Part 9: Alabama

A loud car horn caused everybody to drop their stuff and look up. “What the hell was that?” Rage looked at Zebra as Zebra strode towards the hole.

“They’re here.” We followed him outside as Zebra ran forward to scoop up a young Asian-looking girl. While they exchanged words, some doofus with a haircut straight out of Lameass Weekly sauntered up to me, a grin on his face and a very angry Solar brewing behind him. I should’ve known she’d go for someone like him.

“Well hello there, I’m Bird Song, and you are?” He had a cheezy grin straight out of 1984 plastered on his face. Remembering my promise to Disco, I clenched my fists and responded.

“Well, Tweety Bird, fly away because I have no time for a lameass like you.” I walked around him quickly, his stupid grin quickly fading, and walked up to the green-haired dude holding Babydoll.

“Can I have her back?” I held my arms out for Babydoll. The kid reluctantly handed her over, disappointment showing on his face even though his eyes were hidden.

“Alright, I want everything packed and loaded up right now, we have time for introductions later. Get moving!” Wasp belted as the Killjoys began streaming into the hole. I handed Babydoll off to Mighty Mouse, who was sizing up the Asian girl about her own age, and headed in to keep working.

Soon enough, we’d packed most of the valuable things we could find. Mighty Mouse had taken Babydoll inside and traded in her old, threadbare dress for a black, punk rock looking skirt with striped leggings underneath and a red t-shirt with a skull on it on top. She had on a black and white long-sleeved shirt underneath, complete with a black hoodie, even though it didn’t match, and some combat boots for kids she’d found lying around. She’d braided her hair into two pigtails, tying them off with a red ribbon she’d found over elastic hair ties. Babydoll was dressed in a blue sundress with a white sweater on top, living up to her name. Her shoes were little black converse, though, which made me chuckle.

“Well aren’t you the little punk rocker.” Wasp chuckled, seeing her daughter’s clothing choices. “I like it.”

“Wasp, the explosion was Solar, like we’d thought, but it was because she’d spotted Dracs. We need to move, now.” Green-haired kid came running up to Wasp. Babydoll flailed for him, but all he could do was wave to her as he and Wasp rushed back inside to keep working. I was hot on his heels as Wasp started barking orders.

“Alright, step up the pace! Just got word that Dracs may show up soon, I wanna be gone before they have a chance to spot or possibly trail us.” Wasp belted, causing the store to stop moving, but then restart with an even more hurried pace. I rushed to help whomever was closest and soon enough, we were done. I grabbed the duffel I’d found and packed in the changes of clothes Mighty Mouse had found for herself and Babydoll, as well as pajamas for both before slinging it over my shoulder and walking out of the still half-full grocery store. I put on some silver aviator sunglasses I’d found, keeping the sun out of my eyes enough to see better. The non-perishable food and such had been loaded onto the caravan Wasp had brought with her, leaving minimal room for everyone else. They managed to squeeze around the goods, however, as we all packed into the cars.

“Alabama, honey, you’re riding with Babydoll and Arizona over there.” Wasp pointed in the direction of a white van and green-haired kid, who was holding Babydoll. I walked over to them, taking the baby back so he could drive, and climbed into the passenger seat, dumping my duffel on the floor. I tossed my feet up onto the dashboard and sat Babydoll on my lap, who quickly settled into my body and fell asleep.

After a while of driving in silence, I looked over at the green-haired kid. “So, you got a name?”

“Toxic Arizona.” He said quickly, adjusting his grip on the steering wheel. “Arizona for short.”

“Figures they’d put both the A-states in the same car. Alabama Napalm.” I nodded at him. “You can call me Alabama, A, or just plain stubborn. I tend to get the last one a lot.” I shifted in my seat, careful not to wake Babydoll up.

“Not much of a talker?” I shrugged, seeing his knuckles turn white from the death-grip he had on the steering wheel. I probably made him nervous. “Well, don’t worry, your friend Solar Crash talks enough for all of you. I’d rather tape her mouth shut, though.” I looked in the rear-view mirror, examining the nail-cuts on my face. “She’s got potential to fight, she just needs a little hand-to-hand training.”

“Look, don’t be so mean about her.” He said through gritted teeth. “And she is good in hand-to-hand, she is just caught off guard easy.”

“Really? She’s the one who was trash-talking me. She should’ve known if you say stuff like she did that you’re gonna get hit.” I glared through my aviators at the thought of it. “I guess you fancypants killjoys don’t hit though, do ya?”

“She talks smack about everyone, she really is a nice kid, but thinks she has to be a bitch to fit in with Bird’s group. And oh, we hit, and I wont hesitate to hit a girl.” His voice dropped to a deadly whisper. “I choked her yesterday morning for being a bitch, don’t think I wont do the same to you for being a bitch as well, so watch yourself.”

“You don’t scare me, Killjoy.” I scoffed.

