Keep Running [part 3]
Keep Running
[ index] - [ part 1] - [ part 2] - [part 3] - [ art] - [ mix]
Another all-day drive lands them at another safehouse. This one is on the outskirts of a town, an old visitor’s center with a rack of outdated maps and brochures for activities people no longer do. Frank picks one up-Looking For Adventure? Try White Water Rafting! it says in a cheerful font on yellowed paper.
“Do you remember the beach?” Frank asks without turning around.
“Yeah,” Mikey answers. Ray shakes his head.
“Our parents took us a few times,” Gerard adds. “They wanted us to see the water.”
“My brother said he took me,” Ray says. “But I don’t remember it. I was too young.”
Frank doesn’t offer a story of his own. He puts the brochure back. “I don’t think we can stay here very long.”
Mikey nods in agreement, and Ray does too, but then Ray meets Gerard’s eyes and Gerard can see something click in Ray’s mind. He stands up a little straighter and tilts his head so his hair falls away from his face. “What is it?” Gerard asks apprehensively.
“They find us,” Ray says, his voice slow and careful. He’s still putting words to his thoughts, but Gerard doesn’t have the patience to wait for him to be articulate. “Korse always finds us.”
“Yeah, I know,” Gerard snaps.
“We’re bugged,” Ray tells them. He sounds so certain. There’s an abrupt silence as they all take it in, and then it seems obvious.
“How?” Gerard asks. Ray stares back at him, his face falling.
“We can take apart all our gear,” Mikey says quietly. “Piece by piece until we find the tracker. The car, too.”
“It’s me,” Frank breaks in. “It has to be me.”
“What?”
Frank looks up and meets Gerard’s gaze. Gerard can see him slipping into the panicked, hysterical place where Frank can’t control himself and he steps forward, intent on calming Frank down before he starts screaming or crying.
“They took me,” Frank says. “I was unconscious. I don’t know-”
“There’s nothing,” Gerard insists. He takes Frank’s hands and squeezes them tightly. “I’ve seen you, Frank. There’s nothing.”
“Think about it,” Frank shouts, yanking out of Gerard’s hold. “Those dracs didn’t go after the car, Gee. They came to us. He came to me.”
Frank is ripping off his shirt and vest before Gerard can stop him. His shoes follow, then his jeans, and finally his underwear. And then, standing naked before them, Frank starts scratching at the edges of the bandage on his stomach.
“They put it inside me,” he whispers frantically. “I know it, I know he did something, he put it in me, Gerard, I have to-”
“Frank! Frankie, stop!” Gerard yells, grabbing at Frank’s hands. “Don’t do this, don’t hurt yourself over this, there’s nothing there!”
Frank struggles against his grasp and it’s obvious he’s not holding himself back at all. Frank scratches Gerard’s arms, his face, his throat, kicks at his knees, twists and turns and finally wrenches away, blood on his fingertips.
“You don’t know that!” he screams. “You don’t know! You don’t know what happened!”
He finally succeeds in ripping the bandage off. He sinks to his knees and clutches at his stomach, where an angry, red scar stretches across his abdomen just beneath his navel. It hasn’t fully healed yet, but it’s no longer bleeding and the stitches hold firm. The skin surrounding the wound is deeply bruised.
Horror sweeps through Gerard’s body when he realizes what Frank’s about to do.
“No,” he shouts. “No, Frank. Stop this.” He gets to his knees and forces Frank’s hands away from the wound. “There’s nothing there. Stop. Stop, Frankie, you’re hurting yourself.”
Frank stills, panting from exertion but no longer fighting him. The paranoia lingers behind his eyes; he looks up at Gerard and whispers, “You don’t know.”
Without breaking Frank’s gaze, Gerard calls to Ray. “Can you get a new bandage, please?”
“I’ll… start… checking the car,” Mikey adds, following Ray out.
“You have to check,” Frank says urgently. “You have to make sure. Gerard, please. Just look.”
“I’m not fucking cutting you open-”
“I’m already cut open!”
“You’re healing,” Gerard snaps. “They probably just stuck a bug under the car or something, Frankie. Don’t be like this.”
Ray comes back in and quiet sits down beside them, laying the gauze and tape in his lap. Frank lets out a shuddery breath and lies back, still with his feet tucked beneath him. His back is bowed over his heels, his shoulders pressing into the dusty floor, and he extends his arms to either side, palms facing up. It reminds Gerard vividly of that first day Frank came back, when he had unconsciously mimicked being held down by Korse.
“You should just leave me here,” he breathes. “He’s tracking me because he knows you won’t leave me. You have to leave me.”
