Danger Days

The Only Hope For Me is You

"Well we're almost there." Jet declaired to everyone in the car. Diamond looked out and could see a small building up ahead.

"I wonder how Dr. D will take back his little obituary." Kobra thought out loud, grimly.

"Probably with as much dignity as possible." Ghoul replied.

They reached the diner quickly. Jet killed the engine, a few moments of silence passed. Nobody moved.

Ghoul was the first to speak.

"Who's going in first?"

They all looked at each other.

"I have a feeling whoever goes in first will be attacked. No doubt they saw the car." Kobra said, eyeing the diner warily.

More silence.

"Screw it all! I'm going!" Fun Ghoul stepped out of the car with a determined look on his face. He strode to the front door and walked into the building.

It took a total of three seconds for him to hit the floor.

Kobra, Jet and Diamond rushed out of the car, prepared for the worst.

But when they ran in, guns raised, all they found was a very stunned Missle Kid standing over Fun Ghoul, who was curled up, furiously swearing and grabbing his crotch.

"What th-" was all Kobra could get out before Missle screamed in excitement.

"Jet! Kobra! You're alive!" she ran for Jet and gave him a huge hug. He picked her up and swung her around as she laughed.

"Dr. D! They're here! They're alive!"

A somber-looking man in a wheelchair rolled into the room. He was clearly stunned to see Kobra and Jet, but possibly more stunned to see Fun Ghoul on the floor, still swearing to himself.

"What the hell is happening out here?" he demanded.

"The little brat kicked me in the balls!" Ghoul groaned from the floor, now sitting up.

"Not that, you pansy. Though I must say, good job Missle." Ghoul scowled, but got to his feet before stumbling to a nearby chair. The little girl looked pleased and only slightly guilty as Dr. Death continued, "What I mean is, how in the hell are you guys alive? I got several transmissions declairing you guys were ghosted..."

"It was all BLI bullshit." Kobra shrugged, "Frankly I can't see why you're surprised about this."

"But I saw you get shot." Missle said quietly. "You looked like you had died."

"I was thinking about that on the drive here." Jet cut in, "What if the Dracs were using some type of stun gun? A shock powerful enough to make the person being shocked appear dead for a good amount of time? I mean, we do have wounds," most people looked at the patch of red, raw skin under the rips in Ghoul's shirt, "but they're not standard ray gun wounds. They're like...really bad rugburn."

"It's possible." Dr. Death nodded, "BLI has done stranger things."

"But why would the do that? Why not just kill us when they had the chance?" Fun Ghoul asked.

"Wait, where's Party?" Missle asked, looking around. "Isn't he with you?"

Silence. Too much silence.

"We don't know where Party is." Kobra admitted, his voice tight, holding in emotion, "Korse has him. We think they're taking him to one of the bases."

"Damn it!" Dr. Death cursed to himself. Missle's eyes filled with tears.

"We'll leave tomorrow morning to find him. It shouldn't take us long. We just wanted to let you know that we are actually alive." Jet said grimly.

"And who's she?" Missle pointed to Diamond, who had retreated slightly and was now standing awkwardly in the doorway.

They had almost forgotten she was there. Diamond smiled slightly when Missle met her eyes.

"Diamond Dahlia," she introduced herself, "I found these guys in BLI HQ. They were nice enough to take me with them when they left."

"What were you doing at BLI?" Dr. Death asked.

They gathered around a table. Diamond told the story of how she'd run away, seen the car, and followed it. Kobra seemed impressed.

"So you just up and left? That takes guts."

"I just couldn't stand it anymore. I hated living in that city. It was...suffocating me. I couldn't think. I couldn't breathe. So I did something about it."

"And you're only fifteen?"

"Nineteen."

"Still, that's pretty young...you sure you can handle this life, kid?"

"If I can't survive I'll die trying."

The group sat in silence for awhile.

"So, about Party..." Jet began.

"What about him? We're still going to find him, right?" Ghoul looked worried.

"Of course. I'm just wondering how we go about finding him."

Kobra got up and rushed out of the room. Before anyone could say anything, he returned carrying a map entitled "Battery City and Surrounding Zones".

"We'll start with the Base in Zone 3," he began, pointing out marked safe houses and Drac hide-outs. "Then if that's unsuccessful, we move to Zone 5 the next day. By day 3 we'll be in Zone 7. We stop at these safe houses overnight for food and sleep. There's other killjoys in them, so we know there'll be medical help if we need it."

"Sounds like a plan." Fun Ghoul smiled and looked up at Diamond. "You're coming, right?"

Diamond nodded, "Of course."

"Well if you guys and gals will excuse me, I have a few stories I need to set straight." Dr. Death nodded and wheeled out of the room.