“Not trying to.” He replied defensively, his hands tightening on the steering wheel.

“Oh, I get it.” I sat up carefully, trying not to disturb Babydoll. “You like her.”

“So what if I do?” His nostrils flared. I irritated him, and I knew it.

“It must suck having her begging to be with that douchebag Tweety Bird, eh?” I grinned, seeing him squirm. “It must hurt awfully bad to have her thinking she loves a guy who’s hurting her, when you’d be so much better for her. It must make you want to wring his scrawny little neck, seeing them together. Maybe that’s what’s up with you Killjoys.” My converse thumped back onto the dashboard, still not disturbing Babydoll, when the van suddenly veered off the road and halted as Arizona slammed on the brakes.

“First off, you have no right to say anything you just did.” My shoes slid off the dashboard with a thunk as he grabbed me by the shirt, his face inches away from mine. “Second, it doesn’t matter if it hurts me, what matters to me at the moment is that she is happy, the moment he hurts her will be the moment I rip his eyes and throat out. I live in constant pain, so seeing people I care about happy is like a shot of morphine. So please... Watch what you say to me, because I was this close to wringing your neck!” He screamed.

The car was silent for a second, the vibrations ringing in the car. Babydoll flinched in her sleep, a frown crossing her face as she turned towards Arizona. I stared at this real quiet guy in shock, not knowing he had a voice that big in the first place.

Arizona seemed startled by his own outburst. He turned forwards once again, taking off his goggles and running a hand through his striking green hair, his eyes closed. He blinked them open, his amazingly green eyes brimmed with tears. You really did it this time, doofus. I thought as I watched him breathe in and out, calming himself down.

“Fuck man, I’m sorry.” I gulped, biting my lip. He leaned forward, resting his forehead on the steering wheel. “Well, I’m up to three bad decisions in 24 hours. I think it’s a new record. Got my father figure killed, check. Punched a girl I just met repeatedly, pissing off my best friend in the process, check check. Upset the guy who loves her because of my big mouth, triple check.” I breathed in and out, the attempted humor gone from the situation.

“You know what, it’s fine.” He rubbed his hand over his eyes, trying to hide the tears but failing. Rage did the same thing when he got upset.

“No, it’s not fine.” I paused, gauging his reaction.

“It is, really it is. I’m sorry for me breaking down like this,” His voice was hoarse as he wiped away the tears, sniffing.

“I know what you’re thinking.” I turned carefully, looking him square in the eye. “You’re wondering if I think you’re weak for crying. Well actually, I think you’re that much more of a man for what you’re doing for Solar.” I looked straight into his tear-stained face. “And I think you’re that much more of a man for being able to cry about it.” I smiled a small, understanding smile at him, trying to prove it was okay for him to cry.

“I’m not crying about what you said. It wasn’t your fault. You set it off, but I think Babydoll finished it for me.” He snorted, looking mournfully at the little girl.

I saw the way he looked at her, the way he wanted to hold her and play with her when most guys would’ve shied away.

“You had a sister, didn’t you?” I saw him differently all of a sudden, trying to comprehend what that must’ve felt like. He nodded quickly, the tears spilling over his eyelids and onto his bright red shirt.

“I did, I used to be so mean to her, then the bomb went off that day and just like that, I lost her and my mum. I have regretted every minute of mean things I did to her, and then Babydoll shows up and I feel like if I treat her right, the way I should had treated my sister, then it will make things ok. But I know it won’t.” He sobbed, looking at the little girl sleeping peacefully on my lap. As if sensing the pain he felt, she chose that moment to wake up, yawning, and observe her surroundings. Seeing Arizona upset, a line deepened on her forehead as she frowned, looking at him. She stood off my lap carefully and climbed over the median to him, standing between him and the steering wheel. With her little pudgy hands, she wiped away his tears, leaning forward to kiss him on the cheek, just like she had done to G.I. and then hug his neck. I stifled a sob, fresh tears springing to my eyes as Arizona consumed Babydoll in a hug, crushing her to his chest. Babydoll sat in his lap once he released her, causing him to look at me with such joy and sorrow all mixed up in those amazingly green eyes. I cautiously unbuckled my seatbelt, leaned over the median and softly pressed my lips to his. The initial shock caused him to  stiffen for a moment, but gradually he relaxed as our faces were pressed together, the tears mingling. I started to pull away when he softly grabbed the back of my neck, pulling me into another kiss. It seemed to last for ages, when in reality it was probably only a few seconds. My mind went blank as I was totally consumed by the feeling of his lips on mine.

“Alright you three, hurry up with whatever you had to stop for.” Wasp’s voice crackled from the radio. We both jumped about eight feet in the air at getting caught, even though she couldn’t see us, me hitting my head on the window as I sprang back. “We need to get a move on, so finish up and catch up.”

“Oh shut it, Wasp.” I rubbed the back of my head as her voice rang out from the transmitter.

