The Vortex: Killjoys, Book 1

Chapter Four.

There's a point in everyone's life in the Zones when you realize death is not the scariest thing out here. We become so preoccupied with our daily routines we forget that just because the wars ended doesn't mean a new one hasn't started. That's where I was, on the verge of having a Drac mask forced on my head, and once it was on, it was hard ever psychologically to recover. The man in the suit lined us up one by one in front of the firing squad of Draculoids. I was kneeling next to my parents. It was midday, and despite it being November, the days were still harsh, hot, and unforgiving.

"My name is Korse, and I work for Better Living Industries. We have received numerous reports of prohibited dwellings in the Zones. In the past, we have been entirely too lenient to your kind. Today you will face the consequences of your actions," Korse pointed the ray gun at someone nearby and fired. I heard their body fall, but I kept looking straight forward at the Draculoid in front of me.

This was the end of a short life, but I supposed life expectancy had gone down after the apocalypse either way. Korse paced back and forth slowly, and I could feel my mother trembling next to me. All I could think to myself was that my death would mean nothing. All of ours would. I wouldn't go down without a fight.

Something inside me told me to stand up and face Korse, the head exterminator of BLI, yet all I could do was sit still and stare. The Drac in front of me was exactly how I'd been told how they looked. White suits, white mask, black hair, and a gaping mouth that showed almost yellow fangs. What looked like blood dripped from the Drac's mouth, obviously painted on. Whoever that was definitely used to be human. Now they were another soldier for BLI.

I wasn't special, I wasn't the one who was going to save what was left of the world, I was about to die.
That was when I saw out of the corner of my eye, a man with brown hair with a silver streak running through it, a green vest, and a pink mask and ray gun.

Everything happened so fast, the man shot three Draculoids in a row with impeccable accuracy, a ray right through the head. That's when the chaos started, people began running in any direction they could, and so did I. I ran behind the closest building with my parents, as I hear a yelp of pain as we just get to temporary safety.

Up till then I'd only heard of ray guns, but never seen the damage they could do. My mom was bleeding from a hole in her leg, everything around it was burnt.
My dad and I helped her rest her weight on us as we dragged her further away from the fight.

The only thing I knew about Ray Guns is that if the initial shot didn't kill you, then the carbon poisoning would.
Once we were a safe distance away we set my mom down. As she stumbled to the ground my dad caught her. Back at our house we had oxygen tanks to help with carbon poison, but the fight was still going on. That lone Killjoy had saved us, or at least bought us some time.

"My head," was all my mom could get out before passing out. Another symptom of carbon poisoning. My dad grabbed my hand, and looked at me with tear filled eyes.
She wasn't going to make it without the oxygen, and the poison was spreading much faster than we had originally been told.
"I love you, dad," I said hugging him. He was sobbing by this point and hugged me back.

"Run," he said just as a laser whizzed past us, sending us bolting in opposite directions.

I stood in front of a mirror to assess the damage to my nose. It didn't seem broken, but I'd definitely have a bruise and some swelling over the next few days. Val sat, arms crossed, on a bench nearby.

Eventually, the bleeding stopped and I was able to clean everything up, but I was still surprisingly calm, I guess I had the edibles to thank for that.

"What exactly is your deal?" I asked him, holding a paper towel up to my nose just in case it started again. He faced me, with a slightly confused look.
"What do you mean? I'm just keeping an eye on you," he said.
"It's more than that, you beat that guy up, things like that just happen sometimes-" he cut me off
"Yeah well not to my friends," he said, looking down. It was the first time he'd referred to me as a friend.