“No,” Gerard replies fiercely. He lays his hand on Frank’s taut stomach, feeling the rough bump of the stitches beneath his fingers. “There’s nothing inside you, Frank. Trust me.”
Frank stares at the ceiling and says again, “You don’t know.”
Gerard pushes himself to his feet, angry with Frank, angry with Korse, and mutters to Ray to apply the bandage. He doesn’t wait around to watch him finish.
Mikey is outside, on his back underneath the car. Gerard squats down and peeks under.
“I didn’t think you were actually going to check,” he says.
“What happened to Frank?” Mikey asks.
Gerard lies down on his back. The sun is setting, but there’s still enough daylight to see the faint wisps of clouds overhead and feel the warmth on his face. He sighs, unsure of how to respond. Mikey doesn’t pressure him for an answer; he continues clattering around in the undercarriage.
“He wants us to leave him,” Gerard finally replies. “He wants to die.”
“No, he doesn’t.”
“You didn’t see him in there.”
“Are you ever gonna tell us what happened to him to fuck him up so bad?” Mikey scoots out from under the car and rests his head near Gerard’s. They’re both quiet for a long moment. “Korse did something to him, didn’t he?”
“Yeah.”
“Did he-fuck. Did he…” Mikey takes a breath, shuddering. Gerard bites his lip and waits for the question he knows is coming. “It was bad, wasn’t it?” Mikey asks.
“Yeah.”
“Jesus,” Mikey breathes. “Tell me I’m wrong, Gee. Tell me Korse didn’t fuck him.”
Gerard shakes his head. “I can’t.”
Mikey sits up, horror etched into his features. “Fuck, are you serious?”
“Jesus, Mikey. Would I make that shit up?”
“He’s gonna be okay, though, right? He’s okay.”
“Physically. But mentally… I don’t know anymore.”
Mikey’s falls silent. Gerard closes his eyes. The wind whistles past; a chill is already starting to hit the air and the sun hasn’t even fully set, but Gerard welcomes the relief from the overwhelming heat of the day.
“You said,” Mikey begins, his voice careful and measured. “You said you fucked him.”
“Yeah.”
“You said he couldn’t sleep after.”
“Yeah.”
“Gerard…”
“I don’t know what I’m doing with him,” Gerard admits.
“Do you still love him?” Mikey asks.
“Of course. Of course I do. I would die for him. I just hate…”
“Hate what?”
“I hate Korse for what he did. I mean, I hated him before, but now… It’s different, somehow. I don’t get it. It’s just… more. I want him to hurt for making Frank like this. I want to fucking torture him.”
Mikey bends over him and kisses his forehead. “Don’t let it make you crazy,” he warns. “You can outsmart him if you try, but you have to try.” He stands up, his shadow falling across Gerard’s face. “I didn’t find anything under the car, and I don’t really want to take it apart piece by piece while we’re still on the run.”
“Thanks for checking. And Mikey… don’t tell him you know.”
Gerard doesn’t move until the chill of night draws shivers from his body. He pulls his jacket tighter over his chest. The sky has darkened to a deep blue, lighter towards the west, and there’s no sound anywhere except for the soft murmur of the others moving around inside.
He hears footsteps. Someone sits down beside him.
“I’m sorry,” Frank murmurs. “I don’t want to die. I just wanted to protect you.”
“Leaving you wouldn’t protect me,” Gerard tells him. “I don’t care if you are blasting a fucking tracking signal. I’m not leaving you. Ever.”
“Because you’re stupid.”
Gerard sits up, faces Frank. Frank is wrapped in Ray’s leather jacket; his legs are crossed and his hands are resting in his lap. Gerard touches his knee. “Do you honestly believe they put something inside you?”
Frank shrugs. The oversized jacket bunches up under his ears. “It’s the only explanation, right?”
“If there’s a bug, we’ll find it,” Gerard says. “I don’t think it’s in you.”
“But you don’t know for sure.”
Gerard takes his hand and drags them both to their feet. “We’ll figure this out, Frankie.”
Inside, Ray is dozing on one of their blankets, stretched out on the floor. Mikey sits by the window, gun in his lap.
“I’m taking first watch,” he says quietly as they pass. “Get some rest.”
Gerard pulls Frank onto the other blanket with him and wraps his arms around Frank’s shoulders. Frank doesn’t flinch or jerk away, but it takes him several minutes to return Gerard’s embrace, and even longer to settle in for sleep. Gerard lets himself relax only when he feels the tension leave Frank’s body.
“He’ll come tomorrow,” Frank whispers.
