(Alright I only have pictures of Vibe and Lea's logos but could only get Vibe's to load right now. If I get time I will update this and put Lea's logo up here too, so check just to be sure. Now...ON WITH THE STORY! :D )
Part 1: http://www.mychemicalromance.com/blog/zone-specter/apocalypse-part-1
"I am not coming out!" Mikey grumbled.
"Oh c'mon, it can't be that bad," I laughed, rubbing my temples to ward off the growing headache.
"I look like an idiot!" he nearly shrieked.
"Eh, easy on the tones kid," I mumbled.
"Headache?" he asked peaking his head out from behind the changing curtian.
I didn't really have to answer, one look at my face and he probably knew he was right. I'd been prone to headaches in the past with my terrible eyesight, but when we moved out to the west, I'd undergone BLI's forced perfecting process. They made you perfect as they called it, sometimes beyond that so that they could use you in their twisted experiments. I was one of those that was to go through that month long process, to be put through those terrible tests, but they only managed to fix my eyes with laser surgery before that day. Before Alicia and I ran and never looked back. And that surgery may have fixed my eyes, but something went wrong, I know it, before that, my headaches were never this common...or intense.
Mikey sighed and looked down at the floor in defeat.
"Don't laugh," he grumbled.
"Now why would I do a thing like that?" I said sarcastically, "Besides, that's Ghoul's job."
He pulled back the ratty old curtain and stepped out so I could get a better look at him. He'd picked out something simple, just some black skinny jeans and some black combat boots. He'd also picked out a red jacket with black lines across the chest to the back. A black line with white ones on either side of it on the sleeves, and "03" in black on a white break in the black line on the right sleeve. But he still wore the same Smashing Pumpkins band T-shirt.
"You look good kid," I smiled, crossing my arms. "You could personalize the jacket if you wanted ya know," I said nodding towards the Killjoy sitting at the counter.
"Is that why they're here?" he asked looking over to him too.
"Well it's not like he's selling the clothes, he just helps you find what ya need and makes customized touches to clothes if ya want," I said.
He seemed to think things over before he started making his way towards the counter, "Back in a sec."
I shook my head and smiled, knowing very well he'd be coming back with an altered jacket.
Suddenly Alicia went rushing past me towards the multiple racks and shelves of clothes.
"Still trying to help out Soul?" I called after her.
"I never get to do this!" she squealed, "She's letting pick out all her clothes!"
I walked over towards the curtain I knew Lynzie was changing in. I stood next to it and called to Lynzie on the other side.
"You sure you wanna trust my cousin with the job of picking out your wardrobe?" I asked, letting the smile leak into my words.
She popped her head out from behind the curtian, "I trust her taste," she grinned.
"Which is why the only thing I picked out from my own outfit was the jacket," I laughed.
"Go see if the guys are done, I might be awhile," she laughed as Alicia arrived with an armful of more clothes.
"Right, I let your boyfriend know just how cute you look in your new clothes," I teased.
"You do that," she laughed, disappearing behind the curtain with an outfit Alicia had handed her.
Walking on, I went back over to the curtains where Mikey and the others had taken their outfits to try them on.
"You boys done yet or what?" I asked standing in front of the row of changing rooms.
"Jesus Lea give us a sec," Frankie said from behind one of the curtains.
I waited another minute before the middle curtain opened and Frankie stepped out in his new threads. He'd gone with black raglan that had yellow sleeves and black stripes around the wrists. Over that he had a dull green vest with black shoulder patches and a yellow mass Killjoy patch on the sewn into the left side of the vest. I remember him showing me the vest before taking it to try on with the rest of his clothes, showing my the red sun on the back of it. But other than the vest he'd taken some black jean, they weren't skinny jeans but they were fitted close to him. To top it all off he'd scrounged up a shoulder holster, a red-white-and-blue wristband, and some black ankle high boots.
"Everything fit alright?" I asked as I reagusted his vest collar.
"Yes mom," he said sarcastically, but the look he gave me told me he appriciated the motherly gesture.
"Alright, you wanna stick around and see what the others wore or do you wanna go and paint your gun?" I asked.
"I'm not gonna miss out on teasing the others on their outfits," he cackled. "Alright, come on down and show us them threads boys!" he grinned turning back to the curtains.
There's some shuffling before another curtain open up and Danny steps out in some camouflage cargo pants with a brown leather belt and some brown leather hiking boots, paired with a long black sleeve shirt and a denim vest.
"Simple, very you," I say.
"One sec," Frank says before taking off into the aisles.
"What's he doing?" Danny asked, looking confused.
