“Uh you know, we should probably head back to the diner.” I mumbled into Frank chest.
We had fallen asleep out on the middle of the desert. The sun was coming up, I didn’t want it to. I just wanted last night to never end.
Frank sighed, a very content sigh.
“But I don’t want to. I just want to stay right here.” He looked down at me, curled up against his bare chest. “I just want to be here with you.” He smirked.
“I know. I do to love, but the guys are gonna start getting worried. If they come and find us like this we could be in some trouble.” I winked at him.
I stood and pulled on my pants and shirt.
“Frankie get up” I whined, pulling on his tattooed arms.
He got up and pulled on his shirt, covering most of his tattoos.
“You need some new clothes…..and hair dye.” He smirked as we started walking back to the diner
“Well you’re nice.”
“It’s true. Your hair isn’t purple anymore. It’s turning blonde. I don’t want to date a blonde, it seems to clichéd. I mean think about it. Amazing rock star dates totally sexy blonde. Not that that’s a bad thing of course. But I really like your purple hair.” He ruffled my hair
“Maybe once we get back we can drive to that store you all found. I’m sure they have some hair dye.” I said.
Frank looked like he had zoned out. I stepped in front of him and walked backwards
“Frankie? What cha thinking about?” I said, holding his hands in between us
“Uhh I was just thinking about…something.”
“Frank…” I gave him a puppy dog look
“Damn it I hate it when you use my own tricks against me.” He smiled. His face went serious. “Me and Gee almost got into a fight when we were in the store.” I raised my eyebrows “He didn’t want to get you out of the city. He wanted to leave you there.”
“What are you talking about?! You told me that you guys had a plan to save me! How could Gee not want me?!”
“I had a plan, not we. He told me that he didn’t want to bring you out here because you could get hurt or.” he swallowed. “or killed. He said that he didn’t want to lose you like your Dad and Mom. I promised him that I would protect you no matter what. Even if it means that I die for you.” He stared at me, with an intense gaze.
“You…you would die for me?” I was taken aback by this, some part of me doubted that he loved me that much.
“Izzy did you not listen to my last night?” he looked confused by my response
“I did but. .uh.. don’t most people say stuff like that after they…err….have sex?” my face turned red. I was never one to talk about that stuff.
“You’re too good for your own mind aren’t you” Frank noticed my blush, his face went serious again.
“Izzy I meant every word I said last night. I don’t know what I would ever do without you. I’ve never loved anything more than you. I love you so so much. I never want you to forget that. If the world was normal this would be the point that I would get down on one knee and pull out a ring.” He kneeled down. “I obviously don’t have a ring, and I can’t even promise tomorrow but I want to be with you forever.” His signature smiled spread across his face. “Izzabella Way, will you be mine until the day when forever ends?”
I could feel tears pouring down my face. I had never heard something more romantic, or cheesy, but that’s just how Frank is. Instead of answering, I threw myself into his arms, eagerly kissing him.
“Yes, absolutely yes.” I repeated in between each kiss.
We both got back up and walked back to the diner, neither of us talking, the feel of the others hand against their own was enough.
An hour later we had finally made it back to the diner. As we stepped on the old parking lot the door was shoved open. Gerard, Ray, Abby, and Mikey were running toward us.
They stopped just short of me and Frank. They were all standing behind Gee, who had a pissed look and his face.
“Where the hell were you?!” Gee demanded
“Uhh.” I could feel my face getting red.
“Isn’t it obvious?” Abby interrupted looking at everyone “They were out alone in the desert alllll night long. They were definitely sleeping together.” She smirked
I pointed at Frank.
“Do Not answer that.” I glared at him
Mikey just shook his head. Him and Abby walked back inside, Ray was close behind them.
“For my sanity please don’t respond to that.” Gee pinched the bridge of his nose, shaking his head.
“You two do realize that there have been a ton of reports of Dracs out here right? You could have gotten yourselves killed.” Gee continued, looking from me to Frank
“Poison come on. Do you honestly think I would have let my Izzy get hurt?” Frank pulled me to himself, holding me to his chest.
Gee seems to lighten up
“Am I really supposed to address you guys as your killjoy names?” I asked, pushing away from Frank, who grabbed my hand and pulled me back.
“You” I freed my arm and pointed to Frank “Stop it.”
He held his hands up as if I had pointed a gun at him.
“Uh yea, I guess so. The four of us have been calling each other by our killjoy names.” Poison said
“Alrighty then. Poison…Me and Frank are obviously okay, so chill, okay?” I turned and looked at Frank. “Ghoul, let’s get the car and go to that store. I’m tired of these clothes.”
“Take Abby and Kobra with you. Be careful, alright?”
“Yea, okay.” I was still kinda upset with him, after what Frank told me, that is.
Poison walked back to the diner. Ghoul grabbed me, again, and dragged me to the car.
“How come you’re being all touchy feely today?” I asked while we waited for Abby and Kobra
“Cause I wove you.” I rolled my eyes and laughed
“What?” Ghoul made a sad face.
“I love you too Ghoul.” I smiled
“Move love birds, Kobra’s driving.” Abby’s voice sounded from outside my window.
We jumped out and got in the back; Ghoul made me sit on his lap. Abby was practically on Kobra’s lap as we took off down route guano.
When we got to the store we split up.
“Meet here in half hour” Kobra said
Me and Frank walked down aisle after aisle, hand in hand.
“Finally!” I found a box of purple Hair Dye. “Oh and here’s some for Abby.” I found some Blue dye too.