***
Gerard takes his watch after Mikey, giving Ray some more time to rest. He’s really been carrying their gang since Frank was taken, and Gerard makes a mental note to thank him for stepping up. When Mikey shakes him awake, Gerard nods and kisses Frank’s forehead. He’s sleeping, finally, but his mouth is twisted into a frown. Mikey takes Gerard’s place on the blanket and strokes Frank’s clenched fists, trying to soothe him.
“Anything?” Gerard whispers.
“Quiet as a grave,” Mikey replies. “Wake me again if you get tired. I’m okay for another watch.”
Gerard shakes his head, determined to last the night. “You need the rest as much as Ray.”
Mikey rolls his eyes and gives Gerard a grateful smile before snuggling closer to Frank and settling in to sleep. Gerard takes his gun and goes outside.
The stars are bright, out in the middle of nowhere with no electricity. He takes a deep breath; the air is cold enough to sting his throat, but it’s so refreshing after the heat of day and he embraces it as he takes a long, slow walk around the building. Far, far off in the distance, there’s the faint glow of the city against the horizon.
“Motherfuckers,” he mutters.
They’ve been circling Battery City for so long, but it’s been almost a year since Gerard’s set foot within the city limits. He’s pretty sure Mikey and Ray didn’t even go beyond the outskirts when they had to find fuel. But lately they’ve been circling closer and closer, spiraling in as the dracs chase them, like Korse is a dog herding sheep. It’s almost inevitable now that they’ll end up exactly where they started, on BL/ind’s front step.
Gerard keeps moving, keeps watching the horizon, but there’s no discernable movement and he can’t hear anything but silence. He only starts to feel drowsy when the sun begins to rise.
He hears footsteps behind him and whirls around.
“Oh good, you’re not dead,” Mikey says quietly, smiling. “You didn’t wake me up.”
“I wasn’t tired,” Gerard replies. “I’m fine.”
“You must be tired. We’re all exhausted, you don’t have to pretend.”
“I’m not pretending,” Gerard insists. He thinks, privately, that he’s been falling down on the job. He should be tired, he should be taking control and getting his gang to safety. He should be protecting Frank. This whole mess is his fault, anyway.
Mikey touches his arm, jolting him out of his spiral of self-pity.
“Thanks,” he says. “The others still sleeping?”
“Ray’s up,” Mikey tells him. “Frank was asleep when I came out here, but…”
“But what?”
“He was having nightmares all night. He kept… I don’t know, saying stuff. Mumbling.”
Gerard sighs and rubs his forehead. “I should…”
“Yeah. Do you want me to get the car ready?”
Gerard shakes his head. “If Frank’s right, if we’re bugged or whatever, then we should just stay here, prepare ourselves. Get all the guns charged, scope out any places to hide, whatever will give us the advantage. I’ll go check on him.”
Frank isn’t sleeping when Gerard cracks open the door. He has his head in Ray’s lap and he’s shaking, panting harshly, and Ray’s combing his fingers through Frank’s hair. Frank allows it for a moment, then shakes his head. Ray cups his hand around the back of Frank’s neck instead.
“He didn’t do it on purpose,” Ray murmurs. Gerard ducks back behind the door to stay out of sight. “You know we’d never leave you on purpose.”
“You should, though,” Frank says. “He’s gonna find us and it’s my fault.”
“No, it’s not,” Ray soothes. “Even if you are bugged or what the fuck ever, it’s not your fault. Korse is a fucking bastard for what he did to you. It’s his fault.”
They fall silent and Gerard waits. He’s just about to go inside and make his presence known when he hears Frank ask, “Did you know about Gerard?”
“I suspected.”
“You know, we slept together the other night.”
Ray doesn’t answer. Gerard holds his breath.
“I asked him to.”
“Are you… I mean, was it okay? I mean. Fuck, Frankie, was that a good idea?”
“I didn’t think of Korse. I just thought of Gerard. But I think he thought of Korse,” Frank says miserably. “I don’t know if he can get past it.”
“I think he feels guilty,” Ray says, and Gerard rolls his eyes. Obviously.
“I just wish I’d known, y’know? Sooner, I mean. Like, before Korse. I didn’t want the first time to be like that.”
“I’m sure it’ll just take time,” Ray murmurs. “For both of you.”
Gerard rubs at his forehead again, feeling the ghost of a headache brought on by guilt and fuck knows how many stressful emotions rolling around in his brain. Neither Frank nor Ray say anything for several minutes, so Gerard figures it’s safe to go inside. He slips in quietly. Frank is asleep again, and Ray’s hand rests on his shoulder.
