked the least bit happy to see me here.

"Sometime soon Ray?" Asked Gerard as Ray and Mikey made their way down the sand dunes. "I was thinking more like…Now!"

"We've been worried sick about you man!" Exclaimed Frank. Pulling his Fun Ghoul mask from his head where he'd earlier lifted it to. Me and Gerard pulled our masks off in sync. Which I found quite weird. He left his yellow, Party Poison mask to hang around his neck. I did the same with my mask.

"Guys, I can explain." I sighed,

"Oh I think you better had." Said Gerard, flatly. This was the first time any of the Killjoys had been angry with me. On the way home, I planned what I was going to say. Not a lie. Just how I was going to explain why I was out. For the entire journey, we sat in a deathly, awkward silence. Nothing could be heard but the wind coming through the open windows. I sat inbetween Mikey and Ray. Both of them turned at an angle, facing away from me, content in looking out of the window. Both unwilling to talk to me. I'd never felt to guilty

We got back and everyone sat down, staring, waiting for me to explain. Still, the silence was deafening. My phone buzzed. Yet, again. I pulled it from my pocket and opened up a text from an unknown number. Gerard watched my like a hawk who'd just found it's prey. My message read: DEAD, I swallowed hard.

"Phone." Gerard help out his hand. Since he was in a bad mood, I could hardly refuse, I passed him my phone. He stared at the screen, then started pressing a few buttons. "Inbox…Come to Zone 4. Alone. Number…Withheld. I wonder who that's off."

"Gerard! You cant go through my messages!" I exclaimed, getting up to take my phone back. Gerard made a stop sign with his hand, blocking me from snatching my phone. He pressed a few more buttons. "Calls…Top of the list. Number…Unknown. Now, all of your other calls have names except this top one, I think that's pretty obvious who it's from, don't you?" He refused to give me back my phone and slipped it into his pocket. I sighed and sat back down. Then a question struck me.

"Hold on. Why are you going through my calls and messages? Its almost as if you expected to find something."

Gerard raised his eyebrows. "That's because I did." He admitted. Mikey sat up.

"Gee?"

"I knew Jemma was going to get some kind of call or text from Better Living. I just got a funny feeling that she would. And she did."

At this point, I had to interrupt. "You knew? And you let me go anyway? You didn't even warn me!"

"Well I didn't think you'd be stupid enough to actually go alone! I honestly thought you would have told us!" Gerard argued.

"I went alone because I was told your lives would be endangered if you knew! You would be the ones suffering if I told you!" I shouted defensively and stormed off to my room. I strode past the sofa as Ray went to stop me with one hand.

"Jemma. Stop and just calm down." He said softly. I shrugged his hand off and slammed the door behind me.

I curled up on my bed, shaking with anger. Trying hard not to cry. My last day in California had been ruined. What if, tomorrow came, and everyone was still angry with me? Especially Gerard! My emotions switched from guilt to being selfish. I ought to go and apologise. To everyone. On the other hand, how dare Gerard not tell me! I almost got killed out there! And he knew! All along! To be fair though, I think I over reacted lightly back there. Somebody knocked my door softly.

"Come in." Whoever it was, they might as well come in, I couldn't be bothered to argue anymore. My door opened. Gerard.

"I think we need to talk now we've calmed down a little. Don't you?" He asked.

I nodded. "I think so."

"Lets walk." He moved over so I could come outside, and put an arm out, as if showing me the way to the door. "Shall we?"

"Do I get a choice?" I asked. Gerard glared, unimpressed. "Sorry."

So for some of the night we walked, talked and did much apologising.

"You knew but never said a word." I felt stupid for pointing out the most obvious thing. It was more of a question than a statement.

"Yeah. About that, I really just didn't want worry you. I knew you'd be checking your phone every five minutes, becoming paranoid and I didn't want that happening." Gerard paused. "You know you can tell us anything. Right?"

"Yeah…"

"So why is it, you didn't tell us that you were going out. About the phone call? About the text?"

"Like I said. I got told you'd be the ones suffering if you knew. I didn't want anything happening to anyone, it would be on my conscience for the rest of life. Besides, if one of you were hurt or killed because of me, the rest of you would hate me for it."

Gerard stopped and hugged me. "Hey. We would never hate you. Never. We'd just be pissed off with you for not telling us you were going out for a fight!" He laughed lightly.

