Chapter 5: The Only Hope For Me Is You

[BLACK TRANSMISSION]

I walked towards the person on the ground, and saw it was a boy about my age, with black hair and blue eyes. He wore black, ripped clothes. 'Hey,' I said. 'I'm Black Transmission. What's happened? Did those Draculoids capture you?'

'Yeah,' the boy said. 'Yeah, they took me away from my family...' He suddenly groaned. 'My arm!'

'What? What is it?' I asked worriedly.

'My arm – it burns! It – aaghh!'

'Can I have a look?' I asked. He didn't reply, but I kneeled down next to him anyway. I took a look at his arm. There was a big wound, and it was covered in blood. 'What's happened?'

'The Draculoids, they…' The boy gasped and stopped talking.

'You'll be okay,' I said. 'I'll help you! I've got bandages with me.'

'It won't work,' the boy said. 'Bandages won't work. The wound won't heal, I know it! It's not a normal wound!'

'It ain't?' I took a look at it and then gasped. 'I see! They did this electrocute thing, right? I've heard of it! I heard it creates an enormous wound and it–'

'It'll suck the life out of you,' the boy said. 'Yeah. I know. I'm dead already, right? I can't be saved.'

'Sure you can,' I said impatiently. 'We ain't Killjoys for nothing, are we? We've got the cure!' I got a tiny purple bottle outta my rucksack. It was a medicine I'd been given by my mom. It could cure a lot. I spread the liquid over the boy's arm. He groaned once again. 'Sorry,' I whispered. 'It may hurt, but yer gonna be fine.'

I bandaged his arm and looked at the result, satisfied. 'See? It feels better, doesn't it?'

'Yeah!' the boy said. He sat upright. 'Thanks so much! If you hadn't been here, I would have died, right?'

'Yeah,' I admitted. 'I suppose so. Don't mention it. So, what's your name?'

'Anthony,' he said.

'Oh,' I said. 'That's a strange name. And in which zone do you live?'

'I don't live in any zone. I live in the city.'

'You–' I stepped away from him. 'You ain't no Killjoy, are you? Yer one of them! And I bloody saved you!'

'But I'm not your enemy!' Anthony protested.

'"Not yer enemy"? Then what are you?'

'I'm also against Better Living Industries! Why else do you think those Draculoids captured me? I ran away from the city, into the desert, to look for the fabulous Killjoys. It's said they're the only ones who can destroy Korse. I want to help them.'

'Yeah, sure,' I said. 'And once you've found 'em, what will you do? Betray 'em?'

'No! I would never do that. They – they took my family. Better Living Industries took my parents and my little brother away from me. Do you think I'd support them?'

'You can be lying.'

'I'm not. Trust me.' He looked me in the eyes, and I saw his innocent expression. I stood there for a moment, then came closer. 'Oh, whatever. I can't leave you here, can I? You can come with me. I got a dream of the fabulous Killjoys sitting in a cage. They asked me to go to the Better Living Industries building, to save 'em. If you want to be of help, you can come with me.'

'Thanks!' Anthony said gratefully. 'So, what are we waiting for? Let's go!'

'No!' I said. 'We ain't going anywhere. Not yet. Yer not completely recovered yet, we gotta wait a coupla hours.'

'I don't want to slow you down,' Anthony said.

'I don't mind,' I said. 'One thing, though. I ain't calling you Anthony. We have to think of a Killjoy name for you.'

Anthony grinned. 'Okay. I've always wanted to be a Killjoy.'

'You have? What for?'

'I don't know. Running around with laser guns, always in danger. Seems cool.'

'It ain't as cool as you think,' I said. 'We ain't allowed outta the zones till we're 18.'

'Still.'

'Right. Killjoy name.' I thought for a moment, then smiled. 'What about Gravity Detonator?'

'Sounds good,' he said happily. 'Gravity Detonator it is. My new name.'

I regarded him warily. 'So what's life like in the city? Not having to do a thing, getting food every day – must be like heaven.'

'Actually, I always thought live out in the zones would be like heaven. The city isn't heaven. It's boring.'

'I can understand that,' I said. 'There're only people who suck.'

'Not really. The people of the city aren't that bad, Black Transmission. It's Korse who's bad.'

'The citizens ain't doing nothing against him! And they're killing us Killjoys.'

'They're not fighting Korse because they're scared. Killing Killjoys – well, yeah, that's a crime. But only the real bad ones do that. And they feel very guilty about it.'

'Guilt won't help us. They need to fucking stop!'

'I know. That's why I wanted to find the Killjoys, to save the lives of the people in the city.'

'And the lives of the Killjoys.'

'Yeah, those too. Though I always thought the Killjoys were going to be okay. You can survive everything, I've heard. Is it true you're immortal?'

'Might be.' I shrugged. 'We don't think 'bout death too much. Maybe that's our secret.'

We talked more, and even though I stayed suspicious of Anthony, now called Gravity Detonator, I realized I liked him.

After two hours, I stood up. 'We gotta go. Can you walk?'

'Sure.' Gravity Detonator got up, then grimaced.

'You okay?' I asked.

'Yeah,' he said. 'I'm fine. Let's go.' So we continued the journey to the city.