The Killjoy from Yesterday

Chapter 11- Joy Division

Back at Mikey and Cassadee's, Mikey and the Killjoys were going through both files, trying to find any clues on how to get back home.

Alkaline stared at herself in the bathroom mirror. She hadn't seen her reflection since before she got kidnapped. She leaned over the sink, shaking in shock. Slowly, her eyes trailed up to the mirror in front of her. She barely recognized the face staring back at her.

Her face had thinned out from starvation. Her once sun-tanned skin was sickly pale. Her eyes were gaunt and hollow with lack of sleep. There was a large bruise under her right eyes. Her once long electric blue hair was brutally chopped off and wildly uneven.

She stripped off her black and neon purple jacket and her dusty brown boots to just her faded, acid splattered jeans and an olive green tank top. She lifers the tank top up to reveal the multitudes of enormous purple bruises covering her stomach, chest, and sides. She looked at her whole self in the mirror and saw something that wasn't Cassadee or herself. She saw what Better Living forced her to become.

Alkaline began rummaging through the bathroom, searching every drawer until she came upon two items; an electric razor and a pair is scissors. She turned on the razor, the metallic buzz filling her ears.

Taking a deep breath, she looked at herself in the mirror and pressed the razor to the side of her head. Bright blue locks of hair began to fall to the floor. She kept running across her head, leaving the blue at the top. By the time she clicked off the razor, both sides of her hair were shaved down to a fine buzz cut, leaving her with an uneven bright blue Mohawk. That's when she grabbed the scissors and began attacking the mess she was left with. When Alkaline was finished, she was surrounded by a mass of hair. She glanced back in the mirror, shaking out the rest of the stray hairs.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. "Alkaline, are you okay in there?" Kobra called out.

She didn't say anything. All she could do was keep running her hands through her new hair. "Oh my god." She whispered to herself.

Kobra banged on the door. "Alkaline, open up. You're scaring me."

She still didn't answer him. Her mind was racing at a hundred miles an hour, paranoia starting to attack her. She began seeing spots, then a face jumped out from the mirror- Ripper. Alkaline began to get very dizzy and she could feel the vomit welling in the back of her throat, her breath became very shallow and uneven. She was going into a panic attack.

"Cassadee, please." Kobra's voice got really soft. "Open the door, you're really starting to scare me."

Alkaline didn't answer again, she slumped against the wall and fell to the floor, burying her face in her hands. Tears were steaming down her face. "It's unlocked." She choked.

The door clicked open. Kobra Kid stood in the doorway. He sucked in a sharp breath as he saw Alkaline's hair scattered all over the floor and her curled up in the corner. He ran over to her and took her small sobbing body in his arms. She wrapped her arms around him and laid her head on his shoulder.

"Shhhhhhhhh, you're okay." He comforted her, taking her over to the bed. She pulled him closer.

"What do they want from me?" She whispered. "Why are they doing this?"

"I don't know." Kobra answered. "I don't know, but we are sure as hell are going to find out." He carried her over to the bed and both of them sat down. Alkaline rolled off of Kobra and stared at the ceiling.

"When will they ever stop?" She muttered. "This is insane."

Kobra nodded. "Yea. It is, but we are gonna make it through this together." He rolled over and kissed her on the cheek. But before Alkaline could kiss him back, Mikey and Fun Ghoul burst in. Their eyes widened at the sight of the new Alkaline Army.

"Your hair!" Fun Ghoul exclaimed.

Alkaline nodded and sat up on the bed, wiping away a few stray tears from earlier. "Yea, what about it?"

"It's..... a bit short. Don't you think?" He replied.

"Yea, I thought it was time for change." She stood up, walked over to the closet and began rummaging through Cassadee's clothes for something new to wear. All she found was standard BLI clothing, until she came along a black tee shirt in the back. Alkaline reached out and pulled the shirt out of it's hiding place. She unfolded it and analyzed the design on the inside with excitement. It was a jet black craft cult tee shirt and said "Hail Satan and Drink Coffee."

"Perfect." She smirked, pulling the shirt on. She was a bit skinnier than Cassadee from living on the run in the zones for so long, but the shirt fit perfectly. She grabbed her jacket from the bathroom and slid it on over the shirt. "So, what's up?"

"I'm getting worried about Jet Star and Cassadee." Mikey answered. "They should have been back by now."

"Okay," Kobra sat up. "Should we go look for them?"

Mikey shook his head. "Not yet. We sent the Party Poisons to go check." There was a sudden click of the door opening.

"Well, speak of the devil." Ghoul turned on his heels. "Or should I say devils." The three killjoys and Mikey found the two in the living room, Alkaline's Poison sitting on the couch, restlessly bouncing his foot up and down. The other Party Poison was paving around the room nervously.

"Guys, what's going on?" Kobra asked.

The Party Poison pacing around stopped and looked at him. "Things got really bad really fast."

"How bad?" Mikey wondered.

He laughed. "You're probably gonna get called in to investigate and handle this one. Someone caused a major shoutout at the Dead Drac where Jet and Cass were. Apparently some BLI guy got a hold of a weapon and began shooting at random people. Things got really ugly really quick."

"That sounds like Carraway for me." Alkaline added.

Party nodded and sat up. "Exactly. We didn't think of that until we stepped outside." His voice trailed off at the end.

"What happened?" She asked. Neither of them answered. "Seriously guys, what's going on?"

"Mikey, you aren't gonna like this." The Party standing in front of Alkaline said.

"What happened to Cassadee?" Mikey growled. "Tell me."

Poison let out a small sigh. "Fine. We saw a BLI car leave the bar once we got outside. Neither Cassadee or Jet Star were in the bar while we were in there. I think they were kidnapped. Better Living has them now."