Ray looks up, his dark eyes filled with sympathy.
“I’m glad he talked to you,” Gerard whispers.
“We gotta find Korse,” Ray answers, his voice low and even quieter than Gerard’s. “We gotta kill him.”
“We will,” Gerard promises.
Mikey comes inside in a burst of noise and excitement. “I had the radio on and-”
“What?”
Frank stirs and blinks awake. He shifts out of Ray’s lap and sits up. “What’s going on?”
“Dr. D was on the radio,” Mikey tells him. “Korse isn’t coming for us today or tomorrow or anytime this week. We can get the fuck out of here while he’s distracted. He’s not chasing us.”
“Wait,” Ray says slowly, pushing himself to his feet. “How does he know?”
“The transmission started with a warning to the underground in the city,” Mikey says breathlessly. Gerard can see the excitement growing in his eyes. “BL/ind pulled Korse back into Battery City to ‘take care of the pests’ and they’ll keep him occupied for days. You guys, this is our chance. We can make a run for it.”
“No,” Frank says. They all look down at him. He meets each of their eyes in turn, then focuses on Gerard. “We can’t run, Gee,” he says. “We’re being tracked. I can feel it. If we run, he’ll find us.”
“So what do you suggest?” Ray asks coolly.
“Attack.”
“What?” Mikey asks.
“In the city?” Frank nods and Gerard knows instantly what he’s thinking. “Join up with the underground movement.”
“This is our chance to get revenge,” Frank says vehemently. He struggles to his feet, clutching his side as he twists through painful positions, and gets right up in Gerard’s face. “Please,” he whispers. “We can do this.”
“We’ll be outnumbered,” Mikey says. “We’ll be at a disadvantage, on their home turf.”
“The underground will help us.”
“Frankie, we don’t know them,” Ray adds.
“But we’re on the same side. We all want to bring them down. Please, Gee, let me have this. I can do it. We can end this. Forever.”
Without taking his eyes away from Frank, Gerard gestures to Mikey. “Get back on the radio. Get a message to Dr. D, see if we can get any more information. We’ll need everything we can get our hands on.”
“You’re seriously considering this?” Ray asks incredulously. “Gerard, it’s suicide.”
“We can do it,” Frank whispers earnestly.
Mikey makes a disbelieving noise. “Jesus, Frank, we want to kill him as much as you do, but this-”
“No, you don’t,” Frank cries. He whirls around to face the others. “You don’t understand. I hope you never understand, because it fucking hurts, but it’s different, alright? It’s different.” Gerard lays a hand on Frank’s shoulder but Frank shrugs him off. “We have a chance to finally fucking end this and stop running around in circles. We’re never gonna get this chance again.”
“Even if he is tracking us, we can get a head start,” Mikey says in a low, urgent voice. “We can get to safety.”
“Frank’s right, though,” Ray says. “It wouldn’t last.”
Frank turns back to Gerard, his eyes blazing fiercely. “I will do this with or without you. If I have to walk to Battery City myself, I will.”
“Frank-”
“I’m gonna kill him,” he says. “But I want you there with me when I do.”
“We got your back, Frankie,” Ray says after a moment. Mikey waits for Gerard’s nod before throwing in his support as well.
“I’ll go make the transmission.”
Five hours later, they have maps, supplies, and a plan.
“The fabulous Killjoys are at it again,” Dr. Death Defying says through the crackly radio. “Best of luck to you boys. May your aim be true and your guns be charged.”
Frank stares at the radio with a determined glare. After the transmission cuts off, Frank springs to his feet.
“Where’s a fucking knife?” he asks.
“What?”
“A knife, I need a knife.”
Gerard immediately remembers Frank tearing at his bandage and his blood runs cold. “Why?” he asks, forcing his voice to stay casual.
“I just need it, alright? Scissors or-or that electric razor. Where is it?”
“In the car,” Ray answers.
Frank goes outside.
“What is he doing?” Mikey asks under his breath. Ray shrugs, bewildered.
Gerard hurries outside as well. He finds Frank hunched over beside the car, a razor-sharp knife in one hand and a fistful of his own hair in the other. He pulls it away from his head, holding it taut, and raises the blade.
“Frank!” Gerard shouts in alarm. “What are you doing?”
“What the fuck does it look like?”
“No, don’t-”
Frank jabs the knife in Gerard’s direction. “Don’t you fucking dare. This has nothing to do with you.”
“Frankie, why-” Frank glares at him. “Okay,” Gerard allows. “Stupid question. I’m sorry.”