"Running wild like Static," I say. "Looks like someone else is done," I said nodding towards the changing rooms again.
Out came Steve next, wearing something similar to Frank's and Danny's combined. Just some scruffy looking jeans, a black T-shirt with a target on the front that had a blue then a whit and then a red center. Over that he wore a black leather jacket that had green sleeves coupled with some brown hiking boots like Danny's.
"Looking good doc," I laughed.
"Thank you," he smiled.
"I'm back!" Frank called. "Alright, white fingerless gloves for you," he said tossing just that towards Steve. "And green bandana for you," he said tossing that to Danny, "And brown for you," he said, handing the brown bandana to Steve.
They took the extra accessories and put them on. Looking towards each other for the other's opinion.
"You guys look like Killjoys," I laughed.
"Well we are," Danny smirked.
"Touché," I replied.
"So, how do I look?" Ray said from behind us.
We all turned to see what he'd decided to wear. Pretty simple and laid back I guess. Black jeans, black T-shirt, and black boots, even his leather jacket was black, but at least it had a little color to it. There was red piping along the front zipper and around the shoulder, and a red Killjoy patch on the left and there were fake silver buttons up the front to give it a slightly military look. On his left sleeve I could just barely make out the appearace of some sorta card looking thing in yellow.
I knew Frank was about to say something but that's when Ray decided to turn around and show us the back of the jacket. The entire back of the jacket consisted of the old American flag,
"Wow," Danny mumbled.
"A little flashy don't you think?" Frank smirked.
"Like I'd trust your opinion," Ray laughed.
"Good point," Frank said.
"Alright, Geezy, you're the last one," I said, "Time to come out."
We all stood around waiting for the last curtain to open up, waiting for Gee to hurry up. But it never opened, we waited and waited, until finally I walked up to the curtain and put my ear near the fabric. I didn't hear anything so I waved Ray over towards me.
"Open it up and see if he's alright," I said.
"Why can't you do it?" he asked.
"Because I'd rather not barge in on him if he's undressed," I muttered.
"Fine," he sighed.
He listened just as I did, then peeked inside the dressing room. When his face changed to confusion and then panic in an instant, he quickly pulled back the curtain then. It was empty. No one was in there.
"Where the hell is he?" I muttered, looking back to Ray.
He just shrugged his shoulders. I was about ready to start out the small search party when I heard it.
"What you guys looking at?" he said.
I turned around like everyone else to see Gerard, already dressed and giving us the most smug look ever.
"Whoa, nice threads Geezy," Frank grinned.
They were different from what I'd expected, but they also seemed to suit him well. Old faded jeans, tall black boots with red and blue stripes on the outside that stopped just below his knees, what looked like a dark woven belt connected to a thigh holster, brown fingerless gloves, and a blue jacket. Like all the others, the jacket was the main piece to the outfit, just like it was with every Killjoy I knew. It wasn't just plain blue, it had white stripes running across the chest and around the shoulders and upper arms, then there was the red band round each arm, and the Dead Pegasus gas station logo on the left of the front of the jacket.
"Where were you man?" Danny asked.
"Getting an alteration done to the jacket," Gerard said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"What did you do to the jacket?" I asked.
"Check this out," he smiled, then he turned so that we could see the back of his jacket.
On the back was one thing, a large image all in red. It looked like a pill almost, an oval-like shape, half filled with a bold red X bellow it, all inside a red circle. Must've used up all the red thread they had to get that one on there.
"What is that?" Frank laughed poking Gerard in the back.
"It's my logo," he laughed, turning back to face us. "Mikey's making one too, gonna put it on his jacket too when he finishes it," he said.
"So the clerk told you about the logos huh?" I ginned.
"Yeah, why didn't you?" Gerard asked, crossing his arms.
"I figured standard safety skills were a bit more important at the time," I replied.
"Burn!" Frank giggled.
"Well, now that we've come to it, you guys might as well figure out what you want your guys' logos to be," I said.
"What's yours?" Danny asked.
"I can actually show you if you like," I said.
"Really?" Danny asked.
"Come with me," I said, waving them to follow me outside.
"I'm gonna stay here and keep an eye on Mikey," Gerard said looking back towards the counter were Mikey was bent over something consulting with the clerk.
"You sure it's not just to sneak a private moment with Soul?" I smirked.
"No, I'd never do that, especially with D around," Gerard grinned.
"Better not," Steve said said in a warning tone.
Gerard blushed then headed off to go see Mikey. I took that as a safe signal that I could lead the others to what I wanted to show them.
"Alright, follow me," I said.
