Manufactured Smiles: A Killjoy Fanfiction

Chapter 3

Gerard hoisted the bag up over his shoulder and tightening a few straps, before turning around to check on Mikey; barely able to contain his excitement, but also his gut-wrenching disquietude.

"Mikey, you ready?"

Mikey raised one eyebrow;

"No, not really. Why'd you ask?"

"Goddamit Mikey you're not helping."

"I don't know what you expect me to do."

"Shutting up and following me would be a start."

Mikey let out what must've been his fiftieth sigh this day, but clamped his mouth shut and walked over to the table Gerard was standing by.

"Do you know where we're going? I mean, do you even have a plan?"

"Do I have a pl- Of course I've got a plan you idiot, luck isn't exactly on our side in this situation."

"I don't luck has ever been on our side"

"You don't know the half of it."

Mikey threw Gerard a skeptical look.

"So... the plan?"

"Right, yeah. I've planned a route and monitored the rotations of patrols within Dead-Mans-Land, so, theoretically, we should be able to get over the wall without any interference."

"Theoretically?"

Gerard copied his younger brothers move from earlier on, and cocked one eyebrow at him.

"Yes, now let's go."

Mikey strode over to the door, unlocked it, then waited in the threshold for Gerard, who was busy turning off the lights in the house.

"Have you left anything to explain to mom and dad where we've gone.?" Mikey queried.

"Nah, they don't deserve an explanation,"

"Why?"

"They didn't do a thing when I got publicly whipped and humiliated. And they let doctors experiment on me. Then allowed said doctors to wipe my memories, which, for the record, didn't work – obviously – but the 'sentiment' is still there." Gerard clarified as he walked out of the house, locked the door, and headed down the moonlit-bathed street with Mikey striding by his side.

-

Gerard and Mikey crouched behind a small barricade of dark blue, 40-gallon metal barrels as the new group of Draculoids swapped with the other patrol team; the last rotation before the rota started again.

"Fuck, we missed the change." Gerard murmured into the cold night air. The temperatures of, what used to be America (now known as The Wasteland) fluctuated between scorching, during the day, and sub-zero temperatures during the night.

"Was it an integral part of the plan?"

Gerard stopped scrutinizing the patrol guards to throw Mikey a glare. "Not really, no. It was the entire plan."

"Oh shit."

"Oh shit, indeed"

"We can try again another time, Gee"

"No, Mikey, we-" Gerard let out a breath. "We're too close to just turn back. It's now or never."

Mikey's face was filled with apprehension.

"Are you sure about this?"

"As I'll ever be, just follow my lead, okay? I'm not gonna let anything happen to you."