Frank raises the knife again and begins to saw at his hair. Clumps of it slip from his fingers and float to the ground. Gerard’s throat feels thick and raw, like he’s about to cry, which is ridiculous. Frank’s hair isn’t something Gerard needs to mourn. He tries to swallow around the lump in his throat and speak normally.
“Can I do it?”
Frank pauses. After a moment he hands over the knife, handle first.
“What do you want? Just… shorter?”
“Gone,” Frank replies. “All of it.”
“All of it?”
“All of it.”
Gerard takes the knife and starts hacking at Frank’s hair, cutting off as much as he can in big clumps. He’s sad to see it go; Frank’s hair has always been beautiful, flying around his face when they’re driving with the windows down, tangled and standing on end when Frank first wakes up in the morning. Curling around his ears when Frank’s bent over, working. Falling into his eyes when he eats.
Clenched in Korse’s fist as he yanked Frank’s head around.
Gerard keeps cutting until Frank’s hair is only a few inches long all over, messy and uneven. He runs his fingers through it carefully.
“All of it,” Frank says again. He pulls the battery powered razor from the trunk of the car and holds it up.
Gerard leans around Frank to take it and kisses Frank’s cheek. “You’re beautiful,” he whispers.
“This will be better,” Frank assures him quietly. “Less trouble.”
“I know.”
The razor buzzes to life in Gerard’s hand. He winces as he shaves away the last bits of Frank’s hair, leaving him with just a thin layer of prickly stubble on his scalp. Gerard tosses the razor back into the car and rubs his palm over the crown of Frank’s head, where the fuzz is the softest.
After a moment, Frank turns around. “Is this okay?” he asks.
Gerard nods, ignoring the threat of tears. It will grow back, he thinks. Besides, Frank looks good like this too. It reminds him of how Frank looked when they first met, back when Frank was only seventeen. So much has changed since then.
Frank puts on his dark, mirrored sunglasses. “Do I look cool?”
“You always look cool,” Gerard replies. He takes the sunglasses off and hooks them into Frank’s collar, then slides both hands up Frank’s neck and into where Frank’s hair used to be so long and soft between his fingers. Now there’s only the bite of it beneath his skin. Frank doesn’t protest.
“We’re gonna end this,” he whispers. He tilts his head back, pushing into Gerard’s grasp. “Everything’s gonna be better.”
“Yeah,” Gerard agrees. “I love you.”
Frank breaks into a smile.
***
They have no way of communicating with the underground rebellion in Battery City, but according to Dr. Death Defying’s sources, their plan is to lead the dracs out into the city, leaving BL/ind’s headquarters relatively unprotected for the Killjoys to sneak in and take control.
As Gerard drives them towards the main road into town, he takes stock of the others’ expressions. Ray is looking down at the gun in his lap, thumb idly stroking the muzzle. Mikey stares back at him in the rearview mirror, and Gerard knows with that one glance exactly how much of a bad idea Mikey thinks this is. Frank just seems determined, not scared at all.
“You guys ready?” Gerard asks.
Mikey’s the only one to answer. “Fuckin’ ready.”
They’ve been driving all day and only now, close to midnight, do they start passing the abandoned buildings that mark the outskirts of the city. Gerard turns the headlights on. Even with their old, beat-up trans-am, they’ll blend in better this way.
“Take a left,” Ray says quietly. Gerard doesn’t need the instruction; he knows the route to BLI like the back of his hand.
“Keep your eyes peeled for dracs,” Mikey tells them. “If the underground is drawing them away from headquarters, they might be anywhere.”
Miraculously, they don’t find any but a few dead bodies dressed in white on the far side of BL/ind’s parking lot.
“Well, it looks like someone’s been busy,” Ray mutters.
“Let’s hope they keep it up.”
“They’ve got our backs,” Mikey assures them.
Gerard looks for Frank in the rearview and finds him staring out the window with the same stoic, determined expression. He’s a little worried; Frank’s usually a chatterbox before a big fight. But this is different, and Gerard can’t be looking for excuses to abort. Not now that they’re so close. He parks the car right at the front entrance.
They don’t hesitate. The big, glass façade is intimidating, especially after all their time spent in the desert, but they charge forward as a group and walk into the lobby with confidence Gerard doesn’t quite feel.
“Where do we go?” Mikey whispers.
The lobby is empty, even the security desk. About half of the bank of CCTV screens show only static. Frank draws his gun and marches ahead of them, picking a hallway at random. Gerard follows without question. By the time they reach their third abandoned security checkpoint, Ray starts getting twitchy. He touches Gerard’s arm.
“Where the hell are we going?” he asks in a low voice. “This feels like a trap, Gee.”
