AN: sorry it's such a short chapter! i'll make sure to update soon to make up for it!
Ghoul stood up and dusted himself off, acting extremely nonchalant. I just stared up at him in awe, unable to move. He reached down and grabbed my good arm; pulling me off the ground, like nothing had happened. "You know some people say 'Thank you' when someone saves their life." Ghoul said in a joking tone while giving me a wink. I reacted the only way I knew how- I gave him a hug.
"Ghoul, thank you so much!" was all I managed to say. "Again, no prob'! Now, let's go get that drac!" With that, he pulled out his raygun, ran in the direction of the first shot, and started aimlessly firing. I grinned as he started yelling curses at no one in particular, and soon took off after him, firing at will.
(Some time during the fight)
"Shit," I thought aloud, "I'm cornered! Ah, fuck it if I get ghosted, as long as I take out some dracs with me, it'll be worth it." I charged out from behind a dead and decaying tree and took aim; I had three dracs cornering me. The first one I took down with a perfect headshot (if I do say so myself). The second drac had its hand around my throat and was to busy strangling the life out of me to see that I had gotten my hands on his raygun.
I closed my eyes and played dead, a plan starting to come together in my head. As soon as I felt its tight grip loosen, I pulled out its gun and blasted it in the chest. I looked down and saw my raygun had been kicked a couple of yards away from me. Not wanting to take any chances, I kept the drac's gun in my hand as I retrieved my weapon. Picking up my gun, I put it into the holster.
A sudden spark emerged in my brain as I remembered something: there were three dracs cornering me, I only confronted two. I could hear footsteps approaching behind me, but did not turn around. Once the footsteps were as close as I would allow them, I spun around and came face to face with my attacker.
The drac was caught off guard by this, and fumbled with its weapon. I took advantage of this slip up and shot the drac point blank in the jaw; slightly off from my desired target of its forehead. A wicked grin spread across my face as the drac's body froze then dropped to the floor, followed by it's howls of pain. I listened intently as I could hear its struggling to breathe with all the blood that was filling it's throat. Then, suddenly, I couldn't hear anything except for a loud explosion.
The sound rolled across the empty desert landscape like a tidal wave as I leapt to the ground for safety. I stayed like this till the sound started to fade, then slowly got to my feet. My eardrums were pounding and my head was spinning but despite this state of distortion, I looked around at my surroundings; and my wicked grin returned with a vengeance.
Apparently, Kobra was battling with some dracs, but they started to retreat to their car. Kobra refused to let them escape, so he continued to fire at the getaway car. He managed to hit the gas tank, causing the car to explode and killing some of the dracs inside. The survivor's screams pierced the air but slowly started to fade away, eventually being silenced by death. I looked away from the accident to see if there were any dracs left- nope.
Well, all except for the "poor" drac I hit in the jaw, who was still fighting for air. "Poor thing," I said, looking down at the drac. "Let me end your pain." I put my raygun in front of its face. "It isn't that much fun starring down a loaded gun, is it?" I pulled the trigger and in a split second, the drac was dead. "Have fun in hell, you awful fuck."
I heard footsteps to my right and lifted up my weapon, hoping it was just a killjoy and not another drac. Thankfully, it was only Poison walking towards me, and he stopped by my side. He then looked down at the drac I had just killed, whose blood was pouring out of the back of its mask and began to pool at my feet. "As much as we hate them, it's not their fault. They never wanted this. They never wanted any of this.
"They were taken from their family, their friends, their children. We may not be able to help them, but we can protect others. We can make sure no one is torn away from their loved ones." He paused, causing me to look up at him. His eyes were brimming with tears, though it appeared he was battling them away. "This wasn't a normal number of dracs. They were scouting the zone for us, and now they've found us. It's time to go."
With that, he turned and began to walk away, but I caught his arm. "What do you mean 'It's time to go'?" I asked while a questioning look crept across my face. "I mean it's time to go. We have to leave the diner for awhile." He answered; his voice sounded sad yet upset at the same time. I let go of his hand and it dropped to his side. "Poison?" I asked, my voice barely over a whisper. His gaze fell onto my face, so I continued, "I told Ghoul that we could all decorate my car…. So were gonna need paint; let's leave the diner in style!" I shouted, finding my voice again.
Poison's face instantly brightened up and a smile spread across his face. I smiled in response and saw Fun Ghoul running towards us. "Did I hear my name?" he asked, looking over his shoulder almost every other second. "If you're looking for dracs, they're all gone. And yes I used your name, now guess what!" I exclaimed, my voice full of excitement. Ghoul raised an eyebrow and tilted his head slightly to the left. "Remember when I said we could paint the car?" he nodded his head rapidly. "We're going to tomorrow!" "Fuck yeah!" Ghoul exclaimed, throwing his fist in the air triumphantly. He ran up to me and pulled me into a hug, lifting me off my feet and swinging me around (which was quite impressive, considering we were practically the same height). When he put me back down, my head was spinning and I was visibly swaying. "Whoa, you ok? Sorry, I probably shouldn't have done that. Let's go inside so you can sit down."
Ghoul started to lead me inside and Poison followed. "Hey, Poison?" I asked him yet again. "Yeah?" "Are you going to tell the others about… You know?" "Let's wait till tonight, ok?" I nodded and Ghoul just looked back from me, to Poison, and so on. He got an extremely puzzled look on his face, then asked, "What the hell are you guys talking about?"
I sighed and told him to wait- him and the others would know soon enough.