I feel completely awful for updating so late! I hope this makes up for it. Bonus points if you find my Star Wars quote.
Let me know if it's good or not.
"They probably followed you here. I told you not to dress like a drag queen if you want to fly under the radar, Pony," Dr. Death Defying muttered.
"Not the time to argue, old man," Show Pony said, rolling his eyes and grabbing his gun from the holster on his leg.
Dr. D pulled his out of a side pocket on his wheelchair.
"We're going to have to dust 'em all right now. I can't have BL/ind knowing where I am."
Bunny stood silently behind them. This scene was getting far too familiar for her. Dread curled in her insides. She tried to push it away.
"Go inside and take cover," Dr. D said.
"I can still fight," Bunny said quietly, narrowing her eyes.
"I'm pretty sure you can't, babe," Show Pony said, pushing her inside.
Bunny sat herself down on the floor in the far corner of the room. She fiddled with her ray gun with her left hand.
She tried to tell herself that it wasn't relief flooding her body. She wanted to be out there fighting.
Bunny closed her eyes and let her head rest against the rough wall.
Ray gun blasts had started to sound outside. Show Pony yelped in surprise. Blast after blast echoed against the thin wood walls. Bunny tried to tune it out.
A giant, deep explosion shook the walls of the shack.
Finally, it all stopped.
OoOoOoOoO
Bunny stood up slowly, still clutching her gun. She dusted off her jeans, but didn't move towards the door. Either Dr. D and Pony had killed all the dracs, or…
Her body would be added to the ever-mounting pile of dead killjoys next.
The plank that served as a door banged aside, and Show Pony skated in. He collapsed on the cot, and pulled off his dusty polka-dotted motorcycle helmet. Shaking his long hair out of his bright eyes, he flashed Bunny a grin.
"Where's Dr. D?" Bunny asked, afraid of the answer.
"Oh, he's fine," Show Pony sighed. "He wanted to check out their car. Not that there's much left. Apparently ray gun blasts and gasoline don't mix."
"Thank God." She paused for a moment. "Are they all… dead? You're sure?"
Pony nodded.
"I'm gonna go talk to Dr. D," she said, yanking aside the boards again. With all the use they were getting these days, she was surprised they weren't falling off. She took a step outside, and saw that Dr. D was already coming back in, the burning wreckage of the car sitting not too far in the distance. A dead drac was collapsed near her feet. Red was seeping onto its white blazer from a bunt-looking wound in its chest. She kicked it with the tip of her boot.
"You can't stay here, Bunny."
She looked up from the dusty, bleeding drac.
"What?"
"The pigs are searching hard for you. I don't know why, but I can't have 'em find you here, that won't do either of us any favors," Dr. D said, the glare of the sunlight flashing on his sunglasses.
So she'd be out on her own. Running from a corrupt corporation. Injured.
But they didn't need to know the dread that was twisting her stomach into knots.
"Guess I better learn to shoot with my left hand, then," Bunny said.
"You can't dump her out in the middle of Zone 6 and expect her to live past Tuesday," Show Pony said, skating up behind her.
"I'll be fine," Bunny snapped.
"Really? 'Cause that arm won't heal for a week," Show Pony chuckled humorlessly. "Look, Dr. D, I know a guy…"
Dr. D snorted.
"Not like that," Show Pony said, rolling his eyes. "I mean, he and his friends could handle taking her on for a week. They're pretty well set up, and believe me; they could take anything BL/ind's got to throw at them."
"You mean-?"
"Yeah."
Dr. D eyed her up and down. Bunny crossed her arms uncomfortably.
"You sure that's a good idea?" Dr. D asked.
"What could she get up to in a week?" Show Pony said, winking at her.
"Alright, I'll go make a broadcast," Dr. D said, starting his electric wheelchair towards the shack.
Bunny sat down on a nearby rock.
"You're not coming inside?" Show Pony asked, running a hand through his hair.
"Nah, it's nice out." She didn't want to hear Dr. D calling her babysitters over the radio. She propped herself up on her elbows and leaned back. Maybe if she sat out here long enough, the scorching sun would burn away all the tangled emotions and memories that she didn't want to face.
Show Pony looked up at the sun.
"I should probably split. See you around, Trigger Bunny. Have fun with your new friends," he said, grinning and pulling on his motorcycle helmet. He skated down the road, and Bunny watched him leave until he was just a speck on the horizon.
She looked around and sighed. There was nothing out here but dust and rocks. She didn't want to be left alone with herself. With Doll Face and A-Bomb, there had always been someone to talk to. Her throat got tight, but she refused to shed a single tear.
OoOoOoOoO
It had been about an hour she had been sitting outside by her estimation. She supposed she was sunburned beyond all extremes, but it didn't really matter. Who was there to look good for these days anyway?
Bunny squinted into the distance, wishing she had sunglasses to block the midmorning glare. Something was churning up dust out there.
She bit her lip. It was either the new roommates that had been forced upon her, or a squad of assassins.
Either option resulted in her going back inside, so she brushed off her jeans and started back. What had started out as a walk soon turned into a brisk jog out of paranoia. The boards slammed shut behind her, and she tried to regain her breath and her composure before calling out,
"There's a car coming."
Dr. D wheeled in from the other room.
"Hope it's them," he muttered, taking out his gun.
The hum of the engine stopped outside. Car doors slammed.
"Your doorbell's broken, man," a voice yelled from outside. The man in the wheelchair laughed, and Bunny held open the board for him before exiting herself.
A man with shocking red tangled hair stood outside, and another man with black hair leaned casually on the hood of the car, cigarette in hand.
"Hey, how've you been doin'?" the red-haired man asked Dr. D.
"Same as always," Dr. D said, smiling.
"That bad, huh?" the other man asked with a grin.
Dr. D chuckled. Bunny tried to fix her hair. Somehow, they weren't what she had pictured when Show Pony said that they could "take anything". These guys were young, around her age… and not too hard to look at either.
The black haired man stood up a little straighter when he noticed Bunny. He checked her out, completely forgoing all subtlety. She crossed her arms over her chest.
"So, uh… I'm Party Poison," the red one said, turning to Bunny and offering her a gloved hand.
She shook it.
"Fun Ghoul," the other said with a little wave.
"I'm Trigger Bunny," she said, looking at the two men in front of her.
Silence settled over them for a minute. Dust blew around their ankles and birds cawed obnoxiously overhead. Fun Ghoul took a drag on his cigarette.
"So… you coming or what? We have all the time in the world to stare at each other back at the diner, let's get going," Fun Ghoul said, jerking his head towards the car.
"Yeah."
Bunny grabbed her mask from inside while the guys talked to Dr. D for a minute and hopped into their beat-up Trans-Am.
As soon as she was in, Party slammed his foot on the gas. He grinned and looked at her in the rearview mirror.
"This'll be interesting."