Save Yourself, I'll Hold Them Back

Chapter 10

*Party Poison*

“So, is the electricity just…gone? Fucking gone?” Kobra asked in disbelief. “How the hell does that happen?”

I pinched the bridge of my nose between my thumb and my forefinger, trying to keep myself from freaking out. We had no communication and no transportation. If we ended up in trouble, we’d have only our ray guns to protect us.

“Oh shit!” I yelled suddenly, startling the others. “Ray guns are powered by…batteries. Does that mean…?” I trailed off. I could feel the blood draining from my face. If we were without defense too, we were completely and utterly fucked.

Jet used the hand crank to roll down the window and aimed his blue ray gun out into the dusty desert. He quickly turned off the safety and pulled the trigger, but the gun only made an empty clicking sound. The usual beam of light that shot from the barrel was nowhere to be seen.

“Fuck fuck fuck…” I muttered, my mind going blank. We were toast.

*Aly*

Only a few glowing embers remained around the once-blazing bonfire of bodies. I sat silently in the dark desert, hugging my knees to my chest. I hadn’t moved from this spot since the fire had been lit. Missile had eventually wandered inside, albeit distractedly, and Ghoul had reluctantly followed after her a short while later; he muttered something about trying to find a spare radio buried somewhere amidst the junk in the storage room.

Now, hours later, I was alone. Alone with the bodies, the weight of what we’d done resting squarely on my shoulders. We’d killed so many of them. Sure, they had been dracs, but they had been people once too. It didn’t seem fair that they had to die at our hands because of something they couldn’t control. Whether or not they’d been captured and brainwashed by Better Living Industries hadn’t exactly been their decision or their fault.

They’d once had families, friends, pets, lovers… and now they were gone. And it wasn’t even their fault. There was nothing that they could have done to stop it. And now they lay before me, a dimly glowing pile of charred remains.

Tears pricked at my eyes. I was a killer. Whether it was to defend my friends and myself or not, these people had died at my hands. These thoughts weighed a thousand pounds in my mind, and felt as if they were physically crushing me.

Amidst my contrition, I heard footsteps quietly crunching in the crumbly sand, slowly approaching me. I glanced up and saw Ghoul making his way toward me, a couple of open cans in his grasp. Each one had a spoon in it, resting against the jaggedly cut rims. He handed one down to me and then sat down silently by my side, wincing noticeably as pain blossomed in his shoulder.

I forced out a small smile to show my appreciation, although it probably presented itself as more of a grimace. I raised the spoon to my mouth. The substance that made contact with my tongue tasted amazing. Compared to the shit we usually ate, this was heaven.

I swallowed quickly, surprised, and glanced at Ghoul. He chuckled softly and pointed to the labels on our cans. Each one read “Vegetarian Chili”. Very different from the typical, generic “Processed Meat Food Product” – or worse yet, “Dog Food” – labels that wrapped around most of the cans of food in our possession.

“I couldn’t find our spare walkie talkie. But I did find these.” He said, happy to see that actual edible food had cheered me up slightly. “I figured tonight was as good a time as any to eat them.”

“Ghoul, you are possibly the best, most amazing person in the world.” I suddenly blurted. I didn’t even regret saying it. It was true. He was my best friend, and I wouldn’t trade him for anything in the world. I wouldn’t even trade him for the whole world itself.  He smiled sheepishly in response and slowly dug in to his own can of chili.

Suddenly another thought bubbled to my lips, and before I could stop myself, I blurted it out. “I’m worried about the guys, Ghoul. We can’t even communicate with them. What if something’s happened to them?”

“They’re tougher than you think, Aly. The guys can make it through the roughest of the rough. Just you wait; they’ll be back, good as new.”

He wrapped his good arm around me reassuringly, and it calmed me a bit, but that worrying feeling still nagged at the back of my mind.

And for the second time that night, Ghoul had been wrong.

*Kobra Kid*

A small cloud of dust loomed on the horizon, growing larger and larger by the minute.  We could tell that a vehicle – possibly a van, most likely occupied by dracs – was speeding through the desert. It was heading straight for us; of that much we were sure. The three of us spoke in rapid, hushed voices, trying to decide what the best course of action would be.

Escape was insurmountable at this point. Plus, we had no ray guns. Our only defense was going to be our bare hands. We had no choice but to wait for them to arrive and hope for the best.

“You guys, this could be it. What if we don’t make it out of this…alive?” Jet said, gulping. I glanced to my older brother, hoping for some reassurance, but his face was just as grim as Jet’s. I took a long, shaking breath, trying to slow my racing heart.

Jet, hands trembling, opened up the glove compartment and pulled out an old legal document that was probably older than we were. He shuffled around a bit for a pen, and turned to face us again.

“Some one will find the car out here eventually. We sh-should say our goodbyes now, on this paper, just in case. Someone will get it back to Aly, G-Ghoul, and Missile. It’s the least we can do, seeing as we’re c-completely out of options.” He said, stuttering through his words, clearly shaken.

Tears welled up in my eyes as I thought about this. We had maybe four or five minutes before the van reached us. The three of us exchanged a grave look and took turns quickly scrawling out our final thoughts to those we loved on the tattered legal document.

The three of us tucked the note underneath the seatbelt of the driver’s seat, a spot where it was sure to be found by anyone who searched the car. We climbed out silently, solemnly, and hugged each other, our bond as strong as ever.

As the car approached us, we stood side-by-side, watching as it advanced. We were brothers to the very end, and were ready to face the worst – together.

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 I am officially an awful person. I went a whole 4 months without updating. That was unacceptable, and I apologize! But never fear, I'm back with (hopefully) more frequent updates. :) So please vote and comment and feel free to bitch at me if you like; I completely deserve it. But you guys are the best and have hopefully stuck with me all this time. I <3 you guys. :)

-Kat