Gerard swallows nervously. Ray’s right, it does feel like a trap, but this is their mission. They have to keep going.
“Hey,” Mikey calls suddenly. He’s fallen behind, and they all rush back to his side. Mikey points through a glass wall at a room with another bank of video screens. “We can figure out where everyone is on there.”
The door separating them from the video room is locked, but Ray elbows through the glass without a word. No alarms go off. The door opens easily from the other side. They file in and start scanning the video feeds.
Gerard takes his time searching each screen for movement. After a few seconds, Mikey reaches up and touches one of the screens on the top row.
“They’re dead,” he says softly.
“All of them?”
“No,” Ray answers. His voice is cold and sharp. He points to another screen, down at the bottom of the grid. A handful of men in white uniforms are streaming into the building through the underground entrance.
“There,” Frank adds, pointing to yet another feed. Korse is there with four of his personal guards, speaking into a radio.
Mikey presses his arm against Gerard’s. “Split up?” he asks, low enough for only Gerard to hear.
Gerard doesn’t want to split up. He really doesn’t want to. He grabs Mikey’s hand and shakes his head.
“Gee, we gotta split up. You and Frank go after Korse. He’s gotta be in the center of the building somewhere. We’ll take care of the dracs and meet you there,” Ray says.
“We need to stay together,” Gerard protests weakly.
Ray turns to face him, confused. “What? They’re bottlenecked at the door, we can cut them off if we hurry, and that’ll keep you and Frankie from being ambushed. Come on, Gerard.”
“But-”
“Gee, we have to,” Mikey adds. He squeezes Gerard’s hand then abruptly lets go.
“Come on, Mikey,” Ray says. They head out the door, back the way they came.
Frank waits beside Gerard, holding himself awkwardly, his shoulders tense. Gerard wants to touch him, reassure him, but he can’t bring himself to move.
“What’s wrong with you?” Frank asks without looking at him.
“What?”
“You’re not acting right. You’re not making decisions,” he says tightly. “We need you to be in charge.”
“I’m sorry, I just… I don’t want to lose you guys. We should’ve stayed together.”
“No, Gee, we shouldn’t,” Frank shouts, whirling to face him. “Ray’s right, they can stop the dracs and give us a clear shot at Korse. We have to take it. Now is our only chance. We aren’t far from him now. We have to go.”
Gerard tracks Mikey and Ray’s progress on the video screens. They’re almost down to the basement level, where the dracs have fanned out and taken cover. Frank points at Korse.
“He’s right there. He’s practically waiting for me!”
The black and white feed wavers as Gerard watches it. Korse looks up into the camera and stares, like he can actually see them through the feed. Like he knows they’re watching.
“Gerard!”
He feels his expression harden. “Let’s go.”
Frank dashes out in front of him and they set a quick pace through the labyrinth of glass-walled hallways and conference rooms. Gerard sees the guard before Frank does; he grabs a handful of Frank’s vest and hauls him backwards, around a corner and out of sight.
“What did you see?” Frank whispers urgently.
“A guard. Just one. I think the others are all inside. Straight down this hall and to the left.”
“Can we get a clear shot from here?”
“No,” Gerard sighs. “We just have to be ready.”
“I’m ready,” Frank tells him. Gerard meets his eyes and kisses him, soft and gentle. Frank’s eyes gleam with renewed confidence when they break apart.
“Let’s do this.”
They both draw their guns and storm down the hallway. The guard goes down fast under their constant stream of laser fire, and as Gerard predicted, two more guards come through the door. They kill both and leave their bodies piled at the threshold.
With their backs against the wall on either side of the open door, Gerard meets Frank’s eyes again. Frank nods.
Gerard lets him go in first. The room is another one full of video feeds, but half of these screens are showing things that don’t even look like the city, much less BL/ind headquarters. Korse stands at one end with a guard beside him and one in front of him. They all have their guns aimed and ready.
Frank fires a shot without hesitating and the front guard falls. Korse’s lip curls.
“Good evening,” he says coolly. “Welcome to my office. I did hope you’d come visit me. You must have a death wish.”
“I didn’t walk into a fucking trap,” Frank growls.
“Oh, but I believe you did,” Korse replies. He gestures to the screens with a wave of his free hand. “You see, your boys are no match for my army.”
Frank doesn’t look away from Korse, so Gerard inspects the video feeds. Sure enough, he finds one with a view of the basement, and he can see the flash of each round of laser fire.
“I don’t really fucking care,” Frank says. “I came for you, and oh look, here we are.”
