Summertime

Chapter Twenty-Three-Ghost Lightning's P.O.V / Summertime

“Take that, stupid motherfucker!” I yelled triumphantly, blasting a Drac by shooting at the gasoline tank next to him.

Ouch. That was going to do some damage.

There was a gigantic explosion that caused multiple Dracs to be flung through the air. I dodged the bodies, trying not to get smashed.

“Watch out! Choppers incoming!” a purple haired boy next to me shouted. Sure enough, several fleets of helicopters were zooming in onBatteryCity.

Now, in action scenes, what do helicopters do?

That’s right. They blow the fuck up.

“Oi! Zero!” I yelled as Absolute Zero ran past me.

“What?” she cried.

“Toss me a few battery bombs?” I said, ducking a flying board of wood.

She threw several of the small bombs and her lighter towards me. Without hesitation, I lit them up one by one and threw them at the lowest flying helicopters.

BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.

And once the first few started exploding, the rest followed suit. It was like a chain reaction. I gave Zero her lighter back and darted down an alleyway, shooting Dracs as I went.

We’d been fighting for a good few hours now, and I was exhausted. Panting, I took out a juice box from my green leather bag, poked the straw in, and took a sip.

Yeah, I drink juice when I’m killing because it’s fucking delicious.

I glanced to my left and recognized the tall Asian lady we had encountered when the Killjoys came to rescue me. She was sprinting down the alley towards me, a large sword in her hand, and screaming in Japanese.

“私はあなたを破壊します！死ぬ！” she screamed at me.

“I don’t know what the fuck you’re saying!” I yelled back. But I didn’t have to know what she was saying to know that she was about to slice me in half with that sword. I quickly drew my laser gun and shot at her. The shot went right through her head and she dropped without a sound. A wave of shock went through me. Watching a real, living person die was a lot more traumatizing than killing a Drac. To me, Dracs were nothing but walking suits that you were supposed to kill. I had just full on shot a woman in the face.

Shivering a little, I turned and went to the outskirts of the city. I had heard somewhere that reinforcements were coming for BLI. We could only hope not.

But as I rounded the last building, my heart fell and I realized our hopes had been crushed. A large army driving in war jeeps was coming towards the city in neat rows. My stomach flipped over. Now we were definitely outnumbered.

I saw a tall, important looking man step out of a shiny black limo with the BLI face printed on the side. He had a large black beard and dark sunglasses. Several mousy men were crowded around him. I had no clue who he was, but he looked important to BLI, and he was within range.

I shot at him.

His body jerked and he collapsed. My laser had hit him spot on in the chest. I turned and darted back into the city.

The battle continued to rage. The amount of Killjoys and Dracs had diminished, although the ones left fought as brutally as ever. My heart felt heavy when I spotted several brightly colored Killjoys lying dead on the ground.

I was crouched behind a chunk of collapsed building, shooting at any Dracs that came near. Suddenly someone grabbed me from behind and pulled me down.

“Watch out!” Atomic Urgency yelled. I ducked my head as something exploded above us. Showers of ash and bits of metal rained down on us.

“What the fuck was that?” I cried.

“Another helicopter,” he muttered. There were a few more explosions and Atomic Urgency pushed me flat against the ground, shielding me with his own body. For several minutes I waited while the explosions sounded, my face pressed against Urgency’s neck.

Finally they stopped and he sat up. His skin glistened with sweat, and his extremely messy hair stuck out at odd angles. Blood trickled down his chin; he had split his lip. The ruggedness about him looked so attractive, I would’ve kissed him if the explosions hadn’t started again.

He held me, protecting me from any stray rubble that came our way. If something came at us, it would hit his back. The explosions shook the ground beneath us and for a minute I feared for our lives. Sam obviously felt it too, because he ran his hands through my hair and bent down so that his lips were almost touching my ear.

“Terry, if we lived somewhere else, in another time—I mean, if all of this Killjoys and Better Living Industries stuff wasn’t going on—if our lives were normal—” he stammered.

“But it’s not!” I cried.

“Well if it was!” he yelled, “Would you marry me?!”

“I—what?” I shrieked. I couldn’t have heard him right. There was no fucking way…

“I said would you marry me?” he panted. I stared into his eyes.

“…Yes,” I gasped. He smiled, and then we started to laugh.

“Why the fuck not? Let’s get married,” I giggled. He kissed me.

“First we have to get out of here.”

I pushed him off me and we stepped out from behind the building. The battle was as chaotic as ever. I drew my raygun and jogged a couple of steps into the street.

A sudden force slammed into my stomach and I felt a terrible ripping sensation. Pain seared through my body and I gave a small scream. My hands pressed against my abdomen, where I found a ragged hole in my flesh. I raised my trembling hands and saw them covered in blood.

“TERRY NO!” Sam screamed as I fell to the ground. I was gasping madly for breath when he dropped down beside me. Tears streamed down his face as he grabbed my hands.

“SHOW PONY! MEDICS! SOMEBODY PLEASE COME AND HELP!” he yelled. The world was spinning around me and I gripped Sam’s hands like lifelines. He pulled me up into a sitting position and held me against him.

“Sam…” I whispered.

“Hold on, baby, it’s going to be okay,” he pleaded. I rested my head against his chest. The pain started to leave my body. I felt light as I feather.

“I love you…” I said softly.

“Terry…no, don’t close your eyes, please, Terry! TERRY!” he screamed as my eyelids drooped. I gave his hand one last gentle squeeze before I closed my eyes and the darkness enveloped me.