JOY TO THE WORLD

By Tobias Christopher

The DEO soldiers stood outside of the motel room, heavily armed and ready to recapture the escaped fugitives inside. Grant Emerson and his friends had escaped from DEO custody with the intent of bringing back help to rescue their friends a day and a half ago with no money or allies to help them. They’d managed to get a motel room for the night before going on the road to find any help they could the next day. 

Right now, Grant and his friends should be resting comfortably, no one realizing what was awaiting them. The leader of the group of six soldiers made hand motions as he put his hand on the handle, motioning the troops to remain silent and move quickly. They’d get in, tranquilize the boys and get out within two minutes. No noise, no muss, no fuss. They’d be back at headquarters within the hour. 

The leader made a “3,2,1” motion while remaining silent as he pushed the door open. The soldiers quickly flooded in, only to find nothing but two unmade beds. The soldiers started opening the closet and looking under the beds, three of them pausing momentarily as the other soldiers the bathroom door. The head soldier pushed open the door and rushed in with his gun, ready to fire. As he shined his light around to see the tile wall of the shower had been punched in. He then heard several thumps from behind him. He quickly turned to see all of his team on the floor, shot full of tranqs. 

“Oh, shit,” the soldier said as he reached for his walkie, just as the door moved forward and Damage stepped out from behind, pounding his fist in anticipation.

The next morning, the room cleaning crew came to clean the place, finding the soldiers tied up, all stripped down to their underwear with their clothes and weapons having been taken. 

A few miles away, Grant, Cam, and Mikey had a new set of clean military clothes, the money from the soldier’s wallets, and what few weapons they could load up on. Joey had an oversized military jacket over his shoulders and a helmet over his head while Mikey counted up the money they’d gained.

“Cam using Joey’s power to possess people, and Adam doing the same, we really took those guys out with no trouble,” Mikey smiled. “700 bucks should last us a while. Why didn’t we take their credit cards?”

“Because cards can be traced,” Grant said as he walked in front of them. “Good thing we had Adam there to tell us what we were dealing with.”

“Good thing I only went for a walk since I don’t sleep,” Adam said. “But what now? What if they’re still following us?”

“They’d have been on us before we left the motel parking lot,” Grant told him as he carefully looked around. “But once those soldiers are found, they’ll be after us with an even stronger force. We may not be able to take a larger group so we need need to find a place to lay low for a few days, maybe work out a strategy in case we’re ambushed.”

“Keep walking, I’ll scout ahead,” Adam said as he disappeared. “We may have to ditch the weapons and military stuff and stick with the normal clothes,” Grant told him. “Military clothes might stick out too much and… frankly I’m not comfortable with guns. We’ll find a place and one of us will go out and get some proper clothes and stuff while the others stay safe. Keep your backpacks safe just in case we get separated.”

“I think I found something,” Adam said as he reappeared. “It’s not great, but it’s a roof over your heads for at least a few days. I don’t know about running water, but it has a fireplace.”

“Then take us there,” Grant told him. “You guys will get settled, then me and Mikey will go get supplies.”

“Why me?” Mikey asked.

“Because your firepower is a great weapon if it comes down to just the two of us while we’re alone on the street,” Grant replied. As

 Adam led the group to a new place, a lone soldier that had been keeping a lookout across the street followed them.

Director Black was visibly angry as he hung up the phone, having just received the news about his small squad of soldiers being defeated.

“THEY’RE CHILDREN!” Black shouted as he pulled the phone out of the wall and tossed it across the room. “I will not have this operation destroyed by infants!”

“What should we do now, sir?” a soldier asked.

“This has gone far enough,” Black said. “SEND EVERYONE WE HAVE! Anyone who can fire a tranquilizer gun, I want hunting these boys down! They can stand up against six soldiers, but let’s see what they do against TWO DOZEN!”

In a farmhouse a few miles away in an isolated field, Adam led the boys to a small, empty home. It was dusty and in need of repair, but it wasn’t completely unlivable.

