Despite the lack of sleep that night, by midday the next day, everyone was up and working on what they needed to do to be ready by nightfall.
Shadow had been out for hours working on the bikes and cars to make sure there would be no problems to stop their charge, and Zacky, Syn and M. had gathered in their room to prepare themselves and their weapons.
Luna had been up for hours as well, washing and re-bandaging Missy’s leg so that she could dress and be able to walk on it.
When she had finally finished helping Missy get ready, and gathered her things – including putting some of her medical supplies in the car so that if the worst happened, she could help in the way she knew best – Luna felt lost.
Everyone was busy getting themselves ready, psychologically and physically, and she had no idea what to do, since she had no real idea what they would face once they were in.
In the end, she found herself wandering around in the meeting room, poring over the map that had once again been spread over the table.
The routes to the exterminators’ department and the dungeon-like prison sector were marked out in ink, and the area where prisoners with information still to give – for the Deathbats were sure that Johnny Christ wouldn’t have submitted yet – was circled in red.
Absorbed by the tangled maze that they would have to navigate to survive and rescue Johnny, Luna jumped when a figure appeared next to her, apparently out of nowhere.
“It’s gonna be hard, isn’t it?” Shadow mused, also staring down at the map.
Luna nodded silently, wondering if hard also meant dangerous, deadly, or impossible.
“We’ll be able to do it, though.” He went on, as if he could read her thoughts. “BLInd won’t be expecting it, so we can just get in there, get Johnny, and get out.”
“Zacky and the guys aren’t expecting to come back, are they?” Luna whispered, horrified, when she realised that Shadow was only talking about Wolf, herself and the lookouts.
“You didn’t know?” Shadow glanced up at her, surprise in his dark eyes. “Sorry, I mean, I just thought you would have realised…” he shook his head, reorganising his thoughts into coherent sentences.
“Myst,” he said eventually, sighing, “They’re basically walking into a trap, that BLInd hasn’t realised they’ve set. Without a miracle, they’re not likely to get out of there alive.”
The thought chilled her veins, the idea of yet another sacrifice, and she realised the deeper meaning behind Zacky’s bitterness about revenge the night before.
“We’d better hope for a miracle then, hadn’t we?” she said weakly, earning a small, grim smile from Shadow.
“That’s about it,” he said, and gave her a quick hug, before leaving as quietly as he came.
Another hour later, by which time Luna had calmed down and managed to put on a brave face, Wolf called everyone together again.
“It’s almost dusk,” he said flatly, catching everyone’s eye as he scanned the room. “I’ve already sent a message to the tunnel rats through Doctor D. Is everyone ready?”
There was a collective nod, and a murmur of assent rippled through the room.
“In that case, M., you and Zacky and Syn can go get the Cadillac ready and start, since you can’t follow the bikes around the shortest way, and Syn knows where to go.” He paused while they left to do what he said, then turned to Luna, Missy and Shadow huddled silently together. “Missy, you’ll need to go with Shadow on the ATV, since you can’t ride a bike – which leaves Myst and I to take two of the bikes.” An echoing silence, then; “Let’s go.”
They gathered in the outside cave in the dying light minutes later, solemnly watching the dust thrown up by the retreating Cadillac, dyed orange by the sinking sun.
Missy and Shadow set out first to show Wolf and Luna the way, taking Luna’s ATV, while Wolf pushed out two big old motorbikes, one a dark blue and the other purplish – to blend in with the night, when they usually travelled.
“You know how to drive one of these?” he asked, raising an eyebrow as Luna hesitated before climbing onto the tall machine.
“I know enough,” she replied casually, hoping silently that it worked much the same way as the ATV, and only required more balance.
Wolf rolled his eyes, hearing the trace of doubt in her voice, then jumped on his own blue bike and started the engine with a kick.
“Whatever you do,” he shouted over the growling noise as Luna started the bike she was riding, “don’t get lost, okay? Just stick close to either me or Shadow.”
“Alright, I wasn’t planning on getting lost,” Luna said with a smirk, and a sudden burst of adrenaline as she set off into the last rays of the rapidly setting sun.
What she didn’t see, as she watched the ground before the bike, was Wolf giving a rare grin behind her as she raced off behind the ATV, before he too followed the retaliatory convoy off into the desert.