I walked out of the small building and back out into the boiling sun. I turned to my left and saw the smaller little shack of a building next to the one we'd just come out of. The paint shack.
"Over here," I said walking towards it.
"What're we doing at the paint shack?" Frank asked. "I though you were gonna show us your logo?" he said trying to keep up with me.
"I am," I said. "We use our logos as signs, to show people what we've done and where we've been," I explained, "You can leave them on the places you've raided, put them on warehouses to show they're safe, or with an extra mark to show that they're not safe, that and just simply to let the world know you've made a mark on it."
"So the point of you bringing us out here is?" Frank asked.
By this time I was standing with the lot of them behind me at the back wall of the shack. It had a million different pictures drawn all over it, but the majority of them were little simple ones inside circles, the logos of Killjoys that'd marked this place to let future ones know who'd passed by this place. I myself having done it too a few years ago when Michi and Iri took me and Alicia out here to get some new clothes, right after they'd helped us escape from BLI.
"This is why," I whispered. "Mine's right here," I said point to a black circle that had a yellow cat eye with red lines over it.
"What are the lines for?" Danny asked.
"They're P' and L' in early Greek," I said. "Static's is right here, and above are Vibe's and Neon's," I said pointing out the logos of my family that were near my own.
Just to the right of mine was Alicia's, a small circle surrounded by lightning bolts, like the sun's rays, that was all done in a deep shade of blue. Branching off next to hers was Iris', a circular speaker with a few notes around the center; next to hers was Michi's: a heart with x-ed out eyes and a fangs peaking out from a wicked looking grin.
"There's paint inside," I mumbled. "You guys can go take your guns and paint them if you want, or make a logo," I said nodding towards the building.
"I think I'll keep my white gun for now," Steve said, "As for logo, I think I'll just use what's on my jacket."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
Danny leaned back and looked at the back of Steve's jacket and then grinned.
Turning back to me he jerked his thumb at Steve, "Look for yourself."
Steve shoke his head, but with a smile he turned around and let me see the back of his jacket. The words "Slaughtermatic Sounds" where written in bubble letters fitting in a sort of circular shape.
"Nice," I laughed. "Well I'll leave you guys to it," I said clapping my hands together, "I'm gonna go see how the others are doing inside."
"We'll be out here," Ray said looking over the wall.
I nodded and made my way back inside, where the cover provided some relief from the burning sun. A quick glance over to the counter proved Mikey was still designing his logo with Gerard's and the other Killjoy's help. I kept moving towards the changing rooms to see how Lynize and Alicia were doing then.
"Oh you're back!" Alicia said coming out from behind a rack of jackets. "C'mon I wanna show you how Soul looks!" she gushed as she pulled me along towards the curtain. "You'll love it, she has this really cool custom Killjoy shirt and I just got her this really cool jacket with a motorcycle collar and look!" I look down to the jacket that I now notice is in her hands. "It has zippers at the wrist so that you can open the sleeves," she says, "But it's also pretty well padded too."
"Looks great," I smiled. "Let's go see how she'll look with it on," I say as we reach the changing rooms.
"Alright Soul, come out and show us your new clothes!" Alicia chimed.
"One sec," Lynzie said from the other side of the curtain.
Another minute went by before Lynzie opened up the curtain. She stepped out and Alicia was right, she did look nice. She was wearing some black and white tie-dye skinny jeans and this yellow women's style v-neck that had the words "KEEP RUNNIN" in a brilliant bright red spray painted on. Alicia had also dug up some of the latest style of Killjoy footwear for women, diamond boots. Pretty much normal womens knee high boots-just with diamonds enlaid in the heel, perfect for breaking glass and chains with a good ol' stomp.
"Here's the jacket I found you Soul," Alicia smiled handing the jacket over to Lynzie.
"Wow, looks great," Lynzie smiled taking it and looking over it.
She slipped it on and unzipped the zippers on the sleeves. She turned in a circle and then smiled back to us.
"How do I look?" she whispered, scrunching her eyebrows together nervously.
"Like a Killjoy," I laughed.
"Like an angel," we heard behind us.
Lynzie blushed and smiled at someone behind us, upon turning around I saw that is was Gerard. Of course, only Gerard could be the one Lynzie would give that kind of look to. I glanced at Alicia and gave her a sly smile, and jerked my head to the side ever so slightly. She smirked back and nodded, agreeing that we should give the love birds some time alone.
"Well, I'm gonna go see about finding me and Static some new gloves," I said casually.
"See ya," Alicia said as she and I walked away.
Part 19: http://www.mychemicalromance.com/blog/zone-specter/apocalypse-part-19