“A fireplace,” Mikey said as he lit his fingers on fire. “We round up some firewood and we can stay warm for tonight.”

“And there’s a radio,” Adam added. “So we can at least listen to music.”

“Running water!” Cameron shouted from the kitchen. “It’s kinda rusty, but I think we can make it work!”

“Don’t drink it!” Grant shouted as he looked at Joey. “Okay, kid, we’re going to make a supply run. You, Adam, and Cam stay here and make the place somewhat livable. We’ll be back in a while, little buddy.”

 Joey hugged Grant tightly. “It’ll be okay, I promise. No one can hurt you now.”

“Stay safe,” Cameron told him. “We need you.

”Grant smiled as he walked out of the door with Mikey. As soon as they were gone, Cam smiled at Joey. “Just you and me, kid. What do you want to do first… Whoa, slow down, kid, you’re going a mile a minute!”

As they walked out of the house, Grant noticed a rusty van in the yard. 

“Wonder if we can get that thing started so we have something to ride in,” Grant suggested as the continued walking.*

“I think I’ll take a shower,” Cameron said as he lifted his shirt up over his head. “Well, once I run through the water to get the rust out.”

“You’re going to take your clothes off before you do that? Won’t you be naked for like anhour?” Adam asked. “That’s… weird.”

“I just spent the last 14 years not knowing what modesty is,” Cameron told him. “And I ain’t about to start learning now.”

Adam sighed as he looked at Joey. “I’ll be walking around outside, trying to see if I can spot something familiar to jog my memory. What are you going to do until Grant gets back?”

Joey kicked off his shoes and found an old blanket to lay down on to try to take a nap.

“That’s right, get some rest,” Adam told him. “I think we’re all going to need it.”

“The Good Will?” Mikey asked a short while later. “We have 700 bucks to spend!”

“Just because we have money doesn’t mean we need to spend money,” Grant told him as he looked through the racks. “We have to buy for four teenage boys who are going to grow out of their clothes before we know it. Joey’s a tiny thing now, but he could be six feet tall before we know it, and we don’t know what we’ll need that money for as we move forward.”

Mikey looked through the bins to find a few cheap shirts. “Grant… you keep talking about saving Anita, and Grover, and all the others, but… you never really talk about… him.”“We’re going to rescue everyone,” Grant promised as he found an adorable shirt with a puppy on it for Joey. “We’re not leaving anyone behind.”

“Yeah, but—“

Just drop it, okay?” Grant asked, his anger building. “Everyone’s coming home, no matter what. Then… they can do whatever they want, even if they split immediately after. If no one wants to stay with me— us! They don’t have to stay if they don’t want to, we just need to get everyone out of there.”

DEO Headquarters

A new secret location had been set up far away from the old location. The remaining prisoners were moved to newer, smaller prisons, and revisions had to be made to make up for the lack of the missing five boys. They needed someone new to run errands such as working the food cart to deliver meals, and they had chosen Grover Adams. Of the remaining prisoners, they felt he was the most trustworthy to do the work.

“It feels good to be able to able to stretch my legs,” Grover said as he wheeled the cart down the hallway. He passed by the smaller water tank of his friend Seren. “How are you holding up, buddy?”

“They might as well have put me into a fish tank,” Seren said as he put his hand against the glass. “There’s not enough room to stretch my tail.”“Keep your strength up,” Grover said. “You’ll get to go home someday.”

“Has there been any word from Grant?” Seren asked.

“No, and I think that’s a good thing,” Grover said. “The longer he stays away, the better of a chance he might have of getting help. In the meantime, we have to hold it together.”

Grover wheeled the cart down to find Walker sitting naked in his cell.“Dude! Put some pants on!” Grover shouted.

“I feel like I’m in a sauna,” Walker told him. “I’m sweating to death here.”

“You’ll be okay,” Grover promised. “I’m trying to work out a deal for you to let you have time in Seren’s tank. The cold water might help.”

“Thanks,” Walker said between breaths. “I just hope Grant comes back.”

