Sing

Chapter 8: Into the Desert

I couldn't get what Mikey had said about Ray out of my head. It seemed to out of character for him to be that cold-hearted.

I considered what I'd seen on the roof that night. Mikey with his arms around Ray's neck? It certainly didn't seem like Mikey had considered him 'a human supply box' then.

He was lying to me. He had to be! There was no way-

The plane jolted as Ray forced it into a tiny building in the middle of butt-fuck nowhere.

"My bad."

"Can I get up now?" Grace's little voice came up from under me.

"Oh my God!" Ray cried. "Yes! Yeah, please do. Get up!"

He jumped over his seat and grabbed Grace by the hands. Her thin form wiggled out from under the seats, and Ray climbed out of the plane to help her down.

He reached out to help Mikey next. Mikey glanced at me, hesitated, then got down himself.

I'll bet they never thought I saw the split second where their eyes met, but I did. In that moment, Ray showed the most hurt he had, while Mikey showed the most apology.

I'll bet they never thought I saw.

Gerard got down without help too, so I decided not to be a dick and take Ray's help. I didn't want this whole group and have whatever the hell 'LAS' was to turn into one of those shitty reality shows that always used to come on TV.

"So," Grace said, rubbing her palms on her pants. I'd noticed that she did it when she was nervous.

"So?" Ray said, putting a hand on her head.

"Where do we go now?" she asked.

"Well," Ray said, "Ricky and Steve said to go north from where we put the plane, and they'll be there."

"Which way's north?" Gerard asked. The guys thought about it. "Where are we?" I asked.

"Does anyone have a map?!" Ray asked. I held up my box and tugged the map out. I handed it to Ray, who thanked me.

After a minute or two of inspecting the map, Ray looked up. "Okay," he said slowly. "I won't lie to you. I have no idea where we are. BUT I can fix that!"

We all groaned, even Grace. "What, do you have more duct tape?" Gerard scoffed. Mikey swatted his arm.

"Even better!" Ray said. He was strangely optimistic to be standing in an empty field, completely vulnerable to anyone coming through.

"I have a phone," he said. He pulled it out of his back pocket, and our jaws dropped.

"You have a phone?" Mikey said. That same amazement before we left was back. "A Killjoy with a phone?"

"Relax, will you?" Ray said. There was a hint of irritation in his voice, and Mikey shrunk back. Gerard shot Ray a dirty look.

"Listen, I'm going to text Steve, and he'll direct us to where we need to go."

"How are we going to get there?" I asked. "Are we supposed to walk the whole way?"

"Ah!" Ray said, nearly dropping the phone. He started rooting around the building, searching in every crevice.

"Um, Ray?" Mikey said. "What the hell are you even looking for?"

"There's a thing here," Ray said distractedly. "I know it. I'm gonna f-AH! Got it!" I exchanged glances with the Ways. Ray was losing his goddamn mind.

"Ray, do you need some sleep or something?" Grace asked. "No, I'm totally fine," Ray said, coming back over to where we could see him again. "This was just really important."

"What is it?" Gerard asked. Ray held out what looked like a car key.

"Find what this goes to," he instructed. "I'm going to see if I can text Steve. Or Ricky. At this point, I don't even care if I get Ricky."

I took the key from his fingers and sighed. Mikey and I followed Gerard outside, while Grace stayed with Ray.

We wandered around the exterior of the building, looking for something the key could go to. The only thing in sight was the building and the edge of some heavily wooded area.

"Wait," Mikey whispered suddenly. "What's that over there?" He pointed over at the woods. "What's what?" Gerard asked. "I don't see anything."

"Right in front of you," Mikey said. He grabbed his brother's head and moved it over.

And then I saw it. Something white poking out of some trees. "I see it." Gerard and I said it at the same time and looked at each other.

"Well come on then!" Mikey cried. We took off over to the thing. As we got closer, I could see that the thing was actually a car.

"How did these guys manage to get their hands on a car?" Gerard asked. How do we know this isn't some sort of trap?"

"Well, we don't," I said. "Yeah we do!" Mikey said. "Ray has Grace, so we know we can trust him."

"But how does he know these guys?" I asked. "I mean, they can get their hands on a c-"

"Maybe they had it before," Mikey said, cutting me off. "Or maybe they work on the inside. I heard there are even a couple Killjoys working in the S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W unit now!"

Gerard and I exchanged glances and sighed. "Just... When we get there, have your guns ready," Gerard said. "Alright? You can trust them all you want, but you know I'm much more... The opposite."

Mikey nodded. "Okay."

"So do we drive this thi-"

I was cut off by a bang behind me. We spun around. "Shit," Gerard said. "Fucking Draculoids."

"What the fuck is a Draculoid?" I asked as we started running. "Those masked things," Gerard exlpained.

"Is that Korse?!" Mikey cried. "Fuck!" Gerard said. "Is it? We can't take him out!"

"Who's Korse?" I asked again as a beam hit the dirt beside my foot. "Leader of the S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W unit," Gerard said, drawing his pistol. "You've seen him. Bald guy. Always looks like he smells something bad."

"Oh," I said as we threw our backs against the wall of the building. I knew the guy. He was a bigshot. I'd had a personal encounter with him before.

But that was a story for later.

"Um, Gerard?" Mikey said, stepping back to shoot at the guys on the roof.

"What?" Gerard asked.

"They have an exterminator."