As the night began to settle, so did the killjoys. They had parked the spider car just off of the desert road, and had set up camp. Disaster had helped with building a bonfire, and the rest had tucked into their supply of beans.
"Eew," Flame smirked after scraping her can clean with her fork, "I think if I have to eat another can of beans EVER, I'm going to die,"
The group laughed. They all knew how she felt. Living on nothing but canned beans for years was not exactly enjoyable.
Crimson sighed, laying back and looking up into the night sky.
"It's so beautiful and quiet," she whispered, smiling, "That's one thing I don't miss from before. The noise,"
The killjoys silently agreed. It had been seven years since they'd heard the loud noises of morning traffic, the horns honking, people shouting. The silence was nice.
Disaster had remained silent for most of the day, and it was starting to get at Crimson. She couldn't help but look over at her black haired companion once in a while to see what she was doing. Nothing. She had done nothing but build a bonfire the whole day. Crimson couldn't even recall seeing her help out with fighting the Drac's earlier on. She couldn't even remember seeing her, for that matter. Where had she gone? Something was not right, but Crimson couldn't put her finger on it.
Suddenly something white appeared out of no where, landing on Crimson, sending her sprawling. Five ray guns appeared at once, pointing at the white being that had fallen on Crimson. She stared up, wide eyed, at the person who had dropped on top of her. They were wearing a Drac mask, but it was burned violently, so that half of it was missing. The half of her face that was visible from under the mask was also burned and bloodied, and raspy, uneven breaths were escaping from their cracked lips.
Crimson lightly pushed the Drac off her, so she was kneeling beside it as it lay on the ground. Crimson waved at the others to lower their weapons. They complied reluctantly, placing the multi-coloured guns back in their holsters.
Crimson slowly removed the Drac's mask causing the person underneath to gasp in pain. Once the white mask was gone from the beings face, it was evident that the Drac was female. Her icy blue eyes shone through the darkness, the flames dancing along her irises.
The female Drac coughed roughly, and Crimson knelt over her, brushing what remained of her brown hair away from her face.
"You … you have to …" the Drac coughed, but Crimson shushed her, sliding her soft palm over the Drac's burnt face.
"What's your name?" Crimson inquired, smiling down at the disfigured face below her.
"It … it was … Cellophane Believer," the girl managed to speak,
"You got captured, didn't you?" Crimson asked,
The defaced woman nodded slightly, her blue eyes welling with tears.
"You have … you have to leave," Cellophane spluttered.
Crimson and the others stared down at her curiously.
"Why?" she questioned, "What's wrong Cellophane?"
Cellophane removed her hand from her stomach, revealing a gouge in the skin that the others hadn't noticed before. It was slick with scarlet blood. Crimson's face paled, as did Ghoul's, the others just stared down, uncertain.
"The S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W," was the last thing they heard before a low rumbling began.
"Shit," Crimson muttered, her palms clammy, "We have to go. NOW,"
Crimson and Ghoul each grabbed one of Cellophane's arms while Flame and Kobra each took a leg. They began to drag Cellophane along to the spider car which stood about three hundred meters away.
But the rumbling began to intensify. Crimson knew what was coming. She'd heard that noise before, and wasn't going to forget it anytime soon.
She reached into her holster, grabbing her ray gun and firing aimlessly, but with no luck. The S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W was growing ever closer, and they were too slow to out run it.
Suddenly Cellophane unlatched her arm from Crimson's grasp and she fell to the hard desert floor.
"What are you doing? Come on!" Crimson yelled over the thunderous roaring.
Cellophane stood up slowly and planted a soft kiss on Crimson's cheek.
"Save yourself, I'll hold 'em back," she said with a sad smile before walking away from the shocked Killjoys, towards the sound of the rumbling.
Crimson reached out to the girl as she walked away, but Ghoul put a hand on her arm.
"Come on, we have to go," he said softly.
They ran, their feet hitting the ground hard, but they were unable to hear the thump over the deafening roar of the incoming S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W unit.
Suddenly there was a cry. Crimson glanced behind her to see Cellophane standing tall, awaiting the S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W. And suddenly it was there.
Its dark outline was menacing as it stood over Cellophane's small form.
Then, there was a gut-wrenching crunch and Cellophane fell to the ground. Crimson let out a strangled cry, trying to turn around, but Ghoul grabbed her around her waist, stopping her from turning. He half dragged her along as she cried, and he knew that Cellophane, such a young girl, probably no older than seventeen, reminded her of Alteration.
The S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W was gaining on them, discarding Cellophane's body as if it was trash. Ghoul, finally realizing that he was not going fast enough, swung Crimson over his shoulder. She seemed to have lost all movement of her limbs, so she just hung there, limp. They all ran fast and hard, their heels digging into the desert soil.
The spider car was close. Jet crossed the distance first, wrenching the door open and plunging the keys into the ignition. Flame was close behind and she flung herself into the passengers side seat, slamming the door behind her.
Kobra and Disaster shoved themselves into the back seat, squishing to allow Ghoul to place a sobbing Crimson beside them before hopping in after her.
Jet slammed down on the gas with all his might and the car lurched forward, sending a massive cloud of dust up into the air.
Jet didn't take his foot off of the gas until they were way out of reach of the S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W. Crimson continued to sob, fat tears falling down her dusty face.
Flame was in shock. She had just witnessed a complete stranger give up her life for her. Why? She'd done nothing for this girl. Cellophane hadn't owed her anything. So why? Why would she sacrifice her life for someone who was basically, a complete stranger?
The rest of the ride was silent except for the occasional sniff from Crimson. They decided to wait another night before visiting the next Drac hideout. None of them could bear to see anyone else die that night because of them.
*Authors Note* : Sorry, I know this one's short, and I know it's a filler, but there will be LOTS more to come !