Save Yourself, I'll Hold Them Back.
They came at dawn.
I watched them barrel through the makeshift barricade that we had put up. It didn't hold them off for long. Chimp was supposed to be pulling sentry duty that night, keeping watch over the surrounding area. She was long gone by then.
She had come to see me earlier in the night. She knew I couldn't sleep. She always seemed to know when something was troubling me. That night she told me she was taking two weeks' rations and heading for the tumbleweeds. Said she was gonna try her own luck out in the Zones.
"Come with me, Pony," she had said, leaning over me in the dark. "There's nothing left for us here." And when I looked around at the dirty, cramped room, I almost couldn't help but agree. Almost.
"Look at me, Show Pony," she had said, reaching for me. Her hands, as soft as they were, were foreign on my face; her fingers didn't know where to rest on my flushed skin. "It's us or them, Pony."
I didn't answer, just let her follow my gaze over to Dr. Death's sleeping form. His chest rose and fell in steady motions, one arm tossed over his eyes. His free hand twitched, every so often, toward his hip, where his gun holster was usually strapped.
"You love him," Chimp had said, closing her eyes just for a moment. "Oh, God. You love him." And then she had laughed, a wry, hollow sound that scraped the back of her throat. In the time it took to blink, her lips were warm on mine. And then she was gone.
There was no such thing as love out here, not anymore. There was passion, and desire. There was want and need, and even then, those were often unfulfilled. Jet-Star claimed he had eyes only for the smooth curves of the sand dunes; Party Poison's only mistress was the Firebird.
Now, as I reached for my ray gun as Fun Ghoul jumped out of his bunk, I was only slightly startled to see Kobra tumbling out after.
"Pony!" Jet-Star shouted, taking a flying leap over a chair that had toppled over. "Take Chimp and go! Head for the dunes. We'll catch up to you. Now GO!" He scrambled away, not looking back to see if I complied.
Everything seemed to slow down when the first Drac opened fire on our meager ranks. Party Poison shot him down without hesitation, but not before another caught him in the shoulder. He braced himself against Kobra's back and they pivoted as they fired, gunning down the Dracs only to have more spill into the room. Another shot singed Poison's arm, and then he was falling, the wound in his neck smoking as Kobra Kid screamed and lurched forward unsteadily, his wordless shouts sending tremors through me as he fought wildly through the swarm. I raised my gun, aimed, fired, and another handful of Dracs poured in. And then Kobra was skidding to a stop at my feet, his eyes rolling back into his head.
Girl crouched low, beneath the line of fire, her hands pressed over her ears. I looked past her and noticed that Dr. Death had joined the fray, just in time to see him fall. Everything sputtered to a stop when he hit the floor, disappearing under the stream of white. "No," I whispered, echoing Kobra Kid's scream. "No."
Jet-Star and Fun Ghoul fired rapidly, shouting over each other as they tried to hold the Draculoids off. Then Fun Ghoul was down, dropping to one knee and firing even as the blood dripped from the wound in his shoulder. He took two more shots to the torso and took out three Dracs before he collapsed, falling forward. For every Drac shot, two more swarmed in. It never seemed to end.
Girl screamed when Jet-Star fell beside her, crawling forward, slipping in a puddle of his own blood as he struggled to take out one last Drac. I lifted my gun to fire, and a shot flew past me. The heat from it seared my skin, sent me reeling with white-hot pain through my body. I blinked, and everything swam in front of my eyes. I swayed, struggling to stay conscious, but the darkness dropped like a curtain over my eyes. And then I couldn't feel anything.
--
The dust from the Dracs' departure had settled by the time I awoke; the bodies around me were cold. I pushed myself up, only to collapse under the searing pain that tore through my scalp. I crawled forward, fumbling with my fingers until I found the wound on my temple, still sticky with drying blood. I hissed through my teeth and shut my eyes against another burst of pain, forcing myself to me knees.
A sudden noise made me whip my head around, forgetting about my injury. As I struggled to focus, lights popping in front of my eyes, I realized that it as Dr. Death, huddled on the ground. He coughed, a dry, wheezing sound, as I made my way to him through the wreckage.
His hand clutched at his gut, and when I was close enough to lean over him, I saw the blood pulsing through his twisting fingers. He coughed again, and a trickle of scarlet appeared at his lips.
"P...Pony..." he wheezed. "P-Pony, you're...you're alive..."
"I'm here, Doc," I whispered, leaning closer.
"N-n...St-stay, Pony.....s...tay..." He coughed and sputtered, struggling to push the words out.
"I'm here, Doc."
I kissed him, then, sweet blood and salt mingling on my tongue. I savored the taste until his lips were cold and still under mine.
His gun was still warm when I pressed it to my temple. Chimp was right after all. There was nothing left for me here.