Silence // Danger Days (Book 1)

07.

The two Killjoys and two new recruits continued to speed along down the sand, apparently in the direction of the main highway, called Route Guano.

"So," Sunset questioned (it was probably her hundredth question today). "How does the Killjoys' government work? Like, you called yourself a leader, but the DJ called you a general, but then he said you were elected to the position..."

"Well, it's kinda a combination of a confederation and an army," Alien cleared the air. "We are, at our core, an army, like the original freedom fighters. But once they developed a real community out here, they realized they needed a real government as well as military-level organization. So they started electing generals. Basically, my role is the role of a president, as well as a general when I need to be, but we just call the role a General. We hold elections every year, but I've won every time since my initial election. Other than that, I don't really have a term length. As long as the people want me here, I'm here. And I don't really do much unless there's a huge battle where everyone's involved; otherwise, the gangs kinda do their own thing. The role does come with downsides, though," she added, looking away from the backseat.

"Like what?"

"Well, I'm a celebrity. I get chased, asked for pictures and autographs, stuff like that. I don't like talking to people I don't know, but a general can't just ignore her army, so I do it anyways. Really, the only people who have it worse than I do are the Four." She chuckled.

At this point, Storm was insanely curious about this Fabulous Four he was hearing about. He thought that The Beatles were called that originally, but he wasn't sure.

The car was silent for the first time in a while. It was broken after a few minutes when Vendetta took the same CD case that his girlfriend had shown the recruits and opened it. "I take it you want to know who the Fab Four are, right?"

The siblings nodded. Storm was generally a quiet person unless he was alone with his sister, but he still wanted some answers. He was grateful to Sunset for asking questions and remembering that he didn't want to.

"Well, this record is theirs," the Killjoy told them. "You can look through this if you want. It has some pictures of them in it, just so you can get a visual." He handed Storm a paper booklet from inside the case. "The redhead sings, the afro plays lead guitar, the blond plays bass, and the small black haired one does rhythm guitar." He then tossed the disc into a slot in the dashboard and turned the volume up.

Storm flipped through the booklet, and Sunset leaned over to look. The first person they saw was the person Vendetta had called "the redhead". Storm had been expecting someone with his sister's hair color, but in reality, his hair was bright red, like Sunset's new t-shirt. He looked closer at the guy's face and saw that he was very good-looking, by anyone's standards.

"He's cute," Sunset voiced her opinion, the same thing that her brother was thinking. Storm blushed.

Alien almost turned around completely to see who they were talking about, but Vendetta took hold of her chin and turned her head back towards the road. He turned around instead. "That's Party Poison," he told them. "He's a real heartthrob. Every girl has a giant crush on him."

"He's not really my type though," the ginger shrugged. "What do you think Luc—I mean, Storm?"

His head jerked up at the sound of his real name, or possibly his nickname. He knew that the Killjoys already knew who they really were, but he also knew that it was really dangerous for anyone to know what your real identity is.

"W—well," he attempted to get back on topic. "He's attractive, I guess, but I wouldn't know."

Sunset snorted. "Don't tell me you didn't have a megacrush on Han Solo when we were kids!"

"Well, you guys did live in Bat City for a long time; that kind of thing isn't really allowed." Vendetta had a point.

Storm was sure that his face was the color of a BLI-brand GMO tomato.

Sunset laughed at him. "Okay, okay! We can move on." She took the booklet from him and flipped to the next page.

Vendetta familiarized them with "the afro" Jet Star (who indeed had a large afro), "the blond" Kobra Kid (whose name was spelled with a K instead of a C), and "the short black haired one" Fun Ghoul (whose name was apparently derived from the Italian for "fuck you"), as well as a random Draculoid and Korse, who they were already very familiar with. When that was done, he pressed a button on the dashboard and a song played.

A series of notes were picked out on a guitar. The two siblings hadn't heard music for so long that they knew to embrace every song with open arms. A refrain began then, a simple repetition of "na na na".

In reality, it was closer to what Storm liked. He preferred a more classic sound, yet had a bit of a soft spot for punk, and this brought it all.

The vocalist's voice was extremely powerful. He could probably spark a revolution with just a few songs if he tried, Storm thought.

He realized then that the person singing is the same Killjoy that they had seen in the booklet, Party Poison. His heart gave a little pang. He was surprised and put his hand on his chest. Am I having heart palpitations or something? he couldn't help but think.

His sister must have noticed that something was wrong, so she tapped him on the shoulder. Her face was filled with concern. "Is something wrong, Luca?"

"Don't—" he attempted to stop her from saying his name, or at least, his nickname, but it was too late. "You can't say that out here! No one can know who we are!" he whisper-yelled.

"There's no one in here but people who already know who we are!" she lashed back. "It's not like I'm gonna go around telling people, 'hey guys, we're the children of the founder of the rebellion! Isn't that cool?'"

Storm put his head in his hands when he realized she was right. "There's nothing wrong, Hails," he told her, using her real name (well, the nickname he'd given her in retaliation for "Luca") in apology.

"You had that look," she pushed. "You only get that when something's worrying you."

"Okay fine," he gave in. "There was this pain in my chest a minute ago. Everything's fine now, but I just felt something. I don't know if something's wrong, it's never happened before."

"I'm sure it's normal," Vendetta cut in. "Did something happen that you think could have triggered it?"

Alien put her hand on her boyfriend's shoulder, cutting him off. "Ven, don't go all medic on them. I'll talk to him about it later." She winked at Storm as if to say I've got this.

Vendetta sighed. "Al, being a medic is my job, I am a medic."

"But I'm more familiar with human emotions," she argued back.

"Oh, alright," he gave up.

Their journey continued, the caravan speeding through the desert.