Broken Glass In The Morning Light

Chapter 21

"Pick up the pace a little lads, I'd preferably like to get there before the sun starts to rise if that's at all possible?".

Frank rolled his eyes. The sun was barely setting at that point, and here Poison was, acting like the evening was practically over, taking long strides as they attempted to speed up the group's pace. It was true that Frank had never been on one of these nights out before, but he found it hard to believe that the best of the night was at 6pm.

"At this pace Poison I wouldn't be surprised if we were the first ones there", Jet spat, shaking his head at them as the four of them marched through the sand on their way to Zone 5. "Why the rush?"

"Well Jet I'll have you know that tonight is a very special night, so I'd like to think we'd at least be a little early for it", Poison retorted.

"Special?"

"Yes Jet, special", Poison smirked as they threw their arm around Frank's shoulders. "Not every day we get to introduce a new Killjoy now is it?"

Jet scoffed, then gave a quick smirk to Frank. "I guess not, no".

Poison gave Frank's shoulders a squeeze and then let go, speeding ahead of them once more. Frank hadn't really thought about the fact that this was going to be his introduction into The Zones, or more so, to the people of The Zones. Should he have come prepared? Come with a pre-written introduction or something? Were they intending on him to acquaint himself with everyone there? Did they even know he existed in the first place? He wasn't sure, he hadn't really thought much about the fact that it wasn't just the five of then alone in the desert, that there were other people scattered around the place. Hundreds of other people. He tried not to let that get to him as he marched onward, keeping pace with everyone else, but he could still feel the nerves creeping up on him, making his stomach turn ever so slightly. Nothing a drink couldn't fix he was sure.

"How long has it been since someone new has joined us?", Kobra asked.

Poison tilted their head, considering. "Hard to say, definitely been almost a year at this point. It'd be rare enough we get just one person, they usually come in groups of at least four or five. Escaping from that city is rarely a one person job". Poison gazed over at Frank. "Well done on doing that actually, I don't think I've really heard of anyone being able to manage it".

"Thanks", Frank said, unsure what else he could add there, if there was anything else to add. He had heard stories of all the other people who had escaped Battery City, studied them really, to aid in his own break out, and it wasn't often he'd come across someone on their own. He wasn't even sure if he'd ever come across someone making it out on their own. Was he the first? Hardly.

Just then Frank saw lights appear over in the distance, glinting over the dunes before them. There was people too, hundreds of people with every colour of hair known to man, none of them anywhere close to natural. Suddenly, Poison's hair looked almost mundane in comparison. Frank felt his nerves start to pick up a little more, this was more people than he'd expected. Far more.

"Hey quit looking so anxious".

Frank glared at Poison. "Well my apologies but I didn't think this spot would be so....popular".

Poison made a small noise, somewhere between amusement and pity, and wrapped their arm around Frank's shoulders once more. "My dear, dear Ghoul, you have nothing to worry about. No one here is going to give two shits about who you are and where you come from. We're all just here for a good time, they'll barely notice you, okay?"

Frank found it hard to believe them but nodded nonetheless. It seemed unlikely that no one would pick up that The Killjoys had a brand new member out of nowhere, Poison was forgetting that their group had some amount status in The Zones. Still, Frank kept putting one foot in front of the other and tried ignore his ever present anxiety.