Toxic Ghost
Dream...
I was back in the barren wasteland where my mom died and where the war happened. I didn't panic or feel weird. I knew my mom brought me here to speak to me. Send me a message. Give me advice. Lead the way.
"Mom?" I called for her, "Mom, you there?"
"I'm here, Olivia," she called back.
"Where are you?"
"Hold on it takes a while to get there. You can meet me halfway. Just pick a random direction and start walking forward."
I turned around and did as she said. I walked until I could slightly see her in the distance. I smiled and jogged over to her. She was already running so it didn't take long to reach each other.
"Mom!" I greeted, happily.
"Olivia!" She shouted back.
I ran into her arms and hugged her. Hugging me back, she stroked my hair.
"Mom, what happened to me? Do you know if Ghoul will be alright?" I asked, panicked.
"He'll be fine, sweetheart," she assured me, "but you've been taken by Korse."
"Korse took me? How do I leave?"
"You have to figure that out on your own, Liv. I'm sorry, but I can't help you with everything. And I can't stay for long. Your body is waking up."
"But I need answers!"
"And you'll get them soon, but for now, you need to wake up!"
I woke up in an all-white room. It seemed like a padded cell. It was pretty small but perfect for a small person like myself. The only thing in the room was a white door, a camera, and a bed.
I looked at the camera, "Hello?" I called and waved, "Korse? Let me out!"
I heard a beeping sound after requesting to be freed. The door opened slowly, but no one came in. I slowly exited the room and walked down the hall. I looked at everyone's room. There were all padded cells with a big glass so whoever passed by the rooms could see inside. But inside the cell, there's no glass. You're just staring at a wall.
There are people inside these cells. Some are looking around frantically, some are screaming to be freed, but the majority of the people... the majority of them are sitting on their beds facing the fake wall and... smiling. Their smiles are so big and look painful. It looks like their cheeks are going to fall off their faces. I walked past a woman who had a giant smile, and I watched a tear fall from her eye. She's in pain. Three dracucloids entered her room and dragged her out of it. She didn't fight or anything. She just smiled. It didn't seem like she could move unless someone gave her an order. She's joining Korse's army.
I backed away from her room and into a person.
"Ah, Olivia," I could hear the smile in his voice.
"Korse," I growled.
I felt him grab my hand and pull me into a room named 'Control'. In this room, there were monitors everywhere in this building and out in the desert. They were watching The Killjoys, The Crash Queens, and The Motor Babies. He had cameras in the diner and the radio station.
"Like what you see, Miss Grey?" Korse asked me, "As you can tell, we have eyes everywhere."
"How did... how did you get cameras in the diner and the radio station?" I asked, hesitantly.
"Well, during your week-long nap, I'm pretty sure Poison told you we raided your home. While the four were busy fighting off some of my army, the rest of my army was setting up surveillance. As for the radio station? That's BL/ind's territory. I just don't know how it got into the zones. But we own it. So when we made it, there were already cameras on there, to begin with."
"Why? Why are you doing this, Korse?"
"To please her. She wants to make the world better. No inequality, no racism, no fights, no differences."
"Who are you talking about?"
"The boss. She's in charge of everything."
"It's not you?"
"Nope. It's always been her. She sent the bombs, and I sent the armies. It's like a partnership between us, but she's higher up than me. I'm second in command. The only one she trusts. She makes the decisions, but when she unknowingly makes the wrong ones, I have to talk her down and change her mind. Then it's my decision."
"What's her name?"
"Don't know. She doesn't have one."
"That's weird..."
"Would you like to meet her?" Korse asked, maliciously.
"Sure," I answered, suspiciously.
Korse pulled a walkie-talkie out of his back pocket and spoke into it, "Lady. Could you come to the control and monitoring room? You need to meet someone."
"Open the door," I heard a woman's voice order. A loud buzz and a click came from the door.
A woman in a rather... slutty outfit with a whip in her hand enters the room. I grew scared and hid behind Korse because I didn't know what she was going to do with that whip.
"Does she hit people with that?" I whispered to Korse.
"No, she carries it around because it matched her outfit," Korse whispered back.
The lady spotted us and made her way to us. She smiled at me.
"Hello, there, little one," she greeted me, "and who might you be?"
"Olivia," I spoke quietly, "who are you?"
"Don't worry about that, honey. Are you the one who hangs around the Fabulous Four?"
"Uh..."
"I thought so. Come with me."
I followed her instructions and followed closely behind the woman, while Korse was following closely behind me. We've been walking for a while, now, and my legs were starting to hurt.
"Where are we going, lady?" I asked impatiently.
"To see someone you hold near and dear to you," she simply stated, then opened a door for me to walk into.
I walked into the room to see Charlotte sitting at a table with her hands over her face, crying.
"Charlotte?" I asked, hesitantly.
Her head shot up at the sound of my voice, "Olivia!" She ran over to me and was about to engulf me in a hug back I quickly stepped back.
