Re: JR’s Characters

The Faceless

Chapter 8

It was quiet in the garage without Doc Dread around. It felt strange. The place was exactly how we had left it yesterday, but it didn’t feel right without Doc Dread tampering with some sort of machinery. I idly wandered over to the ‘Vette. Doc had done a good job on it. The suspension looked brand new. I turned the key and let out a strange little joyful noise when the big V8 rumbled into life. Doc Dread truly was a genius when it came to mechanics. The something caught my eye. I switched the engine off and walked over to the table. There was an old newspaper lying open. The headline read “Army to Fight On. Says Chris Rush” The picture and half the story was missing, which was odd.
Before I had any more time to ponder why someone had removed half of the paper, Sparrow walked in.
“We’re all ready for you,” He said solemnly.
“How much explosive have you got?” I asked without looking over to him.
“Half of the dynamite. I didn’t think we’d need a load.”
“Take the lot. We aren’t blowing up some tanker. We’re taking down the biggest building in the Zone. And if you have any of that C-4 that we bought off of the guys from Zone 5 that might be useful.”
“Ok, got it. Do you want us to load up the Charger?”
“No, we’re taking the ‘Vette. You guys load up the van, you can take the explosives in that. Tell Venus to get out Doc Dreads old bike. You’re not gonna all fit in there and she’s the only one who can ride it. We ride in convoy. It’s the only way we can make sure that the van isn’t aimed for by the faceless.”
He nodded as he turned and walked out the door. I turned back to the paper in front of me. I don’t really know why this was bothering me so much. Maybe it was what Night-streamer had said to me outside, I don’t know. It just felt important. I grabbed it off the worktop and shoved it in my jacket pocket. I’d try and find the rest of it when I got back. Sparrow would need some help loading up the van & I needed to get the ‘Vette down and out.
Sparrow & Ruby-Star had got a most of the boxes in by the time I’d got the ‘Vette outside. I opened one of the ones that were yet to be loaded. It was full of straw and contained quite a few sticks of the stuff.
“Is this all of it?” I asked Ruby-Star as she got out the van.
“Sparrow has just gone to get the last boxes.” She said without a smile. She looked around at all the stuff. “Where the hell did you get all this stuff anyway?”
“We scavenged it.” I said as I replaced the lid. “The C-4 we got of the Renegades in Zone 5, good lot, they know quite a few different ways of blowing things up. Did Sparrow pick up the rucksacks?”
“In the van. So, what is the deal here? You get a transmission from some girl in another Zone, who gives you a suicide mission & you obey? Why?”
I could see what she was getting at. To be honest, I don’t really know why our team had this relationship with Arcade Angel, neither Crash nor Lithium Killer had ever explained it to us. It was just the way it had always been.
At that moment Sparrow and Venus walked out of the base carrying the last of the explosives.
“That’s all of them,” Sparrow said to me as he placed the box he was carrying in the back of the van.
“Why exactly do we need all of them?” Venus said as she put her box down. “Aren’t we going to need some of this?”
“This is too big to be done with anything but the full amount,” I said as Night-streamer walked out, shoving her gun into its holster. “Besides, I get the feeling that we won’t need it after this. Anyway, let’s get going. Ruby-Star, you’re with Sparrow. Venus, you got the bike? Good. You go up front. Night-streamer, in the ‘Vette with me. The bazooka is in there. We’ll go at the back.”
We roared out of the base, leaving our home behind in a cloud of dust. Night-streamer flicked on the radio, she liked listening to music in the car. Doc Dread had obviously been at the radio, as it came on with DMT as default. It was half way through a song that I’m sure I’d heard before. It was kinda fast, punky even. The lyrics were quite fitting for the situation. “I’ll tell you all how the story ends, where the good guys die and the bad guys win.” Then we went under the radiation shield and the signal was lost. I turned back to the road. Off in the distance I could see the Hell House. It sent a shiver down my spine even then.