“Tell her we had a flat and I had to fix it.” Arizona said quickly, getting back onto the road.

“Hey Wasp, it’s Alabama, we had a flat and had to stop to fix it.” I said quickly, trying to mask my heavy breathing. I released the button on the transmitter quickly, holding it away from my face as we waited for a response.

“Next time tell me that as you pull off the road. Understood?” Wasp responded after a few seconds.

“Sorry.” Arizona took the transmitter from me and responded, both of us breathing a collective sigh of relief. He put the transmitter back, putting both hands back on the wheel and pressing down the gas. I heard clapping and looked down at Babydoll, who grinned at both of us, clapping her little hands.

“We must’ve scarred the child for life.” I shook my head, rubbing my face absentmindedly.

“I don’t think she minded... Sorry about that by the way.” He chuckled, looking bashful.

“I don’t think I minded either.” I shot a look at him before turning forward, my cheeks getting hot. Corny much? I mentally curb-stomped myself repeatedly, thinking, What the fuck did I just do? He was smiling slightly as he focused on the road. I leaned back in my seat and put my feet on the dash once again, pulling my aviators back down over my eyes for the rest of the 10 minutes it took to catch up to Wasp and everybody else.

Everybody else happened to be stopped at an abandoned gas station in the middle of the desert, a pissed-off looking Wasp leaning on the Impala, arms crossed.

“Flat tire, huh?” Wasp looked from my flushed face to Arizona’s rumpled hair, unconvinced.

“I’ll make sure to tell you next time Wasp. Sorry.” Arizona suddenly found his shoes extremely interesting.

“Yeah, well, I don’t need no hormonal teenagers-”

“Mother, there are children in the room.” Disco swooped down, taking Babydoll from me and coming to my rescue. I mouthed thank you to him as Wasp looked towards someone else calling her name. He winked at me playfully and started walking away as I heard laser fire before being tackled to the ground by Arizona. I rolled to a kneeling position behind the hood of the van and drew both my rayguns, popping my head up to look in the direction of the shots and return fire. Coming at us were about 20 or so Dracs, rayguns drawn, prepared for battle. I started shooting with both hands, taking down four of the unprotected ones before ducking again. Disco had taken Babydoll inside along with Mighty Mouse and the little Asian girl I’d seen earlier. Rage was cursing something awful in Spanish as his brother dragged him towards the gas station, Plasma covering them with fire. I turned back to face the Dracs and start shooting when my guns jammed simultaneously. I dropped them, cursing loudly when an explosion rocked the van, causing me to curse again. I ran around Arizona, who was dropping them like flies, and opened the van door, climbing over the seat on my stomach to keep my head down, and dug quickly through my duffel, pulling out my Wolverine claws. A second explosion rocked the van again and I poked my head up briefly to observe the situation. Two Dracs had stopped to reload their weapons, so I figured now was as good a time as any and bum-rushed the Dracs, catching them off-guard.

You know how, in the movies, the bad guys all wait patiently, coming at the hero.heroine one by one? Well, that sure as hell doesn’t happen in real life. The two who still had guns shot at me as I attacked the two unsuspecting ones, slashing one’s chest open as a laser grazed my shoulder. I ignored the searing pain and slit the first one’s throat as he fell, turning to face the second one who had tried to tackle me from behind. Arizona had tackled the doofus, leaving me to charge the ones shooting at me. I did so, spinning to catch the first one and knock him down. I kicked the second one in the chest, knocking him on his butt and ripping his face open with one set of claws before slitting his throat with the other. Kicking his gun away from his hand, just to be safe although he was probably already dead, I turned around to see Arizona had already snapped the neck of the first Drac with a gun I’d taken out. Then I spotted the bloody mess of a head strewn about the body Arizona was sitting on, his hands covered in bits and pieces of said head as he stared blankly at the space where the head was supposed to be. The scene was horrifying, and as far from squeamish as I was, it was hard not to gag. I walked over to him and gently pulled him up by the arm, off the ghosted moron, and led him back towards the trucks.

“Somebody toss me a gun.” I said briefly. Wasp tossed me hers and i caught it, heading back around the killing field on the other side. Blood was everywhere as I began to shoot every single Drac in the forehead, making damn sure he was dead before moving on. I continued this way until I came to the pile of brain matter and a body Arizona had, um, taken care of.

Won’t have to shoot that one. I cringed, finishing off all of them for good before walking back to the gas station. I heard Rage’s curses before i even got through the door.

“Ay Dios Mio!” He cursed as Wasp began to stitch a laser wound in his shoulder.

“Quit whining.” Wasp said quickly as he howled in pain. I rolled my eyes, chuckling at the overly-dramatic Rage and turning to see Solar sitting at a booth, gently cleaning Arizona’s hands of blood and brain matter. Not wanting to start another fight, I walked away slowly, leaving them alone.