Our conversation continued until we got back home. I cleared things up with everyone else and did more apologising. The time came for me to call it a day and go to bed. At half eleven. My mom would be chuffed! I didn't care, The main thing was, I'd leave California tomorrow morning on a high note. That's all that mattered.

Chapter 10

I think I Better Go Now…

My alarm on my phone woke me up with its annoying beeping tone. I turned it off and rolled over to go back to sleep. But, as if on cue, Mikey burst in and opened my curtains. The smell of toast wafted through my door like mist settling over a river on a winters morning.

"Look alive, sunshine!" He threw the quilt off me; I immediately complained.

"Mikey! Its fucking freezing! Do you mind?"

"No, not really!" He laughed and went back into the kitchen.

I wondered over to my window to see what the weather was up to. Strange. Before, the sky was a velvet blanket of fiery colours. Now, it was dull and everything outside was completely drenched from the pouring rain. Hurriedly, I got dressed, making sure to put on my hoodie that I'd left out last night, then plodded into the kitchen for some breakfast. I smiled to myself when I found that everyone was either wearing, a long-sleeved shirt or hoodie. Usually, nobody here (except me or Grace) complains about how cold they are. They will quite happily sit in just a t-shirt; not letting the weather bother them.

As I sat between Frank and Grace, I thought I'd make an apologetic speech again from last night.

"Guys. About last night. I just wanted to say that I'm really sorry and I didn't mean to worry or upset you. Next time, something like that happens again. If I get a text or a phone call. You'll be the first to know. Promise. I also wanted to say: Forgetting all the bad that's happened. All the injuries-" I paused and laughed a little. "Thanks for a fucking awesome holiday! You guys mean a lot to me and have helped me through a lot over the past few years. Thanks Killjoys."

Everyone had stopped what they were doing just to listen to my little announcement. Which I thought was quite nice. Gerard came and sat sown from leaning against the side.

"Jemma. No sweat man. What happened last night. Put it behind you. We have. Just forget about it. We're just miffed that you have to leave." He explained, poring himself a drink.

"Weirdly enough." Ray started. "Over the past few years, we've found it's not that bad having a teenager around!" He laughed.

"No offence but…Considering you're a girl. You've got skill!" Mikey smiled.

I laughed myself. "I'm sure I've heard a saying before Mikey: Don't judge a book by it's cover! Just because I'm a girl, doesn't mean I can't shoot like a guy!"

Frank nudged me smirking. "You got skill alright. Especially when it comes to borrowing newspapers!" He emphasized the word "borrowing" and I knew me and Frank were on the same wavelength,

"You borrowed a newspaper?" Gerard asked.

I smiled smugly. "Never Mind. Long Story."

"We've had some laughs and we rock on Guitar Hero!" Grace laughed. We hugged each other. Grace is a great friend. The Missile Kid. Her name would be well known by everyone one day. She just didn't know it yet.

We finished breakfast and I helped clear the dishes away. Which took us a long time. Longer than expected. Only because me, Mikey and Grace had a mini water fight, the decided to stop after we soaked Ray. Who then had t go and change. He found it slightly amusing compared to the three of us who fell about, laughing hysterically and couldn't really stop. Then Frank helped me carry my things to the car when I decided I'd keep my gun on me for the journey like everyone else. Eventually, we were ready to leave.

"We've got somewhere to stop off at first before you go home." Gerard said. Putting his foot down on the pedal. I hadn't got the slightest clue where we were going until we drove through to Zone 5 and Gerard pressed the horn of the car, pulling up next to a graffiti coloured building.

As if waiting for us. There, standing at the door was DR.D. Behind him, Show Pony. Practically throwing myself out of the car, I dashed towards the building, mainly running towards Show Pony who I hadn't seen since I'd been here. In fact, I hadn't seen him for a few years. Wearing his roller blades (obviously) he skated towards him.

"What brings you here?" He asked, hugging me.

"To be honest. I don't actually know. Gerard, what are we doing here?"

"Surprise visit. We knew you hadn't seen Show Pony for some time. Plus, we need a word with DR.D." Explained Gerard.

"Thanks guys. And, I know the rain has calmed down, but it's still cold so-"

"Yeah sure! Of course you can come in!" DR.D smiled, as if reading my mind.

Unfortunately for me, we only spent like, an hour around DR.D and Show Pony's place. After a while, Gerard called everyone into the kitchen; leaving me and Grace to watch TV in the front room. God knows what they were talking about but by the look on Gerard's face, it sounded deadly serious. Later on, when the guys had finished speaking, they came back to the font room and I realised it was time to go. I said my goodbyes and slumped back to the car. This was it now. The Killjoys were taking me home.