“Hmmm, Ghoul? What do you think my killjoy name should be?”
“I was actually thinking about that. I was thinking...uh…Bulletproof Liberation.” He looked at me
“What made you think of that?” I asked, repeating my new name over and over again in my head, it sounded good
“Well nothing ever seems to hurt you, except for those shock sticks, so that’s where the Bulletproof part came from. Then you always seem to want to help other people, so your kinda like a liberator, hence Liberation.” He smiled
“I love it Ghoul. It’s perfect” I kissed him
“Glad you like it.” He mumbled against my lips.
We wandered over to the teen’s clothes. I quickly found a perfect outfit. A light blue and purple diagonal striped mini skirt, black and purple stripped leggings, a black belt, a light blue t-shirt, and a black choker with a spider on it made up the entire look. I looked myself up and down in the dressing room mirror, I liked what I saw. The outfit made me feel like me again.
“Bullet? I found this, maybe we can glue it onto your shirt?” Ghoul threw a patch over the door
It was a circle patch that had a gun in the middle of it, a black stripe going around and through the middle of it. It was absolutely perfect.
“Find me some super glue!” I yelled to him
A few minutes later the glue was done drying and I stepped out of the dressing room. Ghoul’s mouth opened a little. He looked like he could start drooling. I laughed.
“You have some drool.” I smiled and pointed to his mouth
“Bullet, you look amazing! That’s perfect!”
God there was that signature smile again.
I hugged him and we walked back to the front of the store.
“What do you mean you don’t like me?” I could hear Abby yelling
Frank grabbed me and pulled me behind a shelf so we could hear, but not be seen.
“Abby come on! We just met, then we ended up having sex, and now you won’t keep your hands off of me! I don’t want a relationship! Not out here! Maybe if the world was fucking normal we could have had something, but not here! So please chill would you?” Mikey yelled back.
I raised my eyebrows at Frank, he just shrugged. I could faintly hear Abby crying.
“Hey you guys alright?” we walked out from behind the shelf.
“Yea, just fine.” Mikey stormed out of the store.
“Ab? Did you find some clothes?” I asked as I handed her the box of blue dye.
“Yea” she picked up a bag with some clothes in it.
Mikey honked the horn.
“Come on.” I put my arm around her shoulder. “Just give him some time, okay?”
She nodded her head and got in the car after me and Ghoul. The ride home was silent.
We pulled in to the diner parking lot. As soon as the car was off Mikey and Abby both went separate ways. Abby went inside, Mikey walked toward the desert. I shook my head.
“You go talk to Abby. I need to talk to Poison.”
“You’re not gonna take to him about what I told you, are you?” he asked
“Yea actually I am. Now go make sure Mikey didn’t crush her too much.”
Ghoul walked inside while I walked around to the back, where I could hear Poison talking to Dr. D.
“Poison can I talk to you?” I asked.
He stopped shooting his ray gun, that he had now painted yellow with red and black decorations.
“Yea I guess. D, can you give us a few?” Poison asked
“Of course. By the way you’ve got some of the fastest hands I’ve ever seen with that gun.” He said as he wheeled himself through the back door. I could hear Ghoul say hi to him from the back room.
“So what do you wanna talk about Iz?” Poison sat down on the small hit where his target was placed.
“Three things actually. One, nice gun, when do I get one? Two my name’s Bulletproof Liberation now, or Bullet for short. Three, what did you and Frank argue about at the store?”
I could see his expression change to one of nervousness.
“Uhhh. One, as soon as I can get Mikey to hack into the vending machine up front. Two, sweet name. Uhhhhhh, we were just arguing about a way to get you out of the city.” He wouldn’t look at me.
I narrowed my eyes, a venomous look aimed at Poison.
“Don’t lie to me. Frank told me what your plan was.” He started biting at his bottom lip.
“Iz…”
“No, Gerard. Don’t even try to talk your way out of this one!” My anger toward him had bubbled to the surface. “You wanted to leave me there! You wanted me to become one of them! They were fucking training me to come out here and kill you, but you still wanted to keep me locked up in that hell hole!” I started pacing back and forth in front of where he sat. “How could you even think of doing that to me? You have no idea what it was like in there! I couldn’t do anything! On top of that I had to watch other kids get killed and beaten to death on a daily basis! Do you know what that’s like? Do you know what it’s like to know that if you lose one fight you’re dead?” he just sat there “No you don’t! It was one of the worst things I have ever been through!” I stopped pacing, tears had finally made their way to the surface. “How could you Gee?”
He stood up and wrapped his arms around me.
“You’re right, I don’t know what it was like inside the city. I don’t know what it’s like to watch other people die every day. But what I do know is that I never wanted to hurt you. I just wanted to keep you safe.”
There was no way I was going to stand there and here that.
I pulled away from him and shook my head. I ran for the back door, leaving Gerard speechless behind me. Tears were pouring down my face as I ripped open the door.
Ghoul was pressed up against the far wall, Abby pressed against him. Their lips were locked together, soundlessly moving. I could hear Abby moan.
Ghoul saw me and pushed the other girl away. She turned toward me and waved hello, a smirk on her face.
“Izzy! No! God damn it! This isn’t what it looks like!” Ghoul yelled
It was too late for his words to mean anything to me. I backed out the door, only to back right into Gerard. He tried to grab me. I shoved him out of my way and tore off into the desert.
I ran until I could run anymore, and eventually collapsed next to Elliot’s grave.
I curled up on my side.
“Why can’t I be dead like you?” I mumbled and passed out