“You’ve got two guns at your head, Korse,” Gerard adds. “It’s over.”
The remaining guard makes a move. Gerard shoots him without a second thought. Korse’s expression turns stony when the body hits the ground.
“It’s over,” Frank echoes as he advances on Korse. It doesn’t matter that he’s smaller when he pushes the gun right up against Korse’s shiny forehead.
“You can’t pull that trigger, Frankie,” Korse murmurs. “Not when I’ve got my gun on him.”
Gerard’s focus narrows but he doesn’t feel the same cold thrill that he usually experiences when a gun is aimed at him. Frank shifts his grip on his gun and Gerard wills him not to lose his nerve.
“I told you,” Frank says, “I don’t fuckin’ care. Shoot him. Shoot me. As long as I get a shot at you, I’m pretty fuckin’ happy.”
“You are like a puppet, aren’t you?” Korse taunts. “You can’t even care about your friends. You just do what they tell you.”
“I don’t-”
“Frankie, don’t listen,” Gerard calls loudly. “Just hear me, okay? Just focus on me.”
“I used you, and now you think you have a mind of your own? No, Frankie, no. You’re as predictable as Gerard, and that’s saying a lot. He’s ruled by his emotions, just like you. It makes you weak.”
“I’m not-”
“Frank, don’t listen.”
“You didn’t even matter, in the grand scheme of things,” Korse says with a weirdly sympathetic smile. “I’m going to kill Gerard, just like I always planned. You were just a means to an end. Fun to play with, of course, I’m not denying that. I particularly enjoyed the way you screamed when I-”
Frank and Gerard both move at once. Frank smacks the side of Korse’s head with the butt of his gun while Gerard lunges for Korse’s hands. He twists Korse’s arm until his hand spasms and his grip on the gun loosens enough for Gerard to snatch it from him. Frank kicks Korse’s leg and sends him down to one knee.
“No,” Frank snaps. “You can’t play with people like you played with Gerard, and you can’t hurt people like you hurt me. You don’t deserve to live.”
“You’re pathetic,” Korse snarls. “It wasn’t even difficult to make you scream and cry. You didn’t even give me a challenge.”
“I’m not pathetic,” Frank mutters. Gerard backs off, but keeps both his and Korse’s guns leveled on Korse’s head.
“Do it, Frankie,” he whispers.
“You’re like a broken toy,” Korse sneers. “You’re weak.”
“I’m stronger than you.”
Frank pulls the trigger. Korse seems to fall in slow motion; it takes ages for his body to hit the ground. Frank stands over him, calm and stern, and fires four more shots into Korse’s lifeless chest. He finally exhales when Gerard touches his arm.
“It’s done,” Gerard says.
“Yeah.”
Gerard wants to ask if it feels good, if Frank is satisfied now, but it doesn’t matter. Frank did what he came here to do. He can sort out how he feels about it later. Gerard nods toward the screens.
“Those at the top,” he says, “they aren’t from the city.”
“That looks like… Gee, I think that one’s the diner. The safehouse.”
“Fuck,” Gerard breathes. “They were staking us out the whole time.”
“That must be how they found us,” Frank says. Gerard detects a note of relief in his voice. He wraps his arm around Frank’s back and touches the edge of his bandage through his shirt, reassuring himself that it’s still there. Frank passes his gun to his left hand and touches Gerard’s fingers with his right.
The basement video feed catches Gerard’s eye. “I think they need some backup.”
Frank grins manically. It’s a familiar look for heading into battle, and it does more to ease Gerard’s mind than Korse’s dead body lying three feet away. They head to the elevator.
When the doors open to the lower level, they’re met with a stream of laser fire. Gerard dodges behind a wall and shoots back blindly; he hears one body slump to the ground. Frank pops up by his side and points down the opposite hallway.
“Mikey!” Gerard shouts. “Ray?”
“We gotta get up to the lobby,” Ray calls back. “Where’s Frank?”
Frank rounds the corner and blasts another two dracs into oblivion. “Right here, motherfuckers.”
The hallway’s clear now; Frank and Gerard run to the opposite end and straight into Ray’s arms. Mikey’s huddled behind him, clutching his right shoulder. His gun hangs weakly from his hand. Gerard hugs him tight.
“I’m fine, it’s just sore,” Mikey grumbles.
“He jammed it when a drac got him on the ground,” Ray explains. “But we’re doin’ okay, we’re good. How’s… How’d it go?”
“It’s done,” Frank replies. “Let’s get the fuck out of here.”
They hear the heavy footsteps of another squadron of dracs, their boots slapping the floor like bursts of gunfire. Frank goes back into the hallway shooting, clearing a path to the emergency stairs.