"I've just thought." I started. "We're in California and I live in New Jersey-"

"Nah! No shit Jemma!" Frank laughed sarcastically from the front, passenger seat.

"Shut it you! Let me finish! Gerard can't drive all the way to New Jersey. None of you can! It's an over sea trip! So…How am I getting home?"

Mikey looked at Gerard. Gerard looked at Mikey through the rear-view mirror. The brothers smiled. Clearly thinking the same thing. Clearly hiding something.

"Now that. You'll just have to wait and see. That goes for Frank, Ray and Grace too." Mikey said.

"Damn right it does!" Exclaimed Ray. "We haven't the foggiest what you're going on about!"

Mikey laughed. "We could be a while getting there. So we'll have to amuse ourselves at some point."

"Oh, I doubt that will be hard." Frank commented as Gerard turned the on the radio, pressing play for Danger Days to begin. We all mouthed the words to track one: DR.D' s: Look Alive, Sunshine. When track two started, to me, our journey had officially begun the minute we all started singing NA NA NA . It was almost as if we were having a miniature party on wheels! Mikey was right, the journey did take a while. So part way to…Wherever it was we were going, Gerard and Mikey exchanged places.

"Ah crap!" Groaned Mikey, a few minutes into driving, as if forgetting something. "I've just realised. California to New Jersey is like…A four hour time difference! So Jemma, you wont get home till stupid o'clock in the morning!"

"Yeah…Good point. I never thought of that. My mom wont hear the door to answer it. She'll be to far gone in the land of nod!" I cracked up at my own comment. Laughing like a complete spaz in the back of the car! Everyone joined in. Only, I wasn't sure whether they were laughing at me, my comment, or the fact that my would be in the land of nod! Come to think of it, New Jersey is four hours ahead. None of us had considered this. Gerard was first to calm down after our laughing fit.

"Ok, I'll call a hotel and book us some rooms." He pulled his phone from his pocket and dialled a few numbers. Mikey turned the volume down as SING came to an end.

So Gerard booked us some rooms at a hotel I'd never even heard of for the night, until bright and early next morning when I'd officially go home. Finding my phone in my bag, I decided it would be a good idea to call my mom to let her know our new plan of action. If it was ten o'clock here, the it would be two o'clock in New Jersey. A decent time to call.

"Hey mom!"

"Hi Jemma! You coming home now?"

"Well, we've been on the road a while. I just forgot to tell you. Sorry." I admitted guiltily.

"Oh. Well. Ok then. So, is that all you called me for or is there something else?" My mom asked, the disappointment slightly obvious in her voice.

"Yeah. That and something else. Hope you don't mind but…There's been a slight change of plan. We left later than we'd hoped so, by the time I get home, it will be some stupid hour of the morning because New Jersey is four hours in front of California. So, Gerard has booked us some hotel rooms for the night…But I'll be back for definite tomorrow morning" I added quickly for reassurance. There was silence for a while which immediately put me on a guilt trip.

"Jemma. You know I've been missing you, yeah?" She finally asked. Sounding quite pissed off. I rolled my eyes.

"Look mom. I'm sorry ok? I really am. It's either that or have six people come knocking on the door at some, un-earthly hour of the morning. I'm sorry!"

"You know what? Just get home safely and in one piece . I don't care when!" My mom snapped.

"Fine!" I yelled back.

"Fine!"

And with that, she hung up on me. I threw my phone back into my bag after switching it off. Mikey kept on glancing at me every so often in the rear-view mirror.

"Your mom's pissed off with you now isn't she?" He asked.

"To bloody right she is!" I snapped. I didn't mean to come across so sharp. "Mikey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you like that."

Mikey smiled. "It's ok. I'm the one who should be sorry. I should have thought about this earlier before telling you last minute."

"No. I'm sorry." Gerard mumbled. "I should have thought about checking this with your mom to see if it was ok before phoning the hotel."

Guys, you're all starting to sound like manic depressives! You'll be wanting to commit suicide soon! Just shut up yeah? Let Jemma enjoy her trip home!" Frank announced, turning the volume up on PLANETARY (GO!). My mood immediately changed as I burst out laughing. Yet, again. Frank was being deadly serious but I couldn't help but laugh as he described us as manic depressives!

