They pushed past me as if I were nothing and glanced around the living room area before walking through the dining area into the kitchen. I followed closely behind them.

"Poison!" I screamed.

One of the shorter men grabbed me by the hair. "There's no need to call him."

I whipped around fast and slammed my booted foot into his crotch. He let go of my hair and bent over in pain. The third man had his gun pointed at me, but the leader of the group just watched me curiously. He approached me slowly with a smirk on his face.

"Small and feisty. I guess it's what you get when you live in a house full of men. You sure are out of place, birdie." He joked.

"What does gender have to do with anything?" I hissed.

The man laughed. "Excuse my behavior, I'm a little traditional."

"Traditional? Is that a new synonym for dirtbag?" I replied, sick of being made fun of. "Backward thinking is what got us all in this mess."

A voice came from behind the leader of the group as Poison came out from the shadows of the hallway. "Ignore him. He's just trying to get a rise out of you."

The man spun around on his heel to greet him. "Poison! Long time no see."

Poison nodded towards him and spoke venomously. "Venus. Venus Boom. I presume you are here for Ghoul?"

Venus laughed. "Of course I am. We had a deal that he can't refuse even if he wants to."

Poison rubbed his eyes and I could see the outline of a gun beneath his shirt, tucked into the back of his jeans. I had nothing to worry about. "Well I think he has to refuse. He was shot last night. He isn't moving for awhile."

I swore I could see some kind of evil gleam in Venus's eyes. "You don't trust me, Poison?"

Poison spoke to me. "Never trust a survivor until you find out what they did to stay alive."

A loud gunshot fired and Venus crumpled to the floor. The other men pulled their guns but the other person standing in the dark hallway and Poison were faster. Dark red pooled around my feet and my ears rung. I tried to massage the skin behind my ears and under my ears to relieve the discomfort, but had no luck. I looked around me at the mess and realized I was covered in Venus's brain matter. I wiped my disgusting hands on the back of my pants.

Now isn't the time to vomit, I reminded myself.

The last man stood frightened between us.

Poison spoke in a quiet but threatening voice. "You are going to leave, never come back, and tell whoever sent you exactly what happened. You want to get Ghoul, you have to get through all of us first. Good luck."

The man ran from the inn and to the car they had arrived in. I heard the car struggling to start before finally it rumbled away from us.

Poison turned around to look into the shadows of the hallway. In the dark, Ghoul was slumped against a wall. In his hands was a shotgun. He was heavily breathing and obviously in a lot of pain. I stepped over the men on the floor and ran to him.

"What do you think you're doing?!" I demanded.

The others were running from their rooms now, having heard the commotion. I grabbed the shotgun from Ghoul's hands and threw it away from us.

"Help me lift him!" I yelled at whoever would listen.

Kobra, Jet, and I lifted Ghoul together and laid him on the couch in the living room. Rocket stood afar watching the mess play out. She had a shaky hand over her mouth. Her face slowly became pale, like someone who was about to throw up.

I pointed down the hallway. "Rocket, you can leave. We can handle it from here."

She bolted down the long hallway, almost tripping over the shotgun. She ran into her room out of sight. Poison had joined the others in checking Ghoul's injury to make sure he hadn't ripped it open again. I stepped through the mess in the living area to be by his side. Ghoul was unharmed but very weak and in pain from moving. I wondered how he even knew who was here. How did he make it out of the bed and into the freezer by himself? He even loaded the gun, carried it to the shadows of the hallway, aimed, AND shot it by himself. He was a man of many mysteries.
Once we had Ghoul settled, Kobra offered to get rid of the bodies as long as Poison and I could clean up the mess left. I wasn't sure how to clean up blood off of a floor but I would give it my best try.

