Left for Dead

07

"Little hey, little ho." Sunshine yelled, banging twice on the diner's door. When the immediate answer was crashing and yelling from inside, she took a few steps back, wishing she'd put her skates on. Her bike wasn't far, though, and she took another half-step toward it as she rested a hand on her gun, eyes on the door as footsteps thundered closer inside.

Poison burst out the door, gun drawn, and Sunshine immediately had her shield up and started backing toward her bike.

"You were just gonna leave her. How many kids did you watch get stolen? How many did you steal?" Poison demanded.

"Where's Mikey?" Sunshine asked, staring at Poison as she finally felt her leg touch her bike.

"Safe from you." Poison snarled.

"Okay, never mind, I'm audi." Sunshine slid onto her bike, careful to keep her shield between her & Poison. He took a sloppy shot at her shield, and Sunshine knew enough about distractions to check her bike's mirrors; Ghoul was coming up behind her, gun drawn.

I should shoot him before he knows I clocked him, otherwise this will get hairy. Sunshine thought, then wondered if Mikey would forgive her. I'm going soft. If she ran, they'd shoot. If she shot first, she'd be the villain they wanted & it would end in a 4:1 shootout. There was only one way out of this, and that was to put all her faith in Mikey.

Sunshine raised her empty hand from her gun, still watching Poison through her shield. "My back is the last bit of me without many scars, Ghoul, I'd like to keep it that way."

"Step off the bike & drop the shield."

Sunshine very deliberately stepped off the bike, then the shield folded almost reluctantly back into just a cuff.

"I said drop it."

Sunshine swallowed hard, thinking about it. She could kill them both & run. Easy. But was that worth losing Mikey, Pony, even Cola? Sunshine wasn't sure she could fight, or even survive, without her shield.

"Do or die." Ghoul took aim, and Sunshine snarled as she took her cuff off and tossed it in the dust where Ghoul could see it.

Ghoul stepped up, popped the cuff on his own wrist, then took Sunshine's gun from her holster, all the while keeping his gun trained on her.

"Where's Mikey?" Sunshine asked again, and Ghoul eyed her.

"On a milk run with Jet. We've got at least an hour, probably more." The short man answered, then looked at Poison. "Hide her bike, we don't need anyone realizing she's here."

Ice cold fear rolled down Sunshine's spine. She'd gambled on Mikey getting her out of this, but it seemed like he wouldn't even know she was there.

"Let's get inside." Ghoul smiled at her as Poison went off to go hide the bright yellow bike. Sunshine sighed, but walked along nicely. She wasn't trying to get herself shot before Mikey got back.

"What's the plan, here? Mikey gets back & he's gonna be pissed about this. And I know Jet doesn't hate me enough to be on board." Sunshine said conversationally, and Ghoul considered her for a moment as they walked.

"We can't trust you in the City. We're gonna hide you here until we get what info we need out of you. Kobes will think you blew him off, he won't want shit to do with you anymore. Maybe we'll turn you loose on the dust, maybe we'll just shoot you." Ghoul shrugged carelessly. "Guess it depends on how good your info is."

"Cool, love that." Sunshine kept her tone as cavalier as Ghoul's. She already had several plans cooking, most of them revolving around secrets she'd kept about her wrist cuff.

Ghoul opened up a door with no name; it was clearly his room. Once inside, he kicked a rug aside & opened a trap door in the floor, training his gun on her. "Down you go."

Sunshine slid down the ladder, staring up at Ghoul. "It rubs the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again?" She threw her arms wide in her new pit, grinning coldly up at Ghoul.

He barked a laugh. "I like you, Sunshine." Then he kicked the trapdoor closed.

The pit wasn't meant to be a prison, that much was clear. It seemed almost like a panic room; there were a few emergency lights, a sink, and a composting toilet. Hell, there was even toilet paper & a mattress with a blanket & pillow.

Sunshine sighed, reclining on the makeshift bed, and listened.

It was quiet for maybe two hours, with just the muffled sounds of Ghoul & Poison overhead, then she heard Jet & Mikey return. Distant chatting, a raised voice, then just muffled sounds. It was hard to judge the passage of time completely accurately, but sometime around sundown she could hear Mikey start snapping at people, finally getting into a shouting match with his brother before Jet stepped in.

The few words Sunshine managed to catch were "She said she'd be here" and "She's a Scarecrow, she lied." Sighing hard, she closed her eyes & let herself drift off.

Light flooded down & Sunshine raised her hand to shield her eyes as she groggily looked up the ladder. Ghoul was up there, short silhouette unmistakable, Poison's backlit red hair giving him away as the other shadow.

Poison stayed at the top as Ghoul descended, and Sunshine yawned carelessly, staying reclined on her bed, even as Ghoul stood over her. He surprised her when he handed over a can of PowerPup.

Ghoul waited until she was a few bites in to start asking questions.

"Why did you leave the City?"

Ghoul had already made a mistake; the truth drugs he'd put in her food were the same kind in the City meds – the City meds barely touched her to begin with, and she'd built up a tolerance over time. Plus Ghoul had under-dosed her, probably hoping she wouldn't even notice.

"I- I came out of the drugs & realized what I'd become. I hated it, so I ran." Sunshine scowled, folding closer in on herself so her body language marked her as uncomfortable with how open & honest she'd just been.

"Did you ever hurt killjoys?"

"Of course I did." Shutting her eyes and sighing, Sunshine pushed away her half-finished PowerPup. "I hurt everyone I was told to."

"Do you still report to the City?"

"No, I've been no contact since I defected. They'll kill me on sight if I go back. If I came off the meds so easy, I'm a liability." Sunshine shrugged. "I like it better out here, anyway." Frowning, she eyed Ghoul, then her food, visibly suspicious.

"What's your name?" Ghoul asked, & Sunshine had time to gasp at his boldness as if just realizing she'd been drugged before she struggled to bite back her answer.

"They- I-" Sunshine glared at Ghoul, biting the inside of her cheek as she pretended not answering was a strain. "They took it. In training. They took all our names." She finally scowled, then spat blood onto the floor at Ghoul's feet. "I just had a barcode on my ID. They called us by the last four of our codes."

"What did they call you?" Ghoul asked patiently. Her struggle not to answer had sealed the deal, he bought her entire performance.

"0322."

"Well 0322, Kobra's still defending you, but he's worried. In a couple days he'll realize trusting you was a mistake." Ghoul stretched. "If we decide to turn you loose, he may dust you himself."

Sunshine snarled, wishing she could blame the truth drug for the tears suddenly threatening to spill down her cheeks.

Ghoul took it all in, then turned and went back up the ladder, where Poison still waited. "Goodnight, 0322." Ghoul called pleasantly, and Poison closed the door.