Senseless Indulgences

"How's she doing?" Jet Star asked as he watched the doctor work on the unconscious killjoy.

"She'll be fine," the gray-haired man replied. "She'll be out a few weeks, but she'll recover just fine."

"And Poly?"

"You'll have to talk to her."

Jet looked at the doctor in confusion. "Why?"

"She won't take any pain medication." When Jet Star cocked his head, the doctor explained, "She takes one look at the logo on the bottom and she goes into a fit."

"Why?"

"It's BLI."

Jet nodded his head. "Alright, I'll talk to her. Where is she?"

"Party's room."

"Alright." Jet Star turned and left the doctor to his work. He left the small store room that was serving as a makeshift operating room. He turned left and walked down the narrow hallway to Party Poison's room.

The underground headquarters was an old bunker made in 2010 by a man named William Eaton. He was a forty-five year old construction worker. He had three sons, all who worked construction at his family business. Together, the four of them built the bunker when the nuclear scare started to rise. They stocked the bunker with enough supplies for the four men and their wives. When they left its safety, BLI swept them up and made them citizens. The bunker lay abandoned for three years before the killjoys found it.

The killjoys put it to good use. The bunker served as a secondary headquarters should BLI find the location of their above ground hideout. Jet Star, Party Poison, Fun Ghoul, and Kobra Kid went on supply missions, stocking up the bunker with food, water, and any essentials they may need. The man who built the entrances to the store, built multiple entrances to the new headquarters, all well hidden and heavily fortified.

The six young killjoys each had their own room and Dr. Death's room doubled as a secondary broadcast room. Just down the hall, they kept supplies in the store room Jet Star left and spare bedrooms further down. In a separate hallway, a large living room served as a training room and firing range.

Jet Star peered through the doorway of Party Poison's room and found Poly sitting on the bed, holding her left arm gingerly. When she saw him standing there, she straightened up and forced her arms to her sides, wincing involuntarily. "Hey," she greeted Jet as he walked in.

"Hey. How're you feeling?" His eyes were kind, but Poly knew she was going to get scolded.

Poly used her arms to scoot forward on the bed. She bit the inside of her lip to keep from hissing at the pain. "I'm fine." When Jet cocked an eyebrow, she huffed and began flailing her left arm. The doctor had bandaged where the rebar had broken the skin, but a sickeningly purple bruise spread over her entire upper arm. "See?" Jet Star ignored the wince, but he'd bring it up later. "Full range of motion. Perfectly capable to use it." She winced again as she brought her arm back down. "Doc says I can use it. It's not broken, just severely bruised."

"Yeah, I can see that."

Poly's eyes grew tired and concerned. "How's Cy?"

"She's getting worked on now. Doc says she's gonna recover just fine. She'll be laid up for a few weeks, but she'll be fine."

Poly let out a sigh of relief. "Good."

Jet crossed his arms and leaned on the doorway. "You really should take something for the pain."

Poly frowned. "I'm not taking any of that shit."

"Why not?" It was scary how well Jet Star adopted the fatherly tone.

"Because it's made by those butchers."

"Before they took power," Jet argued. "This stuff was made back when they were just a small pharmaceutical company."

"I don't care!" Poly yelled. "I'm not taking any of that shit!"

Fun Ghoul, who had been standing behind Jet Star since Poly asked about Cy, walked in and placed his hand gently on her upper arm. She jerked away, wincing from the pain. Ghoul looked at her with kind eyes and stated, "If it hurts for me to touch it that lightly, how the hell do you expect to be able to survive out there without something to dull the pain?" Poly looked at Ghoul and stubbornly shook her head. To further prove his point, he grabbed her hand and brought it straight out to her eye level. "See?" Tears streamed down her face. "You can't even hold your arm out in front of your face. How do you expect to shoot?"

When Ghoul dropped her arm, Poly gasped at the sudden jolt of pain. Resigned, she nodded her head and Jet Star went to the store room to bring her pain medication. Fun Ghoul sat on the bed next to her. "Poly?" She refused to look him in the eye. He put his hand on her knee. "Poly, I'm sorry."

Poly didn't look at him, just shook her head. "It's not that."

"Then what is it?" Poly shook her head, tears still streaming down her cheeks. "Poly, what is it? C'mon, you can tell me."

Poly shook her head and took a deep breath before she spoke. "Cy almost died today. And I killed four people. All because I was an idiot and left the radio behind. If I'd grabbed the radio, this never would've happened."

Fun Ghoul wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulder, taking care not to hit her arm. "You don't know that. For all you know they could've had information about the hospital and they would've fought you anyway."

"No. We could've radioed you guys sooner and moved to a different part of the hospital, or waited for you guys to provide backup. I brought this down on us."

"Stop talking like that. You didn't do anything wrong."

"I left the radio in the car!" Poly was shaking, hitting her fists against her legs. She didn't even notice the pain in her arm anymore. "I knew we need it! I was stupid and it nearly cost my friend her life!"

