Keep Running

Chapter 5: Planetary (Go!)

Chapter 5: Planetary (GO!)

"What are they doing? whispered Fun Ghoul as hid behind the parked TransAm with Poison. The car was parked on a hill, a distance away from Route Guano. Party Posion peered above the hood of the car. He saw the white car and the four motorbikes parked right off Route Guano.  
        There were 8 dracs around the bikes and one exterminator stepping out of the vehicle. The exterminator was pale with a shiny bald head which glared in the sunlight. Poison vaguely heard the exterminator holler something at one of the dracs. At his command, the entire band of scarecrows spread out among the desert.  Party Poison knew exactly what they were looking for. The girl. She was valued by BL/Ind because of a special ability. This power she possessed was considered a threatening force against Battery City. But not even the little girl knew what this ability was; why was she to be contained for something she didn't even understand. The killjoys knew she deserved a life and they would never stop protecting her.  "They're going off to search.. for her." huffed Poison. He sunk back down into the desert sand. He pressed his back up against the car and looked to Fun Ghoul who was kneeling in the sand. His face was stern. Ghoul's purple and green Frankenstein mask rested on the top of his head. He grabbed that mask by its end and pulled it over his face.
"I gotta go find her" said Ghoul through his mask.  He began to stand up but Poison grabbed his arm and pulled him back down. 
"Come on, get down before they see you!" exclaimed Poison. He looked behind his shoulder then looked to Ghoul.
"I'll go. You stay and watch for Jet Star.. he's on his way. Once Jet shows up he can take the girl back to the diner. Once the coast is clear of scarecrows, we'll follow them home." Poison said. He was caught off guard when ear piercing scream echoed throughout the desert. His heart sunk and  he grabbed his old yellow mask out of his back pocket and snapped it on. Grabbing his ray gun out of its holster, he sprinted in the direction where he heard the scream. Ghoul watched Poison run away and he looked to Route Guano to see a small and colorful bike moving towards him. Thank God, it's Jet Star.

