Delirious || Bozari

Chapter Nine: Atomic

This funeral was nothing like Silver's had been.

There was no music, no party, no food, no yacht. Instead, they were in the middle of a forest; or, rather, what had once been a forest, and had been ravaged by one of the many forest fires over the last two years. Atomic didn't know which one it had been, but she was sure that it had been recent, as the ash hadn't blown away. Whenever you took a step, you could feel your foot sink into it.

It wasn't exactly the prettiest place in the world. Atomic didn't know why Vixen chose here, of all places. This certainly wasn't the kind of place she'd want to be put to rest in. When she bit the dust, she wanted a grandiose party for her funeral, with dancing and punch and techno music. And streamers! Lots and lots of streamers!

But that wasn't Vixen's aesthetic, apparently, so here they were, surrounded by death. She could almost feel the negative energy the place radiated.

Maybe that was why Vixen had chosen it. An entire forest taken before its time. Just like her girls.

There were twenty-three funeral pyres, one for each girl that had been taken. A corpse lay on every one, dressed in fancy clothes, either a suit or a dress depending on the way they'd dressed when they were alive. Some of them had flowers woven through their hair. Resting on their chests were their favourite weapons; Atomic spotted a few guns, knives, and even a longsword. They had all been doused with gasoline, which you could smell clearly over the weak wind.

Surrounding the pyres were the rest of the girls. All of them had black veils covering their faces to show their mourning. Most of them were crying, and were going up to touch the bodies of their friends, to say goodbye one last time. Atomic watched awkwardly, feeling quite warm in her veil. She hadn't known any of the girls that were killed, after all, and didn't feel any grief for any of them.

Except for one. A blonde girl laid on one of the pyres. She was skinny and curvy, and was dressed in a leather jacket, a tight white tank top, black ripped skinny jeans, black sunglasses, and black pumps. For some reason, she was the only girl dressed in the standard outfit that girls wore on missions; she must've been very devoted to her work. Her lips were painted as red as blood, and her hair was pulled back in a ponytail.

The longer Atomic stared at her, the more she felt familiar. She had definitely seen that girl before, and not just in passing in the Compound. 

A memory came into her mind. She was looking out a window, watching as a sleek black sports car pulled up in front of a familiar-looking yard. The blonde girl got out of the driver's door and started walking up the path, towards the house she was in.

Atomic blinked, and then it was gone, slipping through her fingers back into the chasms of her mind, most likely to never return. She tried to fish it back out, but it was no use, and she eventually gave up.

Standing above the blonde girl was Vixen. Atomic had never seen her look so angry. There was rage burning in her eyes, and her jaw was clenched. She was wearing a blood-stained leather jacket and jeans. In her hand was a torch, already alight, its orange glow the only light source in the area.

She looked terrifying.

"Girls!" Vixen screamed, raising the torch. Everyone went silent, besides for the sounds of the sobs. "Yesterday, we were attacked by cowards. Useless men who were too weak to even let us fight back, sent by a man who wasn't strong enough to even do the deed himself. They took our sisters from us. And for that, they will pay with their lives."

A roar of anger erupted from the crowd of girls. You could hear the pain in their voices. Whoever these men were, Atomic would not want to be them.