“He will,” Grover assured him as he moved on to Cody’s prison.

“I guess you’re the DEO’s new bitch boy,” Cody said. “Doing their dirty work now?”

“They gave me all of Grant’s chores,” Grover said with a laugh. “Well, all except one, but I don’t have the stamina to do *that* chore-like Grant.”

“You bastard,” Cody told him. “You will be the first ass I kick when I get free.”

“Good luck,” Grover told him with a smile. “The second I get my powers back, I’m going home to my girl. You know, those weird creatures with vaginas that terrify you.”

Cody tried to attack Grover through the glass.

“Nice try, Cody,” Grover said. “No wonder you and Grant were always fighting when they let you near each other. They probably got tired of Grant kicking your ass whenever you went for him.”

“You’re dead,” Cody said through gritted teeth as Grover moved on. “You’re a dead man, Adams!”

Down the hall, Anita was sitting on the floor of her cell while meditating. She was finding her center to keep her calm while contacting the spirits of her dead ancestors for advice.

“Give me strength so that I may guide those left behind through this,” Anita whispered. “And to keep Cody and Grover from murdering each other.”

Joey had taken a nap on some old blankets as Cameron finished showering and saw Adam standing outside, just staring at the field. Cameron pulled the blanket up around Joey and gently moved the shaggy blonde hair from his eyes as he went to join his friend after getting dressed.

“Are you okay?” Cameron asked as he approached.

“I think I loved baseball,” Adam told him. “I had a baseball cap on when I woke up in that field. I’d have to have been a fan, right? But how come I don’t know what team I liked, or if I even played?”

“We’ll figure it out, starting with learning your last name,” Cameron promised. “We’ll learn everything about you soon. I think the DEO probably knows all about you, that’s the best place to look when we get help. They probably even know who my parents are, and where Mikey’s family is,  and all our information. We’ll find out about your past.”

“Do you worry about your parents?” Adam asked.

“Can’t worry about someone you’ve never met,” Cam sighed as he stared up into the sky. “From what I know, they dropped me off and went back to where ever it is they came from. Probably forgot about me the second they ditched me.”Adam tried to find the words as he heard a thump. He turned to see Cameron on the ground with a dart in his neck. 

“Cameron?”The DEO guards suddenly surrounded Adam with their weapons drawn.

“Yeah, right,” Adam said. “I’m a ghost, you idiots, how will you—“A restraining device was shot at Adam, electrocuting him and causing him to scream.

“Ghost restraint we used on him the first time,” the soldier told him as he spoke into the walkie. “We got two of them.”

“And we see the other two walking up the street,” a voice said over the walkie. “Go get the last one and we’ll be on our way.”*The DEO guards burst into the house and entered the living room, ready to shoot, but they only saw the blankets on the floor next to a pair of child-sized sneakers sitting next to the spot Joey had been sleeping in.

“Spread out,” the head guard whispered. “The sooner we get this brat, the sooner we can be on our way.”

As they started spreading out and moving across the house, no one noticed a small boy up above, hiding in the rafters…

Grant and Mikey were headed back up the road when Grant stopped and held Mikey back. 

“There’s something wrong.”

“How can you tell?” Mikey asked. 

“There were no tire tracks on this road when we left,” Grant told him. “Those are truck tracks and they’re fresh.”

A dart hit Mikey in the neck as Grant turned to catch him as he fell forward. 

“They’re here,” Grant said as he picked Mikey up. “Have to make it back to the others before—“ A dart hit Grant in the chest as he started to stumble. “Can’t stop—“ several more darts struck as Grant tried to continue on as he felt even drowsier. Grant couldn’t stay awake anymore as he fell forward with Mikey in his arms as the guards surrounded him.

“That boy has the constitution of a vending machine,” the guard told him. “Lock him down before he wakes up.”The guard picked up his walkie. “We got them. Did you get the boy yet?”*

“Not yet,” the other guard said. “We’re about to spread out through the house to get him.”As the soldiers left the room, Joey climbed down from the rafters and reached out to turn the radio on. 