Poison offered to scrape the fragments of skulls and brains off of the floor. I let him have at it. I didn't do so well around those kinds of things and would rather scrub the floor. I ventured into the hallway and searched for a closet full of supplies. I found an old, stiff brush for the floor in the closet and a red bucket. I filled the bucket with hot water and soap. I lugged the heavy bucket with me back to the living room and dining room where the slaughter had taken place. Poison had finished scraping the solid remains from the walls and floor. I realized I could see a clear silhouette of where I had been standing to block the spray. It sent shivers up my spine. I tried to block out everything that had happened as I began scrubbing. I wanted to forget my dirty clothes and face.

Poison had found another brush and had started scrubbing with me. We kneeled on the floor together in silence. Things were still very uncomfortable since he got into a fight with Ghoul. Tensions were high and things had just exploded. I understood that the pain they must be going through. After all, I was going through the same stress. The only thing guaranteed in our lives was death and the increase of Dracs. The death of two men was now on our hands as well. Only Ghoul knew how many men were looking for him, which made me anxious. They knew where we lived. It wouldn't be easy picking up our things and relocating. There was nowhere else to go. But at this point, we didn't have much of a choice. I loved our little haven but I knew there might not be a way to save it from destruction.

My forearms were covered in soap and my fingers were pruny. I could feel my muscles aching from fiercely scrubbing away at the floor. I wasn't sure that we could get rid of the stain. My mind began wandering to the thoughts of finding an area rug for the floor to cover it. I knew our lives would never be normal but I was allowed to try to preserve my sanity. We needed our wits in the wasteland of the desert.
   
I jumped at the sound of Poison's voice. "Phoenix, go change. I can finish this and the wall."

I looked up at him from my spot and saw that he had gotten way farther than I had.

"You sure are good at scrubbing bloody floors. You must have a lot of experience." I commented sarcastically, but with humor.

He didn't laugh and just shrugged. I didn't try to joke with him anymore and took his advice. I stood up from the floor slowly to look down at the soapy mess. We had to change the water in the bucket several times due to the color turning pink and red with the soap, but the soap on the floor was still a weird color combination.

    "Are you sure-"

    Poison cut me off. "Go lay down."

    "What about Ghoul?" I asked. "I'm obviously not going to leave him there by himself."

    Poison pointed into the living room. "He isn't by himself. Jet's there."

I peered in and observed Ghoul sleeping peacefully on the couch and Jet had begun to drift off into sleep as well. I wasn't sure how they could both sleep after the events that had transpired. I was nervous about Ghoul considering that people were looking for him, and we weren't on their good side. Why was he so important to them?

My heart ached seeing him laying there. I didn't know if I could sleep without nightmares, or even be alone. I took one last look at Poison to thank him, but he had his back turned to me and had continued scrubbing away at the floor.

I took a warm shower even though I knew I was wasting our hot water. I had asked Poison many times why we needed to worry about hot water when it was almost 110 degrees everyday and he never had a good excuse. It made me laugh.

I scrubbed my face and body until my skin was almost raw. I felt so unclean from the things I had witnessed. Seeing what I had saw, could I ever reclaim my innocence? Ghoul had saved us from physical harm but I was still emotionally disturbed. I couldn't scrub my brain clean like I had with my skin.

I finally convinced myself that I was clean and changed into clean underwear and a tank top. I couldn't sleep in our sheets that were dirty in my mind. I stripped the bed and threw the sheets in the outdated washing machine in the basement. I searched through the closets to find clean sheets and made our bed. As soon as I settled in, my emotions overwhelmed me. My ears were still ringing and it reminded me of the gun fire. I pulled my pillows close and cried until my eyes hurt.

I was finally admitting to myself that I was scared. The Fabulous Killjoys were given that nickname because others assumed we had a fabulous life. The parties and perks only lasted for a small amount of time and meant nothing in the end. The amount of pain and loss we all endured ate away at us slowly. We weren't heroes. These masks we wear of bravery.....we wear them until the end. We wear them to create an illusion of control. But, I was so unsure of the end. I wasn't sure we would come out of this ongoing fight alive.

Thank you guys so much for reading. It means so much to me to know others are hearing the story of Phoenix and Ghoul.
Love always,
C