        Poisons heart was racing, his palms were sweating and his breath was short. The girl's safety was all that mattered to him. He worried that the dracs may have gotten to her.. or even worse that exterminator. He saw her tiny silhouette in the dust, but she wasn't alone. 2 dracs were walking towards her with eager, blood-thirsty eyes.  He stopped running and hid behind a tall desert plant. He peered out behind it and got his ray gun, pointed and aimed right at one of the dracs approaching the girl.
ZZZZAP!
One of the dracs fell into the dust. Poison smirked as he watched the other drac sling his gun and look around in confusion. Poison emerged from the plant and fired again at the second dracs head. After the drac took a hard fall to the ground, the girl sprinted to Party Poison. She was sobbing and shaking and really uneasy.
"You okay sweetie?" asked Poison. The girl nodded but tears were streaming down her face. Poison knelt down to her level and looked into her eyes. He wiped the tears from her cheeks.
"You're pretty brave, honey." he said softly and comfortingly. The girl smiled. Party Poison always comforted her when she was scared. He extended his arms and she ran to him for a big hug.
"We need to get you back to the TransAm.. Jet Star should be there and you're gonna ride back with him, okay?" Poison said to her as he stood up. "Come on, lets go". Together Party Poison and the girl ran back to where the TransAm but oddly enough, Poison didn't see Fun Ghoul and the bike was there.. but where did Jet Star go? The only thing that was left was Fun Ghoul's green and purple Frankenstein mask. 
"PARTY POISON" shouted a raspy voice. It sounded far away but Poison crouched down behind the TransAM with the girl. The girl made a whimpering noise and Poison made a signal to stay quiet and stay down. 
"Party Poison.. come out, come out.. wherever you are" the voice said again. "Don't try to make any tricky moves.. we have two of  your so-called killjoys." Party Poisons eyes widened. They have Jet Star and Fun Ghoul. Fuck.. Fuck! He saw the girl looking to him for an answer on what was going to happen.
"I need you to stay here. Don't move! We'll all be back and we'll all go home to the diner and this will all be over, okay?" Party Poison said to the girl. She uneasily agreed and sat in the sand next to the car. Poison nodded to her and at that he stood up. He walked around the front of the car and began to walk down the hill to Route Guano.
        His hands were high and up in the air as the dracs all had their guns pointed at Poison. Two dracs were holding down Fun Ghoul, shoulder by shoulder, kneeling on the pavement. Another drac had Jet Star's hands behind his back and holding him strictly on his knees as well. They both looked up at Poison as he surrendered to the scarecrows. 
"Poison! What are you doing?? Get the fuck outta-" Fun Ghoul was silenced by a drac who slammed the back of his ray gun to Ghoul's face. 
"Who are you and what do you want?" ask Party Poison innocently. The exterminator gritted his teeth. 
"Scarecrow Korse, at your service" he mockingly bowed at the feet of Poison. Poison looked at him with hatred and disgust. Korse returned this unpleasant look. Before anyone could blink both Korse and Party Poison had drawn their ray guns on each other. Their eyes locked as they stared each other down with a gun. Poison was stern, his eyes twitched underneath his mask. Korse chuckled. 
"You know exactly what we want.. So, if you could give her to us, we'll give you back your friends and we'll head our separate ways". Korse smiled and tilted his head and looked to Jet Star. He grabbed the helmet off of him and threw it to the ground. The exterminator's white ray gun was pressed to Jet Star's left temple. Jet flinched as he was taken by suprise. He breathed heavily as his life rested in the scarecrow's sweaty hands.
"Come on Poison, we don't have all day.." smiled Korse. The ray gun dug deeper into Jet's temple making him wince at the pain. Poison still had his gun aimed at Korse. No emotion was shown as he spoke.
"Korse, let them go" demanded Poison.
"Only if you do as I say!" Korse yelled back. Poison was willing to listen. "Put your gun down" commanded Korse. Poison didn't budge.
"I said.. Put your gun down now!". Poison began to lower it, giving in to the exterminators orders. 
        Korse smiled. But, suddenly, a zap came out of nowhere and hit Korse's shoulder, causing him to fall back and aimlessly shooting his ray gun. That was the groups chance. Poison backed up and began to shoot, covering Fun Ghoul and Jet Star as they fought off the dracs around them.
"Look out!" yelled a voice. Poison turned around and saw a drac approaching him. Before he could draw his gun, the drac fell at his feet. Party Poison looked up and saw Kobra Kid standing on Route Guano, ray gun in hand,had just saved his life. Kobra ran to Poison's side.
"Kobra? You were supposed to stay at the diner!" shouted Poison. 
Kobra raised an eyebrow. "You obviously need my help more over here. What the hell Poison? You can't just expect me to sit back and relax while you guys get shot out here!"
"You need to stay safe" said Poison. He then looked up and saw a drac advancing toward the TransAm. He quickly shot him down. He then saw Fun Ghoul and Jet Star fighting off the other dracs. Poison shot a few more but by that time, Kobra was standing at his back and they began to shoot the dracs all around them.
"I've grown up, Poison" shouted Kobra as he took down a drac. "I can fight, I'm not a child anymore!" 
"You are to me!" snapped back Party Poison "Stop being so ignorant, Kobra! Why won't you just listen to me? It might actually get you somewhere out here in the zones." Kobra was silent and Poison turned to look at him. "Now, I told you to stay at the diner.. go back now!" Poison took a shot at a drac and it fell to the desert ground. 
"No" said Kobra sternly "No, I'm not going anywhere" He raised his gun and kept fighting. 
"Kobra listen to me go-" Party Poison saw Fun Ghoul get knocked to the pavement and Jet Star shortly followed after a ray gun hit him in the stomach. Poison rushed to his friends and shot two more dracs that were in his way. He heard another scream and he looked behind him. Shit.  
        They had the girl. 
"NO!" shouted Poison as he looked at the struggling girl get pulled from behind the TransAm. Her screams pierced his ears. He looked to her and aimed his gun at the dracs holding her. The were moving too much, he couldn't get a clear shot of them without the risk of shooting the girl.  Korse began to stand up and advance towards Poison. Kobra noticed and his eyes widened. He ran to shoot him down and to protect his older brother.
"Kobra, NO!" shouted Poison as Kid ran past him. Korse's ray gun easily shot Kobra and he fell to the ground.
"Mikey!" shouted Party Poison. He soon regretted that and covered his mouth with his left hand. He gasped and held his breath. He spoke his brothers name, which they all vowed they would never say their true names around BL/Ind to protect their identities. Was Kobra dead? Poison's vision went blurry and his throat became instantly dry. Everything was falling apart right in front of him. This was all his fault. He was frozen, stuck in place and frightened to make another wrong move. He jolted awake when he felt Korse's ray gun blast through his shoulder. He was surprised and stepped back, his entire arm searing with pain. Korse shot again but in the other shoulder and Poison fell to the ground. The world was spinning. He saw the girl being shoved into the white car. He saw the dracs begin to hop on their bikes and speed away. Poison faded in and out. 
"You're weak" smiled Korse as he kicked Party Poison in the side. Pain shot through his body and he couldn't do anything but lay there. Poison was defeated. He looked up to see a white ray gun pointed at his head. "Keep Running" hummed the villain and like that, Korse and his dracs were gone-and so was the girl. 
        At that Poison fainted and his entire world went black. The fabulous four laid still on the painfully hot pavement of Route Guano. So still, any passing rebel would have thought they were dead. This time BL/Ind had won. They had the girl and they succeeded in their evil operation. The killjoys had lost. They had failed the girl. They had failed the desert. They had failed the rebels. They had failed themselves. They failed.