I'm in Love...with a Rockstar (MCR)

Chapter Nine: Battery City

        We finally get the three guys to leave us alone. And as soon as they do, we have to suit tp. We've reached Battery City. I pull on my bandana jacket and slip on my boots. Someone takes their fingers and wipes something wet from the bottom of my lips, around the bandana, and up to my hairline. I turn to look at Mikey; he has blood red paint dripping from his fingers. They've all put two lines of red paint somewhere on their face. I grin from underneath my bandana and slip my gun into its holster. I swallow hard, closing my eyes. Battery City. The place that BL/ind is centered around. Mikey slips his arm around my waist.

         "We'll be okay." He whispers gently into my ear. I believe him. I nod slowly and open my eyes. I can do this. Then, I take a step forward. Mikey's arm slinks away from my body, and we file off the bus.

        Battery City. How to explain it. Well, let's just say, it's a lot different than I expected. I thought, being the Better Living Industries Capitol, that it would be...well, clean. It's not. The buildings are crumbling, there is trash piled high. There is one building, only one, that looks intact.It is large, white and has a big plastic sign that says: BL/ind. Better Living Industries. Come join us in a Better World. I shake my head. There aren't any Dracs around, at the moment. But I have a feeling it won't be like that for long. We walk through the filth, kicking the trash out of the way. Mikey slips his gloved hand into mine as we walk. I take a deep breath as we walk up to the doors of the BL/ind center. We all glance at each other. Ray grins from under his bandana.

         "Fish." He says, and I look at him, confused. "Fuck it. Shit happens. Fish." He says.

        "Oh. Right." I tighten my grip on Mikey's hand as the door opens. We walk inside.

        There is a small station down a long road. There are two dracs sitting inside, keeping out the insiders. One of them is wearing a mask. White, black hair, mouth open, red teeth. I gaze at them. Then we begin to walk, confidently stepping towards the booth. The masked one notices us and jumps to his feet, about to pull the alarm. He dies at my doing. The Bald one looks around, see us and pulls the alarm. It blares loud and clear.

        "Dammit." Mikey mutters under his breath; we don't stop walking. Gerard shoots him. As we reach the booth, a door opens from the wall and a dozen or so dracs emerge. We raise our guns, almost simultaneously. The combination of the alarm and the rayguns, makes it hard to hear. They have guns too, which make everything all the better. We have to dodge laser streams while trying to shoot our own. Mikey has to let og of my hand, because one of the filthy things tackles him. I shoot it in the back. Mikey climbs to his feet, gives me a quick smile, but I can't return it, because I am bowled over by another one of the fucking Draculoids. Mikey starts towards me.

        "No!" I scream and begin to fight him off myself. I grab the mask and pull it off of his head. Underneath, he looks normal. Like someone who would be a author, or a vet, or a movie director. But he's a drac. His face scrunches in concentration. I punch it. He falls back and allows me to get to my feet. I stand over him and point my gun at his chest. "Tut. Tut. Tut." I smile. "You made the wrong choice, my pretty." And he attempts to scramble to his feet, but I get the opportunity to shoot him first. "Bye. Bye." I grin to myself and turn back to the crowd. Gerard is fighting off the last present Drac. He kills him, and as the body slumps to the floor, Gerard falls after it, hitting the ground hard. I am the first to get to him. I lift his head and look into his eyes. Then I search his body or any sign of an injury. There isn't any. What happened? With a sudden scream from me, Gerard sits up and begins to laugh. He puts a hand on my shoulder.

        "Glad to see that you care." Then, grinning he gets to his feet. Rage swells inside me.

        "What the fuck is wrong with you?" I ask, shoving him to the ground again. His smile vanishes. Mikey tries to hold me back. "What the fuck? I thought you were dying! You think that's funny?" He looks at me, as I come closer. "I thought you were...I thought you were..." I break and fall to my knees. "God dammit Gerard." I whisper. He gets to his knees and brings me into his arms.

        "Hey. I'm sorry. I thought it would be funny."

        "Yeah, well, you thought wrong." I say, but all of the venom has gone from my voice. I stand up and begin to walk, leaving the boys to scramble after me. I stride ahead of all of them, trying to blow off some of the steam. I can hear them talking behind me.

        "I...I thought..." Gerard begins.

        "Maybe she didn't know you were a joker." Frank remarks.

        "Dude. She's a girl. She is sensitive." Ray says. I turn in my tracks.

        "I. Am. Not. Sensitive." I say, punctuating each word. "I just...you're my brother." I turn back around and begin to walk again. They stop talking. Mikey jogs to catch up with me.

        "Good job." he smiles at me. "Back there, I didn't know how tough you really were." I keep my gaze straight ahead, to the door at the far end of the road. "Um...I would've been mad at him too. He really is my brother and if I hadn't know he was going to-"

        "You knew?" I turn on him, the anger returning. "You knew?" I spit.He looks at his feet.

        "Yeah."

        "Why?" I ask, "Why didn't you do anything? I almost..." I don't finish.

        "I thought it would be funny." He mutters.

        "Yeah? Well fuck you." I say and turn again to the road. He stops and looks after me. Gerard claps him on the back.

        "Come on, bro." He doesn't move. He stands there, taking in what I just said to him. Then I stop, letting Ray, Gerard, and Frank walk past me. I turn around. Mikey is right where I left him. He is standing stalk still, hurt swelling in his eyes. I walk back to him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

        "Mikey." I sigh. "I didn't mean it." My eyebrows knit.

        "I know." He swallows.

        "I mean that. I...I was just angry and..."

        "Yeah."

        "I'm sorry," I throw my arms around his neck and my nose into his shoulder. His arms hugs me back. "I was just...angry at Gee and I yelled at you. And there is just so much stress."

        "I know." He whispers into my hair. "It's kinda hard to be peaceful when you're sneaking around."

        "Yeah." I let go and look into his eyes. "I really am sorry."

        "I know." I weave my fingers through his and we walk in silence to where the boys are standing, in front of the door.

        "Ready?" Frank asks, looking at me timidly, as if he thinks I'm going to explode. I nod. He opens the door.

        The inside of Drac Central. They are everywhere. There has to be more than three hundred. We're screwed. We all lift our guns, and that's when I realize none of them arm moving.

        "Wait." I say and let go of Mikey's hand. I walk forward into the room.

        "NO!" Ray says, reaching after me, but not daring to go into the room.

        "Pierce." I hear Mikey moan. I walk in among the Dracs. Or what we thought were the dracs. The are cardboard cutouts. I turn around to face them, in the midst of the 'dracs'. I smile and poke one of them with the tip of my finger.

        "They're cutouts." I say, striding back to the guys. I hear them sigh, I guess they were just as scared as me. Even though they are big time rockstar/killjoys. I smile to myself.

        We walk into the room and weave in between the cardboard dracs. When we get to the other side, there is a nasty surprise waiting for us. Dracs. Real ones.

        We shoot. We kill. We get the hell out of there. We are running through the middle of Battery City, trying to find our way out. We try to call Pete, but there phone lines are down. Finally, we come to the bus. Pete is gone. But we have to leave. I kinda feel bad for leaving him, but we have to get out of there. Now.