“Let’s go.”
Gerard leads them into the stairwell. Frank darts past him, up to the top of the stairs, and Ray takes the rear, keeping his gun aimed at the closed door. More dracs meet them in the glass-walled lobby, but Frank fires indiscriminately, not even taking the time to aim, and many of his wild shots take the dracs down.
“They’re blocking the door,” Mikey shouts. “Is there another way out?”
Gerard dashes behind the security desk, quickly checking the screens for a clear exit, but with their car right outside the main entrance, leaving through the back of the building wouldn’t get them far. The noise from the gunfight is deafening, but none of the cries sound like his gang. He closes his eyes for a second and tries to focus, pull a plan out of thin air.
A clatter of equipment close by brings Gerard back to the present, though. A draculoid with a heavy laser rifle has come back behind the security desk. He doesn’t shoot at Gerard; he seems more intent on the control panel on the desk. Gerard kicks him away, sending him to his knees with a howl of pain, then shoots the fucker in the head.
“Gee, we gotta go!” Ray shouts. “Come on!”
Gerard looks up over the high desk and sees only a few dracs left standing. Mikey and Frank are already outside, blowing holes in the SUV tires and starting up the trans-am. Gerard looks back down at the desk, at what the drac was trying to find.
There’s a camera built into the desk, he realizes. He bends down and peers closely at it. On the control panel, there’s a row of buttons. Play, rewind, stop. Record. Gerard hits that one.
“Stop fucking with us,” he snarls at the camera. “We’re not playing your games anymore.”
Another drac comes around the desk before Ray can stop him. Gerard whips his gun around and clips it in the shoulder. The drac goes down, but he’s still alive. Gerard faces the camera again.
“You keep messing with us, and you’re gonna die.”
The drac slams a fist down on a big, black button. Alarms sound throughout the building, and sirens pick up from outside only a second later. Bright red and white lights flash in the lobby. Gerard looks around wildly.
“Gerard, come on,” Ray calls. “We gotta go!”
He shoots the drac one more time in the head before following Ray to the door. Mikey and Frank have the car ready and waiting, doors open and engine running, and Gerard dives into the driver’s seat as soon as Ray slides into the back, and then they’re off, speeding out of the parking lot and down the main road.
Frank watches him, quiet and patient, from the front passenger seat, and Gerard feels jittery and nervous under his intense scrutiny. He shakes out his hands and grips the wheel tightly, and before long, they’re passing through the broken-down outskirts of Battery City.
The sun peeks over the horizon just as they reach the open, empty desert, turning the sky pink and orange and chasing away the black. Gerard chances a glance over at Frank and finds him staring out the window at the sunrise and smiling.
“Hey,” he whispers.
Frank turns to him. His eyes crinkle up at the corners as his smile widens. “Hey.”
Ray leans forward, between the seats, and taps Frank’s shoulder. “You good?”
“Yeah, I’m okay.”
“Hey, Mikey, you doin’ alright?” Gerard calls. He catches a glimpse of Mikey struggling out of his jacket in the rearview mirror.
“I’m cool, just kinda sore,” Mikey replies. “Hey, so… where are we heading?”
Ray starts reaching for his map. “The nearest safehouse is-”
“We can’t go to the safehouse,” Frank cuts in. “They’re bugged.”
“That’s how Korse found us before. They put cameras in some of the safehouses. They’re probably monitoring the others, too,” Gerard adds.
“Are you serious?”
“We saw the video feeds.”
“Well, that explains how they kept finding us so fast,” Mikey mutters. “So, what do we do?”
They all look at each other, at a loss. Gerard bites the inside of his lip and turns his attention back to the road. Maybe they should leave the state, or even the country. He’s heard rumors about cities that aren’t controlled by BL/ind up north, maybe they could find refuge there, even if it meant giving up the fight. Maybe it’s time for them to settle down.
“I’ve never seen the ocean,” Frank says softly.
No one responds for a long moment. Gerard remembers the cool water lapping at his ankles, holding Mikey’s hand as they waded out. Ray leans forward again.
“We could get to the shore in like, a day. Day and a half, tops,” he says. “I haven’t been to the ocean in ages.”
“We should go,” Mikey adds. “I hardly even remember it.”
Gerard turns his hand palm-up on the gear shift. Frank stares down at it for a few long seconds, then slides his hand into Gerard’s.
“You want to?” he asks. Frank nods. Gerard waits for him to make eye contact; when he does, Frank smiles. “Let’s go to the beach.”
fin.
[ art] - [ mix]