In the other room, music started playing as they turned their attention to the door. “Joy to the World” by 3 Dog Night started playing as the soldiers lifted their heads to the doorway.

“He’s in the other room,” a guard said as he cocked his gun and prepared to fire, but found nothing. As he looked around the room, he saw nothing and turned to leave when he ran into Joey hanging upside down from the doorway.*contact*

The guard stepped into the room and fired a tranq at the guards, hitting one before they realized it was Joey.“It’s him! Get him!”

They fired as Joey jumped out of the guard’s body and made contact with the next one, taking him over instantly.

As the guards tried to fire, they found they were too late as Joey was rapidly changing from body to body just as the darts hit, knocking the guards out before they hit the one Joey was possessing. Joey continued to pass from guard to guard as they were tranquilized to make his host pass out.

Joey continued jumping from body to body, going through half of the guards in under two minutes. Joey hit a stumbling block with one of the guards, forcing him to stop since he couldn’t make eye contact.“You can’t get inside me if my eyes are closed!” the next guard said as Joey smiled and punched him in the groin as hard as he could, forcing the guard to open his eyes as Joey made contact. The guards continued firing, not making a clear shot before Joey disappeared again. Joey made his way through the group of guards until the 20 guards inside the building were down.

“What is going on there!” the guards outside wondered as they got near the door, just in time for Joey to make eye contact with the closest one outside to start the process all over again. 

Outside the house, the guards continued to fall as Joey passed from guard to guard

“We gotta do something,” Grant said through the wall to Mikey while still groggy. “You have to make me angry so I can explode.”

“Won’t that kill us?” Mikey asked.“I’m still weak, the explosion will just blow the wall of the truck,” Grant said.  “If I explode, it might shake off the tranqs.”

“Okay, you… hit like a girl,” Mikey said.

“That’s sexist, girls can hit as well as guys,” Grant told him. “Come on, really piss me off!”

“Okay, um,” Mikey said as he thought about it. “You failed your brother and let him get killed. Trevor’s dead because you couldn’t save him and we’re probably going to be next. And you’re going to hell for being gay…. That was too far, I’m sorry. But you did let Trevor be murdered, that’s on you.”

The outside of the truck exploded outward as Grant climbed out and stumbled over to unlock the door for the others.

”You know I didn’t mean any that, right?” Mikey asked, not seeing the few tears on Grant’s face as the doors opened. Grant was about to reply when Joey jumped out of the guard’s body and Grant punched him instead.

“Way to go, buddy!” Grant shouted as he picked Joey up to hug him tightly. “You went through these guys like they were tissue paper!”

“I think we need to grab our shit and go,” Mikey told him. “Like now.”

Grant unlocked Cameron and Adam, breaking the restraint holding him.

“Is this a ghost restraint?” Grant asked as he held the strap in his hands. “What kinda 2016 female Ghostbusters movie ripoff is this?”

“Let’s talk about it later,” Adam said. “Grab your backpacks and let’s go!”

“Go where?” Cameron asked. “We’ll never make it before they send more guards.”

“I don’t think we need to worry about that,” Grant said as he eyed the old van in the yard. “Not if we can get that van started.”

A half-hour later, an old rusted blue van was driving down the road.“Where’d you have time to get a license?” Mikey asked.

“That’ll be our little secret,” Grant winked. “I’ve been driving since i was 10. I used to steal the old man’s car to go for joyrides with Trevor. He was going to beat the shit out of me regardless, so at least I was going to make the beating worth it.”

“It needs a little love, but I think it’ll work,” Adam said as he stood in the back. “We just need to fix her up. In the meantime, we’ll have a place to sleep out of sight.”

“What about water? Or a toilet?” Mikey asked.“We’ll work something out,”

Grant promised as he looked in the rearview mirror. Mikey had his arm around Joey, and Cameron was just staring out of the window. Grant knew the boys were scared and unsure of what was going to happen next.