Chapter 11

Until We, Find Our Way, in the Dark and Out of Harm…

"Guys, why are we being followed by a black van?" For the past fifteen minutes or so, I'd noticed a van behind us had been following our every move.

"It's a couple of guys from Show Pony's crew. I asked them if they could drive our car back to their HQ when we get to the airport…I've just spoiled it, haven't Mikey?" Gerard realised.

Mikey sighed. "Yes Gee. Yes you have." He replied flatly.

"Ok. Se we're going by plane. No offence, but, why is that the surprise?" Grace asked, not the least bit phased.

"Well that's only half the surprise. The other half is, what kind of plane it is." Gerard explained.

"Yeah. Don't tell them any more Gee. You've already spoiled the first part." Mikey said, driving onto a half empty car park, swerving into the first space we came to. The black van behind, pulled up in a space next to us. We all clambered out of the car; Ray helped me take my suitcase from the boot. From the van, a young women jumped out. Long blonde hair. Most of it was covered by the silver motorbike helmet she was wearing. She was also wearing some shades, a jet black, leather jacket, black skinny jeans and some leather gloves. Mikey gave her the keys and started explaining something in a low voice, the women nodded obediently then jumped into our car, pulling forward ready to lead the black van. A new driver had taken her place, he signed thumbs up for the women to speed away, the new driver followed her.

"So! This way…" Mikey took the lead and led us to one giant glass building. Luckily for me, there wasn't that many flights of stairs to climb. Just maybe two or three. I did need a little help getting my case up them though.

After much trawling around the airport where we figured Mikey really didn't have a clue where he was taking us. We stopped. Right in front of a massive window.

"And there's our flight!" He motioned to an amazing airplane waiting next to the runway. Brilliant White. KOBRA KID AIRLINES printed in bold red writing on the side. Mikey's Kobra Kid logo printed on the tail. A pretty epic plane if you ask me. It wasn't to big. There again, it wasn't to small either. Just the right size for us six Killjoys and whoever else from our team wanted to tag along for another journey…And the pilot with the co-pilot. Obviously. Otherwise we wouldn't be going ver far.

"Surprise!" Gerard did a little Jazz Hands dance; a cheeky grin spread across his face.

"Now that's a surprise." Smiled Grace. Her face pressed up against the window.

"Fuck Mikey! When did you get your own airline?" Frank stood gawping at our new transport.

"WHOA! Wait a minute! You have more than one plane?" Ray asked, his eyes grew wide with fascination.

Mikey laughed. "Yeah I wish!"

"No. Just the one plane. In answer to Frank's question, it was recently. But he didn't get an airline recently! God no! Just a plane!" Gerard chuckled.

"Besides. We thought Jemma would like to go home in style." Mikey nodded. Pleased with the idea.

"Jemma. Hello? Anyone there? Earth to Jemma!" Frank was waving a hand in front of my face, making me come to my senses. I blinked a few times and shook my head. Almost wanting to cry.

"That's definitely travelling in style Mikey! I love it!" I hugged him tight. "What's the inside like?"

Mikey smiled. "We don't know. Neither me or Gerard have seen it…Yet."

I grabbed Mikey's sleeve and started pulling him along. "Well c'mon then! Lets get going!"

"Jemma! I think you're forgetting something?" Ray called. I stopped and turned around, realising I'd left my case behind. Grace took the handle, bringing it to me. She was closely followed by everyone else.

"I don't think you're me would be to happy if you told her that you left your case behind." She laughed. I pictured the scene in my head. My mom having a go at me. My case in the lost and found at the airport. A horrible thought.

"No. I don't think she would either." I replied.

So in a rush to see the inside of Mikey's new plane, I made everyone practically jog down the terminal. At the end of the terminal, stood a young guy. About the same height as Mikey. Chin-length fair hair. Blue eyes. Wearing a pilots uniform. I think he was supposed to be wearing a tie but something told me he wasn't a fan of wearing one. Only because I spotted something blue and stripy half hanging out of his pocket. Also because the top button was undone on his shirt.

"Guys. This is our pilot. Robbie. Robbie. This is, Frank Ray, Grace and Jemma."

Robbie smiled. "Hey."

We also smiled. "Hi!"

"Our co-pilot, Sam, is back in the plane. Lets go!" Robbie told us. We followed him through a set of glass double doors, across a grassy bank and up a set of stairs that led to the plane.