"Poly, it's okay." Ghoul hugged her tightly, trying to calm her down. "Don't beat yourself up over it. We've all made that same mistake." Poly looked at him with red tear-stained eyes. She was surprised, but her eyes still held the sorrow she felt for her friend. "We're not perfect, Poly," Fun Ghoul continued as Jet Star returned. "Everyone looks up to the four of us like we hold the ultimate power for survival. We don't. The only reason we've survived this long is because we made mistakes and we learned from them. We didn't know how to survive out here when we first became killjoys. We were just as clueless as you. We made some serious mistakes that cost us. They cost us dearly. But we've learned from them and made ourselves better. This was just your first mistake. You'll make more. So will we. You just have to learn from them and improve yourself."

When Poly nodded, Jet stepped up to her right and handed her two aspirin. "This is for the pain." He handed her a bottle of water. When she'd finished taking the aspirin, Jet handed her another pill. "Take this."

Poly looked suspiciously at the little white pill. "What is it?"

"It's called Trazedone. Doc told me to give it to you. It's to help you sleep."

"Why?" Poly started to panic. She didn't want to take anything to sleep. She didn't want to be drugged anymore.

"Doc says you need to sleep," Jet urged, gently touching her shoulder. "I know you don't want to take anything, but you need to sleep. You've had a rough day." Poly continued to stare at the pill like she was waiting for a demon to jump out of his hand. "Please?"

Poly looked up at the brunette. She didn't want to take it, but the minute she saw the look in his eyes, she caved. She held her hand out for him to drop the tiny white pill in her hand and washed it down with water. "Do you want us to sit with you until you fall asleep?" Fun Ghoul asked, getting off the bed as she laid down.

Poly shook her head. "You don't have to." Her face was stony, but her eyes were far away and afraid.

Jet looked skeptical. "Are you sure?"

Poly nodded. "Yeah."

Neither man was buying it, but they left the room. Poly rolled over on her right side and faced the concrete wall, tucking her right arm under her head, beneath the pillow.

Though Party Poison's art and writings littered the room, it still felt cold and empty. Poly's exhaustion and the sleeping pill did little to quiet her fears and insecurities. The walls seemed to close in around her the longer she lay awake. She heard the other killjoys pass by the room and look in on her, but she lay perfectly still. If they called her name, she didn't answer. Eventually, the sleeping pill and aspirin both kicked in, killing the pain and dulling Poly's senses. Sounds muffled and her vision blurred as she slowly drifted off to sleep.

***

It was morning when Poly woke. It took her a few minutes to come to her senses, but when she did, she knew something was wrong. It was dark. Why was it dark?

Poly sat up and scooted to the edge of the bed. She was still in her jean outfit. Her mask lay on the dresser at the foot of the bed. She put it and her bandana on her face, grabbing a spare raygun on her way out.

She carefully made her way out into the hall, checking both sides of the doorway like the police she used to see in old television shows. Cy was the first person she checked on. She took on step at a time, slowly making her way to the small storage room where she knew her friend would still be sleeping. When she peered through the doorway, however, there was no sign of the blue-haired killjoy. The was no evidence the girl had ever been there at all.

Panicking, Poly whipped her head back and forth over the room, desperate to think she might appear while she wasn't looking. "Cy?!" she called. No response. "Party?!" Still no response.

Poly ran through the halls. No lights were on. She threw caution to the wind and searched every room. The raygun was still in her hand, but she turned corners blindly and left herself vulnerable to whoever may be lurking in the shadows.

The entire headquarters was empty. Poly followed one of the tunnels to the outside. The sunlight was blinding and the heat was unbearable. She dropped to her knees until she felt the strong enough to stand. She scanned the desert and found nothing- no cars, no tire tracks, no sign of the killjoys.

"Chris?" a familiar voice asked.

Poly spun around. "Zach?" Her little brother stood before her in a white BLI housecoat, his fine brown hair sweeping across his forehead in the warm breeze. She wrapped him in a tight hug, kissing his head and crying into his hair. "How did you get here?"

Poly and Zach were cast in shadow. "I brought him."

Poly turned and placed herself protectively in front of Zach. "Korse," she quaked, her blue eyes darkened in fear.

"Well, well. It seems I've caught you." Korse smiled in sick satisfaction as he pointed behind Poly. "How do you like my newest recruits?"

Poly turned around and her heart beat against her chest at the sight before her. Kobra Kid and Jet Star held each of Zach's hands while their other hands held rayguns to his head. Fun Ghoul had his left arm around Cyanide's throat while he held his gun to her head with his right. Party Poison stood directly in front of her with his gun pointed at her chest. The four men stared at her blankly while Cy and Zach struggled to break free.

Korse chuckled behind her, but Poly's eyes were locked in Party's stare. "It's such a shame I can't kill you. Perhaps the scientists will let me have you once they're through." Four rayguns flashed and Poly was left in darkness.