That’s why Grant knew he had to be the strong one. He couldn’t act sad, or terrified, or angry. He had to keep his resolve at all times or the house of cards would come tumbling. He’d had a breakdown the previous night in the shower where he punched the wall until the tiling broke. He had to choose his moments to let his anger out so no one else would see. Mikey was right, his little brother was dead because of him, but he couldn’t show that weakness to the boys who counted on him.

“The key is to stay hidden as much as possible.” 

After a long drive, Grant pulled into what looked like an old garage. “If this garage is abandoned and has running water, we’ll hole up here for a few days while we fix this van up. We have clothes and food, we should be okay for now. We’ll have a campout right here.

“They defeated over 24 soldiers!?” Black shouted over the phone. “They’re boys! Toddlers! How incompetent are these men we have under us!?” Black slammed down the phone as he paced around. “Emerson and his team must be retrieved, but how?”

As Black thought about it, an evil Grinch-like smirk crossed his face.

“I know exactly what to do. Maybe we’re sending the wrong people after them.”

Four blankets had been arranged in a circle as the team prepared for a sleep-out.

“Tomorrow we fix the van up,” Grant said. “We’ll repaint it, soup up the engine, and get it really road ready so the DEO won’t find us, then we head to Metropolis. Let’s all get a good night’s sleep.”

“Who can sleep?” Mikey asked as he sat on his blanket. “We’re wanted men.”

“Not for long,” Grant promised as he lay down. “We’ll get free of these bastards, we can’t give up hope. I lost my little brother, I can’t let them get the rest of you.”

“So, what are you gonna do when this DEO business is done?” Mikey asked. “Once you have your life back?”

“I’m gonna find a nice guy and settle down,” Grant told him. “Someone that’ll love me for who I am. Maybe adopt a few kids and pets and live out on a nice farm like the one we just left. And you guys will be welcome to live there, too. What about you, Mikey?”

“I’m going to find my parents,” Mikey told him. “The last I heard, they were deported back to Venezuela, so I’ll start there. And I’ll look everywhere I can until I find them.”

“I just want to know if I had parents,” Adam said as he sat nearby. “I don’t know anything about my life except that I might possibly like Superman. I think I might like the color blue, but beyond that… I don’t even know my favorite food. I’m a blank page.”

“I want to know why my parents abandoned me,” Cameron whispered. “Was my planet such a shithole that they had to ditch me here?”

Everyone looked at Joey, who was playing with his sock as he sat on the blanket.

“You can tell us, Joey,” Grant said as he nudged the boy. “You can write it down for us,” Joey just sat there, crying a little. “It’s okay, you can tell us when you’re ready.”

“Poor kid,” Mikey said. “Let’s get some sleep so we can wake up and kick some DEO ass.”

As they lay down under their blankets, Mikey looked at Grant. “You were talking about Cody, weren’t you?”

Grant rolled over to face away from him. “Goodnight, Mikey.”

At the new DEO headquarters, Cody found himself sitting in a chair in Black’s office.

“They abandoned you,” Black said as he paced around Cody. “Grant Emerson has no intention of coming back for any of you. He used you, then walked away when it was convenient.”

“I know,” Cody whispered sadly as he sniffled a little. Just another person who offered him a tiny bit of hope, just to pull it away cruelly. “Screw him, right?”

“Wrong,” Black smiled. “How would you like to bring Emerson and his friends back? Drag them back here to pay for running away and leaving you to rot.”

“Why would I do that?” Cody asked. “Yeah, Grant played me, but you’re an asshole. Why would I help you?”

“Bring back 5 escaped prisoners? Surely I can afford to lose one in the shuffle,” Black said as he looked out of the window. “You deliver all five boys in a timely manner, and you’re free to go home to your poor, sick mother. I’ll bet she misses her boy. Seeing you disappear like that must have set her progress back greatly. Here’s the deal: Grant Emerson and his gang for your precious freedom. Wouldn’t you call that a fair trade?”

Cody paused to think about it for a minute before he opened his mouth to reply.

TO BE CONTINUED…