Killjoy (A Lesbian Story)

15: Steve

Without any fear whatsoever, Max stepped right in front of Hawkeye. The barrel of his rifle was right at her chest and, knowing Hawkeye, he was ready to pull the trigger. Ashley stood behind Max, her hands on her arm to try to get her back.

"What's the problem, Hawk?" Max asked casually as I ran up to them, "Not happy to see me?"

"Don't try me, freak!" He growled, not letting up.

"Hey, hey, hey, HEY!" I tried my best to get between them, but neither would let me. I put a hand on Hawkeye's chest and a hand on Max's arm before I started talking, "Everyone needs to just calm down, alright?"

"He's the one with a gun towards me." Max said calmly.

"She's the one with the virus!" Hawkeye pushed my hand off his chest.

Ash stood by me, trying to get Max to back up, "She's not dangerous."

"Bullshit!" Hawkeye yelled.

Quickly, Ashley pushed Max back to stand in front of Hawkeye. She stared at the man and put a hand up, "Please listen, Hawkeye. She's not dangerous. She's not going to attack us. She can help us."

He lowered his rifle slightly, glaring at Ashley the whole time, "You would put yourself in front of this monster? Risk your life for it?"

"Her name is Max." Ashley took a step towards him. I tried to reach out to her, but she slapped my hand away, "She is not an it or a monster. Do you understand?"

"Heeeeeeey," I interjected, "This is pretty damn intense. Why don't we all take a few steps back, put away our weapons, and talk normally?"

Hawkeye only stared at Max, keeping her eyes at his for a few moments. I could see his thoughts churn. A conflict brewed in his eyes as if he was actually thinking about our words. That would definitely be a first.

Just as he sighed and put his rifle down, Thor came up to us and gave Max a smile, "Welcome back, Max."

"Glad to be back." She nodded.

"Hawkeye, don't worry about her." Thor clapped a hand on his shoulder, "She's not going to be hurting us, right Max?"

Max shook her head, "I won't. And, if I do, you can put a bullet in my brain."

The sentence was said so casually. She was perfectly fine with the thought of us putting her down like some feral, rabid dog if it needed to happen. At least she understands about what could happen with that asshole in her head. The way I understand it, there could be a switch that could be flipped. She could go from normal, jolly Max to a creature that will rip Hawkeye's throat out. We just don't know it yet.

Hawkeye looked slightly relieved, "Alright. But I've got my eyes on you."

"Oh I'm counting on it." Max smirked at him. Something flashed in her eyes. I wasn't quite sure what it was, but the veins under her eyes got slightly darker before fading back down.

Thor nodded, "Alright. With that out of the way, we have details to discuss."

***

A group of us gathered by the arsenal shack to discuss the plan. When Max first came over with us, everyone gave her a cautious glance. I saw one guy slowly reach down and put a hand on his pistol.

Yeah, that's a great idea, bud.

Across the circle was Andrew. Under his eyes were dark circles as if he hadn't slept in days. He was staring right at Max, his jaw clenched angrily. His fists were clenched to his sides with his knuckles turning white from the pressure. I looked to the side to see Max staring right back at him. Her face was stone, but she quirked up one eyebrow in a challenging manner. That made Andrew direct his eyes towards the ground.

"Alright, listen up!" Thor stepped forward in the circle, drawing all of the attention to him. "First off, I need to address the elephant in the room, which is Max."

If everyone wasn't already staring at her, they definitely did after that statement. Eyes glued to her and I could feel her growing uncomfortable. She shifted slightly, but kept her chin high, giving a nod to the crowd.

"Howdy." She rose a hand on a half-wave.

"We all know what went down, so I'll refrain from giving you all a recap." Thor went on, "In six hours, we will be visited by Nathan and his cute little group of highly trained individuals. We were just going to fight them off if they decided to attack. Now, we have a better option on our hands, provided by Steve."

He looked to me for a moment with a slight smile before setting his eyes on Max. Thor put a hand out towards her, "They want Max. Are we going to give them Max? Hell no, so don't suggest it. However, we will send her out as bait to lure them into a trap. There, we can capture them and find their boss. Any objections or questions?"

"Why should we risk our lives for her?" A voice came out of the crowd.

I cut my eyes to Max, she had her eyes to the ground and her eyebrows her pushed together. There was definitely some conflict in her face. She wanted to do this so that no one would really risk their lives. If they fought, they would die. Surprise would be our friend. If only they realized that.

"You're not risking your lives for her." Ashley spoke up, "She's risking her life for you. Don't you realize that the reason they want her is because she can stop all of this? She can help find a cure and give us back semi normal lives. And if people plan on stopping her and Grace from finding that cure, then I'm willing to do whatever it takes. She's willing to do whatever it takes. Even if that means being bait for a group of assholes to save you guys from a fight you can't win."

There was a slight uproar from that last statement. Some egos were hurt, making many people talk back, saying they could fight and win. Thor got in the middle again, trying to calm the crowd down, but they just spoke over him.

"Listen!" His voice boomed. Everyone finally quieted down, giving him enough time to speak, "She's right. We don't know these guys. We don't know what weapons they use or their tactics. Without that information, they're more dangerous than the Dead. They could have grenades filled with the chemical that started all of this, instantly infecting us. They could multiple weapons, that none of you have ever of, and they could use them if given the chance. But we won't give them that chance. We will strike and strike quick enough that they won't know what hit them. Stealth is our only option to survive."

That made the crowd go dead silent. Thor was right. We have no idea who these guys were or what kind of weapons they had. Nathan and his men seemed trained enough to take down a militia. They could easily slaughter us without batting an eye. I looked over to Max and Ashley, who were holding each other's hands. Max had her eyes up while Ashley kept her eyes down towards the cement. There was a big probability that this could end badly for us, but at least we had a chance.

Thor cleated his throat to gather everyone's attention back to him, "Now, does anyone else have any objections or can I get on with the plan?"