"Liv? What-what's wrong?" She asked, hurt.
"Great question, Einstein," I responded harshly, "allow me to refresh your memory-"
"Not right now, Toxic, I need you two to make up," the lady said.
"I'm not making up with-" I was about to protest until I realized what she called me, "how-how do you know that name?"
"Well let me bring in the mobile eyes and ears that's been following you around since you entered the zones. Send it in!"
The draculoids opened the door, and in walked my cat, Bad Luck.
"Luck?!" I exclaimed in disbelief, "But how? She's just a cat!"
The lady laughed, obnoxiously, "No, she's a camera. She's a robot. The biggest screen in the control room is what she sees. What we see."
"You've been watching me this whole time...," I realized.
"Yup! Ever since you stepped into the zones! Surprised you didn't know that considering Korse always knew where to find you."
"So has that cat- er, the robot just been following me around without me knowing this whole time?"
"Yes, she has."
"You... you are sick."
"No. I just want justice."
"Whatever. Why do you want me to make up with her?"
"Because we have a plan. We're gonna let you, two, go. Then, you're gonna run back to your little killjoys and lead the cat back to where the rest of your delinquent friends are. Then, we will capture and fix them. And if you behave and everything goes according to plan, we won't kill you and your friends. We'll let you rule with us. Do we have a deal?"
I stared at them like they were crazy. How could they ask this of me? This is not fair at all! Only two words were repeating in my head.
"Hell," I paused, "no."
Lady and Korse's facades fell as their faces were consumed with evil. Lady harshly reached for my arm but was interrupted by all the lights shutting off. Power outage I guess. I felt a small hand grab my arm and drag me out of the room. I knew it was just Charlotte, so I stayed quiet. Even though the power was out the doors and cells were still closed and locked. Charlotte was about to run down the hall until I got an idea and called out to her.
"Charlotte," I whisper yelled, trying not to grab the attention of Korse and Lady, "Come here."
She followed my direction and returned to me, "What is it? Let's leave!"
"Let's lock them in the cell!"
"I don't know the code to shut it."
"I don't think we need to put in a code."
"Then how are we-"
I cut her off by using my power to burn the lock. I burned the numbers that were on it so it was melted together. When the door shut, Korse and Lady ran up to the fake wall and started banging on it telling us to let them out. Charlotte was still staring at me with admiration, but I ignored her reaction and ran to find an exit. Just then, an alarm blared and the building flashed with red light. Draculodis were running around, grabbing their guns and preparing to fight. Some were trying to get Korse and Lady out of the cell but were unsuccessful. Then I heard shooting and the song Sing by My Chemical Romance started playing in my head.
***************************
Party Poison's POV
"How the fuck are we going to get her back?!" Jet asked, angrily, as Kobra, Ghoul, and I walked into the diner with him.
Ghoul was feeling a bit better after Cherri patched him up, so he was able to walk by himself. I walked to the booth, ignoring Jet's question, and started thinking but was quickly interrupted by an anxious Jet pestering me.
"Hello?" He waved his hand in front of my face, "I asked a question that you need to answer before I lose my mind!"
"I don't know," I mumbled quietly, "we're gonna have to improvise."
"Is that psycho speak for 'We're fucked and we're gonna die'?" He exclaimed.
"Shut the hell up!" I roared, "We're gonna get her back. Even if it means losing our lives. We are getting her back."
"You're crazy, Gerard," Jet said, "Absolutely mental. But I trust you. Tell me when you have a plan."
And with that, he and Ghoul walked away.
"Gee?" A voice called. I turned my head to see Kobra Kid walking up to me.
"Yeah, Kobra?" I asked.
"No, not Kobra," he dismissed, "I'm Mikey. If it's serious, then you call me Mikey."
"I'm sorry, Mikes," I sighed, sadly, "I'm sorry about that. And I'm also sorry for letting her do that race with Ghoul. When Cherri and I told her no, we should've stuck to it instead of giving in. That was irresponsible and now she's gone. Now she's fucking gone."
Tears were caught in my throat which made me unable to finish my sentence. I put my head in my hands and sobbed. Mikey quickly came over to my side and comforted me.
"Gerard, don't blame yourself," he told me, "it's not your fault, it never was your fault, and it will never be your fault. It'll be fine. As you said, we'll get her back. You promised Cherri that, and you know you never break promises. Especially not ones that are as serious as this."
I nodded and sniffed while he talked, "So, I advise you to think of a plan as soon as possible, and don't be afraid to ask us for help."
"Thank you, Mikey."
"No problem, Gee."
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
A while after that conversation with my brother, I began thinking of ways to rescue Toxic. Every single plan had the same horrible ending. We die. But there was one plan I had when i recruit more than just me and my three friends. I needed more people. I called everyone i knew and everyone I knew that would want to help without hesitation, and told them the plan. Once I realized that my plan might work, I began trying to think of the best day to put this plan into action, and what better way to do it tomorrow.
Olivia, we are coming for you.
WORDS: 2095